Greetings all! A friend recently bought AH and a number of us got together to try it out. We fell in love with it immediately. We have Dunwich now as well.

Though I am not the owner of the game, I am still considered the board game guy who is expected to figure out all the rules etc. AH is very well written all in all, and I don't feel I have any questions about the rules. I do however have some questions for more veteran players about some basic ideas.

1) Missions/Tasks I haven't gone through and looked over every single one, but of the ones that have popped up in our games thusfar, I've found them very lousy. Most just don't seem worth the effort. The only one I've seen that seemed worthwhile was just incredibly unrealistic. (Walking the Ley Lines. You have to visit 4 specific loacations and sacrifice a gate trophy. Right. Because you're going to have the time, means, time, and time, to close 4 gates and visit all of those locations...) I find this incredibly disapointing. These are a really awesome concept, but they feel like a wasted draw from their respective piles because of how lousy/unrealistic they are. Does anyone have any ideas on house rules to make them more appealing? I've been making it so the sacrifice on missions only has to be made at the last location. But I could see that being a bit too overpowered sometimes. I just don't want them to be something players sigh and roll their eyes at when they draw it... that says "balance problem" to me.

2) Extreme Bad Luck I'm far from a stranger to games that incorporate heavy amounts of luck, and being totally screwed by it. I've had nights in Shadowrun where literally every roll I made screwed me over. That's just part of the game. But sometimes it just starts to reach a point where it is ruining the entire game for someone. And I don't mean ruining that particular run through of the game. I mean the entire game. Like they don't ever want to play again. One of the guys that has played with us, I could swear the game itself just hates his guts. Through two entire rounds of playing he was just screwed. By everything. The entire first game he spent delayed, losing turns, and even stuck in jail. He basically just didn't get to play. The second game he simply drew nothing good. Ever. Even trying to hide out in stable areas and avoiding unstable ones, every single encounter he would pull was something trying to screw him over. He rolled to avoid it a number of times sure, but he never once drew something to be happy about. As we got near the end of the second game he had hit that point of just not even caring anymore. No longer even trying and just going anywhere at random and pulling whatever.

My question is, have you ever added any house rules to help this kind of case? How have you handled it? I mean having bad luck is going to happen, and the world of AH is clearly out to screw you and everyone playing knows it. And if someone starts whining because they've had 5 bad turns in a row obviously they just shouldn't be playing these sorts of games. They are too thin skinned. But two entire games? I couldn't blame him for being done with it. 6 hours is a long time to sit at a table with other people that are having fun and progressing through the game while you just get shafted one turn after another and contribute nothing to the team. No one wants this to happen to one of their players. It brings down everyone in the room. So any suggestions on home rules to somehow curb bad luck streaks would be appreciated.

Hi, and welcome to the wonderful addiction that is Arkham Horror

As for your questions:

a) Missions & Tasks: you hit the nail on the head. They appeared in DH only to never return in any of the next expansions. Cool idea, but most of the times they are not worth the investment. Some stuff is okaish (Sacrifices to Make, or Mineralogy report, for instance), some other is crap (Joining the Winning Team, totally against the meaning of coop), some other is meh. You can houserule some of the stuff; for instance, when you pass the mission, you pass the mission without resetting the tokens on it (tasks are actually a lot better in EH), but really, possibly the only houserule for this is: when you draw them during the setup, you're given a chance to draw a replacement card

b) honestly, Arkham is not that luck dependand. I mean, there's luck involved (you draw random cards and you roll dice) but good strategy often allows you to recover from unlucky streak. This said, I see how a newcomer could be bummed by drawing only bad encounters. Have him play Darrell the next time, so that he can draw two and choose one. And also try to understand how your friend sets up the skill sliders during Upkeep. In some places certain skills are better than others, so that you may want to have high Lore before entering the Witch House, and some Luck for when you go to the Unnamable, and so on

But the most important thing: involve your friend in decision making and strategy and so on. Arkham is about how to cope against bigger enemies and tougher challenges; the action of the single investigators are certainly fun, but not as fun as playing the game *together*

Minandreas,

First, welcome to the Carnival!

Second, you've touched on an area that has been mentioned numerous times before. Luck does play a fair amount in Arkham Horror but solid strategies can mitigate the effects of luck over time such as understanding the Gate distribution and the interaction among the Investigators and the encounters.

As to the Missions and Tasks, I've maintained the Tasks, but use only a handful of Missions. As far as House Rules, if you receive one of them as a Starting Possession or later when drawing a Common or Unique Item, you may immediately discard it and draw another card in its place.

I'll follow-up with you, if you're interested in additional House Rules as I'm an "all in" player with every expansion, having played nearly 150 games.

Cheers,

Joe

Ahh, my friend Julia beat me to the punch!

My friends and I do a certain house rule for missions and task where if ever one is drawn, whether it be starting items or later, the mission/task is placed at the starting location as if that location is advertising a job and a new item is drawn to replace it. Also, my group has had a loss from joining the winning team, and for the greater good. You will rarely get a clear opportunity for such a win, but when it does come around it is quite glorious.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

After playing another two games last night we just agreed to keeping my house rule of only requiring the sacrifice on the last location of a mission. Thusfar at least, it has resulted in missions being attractive enough for players to actually want to try and complete them, but still difficult enough to fit in around other game objectives and activities that significant choices must be made. But obviously I'll keep an eye on it. If people start really grasping all of the possibilities of the game and I see a strategy focusing around certain missions becoming a new thing that house rule will change.

Also after those two games I had another question. What is up with Mythos cards and being nice to the players? The first couple games we ever played were tight. Close and intense games. But I think a lot of that was learning curve. The games we just played last night were extremely easy... The first one we actually abandoned to start over because we were totally and completely dominating. There wasn't the slightest hint of concern that things might go wrong. Which after the games the night before, edge of the seat and very intense, was just so incredibly boring. The second game was a bit better, but still ultimately quite easy all in all. And a big part of it was Mythos cards that, as far as I can tell, are just way too nice to players. What's the deal with a Mythos returning all of the monsters from locations back to the cup? There were two times where things were actually starting to look like they might get a little intense due to portal count starting to build up and hoards of monsters keeping them difficult to access, but then woosh. The elder evil just decided to be a nice guy and call them all back home for brunch or something, making the portals easy pickings. Is there some more subtle mechanic I'm missing? Why are Mythos cards just giving clear freebies to the players? Heck, we even had one Mythos that distinctly targeted the Woods for the portal location, but then the headline of that Mythos said all monsters in Uptown and its locations returned to the cup... But the monsters just spawned from that portal in the woods which is in Uptown... why on earth is it having you put the monsters that just spawned from the portal right back in to the cup? This is what leads me to believe there might be some subtle mechanic I am missing.

One option for Tasks and Missions is the town notice board. You put aside any that you draw into a common pool and draw another card. Any investigator may then start the Task / Mission by fulfilling the first criteria on it. Sure, they're still not great, but it makes cards like JtWT a lot more interesting when you know that anyone could try it...

The Mythos returning monsters from the Woods neighborhood to the cup is just an example of bad design. There's a series of cards opening gates and removing monsters, and they should have been designed so that monsters are never removed from the neighborhood where the gate appears. Apparently they overlooked the Woods. Still, it's nice when it happens, since those cards are made to reduce the pressure from the players.

As for what you might have done wrong: possibly something, but I don't have enough data to judge. First of all, how many players? Which AO? Dunwich boad in play? some more data? Otherwise it's hard to tell. Not saying the game is difficult a la Eldritch Horror, but it should be no cakewalk either

The Mythos returning monsters from the Woods neighborhood to the cup is just an example of bad design. There's a series of cards opening gates and removing monsters, and they should have been designed so that monsters are never removed from the neighborhood where the gate appears. Apparently they overlooked the Woods. Still, it's nice when it happens, since those cards are made to reduce the pressure from the players.

As for what you might have done wrong: possibly something, but I don't have enough data to judge. First of all, how many players? Which AO? Dunwich boad in play? some more data? Otherwise it's hard to tell. Not saying the game is difficult a la Eldritch Horror, but it should be no cakewalk either

With this in mind, I think it was just some rather absurdly good luck. Our first game, the one we ended up quitting because it was so easy, we had a ton of monster surges in the beginning. Meaning portal count stayed extremely low. And then the monsters from the surges kept getting cleaned up with cards that sent monsters back to the cup. So we were waltzing around practically looking for something to do.

I have a feeling we were spoiled with our first few games. Getting just enough mean Mythos and nice Mythos at the right times to keep us hanging just on the edge of the end.

Julia,

I'm batting .500 on the Woods cards...I'll draw monsters which move before I read the Headline , which means they're in the street...or worse, in the Sky !

Julia, what do you do with Tasks and Missions? Do you house rule anything or play them as they lie?

I play with them in the mix, and no house-rules on them, with only one exception: when we draw joining the winning team, we draw a replacement. First of all, most of the times I play solo, so shaking hands at the end of the game saying "Congrats, you win / Sorry, you've lost" to myself is to schizofrenic even for my standards; then, it's totally against the Arkham-spirit. You die together, or you win together, no traitors around.

(the other card we houseruled at the same way is Massa da Requiem per Shuggay )

Julia,

I'm batting .500 on the Woods cards...I'll draw monsters which move before I read the Headline , which means they're in the street...or worse, in the Sky !

I've yet to find monsters in the sky scary in any way honestly... They only attack in the street and everyone always tries their best to avoid standing in those anyways, because then you don't get any encounters, which is a bummer. The few times someone IS in the streets it seems mythos is always nice to them and doesn't have those monsters move.

I'm working on a custom investigator based around a character I created a long while ago that I totally love. Something I've always found obnoxious is magic in combat. It has always seemed very weak compared to normal weapons (I can has shotguns please? All of the shotguns?) Your chances of obtaining a good magic damage spell aren't much better than finding a good physical damage weapon in terms of drawing from a stack. In fact most physical weapons are easier to obtain imo. The number of monsters with magic resistance or immunity seem roughly equal to those with physical resistance or immunity. Spells have the atrocious side effect of requiring not only a separate roll just to get them to work before the combat roll is even made, but also require sacrifice of sanity the vast majority of the time. Top it all off, they are generally a "use once a turn" effect due to having to exhaust it to cast it.

I tried playing Dexter Drake one game and he seemed an obvious shoe in for a magic damage monster hunter. He was awful! You burn through so much sanity trying to fight things, and god help you if the cell you need to enter has multiple monsters in it since you cast once and then you're out of magic. (Note: I don't have personal stories. I know Drakes helps him out bigtime in the magical combat area. But ya, without that he is really awful imo.)

All of that is to ask, am I missing something? Is it just me or is magic a really lousy way of putting the smackdown on things? I find that a real shame, and thus I was creating this custom investigator to be a sort of battle mage, with a special ability that helps close up some of the holes in magical combat and makes it a more attractive option.

Weeeell... first of all, what AH stuff you have in the mix? Core set only, or expansions? My analysis changes drastically according to your answer

In any case: spells. Yes, they are somehow meh. Still, a double Shrivelling it's the most effectve attack combo existing in Arkham (more or less). There are some very strong spells that I'm always happy to have in the mix: Sigil of Hermes Trismegistus, for example. Or Plague of Locusts. Or Call down the Storm. Not to mention Astral Travel, Plumb the Void, Alchemical Process and Find Gate.

The Sky: core set comes with easy monsters (apart from the Flying Polyp); if we move to expansions, we start having Wraiths, and other nastier things, up to the Servitor of the Outer Gods which is certainly something you don't want to risk encountering.

Weeeell... first of all, what AH stuff you have in the mix? Core set only, or expansions? My analysis changes drastically according to your answer

In any case: spells. Yes, they are somehow meh. Still, a double Shrivelling it's the most effectve attack combo existing in Arkham (more or less). There are some very strong spells that I'm always happy to have in the mix: Sigil of Hermes Trismegistus, for example. Or Plague of Locusts. Or Call down the Storm. Not to mention Astral Travel, Plumb the Void, Alchemical Process and Find Gate.

The Sky: core set comes with easy monsters (apart from the Flying Polyp); if we move to expansions, we start having Wraiths, and other nastier things, up to the Servitor of the Outer Gods which is certainly something you don't want to risk encountering.

Only things in play thusfar are core and Dunwich. And considering over half of the spells you just named are ones we don't have I can see where the analysis would change a good bit.

In the long run I feel that they balanced combat spells around some kind of idea that with spells comes utility. More utility than comes with basic weaponry. So weapons should ultimately make for the better go-to when looking for combat, because a shotgun can't warp you out of an outer world or make money for you etc. It makes sense, especially when looked at in terms of how a great majority of games run things like spell slinging vs sword slashing. But I think there's some short sighted errors in it.

Either way, the character's attributes mainly just improve combat spells.

Yeah. Spells are definitely not balanced against weapons. Spells must be cast each time, often cost you sanity and only last one combat. Compare that to weapons that are relatively cheap, can often be used multiple times and have no cost. You are unlikely to be able to mow down a big gathering of monsters with spells.

The one handed attack spells tend to be good. If you have a good Lore and can mitigate the sanity cost (or heal it back), a spellcaster can be effective. But for the average investigator, you're not going to be a monster killing force with spells. Most of the time I see the attack spells as a situational means to bypass physical or weapon resistance or immunity in the cases I need it. If you have a beatable AO with physical immunity or resistance, getting some magic weapons or spells are a good idea though.

The non-combat spells often tend to be more useful in general. Some of them are extremely useful, to the point of game-breaking.

As for flying monsters, it's true that most of them are not a priority since they are only a problem if you end up in the streets and the right symbol is rolled. If you find yourself in that situation, you could be in a lot of trouble if a bunch of them all descend on you at once.

Yup, Jason scored a good point here, reinforcing what Minandreas said. Spells vs weapons... well, weapons win most of the time (unless you're fighting a Lloigor, but that's another story). You need a very good character as spell caster. Carolyn, for instance, since she can restore Sanity. Or Harvey, since monster's sanity damage will affect him less, so that he can invest the sanity he spares from the Horror check in the sanity cost of a Spell. This changes a little bit once you get Innsmouth Horror, since some Personal Stories make some spellcasters stronger (see Dexter).

Often the Spell conundrum returns on these fora... the only real thing is this: spells can be meh, but when you have the right spell at the proper time, then, this can make the game change from a sure defeat to a glorious victory. I rarely shop for spells during my games (unless I'm playing Marie or I need spells to sacrifice in a Rumor), but I'm always happy to receive one free spell during the game, and some spells gained during setup have made my games a lot easier.

@ Minandreas: core + Dunwich is a good place in any Arkham collection. You see the game as it should have been since the beginning, and it should be more challenging than core set Arkham. Enjoy it, and when you're ready, pimp the difficulty a little bit more (suggestion: play with some Heralds and see if it's still easy. If so, time to expand the game, and get Kingsport)

I think you would like call the azure flame. magical shotgun that can be used in multiple combats (KiY). Also, storm of spirits is one of the best spells for single combat for anyone with lore 5 or more.

Spells vs . Weapons

One of the variants I've used for the past several years which has brought a sense of clam to the debate, is Spells , only if successfully cast, actually cause a loss of Sanity . You can certainly play it RAW, but I'm not a big fan of making things even more difficult for our Investigators .

Cheers,

Joe

I most heartily agree that weapons trump spells. However, as Jason says, all of a sudden you're going to need a spellcaster to take care of something. If you have quite a few investigators, you may also find that there are not enough weapons to go by. Add to this that there are some objects (particularly unique) that can really help a spellcaster. A well equipped spellcaster with some good spells can really wreak pain and destruction on the GOO.

Regarding bad luck, it happens. I once rolled fifteen dice without a single success, only to follow up with another eleven without a single success. Lost a battle to some inconsequential little nothing. If you let something like that get to you, AH will be a tough game to play. Stuff like that happens. Personally, I found it completely hilarious and everyone else quickly created a meta-story around how my character was something of an embarrassment to the team, walking into lamp posts during battles or knocking myself unconscious while drawing my weapon. If your friend can't enjoy the game vicariously and celebrate the team wins, perhaps another type of game is to prefer for him.

Man, I so much miss playing Arkham these days. Possibly in April I'll have some more time...