Hello there!

I purchased the game yesterday and I played a trial game. For most of the time, the rules seemed clear to me, but there are two things I'm not sure about.

Firstly, I'm wondering about the Mythos deck. If I understand correctly, it contains about 15 cards and one of them is drawn each turn. Also, the rules state that when the deck runs out of cards, the game ends. Sooo... does it mean that every game will have only as many turns as there are Mythos cards in the deck? If so, what's the point of the Doom clock - which actually advances slower (on average) than the Mythos deck?

Also, could I ask for some clarification on how Rumours work. Are they cards? Tokens? I'm not sure here...

I'd be very grateful for some assistance, as the game is great!

You're right that for every game the maximum amount of turns is the number of cards in the Mythos deck (plus 1 additional turn actually). If Doom is advancing slower than the Mythos then you are doing something right! In some encounters - Yig is a perfect example - Doom starts closer to zero and there is a very good chance that Yig will be summoned in every game as Doom hits zero well before you run out of Mythos cards. Doom is there to force you to close gates and not let the table be overrun with them (and thus overrun with monsters). If you focus on the mysteries at the expence of the gates then as the Omen tracker goes round Doom will advance very quickly (it advances by 1 for each gate that matches the current symbol on the Omen track) which will force you to flip the ancient one's sheet and resolve another mystery. In addition, when the ancient one sheet is flipped there is always an extra gameplay element introduced that can cause the end of the game quickly/immediately.

As for Ongoing Rumours - they are Mythos cards that stay in play when they are drawn and have their own rules and conditions (printed on the card). Some of them require you to spawn an epic monster on a space and defeat it, some require you to completcertain tasks, some prevent you from doing things, some spawn special rumour tokens on the board (also noted on the card) and tell you to go to that location to do something (the tokens are just there as a visual reminder of where you need to go). Horrible things happen if you don't complete the rumour within a set number of turns and again the number of turns - usually determined by putting Eldritch tokens on the card and removing one every time there's a reckoning - and what happens when there are no longer tokens on the card are written on the Mythos cards.

Thank you for your answers! They were much helpful

Although... if the Mythos deck works the way you confirmed, then I'm not sure I like this aspect of the game. I mean... what does it represent, exactly? Other ways for the players to lose fit with the story: the investigators either die or go insane, or the Ancient One awakens and destroys the world. But the Mythos deck running out has no in-story explanation. It's just... the universe running out of plot

Also, isn't a 15-turn game a bit short? In the trial game I ran yesterday, my investigator spent three turns on just trying to stop a Rumour. She didn't had a chance of even trying to crack the first mystery. I may be wrong but it seems to me that most of the games would end with the Mythos deck running out...

Usually games should last shorter than the Mythos deck. It's a sort of time trigger: the impending Apocalypse. See this as if when the Mythos deck runs out, all your efforts are vain, and humanity is doomed.

As for the length, it really depends on the number of investigators you play. My games (all 4p) usually last between 10 and 12 Mythos (by that time, I'm either victorious or completely defeated)

Sami's response was excellent.

Yes, the dual timer of the game is a bit odd. The Doom Track forces you to pay attention to gates and not let them get out of control.

The mythos deck keeps you from keeping the gates under control and solving the mysteries at a very leisurely pace. It puts an upper limit on the length of the game and generally keeps things moving. Usually the 15 turns is enough, but it can be very tough if you have a low player count. I like to play with 3 or 4 minimum because it's too hard to cover the board otherwise.

Although... if the Mythos deck works the way you confirmed, then I'm not sure I like this aspect of the game. I mean... what does it represent, exactly? Other ways for the players to lose fit with the story: the investigators either die or go insane, or the Ancient One awakens and destroys the world. But the Mythos deck running out has no in-story explanation. It's just... the universe running out of plot

Thematically speaking (note that I am extrapolating this from the many times I have played the game and the text on the cards), the Doom track represents how much progress the cultists or whatever have made in summoning the ancient one to this realm. The closer the Doom is to zero, the closer the cultists are to achieving their task and once Doom hits zero the ancient one is summoned. On the other hand the Mythos deck represents the world being torn apart by whatever primal/ancient forces are being used to summon the god. Earthquakes, heatwaves, tears in the fabric of reality that allow other lesser creatures to manifest, etc. After 15 "turns" (whatever a turn represents in game times) the world has been utterly devastated by these events and there is either nothing left to save, everyone has died, horrible creatures overrun the planet, etc.

Preventing the the ancient one from being summoned (by managing Doom) doesn't necessarily mean that no bad things will happen to the world - the mere fact that an ancient being of unfathomable power is trying to break into this realm is enough to send things crazy. Even if the cultists's plans are constantly hindered the ancient one is still pressing upon the thin cosmic barriers that separate it from this world. Once the cultists plans have been discovered and countered fully the god is forced back to its realm. The world returns to normal, everyone is happy. The 2 extreme differences between Doom and Mythis progress that can happen can be explained by understanding this:

1) Doom hits zero only after a few Mythos cards. Explained as the cultists being extremely organised/successful and/or the investigators being inept. The presense of the god in this world does nothing to stop the world ending or coming under its control (hence Mythos cards continue to be drawn) and the ancient one itself even has new rules that allow it to "win" far quicker than the world ending from running out of Mythos cards.

2) Doom barely moves but you run out of Mythos cards. Explained as the investigators doing a fantastic job stopping the cultists from furthering their plans but not being quick enough to uncover the full scope of the cultist operation and shut it down completely. The cultists didn't achieve much but the world was still torn apart by their efforts to bring the ancient one to this realm.

Mechanically, Doom is there to make you handle the gates and prevent the ancient one from being summoned. Mythos is there to a) ensure the game actually has an end, b) provide drama as new things happen across the world and c) prevent players stalling for time such as 100% focusing on gates to stop the Doom going down and then occasionally doing something to advance the active mystery if it's nearby. Both are there to screw you over

The few times I've run the game for new groups the one thing I usually try to get across at the start is this: there is only one way to win Eldritch Horror, but there are many, MANY ways of losing!