So players can move between towns through the train station/depots. My question is, the monsters whose movement says the move directly to the nearest player in a location, can though go from one town to another? Like from Dunwich to Akrham or reverse?

TheBossInTheWall said:

We have always played that they could, but we may have been doing this wrong. It does make Hounds of Tindalos and the like much more terrifying, even when they are in another town. We measure "closest" through the Train Station, the same way investigators move. It doesn't make a ton of sense (although I could see certain monsters "hitching a ride") but it seems like it's either that or they don't move at all.

Well, it doesn't make sense anyway that the hounds go for the nearest investigator - they should go for the one with the most recent drug experience.

They can and do. In the case of teleporters (Hound of Tindalos and Hunting Horror), the nearest investigator is always the one on the same board, even if movement pointwise they wouldn't be. For example, Hound at Train Station, 1 investigator in Historical Society (6 moves away), another at Bishop's Brook Bridge (1 move away), Hound would move to the Historical Society. If everyone is at a different board than the Hound, then you count moves.

Sorry Bossinthewall, I didn't want to create just a topic for my question, and it kind of fits here : why the hell is the serviter of outer gods a flying monster ?! look at his... "face", he's crawling ! what about a new monster's type of move : the crawling move ! I mean, come on, I understand you d be devoured faced to a flying s*** like that ! because it just can't be !

Hem said:

He uses gasses propelled from certain orifices to achieve lighter than air status as well as movement ?

You are dam(n) gross Nah, come on... I don't even get what HPL's novel or short story it comes from... huge, gooy, gross, crawling... and it actually flies ?! or maybe it does teleport ? these horrible teleporting sh***s like it or Shan are just insanely scarry...

Hem said:

The Servitors are (I think) the shapeless flute-playing creatures which attend the 'court of Azathoth' at the centre of time and space, playing tunes to which the Outer Gods dance. Descriptions of them are very vague and it's all very ethereal and cosmic. So what they really are, and what it would be like to "meet" one, is very unclear. Probably you wouldn't really ever meet one since they are vast and incomprehensible cosmic beings and you'd either die, go mad, or simply not be able to perceive their true nature. Obviously for the purposes of AH they have been revamped as "a big blob you can have a fight with."

I think they're from a HPL short story called "The Other Gods" or "The Outer Gods" (I forget which). I'm sure it's one of the very short pieces which is barely a story, just a sort of drabble of weirdness.

Regarding Hounds of Tindalos: I think this was answered by KW at some point, and you do measure distances through the train station as if the train depots were 'adjacent' to it. I might be imagining it though.

How the Hound interacts with the Innsmouth Shore locations is also unclear. Do you treat Devil Reef as being 'one space away' from Falcon Point? Or are investigators on the Reef "safe" from the Hound? There's no real fluff problem with a Hound going anywhere it wants, since it's really some sort of ethereal teleporting ghost which can follow you to anywhere in the universe. I'm tempted to say that the Hound should jump the nearest person as determined by measuring the distance across the board using a ruler, and ignores normal movement routes entirely!

thecorinthian said:

Right ! I do remember ; personnaly in my second volume, congrats man. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Gods )

BTW, did someone else notice how strange it is that the Hounds can only enter the round spaces on the board, but not the square ones?

HëllRÆZØR said:

That's what the Hunting Horror is for .

HëllRÆZØR said:

oh very well observed - Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Dam said:

Hmm either Dam didn't get Hellrazor's joke, or I don't get Dam's

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist said:

Maybe he used the wrong smiley, but the "shock" one doesn't read as joke. Anyway, HH reads:

"When it moves, Hunting Horror moves to the nearest investigator in a street area or unstable location."

Ah, re-read HZ's post. D'oh !

Dam said:

The joke is based on Frank Belknap Long's story "the Hounds of Tindalos". If you know the story you'll see the joke.

The story is a good read btw, I just had the quickest of looks, but couldn't find an on-line text. It is included in both editions of "Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos".

cheers - Mariana the ex-nun cultist

HëllRÆZØR said:

No, I never noticed that! GOOD catch!

Er... reread the, what, ten pages of Hound short story last week, but I still don't get the pun ! Might be a language problem, then. Help ?

Hem said:

You read the FB Long story and not HPL's "the Hound" by accident, right

It wasn't a pun or language based joke but an observation based on the working out of the story's plot

SPOILERS for "the Hounds of Tindalos" below

The hounds inhabit the angles of time, unlike like as we know it which inhabits the curves of time. Which means... er, lets just gloss over that, but one practical effect is that the Hound of T which is persuing its victim can only manifect through an angle such as a corner in a room. THis is why the victim buys the plaster of Paris in an attempt to smooth over the corners of the room he is confined to. He is found dead after an earth tremour which causes the plaster to crack and fall from the walls, presumably making the corners avaiable for the Hof T (bloody Cthonian/Hound tag teams eh?).