Nghtflame7 said:

Aren't kids great.

-Mariana the ex-nun cultist

mattherobot said:

I can see that happening, even when I play solo I never plan that strategically though. I've only ever bought allies when I've been drowning in trophies and don't need the clues. In games with Rachel where we do buy allies, whe's only interested in buying the cat because she likes kittens or Ruby 'cos she likes to be sneaky etc. If she was going for professor Rice or similar ever game I'd talk to her about it. But to be honest repeatedly sinking trophies into the same allies even when you are desperate for clues is what gave that cat its name

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

thecorinthian said:

First, I meant a 7 SANITY character in my earlier post about my son's obsession with Duke.

I can't remember anyone ever buying an ally, so that isn't really an issue in either my games with the kids or my solo games.

I ran into a first last night. I already had an ally in play with an investigator when another investigator passed a check to get the same ally. I wasn't sure, but I read this as the ally being "unavailable" and gave the second investigator the benefit for an unavailable ally when she passed the check to get him.

Finally, I was playing with Roland in one of my games last night (fiance' out of town, lots of time for AH) and his random ally turned out to be Duke. I was just thinking of this federal agent waiting patiently for federal assistance and when he goes to pick the guy up at the train station, all that's waiting for him is a mutt in a crate. Must be the federal cutbacks.

Nghtflame7 said:

Still, better than some stinking cat .

Nghtflame7 said:

I've always wondered what he would do if he's having great trouble deciding what to do, how to cope with all the strange things he's seeing without going mad or convincing his superior's he's going mad, and he gets to the train station to meet his assistant ... and it's Young Zoog.

I remember a game where a mythos card said something like some monsters were lurking in the streets and all, then the terror track level increased, and (according to our house rule for 34 allies) we had then to discard 3 allies : Duke, Foolishness... and the tiny Zoog. That was very amusing because all these animals fleeing from town and this mythos card mentionning a very gloomy atmosphere... how much it seemed linked and very well accorded reminded us how much sometimes, these coincidences happen quite often, and how much they help to create the atmosphere ! When an encounter happens to your character, and it seems EXACTLY like the character to whom it HAD to happen... that's plain great. Sorry, just had to say how much I loved this game

Hem said:

Truth.

Hem said:

... how much it seemed linked and very well accorded reminded us how much sometimes, these coincidences happen quite often, and how much they help to create the atmosphere ! When an encounter happens to your character, and it seems EXACTLY like the character to whom it HAD to happen... that's plain great. Sorry, just had to say how much I loved this game

Like the time Wilson went to the Black Cave for 2 Clues and got devoured by Ghatanothoa. Much later in the game, someone sealed the Black Cave, but had to stick around the following turn to kill a Ghoul. His Encounter? He found a corpse and a Common Item...AND DREW A SHOTGUN.

The game IS watching us.

jgt7771 said:

Hem said:

... how much it seemed linked and very well accorded reminded us how much sometimes, these coincidences happen quite often, and how much they help to create the atmosphere ! When an encounter happens to your character, and it seems EXACTLY like the character to whom it HAD to happen... that's plain great. Sorry, just had to say how much I loved this game

Like the time Wilson went to the Black Cave for 2 Clues and got devoured by Ghatanothoa. Much later in the game, someone sealed the Black Cave, but had to stick around the following turn to kill a Ghoul. His Encounter? He found a corpse and a Common Item...AND DREW A SHOTGUN.

The game IS watching us.

Ooooh, spooky.

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Hem said:

That's interesting. We use the rule that none may look at allies which are removed to the box, so we don't know which ones are still in the deck, then. I think the rules don't mention this specifically, but they don't mention either that you may look at them when they're removed. How do you handle this?

@jgt7771: Nice story!

Since it's a house rule, we make it a full housy one : terror increases ? draw one card, read it aloud, like "and since the terror increases in town, many folks are gathering their stuff and leave that day, begining with X ! he use to give you + this and + that, but now, he's gooone... then Y is leaving too" and so on and so on. Done very theatrically, obviously, and it rocks, because 3 allies at the same time, it hurts you so much more than only one. Really gives the feeling that everyone is departed from town !

Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist said:

Cute! So how old is Rachel now, and what appeal does Arkham Horror have for her? Whos her favourite investigator?

jgt7771 said:

Of course it is. These things happen all the time.

Dont they?

...help...

dj2.0 said:

Hi dj2.0, Rachel turned eight a few weeks ago. Her favourite investigators have drifted a little over time, every now and then she "discovers" someone new.

Her first love was "Kate" (myslef and the missus are both "scientists" of a sort) but she always wanted to play Lily. I didn't let her play Lily for a while (too fiddly) but she would use Lily's token for Kate.

She likes Wendy, sneak being her favourite stat and wendy being a little girl.

Diana has probably been top for some time, even over Lily and wendy, I think she likes the idea of being a member of a "club", even though we don't sit there for very long.

Since getting IH Finn has become a favourite (sneaky again). Although she has recently discovered Akachi.

I guess her current favs are Finn and Diana. We usually play two invetsigators each and I let her chose mine. The ones will take up the majority of slots in most games, although Kate once ever present hasn't figured for a while, with maybe me being given an outlier for a change.

We haven't played for a couple of weeks now as she has belatedly discovered her wii and wants me to help her with lego indianna jones when I have time to play.

Cheers - Mariana the ex-nun cultist

mageith said:

oh my, anyone care to name them all? I guess many relate to his starting ally and how that can be interpreted with connections. I can think of one of the most extreme - any time an ally goes to the box, he can pick it up, including at the setup of game , giving him something like 20 allies if you play with all expansions . I always played it as he can choose to gain allies from the box when he could gain an ally.

Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist said:

cool and a belated happy birthday to our youngest brave soul! I am thinking of introducing my niece Amber to the game, she is 10. She has low spectrum autism, mild ADD, aspergers and a capacity to read that is far greater than most adults. She could spell 'psychological' at 3, but she has trouble forming peer relationships and interacting socially. I thought Arkham, with its emphasis on a non-competitive group dynamic and unpronouncable names, would be a good way to address her needs but am wondering how children cope with it. Im not at all concerned about the content (cmon, Itchy and Scratchy is far worse!) more about the nested complexity of the mechanics.

dj2.0 said:

There is every chance that she will love the game. Rachel can play parts of the game herself, in the early days when we finished she'd sometimes play at killing the monsters or fighting "the Big Baddie" (yes that is what we usually call the AO). And she can do turns if I nip out for a bit. But She'd struggle to go through the phases in order, I've never stressed the rules heavy stuff with her. Thta said she will occasionaly point out scraps of the rules that I've forgotten.

I think Mageith's daughter Emily probably has a much better grasp of the mechanics of the game. I'm pretty sure he posted that emily sometimes played AH with her friend.

Good luck and I hope it goes well for you both - Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist said:

thanks! it will be a while before the chance to play with Amber arises, but hopefully it will one day soon

To Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist, Happy Belated Birthday to your young investigator, as well.

To dj2.0, yes, your niece should enjoy the game ~ my daughter's nine y.o. and she's been playing for about seven months. We were first introduced to the game in Philly, by close friends back at the end of January. My daughter, too, loves Kate [and Amanda], and doesn't seem particularly bothered by a shotgun-slinging, whiskey-drinking, monster-destroying scientist [or student]. Ironically, my wife finds the whole enterprise more involved than work, so she leaves my daughter and me to save Arkham from the Terrors Beyond Time and Space . . .

The Professor

The Professor said:

cool! I think Amber will dig things like the doom track most of all, lthe little buttons and tracks to move around. And I can see her grooving on the entertainer or the urchin. Funnily enough, the kids are pretty much the only ones in my family who I would play with, the others just wouldnt have time for it...