Hi,

Pretty new to arkham horror and just trying to iron out potential issues before they arise and I've found a really useful variant on the BGG boards that help prevent the watering down of mythos events in locations other than Arkham when all the expansions etc are used, whic looks great, but I think I read somewhere that the same can happen with the gate cards where the majortiy of OW in encounters in worlds other than on the main arkham board can end up in the "other" option being taken (this is possibly even true of OW on the main arkham board?)

does anyone have or know of a relatively simple variant that helps resolve this?

I'm thinking that maybe keeping a couple (or more) gate decks, one for each board, rather than one for all boards might work, but haven't looked at all the expansion gate cards in detail yet to see if this would work or not?

I recall reading a variant suggestion that you draw until you get the correct OW by name. I don't personally mind the Other encounters, there are some really nasty ones.

pumpkin said:

I sorted my gate cards sort by location, based on the name on top. When we experience the name on top, we put it behind based on the 2nd name. When the second name is used in goes into Other = Another Dimension (there are no Another Dimension cards).

Problems: Another Dimensions slots fill up fast. Also Dreamlands because it has twice as many cards as any other location. In addition, the expansion locations have very few cards and are usually almost empty. When a slot empties (or actually gets down to about 5 cards), I draw it from the Another Dimensions slot and so that's how the "Other cards" get used. All the gate cards fit easily into a plastic magic card box (about 4 inches deep).

Again a quick and dirty solution:

1. Reveal cards until you find one that matches the color of the other world.

2. If the other world is listet on the card go to #4 else go to #3.

3. Draw cards until you find one that matches the color of the other world.

4. Resolve the card.

Still produces some Other results, but reduces them quite some while still only needing on deck of cards.

Everytime we add an expansion to our game my group always choose how big impact the expansion should have. We use two variants depending on group:

1) If we for example play Arkham + Dunwich and our group want a lot of action from Dunwich we roll a dice before every mythos-phase. Before the game start we have decided which results end in us drawing from the Dunwich-deck. The same goes for the seperate OW-deck. Normally 5 and 6 result in a dunwich-card but sometimes we have played with as low as 3-6 instead.

2) When playing several expansions we use a different system. All the mythos and OW-decks from added expansions are kept in different piles. Randomly we choose what expansion is "in focus" at the start of the game. Every mythos-phase we roll a die and have previously decided how big the chanse is that we continue with the current deck. Mostly we keep the same on 1-4 and on a 5 we go to the pile on the right and a 6 result in the pile to the left. That usually mean for example the King in Yellow get a lot of action a couple of rounds and then suddently the threat start to arise in Dunwich instead and maybe then it's back to King in Yellow.

This is of course a house-rule and we have never written down the exact rules but it is a fairly simple way of steering the game into the direction we want and still be affected of the naste randomness of the game.

edit: I think it was great that Innsmouth did not add even further OW's as people have complained about this even bofre that expansion came out.

kilrah said:

I really like this idea, it's pretty much the same process as I picked up from BGG for the mythos cards (and i like this for the same reason, easy to implement, still one deck and doesn't skew the % too much). Its obvious when you think about it!

Thanks

kilrah said:

Funny - when I read the topic, I wanted to suggest the same, but then I saw that you were faster. However, I won't use that rule, so it takes a little longer until I know all specific OW encounters.

Yeah, it's a good rule. If your first valid OW card isn't the OW you're in, draw until you get a second. You still get "Other" cards, but less frequently.

Using only the cards that are specifically named after the OW you're in means that all the "Other" encounters get relegated to Another Dimension.