Hey all. I came up with a sweet new idea for anti-dilution that doesn't involve an extra deck or changing gate frequencies. I put up a BGG post about it here.
If you don't want to go look, here's what it says:
Some of you might recall my previous attempt at solving the "dilution" problem when using all the expansions together. While the results were good, it still had some problems. Making two mythos decks and drawing from one or the other on the roll of specialized dice was a bit annoying. Expansions other than the three I was focusing on got reduced further. If another board expansion gets added, Arkham activity will be reduced to almost non-existence. This kind of solution is not sustainable.
So I had some new ideas. And I came up with just two simple rules.
Rule 1:
After resolving a Mythos card from an expansion other than King in Yellow, roll two dice. If their sum is exactly 3, flip over the top card of the Three Acts deck and resolve it immediately.
This rule ensures that the Three Acts mechanic in the King in Yellow expansion always stays relevant, no matter how many expansions are added. When playing with just King in Yellow, you won't have to apply this rule because none of the Mythos cards have expansion symbols other than King in Yellow.
Rule 2:
For each monster that emerges from a gate in Dunwich or Innsmouth, roll a die. If the die result is less than the total number of expansions being used, then add another monster. Do not roll again for monsters added this way.
Example:
In a 5-investigator game using Dunwich, Dark Pharaoh, and Black Goat, a gate has opened at Wizard's hill. Two monsters emerge (because it is a 5-player game). I then roll two dice, and get a 2 and a 3. I place one additional monster at Wizard's Hill because my roll of 2 is lower than the number of expansions being used (3).
Example 2:
In a 6-investigator game with all six currently released expansions, a gate has opened at Devil's Reef. I place one monster (the game is counted as being 4-investigator because I have three board expansions in play) and roll a die. I will place an additional monster on any result from 1 to 5, because there are 6 expansions in play. Later, a monster surge occurs, and there are 3 gates open in Dunwich and 1 in Innsmouth. I will roll one die for each emerging monster, adding another one on a 1-5.
This rule accepts that gates are less frequent in Dunwich and Innsmouth with more expansions, and makes up for it by making gates there more potent with more expansions. After all, it is the monsters, not the gates, driving the Dunwich Horror's awakening and part of the Deep One Rising track. When using each expansion by itself, no die needs to be rolled, because no result on a 6 sided die is less than the number of expansions being used (1) so Dunwich and Innsmouth alone will play exactly the way they're designed.
Notes:
The Dunwich/Innsmouth rule doesn't seek to change the frequency of appearing gates, so they will be as infrequent as normal using all expansions. So you're more likely to go a game without seeing any Dunwich action than if you used only Dunwich. But when gates do open there, they will be a real threat, rather than a minor inconvenience.
The chances of getting a sum of 3 on two dice is 1 in 18. The chances of drawing a Next Act card with just the KiY expansion is 1 in 15.5. I justify this small dip in frequency by citing the differences between drawing a Next Act Begins card and just flipping over the top Act card:
- Next Act Begins takes place instead of another Mythos card, rather than in addition to it.
- Next Act cards grant clues; flipping the top Act card does not.
- Next Act cards are mythos cards and can be canceled by Jacqueline Fine or re-arranged by Arcane Insight. These effects clearly will not work on rolling the two dice or on the Act cards themselves.
