FIrst of all, I'm a bit confused about the distinction between an LCG and CCG, especially as I note this forum has a "trade" section. My (possibly wrong) assumption about LCG's is that the core set and expansions will contain a fixed set of all possible cards. Continuing with that assumption in mind, is the purpose of trade here merely to obtain additional copies of particular cards, as opposed to filling a complete lack?

As an avid player of Arkham Horror, I'm naturally interested CoC, but would not be interested in - do not have time or energy for - trading in order to get my hands on some rare card I've yet to obtain from countless booster pack purchases (such as long since turned me off M:tG).

Well, this game used to exist as a collectible card game, so there is a trade forum addressing the collectible format. It was re-vitalized as a non-collectible game, the "living" format. However, even in this guise, there is opportunity for trading. For example, if you purchase an asylum pack you will get cards from different factions. If you are trying to build up on Cthulhu, and your friend is building up on Yog-Sothoth, you might trade your cards to maximize your build opportunities. In the Asylum pack several of the cards come in a group of 3, but some come with only 1 per pack. So there is the opportunity for trading to minimize expenditures.

Alright, I think I get it. Your answer and those to a similar question posted in the main forum (which I only noticed afterward) helped clear it up.

One more question: does a single Core set contain enough that two persons can play the game, or should each player possess their own set?

FFG will insist that the game is playable out of the box. And it is. Imagine Lance Armstrong with training wheels, or Michael Phelps with floaties.

You need three of each, not only for a good build, but because there are so few legal cards now. You'd need to include every card out in a faction to make a legal mono deck. Now how is that deckbuilding?

There's plenty of room for mono deck building once you add some asylum packs.

Responding to the OP, it's random fixed sets, like a CCG but on a smaller scale and without the random. The "Living" part comes from mostly monthly releases of asylum packs with 40 cards each (20 unique cards overall - 3x of 10, 1x of 10).

I have played over 50 games with only the contents of a single core set shared between two people, and enjoyed them very much.

I prefer that style of 'fun' play to carefully constructed and tuned decks which efficiently strangle your opponent's chances, and prevent him from having much fun.

Buy a core set, you will like the game.

Chick

There are as little as 33 cards per faction (up to 38). That's 12 characters, 12 support, 12 events. For a mono deck, you have 36 total playable characters filling, in a classic deck, 30 slots. You're wedging in every single card. It's like a bucket full of no tactics.

johnny shoes said:

Ok... I find myself giggling uncontrollably at the thought of Phelps w/ floaties.

johnny shoes said:

Does one core set allow deckbuilding?

The question is:

Can you play the game with one core set?

And the answer to that is a definitive YES.

You can play over a hundred games with different two faction combos alone. For anyone coming from a board game background that's more than sufficient.

Yep. I'm getting the Ancient Horrors AP (mainly for the Ancient Ones) tomorrow to add to the Core Set and I think I'll be done with add-ons after that. We'll just play 2 factions + random neutrals to make up the numbers, as we have with just the Core Set.