Hi everyone!

First of all, thanks for your reading and help.

This afternoon I played my first game of Akrham. I've had the game for a long time, but I never found the time for reading and compiling all the rules. Apart of being a lot of small rules and details, albeit long I think the rules are comprehensive and not that hard, just very dense.

There are a few questions that came out while playing, which I hope you can help me with them. I've read the rules and the FAQs in detail, but I can't find anything about it:

a) The Terror Marker seemed to raise extremely slowly. We were two players against Yig, and the marker only moved twice because of too much enemies in the outskirts of Arkham. Is it something I'm doing wrong with the Terror Marker?

b) The Doom Track also felt a bit slow to fill. We only added a doom token to Yig with a portal was opened. Several times we draw a mythos card with a location in which it was already a portal. Do we have to place a doom token in that case as well? When exactly do we need to place a doom token?

c) Can an investigator have and/or use two cards with the same name? (e.g.: two .45 caliber revolver, or two spells with the same name)

So far this is it! I guess the more we play the more doubts will appear, as I can see quite some complexities.

Thanks again for your help, and second round of questions to come soon!

a) Nope. In the base game only, the terror level doesn't have the presence that it really should. Fortunately, most of the expansions increase TL activity: namely, King in Yellow, Dunwich Horror, and Innsmouth Horror.

b) A doom token is added when a new gate opens, but not when one opens where there is already a gate, or if one opens on a seal (nothing happens then). Yig also has a special ability that gives him doom tokens, if you notice. Yes, the doom track can be slow sometimes. Again, nearly every expansion makes the doom track a little more active. But if you noticed that the doom track was a bit too slow with Yig, then you might have just gotten weird luck.

c) You sure can! In fact, if you had two of the same card (+1 Sneak, for example), you use them both. You'd get a +2 to Sneak and Evade checks, and you'll get two additional dice for each clue you spend on a Sneak or Evade check! In fact, the only duplicates you can't use are those that you can't have duplicates of in the first place (Blessing, Bank Loan, Curse, Retainer).

Thanks a lot Tibs, that was of a great help.

A couple more questions raised, with which hopefully you or someone help can give us a hand.

a) Again with the objects, the rules specify that players can only use 'two hands' on objects. All of us had a lot of objects, worth several hands. We were not sure how to handle this, so we decided to, before any roll, select two hands worth of objects to get the bonus, so we could be switching items depending of what was the roll for. Is that legal or do we need to select the objects at the beginning of the turn or at any other time?

b) We are a bit confused about the differences between a closed and a sealed gate. I see that for the victory conditions, for instance, you need to close all the opened gates in Arkham to win, or you could seal only 6, so that's already a change. But what's the difference while playing? Do you only seal gates (spending 5 clue tokens or an elder sign) to place an elder sign and avoid another gate opening in the same location?

c) And the last one for combat. We found no reference at all for this. If two investigators are at the same location, with a monster, does it affect at all to the combat? Can both investigators join forces somehow to defeat the fiend more easily?

Thanks again for your help. Arkham Horror has been a true discovery, and so far it quickly raising to our favorite game!

hi its my favourite game too, easily.

a) You can do what you did, its fine to switch weapons over if you keep to 2 hands (or 3 for Marie with spells), so long as you remember that spells and some weapons exhaust and are then non useable until Upkeep comes.

b) basically yes, thats the advantage, you buy time for the team if that happens, and sealing is waaay easier than closing. Most true victories are seals (I count final battle wins as draws, after which the entire team commits suicide or is never heard from again), Ive had about 2 dozen closes in hundreds of games...

c) You're on your own, but there are house rules out there...

Man, just finished my reply when I see dj2.0 beating me to it. Mind you, he's a much more reliable rules guru than I...

On the point of house ruling for ©, I will paste the last bit of my reply here....

c) Ah. I think you've got this one wrong... In so far as I know, there's no way of doing "cooperative combat". In the situation you describe there, whichever investigator moves first (following the order from rotation from the first player*) is the one who has to deal with the monsters first. If they successfully evade the monsters, they can leave them for the next player to deal with if s/he's hunting for trophies.

* it should be noted that I've managed to overlook the whole rotation-from-first-player turn order for the entire number of games that I've played, leading to "simultaneous turns" (where everybody was considered to move at once) which in turn led to a bizarre sort of "cherry-picking" of who takes on what monsters first. This was a very wrong rules interpretation and I don't know how I managed to overlook it for so long. But, in retrospect, that method of playing did lead to much strategic discussion amongst players (and many a headache during multi-investigator solo games) which was undoubtedly fun but extraordinarily time-consuming. Just thought I'd ruminate on that here, because it does make for an interesting House Rule when strategising for monster combat.

Mylo said:

Thats interesting, I hadnt thought of that, it gives a very simple solution to those who want team combat, they dont even have to be in the same location together at the same time, one can move, attack, win or fail then tag another investigator. But to do it like the box says there has to be a bundle of players onto the sucker. And they need the sedanette to mow their way through the cultists in the way of the cthonian

a) You only have to select hands when dealing with Combat Encounters, and the choice can be made/changed round to round (that is, before/between any number of Combat Checks against the same monster). Most base game combat Spells have the clause "until end of combat", but you still have to devote whatever hands it requires during any Combat Check you wish to use it for (you can cast and use a Wither with one hand, and use the other hand to pick up any one-handed gun, knife, or stick while you keep that one hand on the Wither).

b) With just the base game, a Sealed Location will never pop another gate again (well, almost never, heh). Thus, no doom tokens from that location on a Mythos card, no monster surges starting from that location, etc. You virtually make that red diamond a green diamond, and that makes a game that much easier to win. (Don't get used to that, though. When you start adding expansions...the world gets less and less safe.) It is generally considered to be MUCH easier to win by "Sealing Six" than "Closing All" (although, with luck, "Sealing 3-4 and Closing The Rest" is not too hard either).

c) Not in the manual. Whomever moves first during the Movement Phase faces the beast all by their lonesome; if they fail to defeat it, or sneak away from it, the next player can take his shot, all alone as well. Thematically, most Locations have a decent chunk of real estate involved: just because Jenny and Joe are at the Train Station doesn't mean they're anywhere near each other. Or worse, the many-acred Woods or labyrinthine Black Cave.

Welcome to the Carnival, Rafalas! I'm with DJ: my most favorite game EVER.

Third play session yesterday. It was an 8 player investigator team in a 6 hours long game against Cthulhu. A couple more questions appeared:

a) Although most of the team was new to the game, many of them found that AH games were too long. Can you guys please tell me what's your average game time depending on the number of players? I would like to compare how, for experienced players, the game time reduces.

b) So far we're playing the basic game, but I have Dunwich Horror, King in Yellow and Pharaoh King expansions as well. Does any of these three increase the speed of the game significantly? (by making the Elder One awake faster, opening more portals, etc...)

c) It was a couple of times when we were not sure when exactly combat happens. I've a couple of examples:

1) During the movement phase, I am sure that combat happens instantly when moving out of a location with a monster, or finishing the movement in a location with a monster. I guess that's correct.

2) During the monsters movement phase, if a monster moves to a location with a player in it, does combat happen instantly?

3) During the Arkham encounters phase, if the encounter says a monster appears, I guess combat happens instantly. Am I correct?

4) During the Arkham encounters phase, if the encounter forces the player to move to another location, in which there's a monster. Does combat happen instantly?

d) Also regarding combat, we played that in a location where, for instance, there are 4 monsters, a player can avoid the fist, fight the second, avoid the third and fight the fourth. Is that legal?

e) We found very hard to get money, generally. Is the same case for you guys?

f) Yesterday I had faith on Cthulhu's awakening, being an 8 players team, raising the possibilities that it could happen. But Cthulhu only got to 8 in his Doom Track. Terror level was raised to 10 at one point after a couple of monster floods in a row (there are no outskirts in an 8 player team). For those experienced players out there, is it normal that is so hard for the Elder One to awake? Is there any expansion that makes it easier for the Big Old Nasty to stop sleeping?

Again, thanks a lot mates for your help! I really appreciate it!

a) Mine is about 2-3 hrs, you can check out other peoples in the Arkha Horror Statistics thread in the sticky bit.

b) It depends, but generally Id say yes, they end the game quicker. Some slow it down, for example DH gate bursts can make the game stretch on much much longer.

c) 1. correct. 2. no, not until movement. 3. yes. 4. no (i think, there have been some reversals from FFG on this)

d) thats legal

e) yeah, unless you start with a source it can be hard to come by. Try visiting the newspaper.

f) In using only the base game Cthulhu can take time to wake up, he is very very sleepy yes, it sounds about normal. Many expansions make it more likely the AO awakes, but Innsmouth has to be top.

dj2.0 said:

Yeah I wondered about this as well a while back. The faq on this site states the following:

Q: If a location card tells an investigator that he may move
to another location and have an encounter there, what
happens if the location has a monster and/or gate on it?

A: First, the investigator must successfully evade or fight
any monsters at the location. If successful, the investigator
has a normal Arkham Encounters Phase at the new location,
following either the “Gate” or “No Gate” instructions
on pages 8-9 of the rulebook.

In short you deal with the monsters before you get an encounter at the new location.

Yes that was the first official ruling I think. Then later on these forums, Kevin changed his mind and changed it to movement phase. Im just not sure if it ever became offical, or he changed it back again, curse him!

Yes, you're right he did change it to the movement phase. GAH! *loses 2 sanity*

LOL! It must be the day for it, I just learned I was doing magical resistance all wrong after 5 years, DOH

My games (mainly solo, running 4 investigators, or with a friend running 2+2) don't often go past 2 hours. I'm using everything but KH. I think in 23 games after adding IH, I'm probably still in the 14-15 Mythos card average per game. A few of those under 10 Mythos card flukes bring down the average, but only two games I think have gone beyond 20 Mythos either.

a) You increase playing time with every player you add, but by how many minutes each player increases depends on the level of experience and socialization of the players. When I'm playing alone (with 3-4 Investigators), I finish in between 2 and 3 hours. When I'm playing with 3-4 buddies, it's closer to 5 or 6. But then, we're there for the party as much as the game, so extraneous social interaction eats up a lot of time.

b) Most likely. There are more ways for the Ancient One to score doom tokens in those expansions, so you probably won't get any more of those endgame lulls while you're lazily figuring out how to seal that sixth gate.

c1) Correct! (Excellent!)
c2) No. As far as I can remember, combat NEVER happens during Monster Movement. (This is not to say DAMAGE doesn't happen: cthonian, colour, werewolf.)
c3) Yes. (Although keep a mind on your terminology; the ENCOUNTER happens instantly. Combat only happens if you fail/don't try that initial Evade.)
c4) BLEH. I don't care anymore. When the updated FAQ comes, we'll all have our answer. The way I play, the answer is currently, "No. Encounters with monster chits physically on the board happen only during the Movement Phase."

d) Absolutely! (Excellent again!)

e) Yeah, that's fair to say. Look for the $ icons at the bottom of locations; Hibbs Roadhouse, Newspaper, Administration, or the Woods (be wary) have money-making opportunities. My cult still appreciates being employed as the Deputy, for the paycheck and the company car.

f) See b above. With the base game alone, unfortunately, it IS a bit normal for the Ancient One to fail to awaken after you've sealed a fair amount of locations. But almost any expansion will cut down on that delay considerably.

With experienced player I would expect 1 hour plus 15 minutes per investigator. Our 8 players games typically take 2.5-3 hours, sometimes a lot shorter, occasionally a little longer. Under 30 minutes or over 4 hours is very rare for us.

Thanks a lot everyone for your help!

This weekend we'll have our next session, in which I'll include The King in Yellow and The Dark Pharaoh as 'passive' content. I'll tell you how it went!

PD: I'm slowly becoming obsessed about this game :-/

bwahahaha! soon the slide will become a freefall into the maw of cthulhu, from whence none can return!!!