Hi,

Just played my first game of Arkham Horror this last weekend and I really like it a lot. Hope to play it again soon.

While playing though, my friends and I couldn't really figure out just when exactly the "stirs in his slumber" abilities should take place. The rule book isn't entirely clear on this. If I take it literally, I would think the old one would "stir" every time a doom token is added. (i.e. he's that much closer to waking.) Is that the case? Or is it something that takes place every round? Does the ability go away when he wakes up?

Either way fighting Cthulhu for instance seems grossly unfair in that everyone loses a sanity and a health every turn. After a few rounds, are all the investigators pretty much running around with only 1 sanity and 1 stamina? Is there any way to gain back those points once you lose them? (Didn't know if maybe there were items or spells that added extra.)

Thanks, sorry if all of this has already been answered before. I tried searching but could really find an answer in the wiki or anything.

The so-called "slumber" abilities just refer to passive effects that occur while a particular AO is in play. So, with Cthulhu, every investigator reduces their maximum sanity and stamina by 1 -- this only happens once, not every time a doom token is added. Other times they refer to special monsters, like Nyarlatothep, whose slumber ability consists in adding the Mask monsters to the cup. Often, they're the main part of the AO's challenge, along with any worshipper abilities.

Ah ok, so the effects occur all the time then, not just when a doom token is added. I hadn't read all the Old one's abilities yet, and we only played once against Ithaqua.

So in the case of when Cthulhu awakes and attacks, is that second loss of Sanity or Stamina cumulative every turn since it's not a "start of battle" ability?

The bit under "Attack" describes what the AO does when it's their turn to attack as per the final battle rules. In Cthulhu's case, he lowers your maximum Sanity or Stamina by one. In other cases, you have to make skill checks, discard certain resources (items, trophies, etc.) or what not. In Cthulhu's case, this means you have a certain number of turns to defeat him -- when either your maximum Sanity or Stamina is reduced to 0, you are devoured. Except in special cases, this will probably happen to everyone on the same turn.

jabo2099 said:

In case you're wondering, the AOs' "in slumber" abilities are still in effect all through final battle. This only really affects Cthulhu: when he awakens, you don't get your 1 maximum sanity and stamina back that you lost at game setup.

Ok, I think I got it now. Thanks all. =)