- a variant. Its simple but makes things harder. With the exception of Luke, those Investigators whose personal story involves being devoured or waking the AO, and those who must visit Otherworlds, no investigator can go through a gate unless the personal story is passed or failed, or they are forcibly drawn through a gate by game effects. Once an investigator is drawn through or completed the PS, they can willingly enter gates. Ignore exceptions for a truly rough time.

Rationale: the PS is the investigators way of finding out whats really going on in Arkham.

I am trying it out right now, against Shub with Di, Glo, Akache and Aggie. So far it works nicely though just as Agnes and Glo were about ready to pass, gates opened under them...

update: this variant is quite interesting, it forces investigators to explore town in the early stages while doom is climbing fast, and brings about more rising tension mid to late game. You might not have much chance against Yig or Ithaqua though (especially with the BG herald).

This variant worked out nicely, it made for a much tenswer finish, by the time the last PS was done away with, there were only 2 seals and shub was on 7 doomers. However the story was Akaches and there were now clues everywhere, including in the investigators pockets, and Agnes was deputy. A find gate had also been bought for 5 dollars by Diana at the magic shop after an encounter let her fish any spell out of the deck. A mad race to make 4 seals was pushed to the breaking point before shub awoke just in time. She shrugged off the sealing of the beasts power on turn 1 with a sinister plot, but was taken down by a rain of spells including fists of yog sothoth wielded by Akache and Agnes who kept scoring 4-6 successes.

Im going to keep playing with this variant.

forgot to add, it was waaay tough not spending any gate trophies while akache was trudging through otherworlds, she kept getting delayed and this was a big factor in the tension. Without that things would likely have gone down more smoothly.

So this variant excludes: Akachi, Pete, Darrell, Harvey, Kate, Lily, Luke, Mark, Norman and Silas. I suppose you could make the argument that Mark and Pete can only enter Ryleh and the Dreamlands, respectively. But other than that, it would be extremely harsh to levy that penalty against these stories.

Furthermore, from what I've seen, the following characters do not really care about this variant. Either they easily pass (or fail) their story or they usually want to have it passed (or failed) before entering a gate anyway: Bob, Daisy, Gloria, Patrice, Roland, Tony.

Finally, the following characters could have a horrible game, depending on luck in fulfilling their randomized or difficult conditions: Dexter, Finn, George, Jacqueline, Jim, Leo, Mandy, Minh, Rita and Trish. They won't necessarily have a bad time every game, but it only takes one for some players to never look at that character again. What's Mandy supposed to do while waiting for her story to pass or fail? Special Mention goes out to Tommy, who can't get into any gates until the terror level is five or he dies.

Objectively, gameplay for more than half of the characters really isn't improved by this variant. Don't take me the wrong way. I really like this idea - it makes the Personal stories really matter for gameplay purposes. I was behind that from the start. But I want some way to really involve the above characters into this variant. This could be accomplished perhaps by changing the rule for some of these guys? Perhaps by making some new personal stories, as well...

For those trying to make Personal Stories matter more, there are loads of options you can take.

The first option is so obvious that I'm surprised it isn't part of the actual game rules. Namely, Personal Stories count towards your Score at the end of the game. You could have Passed Stories are worth +1 and Failed Stories are worth -1. Or even Passed Stories are worth +2, Failed Stories are worth -3 and incomplete stories (those neither passed nor failed) are worth -1.

Or, how about Investigators who have not passed their Personal Story may not spend clue tokens during the final fight?

Or Investigators who have not passed their Personal Story may not leave Arkham for one of the other towns (I don't recommend playing with just the Innsmouth expansion if this is the option you go for)?

Or Investigators who have not passed their Personal Story may not use the game text of any location other than the Asylum or Hospital?

I think there are plenty of options available without a house rule that severly nerfs the Investigators flamethrower49 mentioned.

Stenun said:

I think FFG doesn't care much about scoring. One obvious chance they had to change scoring was with heralds and guardians. I still keep score but we don't really pay much attention to it and it doesn't really affect our game play.

Yes there are some kinks. it was an idea that just popped in, said use me, and so I started trying it without much thought that very moment. However, in gameplay, you will often have gates open on investigators, which addresses some of these concerns. At least 2 gates opened under investigators in the last game, and in my 4 team games that seems an average. Other things need attention in town too, so get those investigators on those things - rumours, innsmouth, monsters blocking movement.

"So this variant excludes: Akachi, Pete, Darrell, Harvey, Kate, Lily, Luke, Mark, Norman and Silas."

For these investigators, you could add this "These investigators can willingly enter a gate only when they pass a Luck check using the gates difficulty modifier and spend 2 clue tokens". Or just add that rule to all investigators.

Bobs, Glos, Daisys and Rolys storys are just too easy, full stop. For them Id suggest a toll of having to spend some or all of their story won clues on being able to pass through gates (2 or 3 seems balanced). Tony could spend some of the cash, say 5-6 dollars, or if he fails would need to spend enough clues gathered from trophies as the ones above, say 2-3, which have to be claimed for monsters defeated after the fail. With Mark and Pete, try the Luck based gate check roll + 2 clues. Pete rarely gets his dreamlands gate turn up by doom 5 anyway (at least in my games where i use all gate tokens). Same with Mandy with her 5 elder sign blocks by terror 5 and thats without the DoR track which kind of cripples her chances of passing full stop. She and Tommy could also use the Luck roll and clues to bypass the variant.

And yes some investigators like those you mentioned, Dex etc, have a ***** of a time some games dont they and this variant stacks their odds slightly more unfavourably. Isnt that inevitable and part of the game? You could argue that AH itself is not suited to those players who wouldnt like that. Look at the Dark pharaoh herald and monterey. Or Ygolonac and monterey. The game is rife with combos that can cripple us. What about the gate to Ryleh opening on Silas in setup or mythos - instadoom. It might look unfair, but its part of the game we play.