Looking for recommendations. Who's played them, and which ones do you enjoy the most?

I've played Arkham Horror two or three times an I own Elder Sign. I like both of these because of the cooperative nature. Arkham Horror is great because it sort of tells a story as you go. It's not a super deep story, but you can tell tales of the little adventures the investigators go or how so-and-so got lost in another dimension. The problem with Arkham Horror is that it's a bit clunky and is showing its age. I still think it's fun, but it does take a while. Presumably, Eldritch Horror keeps the same kind of story elements, but streamlines the game and puts it in a world-wide context instead of being in a single town.

Elder Sign takes Arkham Horror's main components and distills them down to a dice game where your investigators explore rooms in a haunted museum, looking for clues that will help them collect Elder Signs - ancient artefacts and spells used to seal away the ancient old ones. In both Arkham Horror and Elder Sign, you need to gather these Elder Signs to seal the ancient old one away before it awakens. If you don't, you have to fight it!

I've read quite a bit of Lovecraft's stories and I think FFG does a decent job of taking that style of horror and putting it into a board game. The biggest difference, though, is that Lovecraft's characters ususally never fight the freaky evils they encounter. They are usually powerless and full of fear. In the interest of making a compelling game, FFG chose to have some combat-type stuff in their games. You can find pistols, knives, shotguns, etc. to help you in your investigations. That rarely happens in lovecraft's stories (but there are a few notable exceptions).

As a Star Wars fan, I prefer Elder Sign because it's shorter, so I have more time to play Star Wars games. But there aren't really any cooperative Star Wars games at the moment, so this game fits nicely into my collection. And it only costs $30 instead of $80. But I highly recommend finding someone with Arkham Horror and getting a game in, just for the experience. But be warned about Elder Sign, some say it is very easy. If you get the first print run, though, and play by those rules, it's a tad harder. There are some rooms that penalize you for successfully exploring them, but in later print runs those rooms give you reprieve from the doom track instea of advancing it further.

I've only ever played the original game from Chaosium games. I understand they licensed it to FFG or something like that (correct me if I am wrong), but the original game was a hoot.

Cheers for that Budgernaut - that's a hell of an in-depth answer. From that, Elder Sign seems like the better choice (streamlined, quicker paced etc), but I'm not sure if I'd prefer to go for an actual board game version like Eldritch Horror.

I can chip in on another perspective. I've played Arkham Horror (FFG version only), Mansions of Madness, and Eldritch Horror. Piggybacking onto what Budgernaut stated, Arkham is a quality experience but it is LONG and fairly complex (at least, a lot of little rules to know and look up). But the advantage of it is that it is more personal, based on a single locale, and thus tells a better story.

Eldritch Horror improves the mechanics of Arkham and streamlines them, though it can still be fairly long depending on the number of investigators, and the balance can get skewed depending on the number (and abilities) of the investigators. That being said, there is still plenty of theme to be experienced. The numerous event cards really drive home Lovecraftian situations, but unfortunately, they are generally streamlined into simple stat checks with pass/fail consequences. Additionally, the game is global-driven. You get flavors of each of the locales as you go there and specific events (and monsters) show there, but they are glimpses versus Arkham's chunks. Overall, I prefer Eldritch because of its accessibility, which increases replay.

Mansions of Madness is a one vs many game that is very specific (a single mansion/locale) and very scenario/story driven. It has tons of atmosphere, the most of any of these games, but is closer to an RPG-lite experience. It has some curious decision quirks. The combat is card-driven and narrative, which some may enjoy and adds to a cinematic experience, but other number-crunchy types may not. Also, this game has excellent miniatures as the scale is more conducive to that (over the other two, though you could easily use these minis in those games). The game is vulnerable to errors in setup; it's possible if you put the clues, puzzles, etc. wrong, you could create an unsolvable mystery. As a result, this game has a LONG setup time. But if you can put yourself past that, it is by far the most "Lovecraftian" feel, as you do not feel powerful as investigators and a cruel game manager can smoke you (though it is usually in their best interest to draw out threats for a compelling game).

Some other non-FFG Cthulhu-themed games to consider:

-Secrets of the Lost Tomb: more of an Indiana Jones/pulp adventure game, but it has a lot of Lovecraftian influences as well. Does the adventure/dungeon crawl thing really well, playing quickly like Eldritch, but on a single locale like Arkham/Mansions, and is scenario based. Also borrows mechanics from these games that would make it approachable, and with random dungeon tiles and many expansions, is very replayable.

-Shadows of Brimstone: Lovecraft meets the Weird West. Many monsters are Lovecraftian themed. This is a pure dungeon crawl, dice chucker however, but has an interesting blend of themes. Very light on story and has some balance issues that limits long-term campaign play, but still a solid game.

-Cthulhu Wars: the ultimate Cthulhu experience from the monster point of view. It's a super-expensive strategy game with enormous and amazing-quality monsters representing the Great Old Ones and their minions and cultists. Plays quickly (15-25 mins per player) and each asymmetrical faction is pretty well balanced and diverse. The sticker cost of the game is insane, however. Base game retails for $200 and with all the expansions, maps, etc., it could run nearly $1000K, and is available really only through Kickstarter runs to fund the enormous print costs (one is currently underway). This is one of my favorite games, but the cost is extremely prohibitive in my recommendation.

Nobody is gonna mention the Call of Cthulhu LCG? I really like it.

I played the CoC LCG, Elder sign, Mansions of Madness and Eldrith horror.

Elder sign has the flavor and a good price and is the lightest game of the bunch.

Lots of dice rolling makes it a bit luck heavy.

The LCG has a lot of cool cards but can be expensive if you want to buy all the expansions.

Eldrith Horror is the more streamlined cousin of Arkham horror, that let's you go on adventures across the world to save it. This one feels a bit more adventure then horror.

Mansions of Madness: All of these games look awesome but this one takes the cake, plenty of component and great minatures. This game oozes the mood of the Cthulhu mythos. If you ever plan to get into the cthulhu RPG then this is probably teh best choice, as it has a lot of cool stuff that you could use in roleplaying sessions. All this cool stuff doesn't come to cheap, but i still think it's good value for money.

Thanks for the input guys!

After talking it over with one of my pals, Mansions of Madness appears to be becoming a clear front runner, so it's good to see you're saying it's a great, atmospheric game. I think that's what we're really looking for, and the one versus many approach seems like a better option over purely co-operative gaming (our gaming group enjoys friendly rivalry and stitching each other up on occasion. We're certainly not used to working as a cohesive unit!).

That said, a couple more follow-up questions about Mansions of Madness. I gather the Keeper's role is the adversary/GM - is it then on them to make sure the game runs smoothly and is enjoyable for all, or are they essentially in it for themself? What's the replay value like? Is there a risk of becoming overly familiar with the situations and scenarios?

Most of the games we usually play are free-for all in nature (Talisman, Munchkin etc), so it might be interesting to have a co-op option available, but I still think we need an element of rivalry in there.

Here's a lett's play by Rodny Smith:

Like with most GM's you can choose how GM vs. Player you want to go. Basically the players have their character to worry about, and the GM has all the rest.

Each turn you get a certain amount (i forgot the name so I'll just call them) action points. and you can save them up if you wish. (this also allows you to adjust the dificulty, so if you don't want to kill of the players you can sort of hold back.) So for instance you might start of with little things right from the start, a cultist here a cultist there. Or you can stockpile them and when the players are starting to feel confident there's nothing bad in the house after all... Boo! Cthonians bursting trough the floor!

...and when the players are starting to feel confident there's nothing bad in the house after all... Boo! Cthonians bursting trough the floor!

Ooooooh, I hate it when that happens!

I've had EPIC moments in eldrich horror and love it. LOVE IT.

Looking for recommendations. Who's played them, and which ones do you enjoy the most?

I absolutely love Arkham Horror. I've played it several times, and the expansions are great. I think it's one of the more engaging board games I've played. Replay value is high, since events are randomized. Rules are many, but, I find, easy to learn.

Also, I like the Cards of Cthulhu. It's a semi-co-op game for 1-4 players (I think, it might go to 6). You have to use die rolls to slay eldritch horrors and cultists and to seal gates. the objective is to get through the deck and not have any gates or critters left on the board at the end of the last turn. Fun, but really challenging!

Just my opinion

Arkham Horror - I think hefty nostalgia and the rare instance where the stars align and you get a great game keep this one alive. Personally I haven't found it to be worth the time investment, but only you know what your gaming tastes are. If you are going for this, plan a weekend day.

Elder Sign - I play this the most often because it happens to be my wife's favorite game. The base game is a dice chucker and pretty lightweight for the theme. Most people will tell you Eldritch Horror is the spiritual successor to Arkham Horror. It isn't. If you want a good proxy of the AH experience without the time investment, I cannot recommend the Gates of Arkham expansion for Elder Sign enough. It makes the game so much heavier. If the wife and I have about 45 minutes to play, we tromp around the museum. If we have an hour and a half, well it's through the streets of Arkham we go!

Eldritch Horror - This is my personal favorite. This is much closer to Indiana Jones than Arkham Horror, but it is such a fun adventure. I've got the Forsaken Lore expansion, which has really ratcheted up the difficulty, I've heard the other expansions make the game easier.

Eldritch Horror: This game BUILDS Stories.

I was a PTSD suffering alcoholic Knight templar with the sword of St Jerome. with a passion for hunting deep ones (all my encounters man... all of them).