Also, bear in mind that the shops aren't all equally distant from possible gates. Apologies if you already realized all this, but:

The Magic Shop will 'attract' Zorg from the Woods, Hist Society and Science Building

The Curiositie Shop will get him if he appears at Independence Square and possible from the Unvisited Isle/Unnameable

The General Store will get him if he crops up at the Black Cave, the Graveyard, the Witch House, the Silver Twilight Lodge or Hibb's Roadhouse and possibly from the Univisted Isle/Unnameable.

The Isle/Unnameable are an equal distance from the latter two shops, so presumably the first player would decide where Zorg went. However generally speaking it will be rare to see Zorg at the Magic Shop, fairly common to see him at the Curiosity Shop, and very common to see him at the Gen Store. Now that I think about it, this is probably how that should work anyway.

I cooked up a Guardian/Herald combo a while ago, what do you guys think about it? Idea's? Sugestions?

Couple of question about that Wächter/Verkünder combo:

* Do I get it right that the 1 doom token thing can only happen if both of them roll a 1 and in that case its always a 2 doom token event?

* I dunno, but to me it seems that the evil looking Verkünder is actually the more benefical of those two. So I'd switch the images and designations as Guardian/Herald around or exchange most of their effects (except the flame thing).

Oh, and you might want to add some alternate mechanic to get them out of the cup, because at the current size of the monster cup they won't see each other very often. Like: Each time a cultist is drawn replace it with the Wächter or the Verkünder unless the investigators sacrifize something (clue tokens, spells, weapons, ...)

kilrah said:

Hi there,

I recently opened and added my Kingsport expansion to my Arkham Horror games (I liked the base game so much I brought all the expansions when they were on sale nine months ago. Kingsport was my last to be opened and trialed). I liked it for the two games I played but I felt Kingsport itself didn't add enough 'flavour' and definately did not get visited often enough. To change this I created the following herald (The original was play tested and found a little bit lacking so I've tweaked it slightly)

Name: Mists of Chaos

Start of game: Draw Mythos cards until you draw a card that would both add a rift progression marker in Kingsport and satisfy all other starting criteria.

<h1>The Bonds are Weakening</h1>
At the end of every Mythos phase draw another Mythos card. Compare the monster movement symbols to the rift progression track. If the symbols match a progression area add a random rift marker to the relevant space on the track.
All rifts in play then move again according to the directions on the second Mythos card.
Then discard the Mythos card without any further effects.
<h1>Kingsport Disturbance</h1> When a rift is created randomly select one of the rift progression markers on that rift progression track. The rift opens at that location.
<h1> The horror continues </h1>
Whenever a monster surge occurs, after placing all appearing monsters in Arkham place monsters on Central Hill equal to the number of investigators currently in Kingsport.
<h1> It's a small town </h1>
All non stationary monster's in Kingsport are considered to be stalkers.
<h1> Doom comes this way </h1>
If for any reason a rift progression marker would be added to any rift progression track, but it cannot be placed due to the track being full, instead add a doom token to the doom track.

(Whilst I've used the strange eons creation thing I have not been able to attach my picture. I apoligise).

Just some comments about the Herald and how it went in the playtest.

1) The rifts became a lot more terrifying. There was always one investigator constantly trying to close rifts, however some turns two investigators were needed.

2) The Kingsport cards adding clues to the stable locations (which were sometimes in Arkham) meant that rift clearing could be coupled with collecting clues, so there was some nice overlap.

3) The doom track only recieved two extra doom tokens from the inability to lay rift progression markers.

4) The game was ultimately lost due to the rumour that opened all gate rifts if failed. The originial herald had all monsters moving on the second card also. The rumour was over the turn after it entered play. The next turn one gate moved along it's coloured symbol twice, and Yog-Sothoth awoke. I found that moving monsters twice meant investigators were often 'jumped' in Kingsport, and made the board more unpredictable in Arkham.

5) About the right quantity of monsters appeared in Kingsport. However they could still be evaded most of the time if the investigator needed to.

I'd be interested in feedback. Additionally I have not read many of Lovecraft's writings so a better name would be apprechiated.

Perhaps something like "Music in the Mists."'

Flavour text: For as the voice which has come has brought fresh mists from the sea and from the north fresh lights, so do they say that still other voices will bring more mists and more lights, till perhaps the olden gods may come out of the deep and make their dwelling here.

From the story named "The Strange High House in the Mists." And it sounds perfect for the herald you have.

McCaber said:

That's very good thank you, and even people who haven't read the short story will see how is links in.

Making a speed -4 check that needs 3 successes seems a little excessive considering the highest possible speed is 7 (?) and maybe half have 3/4 speed. I'd say make it -3 if you're in a location and -2 if you're in the streets as you try to escape from the area or discrad an item(s) that provide 2/3 movement points and leave the area. Gives the investigators more of a chance that way.

Also, what happens after the clash? Do they stay there or move? Maybe whoever lost goes to the first location listed on the next mythos card (say Miskatonic for Terrible Experiment rather than the gate location) and if it's a draw they both go?

Got another Nyarlathotep herald to make use of Masks and Worshippers...

It's my first SE production ever so criticism is hugely welcomed.

Uh.. Can everyone read that alright?

I was having a bit of difficulty wording the "Rallying the Worshippers" bit:

I guess I can best illustrate it with examples:

Rhan-Tegoth is worshipped by Gnoph-Keh, of which there's only one. So your Cult cup would consist of the Masks, the High Priest and the solitary Gnoph-Keh.

On the other hand, there are loads of Cultists so a Cult cup for, say, Ithaqua would consist of the Masks, the High Priest and 5 cultists.

Does that make sense? Can anyone word that any better?

I'd also appreciate it if anyone can come up with more appropriate headings...

Updated: I can't seem to edit my above post again...

Still looking for criticism, ways to tidy up the language and more thematic headings.

I think it's a very fine design for a Nyarlathotep herald ;') even though it is far less cruel than mine. For completing the circle, you may want to make it so that every time an investigator can not draw from the Cult Cup they must add a doom token rather than having it as a one time phenomenon. Besides, at that point the game should end fairly quickly regardless. Having all the masks on the board plus five extra monsters? Heh... It's pretty much game over anyways. Also, do you intend the non-mask monsters from the cult cup to count against the monster limit, because currently as your card is worded, they do.

Faithful servant is a bit weak (if I were doing it I'd probably have them adjust the combat modifier), but I guess I just have a tendency to like inordinately difficult challenges ;') If you wanted to make some sort of compromise between our styles you could change it to adding additional doom tokens rather than additional successes (that way it would not be essentially insignificant).

Mylo said:

Avi_dreader said:

Thanks, man. I've really liked the other two Nyarlathotep heralds that are on the earlier pages, but I kinda wanted something a bit toned down for my groups. Mainly just lookin for an excuse to use more Masks and see more worshippers in effect for the sake of theme.

Avi_dreader said:

Ugh, yeah... the wording clearly didn't come out clear enough. I've changed it now to(new bits underlined):

" Mass Following
All Cultists gain the Endless ability
Any monster initially drawn from the Cult cup are put into the Monster cup if defeated instead of being taken as a Monster trophy. Monsters can never be returned to the Cult cup. "

So, say, Shudde M'ell's the AO, you draw a chtonian from the Cult cup and it goes on the Black Cave, then some nutter kills it and it's put into the Monster cup, making it sorta pseudo-endless. If any chthonian is drawn from the monster cup (as opposed to the Cult cup) it can be taken as a trophy.

Hoping that makes it clearer...? It's why I wanted to make "Completing the Circle" (yuck! can anyone think up a better subtitle?) a one-off thing: I figured it's inevitable for the Cult cup to run empty and I don't want to beat the investigators to death for it happening. Non-Cultist worshippers gaining pseudo-endless I was hoping would be bad enough. maybe two doom tokens?

Maybe for clarifications purposes, I should say that these cult monsters should go on the Herald sheet instead of into a brand new cup?

Avi_dreader said:

That's exactly what I intend. Nyarlathotep's got his eyes everywhere, the Worshippers are still just grunts. .... Okay, "Eyes are Everywhere!" was a bit of an afterthought born from my obsession with getting the Masks on the board and lopsided attempt at following a theme. I do question whether it actually ramps up the challenge or not. Think I should just lose that rule altogether?

Avi_dreader said:

Yeah, my initial intention was to go along with more doom tokens for the final battle, followed by combat modifier adjustment... Then, having looked at Tibs' stats report regarding Heralds, I decided to go for Dagon-style Final Battle influence.

Hmmm... so a better deal might be...

" Faithful Servant
If the Ancient One awakens, add up the total toughness of any Mask monsters currently in play and add that many doom tokens to the Ancient One's doom track."

This is my first attempt at a Herald.

Meet T'Yog, the High Priest of Shub-Niggurath in ancient Mu and the poor sap that carried the visage of Ghatanothoa to the modern age.

Blackburn said:

Yikes! This one is brutal... I LOVE IT! I'm going to print it out :'D Great job, and not just for a *first* herald.

One thing. Can you post a higher resolution copy of the card, because currently the text is a little blurry.

Heh... Also, do you want any editorial help with the flavor text though? "Alive through death as aeons passed, T'yog carries forbidden lore that mankind has long since forgotten and Ghatanothoa's dread image scorched into his sunken eye sockets." Also, "The Living Mummy" sounds strange (because undead traditionally aren't viewed as alive, it also sounds redundant because the next sentence contains alive), why not change it to "The Undying One" or "The Last Man of Ancient Mu." Also, for the next text chunk, "That thing, that face! Mercifully half hidden by its hideous hands, its jaw jutted out to impossible lengths. Its shrivelled features... They bore such monstrosity that few could see it and not have their minds shattered in terror."

At the very least you need to correct the second sentence in your card, it should be "carries" not "cares"

Oh, also a thematic change, you might want to have "Joined in Living Death" raise the terror level by one instead, and perhaps change the heading so that it indicates how the investigator went mad (and worse) told others of the face (and perhaps some of the forbidden lore).

Do Nyarlethotep's masks go into the monster cup after being defeated? If you don't want them to, you could just say "Return monsters from the Cultist Cup to the box after they are defeated, unless they are cultists." (Or you could just ditch the whole endless cultist ability and get rid of that last phrase too). From a practical point of view, this will also make after-game cleanup easier.

Okay, regarding completing the circle, I didn't realize it wasn't your intent to have the Cultist cup run out (in which case leave it at one, it's enough of a penalty as it is).

I'm also not quite sure I understand exactly how you want your monsters to be treated. Are you saying that *all monsters* in the Cultist Cup are Cultists? And hence have endless? In that case you shouldn't call them cultists because it will lead to confusions with Worshippers abilities.

Yikes! Your faithful Servant penalty is considerably harder than the one I suggested. You might want to give the investigators some bonus if the Cultist Cup is empty and they can successfully clear the board of all the masks (even if it's something small like 3 or 4 clue tokens for the first player, it'd still be nice considering that with all three expansions, nice movement turns minimum will need to be spent to clear the board of the masks, it's like having a rumor out with no pass reward— while in fact it's considerably harder than The Great Experiment) Anyways, your herald, your call :')

Mylo said:

Avi_dreader said:

Thanks Avi. Glad you like it.

I've made a couple of changes on your advice. Some things I kept the same for flavour reasons.

T'Yog isn't a creation of mine. I mean, this card and what it has is, but not the character. It is from a story by H.P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald called Out of the Aeons . That story specifically deals with Ghatanothoa. Its where he is introduced, and T'Yog holds a central roll in that story.

The reason that he is called the Living Mummy is because he isn't undead. He was the sole human to see Ghatanothoa in ancient Mu (the only one not sacrificed at least), and this was his fate. To look upon Ghatanothoa, or even a perfect image of the Great One, is to be instantly mummified, your body reduced to a leathery and stone shell. What is worse, your internal organs and brains are locked in this shell, perfectly healthy and preserved, leaving you completely aware until your brain is destroyed. T'Yog was trapped aware for over 175,000 years by the time of the story. Needless to say, its a fate worse than death.

But the important part, and the reason that characters are devoured by Ghatanothoa and not driven mad, is that a perfect image of it does the same thing, and the last thing that T'Yog saw, the Ancient One, was burned into his corneas, causing the same fate to befall a cultist in the story when he used a scroll to try to free the mummy to gain its knowledge.

The flavour text describing T'Yog is straight out of the story, which is why I used it.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Aeons

Anyway, here's the updated Herald. If its still too blurry I'll try a higher resolution.

Alright. Fair enough. Well. Good job :')

Significantly reworked him...

Yeeeessss... I like this one. I think I will print it out as a herald too :'D Kindof sad there's no flavor text though.

Avi_dreader said:

Sorted. All flavour straight from the pen of Howie himself .

(Although it does kinda clutter up the card... Formatting recommendations?)

In the time I was gone it looks like I actually created something here. More people trying to turn Nyarlathotep into a Herald. Seems there are enough people who believe he would be better suited to being a Herald as opposed to an Ancient One.

Anyways, a new creation based on Soul Eater. Check the Custom Great Ones thread for Medusa.

dkw said:

Hey my Nyarlethotep herald was not designed to replace him ;') I can't even remember if you ever saw her, The Maskless? I'm working on a few ideas for another herald or ancient one (probably a herald— I kindof prefer them).

If anyone has tried any of my heralds, could you please post feedback? Once I design one more (Janus) I'm heading down to Kinkos to print out everything I've made in the last year and a few other things other players have made that I like. So... If there's anything that could use correcting. Now's the time to know :')

Here's a repost of a herald I made way back when. The rules text on it have not significantly changed. It's basically just some error fixing, image changing, and flavor text enhancement. I hope you enjoy. Play it with the Dracula AO I'm about to post in a couple minutes if you want an extreme challenge (if you do that, I would advise you pre-select characters— while banning the Kate/Arcane Insight combo, of course).

Ugh... I should've clarified this in the card, but it's not going to happen... When a monster appears and attacks from Rain of Maggots, it happens during an investigator's upkeep, hence, if the monster is defeated in combat, it won't take away the movement phase (it also won't remain on the board whether you defeat or evade it). Then again... Maybe it's better I explained that here.

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/LichKing2.jpg

and here is a direct link to Dracula:

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Dracula.jpg

I fixed The Pied Piper (finally). Enjoy.

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/ThePiedPiper2.jpg