Brutal, Avi! But cool. I like the day/night mechanic on the Lich King. Did you see my lich? I think this game needs liches. They're cool

Admiral142 said:

Post a link (your creations always make me sad since they tend to include components I won't use so I don't print them out even though they're often interesting). And yeah, I agree, liches are lovely :') I wish someone would comment on my version of Dracula... I think I did a pretty good job on it, but it's also pretty tough, so...

My lich is on the last page of the AO's thread. He uses standard game components, though he does have 10 sinister plot cards. I kind of stole the idea from Uv, but with quite a different twist, I think.

If I released a full custom expansion, would you be interested in that, Avi?

Admiral142 said:

No, I'll probably read the cards for details, but I hate printing out custom components. It's bad enough I'm going to have to go to Kinkos to print out ancient ones and heralds. I can barely get over the fact that the custom ancient ones will have blank backs (I like randomly selecting Ancient Ones). What that means is I'll need to create a sheet with some sort of random selection formula for picking custom AOs (I have an idea of how I'm going to do it). Ugh... I still hate it though. Oh! I remember the lich ::laughter:: yeah... Ten sinister plot cards ::shudder:: I don't print those out either. I probably should, but... ::Sigh:: maybe... After I see what Kinkos charges. I hate having backless cards though, it makes me derive less aesthetic delight from the game. Perhaps you've noticed that none of my Ancient Ones have Sinister Plots? ;') There's a reason for that. Of course, I then have to try and figure out how to make their basic attack thematic and threatening so that their final battles are difficult in a way an Ancient One in Epic Battle ought to be.

I think I'm going to have to reread your Lich plot cards in a bit ::sigh:: (I loved the picture btw), but not yet. I'm proofreading and adding some questions to the official FAQ (I made a post about it in the main section of the forum) and I really ought to get back to that first, 7 pages to go (it's 23 pages)!

I used to love Hastur. Then I realized that you can beat him really easily if you just close his gates without sealing the, and kill him with magical weapons while he has a combat modifier of -0 or -1. Consider this herald Hastur's revenge ;'D If you have any questions about how it works, just ask me. It's fairly complex, but I'm pretty sure you can understand it if you spend a few minutes reading it carefully.

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

Errr... I just realized something... Theoretically this gate could move onto another gate... Just play that it can't.

Also, if anyone really hates the picture, feel free to send me something you think would be more appropriate for Hastur (I could rework the flavor text for a card variant).

I usually HATE photos for an AH picture, but I like this one. With a little bit of imagination, I can see a robed monster in it... Very good.

Edit: Oh, it's a clown... Less impressive, but still cool...

Collex said:

Actually that's not a photoshopped explosion cloud, it actually *looks* like a clown (which to me, a person with a clown phobia— thank you Stephen King— makes it even more impressive).

::Sigh:: I wish you commented on the text or abilities. I'm not entirely pleased with this card, I feel like it could use some editing (I especially hate the flavor text— I used the word child in it twice, I'm just looking for an excuse to go back and edit it, but I'm waiting for some more commentary).

Agh! I can't deal with the horrible horrible silence!

Sorry- I would comment, but my browser has chopped the right hand side of the card off for some reason. The mobile gate bit looks interesting, at any rate. I also like the picture.

YellowPebble said:

It always does that with my heralds. That's why I always include direct links to the images. You can also right click on the image and just view the image in Safari or Firefox. Or you could just go to my photobucket account where I keep all my Arkham Horror custom components. Just search for avi_dreader on photobucket.

Well... Since no one seems to have anything to say about the herald, I think it's going to be modified significantly this weekend ;') huzzah. The picture is going to stay though (and the fact that the creature is *in* the cloud is going to be far more relevant— yes, the Servitor will still be involved, and *yes* you are going to have to go to it, and *YES* you are going to want to bring it down in a hurry).

The moving random monster Vortex is going to be joined with a Bogeyman Ancient One (it will be guarded by The Beast and cause terror to rise on rolls of 4-6 whenever it moves).

I'm also going to take the idea about elusive cultists and add them to a list of ideas I've been working on for a fixed Dunwich Horror herald :') It will involve Wizard Whatley, human sacrifice, and DOOOOOM! :') Exciting, yes? (I'm going to have him sit on Wizard's Hill as a stationary monster with physical resistance who generates a monster every turn— better block that vortex ASAP). He will respawn whenever a gate opens on Wizard's Hill.

Avi_dreader said:

Your herald is interesting, but since I don't have Innsmouth yet, I can't use it well.

Although, I have a few questions about it. When monsters appear on the First Gate, are they stuck there, or can they move off? And with "Your Fears Made Flesh," does defeating the random Ancient One defeat the herald? Also, what happens if the random AO you draw is Azathoth?

The picture makes me think of the Campbell story, "The Other Side," but only because there was a clown in that.

And a Wizard Whately herald does sound interesting. I'd probably play it, although I'll have to pick up Dunwich first. I'd probably pair Whately with Yog-Sothoth. It's apropriate, and there's nothing that says an Ancient One can't have 2 heralds (Cthulhu now being the precedent.)

DeadGuyWalking said:

The monsters on the First Gate are stuck there.

If you close the first gate, basically you stop the terror surges it causes (the Hastur enhancement effect would still take place though).

If you randomly draw Azathoth, the player who entered the gate instantly dies :'D (Of course, if you have Kingsport, Dunwich, AH, and Innsmouth, the odds of this happening are only 1 in 24, but it'll be really hilarious if it does happen after you send in your strongest investigator full of great equipment).

Anyways, that doesn't matter much, since I'm going to split the moving gate idea onto a different herald (possibly an Ancient One— The Bogeyman). I'm going to have his gate guarded by The Beast (which will teleport stalk and add a doom token whenever it devours an investigator— I changed my mind about having him raise terror levels when he moves— I'm saving that for the Servitor :') you'll see).

Ehhh... I think I'm going to fix it now.

Also, it wouldn't be a Wizard Whatley herald, it would still be a Dunwich Horror herald (I'd just take the official picture and reuse it for my version). And yes :') it will enhance Yog-Sothoth. I'm thinking about having a weakened version of the Dunwich Horror appear kindof like the tendril of Nyagotha whenever random monsters appear in Other Worlds (except it would have its toughness reduced by 3 and players wouldn't get to search decks for driving it off).

And wait till you see Janus :'D I've been thinking about him for a few months now. It's just one feature really, but it's going to make a *major* difference in how the game is played.

Heh... I also started playing around with an idea for a Shudde M'ell herald this morning. The Great White Worm. It's going to enhance Lloigors and Cthonians (they won't be affected by the monster limit, will move like stalkers, and Cthonians will do double damage for their earthquakes) ;') Also, a random Lloigor or Cthonian appears whenever a speed check or evade check is failed (except for martial law). Arkham is going to be worm infested. And it will enhance the final battle a little. Shudde is a bit to easy to deliberately wake up and kill, so I'm going to toughen him a little (Instead of drawing from the epic battle deck for his first three attacks, he will draw uncancelable attacks from his Sinister plot deck— after that, if a sinister plot card is drawn from the deck, Arkham is destroyed). Really all I need for this is a picture.

Ooookaaaay... And apparently since the picture of the worm I have found isn't of a white worm, the name of this herald will have to be changed ;'D

Here's a direct link.

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

And before you ask, a slight rules clarification: if you fail an evade check against a monster, first finish combat with that monster (or evade it) then deal with the new monster that appears ;') [i didn't want to include this in the text of the card]. Also, by random appearance, I mean keep drawing from the monster cup until you draw one or the other. Enjoy :'D

Here is the new version of The Creature in the Clouds (it's much more concentrated in its effects in my opinion— amplifying Hastur and the Servitor). It's quite different. Make sure to read it carefully even if you read the first version (which I've deleted, even though I still have it in my Strange Eons files, I suppose if someone really wants the original, they can ask me, but as I said before, I'll be redistributing its other abilities to different cards— and besides, I think this one is better). Anyways, hopefully you'll get some exciting battles from this :'D

Here's a direct link:

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/CreatureintheCloud2.jpg

Avi_dreader said:

Well, at least I can use this herald, although not in the spirit that it was intended. Without Innsmouth, I only have the two Chthonians, so only the starting one might ever see play. And I can't use the part with Shudde M'ell, because I don't have Dunwich yet.

Still, I tried it out. I obviously missed the part about them moving as stalkers. Although, do they only move as stalkers if they do their damage, or just whenever the dimensional symbol shows up?

Didn't see many failed speed check or evade checks. It happened once, and the Chthonian knocked the investigator out.

For what it's worth, it's a pretty good herald. I just have to get that expansion so I can see real terror.

DeadGuyWalking said:

::Laughter:: I'm amused, really :'D I figured someone might try it without Innsmouth (since even without the Lloigars you'd still have Shudde M'ell and Duwich). I didn't expect anyone would try it without either expansion, but it sounds like it worked for you, I'm glad :'D I hope you get the full experience someday. Why didn't you try dodging the Chthonian that appeared (they're pretty easy to evade)? I just realized I need to make the Lloigars and Chthonians endless... (Otherwise there's the problem of players collecting them all). Ehhh... Actually, that's a bit harsh. I'll just make the Lloigars endless :') that way players can still trade Cthonians, and they'll be penalized if they don't (since Lloigars are tougher to fight). Of course, that's assuming they own Innsmouth ;'D Ah hell... I'll make the Cthonians endless instead. ::Sigh:: Oh wait, I know, I'll just make them endless when they appear. :') that'll fix the problem.

And yes, stalking takes place whenever they make their special movement (regardless of whether it deals damage).

By the way, which Ancient One did you use this with? And did you win? :') And again, thanks for telling me ;') no one ever seems to tell me when they use my heralds or ancient ones (or perhaps I should say if), so I never get to ask questions about the experience.

Avi_dreader said:

Well, it appeared on Charlie. And even though he had the Sneak ability, I thought he could have taken it out with his rifle. But the dice were not with me.

I played this against Nyarlythotep (chose him randomly.) My team was Charlie, Gloria and Bob (also chosen randomly.) I managed to place down 6 seals, but it was close. The terror went up to 9 and he was one token away from waking. It didn't help that I had to deal with both Disturbing the Dead and Good Work Undone over the course of the game. Especially when GWU appeared with 5 seals in place. And Noone Can Help You Now lasting for several turns, keeping Charlie from sealing the last gate. But I managed to pull through.

Although, thinking about it now, I have a few more questions about this current herald. When you fail a speed or an evade check, you have to fight or evade a Chthonian or a Lloigor. If you fail the evade check against that, do you have to face another one? Also, if there are no Chthonians or Lloigors in the monster cup, what happens? I realize that second one is extremely unlikely if you have Innsmouth, but I just want to cover all the bases.

DeadGuyWalking said:

Yeah, you would have to draw another one. I'm modifying the card so the ones that appear for speed check failures are Endless (that way you'll still have something in the cup hopefully). I'm not quite sure what to do if there's nothing in the cup ;') you see, I really intended for there to be something. Oh, I know. I might add in a line of text stating that if there are none in the cup, reanimate a player's trophy and have it attack. ::Sigh:: then again, perhaps I'll just keep it as it is... It's quite punishing if you have both expansions.... But it makes me sad if the players can get around this ability just by only owning Dunwich ;') or not even that in your case. I think what I would do in your situation is just reanimate one of a players trophies if I weren't playing with Innsmouth.

By making speed check failure monsters endless, it was intended that the situation in which the cup would run out of Lloigors would be astronomically improbable.

Anyways, if you play this herald again before you get Innsmouth :') use my house rule just for you.

Btw, some good news for you (I'm working on a werewolf herald— or ancient one, I'm not sure yet) that you'll be able to use. Whether you'll want to is a different story of course ;')

I'm also working on a Black Goat of the Woods variant herald (I hate the official one) that will incorporate a couple aspects of the official one (but not the wakes-up-the-ancient-one-every-bloody-game-unless-you're-an-enormous-team aspect). Even though you won't be able to gain corruptions from killing hex monsters, you should still have fun with it. It'll make games against Shub, quiiiite a bit harder. For normal Ancient Ones, gates produce 2 monsters regardless of the player limit, and the monster limit is going to be raised by four—the increased amounts of monsters is intended to mesh thematically and functionally with Shub's fecundity (and to be honest, I was getting sick of playing small number of player games with all the boards and only having four to five monsters in Arkham— so this part of the card will actually work well with any ancient one if you feel like the towns are too quiet).

And when Shub is the Ancient One :'D cultists are treated as Dark Young and stationary monsters move like normal monsters. I'm also going to make investigators who fails a sneak check against Shub during final battle have to fight a Dark Young that can not be evaded (no more safety through monster trophy stocking). Heh... It's going to be fun ;'D

I really don't know about the ancient one. You see, you must have the three big expansions to use it to its fullest. Not that it's bad, after all, these are created for the creator uses first and foremost, but it is quite prohibitive. I know i will not be able to play it, for example.

As for the ability themselves, I hate Chtonians. I really do. Them and the Colors from Outer Space. They are very mean monsters. So a herald that turn them into real demi-gods? I hate him. (Kepp in mind this is AH, so hating something is a good thing). However, I'm not quite sure I understand the last part of his first ability: a chtonian or loigor appear. I suppose they follow the same rule for monster that pops out from encounter cards right? Also, you say a chtonian OR Loitgor. I suppose you take the first one you draw. You realize that if I play with the monsters from both Insmouth and the base game, drawing one of five monsters (or less) is going to be long and may stall the game right? Not a very big hindrance, but some players might hate it.

I think this herald is very very mean. He would make for a fun but hard game. Can I ever win? I doubt it. I would give him a try, but I know nobody who got Innsmouth, Kingsport AND Dunwhich.

Collex said:

I assume that most hardcore players will end up with the three large expansions (eventually). And it's fairly indisputable that Dunwich and Innsmouth are both very important for adding to the game difficulty (and enjoyment, if you enjoy further complexity, components, and challenges). The Epic Battle aspect of the card is fairly minor (it was just a way I thought of to toughen up the final battle a bit that didn't require too much tweaking) and playing against Shudde M'ell will still work with the card (because in addition to the worm theme there will be the earthquake cultists).

A tip for drawing the random monster (first of all, speed checks aren't failed too often— granted, if you fail an evade check, that might be a problem— on the other hand, if you fail an evade check, odds are, the monster's going to knock you out anyways, so if it does that, you don't even need to bother searching for the Chthonian/Lloigor, but if it doesn't, just sift through the cup by handfuls, if you happen to draw more than one of those green bordered guys in the same hand just randomly out of the ones you draw ;'D you don't have to be a rules stickler on this (the ability is intended to be fun, not to drive players insane ::laughter:: outside of the game, I mean).

Anyways, my intent was that the card's difficulty would amp up the more you are into the game. It's a nice boost to Lloigors and Cthonians if you only have Innsmouth, and want a bit more kick in your game, but no soul crushingly difficult herald (lets face it, it's no black goat or hydra/dagon combo). If you only have Dunwich it should be quite fun (since it will make Shudde M'ell's Cthonians more frequent in appearance and enhanced in power— and the cultists, gotta love the cultists). I really think a player could enjoy this with just Dunwich and the base set :') the other aspects of the card are just icing. I mean, c'mon, who's not going to get Dunwich? ;')

Yep. hardcore player might get all three eventually, and all three expansion add to the game, but you must remember that money is often the factor. Your herald cost, what 150$ to play to its fullest, not counting the base price? It's not that I'm against it, after all it's your herald and you probably have all those expansions anyway, but its a point to keep in mind that the more expansion your herald ask, the less he will be playtested. It's the price to pay for fun!

As for the difficulty of the herald, I'm gonna have Black Goat in only two weeks and my friend's gonna have Inssmouth at the same time, so I don,t know who you,re refering to. Sorry.

Collex said:

::Laughter:: I have all the expansions. I've been buying the game since it was first released. ::Shrug:: I think players who aren't obsessed with Arkham enough to want to track down better challenges through custom components, probably aren't going to buy the major box sets anyways ;'D G'luck with the Black Goat (even though if you haven't already purchased it, and your budget is an issue, I'd advise against it).

Avi_dreader: I'm buying Black goats of the wood because my FLGS is having a sale on all AH expansion, and I have not enough money for a big one and I already have ing in Yellow. Between Black Goats and Curse of the Dark Pharaoh, I prefer Black Goats.

Collex said:

Well... At least Black Goat comes with more monsters :') (but honestly, besides that, I thought it was a very subpar expansion that sees little play without customized ways of getting corruption cards). Sure, you could say the same thing about CotDP to some extent, but at least CotDP has some cool encounter cards. The idea was nice, but it really doesn't work... Ah well. Assuming you have a dilution problem with it, I suggest you make a house rule that lets you trade 5-10 trophies to join the Cult. That way you'll at least get some play out the cult and corruption decks.