Hey that is an idea... to force the draw of a reckoning card. Although, it involves rolling a dice (somehow a "complex" action :-))). I need to digest it. Thanks for your feedbak though.

amikezor said:

Eh, it's only once per turn. No more than any upkeep action or many of the rumors (plus it'd be easier to keep track off since it would happen every turn of the game).

Originally I was thinking one or two power, but I worried that giving investigators that many clue equivalents could be seriously unbalancing if the reckoning drawn wasn't anything severe.

The fun thing about the ability (from my point of view), is that you'd have probably about 3 unexpected reckoning cards per game that you'd have to deal with without warning :') it adds to the whole feeling of random retribution that I enjoy so much.

We played 2 investigators against the Dark Great Worm (and Shuddle Mell). The Herald is very nice. We lost badly because of Shuddle Mell ability that limit to at most 8 monster surges.

Anyway, that was just a positive feedback on this Herald.

Quick question. If you fail an Evade check against a monster, not only you take the damages but also you must face a Cthonian after you have dealt with the first monster ?

amikezor said:

::Cough cough:: honestly that's a bug in the card (which I saw before whether the Cthonian interrupts combat or not). I'd say finish combat, then draw the Cthonian/Lloigor if you're not knocked out. When I repost most of the images in higher quality (and I will, I really will) one of these days (probably in the next couple months) I'll fix that so it's not unclear. But yes, you definitely have to face the Cthonian/Lloigor after failing an evade check, unless you're defeated.

I'm glad you liked the herald :')

This is a herald version of some rules used in a scenario (rhapsody in blue). Anyway, this way it can be played without the scenario.

Julia said:

I'll try to get to some more soon, but I'm still sick...

Start of the game:
I’m not sure if you intend for the Dreamlands gate to replace the normal gate on the first mythos card or if you want to gates to open during the first mythos phase— I think that’d be pretty tough (considering that the gate limit is already reduced by one).

The first part of the paragraph can be rewritten, “ Cultists (not monsters treated as Cultists) are placed on this sheet, are Spawn monsters [is that how spawn is written? Bold italic? I’ve forgotten], immune to Handcuffs, and return here when defeated.

The second part can presumably be rewritten, “For the first Mythos card, ignore its gate location and random monster, place a Dreamlands gate and a cultist at the Woods instead.
[i’m tempted to say reshuffle the gates, but the general rule is now if you search for something specific, you reshuffle, so, it’s kind of redundant now, even if I can see someone being confused over whether to reshuffle or not].

[Oh geeze, I just read your earlier comment, and I see it was deliberate] okay, well, alternate text could be, “Before drawing the first Mythos card, place a Dreamlands gate and a Cultist at the Woods.” I think this is going to be very tough, but then again, so is Atlach.

One problem I can foresee is 7-8 player games. Gate limit equals five minus one (four). I.e. gate limit equals four. First turn, two gates are open, an investigator goes into a gate, second turn, three gates are open investigator moves to second space. Third turn, four gates are open (investigator had no chance to close the gate, without a special card, and Atlach is going to be awake more than 90% of the time). Of course, if the first gate opens on another board, you’re even more screwed. You should either make it so that only one gate opens turn one, or so that the limit is reduced by 1 [for teams less than 7].

Colliding Dimensions

The Weaver of the Worlds spins [his/her/its] web between our plane and the Dreamlands. [Her/his/its] countless worshippers crawl across it. [i think the size relative to the stars makes its hugeness quite clear, and besides, hugeness doesn’t alliterate].
Gates to the Dreamlands can not move, be closed, or sealed. The gate limit is reduced by one.

The Web Between the Worlds [between should be capitalized]
For combat and evading, Cultists are treated as Leng Spiders . They fly , are fast , and treat unstable locations as streets. One is spawned each gate surge at the surging gate.

Poisonous Bite
If Atlach-Nacha is the Ancient One, all flying monsters move like Cultists . If Atlach-Nacha awakens, each time an Ally is returned to the box, roll a die and add a Doom token to the Doom track on a 1-3.

@Amikezor

;') very first impression (a strong impression), change the name of the herald. It made me laugh (which I don't think should be the use of an Arkham Horror herald). James Bond allusions are probably not appropriate for the 20s ;'D

General comment on Lurker heralds:

I still haven't used any of the Lurker heralds, I did have a friend pop over last week who was up for a game. I threw in Lurker, with the only house rule being inability to spend power when pacts are exhausted and that power can not be used to prevent damage from reckonings. After my friend screwed up (she took the draw 2 out of ten Innsmouth look cards for a blessing while carrying every valuable item our team had, with five clue tokens, and the need to seal a gate in Innsmouth on the next turn ;'D needless to say, I was displeased even before she drew the You Are DEVOURED card) I decided our only chance was throwing two investigators into gates without clues, and just relying on power to get the seals. Well... Two turns later, we did that, and both our investigators were devoured right before the turn they could seal from a reckoning. Heh... It was outrageous (and kind of funny— I was pleased).

@Amikezor

Misquamus needs no editing ;'D thanks. I think the picture's fine. Not great, but fine (i.e. it looks Arkhamy, but it doesn't really make me think of gates, Yog, or The Lurker when I look at it). Then again, I guess the basket handle might be interpreted as a gate :'D Misquamus is gigantic.

@ Veet, I'll edit yours sometime this week, then Julia's Cthulhu one.

Also, I was looking it over for the past few minutes. It's really tough coupled with Lurker (in that it doesn't feel like a guardian at all). If I were playing against it I'd stay the hell away from pacts for as long as possible and only take one or two late game if I were absolutely desperate for a few extra clues. The real kicker is the permanent unspendable power. I think perhaps it should only be gained when an investigator is knocked out. Otherwise you have that, not being able to spend power the turn it's gotten, potential catastrophic AO awakening effects, and reduced gate limit (and increased reckonings), all major disincentives against power use. I'm not saying that it's not good to disincentivize the use, but, I'm a bit worried you might have overdone it in a way that a prudent playing style would just try bypassing the pacts altogether as they are so potentially detrimental (I realize that insane/unconscious makes this not entirely possible, but still, a cautious player/group can go through a game with 0-2 knockouts).

I guess if I could make any changes in the card, I'd make it so the permanent power only comes from becoming insane or unconscious, and so that pacts are placed on the Ancient One sheet from retiring as well (otherwise you have a loophole there).

We started using a variant to make other worlds less boring and more scary. In the past, we found that too often the only "danger" presented by other worlds was that they sucked up three turns of your time. We wanted to find a way to decrease the time spent in other worlds while also decreasing the chance that you'd make it through an other world in one piece. (Sorry, I don't have an official herald card. I have SE, but I haven't bothered to get a photobucket account).

With this"herald," each Other World only has one area. You are always considered to be in the first area of the other world. During the Other Worlds Encounters Phase, draw and resolve three gate cards in a row. At most, you may only have one green encounter per turn. For encounters of the type “If X is the Ancient One…” every Ancient One is considered to be “the Ancient One.”

The Find Gate spell may be cast after resolving all the gate cards for a turn. Upon successfully casting the spell, you may immediately return to Arkham and roll to close the gate.

With these rules, you can get through quicker, but you also have a higher chance of getting delayed or of fighting multiple monsters without the benefit of an upkeep phase between combats.

avec said:

Huh... That's an interesting variant. It'd be nice to make that into a herald with maybe something else thrown in.

Thanks! I don't know if all variants necessarily need a formal Herald (or Guardian, or Scenario). I posted it here because I wasn't sure where else to put it.

If I made it into a herald, I suppose it could also impose a -1 penalty to all tests while in other worlds. But that might be excessive. Skill checks in other worlds already tend to be harder than skill checks in Arkham. Another possibility would be, if the effect of a gate card is to send you to LiTaS, you instead draw (but don't keep) a gate token and move to the other world that is on the token. Unless you get lucky, it would further delay you.

avec said:

Heh... I was thinking something with worshippers and an Ancient One, but yeah, that could work too ;'D

I think that works pretty well as a variant house rule, and doesn't necessarily need to be in a herald.

Then again, it might need some other negative effect... I'm not sure if the one green card limitation is enough. As it is, in certain Other Worlds, you might get a few generally positive encounters in a row. And so you'd get the bonus of that and you also get to go through a lot quicker... Depends on the Other World, though. In R'lyeh, you'd be happy to escape alive after three encounters in a row. It probably balances out in general between the different Other Worlds, but maybe a -1 to skill checks as you suggest might be good.

Okay, here's the revised version

Investigators receive a -1 penalt y to all skill checks while in Other Worlds. Each Other World only has one area. You are always considered to be in the first area of the Other World. During the Other Worlds Encounters Phase , draw and resolve three gate cards in a row. At most, you may only have one green encounter per turn. For encounters of the type “If X is the Ancient One…” (with the exception of dual colored cards), every Ancient One is considered to be “the Ancient One.”

The Find Gate spell may be cast after resolving all the gate cards for a turn. Upon successfully casting the spell, you may immediately return to Arkham and roll to close the gate. If an encounter returns you to Arkham, you may also roll to close the gate on the same turn.

What happens if you're delayed? Six encounters?

Good point. We've been playing it that your encounters phase immediately ends once you get delayed. But I forgot to put it in the text.

To answer your question more directly, if your first encounter delays you, you would probably have four encounters. You'd have just the one encounter this turn (which delayed you) and three encounters the following turn. That's assuming that you make it through all three encounters without getting delayed again, returned to Arkham, sent to LITAS, or devoured.

Avi_dreader said:

Sure I will. Glad you liked it though.

Avi_dreader said:

I can surely have a better picture for Misquamus, the strange native american from the novel. He is one of the strangiest character in this novel and deserved a herald. I will try to find a more native look.

Grudunza said:

well I would suggest to make a herald with it, just because it increases the chance that someone play with it :-). Heralds are just variant, aren't they ?

amikezor said:

Heralds are variants that look cooler :')

OK this has been bumping around in my head ever since there was a conversation on the main boards about how a Dimensional Shambler could be helpful. Kind of my way of saying "Oh yeah?"

Also I'm aware that the actual "Horror in the Museum" was Rhan-Tegoth but that is the only story in which a Dimensional Shambler is even mentioned so i took some creative license to work it all into a good thematic game mix.

It seems fun. You'll need to clarify that you don't make the roll if the 1st player is in an Other World. Also, I suspect this herald will be too hard for small teams. You might want to offset this by having it only start taking effect when the doom track is at three or four (this allows a small amount of time for acquiring a weapon).