Custom Heralds

By dkw, in Fan Creations

::laughter:: that's thematically interesting, but I suspect it would be a pain in the ass to play again.

Fun concept, but really more work then gain I think. Have to remember lots of things and will probably make many mistakes in the way.

OTOH the herald is very tame. Basically the net game effect is that you have to spend one clue token upon entering a gate if you hope on not getting lost in time and space.

This should fix it. Less to keep track of now, but still feels like a distortion of reality.

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-1.jpg

Don't you just hate it when you try to do everything while only looking in a mirror?

dkw said:

This should fix it. Less to keep track of now, but still feels like a distortion of reality.

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-1.jpg

Don't you just hate it when you try to do everything while only looking in a mirror?

Hrm... For "Where Are We?" consider making the cost two clue tokens, and make it so that one a roll of 1-2 you go down 3-4 you stay where you went and 5-6 you go up (this would encourage gambling, and also make it so it's actually a significant extra cost to prevent— one extra clue token per gate's not that much, especially compared to Hastur).

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-2.jpg

Is this what you were thinking of?

dkw said:

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-2.jpg

Is this what you were thinking of?

This looks really cool, especially Everything Is So Different... forcing investigators to follow arrows is just mean, in a good way.

Thanks. As long as you have Clues, or are willing to move slower then a snail, you don't have to worry about the Arrows guiding your movement.

This Herald is meant to slow down the Investigators, and drain Clues slowly, as well as turn your Investigator's survivability upside down. Suddenly, your high Stamina low Sanity Investigators who were afraid of Horror Checks are no longer afraid of the Horror Checks, but are now afraid of Combat Checks, and vice versa. It also alters who you want casting spells as your high Sanity people aren't as sane as they once were.

Can you survive in the world beyond the Looking Glass?

dkw said:

Thanks. As long as you have Clues, or are willing to move slower then a snail, you don't have to worry about the Arrows guiding your movement.

This Herald is meant to slow down the Investigators, and drain Clues slowly, as well as turn your Investigator's survivability upside down. Suddenly, your high Stamina low Sanity Investigators who were afraid of Horror Checks are no longer afraid of the Horror Checks, but are now afraid of Combat Checks, and vice versa. It also alters who you want casting spells as your high Sanity people aren't as sane as they once were.

Can you survive in the world beyond the Looking Glass?

Yeah, when I first saw it I realized it would mess up spellcasting while making fighters more ferocious albeit slightly more fragile.

Still... It doesn't seem like enough on its own. You should make a Wonderland themed Ancient One to go with it. Queen of Hearts? Jabberwock?

It has been far too long since I read, "Through the looking glass and what Alice found there," to remember enough to make the Red Queen as an Ancient One.

But, here is the Jabberwock, and you know everyone is afraid of the Jabberwock. Not easy to make since there is little about it in the poem, and I don't remember Humpty Dumpty's insight into what the Jabberwock really means. But, it may be a little powerful.

Jabberwock.jpg

dkw said:

It has been far too long since I read, "Through the looking glass and what Alice found there," to remember enough to make the Red Queen as an Ancient One.

But, here is the Jabberwock, and you know everyone is afraid of the Jabberwock. Not easy to make since there is little about it in the poem, and I don't remember Humpty Dumpty's insight into what the Jabberwock really means. But, it may be a little powerful.

Jabberwock.jpg

Whaaat? There's plenty on the Jabberwock.

"Beware the Jabberwock my son/ The claws that catch/ The Jaws that bite"

"And as in uffish thought he stood, the Jabberwock with eyes of flame came whiffling through the tulgey wood, it burbled as it came" (I'm sure I've made some spelling errors, but I was just typing from memory. Why does it fly? It seems to surprise people though ;') and it sounds fast, I mean, it's got to be to be able to hunt while being so noisy. It should be red bordered :') (I don't think there are any red bordered physically immune monsters in the game or expansions, are there?). Heh... his being red bordered is even creepier with the herald (considering that it is very harmful to investigator movement pattern).

Heh... If you wanted to integrate the two, you could make the Jabberwock part of the herald (where when the herald is selected, the Jabberwock begins the game in the wood). Another potential movement pattern (even more threatening) would be green bordered where Jabberwock moves like a fast monster and a stalker. :') It would make the scenario seem like you are being hunted the whole time (which actually is thematically appropriate considering that this is a Lovecraft game even though these are Carroll characters).

That is not a bad idea, a Wonderland Game.
I was trying to decide between Stalker and Flying, as all the pictures of the Jabberwock have wings yet it lives in the woods. I choose flying to give it somewhat better mobility to catch Investigators.

As it is, the Jabberwock is a bit tougher then a Star Vampire.

There, Intergration of the two for those who care, as well as probably a better Jabberwock.

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-3.jpg

Jabberwocktoken.jpg

It has been so long since I last read "Alice in Wonderland" or "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There" that I doubt I could make a true to form Ancient One.

dkw said:

That is not a bad idea, a Wonderland Game.
I was trying to decide between Stalker and Flying, as all the pictures of the Jabberwock have wings yet it lives in the woods. I choose flying to give it somewhat better mobility to catch Investigators.

As it is, the Jabberwock is a bit tougher then a Star Vampire.

There, Intergration of the two for those who care, as well as probably a better Jabberwock.

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-3.jpg

Jabberwocktoken.jpg

It has been so long since I last read "Alice in Wonderland" or "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There" that I doubt I could make a true to form Ancient One.

I really like the recurring Jabberwock idea :') one thing though, do you mean to tell me that the investigators get *nothing* if they beat it? It's still a pretty tough monster— especially if it's going to keep returning. Maybe one clue token (which would kindof complement the spending of clue tokens— I would say two, but I'm slightly worried about it being exploited if it's two)?

How about instead of a Clue Token, draw a random Monster as a Trophy instead?

Awesome I like the idea of Looking Glass but 'Where are We' confuses me? Top to Bottom? Top and Bottom of what?

Maybe take away some of the Heralds abilities...3 at most!

but keep the switching of everything...hold you investigator to a mirror and thats what you get!

Not taking the Jabberwocky as a trophy is sort of evil.

A quick question, how about this for a herald mechanic:

"An investigator may never roll more then 5 dice for whatever reason".

A very simple power, but the game effect would be rather big.

Unfortunately I no next to nothing about the mythos so I dunno any entity that could have such a power.

Similar there could be a Guardian: "An investigator always gets to roll at least one die in any check"

dkw said:

How about instead of a Clue Token, draw a random Monster as a Trophy instead?

::Laughter:: that's great, *and* it could go with the story text "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?"

kilrah said:

A quick question, how about this for a herald mechanic:

"An investigator may never roll more then 5 dice for whatever reason".

A very simple power, but the game effect would be rather big.

Unfortunately I no next to nothing about the mythos so I dunno any entity that could have such a power.

Similar there could be a Guardian: "An investigator always gets to roll at least one die in any check"

That's a pretty crushing herald. Imagine fighting a three toughness monster with that... Your chances of beating it are... Um... Not so good. Perhaps if you had some sort of unless clause.

Mrsgamura:
Above and Below are related to how the Other Worlds are lined up along the edge of the board. If you are supposed to go to the Other World at the top of the board, but are told to go to the one above it, there is nothing above it, so instead you go to the Other World at the bottom of the line of Other Worlds along the edge of the board. Vice Versa for Bottom to the Top.

New Jabberwock

Jabberwock2.jpg

Kilrah:
Maybe something like, "Investigators can't roll more then 5 Dice on any single check, not counting Clue Tokens," at the least.

dkw said:

Mrsgamura:
Above and Below are related to how the Other Worlds are lined up along the edge of the board. If you are supposed to go to the Other World at the top of the board, but are told to go to the one above it, there is nothing above it, so instead you go to the Other World at the bottom of the line of Other Worlds along the edge of the board. Vice Versa for Bottom to the Top.

New Jabberwock

Jabberwock2.jpg

Kilrah:
Maybe something like, "Investigators can't roll more then 5 Dice on any single check, not counting Clue Tokens," at the least.

C'mon, change the card text to "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?" it's perfect for this ability ;') (and it is also directly from the poem).

Jabberwock2-1.jpg

Mrsgamua:
What do you suggest for the "Looking Glass" Herald and ability modification?

dkw said:

Jabberwock2-1.jpg

Mrsgamua:
What do you suggest for the "Looking Glass" Herald and ability modification?

:'D

dkw said:

Jabberwock2-1.jpg

Mrsgamua:
What do you suggest for the "Looking Glass" Herald and ability modification?

Seems like the Jabberwock is going to trap people in the Hospital with his high awarness! Most 3 toughness evil monster have low awarness... plus liked him better as a flyer seemed more of his thing ;-)

Keep the switching of the Sanity/ Stamina but to the other stats...

Switch the numbers for stats, for example a

3/3 4/2 5/1 6/0 Fight/ Will character will be become a...

0/6 1/5 /2/4 3/3 Fight/ Will one....

but like some else said this will take allot of paying attention and will most likely be forgotten >.<

but I would not add anymore abilities if your going to switch because that will keep peoples time up most of the game and adding more rules will even make the process even more taxing!

Thank you for the input. If people don't comment on things to some degree, you end up with something that is too far off base to be of any use. I expected that they wouldn't be complete this fast, but maybe having two versions wouldn't be bad either. I will make up a couple of different versions over the next couple days and see what you all think.

MrsGamura said:

dkw said:

Jabberwock2-1.jpg

Mrsgamua:
What do you suggest for the "Looking Glass" Herald and ability modification?

Seems like the Jabberwock is going to trap people in the Hospital with his high awarness! Most 3 toughness evil monster have low awarness... plus liked him better as a flyer seemed more of his thing ;-)

Keep the switching of the Sanity/ Stamina but to the other stats...

Switch the numbers for stats, for example a

3/3 4/2 5/1 6/0 Fight/ Will character will be become a...

0/6 1/5 /2/4 3/3 Fight/ Will one....

but like some else said this will take allot of paying attention and will most likely be forgotten >.<

but I would not add anymore abilities if your going to switch because that will keep peoples time up most of the game and adding more rules will even make the process even more taxing!

Ms. Gamura, you're missing the point of it this way :') with the herald your movement is messed up and you need to hide from the Jabberwock when it passes by ;'D Arkaham Horror meets Slasher Film.

Jabberwock2-2.jpg

Looking-Glass-Front-Side-4.jpg

I sort of liked the inversion of all the game stats for the Investigators. So, now we have two versions of the same Herald, and a weaker Jabberwock to go with either one if you don't want to use the more powerful Jabberwock.