Implementing Miskatonic for KiY without having the expansion is still quite simple: the first Act is triggered by the first Environment (Mystic) you draw, the second (first Act must be in play) by drawing an Environment (Urban), the third by an Environment (Weather). Penalties are halved: to put Act I back on top of the deck, you have to add a doom token, to put Act II back you have to remove one Elder Sign from the board. Easy peasy.

As for the touring performance style... it's totally flawed (you get all the press passes very easily, and the director's diary), plus there are no gates opening at low frequency locations, so the game is really twisted. Not so sure some of the "veterans" here plays with it

The idea to fix the touring with an Herald could work, though

I'm posting this here given there is not a sticky for scenarios and it is more of a cross between a herald, scenario, and rumor. Me and the wife do not have much time to play test so any constructive feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

The only thing I could see becoming a problem would be space--moving an Ally along with a token every turn the monster moves would just be a little cumbersome, especially if you've got something like a 'Altar' or 'Throne' or anything else placed on the board. All the same, in general it seems like a fun idea.

Another point I just realized is that this would take strategy--I would dare some of our more experienced players to give this a go while ALSO running Innsmouth. Perhaps you could consider an addendum for Innsmouth even, since disappearances happened far more often in that town concerning the Deep Ones. There are more aquatic locations and it would be far more difficult to keep up with the crowd of kidnappings.

The kidnappers could dump the allies in the Innsmouth Jail. You could then try and rescue them from the jail with a Sneak (-3) check. Whilst there are any Allies at IJ, roll a die. If you roll less than or the number of Allies at IJ, the ally is sacrificed - +1 Terror, AO gets +1 Doom and Aly is returned to the box.

Also, might be wise to close Ma's for this scenario. (Maybe it got burnt down by suspiciously fish-smelling vagrants)

We don't usually play with the expansion maps so I sometimes forget to take them into account. I may change the target location for the kidnappers from the River Docks to any aquatic location in order to take into account the expansion maps. That will change a few other things as well but overall I think it should keep with the theme.

I agree with the problem of space on the board. Any easy fix would be to just discard an ally at random when the kidnapper is successful. I however like the idea of letting the players see a specific ally get kidnapped and then discarded if they choose to do nothing about it. For the same reason I want to keep Ma's Boarding House open. I like the idea of giving players the option to take allies from the deck as normal but now with the risk of the scenario being fulfilled.

I also like the idea of using the jail but I think this scenario gets to rules heavy with it. I have a few other scenarios I am working on and I might use it in one of those.

Thank you for the feedback. =)

So here is the updated one.

I guess it's a year or something that I don't post any Herald. Not that I have been "unemployed", but most of my Arkham time was drained by other stuff. Some of the projects I had running now are almost complete, and here is the first in the series of "new" Heralds:

Originally, it was meant to be called "The Child of Time"; later I thought than it sounded too much like an Asimov-Silverberg book, and opted for something more sick.

As usual, it's meant to represent a significant challenge even for advanced players Hope you could like it, and, as always, any feedback is really appreciated

There is a word I want to use to describe this Herald BUT--I think it would get me a warning! XD

This Herald looks tough. Up until the Sealing bit where you have to draw from the Dust deck, I was like, 'Eh, this is tough but not too bad'. This really does turn Quachil from a moderately dangerous AO into a complete and utter monster!

Yes, totally. It's done to encourage more advanced team strategies - you'd probably go for sealing the last two, possibly the last three gates together, otherwise the absence of Dust Deck 2 for a longer time will incinerate your party (or all your remaining clues). So, it requires a dfferent planning, which could offer some interesting twists in the core strategy

Thanks for reading and leaving feedback, Faust!

No worries. Quachil especially is one of those guys that I like as an AO. It is easy to make jokes about Cthulhu, who has lost a lot of his 'horror' value, but Quachil is still a very frightening sort of creature in general. Seeing him increased in difficulty and general 'horror' is always good in my book.

It's a very neat herald. I'd suggest that the Warlocks ought to move as Stalkers, implying that they are actively hunting down those that would dare oppose QU.

I wish someone would proxy up some black Sanity and Stamina tokens for marking reductions to Maximum Sanity and Maximum Stamina.

Jake, thanks for the feedback I originally considered having Warlocks moving like stalkers (for the same thematic consistency you spotted out), but was a little afraid it'd have been too punishing. Still, I think I like it too much. I'll be waiting for Avi's rewording, and then I'll fix this.

Thx

I wish someone would proxy up some black Sanity and Stamina tokens for marking reductions to Maximum Sanity and Maximum Stamina.

I tend to use power tokens for Sanity and KiY tokens for Stamina. Not the same, I agree, but originally in the game there weren't that many things able to affect your max stats

I guess it's a year or something that I don't post any Herald. Not that I have been "unemployed", but most of my Arkham time was drained by other stuff. Some of the projects I had running now are almost complete, and here is the first in the series of "new" Heralds:

Originally, it was meant to be called "The Child of Time"; later I thought than it sounded too much like an Asimov-Silverberg book, and opted for something more sick.

As usual, it's meant to represent a significant challenge even for advanced players Hope you could like it, and, as always, any feedback is really appreciated

A couple small questions/points.

-As it's worded you would still take stamina damage upon failing a combat check with a Warlock. Does that happen before or after the maximum is reduced?

-Do you still receive 2 clue tokens for defeating a Warlock under these conditions?

-It says "Whenever a Warlock would be removed, instead it respawns on the next upkeep." Where does it go until then? This is partly why I asked about the previous question since "Gaining 2 clue tokens" and "Returning to the box" are part of the same clause.

Otherwise, I think it looks great. Doesn't seem overly difficult and has some fun interactions. I'd probably put a line in the intro that states that it must be played with Quachil Uttaus, but I guess it's mostly obvious.

Hi Shining, thanks for the feedback

- Good point; it's actually relevant if you start with actual Stamina = maximum Stamina. I'll try a better wording to make it clear that you reduce the max after suffering combat damage

- You never get clues for defeating Warlocks with Quachil as AO, unless you can ignore Endless. But anyway, nothing against gathering clues in this way

- Not so sure I get the point. You remove the monster because you pass a combat check or it enters a vortex or you close a matching gate. After removing the monster, you have him respawn on the bord during the following turn in the Upkeep. The sentence states (IIRC) "f you pass a Combat Check against Warlock, return it to the box and gain 2 Clue tokens". You do not return it to the box, but I'm fine if you are cool enough to gain the clues. Suggestion on a good wording to have this clear?

Jake, thanks for the feedback I originally considered having Warlocks moving like stalkers (for the same thematic consistency you spotted out), but was a little afraid it'd have been too punishing. Still, I think I like it too much. I'll be waiting for Avi's rewording, and then I'll fix this.

Thx

Give me a few more days. ::Laughter:: when I was reading the herald I was also wondering why the Warlocks weren't stalkers. Scary ;')

Also, the clue issues need to be spelled out clearly. But we can worry about that when I have more energy. Ttyl.

Lovely, everyone's wanting to be stalked by some Warlocks! So, be it!

Agreed for the clues, Shining touched a good point, but I really don't know how to word this properly.

Sure Avi, no rush

Ok, thanks everybody again for your fedback, and especially thanks Avi for helping with the lawyery of a correct wording. This should be the final edit for the Quachil Herald:

Warlocks now are Stalkers, and it's specified that even if returned to the box, they respawn, so that it should be clear that if you ignore Endless you get the clues

Next in line: Shub. I hope to be able to post something next week

Hey, I just uploaded a new Herald in muh thread, and wanted to grab some feedback.

Click image to enlarge if needed.

Heliogabalus is one of many other Arcana from the game Arcana Heart. The Arcana themselves are like deities that watch over their chosen inhabitants, lending them their influence and all the positives and negatives that come with it. Heliogabalus specifically lives in a world of illusion, constantly making the impossible seem real.

In game, Heliogabalus presents a huge problem by massively clogging up the board in terrible ways...sort of. While it does technically "double" the number of monsters on the board while also doubling the amount of ground monsters cover, it also doesn't...do any of that stuff. Technically, Heliogabalus fills the board with nothing. Namely, it makes a TON OF NOTHING.

All the extra monsters created by Heliogabalus are illusions, but it's impossible to tell which monster is the illusion and which monster is the real deal until you force the issue by either evading/fighting one down, or trying to remove it via other means. Fighting is especially annoying since you still have to make the horror check (the illusion still looks real), and it's possible you will spend sanity casting spells to improve your combat against what could be thin air. There are a few ways to clear up illusions, but one stands out as particularly effective: evasion. High evasion characters are very effective at determining which monsters are fakes, and can do so without getting too sidetracked.

A couple of rules/interaction reminders:

-Engaging a monster in combat only to have it be revealed as a reflection still counts as having been in combat, and does force you to end your movement in that area. If you think this is too harsh, let me know.

-While Rarua does say "remove all reflections from the board", it still triggers Fantasia . What this really means is "Roll for each reflection and monster connected with it to find out which one is real, then return all involved reflections to Heliogabalus' sheet (which should be all of them)".

Download is HERE!

Quite a long time no one ups any new Herald, so, let's start a new deal in the horror, shall we?

Avi and I have been brainstorming for two years (more or less) about how to change a little the rules of the game, and we created a Herald that... doesn't use the monster cup:

as always, comments and feedback are appreciated

Cthulhu's lawyers are on the phone about the "Entropy" section. (Ia! Ia! Cthu.... *Phone rings* Buggerit!...Hello, Dewey, Cheatem and Howe, Solicitors...)

I'd be inclined to drop it or replace it with another effect, such as "Whenever an investigator is reduced to 0 Sanity / Stamina they must pass a Luck (+0) check or fade from reality. Investigators who fade from reality are devoured ; return them to the box along with all items and allies in their possession."

It might be easier to include the Nothingness as a spawn monster token, rather than add the details to the Herald.

Interesting feedback Jake, thanks.

Actually, in the original design, Avi asked for Entropy to be the sum of Cthulhu, Hastur and Shudde, ideally indicating that all AO found a reason in Azathoth

But I do like your suggestion. I'll be back to Avi with your ideas, and see

Well! I can say with certainty that I would never play this! -gathers up my frocks and storms away-

Actually, it seems like the kind of thing that you and Avi would make, Julia. Mercilessly hard and brutally cruel. And while I definitely think that would work for someone that wanted to cry during a game, I will remark that something like this would probably require extensive planning before even drawing your first Mythos card.

The sheer amount of work-arounds needed to have a chance are staggering; -6? I understand that you're trying to compensate for lack of monsters and all but even from a 'I want t be challenged' standpoint, -6 seems far, far too unrealistic. The luck required to make a roll like this is staggering; the average Fight is 4, which would mean you would need to be lucky enough to get someone with Items and Skills to get a Fight bonus high enough to even ROLL. More clue tokens would be spent trying to get into the gates then closing them. On top of which, heaven forbid you fail to close a gate on your first go around because then you have to spend all your clue tokens to try and survive this before you can try to roll to close again, which by that time, Sealing is nothing short of a fever dream.

This doesn't strike me as being, necessarily 'fun because it's hard'. This strikes me as (and I don't know if you're familiar with Devil May Cry) 'Dante Must Die' mode, where ONE hit from an enemy is enough to kill you. This is the type of Herald where you set everything up, you put down this Herald and before anyone takes their first Move, say:

"Well, THAT was fun losing, wasn't it? So, who's for another round?"

Again, I know that more experienced players like yourself want to be challenged and may enjoy the idea of losing as part of the experience. You and your players play not necessarily to win but to just play (unless this is mean completely as a solo effort).

I may just be sobbing because this looks so difficult and I know I'd never use it but I can't see anyone beyond yourself, Avi and maybe one or two people on here ever trying this more than once. It seems less harsh for the sake of fun and more harsh simply to see how brutal someone could make a Herald.

In the meantime, Love the art you picked for it!

Faust, thanks for commenting

Agreed, it could look scary, but if you look at the details, there are several way to exploit it. First of all, agreed it's a -6 combat, but it has also 1 toughness. This means that on average a combat of 9 is statistically enough to pass. and Combat 9 is quite easy to reach in Arkham.

The problem stems from considering this effects together with the Horror effect. -3 Horror is a lot more scary. Basically, to be sure to pass, you need to have Horror 6, Combat 9, which can clealry be a nightmare to reach. So, you need clues to do that.

If you look at the Herald, it's written that using Azathoth is compulsory. This means a doom track of 14, hence, quite a lot of time. You can blow some clues to kill it. Killing it leaves the gate unguarded for the rest of the Mythos. Hence, you can tag team (one to blow clues and kill the Nothingness, the second one diving into the unguarded gate). This requires that you choose wisely who's the diver / sealer, and who's cleaning the way in.

Once this is done for the first time, everything changes, simply because you'll start having gate trophies that can become Blessings and so on.

Please also remember that specific skills allowing you to add successes to Skill rolls are still in the decks. And that we left on purpose the possiblity of using spells such as Call friend or Astral Traveller or using the Mi-go Brain Case , and so on.

I'm not that worried about the difficulty of the Herald (clearly, you'll start losing a lot more against this one) but of people that, after encountering for the 10th time the Nothingness will start saying "again? WTF!". I know this would happen for sure, since I do hate playing Nyogtha for the same reason.

Still, it was the last gift from Avi to the community (he sent me the embryo for this in june 2012), so, even if it's sadistically tough, I'm inclined to leave the stats as they are.