We already have a Cthulhu-based LCG, Call of Cthulhu. What is so different about this that it is worth a whole separate game? Why not do some complete set boxing to CoC before you abandon it altogether?

this is a co-op more akin to the LoTR LCG or Warhammer Quest or the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

Same universe, completely different game. Possibly FFG's backup plan against losing Warhammer Quest (which might have happened for all we know).

Also, please, remember: we don't have any more the Call of Cthulhu LCG. That series was discontinued one year ago, and cycles oop might become available again in PoD format in the future.

So, a better question would have been: why didn't they reprint the CoC LCG? A whole different question, but still the answer would have been the same: if that series was discontinued, there are reasons

Don't remind me

I feel like coop works better for the setting. Either that or like some sort of asymmetrical game.

CoC LCG worked pretty well. Every card was an economy card.

Why not do some complete set boxing to CoC before you abandon it altogether?

Because it'd freakishly expensive, and probably keep people like me from affording it. My wife isn't very big into Lovecraftian stuff, and I'd probably find a horse's head in the bed next to me if I dropped the funds for the entire CoC boxed set. It'll be hard to gather it up, but at least we might have the PoD option.

this is a co-op more akin to the LoTR LCG or Warhammer Quest or the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

Even the SW LCG has that aspect in a limited way with one of the deluxe expansions...3 on 1 is a sort of co-op.

Same universe, completely different game. Possibly FFG's backup plan against losing Warhammer Quest (which might have happened for all we know).

Insurance is always a good thing to have. Another possibility is that since they acquired the L5R license, they want to have something they know will make them good money before they branch out into something they're not 100% sure about. The L5R CCG was good under WotC, but who knows what FFG will do with it?

Also, please, remember: we don't have any more the Call of Cthulhu LCG. That series was discontinued one year ago, and cycles oop might become available again in PoD format in the future.

So, a better question would have been: why didn't they reprint the CoC LCG? A whole different question, but still the answer would have been the same: if that series was discontinued, there are reasons

Well, they obviously didn't lose the CoC license, or we wouldn't be getting this or continuing stuff like more Eldritch Horror. Hope for the future!

I feel like coop works better for the setting. Either that or like some sort of asymmetrical game.

I can only imagine the possibilities: including some asymmetrical elements like you get in ANR? Awesome!

In all, I think this is going to be good for both games. I've felt for a long time that CoC has been kind of a redheaded stepchild when it comes to the LCG facet of FFG's business, and this could draw renewed attention to both. Plus, it sounds like there's the option to make things have more of a legacy feel to them, which I don't think any card game has. Correct me on that if I'm wrong, though.

Plus, it's fun to be here to get in on it at the ground level. Let's kick these cultists' asses and/or die trying!!

There's no license needed for Lovecraft mythos: his works are now public domain. Contemporary creations in the Mythos setting (Zoth-Ommog for example, created by Lynn Carter) are not public domain and they are actually not included in any FFG game

When I bought the CoC LCG I was under the impression it was going to be more like this (AH LCG), or something like it, and as such it got very little play in the end - I was not alone. Speaking with others I often heard that while it was one of the best games of that type they had ever played, they felt it was going to be something more thematic and less like the other similar card games popular around the time (and going strong today).

This, AH LCG, is exactly what I hoped CoC LCG would be in respect to feel and experience - what I clearly wanted then was a wholly different game.

When AH LCG was announced I didn't even read it, even with being particularly attached to all things Lovecraft (Cthulhu statuary looks down on me from a shelf as I type!), as I have no interest in card games..

or so I thought.

..Yep, this is on the definite purchase list, just as soon as its released.

I chime in with this to add my 2 cents that these are really two very different games, CoC LCG enjoyed a great run (and may come back in some form), but AH LCG being so different is assuredly not replacing it.

This, AH LCG, is exactly what I hoped CoC LCG would be in respect to feel and experience

How do you know? Neither feel nor experience can be known, unless you got to play it early

I'll nip that one in the bud..

I haven't played it - but the news items make it clear, at least to me, where it's intent on going and how it intends on getting there. A card game that blurs the lines between Card and RPG.

Is that fair?

Edit. P.S. Also I need game I can pick up and play that is not Arkham Horror The Board Game. This may placate my wife who had chained me that that (wonderful) game for years. Great game, but so darn long...!

There's no license needed for Lovecraft mythos: his works are now public domain. Contemporary creations in the Mythos setting (Zoth-Ommog for example, created by Lynn Carter) are not public domain and they are actually not included in any FFG game

There's still some contention about the rights to some of Lovecrafts's later works. And then there's Chaosium's trademark on certain things specifically for the purpose of games.

http://lovecraft.wikia.com/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_H._P._Lovecraft

That's some strange thread for sure.

Aside the Keeper's presence in Mansions 1stEd, Call of Cthulhu LCG was the only fully competitive game in Arkham Files. We had Arkham Horror, have Eldritch Horror and Elder Sign, all of them coop. And then we had Mansions 1st, almost full-coop, and now full with the 2nd Edition. It seems natural to me that the LCG branch of the Arkham Files become something full-coop too

I must remind you that MoM2.0 stops being fully co-op as soon as someone goes insane.

I've gotta say, Fantasy Flight Games is starting to make me feel like a chump.

I am a huge fan of Arkham Horror, and after investing significant money in the game (with expansions, etc.), I feels like they basically killed it with Eldritch Horror.

I also own Runebound and Fury of Dracula, both of which have been obsoleted via new editions.

My current favorite is Elder Sign, and I now own every expansion. But now I immediately wonder if Arkham LCG won't starve out Elder Sign. Certainly it is not a directly replacement, but there is clearly overlap, and I would generally expect that an LCG is a more profitable money-maker for the company.

Am I unusual for being bothered by this? I'm seriously considering putting a ban on all Fantasy Flight purchases.

It doesn't really bother me. Games can only accumulate so many expansions before they begin to get bogged down by their own limited design space. If you enjoy those older games as they are, why not keep playing them? We own both Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror, but Arkham still sees more play at our table.

Don't feel obliged to buy everything if you're happy with what you already have.

Certainly, you're right that a good game is still a good game, even when it falls out of print. I totally agree there.

I had a full Arkham Horror collection and I can't count how many hours we spent playing it. It paid it's cost back in full and more, we played it so much - we stopped playing it even before Eldritch Horror went out and rendered Arkham Horror obsolete. I sold my AH collection and have no regerets whatsoever.

It doesn't really bother me. Games can only accumulate so many expansions before they begin to get bogged down by their own limited design space. If you enjoy those older games as they are, why not keep playing them? We own both Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror, but Arkham still sees more play at our table.

Don't feel obliged to buy everything if you're happy with what you already have.

Older games like arkham and MoM were not really designed to be expansion. Friendly, with enough expansions they will collapse under their own weight.

Newer games like EH or MoM2e can keep getting expansions forever and will probably have a much longer life span.

CoC was cancelled after getting to a natural break point, once all the faction boxes had been released, and was foreseen by a lot of people.

The LoTR LCG will reach one of these points in around a year, when the adventure reaches mount doom, and then we'll find out if AH is a replacement to the other cooperative LCG.

CoC LCG worked pretty well. Every card was an economy card.

AH does seem tohave a more authentic flavor. Depending on decks CoC could have the Insmouth police department fighting against the earth/yuggoth science aliance. .

AH does seem tohave a more authentic flavor. Depending on decks CoC could have the Insmouth police department fighting against the earth/yuggoth science aliance. .

I don't see how that is different than the current state of things in some cities

not to bring it completely off topic, but i played Arkham Horror so much that every game felt more of an exercise in winning than a challenge, with the exception of some Ancient ones. After a while you can only read the same encounters so many times before just skipping your eyes to the test icon, where the game simply becomes monotonous and plain with no flavor.

while i'll always hold a special place for arkham horror, eldritch horror is much better. CoC and AH:TCG are nothing alike. . . they aren't even in the same vein, and the only think linking them is cost for cards and the fact they are printed on paper.

I feel like coop works better for the setting. Either that or like some sort of asymmetrical game.

The co-op feeling of the universe (well, FFG's take on the universe) has been around for just about every FFG Cthulhu game. The Cthulhu lcg was really the only one that was different. However, part of me really likes the aspect of playing one of the elder gods or faction that wants to see humanity doomed or seeing the downfall of another elder god and his/her cultists. I wouldn't mind some middle ground to somehow be developed.