So final outcome was:

Amanda Sharpe

Carolyn Fern

Darrel Simmons

Gloria Goldberg

Kate Winthrop

Luke Robinson

Vincent Lee

William Yorik

Original predictions by some were:

Amanda Sharpe (confirmed by FFG) - yes

Luke Robinson (confirmed by FFG) - yes

Kate Winthrop (confirmed by KBlumhardt) - yes

Gloria Goldberg - AH's Other Worlds expert - yes

"Ashcan" Pete - his AH Personal Story was dreamland-related - NO

William Yorick - fighter type - yes

Darrell Simmons - his AH Personal Story was OW related, even though ability is city-related - yes

Bob Jenkins - because Vincent and Carolyn probably go together, and Roland Banks is a likely OBS guy, the same as Darrell? -NO

leaving for the next small box expansion

Carolyn Fern - in dreamlands

Vincent Lee - in dreamlands

Rita Young

Roland Banks

Not bad, 6/8, and Carolyn and Vincent were together as predicted. I guess it makes sense for a Psychologist and MD to be involved in a Dream-like environment, especially during that timeframe of the 20s.

So that leaves the last 4 from the original AF investigators for a future small box?

Ashcan Pete

Bob Jenkins

Rita Young

Roland Banks

That makeup has me thinking we might get some new investigators added after all...maybe some MoM2 folks.

Anyone played the game yet? I'm hoping to pick mine up tonight!

Happy New Year

I'm delving into the Dreamlands tonight.

Hopefully get a few plays over the weekend since both MoM2 and AH:LCG are getting expansions next week.

Be sure to write some memories down, before you wake and forget.

First impressions from our fellow investigators are always a welcome sight.

Thanks and peaceful dreams, friends.

Just got it yesterday - a little lighter on content, no?

Hopefully plays well.

Anyone else have a feeling that Yuggoth will play a role in the next expansion? Somehow seems like it with the writeup on the back page of the Dreamland rule book.

Today's Dreamlands adventure. *Spoiler light*

Prelude- Lurker Among Us....

Ancient One- Hypnos

Investigators- Carolyn Fern, Luke Robinson, Vincent Lee, Kate Winthrop

Like most of the Arkham Files games for me, the first two rounds were mixed blessings. By the second mythos phase I had turned down three offers to gain a dark pact, one of which cost everyone 2 sanity and 2 health.

First mystery was all about getting gates managed, Luke was up to bat and didn't disappoint.

With Carolyn out managing sanity for everyone her Dream Journal was very helpful keeping clues out on the board.

Second mystery was a little more daunting and the team still managed to knock it out in 4 turns.

Last mystery spawned one of Hypnos special encounter decks and was only tricky due to the fact that clues needed to be encountered on city locations. While there were no shortage for clues they all seemed to be anywhere but city spaces.

Overall the sideboard was used frequently, I found myself there more often than not. Several fun encounters gave some extra options if Hypnos was the ancient one.

Each sideboard expansion has improved upon the last and I think Dreamlands will be finding ways to come out even if it means I'm selecting my ancient one or prelude card directly.

well, I did a quick playthrough today and survived.

Prelude: the one that says to use the Dreamlands sideboard.

Ancient One: Hypnos

Investigators: the local Eldritch Men's Group, consisting of Luke Robinson, Darrell the cameraman, Vincent Lee, William Yorick

Ended up winning, was going really well until I stopped paying attention to gates and the track got down to 4. But other than that no real danger.

Mind you, I used Mythos cards from the expansion to make up the deck, and thankfully there are a good number of Easy cards in there!

A few thoughts: some of these Investigators are great. Of the 4 I used, all had big benefits and as a bonus, Vincent doesn't suck like he does in AH!

As Sid Pikes wrote, Luke is a fabulous gate closer. Managed to get a good Asset or two to help him out as well. Vincent is really useful even though Hypnos forces you to choose SAN or HLT to recover during Rest, not both. Since William started in Sydney, I stayed there on turn 1 to hopefully boost his STR (success), and once he completed his Task he nabbed 4 clues and a doom retreat by 1. Not bad.

But I've gotta say my favourite is Darrell, a guy I kind of forget about in AH. His ability to weed the crap from the Asset deck and his machine-like clue generating ability (thanks to his starting Assets and OBS 4) is a real treat. No danger of zero clues on the board with this guy, and unlike clue goddess Daisy, he can actually hop around the world and be really useful in encounters. I think he's in my top 5 now.

As far as the board goes, I used it way more than either of the other 2 expansion boards. Still working out the mechanics of it...it's clear how the Investigators can get TO the Dreamlands, but nothing's really said about how they can get BACK from The Dreamlands...I'm assuming if it's regular Investigators we're talking about, they have to take one of the 3 Dream Portal paths back to the regular board? That's how I played it anyway. Would have been nice for FFG to spell that out for idiots like me:)

The theme is nice and heavy in the new cards and like I say, since the new board is used so much the theme's pretty flavourful overall too. I'll give it a shot with the Adventure Cards next time and we'll see how it goes.

well, I did a quick playthrough today and survived.

Prelude: the one that says to use the Dreamlands sideboard.

Ancient One: Hypnos

Investigators: the local Eldritch Men's Group, consisting of Luke Robinson, Darrell the cameraman, Vincent Lee, William Yorick

Ended up winning, was going really well until I stopped paying attention to gates and the track got down to 4. But other than that no real danger.

Mind you, I used Mythos cards from the expansion to make up the deck, and thankfully there are a good number of Easy cards in there!

A few thoughts: some of these Investigators are great. Of the 4 I used, all had big benefits and as a bonus, Vincent doesn't suck like he does in AH!

As Sid Pikes wrote, Luke is a fabulous gate closer. Managed to get a good Asset or two to help him out as well. Vincent is really useful even though Hypnos forces you to choose SAN or HLT to recover during Rest, not both. Since William started in Sydney, I stayed there on turn 1 to hopefully boost his STR (success), and once he completed his Task he nabbed 4 clues and a doom retreat by 1. Not bad.

But I've gotta say my favourite is Darrell, a guy I kind of forget about in AH. His ability to weed the crap from the Asset deck and his machine-like clue generating ability (thanks to his starting Assets and OBS 4) is a real treat. No danger of zero clues on the board with this guy, and unlike clue goddess Daisy, he can actually hop around the world and be really useful in encounters. I think he's in my top 5 now.

As far as the board goes, I used it way more than either of the other 2 expansion boards. Still working out the mechanics of it...it's clear how the Investigators can get TO the Dreamlands, but nothing's really said about how they can get BACK from The Dreamlands...I'm assuming if it's regular Investigators we're talking about, they have to take one of the 3 Dream Portal paths back to the regular board? That's how I played it anyway. Would have been nice for FFG to spell that out for idiots like me:)

The theme is nice and heavy in the new cards and like I say, since the new board is used so much the theme's pretty flavourful overall too. I'll give it a shot with the Adventure Cards next time and we'll see how it goes.

Glad you had a good time too.

Darrell was the unfortunate investigator that suffered in my Perlude card so I didn't get to see him in action. He'll be selected in the next round for sure.

You have the dreamlands mechanics correct, easy to get there but leaving is a tad tougher

Each space containing a Dream Portal is connected by a Local Path to the space that corresponds to that token. Spaces connected by Local paths are so close to eachother that moving between them does not reuire an action.

Would anyone be able to confirm that in total the encounters you get for the Dreamlands with the expansion sums up to:

- One deck of 16 Location encounters for the 3 Cities

- 6 Dream-Quest cards that you maybe see with Dream-Quest token

- For the other 4 Wilderness spaces on Dreamlands board you use your Generic Wilderness encounters?

Would anyone be able to confirm that in total the encounters you get for the Dreamlands with the expansion sums up to:

- One deck of 16 Location encounters for the 3 Cities

- 6 Dream-Quest cards that you maybe see with Dream-Quest token

- For the other 4 Wilderness spaces on Dreamlands board you use your Generic Wilderness encounters?

You have the 16 card deck for the city location encounters.

There is a 20 card Dream-Quest deck that works like the expedition deck. (4 different backs which are the 4 wilderness locations)

Then the standard 4 encounter decks (Americas/Europe/Asia/General) all get 4 new cards.

It also adds 6 otherworld encounter cards.

7 clue and 3 gate tokens for the sideboard.

I hope that helps LeRoux.

Hey Sid Pikes,

Much appreciated, that was the exact info I was hoping for, plus a little extra!

All the best

well, I did a quick playthrough today and survived.

You have the dreamlands mechanics correct, easy to get there but leaving is a tad tougher

Each space containing a Dream Portal is connected by a Local Path to the space that corresponds to that token. Spaces connected by Local paths are so close to eachother that moving between them does not reuire an action.

Hey, yeah I get the Local paths, just like in Antarctica and Egypt. But the ability to simply Rest and spend clue/test Will to get to the side board from the main board is great, and some folks may argue you should be able to do the same thing to get back to the main board. A bit messy flavour/mechanics wise.

well, I did a quick playthrough today and survived.

You have the dreamlands mechanics correct, easy to get there but leaving is a tad tougher

Each space containing a Dream Portal is connected by a Local Path to the space that corresponds to that token. Spaces connected by Local paths are so close to eachother that moving between them does not reuire an action.

Hey, yeah I get the Local paths, just like in Antarctica and Egypt. But the ability to simply Rest and spend clue/test Will to get to the side board from the main board is great, and some folks may argue you should be able to do the same thing to get back to the main board. A bit messy flavour/mechanics wise.

Man, really excited to get my copy of Dreamlands, especially because of the flavour & mechanics interaction. Your discussion above really gets your imagination going. My train of thoughts is this: Ok, so say you are in Arkham, sleeping i n your bedroom apartment and willing yourself down the stairs of slumber and you think its just a dream, right? Turns out, you actually did go into another dimension and willing yourself back is not as easy as a "normal" dream! The bed your dreaming self once occupied is... empty! And you may find yourself "waking up" in Tokyo!! I mean, think about the headlines in the Eldritch world this would create! Now you have mysterious disappearances of investigators all over the world, popping up bewildered and confused on totally different locations. Only being able to explain that a fantastic and unworldly dream got them there! (except Luke of course, as for him dreaming is a mode of travel!). Nobody is going to believe you and will think it must be a con! This is great flavour and something completely different from the more physical travel modes the other big box expansions have to offer.

Still, I first need to play it myself, next week i hope when my retailer has it. ....Unless I wake up in Tokyo!

well, I did a quick playthrough today and survived.

You have the dreamlands mechanics correct, easy to get there but leaving is a tad tougher

Each space containing a Dream Portal is connected by a Local Path to the space that corresponds to that token. Spaces connected by Local paths are so close to eachother that moving between them does not reuire an action.

Hey, yeah I get the Local paths, just like in Antarctica and Egypt. But the ability to simply Rest and spend clue/test Will to get to the side board from the main board is great, and some folks may argue you should be able to do the same thing to get back to the main board. A bit messy flavour/mechanics wise.

I disagree here, I think flavour wise it makes sense.

It's easy to get into the dream world and lost. Waking up from the dream is more difficult. I think it's intended thematically.

well, I did a quick playthrough today and survived.

You have the dreamlands mechanics correct, easy to get there but leaving is a tad tougher

Each space containing a Dream Portal is connected by a Local Path to the space that corresponds to that token. Spaces connected by Local paths are so close to eachother that moving between them does not reuire an action.

Hey, yeah I get the Local paths, just like in Antarctica and Egypt. But the ability to simply Rest and spend clue/test Will to get to the side board from the main board is great, and some folks may argue you should be able to do the same thing to get back to the main board. A bit messy flavour/mechanics wise.

I disagree here, I think flavour wise it makes sense.

It's easy to get into the dream world and lost. Waking up from the dream is more difficult. I think it's intended thematically.

Well, if you look at the inspiration for the board, the Randolph Carter stories, he comes back from the Dreamlands to the exact same place he fell asleep in most if not all the time. So thematically and flavour-wise it's more accurate if you end up in the same place you started in. But this is a game, so...

Reporting on the second half of a 2-part Dreamlands expansion run...

Prelude: the one that says to use the Dreamlands sideboard.

Ancient One: Atlach-Nacha

Investigators: the local Eldritch Women's Group, including Gloria Goldberg, Carolyn Fern, Kate Winthrop, and Amanda Sharpe

Other: Used Adventure Cards as indicated by Prelude card.

I'm going by memory here but 2 main things: firstly, this AO is a piece of work. Gates a-go-go if you're not careful, and a tiny Doom Track. You've gotta watch it and this combination of Investigators made for a tough go of it.

Secondly, I built the Mythos deck from the expansion cards again, and nabbed a whack of Hard cards. Many of them had effects which generated Epic Monsters and/or effects which increased the amount of gates on the board.

Thirdly (bonus), not a lot of STR with these characters, and without lucky draws with a few weapons it would have been an early TPK.

The first 2 Mysteries I drew both generated Epic Monsters again. Sometimes I had 3 Epic Monsters on the board and a bunch of gates, and not much to work them over with. Luckily the Adventure path made it a little easier to advance Mysteries, so between that and an Asset from Gloria, I offed the first EM without engaging it in battle.

I wish I had the game in front of me so I could share the Rumour card that generated an EM that popped all over the board and usually spawned gates too, but I don't have it. Suffice to say it was a hard one and I couldn't reach it with the movement that I had at hand. Didn't help that Gloria, despite starting the game strong and lucking out with a Tome that gave her a chance at spells every turn, got delayed 4-5 times in the windup to the game.

I had good feelings about Kate, but she never really got in a position to shine. Her abilities look good though. Carolyn was eerily useful, both in her ability and overall stats. Amanda was the winner for me here, with Talents and improvements up the yin yang. Good balance too. I want to like Gloria but had some tough luck with her...

At the end we wrapped the final Mystery with 3 Doom left (Carolyn gave us a gift of retreating Doom twice with her asset, and she ended up being the Dreamlands person Adventure-wise), and on that turn Gloria and Kate went insane, leaving us at 1 Doom. So barely a win....

Overall, 1) some bad luck later in the game, but 2) it was propagated by the imbalance in the group of Investigators I chose, and 3) the AO is vicious if you don't look out, and lastly 4) there are some brutal Mythos cards in the expansion after all:)

In the story there are portals that lead out of the Dreamlands but most of them are unknown to humans (the ghouls and cats use them). The one Randolph uses is in the Cavern of Flame. I am not sure if dreamers can just choose to wake up because that never came up in the story. We would have to ask Lovecraft.

In the story there are portals that lead out of the Dreamlands but most of them are unknown to humans (the ghouls and cats use them). The one Randolph uses is in the Cavern of Flame. I am not sure if dreamers can just choose to wake up because that never came up in the story. We would have to ask Lovecraft.

Ha, good one on asking HPL.....anyway in Dream-Quest he wakes up in the same room he fell asleep in.

For fun, let's say in game terms that meant that he did his WIL-1 roll to go into the Dreamlands from Arkham city space, and wakes up in the Enchanted Wood space on the sideboard.

Then Carter runs all over the place in The Dreamlands, eventually getting on a Shantak and forced to go to see Azathoth. But on the way he leaps from the creature and thinks of his room at home...so essentially making another WIL-1 roll? and ending up in Arkham again. Dream Portals are an interesting game mechanic but literally doesn't seem to be appropriate here.

In the story there are portals that lead out of the Dreamlands but most of them are unknown to humans (the ghouls and cats use them). The one Randolph uses is in the Cavern of Flame. I am not sure if dreamers can just choose to wake up because that never came up in the story. We would have to ask Lovecraft.

Ha, good one on asking HPL.....anyway in Dream-Quest he wakes up in the same room he fell asleep in.

That's because Nyarlathotep sucked him out of reality. Remember he had the choice of leaving through the portal but forgetting all he had learned or completing his dreamquest. That would have been an interesting mechanic. Complete your quest or resign and lose all you have accomplished.

I'm anxiously waiting for Dreamlands to show up on Amazon. Seems to be going slowly. It would appear that something in the neighborhood of 14 copies were printed in the first run, and all went to folks who (given only 14 copies are available) want about $60 shipped. Sigh.

I'm anxiously waiting for Dreamlands to show up on Amazon. Seems to be going slowly. It would appear that something in the neighborhood of 14 copies were printed in the first run, and all went to folks who (given only 14 copies are available) want about $60 shipped. Sigh.

You might be waiting on that for a while. In fact, from what I can tell, there is some sort of dispute going on between Amazon and ANA/FFG. The only new FFG products that have shown up as being sold by Amazon direct or an Amazon fulfilled affiliate (and not a third party vendor) was the Arkham Horror LCG which was briefly listed back in November before going out of stock. But there are items that came out in October (such as some Star Wars RPG books) which have yet to show up on Amazon. So it would appear that either FFG is holding back from Amazon or Amazon is not buying from FFG for some reason.

My suggestion would be to get the game from an OLGS (like CSI or MM or CH). They will still have them for less than MSRP.

Just wanted to say thank you to Otakuon for the heads-up. I had no idea, and had bought all my previous EH stuff from Amazon, and was going nuts checking the site every day to see whether there was finally going to be an option that didn't cost $15 for shipping. (I even went around to FLGSes in the area, but none had received it, either.) I had no idea that OLGSes were a thing, but lo and behold, the first one I checked, and I should have a copy for MSRPish (including shipping) within a couple of weeks. Excellent!

On 1/25/2017 at 5:48 AM, striderremix said:

Just wanted to say thank you to Otakuon for the heads-up. I had no idea, and had bought all my previous EH stuff from Amazon, and was going nuts checking the site every day to see whether there was finally going to be an option that didn't cost $15 for shipping. (I even went around to FLGSes in the area, but none had received it, either.) I had no idea that OLGSes were a thing, but lo and behold, the first one I checked, and I should have a copy for MSRPish (including shipping) within a couple of weeks. Excellent!

Glad I could be of service. Although, to be honest, ever since FFG/ANA implemented their new price fixing scheme last year, OLGS are not the gold mine they used be be. Before 2016, most FFG products were around 30% off MSRP from your typical OLGS. These days, the best you are going find is about 15% off. When Amazon does finally get FFG product in stock (again, it's in doubt that this relationship is still in place going forward based on recent trends) it is often for 25% off, so these day Amazon is generally the best deal. But they just don't seem to be stocking new FFG releases any more.

On 1/27/2017 at 2:24 AM, Otakuon said:

Glad I could be of service. Although, to be honest, ever since FFG/ANA implemented their new price fixing scheme last year, OLGS are not the gold mine they used be be. Before 2016, most FFG products were around 30% off MSRP from your typical OLGS. These days, the best you are going find is about 15% off. When Amazon does finally get FFG product in stock (again, it's in doubt that this relationship is still in place going forward based on recent trends) it is often for 25% off, so these day Amazon is generally the best deal. But they just don't seem to be stocking new FFG releases any more.

Otakuon, could you please explain where to look for the best deal in layman terms for me? I am a bit confused (googling doesn't help a lot) with all the abbreviations you are referencing

The thing is, I was buying FFG boxes from my local sellers, but since not every expansion is available in my native language (in fact, only Forsaken Lore for EH got translated and is not available at the moment with no clear plans for a reprint), I decided to sell my base game and order from FFG directly. Since I am overseas, shipping cost is high, so reading your post I realized there might be a better deal to compensate high shipping costs in my case.

So far, I know only of two places to search for FFG boardgames: Amazon and FFG. I am looking to order from FFG due to the price, including shipping cost, being a bit lower compared to what Amazon offers.

I just searched for the EH base game on Amazon and the range is from $79 (free shipping) to $130, while FFG will send it for $72 ($60 for the box and 12 shipping). In fact, for anything FFG I look up on Amazon, FFG site has a better deal.

Again, I am definitely missing something as I hadn't ordered US versions before and do not know where to look for the best deal, so if anyone can give me some hints, I would greatly appreciate.