Hello, all

We've recently added Arkham Horror to our game group, and love it! We quickly bought all the expansions and have loved every game. However, as the Unique Items deck got diluted, we noticed that Elder signs were harder and harder to come by. We also noticed that while we were playing as a team, we didn't always feel like our character's stories and journeys were connected to each other. As a result, we invented a new game mechanic: Epic Other World Encounters. We've played with it enough now with such amazing and fun results, I thought we'd share it with all of you.

The rules are pretty straightforward:

1. Any number of investigators may embark on an Epic Other World Encounter (even solo, although this is not advised. These Epic Encounters are treacherous, and the odds are stacked against survival). In order to embark on an Epic Encounter, the investigators must all enter into the same gate during the same phase.

2. During the Other World Encounters phase, Epic Encounters are resolved last, regardless of player order (if there is more than one group of investigators on an Epic encounter (good luck with that), resolve the Epic Encounters starting with the group containing the first player who has not yet had an encounter, also forth).

3. While on an Epic Encounter, instead of drawing one Other World Encounter card for each player, the group draws *five* Other World Encounter cards total (regardless of the number of Investigators on the journey). The group then resolves these cards, one at a time, with the investigators volunteering individually to resolve the card as agreed between them.

3a. Each Encounter card is resolved individually as normal--that is, once an Investigator has volunteered to tackle the challenge, they are on their own. Other investigators may not render aid.

3b. Each card may only be resolved once. (This means only one, and only one, Investigator may be asissigned by the group to resolve a card. Once they either succeed, or fail, the card is placed into the discard pile and may not be attempted again.)

3b. Once a card is resolved, move on to the next card, with the group deciding on which Investigator will attempt to resolve the new card once it is revealed. (Make sure to reveal Epic Emcounter cards to the group *one at a time*--you don't know what's going to happen to you next on your epic adventure, so it's not possible to plan ahead. You simply have to plan for everything).

3c. Once all five cards are resolved, your encounter is over for the round. If you are in the first area of an Other World Location, you're half-way there. If you're in the second area, congratulations, you've completed your journey, and return to Arkham as normal at the proper phase (assuming you all survived).

3d. During the upkeep and movement phases, Investigators may exchange items as though they are in the same location (they are, after all, on an adventure together).

4. If any Investigator is *delayed* (or must "stay here next turn") during an Epic Encounter, the entire group is *delayed.* Congratulations, your group has to stay and draw an extra five cards next round, just like they would if they were delayed during a normal Other World Encounter.

5. If any Investigator is reduced 0 stamina, 0 sanity, or Lost in Space and Time while on the Epic Encounter, they are instead *devoured.*. Your epic adventure has taken its toll, and you are in too deep to ever make it back home. This journey is a one-way ticket. You either make it home, or you die exploring the vast expanses of the mythos in your effort to find answers.

6. If a card directs you to "Return to Arkham," and you are in the first area of an Other World, you may do so, but you may not take an Encounter token when you return, and your group may not seal the gate if you do so. You have aborted your adventure early, and don't have what you need to complete the Encounter and seal the gate. If a card directs you to "Return to Arkham" an you are in the second area of an Other World, you may do so in accordance with the regular rules for returning and closing the gate.

7. Regardless of the order the cards are drawn and resolved, any abilities which allow you to "Return to Arkham" only take effect once ALL Epic Encounter cards are resolved for that round. (In other words, even if your first encounter card allows you to "Return to Arkham" once it's resolved, your group still may not do so until after the next four encounter cards are resolved. This represents your group's opportunity (or forced circumstance) to abort their adventure, but not before they've had to deal with more challenges during their journey home.)

8. All items, clue tokens, and money, acquired during an Epic Encounter *belong to the group* until they return to Arkham. These items go in a pile in the Other World space the investigators are i, and may be used by any or all of the Investigators as though they belonged to them while resolving cards. These items must be kept separate from one another, however, as they will be divided upon the group's return to Arkham.

8a. Further clarification: Upon resolving an encounter card which has granted items, clue tokens, or a sum of money to a player for any reason, those items, clues, or sums of money are placed in their own *individual* piles, representing items (or group of items) acquired from each individual Encounter card using your journey. (For example, Ash Can Pete resolves an encounter card for his group that awards him 2 clue tokens. Upon resolving that card, those clue tokens are placed in a pile in the Other World area Pete's group is adventuring in--this area represents the "pool" of "loot" the group has acquired together during their journey. THESE ITEMS DO NOT GO TO PETE. Upon resolving his card, the group draws a second Encounter card which requires another skill check. The group nominates Jenny Barnes to resolve this card, and she agrees. Jenny successfully resolves the card, which bestows $3 and a common item. These items go in their own pile next to the first pile. Now there are two "piles" of acquired items--one pile from the first encounter card with two clue tokens, and a second pile with $3 and a common item from the second Encounter card. All piles should be kept separate until the end of the Encounter.

9. Upon returning to Arkham, each Investigator, beginning with the first player, may take and keep *one* item ( or individual "pile" of items) acquired during the journey, if they so choose. If there are more piles of items than there are investigators upon their return to Arkham, the rest of the piles are discarded--you've used the rest of these items along the your journey to help you get home.

10. Upon returning to Arkham, any surviving Investigators may attempt to close the gate as normal. HOWEVER, ANY GATES CLOSED AS A RESULT OF COMPLETING AN EPIC ENCOUNTER ARE INSTEAD SEALED as though you have spent the requisite number of clue tokens. --You reward for exhaustively exploring the Other World is that you learned enough while there to seal it shut. NOTE: All investigators who survived and returned from the Epic Encounter must be present for the gate to be sealed--this is a team effort, and all of your collective knowledge is necessary to reap the benefit.

11. Once a gate is sealed, the gate token is taken and placed on the game board beneath the Other World location from which you returned. --It is *not* kept as a gate trophy. Nor is it returned to the pile. No more Epic Encounters may be undertaken in that particular Other World for the rest of the game--*even if the seal is blown later and the token removed from the board.* This is the price for sealing the gate, and you've learned all you can learn about that particular world from comprehensive exploration and adventuring.

11. Any Investigators who remain in the location after the gate is sealed, but who have not yet had an encounter this phase have an Arkham Encounter as normal.

After running this scenario close to two dozen times, we've found it is FUN! We play-tested it exhaustively before implementing it in the game, and found that five Encounter Cards created the perfect balance between risk and reward. With two investigators or less, we generally found the Encounters to be pretty dangerous. People often didn't survive. But with three or more, we found them to be risky, but "doable," albeit at the cost of having three investigators tied up in one area to deal with one gate for 3 turns! (In the meantime, the board would be spiraling out of control). This trade-off meant Epic Encounters could be used in situations where we had a lot of manpower, available, but not a lot of clue or Elder sign resources. It also meant they had to occur a little later in the game when we had the equipment we needed to survive them, and enough control over the board to congregate for a few turns before things got out of control again.

It's helped us shorten games, too. Because either some investigators get devoured and we lose our advantage, or we can seal the last gate or two near the end without having to wait for enough clue tokens to slowly appear. We've also used it at as a last-ditch attempt at great risk near the end of the game to gamble sealing at gate before the Ancient One awakens (a gamble we've lost at least once, too, when all our investigators were too tired and haggard to make the trip).

Perhaps the best thing about the Epic Encounters, though IS THE FLAVOR! The Other World locations really start to come alive and take on a very strong personality if their own when you're running 10 cards over two turns (or more--once we had our investigators get delayed twice and had to pull 20 cards in the Abyss over four before we could escape. Talk about Epic. It was like a Peter Jackson movie. And the rest of our time could barely keep the board under control while we were away).

The rule requiring you to mark and only have one Epic Encounter per Other World location per game really forces you to pick and choose your Epic Encounters, and believe me, try having one in R'yleh when it's your only option and you're running out of time. I promise you'll come to know and fear that place as much as we do. They really come to life.

The best part about them is the risk. Sometimes they're worth it. Sometimes they're you're only option. Sometimes they're suicide--either because you don't have what it takes, or you don't have the luxury of putting even two investigators together for three turns, let alone three of them.

It adds a whole new mechanic to the game that's never been strong enough to change anything, but still potent enough to give us real (if not risky) options when we need them. We love it. Because the game still feels the same, but sometimes we literally do get to work together. We've had a blast.

Let me know if you guys try it. I'd love to hear if you've found any better ways to improve it.

Hope this helps anyone looking for a new way to keep things fresh or make them more interesting! Please let us know what you think about it.