I REALLY do not like the rumours Nightmare Pool and Riots. Not because they're difficult, but because in my experience 99% of the time it is not feasible to clear them in time. Riots is easier, but not by too much. They're not challenging, just a kill joy. Even the angry mobs annoy me, but I can appreciate them. Not these two. Reiterate:They take the fun out of any game i've ever played with them turning up.
So, think its fair to take them out and still consider any winning score valid?
Tough to win but still pretty easy to keep from losing.
I don't like them much either. Taking them out is probably fine unless one or more of them has a gate burst, in which case I'd leave them in.
When playing with multiple expansion boards, remember, your investigator count gets reduced by 1 or 2 less than the number of investigators you actually have. So these rumors will be proportionally easier to clear.
On the other hand, if you have Kingsport, you should be aware that there are a couple Kingport rumors that are modeled after Riots and Nightmare Pool, but nastier!
hm.. what do you find so difficult about them? Neither of these seem particularly troubling to me... at least not on the level that it seems to be for you. Just have a high stam investigator go between the location and the hospital, or (gasp) cooperate and get several investigators to do it.
Tibs said:
When playing with multiple expansion boards, remember, your investigator count gets reduced by 1 or 2 less than the number of investigators you actually have. So these rumors will be proportionally easier to clear.
On the other hand, if you have Kingsport, you should be aware that there are a couple Kingport rumors that are modeled after Riots and Nightmare Pool, but nastier!
What do you mean by investigator count is reduced by 1 or 2? Confused.
awp832 said:
hm.. what do you find so difficult about them? Neither of these seem particularly troubling to me... at least not on the level that it seems to be for you. Just have a high stam investigator go between the location and the hospital, or (gasp) cooperate and get several investigators to do it.
What's the gasp for? The point of the game is cooperation so of course investigators would work together. The problem is you have to move back and forth from the asylum/hospital to regain counters and then to spend them to remove counters. You have to move to the street area too. Monsters can move into that street area or any in between. And how often do you have investigators at full or close to it sanity and all within moving distance to get it in one go? If you're playing with four players that's four extra counters each turn so the going back and forth happens very slowly. If you focus on the rumour that leaves more monsters and gates to appear that you are ignoring. Difficulty and challenge can be quite enjoyable as long as there's an adequate degree of chance to defeat the rumour.
And just in case, i'm just talking about these two cards. Akrham is a BRILLIANT game.
well, Boss, I agree with everything you said about monsters getting in the way, moving back and forth to the hospital etc. But nevertheless, I've beat each several times. As was already mentioned its not too difficult to just keep from failing. I think Riots/Nightmare Pool are far 'better' than say; Distrubing the Dead or The Stars are Right, each of which can do a lot of damage on their own, even without triggering the 'fail' condition.
You forgot to mention that the required streets are as far from the asylum and hospital, respectively, as they can get.
TheBossInTheWall said:
What do you mean by investigator count is reduced by 1 or 2? Confused.
There is a rule that states when you are playing with more than 1 expansion board then you count the game as having 1 less player for each board beyond the first. So if you are playing a 4 player game and have 2 expansion boards you treat the card as if there were only 3 players, if there are 2 expansion boards then you would treat it as if there were only 2 players.
Veet said:
You forgot to mention that the required streets are as far from the asylum and hospital, respectively, as they can get.
TheBossInTheWall said:
What do you mean by investigator count is reduced by 1 or 2? Confused.
There is a rule that states when you are playing with more than 1 expansion board then you count the game as having 1 less player for each board beyond the first. So if you are playing a 4 player game and have 2 expansion boards you treat the card as if there were only 3 players, if there are 2 expansion boards then you would treat it as if there were only 2 players.
Oh ok. Didn't know that one. It doesn't work with an expansion with having a board and one without? Like Dunwich and King in Yellow.
awp832 said:
well, Boss, I agree with everything you said about monsters getting in the way, moving back and forth to the hospital etc. But nevertheless, I've beat each several times. As was already mentioned its not too difficult to just keep from failing. I think Riots/Nightmare Pool are far 'better' than say; Distrubing the Dead or The Stars are Right, each of which can do a lot of damage on their own, even without triggering the 'fail' condition.
have to disagree a lot here. Disturbing the dead is so much easier. With Nightmare Pool and Riots you are DEFINATELY getting those sanity tokens on the card. Three turns later it goes off. If you get say, half of them off in a turn, great. You still have to go back to the asylum/hospital. What if 2/4, 3/5, etc. players in in other worlds? What if you've got monsters on the street area or close by. Have to hope they don't move. If you've got flyers and you are there obviously they go to you and you can either fight them, sneak(less movement points for sneak. yes there are spells/items/etc. to help) which delays it more. Disturbing the Dead has a 1/3 chance of going off and you only have to visit there once. Stars are right is harder, but still much less likely to cause a lot of problems because of a 1/3 chance of a doom token as opposed to a definate chance of sanity tokens.
See the thing is, for me, it takes the fun out of it. Its too frustrating, not challenging.
Er, I hope this is taken in the tone i mean it in which is just game discussion, not attacking. 
I think i'll just end up taking them out.
Who says you have to win every rumour? If you can, great! If you can't, too bad.
If I don't feel I have a chance to win a rumour, I just ignore it or try to at least delay the inevitable.
Note that you can delay the effect by one turn by sacrificing only a single point of health/sanity. With a bit of luck you've won the game until then.
Most rumours are really nasty but they also offer a nice reward if you win them.
In some games I've found these rumours to be quite easy to win, i.e. whenever one or more investigators have ways to heal health or sanity.
Rumors to me are just a rarer form of monsters, that is, a distraction from the objective, closing/sealing gates. If I can pass the Rumors that are drawn, fine, if not, get the job done before they fail. I pretty much always just let the Mad Bomber go off, let it collect money, hope I can win before it fails.
I took out Riots, Mad Bomber and NP from my Mythos Deck.
Of the three NP isn't least bad. Three Mythos cards is a bit of a crap shoot, but the ongoing effect of Riots is nasty and MB can really dehbilitate a party. One option is to have an Investigator sacrifice 1 unit of the prescribed token, The effect will still go off, but you get an extra turn of Rumour Shield for 1 Stamina / sanity / buck.
While I do understand that people play these kind of games for different reasons, I must say I heavily disagree with the idea of removing any cards from any deck to make the game easier. If some people from our group suggested something like that, I'd call them wussies for the rest of their lives. There's nothing better than getting the "****, we're screwed!" feeling when you draw something like Riots or Nightmare Pool. That is the very reason I play this game. And if we still manage to win the game, it feels even better.
TheBossInTheWall said:
Oh ok. Didn't know that one. It doesn't work with an expansion with having a board and one without? Like Dunwich and King in Yellow.
Nope, you need at least two expansion boards for the reduced investigator count.
-Villain