That's fairly amusing. I just wish you had a *real* AO, since some of the structural ideas there are pretty good. I'd make the effect of defeating a cultist a maximum sanity reduction though (far more potent). Also, 14's a *really* long doom track. I'd go for 12 and bump up his combat modifier by one.

The reason I gave him so long a doom track was twofold: 1. The players have the ability to control the difficulty of Jesus' attacks. If they're smart, they'd make sure they temper their attacks and never remove more than 1 doom token per round. I therefore wanted to make sure that if they did so, they still had to pass that relatively easy check enough times to make it dangerous. 2. I REALLY wanted there to be a lot of cultists running around the board annoying the crap out of everyone. With all the expansions out, there's so many monsters in the cup that it's not unheard of to play a game without even one Cultist showing up. I hoped that with 14 doom tokens there'll be time to get some out there.

All that being said, I haven't playtested him yet, (and won't have the chance to for a few weeks) so for all I know he makes for a terrible game. Anyone care to try him and let me know?

A couple things:

First, the long doom track makes a sealing victory really easy even with delaying sanity damaging cultists running around a strategic offing of one or two during the came will go a long way towards controlling their population making this an easy AO to deal with.

Second, the same thing that allows you to control the dificulty of the attack will make final combat long tedious and almost impossible to lose. The only way to control the loss of doom is to lower your fight and use weapons sparingly, lowering your fight makes your will go up making you tougher against the attack, also you won't be using clues on attacking him so they would be free to be used in defense. And if you don't remove a doom token one round who cares, you are now immune to his attack that round since x would equal 0. Most AOs final combat have some sort of a timer mechanic to avoid the final combat from draging on to eternity which this one literally could. Oh and Harvey Walters automatically wins against this AO.

Finally while I appreciate some of the creativity that has gone into the powers of the AO I think the identity needs a little work. It just seems like you're trying to piss someone off.

Most of what Veet said.

Also, while I like Galactus, it'd probably be better for the users of fan creations if you perhaps only used him as inspiration for an AO, not actually as an AO (of instance, way back when I make a Skeletor AO, but some other players pointed out, rightly so, that they felt ridiculous playing against it, so I changed it into something, uh, less jokey I guess— I didn't view it as a joke, but others did).

Jesus as a Great Old One is just darn funny. And it would explain so much ...

I rather like, makes the corruption cards come to the front. One question, I can't find anything on the identity of Soros, is this made up or come from somewhere?

Veet said:

Completely made up... of course.

Not named after George Soros I hope. It's good, picture and everything. I think it'll be fun to play.

Avi_dreader said:

The man who broke the pound?

I played this one today and I liked it a lot. I had drawn Patrice randomly and was about to throw her back when I realized this should be a good means of tempering her ability, and it was. I did feel as though drawing a Corruption with every shopping trip was a bit much (and I forgot to do it the first few times, anyway), so I made an adjustment to have that as an exception, as well as medical/psychiatric care. Added in a $3 gain Corruption draw as well. I was going to make it $2 but that would get real messy with Retainers every turn. Also changed the spelling of the name slightly in case it bothers anyone.

Here's the updated sheet...

And here's another new one with another Corruption element...

Gah... I'd love to read this over and comment a bit more. But I have a plane to catch (I'll be afk till Tuesday probably). One thing, Sros's ability sheet should actually list proper location names. Alright, bye for now. I'll try to comment more when I get back.

On Lmbaa: His power should read "Whenever an environment is discarded" you will save some space that way. Also I'm not so sure about his attack, the way it currently is written he will get easier as the battle progresses. Of course it may not mater much as you are using fight and will and you might not be able to teeter them properly for a good defense.

Veet said:

Yeah, my idea for the Attack is something I hope will work, but may end up being wonky. It is meant to be a trade-off between Fight and Will, with the tricky thing being that when you are bumping yourself back towards Will then you'll have less strength to attack with... but at the same time the modifier is lower if your Stamina is lower. It'll favor anyone with 2 or especially 3 Focus, and may likely require some Clue Tokens to survive some of the checks. I don't know how it'll work for real... I may playtest just the final battle of that a few times to see how it goes.

I really like it. I mean, the pre-final battle game should be very interesting. Even for the thing of more rumors in play allowed (I was trying to create a Herald around this idea not too a long time ago ::smiling: . Just one question regarding the Final battle: not so sure it works with Lily. I mean, the round she loses Stamina, she can heal her Sanity for absorbing damage in the following round, and viceversa. Or not? I played rarely with Lily, so maybe I'm wrong, in case apologies!

Hi me and my girlfriend started playing Arkham about 2-3 months ago and have been loving it so far. The only thing that seems to have got a little old are the ancient ones so we decided to each make one. Keep in mind these have only been play tested on the base game so we are unsure how they will work with expansions.

With this one he has worked out pretty well for us... I like the cultists wandering around the board the whole game it can keep the monster count high if you don't take care of them right away and with the Power it can make some easy battles a little more challenging but we have never found it to be too overwhelming. We have made it to a final fight with him 3-4 times and he can be a real pain but still beatable. We have had a lot of fun with him.

With her it has been simply a race to prevent her from waking up. With the delay entering every gate it really makes you prioritize sealing gates and controlling the board and her final battle has been reached about the same 3-4 times. She can be brutally hard but success early in the battle is key as she gets easier the more doom tokens you take off of her.

All our play tests have been with 2 or 3 people and we have had fun with them. Let us know what you guys think and any criticism is welcome.

On Samael: Pretty good ideas here, personally I would ramp up the cultists just a little, the endless thing is good as that makes then an annoyance with no trophy gain but they still are very easy to defeat and any one investigator should be able to get them off the board in one or two turns if they need to lower the monster count. The final battle needs a count down mechanic to prevent it from possibly dragging on, I would suggest lowering the number of dice rolled by 1 each turn then you have a finite number of turns to defeat him before he just starts devouring everyone.

On Ultimecia: Some good ideas here too, that opening move in final battle could be brutal. I would save some space and remove the text about "Casts X" as it doesn't feel very much like Arkham Horror and sounds more like something out of Final Fantasy. This one also lacks a count down mechanic in the final battle but I'm not sure how one could seamlessly be introduced as is written.

Overall: Some pretty good ideas on both a little polish could make them great. I'm personally not enthused about out of genre personalities making appearances but that's just personal taste and can be fixed with a new picture and a name change usually.

I picked up Arkham Horror recently and have been greatly enjoying it. After stumbling upon the Fan Creations, I really wanted to make something myself. I created an Ancient One based off of one of my favorite games, trying to translate how the fight went in game to Arkham Horror's mechanics.

My goal was to have an Ancient One that really pushed the terror track, especially with the cultists and maniacs forcing the investigators to kill them and in turn increase the terror. I'm still undecided about how The Dark Hour is going to work, and will probably change that to something a little more creative in the future.

The Arcana car be special cards just for this AO. Here's my current rough drafts:
Arcana 0 - Fool : Nyx ebbs with immeasurable power, her presence creating an aura of dread. Make a Will (-1) Check or lose 1 Sanity. The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana I - Magician : "The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate... Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yes, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Attaining one's dream requires a stern will and unfailing determination. " Make a Will (-1) Check or lose 1 Spell. If the Investigator does not have any spells to lose, he is instead devoured . The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana II - Priestess : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... The silent voice within one's heart whispers the most profound wisdom." Make a Lore (-1) Check or lose 1 Clue token. If the Investigator does not have any clue tokens to lose, he is instead devoured . The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana III - Empress : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Celebrate life's grandeur... It's brilliance... It's magnificence..." Make a Luck (-1) Check or lose $1. If the Investigator does not have any money to lose, he is instead devoured . The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 for the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana IV - Emperor : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Only courage in the face of doubt can lead one to the answer..." Make a Fight (-1) Check or lose 1 Stamina. The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 for the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana V - Hierophant : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... It is indeed a precious gift to understand the forces that guide oneself..." Make a Lore (-1) Check or lose 1 Tome. If the Investigator does not have any Tomes to lose, he is instead devoured . The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card id drawn (ex. -2 the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana VI - Lovers : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... There is both joy and wonder in coming to understand another..." Lose one Ally of the Investigator's choice. If the Investigator has no Ally to lose, lose 1 Stamina instead.

Arcana VII - Chariot : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... One of life's greatest blessings is he freedom to pursue one's goals..." Make a Speed (-1) Check or lose 1 Sanity. The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 for the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana VIII - Justice : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... To find the one true path, one must seek guidance amist uncertainty." Make a Sneak (-1) Check or lose 1 Common Item. If the Investigator does not have any Common Items to lose, he is instead devoured . The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 for the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana IX - Hermit : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... It requires great courage to look at oneself honestly, and forge one's own path..." Lose one Unique Item of the Investigator's choice. If the Investigator has no Unique Item to lose, lose 1 Sanity.

Arcana X - Fortune : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Along time exists fate, the bearer of cruelty..." Make a Luck (-1) Check or be devoured . The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 for the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana XI - Strength : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Only with strength can one endure suffering and torment..." Make a Fight Check (-1) or lose 2 Stamina. The modifier increases for every additional round of combat this Arcana card is drawn (ex. -2 for the second time it is drawn, -3 for the third, etc.).

Arcana XII - Hangman : "The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... In the face of disaster lies the opportunity for renewal..." Choose another Investigator. They must lose either 1 Stamina or 1 Sanity of their choice. If there are no other Investigators, lose 1 Stamina or 1 Sanity of the Investigator's choice.

Arcana XIII - Death : "The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate... Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are... Death awaits you." Roll a die, being devoured on a failure.

Overall I'm sure it's all terribly unbalanced and cumbersome, but I figured I'd at least post what I had so far and see if any of you with experience with this sort of thing have any suggestions or pointers. Thanks!

Actually it's not bad. The new card type is a bit cumbersome just because of the difficulty of printing new cards,

Worshipers: Great worshiper power, forces the terror level to go up when you defeat the monsters and doesn't give you the choice if you can't avoid them.

The Dark Hour: similar to Zhar's power, about the same power level.

During Battle: I would axe this, it would make the combat last at least 14 rounds which is excesive. I know in the video game combat lasted forever (took me an hour and a half the first time I fought this bastard) but most Ancient Ones have a count down mechanic in their attacks to prevent a combat from lasting that long.

Start of Battle: You could almost make this an afterthought of the attack "X equals the current terror level ...." I would be tempted to also just make it a straight terror level, if someone was good enough (or lucky enough) to avoid raising the terror track with that worshiper power more power to them, If they let things go and end up with a crazy modifier they just have to deal with it.

Attack: The only problem I see here is that since everything happens in order you know just what to expect and can plan accordingly, I would make it a random draw of an arcana.

Doom Track: 14 makes this on par with Azathoth for game length making a sealing victory actualy pretty easy, I understand why you put it at 14 with the way the arcana attack works but 13 or 12 would be a much better length for this type of Ancient One.

Thanks for the input, it's extremely helpful!

The Dark Hour ability is the default Zhar ability when you load up a new Ancient One. At first I wanted to do something unique with it, but the more I think about it, the more fitting I find it to be. With the terror level being the biggest enemy with this Ancient One, adding the chance for another gate to open or even worse in this case, a monster surge, I think it works out.

I've removed the during battle condition and changed the start of battle to have X be the terror level without modification. To go along with this, I've removed the Physical & Magical Resistances, that way in a case of a -10 combat rating, the investigators might still have a chance, albeit a very slim one. The Doom Track has been dropped down to 12 as well, to give a better chance for awakening via gates.

The attack is the critical point of the Ancient One and giving me the most difficulty. I wanted to incorporate some form of the Arcana into the Ancient one, and the battle seemed most fitting. I've been considering making them into Epic Battle / Plot cards to be used with this Ancient One, that way they can come into play randomly. Also, if I did such, I'd most likely do where all the checks are at X, where X decreases each round of combat. I've never used regular Epic Battle / Plot cards myself though, as I only own the base game currently, so I'm not sure if this would seem kosher, plus doing so would still make the AO battle dependent on extra cards, which some people may not like.

I'll make some further adjustments and see how it goes, but thank you for all the advice so far!

Edit: I just had an idea for an attack phase for those who want to play without the additional cards.

Roll a die and resolve below depending on result:
1 - Make a Speed (X) Check or lose [something].
2 - Make a Sneak (X) Check or lose [something].
3 - Make a Fight (X) Check or lose [something].
4 - Make a Will (X) Check or lose [something].
5 - Make a Lore (X) Check or lose [something].
6 - Make a Luck (X) Check or lose [something].

Trying to create Ancient Ones with some out of the ordinary game mechanics...

Interesting ideas here, would like to see how it plays out in a test.

The main issue I foresee is that the special text on the green bordered monsters tends to be the bulk of their teeth. Chthonians, Colors and Lloigor are just easy to evade and prepare for if they aren't causing damage at unknown intervals. Hounds and Horrors aren't ambushing people and the Dunwitch Horror is completely hamstringed by this. I would suggest either retargeting this power to stationary monsters (there are 14 of both in a complete set) or make it in addition to their special text rather than instead of.

A couple of new ones, both based on the idea of simplifying and/or shortening some things. Of course, I love AH exactly as it is, and sometimes the epic several hour games are the best, but once in a while it'd be nice to have a short game, with an alternative to Yig. So that's what Juk-Shabb is supposed to be for. And F'non'F is meant to eliminate some things that can be hard to remember... I don't know about y'all, but it's rare that I play a game of AH without forgetting to apply some modifier from an Environment card, or forgetting that I had a Skill or Ally that might have helped on a skill check. Again, I would never want to eliminate Environments or Skills or Allies from the game, entirely, but I thought that might make an interesting diversion for one GOO, at least.

Now that I look at these again, I think the Worshippers and Final Battle rules for F'non'F would work better for Juk-Shabb in terms of making things faster. Anyway, let me know what you think, or if you have ideas for other abilities that would work well for a simplifying/shortening type of GOO.

It's unclear (to me) whether you intend to deprive investigators of their skills with the "Start of the game" ability.

Also, I presume you want Juk-Shabb to replace one toughness monsters with higher toughness monsters. That's not stated in the ability.

Avi_dreader said:

Well, the images aren't updated yet, but I've already changed these to clarify that yes, no Skills are in the game at all. And I moved F'non'F's Worhipper ability to Juk-Shabb.

My intent is to make more of a distinction between them, so that F'non'F is the "GOO for the forgetful" and Juk-Shabb is the "GOO for the time-sensitive". Everything for F'non'F reflects something that players might be likely to forget. In particular, the Environment card modifiers is the big one for me, but also Skills and Allies. The only thing I could think of for Worshippers is that once in a great while I do actually forget to check to see if any monsters can be removed after closing/sealing a gate. And the final battle thing, well, sometimes I don't check for the possible benefit of exchanging items during Upkeep each round. If you guys can think of a better version of a "simpler" Final Battle (without going the route of Azathoth), then please let me know. What I like about this GOO is that while it's meant to simplify some things, it's not likely to be an easy one to beat. No Environments means more likelihood for Rumors and also a lot more Headlines throwing monsters around, and on top of that you can't remove any monsters when you close gates. And you don't have any Skills or Allies to help you.

For Juk-Shabb, cutting out the Horror Checks and Other World Encounters will save some time, but not really lose much of the game, and of course, 10 doom tokens and one less gate to open or seal should make for a shorter game than usual.