The problems i have with them (I realize that they are need for game difficulty that keeps you playing, but still...)

1.There is a possibility for a rumor to be drawn on first mythos phase of the game which makes the game a headache.

2.Most of the rumors (at least my gaming group thinks) are just too hard to beat. Which leaves you with:"Yeah it is important, but its too hard, and we dont have that much time". So we just ignore them.

3.Even when you want, you dont have enough time to react.

Im thinking about buying the expansions. How are the expansions dealing with rumors?

BigbBadBroloski said:

By #1 I assume you mean the 2nd Mythos card of the game, not the pre-game Mythos card, correct? Since the setup rules state Rumor can't be the pre-game Mythos. Early "Disturbing the Dead" (requires 2 gate trophies) is kinda icky, but not too bad (well, certain GOOs/Heralds love it), but the rest of the base game Rumors aren't really that bad. "Stars Are Right" if you just can't draw an Ally and don't have enough to buy one can hurt, but "Terrible Experiment" is actually nice because you can keep it in play, thus blocking other Rumors from having an effect (since Rumors don't replace Rumors, only one can be in play at one time). "Great Ritual" is an almost assured 2 Clues for each investigator, since Ye Olde Magick Shoppe is the last one to close, so you can easily buy the needed Spells (most of the time you tend to have 3 or so Spells left over from setup anyways).

As for expansions, they make the base game Rumors look like sunny picnics !

While the base game Rumors can be hard on very small teams (less than 3 investigators), their difficulty doesn't scale up with the number of investigators while the rewards for passing them increase, so with large teams (6+) they are way too easy and oftentimes help the investigators much more than they hinder them. Even with the standard 4 investigators they rarely pose any huge problems.

Some of the expansion Rumors, on the other hand, are ridiculously hard - just the way I like them.

-Villain

I am particularly fond of the Innsmouth rumors: all pain and no reward. Wheeeeee!

Ugh, I groan each time "Disturbing the Dead" comes up, *especially* in larger games (where its less likely that one investigator has multiple gate trophies). Or "the Stars are Right" as well.

That said, most of them actually aren't too tough to pass, and can give you some nice rewards if completed. Southside Strangler can be ignored, The Great Ritual is more than do-able (especially with caster characters) and has a really nice payoff.

Dunwich wise, the Nightmare Pool and Riots are horrible, but possible to defeat quickly if everybody commits on the first turn it's up. If not, sometimes these rumors you just try to not fail, instead of pass, sending someone to offload health every few turns. Mad Bomber can usually be defeated reasonably easily with bank loans or the docks.... although it can eat up time, which is it's main threat (totally lost a game a few weeks ago because Mad Bomber delayed us enough turns that if I had been smarter, I would have realized we should have just rushed for the win).

All the Double-Doomer Rumors are nasty if for no other reason than the simple fact they add 2 doom. Innsmouth ones dont even have a reward, lame.. Your reward is.. you didn't die. congrats. Innsmouth Plauge isn't too bad, with all that said. What's a random devouring, anyway? Might even help out. Plans in Motion is nasty though, very nasty.

Which rumors, specifically, were you having trouble with?

King in Yellow rumors have a special place in my heart: no "Pass" condition!