As I suspected....another loss, but not without considerable irony. The use of Arcane Insight was able to block any further monster movement into the Innsmouth Vortices. However I changed the plan of Zoey spending clue tokens in Innsmouth to clear the DOR track, and had her seal the Esoteric Order of Dagon gate in Innsmouth instead.. Not too long after, a gate was prevented from opening there again by that Elder Sign, and token #5 was placed on the DOR track (this was either not preventable or seemed like the better option at the time for whatever reason). Meanwhile Jackie was gradually (or more like rapidly) deteriorating under the pressure. She had spent clues to use Precognition to stop a monster surge centered at Devil's Reef (which would have seen three new monsters placed there in addition to three which were lurking at Joe Sargent's Bus Service). She had become Tainted due to an Exhibit item. She was sent to the hospital once and the asylum once by the Original Vampire. She was out of clues when the final blow arrived, sure enough, another gate opening at the Esoteric Order of Dagon where the seal prevented it, resulting in token #6 on the DOR track.. I didn't even bother with the Final Battle.

The game was jinxed from the start, and Yorick even drew a "Jinxed" injury card to symbolize it. Mary had just earlier given him her cross, and on HER VERY NEXT UPKEEP, lost her Blessing. I'm not making this up. In total, this may have been the worst luck I've ever had in AH. It was just "doomed" from the start, kind of an aberration almost. Very good playing tips you guys are providing. Too bad I didn't ever seem to get a chance to use them, was on the run from the start. Even so, it was fun, though kind of a relief to have it over with.. At some point, I should give up on this scenario, but not yet. Wendy will be included again, and I'm convinced on Norman's utility too. That leaves it between Carolyn and Jacqueline.. Tough call there. "Precognition" is tough to pass up.

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:. this means I'll play the remaining Scenarios without postin *any* comment until everything's done ::laughter::

Btw, I finished the Y'golonac Scenario. I fear it's a little too nasty, if you let it go, it's like a nuclear meltdown (Eihort style, but worse). Drop an e-mail later for consultancy

Schmiegel said:

Sorry for the bad luck, pal! I hope in your next game you'll be more lucky!

As for your question, Carolyn vs Jackie... this depends heavily on your gaming style. I'd go with Carolyn (to clean streets) and push a little the game. The key for winning is 3 ES on the board by turn 4 or 5 (maximum). If you find this task difficult to achieve, then go with Jackie, she can probably give you some more time. But if you're a patient man, you can try Carolyn and in case you don't succeed in this, you can switch to Jacqueline.

Keep your mind focused on clues. Every bloody round, the same question: who has the most clues? Enough for sealing? Ok, into a gate. Not enough? Let's start gathering them until I have five. If you need a character for doing something else, no probs, but try to use the one with less clues. Don't be afraid to switch equipment between the characters. Gear up for OW travelling the ones entering the OWs. So, the Find gate always with somebody able to cast it. If you have the chance of getting the gate box or a weapon, get the gate box, and leave an easy OW gate open the whole game. You can walk an easy path this way, enter the easy OW, cast Find gate, use Gate box and return wherever you want. Use utility items (Mi-go brain case, Carcosan page among all) to share your stuff between the investigators. Don't be afraid of spending trophies to cash clues or Blessings. Especially for Blessings: this will make Mary pass her PS and with her PS passed she can be a game winner

Suggestion (not so sure you need this, but anyway): it's not convenient with the Innsmouth board in play sealing high frequency locations (Independence Square, Unvisited Isle, Witch House, Woods). It's very likely this will hoard loads of DOR tokens on the DOR track, and it's also very likely you have a gate burst in at least one of these locations if you're not able to win in 10-11 Mythos. If you have only gates open on high frequency, jump into them and cross your fingers. But if you have some high freq AND some low freq (Hibbs', Historical Society, Science Building) or medium (the other ones), accept the risk of having some monster surges and seal the low (medium) frequency ones.

And let us know!

Excellent advice, Julia, thank you! Interesting. I am doing a lot of that already, although not all. Possibly I dawdle a bit too much on things like Tasks and encounters of interest that are not necessarily all that productive...just interesting. I may tend to be conflicted on the matter of being hell-bent to just win as opposed to enjoying "the journey". I don't know if that's a bad thing, but not conducive to getting through the scenario successfully. Or maybe that's just an excuse. It is certainly fun and dramatic to just win too, especially as the game goes down to the wire. Maybe the balance needs some fine tuning on that count in my case. I'll certainly keep you posted and thanks again.

Schmiegel said:

Don't give up. You can do it! :') Seriously. You're using five investigators and two expansion boards, right? I have to wonder, why do you let gates stay open in Innsmouth anyway? I'd consider closing one if I didn't have enough clues to seal it, even if it were only medium frequency, just to reduce the pressure from monster flows there. I would never do that in Arkham, but I might consider doing it once or twice a game in expansion towns (particularly if I had five investigators, that's a lot of manpower to spare).

What's your shopping strategy? How do you get items and money?

Schmiegel said:

Oh, Tasks are never a good idea :') There are a couple of Missions that are occasionally useful, Sealing the Beast's Power, and Waking the Ley Lines (and there's one other one whose name I forget). But the tasks are too time consuming for the small rewards they provide. You'll get encounters just over the course of the game, but honestly, unless you have Darrell or The Dragon's Eye, it's not strategic seeking encounters except at The Newspaper, and ocassionally at The Administration Building and the Library (tomes). The Newspaper is generally the best place to go if you have spare time and want to gather more resources (easy money there).

These scenarios were designed for strategic play ;') not so much roleplaying exploration; if you reeeeally want to do that with them though (not that I'm suggesting you should, hardcore strategy gamer here), I'd suggest modifying them so there's no mythos draw for the first two turns, that'd give you a bit of time to explore.

Schmiegel said:

You touched an interesting point, Schmiegel! Enjoying the journey or working only on victory? Arkham offers both possibilities, and this makes it the best boardgame around (for me, at least). Just remember, Avi created something incredible, but he is focused on the strategy, and has created this League for advanced strategical play. Unfortunately there is no much time for "enjoying the journey", all Scenarios are rather difficult and a wrong move, or a couple of turns lost could imply your defeat. On the other hand, this League gives you a different spectrum of feelings. I'd say it's mind blowing. You feel the pressure, the urge of running against time to save the world from an unspeakable evil, you feel perfectly like an HPL character, with almost no chance to survive, powerless in front of something bigger. It's a voyage into our inner fear, to see if we're able to play chess with death. No tasks and missions, sadly, no time for a cigarette at Velma's nor for Common Items shopping or whatelse. Just rush, you don't have any time left. The Evil has cometh. And you have to push yourself to the limit to save the world (and if you can feel this... man, this League it's like a drug)

Avi_dreader said:

And that's a good reason to enter the Kingsport board in play and add a sixth investigator to the pool ::laughter:: six investigators are the key for this League, IMHO. If you're good, you need to have each investigator sealing only one gate. Six seals, hopefully only 9 Mythos

Julia said:

::Shrug:: Or you could play a three investigator kill squad for the first scenario (gearing up for a final combat win, it should still be difficult and fun).
Anyway, I disagree, I was beating most of these scenarios with five investigators, without Kingsport.

Julia said:

Thank you Julia :') that was an excellent review ;') now if only someone would flatter the stories that came with the scenarios I'd be really happy ;'D

I kind of want to print this out and hang it on my wall ;') I actually read it to my father.

Investigative Team Victorious! Arkham is Saved!

At last, I managed to get past Scenario 1. The team of Sister Mary, Bill Yorick, Jackie Fine, Wendy Adams and Norm Withers got the job done and will move on to Scenario 2 as a unit. For the majority of the game, it was amazingly smooth sailing, relative to the previous attempts. I have internalized much of the knowledge you guys have passed on to me, but the tone of the game was pretty mild in addition to that. Things got prickly in the last quarter or so of the game though.. The first five gate seals came pretty easily, aided greatly by the fact that Yorick started the game with an Elder Sign that he had drawn and of course Wendy gets one by default.

The sealing of the final gate was another story.. In the last game turns, gates were open at the Esoteric Order of Dagon, Devil's Reef, the Devil's Hopyard and the Graveyard. The rail lines had been washed out by a Weather Environment card which persisted for some time. Mary was in Innsmouth, but was short on clues and the Esoteric Order gate was guarded by as many as five monsters between there and Church Green, headlined by Barnabus Marsh. William was in Dunwich, but upwards of five monsters guarded that gate between the location itself and Blasted Heath, a Star Vampire that wouldn't take the hint to leave being the biggest problem. The Graveyard was guarded by a Dark Young and the Original Vampire, who strangely never moved once until the near end of the game (the Aldeberan Ascendant prevented at least one move to the Sky).

Wendy was the only investigator in Arkham who dared to even think of going to the Graveyard, but she was short on clues. That left Devil's Reef, not the easiest location to access in greater Arkham.

But there was "Something About Mary" again in this game. She drew "Informant" as a skill, and journeyed to Innsmouth early on, before things got rough up there. Interestingly, she also drew Alchemical Process as a starting spell, and started literally making money to fund her clandestine activities. She rented a modest room on the third floor of the Gilman House Hotel, which afforded her a perfect vantage point from which to monitor activity below, and spent a few turns there. She cleared the DOR track once with the help of "Informant", and then when it was time, she traveled inconspicuously to Falcon Point, and sent a chartered boat to the River Docks to pick up Norman Withers and his five clues.

A couple of turns later, with the help of Find Gate, Norman had sealed game #6. Also critical to the effort was Jacqueline's Precognition ability, which blocked three mythos cards (17 were drawn, 14 entered play), including two gate bursts and one nasty rumor.

With the focus on just winning the scenario, the investigators didn't acquire many notable items to carry forward. One question, William acquired the Call Friend spell, and ended the game with it in his possession. But he doesn't have spells among his starting possessions. So is he out of luck as far as carrying it forward? Sister Mary will have a tough choice between "Informant" and "Alchemical Process", but she felt fulfilled and actualized with a life away from The Church, so it will be tough to give up her spying job. Can she give Jackie the "Alchemical Process" spell to hold for her, or did the game have to end with it in Jackie's possession? Wendy has Dynamite, which she finds intriguing.. So there you have it. Scenario 2 looks pretty interesting. Great story line!!

Avi_dreader said:

You're welcome darling ;-) And glad if I'd go on your wall :-)

It's scheduled, Monday should be Scenario 15 day. Unless something impredictable happens (civil war, nuclear fall out, shopping)

Julia said:

Alright, sounds like I better post the next scenario this weekend ;'D

Schmiegel said:

First of all, congratulations! :'D Now the tough part begins. Just remember, if you can get through scenario two (hell), you can get through anything.

As for item transfers, normally, I'd say, no, you can't transfer items to investigators unless you did it in the game, buuuut, since this is the first scenario, and you weren't really sure whether you could, I'd say go for it if you really want to (especially if you were two or three doom away from awakening— if you were just one away, that's a bit iffier).

Eh... I'd definitely pick alchemic process over informant. Remember, you can't really use bank loan exploits in these scenarios, so a reliable way of generating cash like alchemical process becomes even more invaluable. Think of it this way, the game will almost definitely last over 10 turns, that's thirty cash. On the other hand, there's a decent chance you won't even need to clear the deep one track (I rarely do), but even if you do, that'll save you three clues. Three clues= 1.5 gate trophies. 30+ cash=6+ gate trophies. ;') The choice should be quite clear if you think about it mathematically. Although, logistically as well.

Anyway, call friend's not that good, so I wouldn't lose any sleep over not being able to keep it ;'D Did you get any decent weapons that you can carry over at least? If not more specialized high value items?

Normally I'd say the Dynamite for Wendy would be a bad idea, just because it blocks of the possibility of getting a better item (like a good permanent weapon, or something that gives clues or speed); however... For scenario two... Maaaybe... You'll see why :'D I hope you didn't look at it when picking items (it's more fun if it's a surprise going into it— although it's definitely more of a challenge that way).

You wrote that you had trouble finding good items because you focused on winning the scenario... To me this indicates that you are not shopping enough :') remember, equipping your characters well and getting them clue equivalent items from the Unique item store does enable victories. Plus, every time you get an elder sign, it's a huge time boost— think of it this way, if you get an Elder Sign in a five investigator game, it's equivalent to gaining at least five free turns worth of movements and encounters (arguably more because sometimes gates surge).

:'D I'm glad you're enjoying the story, finally, somebody is! :'r Julia. ::Cough cough:: ;'D ... I'm looking forward to having the whole thing up (so I can finally talk about it with someone who's actually played through it), but, it's probably going to be another number of months still.

Oh. Crap. I just realized another reason why you might be finding this so difficult. You're using Miskatonic mythos cards. That makes the mythos deck significantly harder even if you're not using the lurker gates. Hmmm... If you want to keep doing that (and you're finding the game too difficult), I don't think it'd be unfair to the game design if you removed one doom token from the doom track at the beginning of the game in all the scenarios. Granted, I haven't thought this through much (or played Miskatonic much), but, I think that sounds about right since your gates are less likely to surge and more likely to open in expansion towns raising the doom track faster? Regardless, you should still be able to pull it off— I won the first five scenarios with time to spare (well, barely in the case of scenario two, and I beat it in a cold sweat, but, other than that).

I'm looking forward to reading how you fare against scenario two!

Thanks for the helpful and interesting commentary! I finished Scenario 1 with only 8 doom tokens on the Dracula doom track, I forgot to add, so it was a pretty resounding victory. There was probably more time for shopping for items to carry forward, but money was generally short and I didn't want to take any undue chances. Ordinarily I do as much shopping as possible at the Curiousity Shoppe, but this time not.

I haven't separated out the items from Kingsport or the Lurker. So I think rather than subtract one doom token due to the Miskatonic mythos cards, I'll just continue to leave in all the items. If there are any that upset the balance, I don't think I've seen them yet. Certainly not in this last game, where the investigators didn't have much at all. For the first 2/3 of the game, monsters weren't an issue and investigators were able to move about essentially with impunity. In the last part of the game, monsters kind of dominated and the investigators just avoided them.

Speaking of items to carry forward, there is one that Jacqueline acquired (Livre D'Ivon). It's a Unique Item from the Kingsport expansion. Succeeding at a Lore -2 check lets you search the Spell deck for a spell of your choice, take it, discard Livre D'Ivon and lose 2 Sanity. A nice card. Jackie would like to carry that one forward, but it's a possible case of a balance upsetting card, I don't know... I think removing all the Lurker and Kingsport items is a bit harsh actually. It doesn't seem like FFG would suddenly start injecting the game with unbalanced items, but I certainly haven't made an exhaustive study of the matter. I tend to like to include most everything, within reason. It's just a more interesting and diverse universe.

At any rate, the investigators really didn't get much else as far as items in Scenario 1, to carry forward. In terms of the choice between "Informant" and "Alchemical Process", I see what you mean, and was fond of the spell, for sure. The "Informant" skill pertained more to a qualitative story line for Sister Mary than to her effectiveness. She did clear the DOR track the one time, but there was only one token on it at the time. Mostly she just monitored from the hotel. However I had lost the previous game to the DOR track filling up, so was nervous about that. I had the same thought about Wendy and Dynamite. It's just nice to think that she would go into Scenario 2 with that kind of protection, at least for one critical situation.

I read the story for Scenario 2, but only briefly glanced at the scenario aspects themselves. I read through them once in the text at the end of the back story, in the final paragraph, before I realized what I was doing. But the decisions regarding items to carry forward had already been pretty much made by then, pending feedback. Nothing is really changing based on the peek I had at the scenario's details. But in the future I'll be careful not to "peek", because that would be more "realistic". Great stuff. I agree with Julia about this being comparable to a drug. Nice job with the writing and the creative side! It's going to be a few days before I have a chance to move to Scenario 2. Looking forward to it.

Schniegel, sorry, yesterday evening I was too flipped out for noticing your post (don't ask... I was actually wondering why we did not receive any news from your side ::laughter:: I should sleep some more hours / night, I'm afraid), so... CONGRATULATIONS! You beat it ;-) Dam(n), I knew you could, very, very, very well done! At the moment, only three people passed Scenario 1 (apart from me and you, the othe one was Hugues), but none (but me) passed Scenario 2. So, come on, push it harder, come to reach me :-) and force me to play those Scenarios quicker :-) So Avi will be happy

(@ Avi: post Scenario 16. Wait until I beat 15 and 16 and then I'll read and review the whole Nyarly cycle)

I'm glad the Mythos deck wasn't that brutal with you this time! After the way it pulled your leg in the last game, it seems to me fair you had some good Mythos to respite

Just a question on your Scenario: you mentioned that Mary monitored the DOR from the Gilman's Hotel. Are you aware that to put clues on the Feds Raising Track you need to be in the Innsmouth Neighborhood whose colour matches the colour on the track? Thus you need to discard clues in three different places to fill properly the track! (sorry if this is what you did, but your report isn't that clear on this point)

As for the MH deck: it's not that brutal as people might think, Avi. There is only one *bad* Mythos card (Snow drifts), the other are not that unbalanced. Granted, you'll see some more activity on expansion boards, but it's not that impossible. Besides, with all small expansions mixed in, the MH Mythos are quite diluted. In a 15 Mythos game, maybe two or three of them will enter play. I'd simply suggest not to play MH Rumors (a real pain; and their Fail condition isn't that bad but can make some Scenarios very difficult to win, IIRC). In case you draw a MH Rumor, discard the card and draw again

As for carry over items... sadly, you seem not to have anything worth of value. I'd also go with Alchemical process (*business is good*, just to quote my and Avi's fave zombie move of all times). Livre d'Ivon can be very good, it just depends on the spell you're going to acquire (most of the people I know go for a Find Gate. Which is good, but probably not the best spell in the deck. Arcane Insight, Alchemical Process or the one from the Dark Pharaoh allowing you to directly enter a gate during the AE phase are much more interesting, especially since you have Norm in party). Just remember, when you're about to win a Scenario, be coolhanded and spend one turn to pass items to other players. If Wendy still has her ES, then pass it to someone else. In the next Scenario, you will magically start with two ES. Same stuff for Find Gate, and so on!

Break a leg for Scenario 2! Are you going to try it soon?

Schmiegel said:

It's not that I think the items from Lurker and Miskatonic (you said Kingsport, but actually, those items aren't requested to be removed) are necessarily unbalanced, but, given how the league work, some of them might unbalance scenarios (I'm thinking specifically of one of the masks, and one of the new skills, if used with Lola. But possibly there's something else too.

Oh, hell yes, take the Livre. 2x alchemical process! I tried to get that my first game, but I failed (only could get one). I think with those as your items, you may have a chance at beating scenario 2 on your first try ;'D Julia will burn with envy if you do.

The real trick to not letting the DOR track get out of hand is A) eliminating gates on devil's reef *immediately* and B) not sealing high frequency gates first, or at least not more than one, because they're much more likely to deflect monster surges. C)and of course, clearing out other gates from Innsmouth also.

Anyway, it sounds like you're playing the scenarios at the speed I intended them to be played. Originally, I thought people would play them once a week, then I decided to make it easy and make it bi-weekly ::laughter:: I hope you keep having fun with them (I can't wait to hear your impression of scenario 3 and 4, I thought they were both lots of fun and scenario 3 plays verrrrry differently each time).

Eep. Double post.

Julia said:

::Cough:: you know Julia, I beat scenario 2 too ;') and I playtested it twice before I was able to beat it (I had to change the dynamics because I didn't realize that gates opening at Devil's Reef were instant death).

"Business is good"? I don't recognize that quote ;.( My favorite zombie movie is Quarantine ;'D

I guess it'd be okay if you kept in all the Miskatonic stuff... If you're going to, definitely keep in the rumor though. Poison is the spice of life :'D Atlhough I am very worried about that one mask (the thief mask), and the skill that lets you draw exhibit items whenever you gain it (with Lola, it's brutal). ... Not that you're able to use Lola yet ;'D

Actually... Now that I think of it, I'm going to have to post scenario 17 as well, although I won't post it on the forum yet. Mainly because there's a lot of aftermath to the Nyarlathotep scenario (it'd be sad if you beat it and then couldn't get your victory cut scene). Not that you'll beat it of course ;') it's way too hard.

Avi_dreader said:

What skill, with Lola? And don't forget the bloody Members of the Book Club (a card whose power is beyond imagination, especially under certain circumstances)

Julia doesn't know what envy is ::laughter:: I'm rather an adorable person, and I'll be very happy for Schmiegel if he beats it on the first try!

Avi_dreader said:

Avi, you're running the League and you're out of our League (pun intended) ::laughter:: I won't count you as somebody who attended a Scenario!

Business is good: Talahassee in Zombieland in Columbus imagery immediately after they met ("he was the right man in the business" / start a scene with buildings set on fire and Talahassee saying this quote)

Ok, I see here the clarification on Lola + MH. Got it. I haven't implemented yet the CotDP new stuff, so I couldn't imagine the exploit.

And don't worry, I'll beat it. With a club ::maniac spirit in her eyes::

Julia said:

The skill that lets you draw an exhibit item every time you get it. As for envy, we all draw our jealous guardian sometime ;')

Julia said:

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:: no need to saw you off any legs, at least for now! ::laughter::

As for Zombieland... I'm on a count of seven times. All my friends coming and saying: "aaaaah! that's the cool movie you keep on talking! wanna see it". I still love it, even if I've learned the whole screenplay now. It's not the movie I've seen more times (possibly Mediterraneo is the one? something like 17 times), but it's the zombie movie I've seen the most (not that I'm that fond in the genre)

Resident Evil 1... yeah, "sorry" is the right word here ::laughter::

Scenario Sixteen is up, but it is bitter, very bitter. Prepare for the terror of Nyarlathotep!