Ok I finished scenario one of the advanced player league - Sin & Death - last Friday and posted my story and game report on the main page earlier today, here I thought I would offer some feedback on it.

Overall this was a fun scenario to play. I was *extremely* lucky in this game throughout, and I made one mistake with the rules that gave me an advantage, but this demonstrated that even a challenging game like this can be won with luck. It is interesting that luck features very prominently in this game, and can go either way, ruining an easy looking game or making a hard one smooth going. I like this because it keeps things unpredictable.

I used the new DP. I know this was not the intention, but I really did not want to get the old one out of its tomb. I will do that though, if it makes sense. I also did not use the KH board or Mythos cards, but I did use the other components from that set, I also did not bother to ignore the lurker encounters for the Otherworlds or Arkham, perhaps I should cull it too? MH Mythos cards were ignored as I had read that these cads could unbalance play of this scenario. However in the end none of that mattered as I drew only base game Mythos cards until the very end.

Overall I enjoyed the theme, the narrative introduction really helped me to get into the whole game and gave me a fun evening trying to follow the plot.

I provided errata on two of the DP scenarios for people who want to use revised CotDP. Not entirely sure how the new CotDP will interact with one of the scenarios, but if that's what you want to play, play it. Just don't blame me if the final scenario in that segment is too easy and I feel compelled to guilt you into replaying it on hard mode ;'D

You should cull Lurker if you can. It's just going to cause more dilution.

I'm glad you enjoyed the narrative :') (I hope you'll keep enjoying it and it doesn't put you to sleep). Although I intended for people to read narrative after their scenarios were completed (sort of like cut scenes), I don't know if you like to construct your game story while playing or afterward (if it's during, it might actually be better for you if you read the next scenario narrative prior to playing a scenario). ::Laughter:: I'm excited to hear what happens next in your adventures.

Ok, I will remove Lurker but keep my far superior DP rev. And if the scenario concerned rolls over because of it, Ill do it again. Speaking of which, Id like to do the hard version of the first, but Id rather move on with the league. So I will try and fit that hard game in sometime and keep going for now.

I actually construct my narrative in my head as I am playing, and just write notes of things i dont want to forget at the end of the turn. If it was intended I read your narrative after, thats what Ill do. If your narrative then screws with mine, Ill screw yours instead I am sure I will keep enjoying though.

Ok, I will remove Lurker but keep my far superior DP rev. And if the scenario concerned rolls over because of it, Ill do it again. Speaking of which, Id like to do the hard version of the first, but Id rather move on with the league. So I will try and fit that hard game in sometime and keep going for now.

I actually construct my narrative in my head as I am playing, and just write notes of things i dont want to forget at the end of the turn. If it was intended I read your narrative after, thats what Ill do. If your narrative then screws with mine, Ill screw yours instead I am sure I will keep enjoying though.

That's fine ;') I tried to keep certain aspects of the narrative deliberately ambiguous. Some were intended as suggestive. If I rewrote it now, I would have done it differently, buuuut, I also didn't want to spend too much time working on it since it was a side project. I sort of regret that scenario story content wasn't always clearer prior to some of the scenarios. But some of that would have been spoilers, right? I'm looking forward to seeing where you take the story in your version.

I'll try to keep revising the hard mode scenarios (I have six left, but I've sort of gotten bogged down on them, am short on time and energy, but I'll get to it soon given that you've expressed interest in them).

Well with any luck I should find time tonight or tomorrow to set this up and throw myself into the grinder. Take your time with the remaining hard versions, there is no need to feel pressured as I have about 1 game a week in front of me for many moons ahead. In autumn and the middle of winter this may pick up a bit as I squeeze games into the long dark nights.

Well with any luck I should find time tonight or tomorrow to set this up and throw myself into the grinder. Take your time with the remaining hard versions, there is no need to feel pressured as I have about 1 game a week in front of me for many moons ahead. In autumn and the middle of winter this may pick up a bit as I squeeze games into the long dark nights.

No pressure. I just want it off my plate :')

Soooo, here's the long mentioned, but never posted Hard Mode. I'll post it on the league site soon. This one will require extreme skill, and a bit of luck. But isn't that how Arkham should be?

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Elder God Difficulty for the Fan Creation League:

Only two investigators may carry over items or trophies between scenarios. If you are defeated by a scenario, you may restart it with two investigators beginning with an extra random common item during the beginning of the game. But should you?

Sister Mary: she automatically fails her personal story when the Doom Track reaches four. If she passes it, it only allows her to reroll dice for herself. If she is devoured before the doom track is at 6, you lose.

Scenario 1: Investigators who take stamina damage from any vampire are devoured at the end of the mythos phase. When the Doom Track reaches five, place a random vampire from the monster cup on each open gate.

Scenario 2: Undead monsters are treated as spawn, but can be in the cup and return to the cup if defeated. If placed in the Outskirts, place them in the graveyard instead. Whenever a new gate opens, place a random undead monster in the graveyard. Whenever there is a gate surge, after drawing the normal amount of monsters, draw and place two extra undead monsters in the graveyard. Ghosts are flying instead of stationary.

Scenario 3: The scenario rules provide witches 3 extra toughness instead of 1. Jacqueline may not take visions as a starting item. Before you make a combat check against a Cultist, you must discard two items or automatically fail. For Night Nuzzling, each time you roll a 1-2 place a random Cultist from the cup at the Witch House. Treat Cultists as spawn that can be in the cup and return to the cup if defeated. If they are placed in the Outskirts, place them in the Witch House instead.

Scenario 4: Wendy Adams’ Elder Sign can not prevent her from being cursed by Death. From the beginning of the third mythos phase (counting the one at the start of the game), whenever a new gate opens, an extra monster, a randomly drawn Cultist, is placed on the gate. If a Cultist is ever placed in the Outskirts, place it in the Woods instead.

Scenario 5: Zoey treats monsters as if they have two less toughness during combat instead of three. She does not begin the game with Visions. The Darkness begins with 4 doom tokens instead of 2. Jacqueline fine is a required investigator. She begins the game with three green corruptions.

Scenario 6: The Dark Druid gains an extra 3 toughness. Serpent People and red bordered monsters also move like stalkers if there are investigators adjacent to them during any of their movements. Gates at the Woods can not be sealed.

Scenario 7: No Cultists may be taken as trophies (if they are defeated, return them to the cup). Treat them as spawn monsters. From the beginning of the third mythos phase, whenever a new gate opens, first draw an extra random cultist to put on it (this extra Cultist at the new gate is a stationary monster).

Scenario 8: When the doom track reaches 5, each investigator in Arkham rolls a die and on a failure, a random rat-thing is drawn and placed on them; investigators in Other Worlds roll a die and on a failure lose all their items.

Scenario 9: Whenever the doom track reaches an even number (i.e. 2, 4, 6… etc.) roll a die. On a 1-3 place two randomly drawn Cultists and a randomly drawn Lloigor or Cthonian (whichever is drawn first) onto The Black Cave, on a 4-5 there is a monster surge that takes place at the most recently opened gate, on a 6, all investigators immediately have their stamina reduced to zero, and must draw an extra injury in addition to the normal penalties for going unconscious. Monsters move during the first mythos phase.

Scenario 10: The Dark Druid is placed at the Woods at the start of the game instead of at doom track 6. When the doom track reaches six, place a random Dark Young or Dark Young copy on every gate and fill the Dunwich Horror track. When Dark Young (and their copies) move by having their movement symbol drawn, they move as stalkers (first move them on the black arrow, then move them according to their movement symbol). The Dark Druid does not activate Dunwich Horror’s special movement. Elder Signs do not remove doom tokens from the doom track.

Scenario 11: The three starting Cultists must not be placed on an expansion board or the same location (if their mythos card shows a location on an expansion card or the same location, draw a different one). Cultists count as spawn monsters, can not be removed from the board except by combat or vortexes, and can not be moved by investigators (e.g. Migo Brain Case). Mark the initial three with a token, other Cultists will only raise the terror level when defeated on a roll of 1-2. When the terror level rises to an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9), the extra mythos cards drawn to place location corruptions are also played in full. Outside of drawing starting equipment, whenever an investigator draws a tome, roll a die, on a 1-3 and also raise the terror level by one. Use the Revised Curse of the Dark Pharoah version of Wanted (it can never be removed from the game). http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Wanted_(Revised)

Scenario 12: Whenever an investigator attempts to close a gate, a random monster appears that must be fought or evaded first (it does not remain on the board if evaded or if it defeats the investigator). If this is the last gate on the board, or there are five seals on the board (potentially allowing this to be the sixth seal), four random monsters appear. Draw and fight or evade them one at a time (do not draw all of them simultaneously and choose the order).

Scenario 13: Mandy may only use her special ability by first paying two clues. Darrell may only use his by first paying one clue. Investigators who are devoured in this scenario may not be selected or drawn during the next scenario. After an investigator passes a combat check against a mask or the Black Man’s luck check, roll a die, on a 1, that investigator is devoured.

Scenario 14: Mandy and Darrell may not be selected as start of game investigators. Lily begins the game cursed. Whenever an investigator is cursed, immediately draw two random Cultists and place them in the Sky. Investigators can not retire. Treat all Cultist monsters as exact copies of the Haunter of the Dark, except exhibit items can not be drawn for defeating them, and if they are defeated in combat, return them to the monster cup. Cultists are endless spawn. If there are multiple Haunters of the Dark on an investigator and they make the investigator insane or unconscious, do not move the investigator to the Asylum or Hospital. If the investigator went insane, the investigator draws insanity cards equal to the number of Haunters of the Dark on its location, if it is unconscious, draw injury cards equal to the number of Haunters of the Dark on its location. Then the investigator’s sanity and stamina are raised or reduced to three each and it is the next investigator’s movement phase. Whenever an investigator defeats a Haunter in the Dark, each other investigator must evade or fight a copy of Haunter in the Dark (unlike copies on the board this is not affected by the environment or rumors, and it does not remain on the board).

Scenario 15: Investigators with doom tokens must draw four madnesses and two injuries to attempt to remove their doom tokens. The God of the Bloody Tongue is always on the Witch House and can never be removed from there. It does not count against the monster limit. It never moves. If an investigator defeats it in combat, it stays where it is and the investigator’s movement phase ends.

Scenario 16: Mandy’s reroll ability functions as it normally would (and does not reduce her sanity). Add the Demi-Gods variant. When the Doom track reaches 4 and 7, place a random monster on every gate. When the doom track is at 6, add a random Cultist to every open gate and reduce all investigators maximum sanity by one. Ignore the monster limit for these three placements. Having the Wailing Writher in play has a different effect from its normal Demi-God effect, instead of placing an additional Wailing Writer copy on gates, investigators who wish to roll to close gates must first reduce their maximum sanity and stamina by one and lose one stamina and sanity (these losses take place even if the roll is failed). Do not place masks when the doom track reaches 6 & 11 as the variant normally jrequires. Nyarlathotep’s doom track is 13.

Scenario 17: At the beginning of each mythos phase roll a die, on a 1-4, place a random cultist at Silver Twilight Lodge. If there are no cultists to place, raise the terror level by one instead. If Agnes Baker is devoured, roll a die, on a 1-2, you immediately lose. Cultists have an unmodifiable -1 combat rating against Agnes.

Scenario 18: The doom track begins at two. Monsters in Dunwich do not move until the doom track reaches five. The Dunwich Horror has +2 toughness (not +1). Investigators passing through streets adjacent to The Dunwich Horror who get a 5-6 on their roll, must stop their movement adjacent to The Dunwich Horror instead of being able to leave the street as they intended. The investigator attempting to close or seal the final gate must first fight (and defeat) an unmodified version of The Dunwich Horror (it does not get the +2 toughness, and does not get modified by tokens on the Dunwich Horror track, do not move the actual token from its location on the board, this copy only exists during combat with it and disappears if it is evaded or defeated). If this combat leaves the investigator with not enough resources to close or seal the gate, the next time the closing or sealing is attempted, combat must be done again. An investigator who evades the Dunwich Horror that guards the final gate draws two madness cards.

Scenario 19: All investigators begin the game with only 2 sanity. Before initiating combat with Servitor of the Outer Gods while it is in the Sky, an investigator must fight and defeat 4 randomly drawn flying monsters. The investigator is not allowed to evade any of these monsters. Whenever a new gate opens, place an extra Cultist on it. An investigator wanting to close or seal the final gate must first successfully defeat or evade 4 randomly drawn yellow monsters that are unmodified (i.e. they do not have nightmarish 3). They do not remain on the board.

Scenario 20: Investigators have their maximum sanity and stamina reduced by one. Yellow bordered monsters do not count against the monster limit, if one goes to the Outskirts, instead place it on the gate with the fewest monsters (first player’s choice if a tie). Whenever an investigator moves, or is moved, onto a gate, draw a random yellow bordered monster and place it there (i.e. this happens before going into gates, and after coming out of gates). Before attempting to close a gate, an investigator must engage in four rounds of combat (without Epic Battle cards) with Hastur and not be driven insane (or less, if Hastur’s doom track can be reduced to zero, that also ends combat with him). These battles require one success to remove each doom token. Gates can not be closed or sealed if they have yellow bordered monsters on them. Sealing gates requires six clue tokens instead of five.

Scenario 21: Amanda is a required investigator. Aquatic monsters ignore her and she can not enter combat with Aquatic monsters. At the beginning of each turn, place a randomly drawn aquatic monster on her. Silas gets a -1 statistics bonus against aquatic monsters instead of a +2 bonus even if he is not in an aquatic location. If Silas, Tommy, or Amanda are devoured, or the doom track reaches seven, add Dagon and Hydra as additional heralds. Other investigators who move out of spaces containing these three investigators, or who begin their turn in the same location as them, must pass a will -2 check or lose 2 sanity. These three investigators can not choose to move into a space with another investigator (except each other).

Scenario 22: Investigators who fail a round of combat must discard two trophies instead of one. When the doom track reaches six, place one random aquatic monster on every aquatic location. First place on locations containing investigators, then place on locations that would normally be aquatic, finally, the first player can choose which remaining aquatic locations gain monsters (if there would not be enough aquatic monsters to fill all aquatic spots on the board). If there are four or more aquatic monsters on an investigator, other aquatic monsters will instead move to the investigator with the next lowest (or tied) sneak score if one is (if not, they will move onto the investigator regardless of how many aquatic monsters are on that investigator’s location).

Scenario 23: Once the doom track reaches 2 the first player rolls a die during each mythos phase and draws a madness on a failure. Once the doom track reaches four, whenever an investigator in Arkham defeats Hastur, a random yellow bordered monster from the cup is placed on that investigator’s location (if there are no yellow bordered monsters in the cup, place a random cultist). Once the doom track reaches 6, place three cultists in the sky. An investigator who closes or seals a gate must reduce maximum sanity by one and draw a madness card. An investigator who attempts to close or seal the final gate must defeat a randomly drawn yellow bordered monster if any remain in the cup, then a randomly drawn cultist, then defeat Hastur in combat (as if drawn by a dual color card; however, he does not use any sinister plot cards at the beginning of this combat).

Scenario 24: Sister Mary’s being devoured does not end the game. The game begins with a doom token on the doom track. The Thing in the Rifts is an additional herald. Treat it as you would an extra Janus herald. No game effects can remove doom tokens from the doom track (if a card has additional effects beyond doom token removal, they still take place). When the doom track reaches six, immediately raise the doom track by one; however, when the Gate at Strange High House opens, do *not* add additional doom tokens.

Awesome!! Perhaps I will try this 'Elder God' cycle for my next game with scenario 3. I am interested in seeing how far my luck will stretch I have not read your entire post, only the versions for the scenarios I have faced so far, but I really like the changes you have made, if 'like' is taken very loosely of course

I have a question about scenario 1, what do you mean by a random vampire from the cup?

Some feedback about scenario 2 and some about 3: two was exceedingly tough, and a genuine challenge for an experienced player. The balance between the effect ill luck can have as opposed to good luck looks pretty drastic though, with bad luck in the early to mid game being a nigh death knell, and good luck still presenting a challenging game. I am really ok with this, but I know some people who would be miffed by having set up Arkham only to lose th game in a few minutes. Me, I would just start over and try a second time, but some people would be more seriously discouraged. I'm not really suggesting anything here, as I dont think it needs to be changed, I'm just pointing something out.

The choice of servants put out in the beginning was merciful, I think. The loss of skill does not often impact the game unless the skill is a really useful one. The loss of spells can often be of little to no consequence. The loss of clues is bad of course, but if you know it is coming you can arrange the team so that it makes far less impact.

I think the turning points in my game were when Mary immediately revealed the strangler before any more servants could appear, and when she turned up the astral mirror and cleared all the barricades off the streets. If these events had not happened, things would have spun out of control very quickly. And that is one of the most exciting things about playing Arkham - you often do not know what will happen next. You get through about 13 or so mythos cards in the average game and the combinations given the size of that deck are what gives the game its tension and excitement. In a small way Jacqueline and other Arkham mechanics like the Mary encounter at the Science Building this last game and worst of all the Arcane Insight spell all undermine and neuter this tension and excitement and so I rarely use them - I will use them to win a game, but reluctantly because it seems to me to be less exciting to play that way. Jacqueline is the best of the lot because you might be exchanging a frying pan for a flaming inferno.

Anyway, those are my random fandom thoughts about 2 for now, about 3 I just wanted to say I love that Brown Jenkin picture, it is the best depiction of the Rat Thing I have ever seen, and its new to me which is cool because I have seen a lot of the Lovecraft themed art work out there. I also really liked the images for Death and Dracula, but there is something about the way Brown Jenkin looks in this picture that made me feel - 'thats Its - thats the Rat Thing that Lovecraft saw...', so excellent work there.

I guess "random vampire from the cup" implies a cultist/vampire, not the original Vampire

I guess "random vampire from the cup" implies a cultist/vampire, not the original Vampire

Yep. Will reply more later. Off to work.

Also, Dj, I'm glad you're appreciating the art. Both Avi and I worked a lot to find the best images to represent the different scenarios and Heralds (like a nice suit / dress for a special evening), so thank you :-)

Awesome!! Perhaps I will try this 'Elder God' cycle for my next game with scenario 3. I am interested in seeing how far my luck will stretch I have not read your entire post, only the versions for the scenarios I have faced so far, but I really like the changes you have made, if 'like' is taken very loosely of course

I have a question about scenario 1, what do you mean by a random vampire from the cup?

Some feedback about scenario 2 and some about 3: two was exceedingly tough, and a genuine challenge for an experienced player. The balance between the effect ill luck can have as opposed to good luck looks pretty drastic though, with bad luck in the early to mid game being a nigh death knell, and good luck still presenting a challenging game. I am really ok with this, but I know some people who would be miffed by having set up Arkham only to lose th game in a few minutes. Me, I would just start over and try a second time, but some people would be more seriously discouraged. I'm not really suggesting anything here, as I dont think it needs to be changed, I'm just pointing something out.

The choice of servants put out in the beginning was merciful, I think. The loss of skill does not often impact the game unless the skill is a really useful one. The loss of spells can often be of little to no consequence. The loss of clues is bad of course, but if you know it is coming you can arrange the team so that it makes far less impact.

I think the turning points in my game were when Mary immediately revealed the strangler before any more servants could appear, and when she turned up the astral mirror and cleared all the barricades off the streets. If these events had not happened, things would have spun out of control very quickly. And that is one of the most exciting things about playing Arkham - you often do not know what will happen next. You get through about 13 or so mythos cards in the average game and the combinations given the size of that deck are what gives the game its tension and excitement. In a small way Jacqueline and other Arkham mechanics like the Mary encounter at the Science Building this last game and worst of all the Arcane Insight spell all undermine and neuter this tension and excitement and so I rarely use them - I will use them to win a game, but reluctantly because it seems to me to be less exciting to play that way. Jacqueline is the best of the lot because you might be exchanging a frying pan for a flaming inferno.

Anyway, those are my random fandom thoughts about 2 for now, about 3 I just wanted to say I love that Brown Jenkin picture, it is the best depiction of the Rat Thing I have ever seen, and its new to me which is cool because I have seen a lot of the Lovecraft themed art work out there. I also really liked the images for Death and Dracula, but there is something about the way Brown Jenkin looks in this picture that made me feel - 'thats Its - thats the Rat Thing that Lovecraft saw...', so excellent work there.

Heh... To me it's the taking everything out of the box and putting it on the table that's a big hassle. Once the game's already up, setting it up again isn't so bad.

Jacqueline was made a mandatory investigator for that scenario, partially for thematic reasons, but also partially so players could have a way of deflecting a terror two increase (at least in theory, if they didn't I could at least rest easy knowing that they could have). But, I'm pretty sure even with Jaqueline and arcane insight, you would be hard pressed for victory in the hard version of that scenario ;'D (And yes, I generally dislike Arcane Insight, though it's a very useful card, because of how it drains out a lot of game tension). Jacqueline was also a key player for my team, The Destroyers of Destiny, during the first league ;'D she was always good for averting random catastrophes. One of the nice things about the hard mode, I think, is that being able to carry over 4 items makes a lot of the scenarios too easy if you know what really powerful items are and how to exploit them (this isn't a problem in the second segment or much of a problem in the third segment). I feel like reducing the number of carry over items to two still allows for quite a bit of early game punch, but doesn't make it potentially overwhelming even for a powerful enemy set up. I think it'd be fun to play scenario 3-4 on hard mode (after scenario 2 they will seem like a walk in the park otherwise). And they'll still be fun to replay if you go through the entire set of scenarios from the beginning on hard mode. Scenario four is also a really fun thing to play out of scenario context, with a random investigator pool, in my opinion. Although I'd mod it so one random investigator starts infected :'D

Yeah. The servants were selected carefully along with the investigator pool. Originally I'd designed it so they were picked randomly ::laughter:: after a bit of thought I changed that. I want these scenarios to be beatable by highly skilled players (provided they don't get unlucky). I don't want them to be unbeatable unless they get lucky. Wouldn't it have been awful for players to begin the game having drawn the spells, common items, and unique items servants? Granted... With Wendy and a bit of luck, it'd still be possible to play some delaying tactics while hitting the common item shop for a new arsenal. Then again, there's not a lot of cash going around between Wendy and Mary ;'D

Oh I loved how you drew The Southside Strangler in your game :'D I couldn't've planned that any better.

I'm glad you liked the Brown Jenkin picture. I just sort of wish you were giving that praise to the image's actual artist. While not telling her that her image was being used :'P (I sort of subscribe to the philosophy that it's better to not risk getting into an argument over what does and doesn't constitute fair use, especially since there's no money involved in this, but I do feel somewhat bad about not giving the image artists credit). It was easy for me to find a picture of Death I liked. Dracula went through perhaps 6 or 7 different images. Out of all the images I had to find for custom content, that was the worst. Finally I found a more alien looking vampire and I loved it (since I felt that fit with a Lovecraftian universe better). The original picture was also somewhat alien looking, but it was taken from Dracula 2000, and people who'd seen the original source found it distracting from the theme. Sigh. I'm glad that picture hunt's over :'/

Also, Dj, I'm glad you're appreciating the art. Both Avi and I worked a lot to find the best images to represent the different scenarios and Heralds (like a nice suit / dress for a special evening), so thank you :-)

Yes we did :'D

I've always been a stickler for having good art on custom content that fits the Arkham Horror aesthetic.

Heh... To me it's the taking everything out of the box and putting it on the table that's a big hassle. Once the game's already up, setting it up again isn't so bad.

Jacqueline was made a mandatory investigator for that scenario, partially for thematic reasons, but also partially so players could have a way of deflecting a terror two increase (at least in theory, if they didn't I could at least rest easy knowing that they could have). But, I'm pretty sure even with Jaqueline and arcane insight, you would be hard pressed for victory in the hard version of that scenario ;'D (And yes, I generally dislike Arcane Insight, though it's a very useful card, because of how it drains out a lot of game tension). Jacqueline was also a key player for my team, The Destroyers of Destiny, during the first league ;'D she was always good for averting random catastrophes. One of the nice things about the hard mode, I think, is that being able to carry over 4 items makes a lot of the scenarios too easy if you know what really powerful items are and how to exploit them (this isn't a problem in the second segment or much of a problem in the third segment). I feel like reducing the number of carry over items to two still allows for quite a bit of early game punch, but doesn't make it potentially overwhelming even for a powerful enemy set up. I think it'd be fun to play scenario 3-4 on hard mode (after scenario 2 they will seem like a walk in the park otherwise). And they'll still be fun to replay if you go through the entire set of scenarios from the beginning on hard mode. Scenario four is also a really fun thing to play out of scenario context, with a random investigator pool, in my opinion. Although I'd mod it so one random investigator starts infected :'D

Yeah. The servants were selected carefully along with the investigator pool. Originally I'd designed it so they were picked randomly ::laughter:: after a bit of thought I changed that. I want these scenarios to be beatable by highly skilled players (provided they don't get unlucky). I don't want them to be unbeatable unless they get lucky. Wouldn't it have been awful for players to begin the game having drawn the spells, common items, and unique items servants? Granted... With Wendy and a bit of luck, it'd still be possible to play some delaying tactics while hitting the common item shop for a new arsenal. Then again, there's not a lot of cash going around between Wendy and Mary ;'D

Oh I loved how you drew The Southside Strangler in your game :'D I couldn't've planned that any better.

I'm glad you liked the Brown Jenkin picture. I just sort of wish you were giving that praise to the image's actual artist. While not telling her that her image was being used :'P (I sort of subscribe to the philosophy that it's better to not risk getting into an argument over what does and doesn't constitute fair use, especially since there's no money involved in this, but I do feel somewhat bad about not giving the image artists credit). It was easy for me to find a picture of Death I liked. Dracula went through perhaps 6 or 7 different images. Out of all the images I had to find for custom content, that was the worst. Finally I found a more alien looking vampire and I loved it (since I felt that fit with a Lovecraftian universe better). The original picture was also somewhat alien looking, but it was taken from Dracula 2000, and people who'd seen the original source found it distracting from the theme. Sigh. I'm glad that picture hunt's over :'/

Yeah, unboxing and reboxing is the main issue here too. It takes me a good 3ß-45 minutes to have everything out of the box and on the floor in the way it needs to be. And after a few hours of sitting there, it takes a lot of effort to reverse the process, at least at my age (954 years young next Samhain).

Hmm, maybe I need a wand for that...now I am picturing a Fantasia - a Lovecraftian version of 'Sorcerers Apprentice'...

I do like Jacqueline actually, and always have. I love her ability. I think it is elegantly designed. A couple of times I have made really bad moves with a lot of clues. It has to be remembered that a lot of clues tempts you to use her more often, which increases the chance you will accidentally rupture yourself. And I can see the point of fixing her into this scenario, although I did not call on it I obviously would have if necessary.

So today or tomorrow, probably bleeding into Sunday as well if I fail, it will be time to take on Hecate, and yes, I will have a go first at Elder God mode...if my luck runs out and I go splat I may have to blame you, we'll see

That 'Southside Strangler Exploit' is actually Glaakis oldest and original tactic against me. It happened right at the critical moment in the first match and totally floored me because everyone was in the otherworlds on their last run, but were then robbed of their clues and sent spinning off into miserable failure. I had no idea what the servant did at that time so it was especially brutal. Since then he wheels it out again from time to time, but not for a while until the recent game, so it was a nice kind of calling card really. Its interesting, It seems many of the AOs have their favourite rumours...

Good luck with the EG version of Scenario 3! You can do it

Thanks Julia! I feel the charm you bless my game with already!

Good luck with the EG version of Scenario 3! You can do it

Indeed! :'D

Ah, Victory!!!!

So, rather than just glow like a cat from Ulthar, I thought Id offer some comments/suggestions.

You could definitely beef up the EG variant for this scenario. Its impact on my game was something like this: it caused Mary to fail her PS early (no big deal), it put 3 cultists on the House but they did not move (no big deal since no second gate appeared there), Jacqueline missed out on taking Visions (not much of a loss), I lost 2 items from the carry over (probably did not hurt me that much) and the Witch was a lot tougher - which was easily the part that made it 'Elder God' for me.

The Black man did not appear, and I was fairly well able to control that.

So I would suggest perhaps this: some Terror track acceleration (to get the Black Man in play more often) and something that causes gates to open on the Witch House, perhaps when the shops close. You had designed a lovely way of fishing the witches out of the cup but it depended too heavily on the Witch House opening and with 2 boards the odds can grow slim, which dilutes the main thrust of Hecates attack. Her cultists ended up camping around a vacant lot but had that vacancy at the Bates Motel been filled I would have been up the notorious brown creek paddling with my hands.

Mind you, the same would have happened had I not had a Blue Watcher to throw at Titania, Queen of the Skyclad.

A question about encountering the Black Man occurred to me - what if he is triggered in a weird phase of the game like Upkeep or Mythos? Is that 'a monster appears!' effect meant to be dealt with before going any further, or is it a situation that waits for the Movement phase? If its meant to be dealt with there and then I would suggest using the phrase *immediately encounters* which is used elsewhere in the game when the Bloody Tongue strikes. That actually makes it nastier and more of a surprise because there is no opportunity to refocus.

Also, how should the lure of Yuggoth interact with other effects that control the movement phase? I posted some of my own general thoughts about this on the game report thread, but I thought you could also clarify that specifically somewhere. I dont know where though, you dont have much room on the cards.

Another issue came up, it was about Innsmouth, and I will continue wracking my brains for it and let you know when it knocks.

Ah, Victory!!!!

So, rather than just glow like a cat from Ulthar, I thought Id offer some comments/suggestions.

You could definitely beef up the EG variant for this scenario. Its impact on my game was something like this: it caused Mary to fail her PS early (no big deal), it put 3 cultists on the House but they did not move (no big deal since no second gate appeared there), Jacqueline missed out on taking Visions (not much of a loss), I lost 2 items from the carry over (probably did not hurt me that much) and the Witch was a lot tougher - which was easily the part that made it 'Elder God' for me.

The Black man did not appear, and I was fairly well able to control that.

So I would suggest perhaps this: some Terror track acceleration (to get the Black Man in play more often) and something that causes gates to open on the Witch House, perhaps when the shops close. You had designed a lovely way of fishing the witches out of the cup but it depended too heavily on the Witch House opening and with 2 boards the odds can grow slim, which dilutes the main thrust of Hecates attack. Her cultists ended up camping around a vacant lot but had that vacancy at the Bates Motel been filled I would have been up the notorious brown creek paddling with my hands.

Mind you, the same would have happened had I not had a Blue Watcher to throw at Titania, Queen of the Skyclad.

A question about encountering the Black Man occurred to me - what if he is triggered in a weird phase of the game like Upkeep or Mythos? Is that 'a monster appears!' effect meant to be dealt with before going any further, or is it a situation that waits for the Movement phase? If its meant to be dealt with there and then I would suggest using the phrase *immediately encounters* which is used elsewhere in the game when the Bloody Tongue strikes. That actually makes it nastier and more of a surprise because there is no opportunity to refocus.

Also, how should the lure of Yuggoth interact with other effects that control the movement phase? I posted some of my own general thoughts about this on the game report thread, but I thought you could also clarify that specifically somewhere. I dont know where though, you dont have much room on the cards.

Another issue came up, it was about Innsmouth, and I will continue wracking my brains for it and let you know when it knocks.

I'd say make the Yuggoth effect trump everything (presumably that was the herald designer's intent, Indio?) ::Laughter:: for the Black Man, do what you see fit, or come up with an official answer with Julia and if you guys think it's really important, I'll add it to clarifications ;'D

I think what I really need to do to fix this scenario on the hard mode is make it so that the witches can not be killed *except* by direct combat (which really was the intent). That'd force more early game corruption distribution (which of course can be a double edged sword). I'm just going to specifically add that Blue Watcher and Flute have no effect on witches, and they can not be taken as trophies.

Okay, added this line, " Witches can not be taken as trophies (return them to the monster cup instead in cases where they would be) and Flute of the Outer Gods and Blue Watcher of the Pyramid have no effect on them." If you ever play this scenario again and hate it, you've only yourself to blame ;'D

Anyway, in this scenario, corruptions were designed to be the primary threat, not the doom track (which is sort of slow). Don't worry, you'll have plenty of chances to race against the game later ;'D

Also, remember, I'm okay with some of the scenarios not being soul crushingly challenging, this is after all only 3 out of 24! (I know, I know, it's a disappointment after scenario 2, I'm sorry) :')

Plus I'd imagine it would have been more difficult had the cultists moved. I try to think of how the scenarios will function under average circumstances when considerations (not good luck or extremely awful bad luck).

Anyway, perhaps you'll want to replay it again with random investigators in the future. I think it's a good scenario to play out of league context.

Just one quick but critical question about 4 - what is your intention at the start of turn 1, to have the time be day, and Sister Mary in the church with a cultist and cultist and werewolf in Southside? Or to have it be night before game begins, and they are all werewolves including Mary, who then does not start in church at all?

The first Mythos is treated as having the crescent on black, hence, it's night. This makes Mary the Werenun move, of course.

Not so sure I covered all the points you asked, but I hope this could help!

Ah, ok. Well crud. :-( Because the first Mythos card drawn does not technically constitute a phase, and because i was told start of game is day, it seemed the opposite. So i will have to rerun it, but fortunately i did not write up the long account! Can I suggest altering the wording on the cards so that it is clear the first Mythos is treated as if it were drawn in a phase and not as a setup card?

The problem is that the Herald was not designed with this in mind; Scenario rules were worded in order to change this without altering the Herald (it's not a Herald designed by Avi, so he wanted to keep it as it is). If you believe this is misleading, I can add a clarification in a sort of FAQ (to be upped sooner or later on the Geek)

Eek... I am sorry to hear all that :'/ I actually did co-create that herald... Gave its designer an idea of mine (I was also gathering ideas for a werewolf herald, and I figured it'd be better if we consolidated).

So the start of the game mythos doesn't count as a mythos phase? Gulp... I have a feeling those werewolves died quick painful deaths ;'D

::Sigh:: So I guess this will mean another week will have to be waited to hear your next story :'( Oh well...

Well, I passed 4 ^th scenario.

I was also a little unsure about how to start (day or night) but I checked Julia’s walkthrough report on this thread (from two years ago?!) and I knew I had to start by night.

I have kind of mixed feelings about it. It is mostly because I found myself in some situations where I was not sure how to proceed. For example : At some point Werewolf William was delayed due to an encounter in Black Cave. During the mythos phase moon monsters were moving. It did not make sense in my head to move him because he did not have any "movement points", I did move him even though It did not make sense in my world. Then another time Mary also was supposed to move 2 spaces because of the moon sign on mythos phase. There was a regular black monster one space away on the direction she had to move. She was considered a werewolf moving two spaces(first one stalker) and elusive. Does that mean she evades the monster because she is elusive and move two spaces or she stops by the monster?.

Anyway it was somehow an uncomfortable slow game for me. All investigators went more than once to Hospital/Asylum. There were a tons of heavy sanity monsters (Hound of tindalos, hunting horror,…) on the board and not nice environmental mythos cards (-1 sneak, -1 movement points,…), making hard to kill/evade them. What annoyed me most was when Mary failed her lore check to seal a gate and then because of the moons movement on the mythos card, she had to move two spaces away from the gate and thus losing the exploration token (Jacqueline could not cancel the mythos card). She had just been delayed in the other worlds…I just wanted to send her to hell J .

I won by seals in 16 turns , 10 doomers. Fortunately I did not suffer double curses from Death thanks to Wendy (who did not use her Elder sign until the last seal) and Mary.

I hope you do not mind I give you my opinion…do not take it wrong Avi….I really enjoy your twisted league…for me it was only a stepping stone and now “The Darkness” is waiting J

For the next scenario I carry over:

Mary : Shrivelling

Jacqueline: Gatebox

William: Tommy Gun

Norman: Press pas

I am quite busy next week. I hope I can find time for my favourite nightmare J .

Technically there are no phases until turn 1 begins, and i have always played that way. Maybe i am splitting hairs. But it seemed the design understood this distinction because it used the phrase "first mythos card" as well as "mythos phase".

Yes they were all dead by turn 2 but i burned through most of my clues just finding them, figured that stripping and delaying the investigation was the intent as per the Glaaki scenario. It still made life difficult - i was on elder god btw. Also, was told this one was easier a few times. So yeah not to worry, maybe i can squeeze it in this week, i have a huge project nearing completion, something that has been weighing heavily on me for nearly a year, if i nail it this week i will find the time, otherwise its a weeks pause.

By the way, it was a 9 turn spectacularly nail biting victory by closing with everyone cursed from turn 3 onwards.