Avi_dreader said:

Sounds great :-) even the pictures thing. Tonight I played (and won :-P) the French league Scenario 1. I still have three games to play (French league Scenario 2, Tibs league Scenario 1 - again, yup, my friend asked me for a rematch - and a "normal" game (Kingsport + Innsmouth against I-don't-know-who-but-should-be-nasty. Probably Zhar + Groth. Never ever had the chance to play against Zhar, and I'd like to start with something worse than nasty), and then it's again time for your league.

Julia said:

::Laughter:: it's a good thing you actually *play* the game more than I do these days. It'll be nice when I'm done with this project to get back to actually playing the damned thing ;')

Avi_dreader said:

Yeah, I had my last examination (for this year) last monday, so until january I don't have anything to study. And the shop I work in should be closed for some days during holidays, so... more time for Arkham. Finally ::nodding:: and probably to start playing Battles of Westeros :-)

Julia said:

Heh... Okay... I've been doing a lot of plotting (plot writing, not scheming), and I might actually get two or three more scenarios written this weekend (possibly). Which will lead me to the final stretch. I got a few ideas while driving this morning, and I'm eager to put them down in prose form. Must... Shut... Mouth...

Julia, if you want a file that's less than 6 MB, tell me how to do it. I'm not doing it very well now, that's for sure. I'll try again tomorrow.

Avi_dreader said:

No probs with heavy files. I'm gonna PM you now

Julia said:

It didn't work, so I made you a special folder on photobucket :') go find it.

Avi_dreader said:

Thank you Avi. Really. This time, quality rocks :-)

New year's Eve, old Arkham Horror stuff for everybody: time for Julia to play against Scenario 5. As in the previous Scenarios, all three expansion boards in play, 6 investigators (Carolyn, Dexter, Norman, Wendy, Mary and Zoey) and a mission: banishing the Darkness from Arkham for the very last time. We had a very lucky draw of starting possessions, with Norm having 2 Find gate and the Mi-go brain case (carried over from the previous scenario), Zoey with the Gladius of Carcosa (unfortunately, her second unique item was an Elder Sign, which was to be discarded and not replaced), Dexter with another Find gate (also carried over fromt the past), Mists of Releh and Shrivelling and Carolyn with Carcosan page (carried over) and the Ruby of R'lyeh. First Mythos is Blackest night, a R'lyeh gate at the Woods with a 10 toughness worth Wraith on it. Not something we'd like to deal soon

First round: Carolyn went curiosity-shopping and bought the Seven cryptical books of Hsan, Dexter left the Old Magic Shoppe and moved a couple of streets away, reading the Cabala of Saboth and becoming Expert occultist (an eccelent enhancement of his staring +1 Lore), Norman went to the Science Building for a clue, Wendy gathered the two clues at Hibbs and Zoey went clue-hunting at Independence Square. As soon as she gathered the fifth clue, she met some friendly gipsies, and started dancing naked with them, not noticing they were summoning a gate to Yuggoth. She was sucked into the gate and was consequently delayed. The OW encounter was the R'lyeh double colour card (imagine someone entering the R'lyeh gate open at the Black cave...), and she had to fight a cultist. Not a difficult job. Mythos phase: an Abyss gate at the Esoteric order of Dagon released a mummy.

Second round: Norm received via Carcosan page the Ruby of R'lyeh, and was able to collect the clue appeared at the Police station, Dexter went to the Silver twilight lodge for another clue, Wendy surfed through them, and collecting the Brain case from Norm and the Find gate from Dexter. The wraith moved to the sky, the mummy in the street, Zoey had an encounter in Yuggoth forcing her to stay there another turn and a fourth gate appeared at the Woods, releasing a Priest of Dagon in the nearby street.

In a couple of rounds, we had Wendy switching her position in Arkham with the mummy and Norm returning from R'lyeh via Find gate. Two dice to seal, zero successes. Another round of pain. Monster surge from Independence square. A maniac appeared on the gate at the Esoteric order of Dagon, Wendy swapped her position with the maniac and entered the Abyss. Norm closed and sealed R'lyeh. Zoey moved to the second area of Yuggoth and was delayed again, Carolyn went to the station, searching for an encounter allowing her to enter the gate at the woods without having to face the nightmarish undead snowing on the city of Arkham. She had a normal encounter instead, and the Wraith came down from the sky,s earching for some low cost tickets to the other world. Mary tried a retainer at the Newspaper, but everyone she met was strangely closemouthed, and she lost a point of sanity instead.

Next round Wendy became Necrophobic because she finally failed her roll during upkeep; nonetheless, Find gate made her return to Arkham, and the gate to the Abyss was then closed and sealed; Norm moved searching from some other clues, while Dexter had to end his movement at the Library, just to gather there all maniacs in Arkham. Mary joined Carolyn at the Station, thanks to the previous Mythos card that forced the Wraith to return to the monsters cup; she had bad luck with the Train station encounter, but finally Carolyn had it: a free ride + an encounter, and she dived into another dimension. No particular encounters there, just a plain desolation, while Zoey had to fight another monster in Yuggoth: again, a Cultist was drawn, and defeated. During the Mythos Phase, a new gate was supposed to open at the Esoteric order of Dagon; thus DOR +1, +1 Terror: Sister Mary was driven insane and the Clue Servant entered play (for the *real* joy of Zoey, now without enough clues to seal Independence Square).

New round, Zoey became Addicted (she rolled 2 during Upkeep being the first player) and had to fight one of the cultists she already slaughtered, but nonetheless she was there, back to Arkham, with an Explorer marker on her chit. Carolyn was still in Another Dimension, but was able to summon from Dexter during Upkeep a copyof Find Gate; during movement, she had 4 dice for casting it, and rolled three successes. Back to Arkham then. 2 gates open, 2 investigators with explorer markers on them, 2 gate markers already taken as trophies. The perfect conditions for a closing victory. Zoey rolled two dice for closing the gate, but she scored no successes; she still had four clues. The very last clue worked, rolling a 6: gate closed. Carolyn was the next in line, 5 dice for a success: she scored 2 successes, and the game was won. Victory by closing gates after 6 Mythos.

Anyway, again, we had a *great* time. Can't wait to try Scenario 6, now! (Avi... would you mind uploading a better quality picture of Set? ::purring softly:

And a great new year to everybody!

Oh my. A *closing* win ;'D Good use of those find gates.

How soon do you want to play vs. Set? Should I try to have everything uploaded for scenario six and seven for next weekend? Or do you want it sooner?

I really liked the part when Wendy got Necrophobia. And how the scenario took place in The Blackest Night. Very appropriate :')

One of my favorite recent madness draws was xenophobia with Monterey Jack. It made him a much more interesting character. The xenophobic explorer of foreign places ;') The irony was delightful.

I'll see if I can't write another scenario, or two, or three, this week. Get it up to 17 ;')

You said "we." Have you been playing the scenarios with friends? Or only some of them?

No rush for Set :-) I'd like to play a couple of "normal" games before going on with your League, chosing investigators, with Innsmouth & Kingport in play and so on. Just a short break from Leagues :-) My last 5 games were 2 games for the French league, 2 for Tibs league and this one. It's absolutely okay if you upload a higher quality Set (btw, the picture is *gorgeous*) for around January, the 15th, or even the week later. No probs at all. And thank you :-)

I liked it too, Wendy drawing Necrophobia. Thematically great.

I played only one game with Monterey. The re-match against Tibs' league Scenario 1. One of the most useless characters ever had. Once I thought that Mary was the worst one, now I'd love to play with Mary if this means I don't play with Monterey. Gosh. It was the first time I thought seriously about a tactical devouring (having the Flute of the Outer Gods, and 1 Sanity and 3 Stamina left)

As for the "we": only some of them. I mean, one ::blushing::

Julia said:

Monterey's not that bad. The extra card draw is really useful (and it technically saves you money too by giving you a wider shopping selection). Especially once you pass his personal story. And he has nice starting items. But.... 3 will 3 sanity can be a little (a lot) annoying. Still... Five luck's not bad either.

Avi_dreader said:

Very true. But he is suppose to collect some monster trophies in order to pass his personal story and well, probably I had bad luck, but he spent more times at the Hospital rather than in the streets / at the curiosity shop :-/ Don't know, maybe he was better with the Arkham-only monsters cup.

Julia said:

Heh... Admittedly, it's best to send him after softer monsters, or gear him up really well.

Scenario seven has been posted.

http://arkhamleague.blogspot.com/2011/01/scenario-seven.html

Ok folks, time for Julia against Scenario 6!

Again, all boards in play and 6 investigators to defeat Yig, Set, the Dark druid and the chaotic sarabande of serpent people moving from the Woods to poison every (in)sane citizen of Arkham. This time Joe, Jenny, Roland, Marie, Finn and Skids were asked to seal the Evil away. We had a very lucky draw when assigning the random possessions: Roland had Professor Rice by his side since the beginning of the game and a Credit Rating, which was no bad at all, considering his ability to generate money, Finn had Ancient Language and mental Fortitude, a Motorcycle and a magnificent little Mission to achieve: Sacrifices to make; Joe had a Rifle, and a +1 speed; Jenny a Military motorcicle. And even the remaining stuff was *really* good. Unfortunately, no Elder Signs, but hey, who cares? I was equipped well enough to try. Collecting clues was the primary goal of the first rounds; Finn went to the Historical Society, to gather a couple of clues and with the idea of giving his heart away twice to put the first clue on his mission, but a nefarious Mythos card forced him to enter Celano (the gate at the Woods was also leading to Celano). Joe gathered 3 clues at the Graveyard (the two on the board and another one gained through an encounter), while Skids went for another two. By round three, I had Finn still reading books in the Library of Celano, Skids bypassing a Lloigor drinking beer at Hibbs and entering the City of the Great Race and Joe entering Celano too. Finn obtained a clue token as consequence of an OW encounter, but three were still too few for sealing the Woods or the Historical Society, so Roland, with 8 clues, jumped through the Celano gate (a rush for reading books, Avi should be happy ::smiling: . Joe found a piece of paper with some misleading informations and had two discard two clues ::shock:: But fate was by my side this time: the next Mythos blew the favor of Nodens over Arkham. Three clues were still enough for a seal. Skids returned to Hibb's roadhouse (the Lloigor was still there, a little more drunk than before), Joe returned to the Woods and Finn to the Historical society. Everyone sealed, but Joe: he discarded the explored marker and went for a walk in the Northest streets of Arkham to remove some monsters and free the way to the Underworld gate at Independence square (the one with the Hexagon! Good-bye, Dark Druid). Then Roland returned, and sealed, and a gate burst removed the seal (the only gate burst of the entire game; just to highlight the fact the board knows perfectly well what to do and when)

I started gathering clues from the expansion boards. Jenny had a magnificent encounter at the Train station, and obtained an Exhibit item allowing her to cancel an Arkham Encounter before rolling any dice. A *great* item, especially because she went to Innsmouth to collect two clues at the Esoteric Order of Dagon and met a nice priest who wanted to curse her. No darling, not this time. Yib's doom track was kept under control by Marie, who had a *big* problem, being forced to stay at the Silver Twilight Lodge, because of a Cultist in French Hill streets (and nobody wanted to be poisoned, or give an extra doomer to Yib). The very last time she could use her power (she had completed her PS during the first rond of the game), she obtained a spell allowing her to move a monster from the board to the Outskirts. And she did it, obviously, forcing the cultist to visit Arkham suburbs. The streets were snowed under with monsters, but Joe had a hit and go visit to the Underworld - entering the OW and returning to Arkham in the same round - and was able to remove some of them in the following round after sealing the gate. Then, a Mythos card removed all monsters from all streets in Arkham, and the tension relieved a little. By that time, I had 4 gates open, and 5 investigators with enough clues for sealing them. Everyone jumped into an open gate, some of them thanks to the kind lift of a Nightgaunt, some others thanks to Bill Washington, and it was done. Returning and sealing when Yig was still at 7 doomers (a total of 11 Mythos)

Some thoughts about the Scenario: it wasn't tough, but I had a lot to think to avoid losing rounds at the Hospital or giving Yig some extra doomer. The only thing I think was not-so-well set was the fact that Serpent people moved thrice in a row. Every time they moved, they moved across almost all the board. And this can be extremely dangerous if you have investigators in street areas. But in a play with investigators with a lot of movement points (because of their high stats or because they had some good equipment), this has been a major facilitation: if they had moved twice, they'd have been much harder to avoid.

Some curious things: I had Roland with his PS passed, with a Credit Rating skill and a Retainer. 6 allies were in play by the end of the game (never ever had such a great number of allies with me at any time); every time Skids had to enter a gate, he had to evade a Lloigor. 11 Mythos, 10 different rift progress markers put on their tracks + another one token appeared as consequence of a Mythos card. I had two rifts open at the same time (this happened for the second time in my life)

Monster trophies to be carried over (note: I didn't kill anything worth of being removed from the cup, like a Dhole or a Mummy):
Joe - Rat thing (I know it's not a dangerous monster, but being forced to discard an item is something that can be nasty sometimes)
Jenny - Skeleton
Finn - Crawling one (because of his high sanity damage) & Formless spawn

Cant' wait to try Scenario 7 now!

::Facepalm:: I overlooked that with The Dark Druid. Obviously don't replay it, but I'm fixing it. Sigh. It wasn't supposed to be removeable from the board by any means except defeat in combat with spells. Ugh... The whole theme of the scenario was mass movement among the monsters. How embarrassing. However, really, don't worry about it ;'D I promise you, the next time you see The Dark Druid... Well... :'D he'll have his revenge.

I hope he won't! ::laughing::

Anyway... I was able to remove him from the board only during the 8th turn, so he had lot of time to mess everything up and forcing me to some incredibly difficult tactical movement decisions in order to deal with gates properly. And I could even have left him in play, games balance wouldn't have changed at that point of the game. As I told you, I had a really great time!

Julia said:

I think you shouldn't find scenario seven too difficult either. Not with your brutal six!

Scenario eight should be *quite* unpleasant though :')

Some questions regarding Scenario 7: Wendigo's Primeval Frost makes the cultists toughness to be increased to 6. Regardless of the AO boosting or not? I mean, am I supposed to have static Cultists with a toughness of 8?

Honestly, I don't see how Scenario 7 can be easier than Scenario 6. Ithaqua's doom track is really short (not as short as Yig's one, but almost) and the board will be frozen during the first part of the game. Basically, you cannot move. The two cultists in Rivertown streets and Merchant district block everything. They cannot be defeated (if their toughness is eight; they can be defeated - but they are a major PITA - if their toughness is six and Joe has some spare clue to spend and is well equipped) and the fact they reduce every investigator's movement points to 1 implies that you will often be forced to stay in the streets, unable to reach gates and so on. The story would be different in case the main activity of gates is focused on the other boards, but this is not something I can define as "tactical". There is a chance to draw some good headlines, cleaning the streets where they're lurking, but again, it's a question of odds, and not of strategy. Finn can bypass some of them, considering the fact he can move as a Moon monster, but again, he'd be able to make one movement during the Mythos Phase (in case he's lucky enough to be in the proper place when the Crescent symbol shows up), but then he has to evade the Cultist he shares the space with (which is not said to be that easy, simply because even with Sneak maximized, he has 2 dice to roll) and has only one movement point. That can be enough for entering a gate, but not for an extended move. And asking Finn to 6 seal gates in possibly 11 Mythos is insane.

Another question: let's say I'm going to play with Joe (a must-pick, I'd say). He starts from the Police Station. The first movement is entering the Easttown Streets, which is a location adjacent to Rivertown Streets, where a Cultist lurks. His movement then stops, right? Because of Wendigo ability, I mean. So, he's forced in the streets, and loses one Stamina and one Sanity. During the following rounds, he moves to the Downtown streets. Again, no chance to move further because he started in a street area nearby a cultist.

Or am I completely wrong (a flash of light in my insane mind) and when you say "adjacent location", you intend *only locations? Thus nothing of what I said would happen to Joe? Id est, the Rivertown cultist power affects only people who wants to enter / exit from the Graveyard / Black cave / General store?

Scenario 8 is an interesting challenge indeed. I really like Veet's AO. And the rat-thing horde seems to be an annoying pest you should be very careful with. Kinda nightmarish. As usual, you have to be quick. Oh, how I'm missing Wendy during those Scenarios!

Last question: could you kindly upload higher quality images of both Wendigo and The pied piper? And from teh past Scenarios... I need Janus & Brown Jenkins. All other suff's quality is fine!

Anyway, in the coming days I'll start working on the Scenario think for your league, if it's ok for you. No too much extra-homework for you, just a sheet to sum-up things and highlighting the points that need a clarification after having playtested the first 6 Scenarios.

Julia said:

Sure. I'd love to throw in some clarifications for whichever poor souls play this League in the future ;'D

re: scenario 7

The cultists will have a toughness of six.

Which isn't as awful as you're making it sound, after all, Joe has nine fight (in combat) and four clues to start the game with and quite a bit of stamina (so he can go three rounds with one of the snow beasts).

::Cough:: I'd suggest you look carefully at your investigator pool. Don't be afraid to swap characters in and out of the team more than you would in the first five scenarios. These were designed a bit more flexibly. Your primary resource are the investigators themselves, not the items you can carry over. I don't consider scenario 7 difficult at all (even with the doom track, because of Marie's double delay). True, I haven't playtested it yet, but it's a very simple mechanic, and I have actually thought it through this time :')

The Wendigo Cultists do shut down movement with the blizzards they bring with them, so if you try to move onto them from more than one space away, you will have to stop next to them and hope they don't move away the next turn. The stationary ones won't though.

So, I'm afraid you're right about your movement nightmares ;') and I guess I should say Joe will have 4 toughness.