Hey all! Forgive me if this has been asked already. I have gotten hooked to Arkham Horror, and am looking to buy the expansions. I didn't see any reference to this.

Are the negative penalties for the rifts on the Dunwich and Innsmouth boards universal? In other words, will a monster moving into a rift raise the terror track AND the Deep Ones rising track, or should the two boards be treated as separate entities in regards to their mechanics?

Athenor said:

Since that already happens as per the rules, I assume you mean the Dunwich Horror track and Deep One Rising track?

Good question, I don't know.

Yeah, sorry. I couldn't remember off the top of my head which mechanics kick in when. That seems to be my biggest issue with the game at the moment. Well, that and getting curb stomped.

No, a monster entering a vortex only adds a token to that board's track. However, if you wanted vortexes to effect a token on both at the same time, while thematically unsound, it would counter mechanics dilution with more expansions.

I've wondered this myself, I believe Tibs is correct, though I can't find any rule that specifically says so.

Here is what I've found ( Innsmouth, p8 ) :

"Any monster that enters a vortex is immediately returned to the Cup.
For each monster returned to the cup in this fashion, raise the terror level by one.
In addition, add one uprising token to the Deep Ones Rising Track."

le_renard said:

You're quoting that out of context. Read the entire paragraph. Particularly the part where it talks about "special vortex spaces found on the Innsmouth board."

That's the paragraph I quoted...

So maybe there's something I didn't understand properly and missed in the previous posts.
If it's the case, I'm sorry...

le_renard said:

Avi, Tibs, Athenor, Brine and all the others weren't talking about the basic Rift mechanics in IH, nor about the basic Dunwich Horror mechanics in DH, but discussing about the possibility that something happening in Innsmouth also has influences on what's going on in Dunwich. I.e.: both boards (Dunwich and Innsmouth) in play. Question: when a monster in Innsmouth enters a vortex, do I have to add an DOR track token AND a Dunwich Horror token?

Tibs said that vortexes in Dunwich work only with the Dunwich Horror track, and vortexes in Innsmouth do work only with the DOR track, thus no cumulative effect

In The Dunwich Horror (story), the Whateleys are feeding livestock to the Horror. The vortexes in Dunwich represent this well enough. It doesn't make sense that a monster entering a vortex in Innsmouth will add a DH token.

I like your reading of the Dunwich vortexes. Then, what represents a monster entering a vortex in Innsmouth then ? Feeding the Deep ones ? Or mixing the gene pools ? ;o)

OK. Thank you for the explanation Julia...
Now that I understand it better, I think Tibs is right... No cumulative effect... Besides what is in the rules or not, that would not make a lot of sense knowing the Lovecraft stories the expansions are based on... and that really counts too ! ( for me at least... )

Julia said:

I'm leaning that way too from a thematic and strict rules reading sense, which is perfectly okay.

But man, that would be a hell of an interesting house rule/variant!

amikezor said:

Diving under the surface, never to be seen again