What's a Few Ancient Ones Between Friends, Eh?

The most interesting new tidbit is that when an investigator is devoured, his/her partner's Relationship card is discarded. Finally, a tangible penalty for being devoured!

Seems like an interesting addition. I like the devouring mechanic as well. Devouring hasn't been too big of a deal up until this point. Under some circumstances it could even be a blessing. Now you'll always have something to lose.

It's thematic with the story as well. In 'The Lurker at the Threshold,' the victim was an awkward, antisocial, scholarly recluse. He only had one true friend in the world, and all the time he spent alone made him easy prey for the forces of the mythos.

Now though, I'm curious about those dark pact cards...

So it makes the game easier without any penalty. It reeks like guardians.

I'm not really crazy about guardian type mechanics... However relationships do look pretty cool (and they'll add to the game theme). So I'll probably incorporate them. But I think I'll house rule that there's only one relationship card per two investigators (maybe). It seems almost like every player is getting two free skills as starting equipment now. They're cool... But gameplay wise, they're a bit much... Heh... Perhaps I should hold my tongue until I see the rest of the expansion and the new gate mechanics though :')

Do we have a solid release date yet?

Before 2011 ;')

Avi_dreader said:

Avi, the eternal optimist .

Dam said:

Oh, c'mon ;'D that wasn't pessimism, exactly.

Mighty Maltim said:

It's thematic with the story as well. In 'The Lurker at the Threshold,' the victim was an awkward, antisocial, scholarly recluse. He only had one true friend in the world, and all the time he spent alone made him easy prey for the forces of the mythos.

Now though, I'm curious about those dark pact cards...

Well now I feel a bit silly. I withdraw my previous comment, as I just now realized I was mixing it up with Lovecraft's 'The Thing on the Doorstep.' 'The Lurker at the Threshold' was a novella written by August Derleth, whose works I have not yet delved into. (But he's on my reading list! As soon as I'm through with Robert Chambers >.> )

I think Dark Pacts would see play mostly with the Lurker herald, but there will be a slim chance to make some pacts during encounters (just like Corruptions)

The Relationships are interesting... they do make things easier, but it's not like the game is short of things you can add which make it harder. *cough*BlackGoatHerald*cough*. Usually, anything which gives the investigators shared resources and forces them to make collective decisions is a good thing.

'Practitioners of the Art' is very good if you get it dealt to the right pair of characters; otherwise it's not that good.

'Collectors' needs clarifying: it says you MAY draw the item, but if you do, do you have to purchase it if you can, or can you just discard it again if it's something you don't want? If it's the former, the Relationship isn't that good; if it's the latter it's very good.

'Fellow Travellers' is incredibly good.

It does seem funny that there isn't a built-in "downside" to relationships though... like "If your partner goes insane, you also go insane" (or something similar but less harsh). I'd have expected each individual relationship to have some unique negative consquence. Then again, from what we've seen so far, 'Lurker' is going to do a few things which make the game more difficult without providing an upside, such as retconning the gate markers so that you suffer penalties when you fail to close them.

I think it's prefectly okay that relationships have no downsides considering the new gate system.

p.s. Fellow Travellers is my favorite so far.

Definitely intriguing. Playing socially (more than just me), I think they will add more to the fiesta. Playing alone, I'm not sure I would be comfortable with four "mini-Guardians" in play. I'm glad there's a "delete" clause; Guardians never leave, but Investigators are devoured all the time now.

Someone suggested "negative" relationships, and it would be nice if there were a few "Rivalries" tossed into the deck, but I doubt it since they would go against the concept of that deck. Still, I'm sure Strange Aeons could give us the opportunity.

Yes, it would seem that the exclusive bonuses from Relationship cards are meant to balance the exclusive negatives from the new gates. I think the spellcasting one looks magnificent.

kroen said:

Gosh I hope we don't have a repeat of the Corruption/herald situation.

Mighty Maltim said:

You are actually not too far off.

The victim was a curious, reclusive Englishman who just inherited his relative's sinister property outside Arkham. He only had one friend in the new word, and all the time he spent alone made him easy prey for the forces of the mythos.

He basically does everything wrong he possibly can in the Mythos (reads forbidden litarature, breaks Elder Signs, delves too deep into his family's sinister past.) and, as is usuall for the Mythos, pays the steepest price for it.

Most importantly, the Billingston property is located between Arkham and Dunwich, and the protagonist spends significant time in Dunwich. It would rock my world to no end if this expansion included some components that were meant to expand the Dunwich Horror expansion (but I'm not holding my breath).

Just finsihed the novel. very nice (except for the personnal views of Derleth on the mythos which I am not such a big fan of). It reads really well. The story takes place very close to Dunwich... As Tibs suggested, that would be great to change the use of the dunwich board (get something different out of it than just the horror again and again :-).

Wait, the Dunwich Horror shows up again and again? ;-)