So my partner and I (Ursala / Leo Anderson combo) just managed to escape the collapsing ruins by the skin of our teeth! And I absolutely LOVED this adventure- the game managed to totally capture that Temple Run feeling from the first Raiders of the Lost Ark film (Complete with a big bad jumping out at the last minute, which we killed as Ursula had a plan and I had some huge bonuses to lay that sucker OUT with a single punch) and we made it out. I'm just so excited I wanted to share it. It was SO much fun!

TFA is my favourite campaign so far. I didn't think it would be and almost skipped buying it altogether.

As you progress TFA just gets better and better. I'd love to recount why I felt so engaged with it, but that would require spoliers.

It's always interesting to hear the broad range of reactions to those first two scenarios. Some people find them thrilling and it becomes their favorite cycle, some nearly quit playing AHLCG entirely because of it.

My reaction was closer to yours. Leo's allies dropping like flies was so thematic.

With the exception of The Boundary Beyond, I loved the Forgotten Age cycle. Glad to hear positive reactions to it, as there seemed to be a lot of negativity at the time.

8 hours ago, redcapjack said:

(Complete with a big bad jumping out at the last minute, which we killed as Ursula had a plan and I had some huge bonuses to lay that sucker OUT with a single punch)

...Wait, what? The Plan only does four damage, and the Harbinger has twenty health in 2P mode. How did you do sixteen damage with one punch?

I'm not a huge fan of the TFA theme, but it has some nice flavor the further you get into it. Honestly, the scenarios aren't that tough (with the exception of boundaries), it's the consistent trauma and set-backs from the lack of suplies that is a bit disheartening.

Difficulty-wise, TCU is leaps harder imo. Some of it purely due to encounters/enemies, and some of it due to very random and chaotic location set-ups (which is fine for the campaign thruline, but yikes).

Glad you guys are having so much fun! I had a run through where an untimely "To Fight the Black Wind" replacement weakness on Caroline doomed us all to being buried with the rubble. 😒 Getting out by the skin of your teeth is awesome, getting collapsed on JUST barely is less fun, bahaha.

Congrats! It’s amazing when a plan comes together and actually works. I am doing a little Yaotl dance in my head for you! I liked TFA a lot and we have played through it twice. Once with 4 investigators and once with 2. It was super fun and I agree that Matt and crew did a good job in the ruins. And just atmospherically overall. The jungle never sleeps, so I liked the things that were always there. Poison was a constant threat for example. The encounter skill checks were also not so one sided. Tooth of Etzli came in very handy! I liked the Supplies aspect, especially that you couldn’t get everything you needed and even not knowing exactly what you would need. That seemed realistic for a poorly funded expedition. The interludes made it feel more like said expedition by giving us some day to day aspects. I mean, usually we just get dropped into a scenario and the basics of sustaining life get ignored completely. Which is totally understandable. It’s boring and assumed. But I have often secretly wondered... what happens when you find yourself up against bad guy after bad guy, or having to save yourself from your surroundings, but you’ve been having a potty emergency for the last hour and it’s becoming urgent? Hard on the concentration man! No extra actions for answering the call of nature!

I found I enjoyed TFA after the first couple of scenarios, but I loathed the supply-based interludes.

5 hours ago, rsdockery said:

...Wait, what? The Plan only does four damage, and the Harbinger has twenty health in 2P mode. How did you do sixteen damage with one punch?

not the Harbinger. We got rid of that thing before we found the Chamber and the ruins started to collapse. Ursula evaded it and I shot it for two, then punched it until it ran off and now we'll never ever see it come back again the campaign. Right? No, the big bad thing that jumped in front of us was the Serpent of Yoth, which Ursula had a "plan" for. It only did 3 damage because it was reducing one, but then I punched it with a double Vicious Blow, Overpower, and Narrow escape for the last two damage after reduction.

Then we made for the exit.

Okay, some further thoughts-

The "supply" side of things isn't a bad thing. I'd like to have a bit more of a clue in the text regarding how each of those things might work, but finding out the penalties later isn't "too" bad. Some things you plan for, some things you just can't. I won't spoil it, but I wound up getting a trauma simply because I didn't even think of how such an item might be used during the "downtime" interludes. I did, however, enjoy how access to some items would make a specific map location easier to navigate and spoke to the potential sacrifices you might need to make. I think it was a bit of a rough mechanic during interludes, but during the expedition itself I found it exciting.

I loved how many choices we were allowed to make during the interludes. For me, I love the roleplay-story aspect of this game and am not looking to "solve a puzzle" as much as some players may be looking. I want a good story to go into my head cannon and while away some enjoyable hours with a friend. I love that we have this little story that we share and characters we get to play. TFA seems be really geared toward that mindset in the writing and choices being made available.

We only finished the first two scenarios and the third brings us back to Arkham before another journey is supposed to be made. I'm keeping myself clear of spoilers, but I know Yithians are involved at some point. That, quite frankly, terrifies me... one of the scariest Lovecraft stories in my opinion. But I'm also eager to see how the company captures the feel of that experience.

2 hours ago, redcapjack said:

not the Harbinger. We got rid of that thing before we found the Chamber and the ruins started to collapse. Ursula evaded it and I shot it for two, then punched it until it ran off and now we'll never ever see it come back again the campaign. Right? No, the big bad thing that jumped in front of us was the Serpent of Yoth, which Ursula had a "plan" for. It only did 3 damage because it was reducing one, but then I punched it with a double Vicious Blow, Overpower, and Narrow escape for the last two damage after reduction.

Then we made for the exit.

That sounds like a script! We had a similar experience in TFA with Banish. Agnes had an enemy (I think it was worth experience and had 5 or 6 health) and it was get out or be defeated. We made a plan, got through Mythos and went to work.

Before getting out, Agnes “Banished” it over one location to Leo (who had his own Leo in play). He had Sleight of Hand and Lightening Gun in his hand. 2 Hits for 5 or 6 which was what we needed, move and move out. Perfection.

1 hour ago, redcapjack said:

Some things you plan for, some things you just can't

I agree. It’s impossible to plan for every eventuality, (especially with Matt in charge). And a last ditch poorly funded expedition is bound not to cover everything. Sometimes, seemingly less important things can suddenly be very useful. And sometimes we don’t realize the importance of things we take for granted until we don’t have them. I felt like that was a good touch of reality in the unreal.

Wow! The first expansion game was also very cool. Three Acts and you'd have to be very lucky to complete them all. A very cool race against the clock to find what we needed. And I wound up with a new ally for Leo to throw under the bus.