Hellooo everyone !!!! Here for a new wishlist topic !!

I know we've done it a few time here, frequently near the annoucement of a new cycle. But I was thinking that every time we are asking which ancient-one and theme we want to see soon, we always see the same and obvious one : Mountain of madness with Ithaqua, Innsmouth and Cthulhu/Dagon, Shub-Niggurath with Yuggoth and mi-go, and finally Egypt with Nephren-Ka. The reason is that a lot of us are just knowing Lovecraft from the products of FFG, and these theme was already use in expensions of Arkham/Eldritch horror.

So here is the subject : Who are the less known ancient-ones you want to see in the game, out of those I named before. If you want, told us more about the theme and places you would explore with those you choices ...

actually I sort of hope they don't do this. In Arkham Horror 2nd edition, there were many lesser known ancient ones. It diluted the feel a bit, since all the main AOs came out with the base game. I'd much rather stick to the main 10 or so AOs and do some different campaigns for each one than to pull out the AO B-team.

Tsathoggua. I was disappointed he never showed up in Eldritch Horror but they brought him back for Arkham Horror 3e so there is hope!

Quote

I'd much rather stick to the main 10 or so AOs and do some different campaigns for each one than to pull out the AO B-team.

Like Yig?

Depends how obscure you want to go. It's also worth pointing out that Ithaqua and the Mountains of Madness are literally on opposite sides of the earth - they've never been connected together in the Arkham files games either.

I'd really like a campaign with Shudde M'ell. In Eldritch Horror, the constant disasters wrecking entire cities lends an incredible urgency to the game - one of the things that does irk me slightly about the LCG is that the action is relatively small-scale - investigating a couple of kidnappings in Dunwich and stumbling across an artifact in The Forgotten Age - and yet you very suddenly get into a situation where you are the only hope to prevent the world, or the universe, being annihilated. A campaign that starts with massively high stakes of global devastation from the get-go sounds awesome.

Abhoth could be pretty interesting as well, if they play up the disease and contamination angle - it would make for a rather dark and potentially very unpleasant theme, but it would again make for some great high, rising stakes.

It's not like the campaigns necessarily need to be "about" an Ancient One, either. The Circle Undone isn't really "about" Azathoth or anything. So in that vein, a more X-Files-y campaign about Mi-Go abductions could be pretty cool and take you to some weird places - a scenario where someone has their brain extracted, or where you end up on Pluto.

I really hope that Antarctica happens with the Elder Things - anyone who is familiar with Beyond The Mountains Of Madness will likely agree.

You are right about the mountain of madness and Ithaqua ... But the same way Mexico and Oklahoma are not the same place, FFG just retcon the true place of Kn'yan for the need of the campaign. So making the ancient-one of Cold appear near the principal cold place of the mythos is lucky to happen, because there is not enough lore for making two separate cycles in mountain and cold-waste.

For myself, I want to see ....

- Tsathoggua. I wish we would make our way in the continent of the past, hyperborea, with sorcerers, necromancers and dinosaurs !!!!! A real fantasy trip would be so cool. Also, I wish we return in the cavern of Kn'yan, for make a journey to the decadent subteranean civilisation of esclavagist living in the city of Tsath, named after the ancient-one. The theme would be a Conan style of fantasy, with the question of the ancient civilisation but not in the way of FA, in a more human way for making us see the human natura, and his potential decadence, with the sorcerer of hyperborea and the peoples of Tsath. "The mound" in one of the most dystopic and my favourite novella of Lovecraft.

- Glaaki. The lurker of the lake is a good one because this is the occasion to make our way in a classic-horror atmosphere. Glaaki would come with the Severn Valley, an England typic village, with a gothic tonality, created by Ramsey Campbell, the one who write the Wolfman and other versions of the Dracula and Frankenstein story. Perfect set for let us come to an horror a little bit retro : wolfman, lurker in the lake, zombies created by glaaki spikes. Not deep thematic, but really fun and pulpy.

-Cthugga. The living flame. Not because I really want him, but this one of my favourite for a cycle in ancient civilisation as Greece and persian realm, beacause the flame and the sun have been worshiped in all the ancient civilisations, and I want to see them more than modern megalopolis ( the visit of Tenochtitlan was my pleasure ).

One of the things I like about AH:TCG over the other Arkham Files games is the way that it breaks the simple equivalency between Great Old One and campaign focus. Instead of simply setting out an Ancient One card as the ultimate boss and playing the game to thwart it, there is a more allusive and enigmatic involvement of these powers. They are half-seen, behind the scenes, perhaps hardly identified until the final phases of the campaign. I'd like to see an "Arkham Country" cycle centered around the Shining Trapezohedron and the "Haunter of the Dark," which may or may not be a form of Nyarlathotep. It could include some ancient sorcerers, like Kamog from "The Thing on the Doorstep."

13 hours ago, Carthoris said:

ne of the things I like about AH:TCG over the other Arkham Files games is the way that it breaks the simple equivalency between Great Old One and campaign focus. Instead of simply setting out an Ancient One card as the ultimate boss and playing the game to thwart it, there is a more allusive and enigmatic involvement of these powers. They are half-seen, behind the scenes, perhaps hardly identified until the final phases of the campaign.

I agree. If you are playing your investigators thematically, most of them in and of themselves has no clue who any of these old ones or ancient ones really are. The ones that are starting to put things together, only have pieces and are considered to be eccentric at best and lunatics!
And pretty much all of them are completely unaware of the undercurrents of any epochal war going on between these ancient beings. What information anyone has, comes in dribs and drabs with flashes of momentary illumination when pieces from lots of different sources fit together. So it makes sense to have things shadowy and unclear while playing through a campaign. Even by the end, you aren’t really certain what you just accomplished. Which stays in step with why HP Lovecraft used a variety different people with different backgrounds and experiences as his narrators.

I'm with you on the overplayed themes. But let me just propose something that isn't quite in the spirit of your question:

A new take on Cthulhu. Let's have a Cthulhu campaign that does not feature: Innsmouth, Fish people, Dagon, a trip to the south pacific and then getting eaten in R'lyeh.

For one, the association of Cthulhu and water is tenuous at best. He's trapped under the ocean, he's not of it. He's a star priest, not a water deity. And it's not even certain if the deep ones worship him.

Instead, let's lean into the surreal aspects of Cthulhu. The telepathy and dreams, how he inspires frenzied cults all across the world and the strangely inspired artists and poets. Yes, there's some overlap with Hastur, but so what? Bring in some themes from Nyarlathotep, too and have entire cities descend into orgiastic violence. You could turn the theme entirely around. Have the players be the apparently sane ones in a world gone mad.

We have swarm now as a mechanic. Use that to represent mobs of cultists battering down the doors as the characters try to flee to the countryside.

Let's get appropriately apocalyptic.

I would love to see that take on Cthulhu. Especially if it includes another visit to the swampy South. I'm actually not that interested in an Innsmouth/Cthulhu campaign because we've seen it a million times. Unfortunately, we already have his Agents encounter set. So at a minimum, it will involve Deep Ones.

I know, I know. And there's things people just expect. So I assume that we really will get an Innsmouth/Pacific Cthulhu campaign at some point. But there would be ways to make even that more interesting. For example, start the campaign in Australia or South America. Get to R'lyeh by about scenario 4, with a scenario involving running away from him. Perhaps a bit like the Doom of Etzli, where you go into R'lyeh, try to find out more about it, then run away when the angles try to eat you. Have Cthulhu wake up temporarily mid campaign. Have a scenario back in civilization (either Arkham, or just some big city near R'lyeh, like Sydney or Santiago de Chile) where people are going insane and the players have to escape a mob, maybe try and evacuate some academics or artefacts. Then have the players go after the cult in Innsmouth to find out more about the threat facing the world.

I'm a fan of the deities in The Seven Geases by Clark Ashton Smith. So I was super happy to see Atlach Nacha in Dreameaters. I'm hoping we get an appearance by Tsathoggua. Also an appearance by Abhoth would be greatly appreciated All have appeared in previous Arkham Files games.

I also would like to see Ithaqua make an appearance at some point in this game's life.

They need to do Cthulhu and/or Innsmouth eventually. Though I appreciate the restraint they've shown so far considering that is usually the go to setting for any weird fiction game (to the exclusion of all the other fun ideas they could have explored).

I should add that I do have confidence in Matt Newman and his team to create something unique, even if not totally unfamiliar. Everything for the LCG so far has been set in a world where the source stories have happened. I expect the eventual Mountains scenario/campaign to include Dr. Dyer and be about the expedition that he was warning against. The Cthulhu cycle might be about the disappearance of Francis Thurston (or maybe that's too much like Dunwich Legacy).

While I do love all of the big boys in terms of lovecraftian horrors, I would love to see a campaign that didn't have a specific overarching bad guy. Rather, I would like a "cursed media" focused story. We got a bit of the necronomicon in Dunwich, however that was primarily just a macguffin, and it would be interesting to have the players have to balance how much they are willing to read from it. Have the main antagonist just be some occult scholar or aspiring wizard searching out and stirring up evil powers, gaining power, and just being generally evil. While I don't think that Y'golonac or Quachil Uttaus have the legs to really support a whole campaign on their own, both are text based monsters and I would be very excited to see them appear if even for a single scenario. Additionally, cursed media is such a lovecraftian staple that it would be easy enough to sprinkle in some hastur or nyarlathotep or anybody really

Oh! also just tcho-tchos

gimme them short boys!

2 hours ago, JeanPaulValley said:

While I do love all of the big boys in terms of lovecraftian horrors, I would love to see a campaign that didn't have a specific overarching bad guy. Rather, I would like a "cursed media" focused story. We got a bit of the necronomicon in Dunwich, however that was primarily just a macguffin, and it would be interesting to have the players have to balance how much they are willing to read from it. Have the main antagonist just be some occult scholar or aspiring wizard searching out and stirring up evil powers, gaining power, and just being generally evil. While I don't think that Y'golonac or Quachil Uttaus have the legs to really support a whole campaign on their own, both are text based monsters and I would be very excited to see them appear if even for a single scenario. Additionally, cursed media is such a lovecraftian staple that it would be easy enough to sprinkle in some hastur or nyarlathotep or anybody really

There was a cycle in the old Call of Cthulhu LCG called Ancient Relics, which had an associated storyline whereby the various factions, good and evil alike, raced across the globe to track down powerful artifacts, from Egypt to China, Mesoamerica, the Arctic, Greece and finally the South Pacific. So it's not crazy to imagine a cycle which is like a race against another, evil organisation to secure secrets before they can fall into the wrong hands. Kind of like the Dream-Chaser cycle from the LOTR LCG, where there's multiple scenarios with a chase mechanic where you have to hunt down fleeing enemy ships in your own. That would be cool - though I think it would still be best focused on a specific group and/or god. Might be a way to do a Cthulhu cycle that feels fresh and interesting, or perhaps one of the more obscure gods like Ghatanothoa, who petrifies those who gaze upon statues of its likeness.