COVID-19: Worse than Ancient Evils?

By Duciris, in Arkham Horror: The Card Game

I'm insulated (for a little while longer) in western Minnesota, but we're under the same state-enforced restrictions as the Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul) some 3 hours East Southeast of here as the crow drives. Down the interstate. I think I'll be starting to work from home next week. 🤞 I have asthma (and it's winter, so that's in full swing), so the Coronavirus is something I very much want to avoid.

I have a buddy in Korea who keeps live streaming and otherwise messaging his news and its impact on him, but we have a healthy international community here (and even interstate community) so I thought I'd start this thread to hear how my soul-brothers & -sisters are doing.

Edited by Duciris
Corrected the thread title, thanks @Allonym! ;P

I'm over in the UK, and have been working from home since last Tuesday as a precaution/test for work. I'm scheduled to do so next week too, and then we'll see after that.

A number of gaming events have been cancelled or postponed, and my LGS has pulled any organised events for the foreseeable future. Isolation mode is engaged, basically.

Next big decision is whether or not to risk travelling back home on the train for Easter - tough call to make...

I live in the western part of the U.S. with our family spread across several states, including Washington. So far no infections. Working from home is my norm, so that is not new. However, being a lifelong major league baseball fan, my world is sadder without it starting up in the next few weeks. Happily, I have Arkham Horror LCG and this community to keep my interest and my spirits up! Thank you!

I'm in the UK, and also have asthma. I work in a big office with lots of people, and travel to work on the train, so catching it is a real worry for me. I was quite concerned at the start of the week, as I developed a frequent cough, but i'm now pretty sure its just a bad cold and nothing worse. I've been self-isolating this week just to be sure, and fortunately have been able to work from home.

During that time, the company has starting moving as many people as it can to home working, so it looks like i won't be seeing those trains or the office for months now, potentially. It's going to be tough, but better than the alternatives.

Stay safe, everyone.

I'm in the mid-west and my girlfriend works as an ICU/Rapid Response Nurse. She's really concerned about how quickly this might overload the hospitals and how much she is going to exposed to it. Since she is going to be constantly exposed to it she might not get to be outside of self-quarantine for over a year. And almost certainly won't be able to see her elderly grandparents for that long.

Additionally my weekly running group has canceled our runs for a few weeks and we don't know when or if we'll be able to start it back up again. Since we all run usually pretty close together and enjoy taking walking breaks to talk and socialize.

I normally play Arkham with my girlfriend at least once a month and we have another couple from the running group that we play with about once a month as well. But that looks like we're not going to be able to continue that or be able to see each other very often at all. I'm trying to get tabletop simulator working for her... but her internet connection is VERY slow due to her living out of city limits. I'm going to try to learn OCTGN to see if I can get that to work with her internet but I'm not optimistic about it. And it almost feels like I won't be able to play with her for over a year.

I 'm in Spain, and here the situation is getting difficult. We are reaching Italian numbers so fast. I'm isolated at home since last friday. About gaming events, it'easy, everything is cancelled or forbidden. The only places/buildings open are hospitals and supermarkets, so i'm working from home and trying to keep my sanity high by playing both the dream eaters and carcosa campaign, which, in fact is leading me to madness......

I'm also based in the UK, and I am a freelancer working from home (why do you think I write such long-winded reviews?), so my overall lifestyle hasn't changed too much, but it's getting pretty scary out there!

It's certainly a good time to reinforce any social links online!

I was also somewhat amused by the typo in the thread name - though I guess corvids are pretty on-brand for Arkham!

9 hours ago, Antimarkovnikov said:

.. . I'm going to try to learn OCTGN to see if I can get that to work with her internet but I'm not optimistic about it. And it almost feels like I won't be able to play with her for over a year.

Hey, if you get that working, let us know!

Here in Slovenia things are pretty tight, we are unfortunately neighbouring Italy. Most of us must stay and work at home if possible. At the moment the virus is pretty contained, although a lot of people do not take it as seriously as they should...but yeah, lot of spare time to play AH, finished a "campaign" style Labyrinths of Lunacy with my brother, now we are past the first scenario of TCU - first time going through as Tony and Jim 😁

Edited by Jurcccy
spelling

New York City here, Upper West Side Manhattan. It was just announced an hour ago that 100% of non-essential workforce are to stay home starting Sunday. I'm a Type 1 Diabetic so I've been doing that for the past week, anyway. It's going to be very difficult to get New Yorkers to stay off the streets, they're a stubborn lot. Even during a pandemic. Both my writing group and AHCG group are done meeting for now, possibly going to start remote meetings/play. Excited to have the time to work on a home brew campaign!

Everyone stay safe.

Having said all this, I'd still say Ancient Evils is worse...

I live in the Intermountain West and we’ve experienced similar closures. I teach, and schools are closed, so this week has been figuring out how to Loom and Zoom video lessons. That said, our daughter lives in Washington and they have symptoms and were tested yesterday. We won’t know until Tuesday what the results are.

Thank you Duciris for reaching out. We sometimes become so insulated in our own lives, that we don’t always remember we are part of a global family. So everyone, take a moment and lean in for a big appropriately socially distant group hug!!

Remember, we take down Evil on a regular basis in our spare time.

Edited by Mimi61
1 hour ago, Mimi61 said:

I live in the Intermountain West and we’ve experienced similar closures. I teach, and schools are closed, so this week has been figuring out how to Loom and Zoom video lessons. That said, our daughter lives in Washington and they have symptoms and were tested yesterday. We won’t know until Tuesday what the results are.

Thank you Duciris for reaching out. We sometimes become so insulated in our own lives, that we don’t always remember we are part of a global family. So everyone, take a moment and lean in for a big appropriately socially distant group hug!!

Remember, we take down Evil on a regular basis in our spare time.

That's the idea. The plan is for me to be isolated for a while (I moved in with my folks when my father took ill, so Mom will be here too (so I won't starve to death)) but that's just my experience. I know this forum is kept alive by an international (and even national) community with a vast array of experiences, so I thought this would be as cool and varied a place as I visit to have this conversation.

In Connecticut. The schools all closed on the 12th right after the first cases were reported here. I've been working from home since then since we also have to home school our kids now during the day. All non-essential businesses are closed. I pretty much only leave the house to buy groceries. I'm grateful that the Arkham community continues to put out content. It's nice to have the distraction. I'm also grateful I still have my job. I know lots of people who are unemployed now due to the closures.

Edited by phillos

Live in Southern California. Staying at home not as much a problem since I just retired at the start of the March. Had a retirement cruise all lined up for end of the month - needless to say that's been cancelled. Didn't lose any money, although some was credit to a future cruise to which I say - sure, but not till late 2021 at the earliest!

Fortunately I've got loads of Arkham content to play and replay. I could even break out the old 2nd Edition Board game if I needed to really use up time. Also taking the time to replay Baldur's Gate (from the start) one more time. Go for the eyes, Boo! 😀

Oh, and is this worse the Ancient Evils? Not sure. I'd compare it more to Resurgent Evils as it so often forces people to have to make a difficult decision.

Things are escalating here, largely thanks to idiots who wouldnt respect social distancing. Well the PM just told people they aren't allowed to leave home except for essential work, buying food, one bit of daily exercise, and medical needs for at least three weeks, and that gatherings are banned. The country is going into lockdown, basically.

Yesterday, the Governor announced Minnesota is going to be "directing Minnesotans to stay at home and limit movements outside of their home beyond essential needs," starting on Friday evening.

Been working from home with the kids for two weeks now. Feels like we are just at the beginning of this thing in CT still. Had to go to the market today since we were running out of stuff. It felt tense in there. Been watching the Team Covenant livestreams of TFA though, which has been fun. They've been ridiculously lucky so far.

6 hours ago, phillos said:

Been working from home with the kids for two weeks now. Feels like we are just at the beginning of this thing in CT still. Had to go to the market today since we were running out of stuff. It felt tense in there. Been watching the Team Covenant livestreams of TFA though, which has been fun. They've been ridiculously lucky so far.

Funny, a small world. I walked into my husband’s office this afternoon, (he’s been working from home for years) and he was watching Team Covenant Live Streaming TFA!

Edited by Mimi61
16 hours ago, Duciris said:

Yesterday, the Governor announced Minnesota is going to be "directing Minnesotans to stay at home and limit movements outside of their home beyond essential needs," starting on Friday evening.

I’m so sorry. Minnesota can be quite lovely in the Spring.
We are getting there here too. Not on official lockdown, but close. School being taught remotely for the long term. Pretty much only grocery stores, gas stations, medical services and drive thru’s open. I guess you could say something like this is an Ancient Evil.

At least I can still walk along the river almost every day, where I catch glimpses of deer, antelope, sand hill cranes, pelicans, even the odd bald eagle, along with other animals feverishly busy with spring. It gives me a measure of peace to see some things continue unchanged.

Edited by Mimi61
13 hours ago, phillos said:

Been working from home with the kids for two weeks now. Feels like we are just at the beginning of this thing in CT still. Had to go to the market today since we were running out of stuff. It felt tense in there. Been watching the Team Covenant livestreams of TFA though, which has been fun. They've been ridiculously lucky so far.

I lived in Mystic when I was young! (And my last address was in Oklahoma, as long as we're talking about Team Covenant. 😊 )

Schools have been closed for a week and change, with intentions of opening on the first. As expected, that got blown to heck; they'll definitely be opening on Star Wars day (the 4th of May).

I'm moving my desktop home today so I can run AutoCad there. My plan is to turn on the volume so I can hear the rare email & paint minis from IDW's TMNT Kickstarter (they just wrapped the Batman the Animated Series KS, which is fully compatible, and announced the next one in the series is Avatar: the Last Airbender, so this got moved to the top of my paint cue).

Edited by Duciris
Can't be bothered to add the t on the word paint.

At least being stuck inside is giving me an opportunity to plow through the Dream Eaters! I'd been waiting for the whole campaign to release, but with only one pack outstanding, I figured I may as well.

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CafeineAddict, its good to see how others set up their play area. I like the Middle Earth mat. We just watched the HBO movie, "Tolkien" and I started re-reading the Lord of the Rings.
What do you use the dice for?

I use dice for a few things - the black/white dice I use for tracking how many actions I've taken each turn (just moving them about, not caring about the numbers - they could just be tokens of any kind. Black for normal actions, white for "extra" actions).
I try and keep the location map fairly compact, so I use dice to represent where investigators/enemies are on the map. Two green dice as I was playing two handed, showing a 1 and a 2 to differentiate investigators. I use red dice to show where enemies are - one on the map, and another on the enemy itself (corresponding numbers for each enemy).
Then I have all the enemies in play laid out on the table adjacent to the map.
Sometimes I'll use dice for other things like damage/trauma, but most of the time I use the normal tokens.
And I usually use the "arkham chaos bag" app on my phone as I play.

Edited by CaffeineAddict
3 minutes ago, CaffeineAddict said:

I use dice for a few things - the black/white dice I use for tracking how many actions I've taken each turn (just moving them about, not caring about the numbers - they could just be tokens of any kind. Black for normal actions, white for "extra" actions).
I try and keep the location map fairly compact, so I use dice to represent where investigators/enemies are on the map. Two green dice as I was playing two handed, showing a 1 and a 2 to differentiate investigators. I use red dice to show where enemies are - one on the map, and another on the enemy itself (corresponding numbers for each enemy).
Then I have all the enemies in play laid out on the table adjacent to the map.
Sometimes I'll use dice for other things like damage/trauma, but most of the time I use the normal tokens.
And I usually use the "arkham chaos bag" app on my phone as I play.

Wow. That is impressive. How are you liking Dream Eaters so far? The Middle Earth mat fits right in to some of it!!