hey all. i have the core set 1 time and i would like to expand my collection. shall i go for the starter investigator decks or for the the innsmouth conspiracy?

If you're playing solo or providing all the cards to play with two players then personally I'd go for the Innsmouth Conspiracy for the extra scenarios you get. If you are joining in with another group who are providing the scenarios (which admittedly seems less likely given the current state of the world...) then I'd go for one of the starter decks.

innsmouth is way harder than some of the other campaigns tho. so i'd say to start with dunwich or carcosa next

Despite a possible creep in difficulty, and certainly perplexity, I'd recommend getting Innsmouth - because you'll pretty much guarantee yourself being able to get hold of each scenario pack as it releases and it'll spread your cost out too as you need to wait a month at a time between packs.

Some folk are having to overspend to get some of the more difficult to find scenario packs for cycles that have already finished. Carcosa in particular seems to be a particular struggle to find all the scenario packs.

Dunwich and The Forgotten Age are generally available at the moment. I would be tempted to pick up either of those as complete cycles. It is going to be a while before Innsmouth is complete. Both Dunwich and TFA will give you some more investigators and player cards plus are much more engaging campaigns than Night of the Zealot. The Investigators packs are good (but a little difficult to get hold of at the moment) but they don't give you more scenario options.

I really enjoyed Dunwich, and it's a good pickup after Zealot for really learning the game. But strongly reco that you read 'The Dunwich Horror' before playing it, as it references the story and characters a lot. It's basically a sequel to the story. TFA is fun, but very different in tone, and seriously hard (play on easy your first time through). Worth playing though, but the Central American setting is somewhat less 'Arkhamy'. Carcosa can't be completed right now, Phantom of Truth is just not available anywhere, but I've enjoyed the first few scenarios a lot. Think about the standalones as well, especially Murder... (though they won't add to your Player Card collection).

Whatever you do, if you want a full campaign, be sure you can find all the packs for sale before buying any of them. Stock has really been all over the place, you'll probably need to buy from multiple stores. And buy the whole campaign at once, if you can. Don't trust that something in stock today will be there tomorrow.

I agree that Dunwich is very classic Arkham and knowing the story always makes it a lot more fun. It also has some good staple player cards that can be used in a lot of decks. The Investigators also have flexible deck builds, so you can take maximum advantage of having fewer player cards.
The Forgotten Age has some of the cards I use a lot with Survivors and both will give you a campaign to play that won’t take 5 more months to finish!
I also agree that you should buy it all at once if possible.
Of course, since Innsmouth is releasing now, you are pretty assured to get it all, if you’ve already started. Currently, the base expansion and In Too Deep are out of stock on FFG, so it may be hard to find it all if you are starting now.
The Pre-built Investigators have a lot of good cards, but obviously without a campaign, which may be defeating the purpose.

I would like to agree that if someone else is providing scenarios, the investigator packs are good, and if not you should get a campaign. If you (or anyone else) is looking for investigator decks, the Jacqueline Fine Starter Deck is available right now on FFG. I would suggest anyone who wants it getting it ASAP, because there are likely only a few copies. The other starter decks are very hard to find at a cheap price (ugh scalpers) and they likely won't be reprinted until February.

Dunwich: Where Doom Awaits out of stock on FFG. In stock on Amazon $14.95

Forgotten Age: Shattered Aeons out of stock on FFG. One left on Amazon $14.95

The rest of those two campaigns in stock on FFG and Return to Dunwich also available on Amazon.

Second purchase? Coin capsules, obviously.

Agreed...coin capsules and a decent chaos bag are must buys. You might think more cards are important but once you realise the huge quality of life bonus your get from drawing chaos tokens in coin capsules, you will understand why this isn't a 'nice to have' option but a must.

Yup. The chaos tokens will get pretty gummy and gross when unprotected. Although I ended up having to make pretty much indestructible custom tokens (I totally stole an idea from Etsy), because my husband believes the longer and more energetically he mixes the tokens in the Chaos bag, the more favorable the draw. 😉 Our capsules kept coming apart or cracking. I don’t think that is a problem most people have though.
We also sleeve all of our cards. We store them sleeved with inner sleeves and then outer sleeve what ever decks we play. If you become as addicted as we are, it’s worth protecting your investment.
But Holy Moly, I don’t want to overwhelm you right out the gate!!

1 hour ago, Dr Dee said:

Agreed...coin capsules and a decent chaos bag are must buys. You might think more cards are important but once you realise the huge quality of life bonus your get from drawing chaos tokens in coin capsules, you will understand why this isn't a 'nice to have' option but a must.

Yeah, when I finally got coin capsules and a good bag it was a game changer. Capsules should be your first purchases so that your chaos tokens don't get faded and dirty from being unprotected and then stay like that forever. I was lucky that I had 2 cores so the extra set of tokens were still brand new when I got the capsules and now they look great in them.

I just use an app for the chaos bag >.> @Mimi61 I can't wait for your husband to come to the logical conclusion and set up a stand mixer next to the table.

13 hours ago, SGPrometheus said:

I just use an app for the chaos bag >.> @Mimi61 I can't wait for your husband to come to the logical conclusion and set up a stand mixer next to the table.

I am dying. 😂 😂 😂 😂
It’s like you can see right into his head...are you using Scrying?
By sheer coincidence (or is it?) my husband actually bought a new Kitchen Aid this week and now I’m going to have to hide it.