Hi,

I'm still new to this game, but some of the rules seem (from a realism POV) a little off. Why would someone be forced to buy random items from a store he entered? To me, this understandable rule to help check out-of-control shopping is a little off-putting, as it bursts the suspension-of-disbelief bubble for me. I like my games atmospheric

What do you all think of doing something like this instead:

If you go to the Curiosity Shoppe and get offered some nifty item in the back room by the proprietor, but you turn it down (i.e., you choose not to buy any of the random items that come up), you end up offending the shopkeeper and risk not being able to shop there again: how about having to make a Will -1 roll, with a -1 modifier every turn you decline the goodies, to avoid being turfed out into the street and blacklisted?

Like I said, I'm new to this game as of three days ago, so my understanding of game balance may be off: how does something like what I mentioned above sound as a workable house rule to everyone? Suggestions?

I can't weigh in too much but to say that the rule is in place to prevent the players from farming for Elder Signs. The rationale that you're only given three random items could be that that's all that's in stock. The rationale that you're forced to buy one is that your character feels the impending doom of the Ancient One and is obliged to buy an item in order to desparately stave off the Ancient One at all costs. Maybe the "shop" special ability means that the investigator has already committed to buying such an item; otherwise s/he would have sought a random encounter.

The rule was errata'd in early on for a legit reason, as the above poster stated - to prevent item camping (in particular with elder signs), which is a pretty effective in game tactic if not disallowed.

However, I am of the opinion that if you're using expansions the unique item deck becomes diluted enough to render this strategy inefficient anyway. Because I tend to keep all investigator cards from various expansions together, I have disregarded that particular rule and am even thinking about allowing more cards to be drawn at each store. I'll have to playtest it and see how it goes. It's often bothered me how it's so difficult for some investigators to get items they really need to be good

Zozimus said:

Getting blacklisted from the store (which I assume means you're not allowed to go back in) is game breaking in a whole different way. Sure it would discourage too much item camping, but if people got unlucky on their first or second will check, you could end up with half the investigators being unable to go to the curiosity shoppe at all.

Arkham Horror is a highly thematic game, so I can understand your desire to have things "make sense." I would suggest, however, that it is better to alter the fluff to suit the rules rather than vice versa. Perhaps your investigator feels compelled to buy something because the creepy old guy behind the counter keeps giving him the hairy eyeball when he picks stuff up, looks at it and puts it back without buying. Perhaps there's an old lady with a broom who starts yelling at people who browse without paying. Or maybe, as Tibs suggests, your investigator feels a time pressure in knowing that things are spinning rapidly out of control, and decides that grabbing something semi-useful is better than spending too much time digging through all the crap around here to find the one perfect item. You can't save the world if it ends while you're shopping, after all.

Einlanzer80 said:

I agree. For a while, we required an encounter if no cards were purchased, but too many of those encounters are positive, so now the investigator just loses one of his precious turns.

We had an experience the other night with a kind of catch-22.....the player at the Shoppe drew three cards: One item she couldn't afford, and two Missions, neither of which were really advantageous, and might in fact have killed her. We just let it drop, and she bought nothing. What about a limited - time blacklisting, such as for three rounds, or something? Long enough for the shoppekeeper to get over his irritation at your shoppe-ing habits? (By the way, I don't have Kingsport; can anyone tell me if being "barred" works something like this already?)

BARRED FROM NORTHSIDE

Move to the street when you receive this card. You may not enter any Northside locations during the Movement phase except those with open gates.

You may enter Northside locations via other means during other phases (for instance, as a result of an Arkham encounter or when returning from being Lost in Time and Space).

Discard this card if the terror level increases.

It's actually from Curse of the Dark Pharaoh expansion.

You can find this information and much more at Arkham Horror Wiki

More and more, I'm inclined to just remove all Elder Signs from the Unique Item deck. Investigator could receive an Elder Sign only if a game effect specifically directed them to draw an Elder Sign (like with Wendy's starting equipment). In that case, people would only go to the Curiositie Shop if they wanted items, not Elder Signs.

avec said:

Well, why don't you make the deck an actual UNIQUE ITEM deck and have only one copy of each item in it? That would mean only one elder sign, so trying to shop for one specifically wouldn't be a viable tactic.

Tibs said:

Heh. Good one.