Played my first-ever game of Arkham Horror last night as a solo game to learn the rules, with one investigator to keep things simpler on myself to manage. Mostly did all right, and actually I ended up beating Yig (chose him since I've read around here that he's regarded as one of the easier and faster ones), if only by the skin of my teeth--lucky roll or two in the final fight, and I went in with the Warding Statue and the Sword of Glory. (For those who might be wondering: Yig's doom track filled up from gate openings, so I didn't even have to remember to fill the thing, evading Common Newbie Error #452. Don't worry, though...I'm sure I'll forget that eventually.)

I was surprised by how enjoyable the game is with just one player. I expected to only want to do that to learn the rules, but I can honestly see myself doing that fairly frequently. I will definitely use more than one investigator in the future, though. It was good for learning the rules, since it made less for me to keep track of, but the monster and gate problems quickly get out of hand! Would probably have also helped if I'd remembered Darrell the photographer's "Hometown Advantage" ability at all, too...that could have saved me from falling through a gate early on, probably.

Anyway, I think I did a decent job of keeping track of things, for the most part (though I recognized that I forgot to add to the doom track for a few gate openings, but I managed to figure out how many tokens should have been added and add them retroactively O_O). Most of what I ran into I think I handled right, but there's a few things I had some questions on if someone can help me out.

1: The Sword of Glory: This card is recorded as a "Magical Weapon." Am I correct in interpreting that to mean that it gives you a "magical" combat bonus? Or does it still give you a physical one like other weapons? Or does it give you both? O_O This ended up not mattering, since the only creature that came up that had any resistance, a fire vampire, went down without even factoring in the bonus as I recall, but I'd like to be more certain in the future.

2: Monster surges and the Outskirts limit: If you get multiple monsters appearing for some reason, such as a monster surge, and reach the outskirt limit midway through (which means that you return the outskirts monsters to the cup and then raise the Terror Level by 1), do you still add the remaining monsters to the outskirts after taking care of returning and adding the Terror? For instance, if I need 1 more monster to reach the outskirts limit, and get 3, do I add the 1, return the monsters to the cup and add a Terror level, and then add 2 to the outskirts? Or are the remaining 2 canceled by hitting the outskirts limit?

3: I got a mythos card that said that two monsters appeared on the Southside streets. (www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Southside_Strangler_Suspected!) Are these monsters actually placed on the board, or are they treated like encounter monsters, which only last for that encounter? If they are placed on the board, do they count against the monster limit, and do they go into the outskirts if that limit has already been reached?

4: When sealing gates, am I correct in assuming that a "Fight" check is different from a "Combat" check, and therefore you can't get your weapon bonuses (such as the Sword of Glory) when gate-sealing?

5: I didn't see this anywhere, but is there any kind of Horror check when an Ancient One first awakens, or any automatic sanity loss? Or is just fighting the darn thing considered hard enough?

6: Thought of one more. I had missed the "Monsters Guarding Gates" rule on page 18 (On the turn on which an investigator returns from the Other World, he does not have to fight/evade monsters in that location), so I returned, killed an Elder Thing, and then sealed the gate on the Arkham Encounters phase. Am I correct, though, in that this actually is still a valid series of actions? The rule says that "an investigator does not have to evade or fight..." This suggests to me that a person could still choose to do so. Is that correct? Or is the rule more meant to state that an investigator just definitely ignores any monsters in that location for that turn?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Glad you enjoyed your game!

Yes, Yig is a good starter since he makes for a short game with a reasonably easy final combat. I don't fully understand your comment on Yig's awakening, but as long as you know that the doom track is always set to full everytime an AO awakens, then you're better off than many. I suppose that could be what you meant.

1. Magical resistance/immunity applies to combat bonuses from magical weapons and spells. Physical resistance/immunity applies to combat bonuses from physical weapons. A weapon can't be both physical and magical, and some effects are neither (and are therefore unaffected by resistances/immunities). An example of an exempt effect is your base Fight. Anyone with a high enough fight can take down a Ghost with his hands.

1b. Note that immunities and resistances only affect combat bonuses. You still get "double 6" ability on the shotgun against a physically immune monster. You can still cast Red Sign or Bind Monster against a magically immune monster.

2. The Outskirts empties when it exceeds the limit. You were playing a 1p game, which means the Outskirts limit was 7. So once the 8th monster hits the Outstkirts, the terror level increases by 1 and you continue placing monsters in the Outskirts. In your example, you need one more monster to reach the Outskirts limit, so you can place that one monster just fine. The next monster overflows and empties the outskirts and the terror level is increased, but then afterwards, the third monster is added to the newly-emptied Outskirts. In this way, particularly in games with more investigators, a single surge could actually increase the terror level by multiple points.

3. Monsters placed by a Mythos card stay on the board. Only during encounters that say "A monster appears!" is it exempt from the limit and returned to the cup if you don't kill it. So yes, they are subject to the monster limit and may be placed in the Outskirts.

4. Combat bonuses apply to Combat checks, and Fight bonuses apply to Fight checks (which include Combat checks). So the Fight skill will help you close a gate, but a Tommygun will not. You're not doing combat with the gate—presumably, you're forcing it shut with your hands or something.

5. Ancient Ones don't have an up-front Horror check, because they are not monsters. That's why you're not expected to kill them in one attack! Though, most AOs have a "Start of Battle" effect that is applied immediately, such as Yig's cursing everyone (and killing those who were already cursed).

6. Sure, that was valid. You can choose to ignore them, or fight any or all of them. But only on the turn you come back to Arkham. If an OW encounter sends you back, the turn will have expired before you get a chance to close the gate, so you will have to deal with the monsters in some way next turn.

Good...sounds like I handled most of it appropriately, then. Only messed up on the Mythos card monster-spawn, and that ended up not mattering because Yig awoke the next turn. I did handle the overflow on the outskirts the right way; I just worded it incorrectly here.

Ah...one more question arises, though. The Fire Vampire I fought had a Horror check rating of "-" and no damage listed. Does that mean that you don't even do a horror check for the fire vampire?

Yes, monsters that don't have a horror rating don't require horror checks.

Great. Thanks for all your assistance!

I explained in another thread that the Fire Vampire manifests only as flames, so the investigator probably thinks his trenchcoat caught fire and tries to stamp it out. He wouldn't suspect that it's a flaming space-wasp or what have you.