soooo I went over a friends house to play a game of Arkham... he was the one who told me to get the game in the first place... since then I have been committed to learning all the rules properly and playing the game as close to the way it is meant to be played before modifying any house rules... well apparently my friend is quite the opposite and makes the game super easy... some of the things he did I know were wrong... but some of them i was unsure of imho... so here are some questions...

During the Mythos to start the game if a gate opens does it add a doom token to the doom track?: friend says it doesn't

If you are attempting to Evade past a monster and fail do you have to make a horror check or do you get hit just the stamina damage and continue from there?

the game we played was overly easy and in our favor due to not playing by the rules...i pointed some things out to him but he didn't seem to care so i held my tongue until it was over.... it was a long game due to there being no new gates opening and he himself collected more allies than your even supposed to have in the game (11).

It was still fun playing around but in the end i would rather get pummeled by the AO than play a game like that

RocksLikeToast said:

Let me try to answer your questions as best as possible:

1) Tell your friend he's wrong. The starting gate DOES add a doom token to the doom track.

2) If you fail an Evade check, first you get hit by stamina damage automatically Then you are forced to make a horror check. Regardless whether you pass or fail, you can then continue to fight or evade as normal.

By the way, how do you collect more allies than 11 if he only has the base set?

actually he has all the expansions as well... so he has all the cards mixed into it

Well, even with expansions, you are only allowed to have a maximum of 11 allies per game. So it's actually impossible to have more allies than that.

mi-go hunter said:

mi-go hunter said:

I house-rule an "Arkham Citizens Deck". Allies from all expansions = 34, so 11 are dealt randomly into a "Ma's Deck"--these are the Allies available at the Boarding House--the rest are set aside in the Citizens Deck. If an Encounter calls out an Ally specifically, you may search either deck for that Ally. (If it is taken from the Citizens Deck, an Ally from the Ma's Deck must be placed in the Citizens Deck, so [all Allies in play] + [all Allies in Ma's Deck] + [any Allies returned to the box from Ma's Deck] must always equal 11.) But "random Allies" and "Boarding House text Allies" can only be taken from Ma's Deck.

When the Terror Track goes up (or the Southside Strangler, or anything else that removes Allies from the game), discard 1 card from Ma's and 2 from the Citizens.

(Too many of my cultists were getting ticked off that they would finally get an Ally Encounter AND actually have the price for it...and that Ally was never in the game. Ally Encounters are generally uncommon, so I sacrificed "the rules" for the sake of morale.)

Within two games of using expansions, I faced a similar player revolt.

Our house rule is more generous and less complicated. All the allies are always in ally deck, but only 11 of them can ever be in play. We've never had more than 4 allies total anyway.

That South Side Stranger card, by the way, is one of the worst (in terms of concept) rumor cards in the entire game.

I've been sticking to the "only 11" rules, but I think I'll switch to the "discard 2" rule, since I have 23 allies (maybe discard 3 on the first discard). It's more fun that way, and maybe I'll get to use more allies!

EcnoTheNeato said:

I also play with Jgt suggested house-rule (all games, apart those belonging to leagues); it's a lot of fun, and at least it gives you the idea of having more possibilities in front of you. And even with this house-rule, having all location cards from all expansions mixed together, it's unlikely we finish the game with more than 2 allies

jscott991 said:

Umm, why? I consider it to be one of the weaker rumour cards, i.e. one that can often safely be allowed to fail.

It's a fine card. I mean, it's nice if people are strapped for cash (and also, as JH said, you can let it sit to ignore more dangerous rumors if you want), and also makes sense thematically. So...I'm wondering where the hate is coming from

I think "in terms of concept" is the key phrase. The Southside Strangler is an inhuman, Jack-the-Ripper serial killer, choking the life out of trusted Ally after Ally, his deranged bloodlust wholly unsatisfied until everyone is DEAD BY HIS HANDS, AND FEAR RUNS THICK AND RED IN THE STREETS!!!

There's not necessarily a lot of cosmos-stretching Mythos there...just a whack job living down the street...or next door...who could be posting on this forum...right now...

That's pretty nasty, isn't it? Conceptually?

...which might easily slip past players who consider removed Allies just "cards in the box"...

jgt7771 said:

Hehh hehh hhehhh... The pretty allies go in the box...

Avi_dreader said:

Quick! Take this man to the asylum at once! The evil glint in his eyes is unnerving...

It puts the allies in the box, or it gets the hose again!!!!!!!

mi-go hunter said:

Hehh hehh hhehhh... The pretty eyes go in the box...

EcnoTheNeato said:

::Laughter::