The other day, one of our 4 person AH group finally admitted to us that he immensely disliked Arkham Horror (I know, how could anyone hate AH?). We've done a 3 player game, and it just doesn't feel the same. We decided we'd have to bring in a new player. I have some other friends but none of them are board gamers. The one who I think would be the easiest to convert to the world of board games is this one I introduced Small World to a while ago, and he loved it.

So...how should I introduce AH to him and how can I get him hooked on AH? Is there specific Ancient Ones, expansions, special house rules, investigators, etc that is the best for not only a person new to AH but a person almost new to board games?

personally, the way i've introduced my friends to arkham horror is by playing either Curse of the Dark Pharao or The Yellow King expansions, or both (in a special hybrid theme intense version).

the rules are the big scare for new players, so knowing the rules well enough to not have to look at the rule book is alot better than (even accidentally) showing "oh wait i still haven't grasped all those rules" when introducing new players. it's important to not show them how big the wall is to climb until they're hooked..

anyhow, i'd say play with an expansion bringing theme (if you have expansions, of course) and don't play with too many players, or else the flow of the game will be completely gone with too many players and at least one of them new, and that too can be a real turn-off.

Also, Arkham Horror is a love-it-or-hate-it game, and unfortunately more people hate it than love it. (Pretty much anything in this world worth experiencing will be intensely disliked by most people. That's just life.) Keep trying. If someone loves the game, it probably won't have all that much to do with how well you introduced them to it.

Azathoth. (Break em in with a win)

No expansions - no rules overload.

Only explain the basic "fives and sixes" skill check. Explain the other rules which affect his character (e.g. movement = speed), as they come up. Let the experienced players sweat the minuatiae like keeping track of the Doom Track and Monster Limit.

Joe Diamond for new player. Ask people for an archetype from the twenties and they'll either pick Bertie Wooster or Sam Spade. As you don't have Bertie, Sam it is... Plus Joe is a really cool character and six Speed and three Focus is very forgiving.

Give everyone a job, such as drawing the monsters from the monster bag, reading the mythos cards, drawing Gate cards til you get the right colour, etc. Give drawing monster from the bag to the new player.

Announce each phase in turn: Upkeep, Movement, Arkham Encounters, Outer World Encounters, Mythos Phase. Do this every turn to drum it into the new player. Don't let the experienced players rush the game. And, for heaven's sake, make sure they don't boss the new player around!!! (Who wants to be a puppet for three hours!). Take your time and explain things: "Well, it's upkeep and you want to think about what you want to do this turn, and use your focus to set your stats accordingly. You could dive down a gate, but really it'd be better if you had more clues so you can seal it. Now, you could get a clue, but you'd have to move your speed up because you do not have enough movement points - and it might be better to leave it as George really needs the clue so he can seal the gate, or you could kill that zombie - it's not too tough, but you've lost a lot of sanity already, so you might want to lower Fight and increase your Will so that you pass the Horror Check..."

I can't even begin to articulate a better strategy at introducing new players to the game than the write-up provided by Jake yet again. Very well stated.

I fully agree with the Jake yet again and the professor.

I agree with Innsmouth13 and Jake yet again. But not the Professor...

Thta's nice...very, very nice

so far me and my g/f are 5 for 5 on people liking AH when we introduce someone to it... we had Dark Pharaoh and Black Goat mixed into the mythos deck and kept the big box expansions away for everyones first games... the game is definitlely overwhelming for some on their first go through and frustration normally leads to bad memories/not wanting to play again. Most of these people aren't really into games like this and won't go out and buy it themselves...but they all always ask when we are playing again. this past week we had 4 of them come over and play with some big boards for a good time. we lost but everyone said "we'll get'em next time"

EcnoTheNeato said:

Can logic be non-Euclidean? Hmm...

I just learned the game 4 weeks ago @ the local gaming store and just loved it. Most people who played that night didn't however. I was lucky enough to be Joe Diamond. I sealed a gate so I did the best in the limited time we had to play. (With 7 people, all noobs, there was no way to finish in 3 hours!) I would agree with what was posted so far, having played about 8 times now, I think to start someone new with either Joe Diamond, Mandy, or my new favorite Kate Winthrop. I'm trying to get my wife to play more, so I think the comment about keeping the rules simple for new players is a really good idea. Good luck with the game.

Or you could just murder your friend and bring him back to life as a brainwashed Arkham Horror loving zombie.

The Professor said:

Much love! <3!

Anyway, I say let people be who they want, investigator-wise. Part of the fun is being an investigator, so let them look through the people and pick one, themselves :-) Yes, that includes Patrice, Daisy, or Wendy! When I introduced my family, my sister the college student chose Mandy, her Husband chose Mark because he liked cigars, and my other family members made similar decisions :-D ANd when I first played I picked Monterey Jack becayse he reminded me of Rescue Rangers and Indiana Jones (and his whispy, Lt. Farva mustache...) If they play again, I'd say they can still pick, except not the same person. Eventually they may see me and my friends picking at random (or semi-random, since some of my friends do "deal 2-3, and pick one"), and want to do that, themselves, too!

Give them some Lovecraft to read, if they don't like Lovecraft then they don't deserve to play Arkham Horror

H.P. Lovecraft said:

No way. Lovecraft's works and Arkham Horror are two very different creatures. There are plenty who like Lovecraft but dislike AH (though the reverse seems to be much more common). I didn't know anything about Lovecraft when I got Arkham Horror. The game actually got me into Lovecraft.

Tibs said:

Well... Yes and no. The game appeals to many who like the stories, and the stories to many who like the game. After all, they are in the same genre at least. Not to mention overlapping monsters and characters. Personally, the game got me more into his stories too.

I started playing the game because I had just read some Lovecraft and was quite taken with it

I was the other way around, the game was awsome enough to get me interested enough to actually read the source material.

Jayhotep said:

agreed. Before I got AH, I didn't know ANYTHING about Lovecraft. His alluring name partially persuaded me to purchase it.

Now I devour his work!

H.P. Lovecraft said:

I'm not sure why you think this is correct. Knowing Lovecraft can certainly enhance the game, but I feel if you put a little drama into the play"Try and use your knifeslash (roll) slash again (Clue roll), etc." can make the game very exciting. Try to help them SEE what's happening.

H.P. Lovecraft said:

Most people will be confused by HPL's way of telling stories but if they can follow it they will learn new terror. Knowing the source of the game maybe nice but not a requirement to play.

I'd say it helps to be encouraging and promote a cooperative atmosphere, too. One of the things that attracted me to the game, along with the three buddies I play it with, is that it's one of the few games we've found that is totally cooperative (though I'm sure someone will eventually figure out how to custom-rule some evil investigators in there, and there is that "joining the winning team" card). Despite the horror theme, it's kind of feel-good that way. Provide congratulations when they do something good, and don't dwell on things when they go wrong. Play as a team. You can compete to "be the best" later, but I think it's important that the first game gives them some good feelings of working together entirely. (We have yet to even incorporate the scoring rules or "First Citizen" thing, though I think I may soon just to track how well we do game by game.)

The other thing that seemed to help for me for attracting people (and for attracting me, actually) was emphasizing the fact that AH doesn't have a way to eliminate a player early and leave them sitting on their butt for 3 hours while everyone else finishes the game. Knowing that no matter what, they'd be playing all the way through to the AO battle's start at least...that helped my buddies be more willing to try it out.

I don't think knowledge of or like of Lovecraft's stories is essential to the game, though a certain level of tolerance for horror will be. There are some freaky pictures associated with the game, after all. (I do like Lovecraft's stuff, though. I actually got into this by way of the Call of Cthulhu RPG and Spoony's Battlestar Galactica video...came here to check out that game and ended up picking up Arkham Horror instead due to liking the theme.)