makken123 said:

It is a complicated way to add a story to Arkham Horror. That's because it is more immersive and interactive than other ways of doing so. Since the players and the story both influence each other, there needs to be a mechanism to track the story state. There is no way of getting around that. But the payoff for that extra effort is a deeper level of immersion and a more emotionally engaging experience. Consider that there are at least three levels of "plottedness" for a game of AH: (1) the base game, (2) scenarios, and (3) Arkham Investigations. Each of these has advantages and disadvantages in terms or replayability, affective quality, story cohesiveness, book-keeping, and interactivity. I enjoy all three types of game, but that's me. There are lots of people who don't enjoy Arkham Investigations. There are probably also lots of people who would only play with Arkham Investigations, if there were enough case books available to keep them occupied. Hence the cliché: chacun à son goût . If you've played two or three case books and you didn't enjoy them, maybe you don't like Arkham Investigations. That's OK. Play a different way. (On the other hand, maybe the case books just weren't to your taste. In that case, write your own and show the world how it should be done!)

As far as the look of the case book goes, I think perhaps you are assuming that what you have seen so far is what is possible. I realize I am biased, but this looks pretty good to me (and even better at full size):

How did I achieve this? Did I export the file, open it in some page layout software, and sexy it up? Nope. Here are the exact steps I took:

1. Open case book file.
2. Choose File | Print...

I just printed it to a PDF file right from SE and converted the two facing pages you see above into an image. There is only one difference between what you see above and what you can do in the version of SE currently available on the web site: the use of a background image for pages. (And that will be available in the final version of SE 2.00.) If you want to tweak the layout---change the alley, reduce the gutter, get rid of the downrule, format it for single-sided printing instead of duplex---you can do all of those things and more without leaving SE. And if you still don't like the result, you can download the plug-in authoring kit, write your own case book formatter, and do exactly what you want.

I think if we can get more people writing case books, we'll start seeing some really great stuff.

Cheers,
Chris

OldManWhateley said:

For anyone who is interested, the Arkham Nights Case Book Formatter extension includes a sample case book that provides a good example of how to compose the paragraphs for a location. (It is not so good as a more general example because Arkham Nights booklets include only a subset of the content of a full case book.)

Cheers,
Chris

P.S. Still looking forward to trying this case book out when I get some time. I haven't had a chance to get out AH lately.

Thank you OldManWhateley for creating a snazzy new casebook. I'll be downloading Dark Dreams of Dagon, and hopefully giving it a try early March. Looking forward to trying out the case books, as I haven't had an opportunity yet to do so,

Mighty Thelric, the example of a case book you show, with picture and yellowed background is that a completed case book available for public use?

You mentioned a while back you were working on one.

Thank you,

L

It is part of a case book that I have been working on. It was originally meant to be the built-in example for the editor in SE. However, I came up with an interesting idea for it that will make it too long and complex to serve as a good example. So I have set it aside for a while to work on a shorter example that (fingers crossed) will become the example file in the final version of SE 2.00.

I have been thinking about running a little case book contest between here and BGG, but I am not sure whether it would attract enough entrants to be worthwhile. At any rate, I figure I should finish up the example case for the editor first.

Cheers,
Chris

I think the AI case books are a fantastic idea with great potential and with the case book player in strange eons they are pretty user-friendly. I've only relatively recently come across the Arkham Investigations website and seeing the dates that the files were posted I feared that this great idea had somehow withered on the vine.

I'd like to say congratulations for all your hard work, it is much appreciated and I look forward to the release of any further case books.

Also does anyone know if there are any other case books out there on the web other than those on the AI website?

Wow, another Casebook! Thanks Whateley! I haven't tried it yet; I just downloaded Strange Eons and am trying to figure out how to print the casebook now. I can't seem to get the casebook plug-in to work, so I guess I'll go the old-fashioned paper printout way.

Just from skimming, I have one concern. It looks like the vignettes say explicitly where they are all located. I thought it was awesome that the original casebooks made you run around and look for the vignettes, since it added more of a sense of investigation and deduction. That's just my personal opinion. I'm looking forward to trying this sucker out.

What expansion are the "Spys" from? I don't actually have them.

awong said:

You don't need any plug-ins to print the case book. Just open the Dark Dreams of Dagon.eon file in SE and choose File | Print.

You only need a plug-in if you want to export the case book to a format other than HTML (e.g., Arkham Nights booklet, plain text, LaTeX, HTML without links) or if you want to play through the case book without printing it to paper (Case Book Player plug-in).

I assume that the Spy that was meant is the example monster from the SE monster editor.

Cheers,
Chris

Aha, there's the Spy. Thanks!

Here's a general question that doesn't relate to this investigation, specifically. Investigators team up if they're in the "same location" while in a vignette. Does this mean they team up if they're both in a vignette at the Docks (for example), or do they only team up if they're both at [C2] at the Docks? This matters if a character's having trouble passing a vignette, and needs help. The first way, a second character could help immediately by moving to that location, but in the second case, they'd have to fight their way through the vignette until they caught up. What do you think? I've been playing the 2nd way, so far.

I'm on Day 5 or 6, and I have a couple questions. SOME SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:

How does group combat work against the Innsmouth Hybrids? On their back, they say that if you fail a combat check against them, return them to a cup. I had 2 investigators fighting 2 Hybrids and the Voice at the Train Station. The first investigator did 1 damage to a Hybrid, not enough to kill it, but I was sure my other investigator could finish it. Now, did the first investigator "fail" the combat check? Does the Hybrid immediately flee to the cup? Or do I now have a chance for investigator 2 to attack and finish it off?

Similar question about the Voice, which says you add a Hybrid if you fail a check against it. My first investigator did 2 damage to it. Do I immediately add another Hybrid to the Train Station, or does my 2nd investigator get to take a swing? If I do add another Hybrid, does it immediately join the combat?

Speaking of the Voice, you must make a Lore check to fight it. What happens if you fail the Lore check? Does the combat immediately end? Are you unable to deal damage to the Voice until you make the lore check? Does the Voice damage you for failing the lore check?

Also, the Voice moves like a Stalker. But what does it do, if no investigator is adjacent to it when it moves? Normally, a stalker that is not adjacent to an investigator moves according to the Mythos card symbol. But Arkham Investigations doesn't really have a mechanic to deal with this.

Also, once I defeat the Voice and Hybrids, do I return them to the cup, so that I might encounter them again in the future?

So far, I've only completed the first part of Vignette A. It was ridiculously hard, but I may have done it wrong. At first, Amanda Sharpe went into the Vignette, but her will wasn't ideal to help Osgood. So, I had Bob Jenkins join the vignette to help. But, reading the vignette literally, as soon as Bob Jenkins got to A1, I had to add another 5 clues to A2.

It's been pretty slow so far. I didn't have much to do while Bob Jenkins desperately tried to rehabilitate Osgood. He finally rolled 3 successes in one roll, unlocking the train station. So, now I have my investigators running to the train station with all the gear they'd been ideally gathering. We massacred the Voice and Hybrids that showed up on Day 5. I estimate I've played 8 turns, where 5 Timeline days have passed. 1 character (the Dilletante) has already been devoured, due to an unfortunate dream in the Library. I'm playing with 5 characters: the Salesman, the Handyman, the Expedition Leader, the Student, and the Private Detective.

Sorry Awong for the long delay in responding - real life sucks sometimes. Anyway, I will try to answer the questions you posed.

awong said:

Take a look at page 3 of the Arkahm Investigations rules pdf - I would quote it here, but there is alot of text explaining the new combat rules for group combat.

awong said:

Yes, you must pass a Lore check to enter into combat with the Voice, failing the roll ends. No damage is incurred for failing the Lore roll though. The Voice will always move towards the nearest player on the board.

awong said:

No additional Clue tokens are added for Vignette A beyond the initial 5 - when I played it, it is tough getting through the vignette, as other characters have little to do other than explore town and shop.

Hello! I love the casebooks. I wanted to see if there were any others out there. I have the Cthulhu: Dread Sleeper in R'leyh, and Dark Dreams of Dagon. I have looked for others, but have been unable to find any. Does anyone else have any casebooks?

Thanks!

Hope this thread isn't dead! I have a question about Arkham Investigations rules. In the rules, it states to remove the Mythos Deck, the Standard Ancient One Cards, and the standard gate cards. I understand the mythos deck. The gate cards are just the other world encounter cards, right? And finally, the ancient one cards, I want to make sure about: are they talking about the ancient one sheets? That is to say, the cards with ancient ones depiction, doom track, worshippers ability, etc, etc? I just want to be sure, because if so, that would mean that the worshippers abilities are not in effect, right? Just want to make sure on that. Thanks!

Admiral142 said:

Sorry, I have extremely busy with real life things - darn real life! - I am working on a revision of the Dark Dreams casebook, mainly to clean it up and correct some minor mistakes. I am also working on two more case books that I hope to finish soon.

And to answer the above questions, yes to all of them.