From what I've read of you, Knuckles, your group always plays the same characters, no exceptions. Some of the characters have things you have to keep in mind, but for the most part, they can play pretty similarly. If I'm not mistaken, you always play Joe. So pick up someone like Bob to start, and see what he can do.

Really, you can execute most of the same strategies with any character. Some are more likely to cast spells, and most can't move as fast as Joe, but you will find they each have their strong points. Except one character, and who that character is will be different with each player. There will always be an exception.

If you want to go random, then start by dealing 2 or 3 out to each person, and having them pick between them. That's a relatively safe way to go about doing it. As for winning, the best way to learn how is to jump in.

johnwatersfan said:

To give the players the illusion of choice/control by having them say a number (with base game 1-16, with all-in 1-48) and deal him/her that investigator . Of course, I enforce the "you drew it, you play it" rule.

As for winning with random investigators, use the above method and learn how to play the different investigators. It's one of the reasons I've never done pick and choose method in games where you get your character from a pool of them (AH, Talisman come to mind). That and I get bored if I play the same char two games in a row (hence the "in last game" mulligan on draws).

flamethrower49 said:

Might give it a try, give everyone 3 then choose from them. But should I get rid of Joe from the pack first?

I'm gonna go quack quack once more and tell everybody our great housy way of dealing invests then AO. It's almost like a ritual, and we love it.

We take the 48 invests deck, and deal a part of it to each player (whatever the number is, we just cut it approximately). Then each player, holding their invests deck, throws at the same time all of the sheets one at a time, on the table, face down, obviously not trying to look at the story printed on the back. Then the first player gathers all that mess, and the deck is prepared. Everybody then grabs a dice, and begining with the first player, each player throws his dice, and picks up the sheet designated by the number thrown out. (so for instance the first player throws a 4, deals three sheets and picks up the fourth ; the player after him throws a five, so the first player keeps on discarding the following sheets and gives him what was the 9th invest). When a turn has been made, you do a second final turn. So it gives time to each player to look at their first choice ; then when the second sheet comes, you can choose between these two. Then there is one last rule : you can trade ONE and only ONE of your sheet to another player ; which means you may not give one sheet to a player and receive one of his, and then do that with another player. Only one trade allowed per player.

When every player has his invest, Ancient Ones come : same than before, everybody's dealt a part of the deck, BUT we don't throw the sheets on the table : each player, one at a time, puts one of his sheets on the table, where he wants, but in a global square/rectangle shape (that is, a kind of 6x5-like rectangle, I kind of forgot how much exactly). When everybody's done that and nobody's left with AO sheet, each player, one at a time, begining with the first player, draws one sheet and discards it (alternatively, as a variant when we're not with beginners but our usual players, to enjoy it more we actually turn the sheet face up and the player who picked it up says the AO's name with a gloomy voice and everybody kind of goes "ooooh..."). In the end, the last sheet to be picked will be the Ancient one to deal with.

"Et voilaaaa", as they say. Explained like that it kind of sounds very long, but I promiss, we're used to it and deal with that process very quickly (and we already gained so much time with our already set game storage that, well...).

Cheers !

Investigators are straight random for me. Everybody just pulls the investigator token out of the cup and plays it.

Ancient Ones are more fun though. I always retain their order. I roll one die, and count down from the top of the face-down pile, and place it on the bottom of the stack. That's the AO I'm facing, and I haven't seen that AO for at least 19 games—usually more.

This months's stats are on their way, before anyone asks.

• Stats report for Aug 1 2009:

(Deleted: obsolete)

Congratulations flamethrower49! I knew I'd see the day that you rose to #1. You nerd.

Tibs said:

Nitpicking here, but checking the listings, there were 2 Rhan-Tegoth + KiY Herald games that ended in a loss before my R-T + KiY win is posted. Or does a combo need to get first mentioned as unbeaten, then beaten to get tagged? I know R-T + KiY combo was unattempted in the July report.

Additional notes:

STL Membership is gaining on Deputy !

How on earth are Trish and Tommy the bottom two in effectiveness ???

Oh crap! I only put the "first beaten" combos up as those that were attempted and failed, then later beaten. Thank you; I'll do a revision of the "first beaten"s in a little bit (girlfriend's using the computer )

Nyarlathotep also sneaked off the chart of popularity. He is listed as 208 games at the top of that section, but the chart lists 23 GOOs

Hi everybody ; we just won our last game, and it was during a Final Battle ; so what about the rumour that was ongoing through the game ? it is nor passed, nor failed, so I didn't check it in your stats board, Tibs. Am I right ?

I'll read all your stats during the meal, I'll answer later, I promiss. Good job anyway !!! Bye guys.

Hem said:

It's neither Passed or Failed, I get those quite a bit it seems. Hence my Rumor boxes seem emptier than for many others. Of course, the shortness of my games might also contribute.

OK, here's the revised list. For anyone who missed the full stats report, it's on Page 12.

• Mythos slayers!
Congratulations to the following submitters for being the first to defeat an unbeaten or unattempted combo:

• Chaugnar Faugn / Black Goat by wrabbit37
• Azathoth / Dagon & Hydra by Cimmerz
• Nyogtha / King in Yellow by Anonymous
• Chaugnar Faugn / Father Dagon by Bel-Shamharoth
• Nyogtha / Dunwich Horror by Cimmerz
• Shudde M'ell / Mother Hydra by Solan
• Rhan-Tegoth / Ghroth by Dead Bum Acquisition
• Cthugha / Mother Hydra by Solan
• Azathoth / Mother Hydra by awp832
• Nyogtha / Mother Hydra by Jenoolen
• Yig / Mother Hydra by Solan
• Zhar / King in Yellow by ArkhamRel
• Rhan-Tegoth / King in Yellow by Dam
• Cthulhu / Dagon & Hydra by dj
• Shub-Niggurath / Dagon & Hydra by flamethrower49
• Quachil Uttaus / Tulzscha by ArkhamRel
• Ghatanothoa / Father Dagon by Dam
• Yog-Sothoth / Mother Hydra by Solan

I thought only four new combos seemed a little light. Thanks Dam. I'll try to catch that mistake next time.

Hem: correct, rumors that you neither pass nor fail will not be entered into the stats in any way. I believe it says that on the submission form.

Ok thanks Dam & Tibs. We had a really pleasant game, tonight, it cheers me up ! Yig is easy...

A few questions, or at least thoughts reading at Tib's great work :

1) How come SKidds is one before last ?!?! Nobody played with him, I'm sure, because when you read his skill, you sure can be like "no way I'm using him, getting a 1 is so rare, like one chance out of 6, it will never happen !" but when you play the guy, you realize it actually fu***** works ! I love the dude ! 47th ?!?! Wake up, guys !!!

2) I'm amazed the most wining games are made with sealing gates, because it seems actually harder in our games to win by sealing than by closing... getting 6 seals, come on, there always is some gates or at least one gate that bursts... maybe it's because we use ALL the expansions...

3) Yeah, sorry for the 31 forfeits, we did contribue do these for sure because, you know, sometimes, it is like 1am, it s lasting for too long, you're sure to loose and all, hard to keep the players focused on such a game...

4) I hardly believe Bokrug is in the top 5 of dangerous AOs, because I think he's pretty easy.

5) How come Ghaugnar has 100% difficulty rate ? did just ONE guy play with him and lose ?

6) I'm not gonna mention anything about the heralds, because that would be hypocrit from me : we actually never played any, because I always thought it is already hard enough like that, so I always mentioned the heralds to other players, stating that we would NOT use any !

7) According to the stats, people have more chance to win without a guardian than helped by one.......................... weird, indeed.

8) Mandy first, obviously. I like that chick. But Skidds 47th, and Dexter 6th, I'm telling you, guys, there is something rotten in Arkham Kingdom ! Screw you guys, I'm going home !

9) Good night, folks !

Hem said:

Looking at the stat sheet, not so easy, game went to final combat . Yig is arguably the hardest for me to win against. Also, 3h for a Yig game, holy crap !

Hem said:

That's definately not my POV. With DH and IH added, there are 20 unstable locations possible, there always seems to be a gate or two open on another board that you can't reach in time before another gate opens. 6 sealing is IMO easier, even with a gate burst or two (though if you get 2, you'll need a lot more luck with the rest of the Mythos cards). Closing wins tend to require a) a lot of luck with the Mythos b) Find Gate or c) De Vermiis Mysteriis.

Hem said:

I've had Bokrug in one of each, first time round had crappy investigators (George, Norman and Vincent as 3 of the 4) and those Beings made life tough. Final combat was at -4 and a loss. Second time around was the biggest GOO molestation so far, 6 sealing with doom track at 2 of 12.

Hem said:

Chaugnar Faugn is 100% in final combat difficulty. A lot of it has to do with his attack and ability, attack being discard 1 Ally or 3 Clues each, ability that you can only remove 3 doomers per turn, so combat will go 4 rounds in most cases. That's 3 Allies or 9 Clues for each investigator. He also has a decent -4 modifier with Physical Immunity.

Hem said:

Note that you're looking at the number of games said investigator has been in. Dexter is from the base game, Skids from the latest expansion, of course DD will have a lot more games under his belt (hat?).

Good to see my 38-point epic game get some recognition. Man, that one was fun.

Thank you, Tibs. I worked hard for this "honor". Unfortunately, my rate has to slow down a bit, but I'll still be playing and submitting. Innsmouth has gutted my win percentage, too.

My random games seem to be tending towards brutality like Zhar/Dagon/Hydra, and that doesn't end up pretty. Indeed, I lost the last one when the DOR track filled up in the first two (2) turns. Nothing for it but to pick out the combos that need beating, or focusing my attention on beating Zhar or Rhan-Tegoth at all.

My current game, which I had to put on hold for a week because of life, seems to have slowed to a crushing crawl. Hastur extends our agony with gate bursts and threatens to wake up on DOR. A closing victory might have been possible... but my prospects are bleak since Mandy failed her story.

Tibs, I really think you should add "Victory by Departure" to your stats. Twice now we've won by that Sinister Plot when Bokrug had all four Beings of Ib on his sheet.

Solan said:

I've won that way once too. But it is still a final battle victory, making Bokrug that much easier to win against. Maybe I'll add a checkbox in the "Special Events" section, in the same way that I've added "Join Me!"

Hey Tibs, how about adding 'Homemade Characters' in the character list for us who maybe use homemade characters. Good idea?

Hey guys, back from holydays, some invests sessions on the stats reported, but forgot lot of them so had to do it from memory only... how is it going here on the forums ? My brother became fond of the game. I'm glad I'm making that game liked even amongst my family, not only friends. Cheers !

Hey Tibs,

Have a lookie me friend : http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tDF8gEjQy0YYKtGwW7qAkUw

Stuck columns do work !

Looks good. But I still can't figure out how to do it. If someone wants to fill me in on how it's done, I would be grateful.

Tibs said:

1. Open up your spreadsheet for editing

2. find the column of row numbers on the left hand side, and put the cursor over the cell with the number "1" in it.

3. Now move the cursor up until the cursor changes (probably from the standard pointer to a cross/compass direction) you're now hovering over the "Grip"

4. Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the Grip down one row.

Everything above that widget is now denoted as headers that don't scroll with the rest of the content.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, but it's not working. Apparently I have to publish a different version.

This version appears to be working:

Spreadsheet view

Unfortunately I can't change my original post to accommodate the new link address:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AliZyklaTCWzcGFQTWdvZW5jc1JwcHEzUEVZV1htUVE&hl=en

Everybody let me know if it works all right.

Have to say, I prefer the old one. Scrolling and browsing that new one is a pain. Will the old one still get added those sessions reported?