I'll preface my question by stating I like Kingsport. I like the mechanics it adds and the locations. Recently, one of the players I usually play Arkham horror with was put on Kingsport duty. By the end of the game he was very frustrated with encounters like "you stare off to sea, nothing happens" and "You fall asleep on a rock, you are delayed." After the game, he approached me and told me that he does not want to play the game again if the Kingsport expansion is included. Since then, several of my friends approached me and voiced their displeasure with the expansion. Their complaints were that it had no unstable locations and was kinda boring to visit, but ignoring it was a sure way of getting overwelmed. Like I said, I really enjoy the expansion but I don't want to have the only investigator to visit it. Any thoughts or advice to make kingsport "pop?"

Sebastian DuArgo said:

Heh heh heh... Well... Kingsport is quite boring (although I do think some of the Miskatonic encounters are an improvement). I will be putting out a herald meant to significantly enhance Kingsport play in the next week or month. So, keep your eyes open for that ;'D Veet's Basatan also makes it more fun, but mine's specifically designed to turn Kingsport into a monster churning Hell. I promise it will decrease player boredom there. If you want I can PM you the approximate structure before it's actually posted in herald form.

That is a constant complaint about Kingsport and why it rates as one of my least favorite expansions. I don't have a good solution, but I will throw in that if your entire group does not like it then I would just switch expansions. Sometimes you've just got to give in to the whim of the group dispite you individual feelings about a game. Maybe try Innsmouth, it far more dangerous but gives a good, strong sense of purpose and you get the personal story cards.

bioball said:

I know that is a bit lazy on my part.

Sebastian DuArgo said:

So don't. Remove the board (and by extension the encounters) and that's it! Don't bother removing the Kingsport spells or Common Items and keep the final battle option (which wasn't the source of your players grief) Whenever you draw a Kingsport related Mythos card (i.e. one which specifically uses a component only found in Kingsport, not one which comes with the Kignsport Expansion) assess it and remove it if necessary. After a couple of pays you'll have removed all the KP related cards and won't have had to go through the hassle of going through the cards yourself.

Yeah. I usually don't play the Kingsport board, mythos, or encounters, but I do play everything else from it.

I might post a new Kingsport herald here tonight... If I get around to it. I've been playing with the idea for a few months. I think it's adequately nasty now (and should make Kingsport a bit more deadly and exciting).

Yes, join us, anti-KH party FTW !

I agree that Kingsport "chase after closing rifts" mechanic makes for boring play in a multiplayer game. Solo, fine, have one character on that duty, but multiple player - who gets struck doing that? The encounters in Kingsport locations need to be more interesting, have some "rift sealed" possibilities or such to keep it interesting and worthwhile.

Other mechanics/elements from that boxed set, great and fine, but the board itself, yawn.

Rob

valvorik said:

?! What! Are you telling me it's not exciting to aimlessly wander between buildings, washing dishes with authentic Kingsport riverwater perhaps? Oh no! You lost one sanity point. What?! You were delayed! That means you're going to have to have another boring encounter in the same space next turn! Huh? I drew a nothing happens? But nothing was already happening! Why cruel fate! Why do you mock me!

...

Cough. Say Kingsport three times and you will cause Dam to appear ;'D

Sebastian DuArgo said:

A really easy method is having one monster appear at Strange High House every turn. This will make it so that the locations are defended and you can't just easily prevent the rifts from opening.

You can also incentivize getting Changed by making the above effect stop once an investigator is changed (to get up there through the monsters, would require two investigators to go simultaneously, or a house rule allowing combat with monsters in Kingsport Head locations to not end movement).

Making Kingsport a clue-generating engine (even if costly) from encounters and clue placement on mythos cards would help - the character who toots about there builds up lots of clues and then goes off to close gates and be successful from what they learned (while someone else comes in to carry the dishwater for a while).

3000th post, whooo!

Errr. Whoops. Got an idea a few minutes ago, thought it was worth including. So, sorry about the second post...

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/The-Things-in-the-Rift1.png

That would certainly help. Next game I am adding this herald. Tell you how it plays.

Sebastian DuArgo said:

Slightly modified version for clarity, doesn't play any differently though. Enjoy :'D Just remember, that while it will spice up a Kingsport game, to really see this thing go crazy, you need to use Azathoth :'D gates surging every turn, an avalanching army of death from monster mountain! Looking forward to hearing your game report. Good luck.

Finally!! I'm glad you did it :-) Now, let me criticize a little the picture... ::laughter::

Julia said:

::tears out hair::

Sebastian,

Here's what I do for my games ~ embedded within, you'll see what I do for Kingsport...

Currently, I use the Base Game AH + every expansion except Innsmouth Horror (IH), though my games do include an an element from the expansion.

Regarding the expansions, there are two exceptions to the "all in" concept. First, I use only the Personal Stories from IH (actually borrowed from a friend). Second, from the revised Curse of the Dark Pharaoh (CotDP), I've added some elements (use both the original and revised elements), retained (original version) other elements, or replaced other elements.

Added: Exhibit Items (for a total of 44), Spells (for a CotDP total of 42), Arkham Encounter Cards, Other World Encounter Cards, Ancient Whispers Marker, and Patrol Markers;
Retained: Allies (preferring the original Allies over the revised version) and Benefits and Detriments Cards; and
Replaced: Mythos Cards

Now, in addition to the aforementioned expansion exceptions, I don't play the game by strict canon, either. I'm looking for a challenging game, not one that will always end in a loss if I pull the wrong Rumor card, or wreak havoc due to ill-defined rules (Kingsport Rifts opening in Dunwich, causing monsters to be hurled into vortices). Thus, these are my three basic rules:

1. Randomly select four (4) Investigators and the GOO
2. Treat all "# of Investigator effects" other than Final Combat as "2" (3 boards: Arkham, Dunwich, and Kingsport)
a. Maximum Gates Open: 8 (awakens GOO)
b. Monster Surge: Place # of Monsters = to the greater # of Gates or Investigators
c. Maximum # of Monsters In Arkham: 5 (2 + 3)
d. Maximum # of Monsters In Outskirts: 6
e. Rumors: Place 'x' items, where 'x' = 2 Investigators
3. Place a Rift Progress Marker on the Rift Track only when a Gate opens (including Gate Bursts), but not Monster Surges, with a Rift opening in Kingsport based on the last placed Rift Progress Marker on the Rift Track

Hope that helps

There's no reason to take out the stuff that isn't the board. Just pull out the Gate cards and then the Mythos cards that reference Kingsport. Oh, and the allies.

The Epic Battle deck is a must-have.

Have you tried playing where you ignore Kingsport until there's a danger of a rift opening? Assigning a single investigator to "Kingsport duty" is not fun for that investigator and is far from efficient. Only send someone there when a track is one space away from opening. Maybe it will open, and then you may have to send multiple people there to scramble to re-close it!

I play a simple variant where a rift opens on the location depicted on the fourth rift progress marker. This means that to close a rift, the investigators may have to wade through monsters that will begin to pile up in Kingsport.

I understand why people like Kingsport less than Dunwich or Innsmouth, but I don't understand the hate. Sure, it adds no unstable locations—but then it's identical to the base board only in that aspect. There's nothing wrong with that!

Seriously. Don't assign an all-game Kingsport investigator, and don't ignore it forever. Tension makes this game great, and an appropriately (but not fully) ignored Kingsport will add tension without adding unwarranted difficulty.

Ignore Dam. He dislikes Kingsport without even trying it.

Tibs said:

Sure there is tension. Nobody's in Kingsport, and a track reaches 3.

"We should send someone up there."

But Z can't make it! He's too far away!

Y doesn't have the money to travel.

X has only one dollar, so he might not be coming back.

W has to head off the monsters in Dunwich to keep the DH track from filling.

V has to sneak past a couple risky monsters to get there.

U is close, but he's the only one with enough clues at the moment to go for a seal!

"Maybe we can leave it just one more turn ?"

Thus, tension.

If you have Shudde Melle you can also add the Shudde Melle tokens to the Kingsport mix. Now most of the rifts turn up in KP, but occasionally they turn up in Arkham. this makes the "only deal with KP when it's a threat" a little more bearable.

Tibs said:

::Facepalm:: that's not much tension. One turn the entire game, maybe. ;') And the odds of the deadly symbol popping up are only about 16% eeeehhhhhh.

Jake yet again said: