Ok, so I mortgaged the house and bought all of the expansions. Needless to say I haven't even attempted to integrate them yet but a couple of questions have arisen.

First: Does anyone know how the expansions are intended to be integrated? Is it one big box and one small box per game, any combination, or throw everything in together and watch the dust settle. Or is it just users choice?

Second: In the Curse of the Dark Pharoah expansion there are patrols that roam certain streets. While the rules specifically mention the patrols being removed from the board if the terror level rises, what happens if a monster happens to roll through a patrolled street. It would seem that the otherworldly monsters and very human patrol would have some kind of interaction, not just say 'Hey, 'sup?' and move on. Thoughts?

Thanks!

Officially there is no intent. Each expansion before Miskatonic was designed without any of the others in mind, so occasionally there are weird consequences of mixing expansions. But Miskatonic was designed to allow integration, for the most part, without dilution being a big problem.

Just play as you're comfortable. But if you haven't used any of them yet, you might want to take a look at this document I designed that helps introduce you to each expansion. Don't jump in playing everything together, and never show new players any expansions.

Second, I believe the rules cover this, but patrols do not interact with monsters or vice-versa. Feel free to house-rule it if you'd like.

Tibs is correct on both counts, but I would add that my personal favorite is throwing all the expansions in at once. It can be difficult to manage, but it's a blast. And you should definitely use non-board related mechanics (like personal stories and injuries/madnesses) all the time.

I actually agree with Walk's accounts: I prefer all-expansion games, and I prefer games with other people, but as you can see from the linked document, players will have to survive a sequence of 10 games in order to get to the level I play at.

Additionally, though I said not to use any expansion on new players, I always recommend Injury/Madness, Epic Battle, Personal Stories, and Relationships. Additionally, expansion investigators (for the most part) should not be off-limits. And I do like to include some expansion monsters as well.

Tibs said:

You should make them fight your seven evil exes. Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Shub, etc.

Thanks for the input!

What I've ended up doing is just integrating Every **** Thing with few exceptions. I keep the King In Yellow stuff separate (cause it's my favorite for theme games), and of course, keep the Expansion Boards separate.

When teaching new people the game, as long as you avoid any Heralds, Guardians, Act Cards, the Ancient Whispers marker ect, you shouldn't have much trouble with anything remaining - (The Cult is the only thing that might be slightly trying, and you can advise new players not to join it). Most of the integrated stuff is just encounters (which are the same), mythos cards (gate bursts are trying, but manageable) and items et. all, and the special stuff - Injury/Madness and Relationships, shouldn't bother a new person (AND THANK GOD FOR INJURY AND MADNESS CARDS. Just got my Dunwich Today - so happy for those).

So, there you go!

I think once all is said and done, I can get the entirity of Arkham Horror into 3 of the big boxes - 2 for the main game, and one for the board expansions. Very happy about that prospect.

Avi_dreader said:

::rofl::