So I'm having a little bit of a problem with my playing group.

When I first started Arkham, we were playing with the Base Set and they seemed to really enjoy the game. We didn't win much but we had some fun and played it pretty regularly.

Recently I decided to purchase the Innsmouth Expansion. Now we're losing a lot and the games go on longer than usual. Most of the time I feel like I'm the only one who's interest has been kept. We've been playing a lot though, so maybe I'm just burning everybody out.

How do I just make it more fun, I guess? I imagine this problem of mine is one others have also experienced.

Hehe, you didn't win much with just base game and then added IH ?

try Kingsport instead, Innsmouth is brutal. Assuming the fun you need is in more wins. If its not, what would make it more fun for you? If its shorter games you need, ditch IH and stick to the plot - no faffing about after rrumours, shopping or monster hunting - just sweep for clues, hit the gates, max out on sneak so you evade monsters and pray for good mythos. If a nasty rumour hits or some other situation develops that distracts you, soak it up.

On the other hand, maybe thats the problem - speed Arkham can get repetitive and dull. If you dont mind losing, as time is your most crucial resource after clues, explore the town, especially the places you might have so far ignored.

Other than that, I can only suggest a break.

dj2.0 said:

If you can only get fun out of Arkham Horror by winning, you need to play a different game.

Jedit said:

Granted, but getting slaughtered every game with absolutely no chance of winning gets old quickly; that's why my playgroup stopped using the Father Dagon Herald.

The Innsmouth expansion adds the most difficulty to the game of any expansion, and so should be one of the last expansions you get. If you're having trouble winning the base game there is no way you should be adding on Innsmouth. My advice is to take it out ASAP and if you feel you have to add another expansion before you've mastered basic Arkham, add one of the small boxes, like Curse of the Dark Pharoah.

There's still a lot to get out of Innsmouth, of course; you can still use the Personal Stories, and the IH investigators should even make things easier, just stay away from the board itself (and probably the AOs) until you've mastered the base set

Since Innsmouth is the hardest expansion, and it adds an extra board, it may have been too big of a jump. Do a small-box instead. I highly recommend the new Dark Pharaoh.

Dam said:

Yeah, I'm afraid Dr. Dam has diagnosed your problem right there. You need to take Innsmouth out until you guys actually understand how the base game works. You should be winning at it 100% of the time.

The other contributions are also valid... Although personally, I'd trim it *all* out until you guys master the base game, it sounds like you're already having too much trouble with the complexity. Maybe leave in the monsters, at most. Tib's suggestion about adding CotDP isn't bad though... The double doom will add to the tension when you're have a partial understanding of the game.

Me and my gaming troupe grew weary of Arkham Horror too, so we stablished some house rules to fix it :

1- Pick investigators (before drawing the Ancient One), so nobody gets frustated from the very start.

2- Allow every player to discard his whole set of starting cards drawing a new set (only once).

3- Allow all players to trade Skill cards among them as they see fit, effectively pooling Skills before starting the game (and only then).

4- Play with the optional rules (Kevin sanctioned!): Face-up gates and allow investigators to have encounters in locations with open gates.

If this is not enough I would use the following house rules:

1- Allow Investigators to trade items in any phase, so the game is more dynamic and teamplay is more immediate.

2- Allow multiple expenditures of trophies in a single Arkham Encounter phase (like spending 3 gate trophies in a single action to bless 3 investigators).

3- Avoid Heralds and Guardians, since they greatly restrict gameplay and can add an awful amount of book keeping.

4- Ask for a volunteer to direct gameplay without playing himself as an investigator (yes, that means you).

5- Stop playing AH for a while, spend some time in rehab.

These house rules prevent frustation without being too unbalancing. The key to make the game more enjoyable is involvement though, and for that you need some sense of continuity to keep players hooked. There are several ways to give this "ongoing campaing" effect, the easiest being: Keep the defeated Ancient Ones aside and keep devoured investigators aside too, so those defeated AO or killed investigators are not drawn again; If you lose a game, then put the AO and investigators back in place and try again. If you run out of investigators you are busted and begin a new campaing, and if you run out of AO then... well, you just owned the game big time (never did it myself). We keep the defeated AO sheets displayed just like trophies in our gaming place, and the devoured investigator markers too as remembrance to the fallen. This simple gamestyle works like a charm on bored players, and took my troupe from boredom to an Arkham Horror gaming frenzy.

The jewell of the crown is my own complete Campaing System with custom Victory Cards, currently being polished with my gaming buddies. An experience system really motivates players, because without it all games end up the same, no matter if you win or lose: everything goes back in the box; with experience and campaing rules a victory becomes a powerfull stimuli to play again, mounting the interest of the players. I will post it when it's finnished.

Hope this helps.

one of the big turn-offs can be that you get a lousy investigator (i'm looking at you, dexter). We have a rule (in two versions) that prevents this, without letting everyone just pick their characters; as this would lead to every game being mark harrigan, wilson richards and daisy..

when we're 3 or fewer players , the selection is called " Chose one of three randomly selected, or pick an unknown fourth ".

this means everyone get three characters to choose from, if you're not happy with your three, you can pick a completely randomly selected fourth. for good or bad.

when we're 4 or more players , the rule instead changes to " Chose one of two randomly selected, or pick an unknown third ".

this selection of course goes before selecting the ancient one, either completely randomly or semi-randomly (like "let's play one we haven't defeated" or "let's play one we haven't played the last 10 games..")

i highly recommend trying this selection, as it brings much more joy when you're playing an investigator you (kind of) chose, without it going stale with everyone always playing their favorite characters.

You might have to 'nerf' Innsmouth to get into the story....and there IS a lot of story buried there, if the game goes on for a while. Win or lose, the best games I've played were with Innsmouth as the only expansion- but only when there was a fighting chance against it.

One way I 'nerf' it is to "stabilize" 2-3 unstable locations on the Arkham board- none of the major ones (such as the Woods or Witch House) but some of the less active ones like Silver Twilight Lodge or Hibbs Roadhouse. By "stabilize" I mean you skip the Mythos card that shows that location and draw another (or remove them from the deck in the first place if you're not lazy like me) This also moves more of the action to the expansion board. I think 15 unstable locations is too much for 1-3 Investigators to manage.

I also devised a crappy-looking set of 7 cards (I call them my "control deck" but should probably call them "breathing space") that you draw before the Mythos card- one lets you skip the Gate opening, another skips monster movement, the rest are normal. You reshuffle every 4 turns- this works really well, you never know when you're going to get a lucky break- but I still end up with VERY close games.

Other than that, the best Innsmouth Old One to play against at first is Bokrug cause you actually have a chance of beating him in combat (IF you remove his Beings of Ib....)

Fake Ghost Pirate said:

Even with all the Beings of Ib there is a chance if you use the Epic Battle Cards!

Yes, Bokrug is NASTY with all of his beings. He's definitely the hardest combat, aside from Azathoth of course.

Though, I have won once via "Departed" when up against him with all four beings. It's thematic, though, if you've ever read "The Doom That Came to Sarnath."

Tibs: Uh...at the risk of seeming oblivious, I've read "The Doom that Came to Sarnath," and I'm not quite sure how The Departure is thematic. Could you explain?

Arkham isn't Sarnath.

Tibs said:

::Laugther::

They both have "A"s and apes in them. It's understandable that Bokrug would get confused. All the hairless pink monkeys look rather similar to him.

Put on some ritzy 1920's tunes in the background and proceed to use low-level hypnosis to "suggest" a greater liking for the game. If that doesn't work, well, you can always turn to occult means...or hard liquor.

I'm interested in that system you are working on for your players. I'll be watching for you to post it.

we removed most possibilities to get devoured because it's more fun to us this way.

and/or play without martial law. that takes away from the theme, but it makes it easier, removes annoying moments and speeds up the game.