I must be doing something wrong because I have been having a difficult time making this game work. After reading that this game is really easy, I want to ask everyone to point out what I must be doing wrong since I am not having any success.

I am finding that completing tasks is very difficult. I tried playing tonight with the Drifter (and his sidekick "Duke"). The pattern was like this....

Roll 6 dice, no task completed, take away one dice, roll again, maybe a task is completed, roll 4 dice, fail second task, try again, fail, lose another dice, fail that task, lose sanity point, try again, fail, lose a dice, fail, lose a dice, fail, lose another sanity point, All the time the clock is moving and my sanity is losening.

Sometimes I get lucky and I can complete one of the easier "quests". However, It is daunting that I will probably need to complete dozens so that I can get enough elder signs to be able to defeat the monster. I didn't get any of the special red or yellow dice which probably would have helped alot.

I was stunned to hear that this game was easy. I thought that LOTR was hard but atleast you can add players to make it easier. This seems like a constant tick down to insanity or death.

Another question. I tried playing once before but seemed to be buring through investigators quite rapidly. Is that the point or is it common to have the same crew of investigators complete the adventure together.

Once again, any help forthcoming would be appreciated. The game looks good but I feel my sanity declining the more I try to play.

It appears to me that you may be missing 'focusing' as you didn't mention it. You can place 1 of your rolled dice onto your character token at the adventure you are attempting, even if you didn't make a complete roll at that time. This die can be added to a future roll to help you get the required symbols. In solo play, it helps to start with a character that has Spells/items as these aid greatly in getting the correct rolls. Remember that Spell saved dice can be used at any adventure in the future until used. Once you get a few of the simpler adventures won, the gains help you get the more difficult but more rewarding ones later. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Thanks for the post. Focusing was something that I was not using on a regular basis. If I understand correctly, I roll the dice, keep one that I want, then throw one away and roll the remainder. That will probably increase my odds a great deal.

It makes sense to add yellow and red dice, and spells. Trying to finish these tasks with the 6 green dice can be brutal.

One more question, lets say that I finish a task, and fail the next task. If I come back to that adventure after losing sanity and advancing the clock do I start over again from scratch or does that task stay solved and I can tackle the 2nd task with a full dice pool?

You start from scratch.

What strategies would be good to Solo? Which investigator is best? Which Old One is easiest to overcome? What tactics should I use to make the game a smooth one so I can really get into the game.

Thanks.

I've found that, except for very easy adventures, you should pretty much always have some kind of resource to help you (red or yellow die, spell, or clue). If you don't, don't be afraid to cash in some trophies to get one. The pattern I tend to get into is to use one of these resources to complete an adventure, then use the resource I get from winning that adventure to win the next, and so on. If something goes wrong and I end up with no resources and no very easy adventures, I swing by the Entrance.

Oh, one more thing about strategy that I didn't catch on to for a while: always check the penalties for failing an adventure. If it's only losing a small amount of Sanity/Stamina, you can afford to take risks, but otherwise, be more careful. As a general rule, never attempt an adventure with a doom token as the penalty for failure unless you have a very good chance of success or you absolutely must.

Thanks Walk, I found that trying to complete quests with only the 6 green dice is diffcult. I will try with an investigator that starts with some good items. Any suggestions?

peterstepon said:

I'd go with Amanda Sharpe, she can get two of any item from the common item, unique item or spell decks in any combination of the three, plus, instead of completeing one task at a time like everyone else at an adventure, her special ability allows her to complete any number of tasks on the adventure, provided she succeeded at more than one task.

Currently, my personal favorite is Jenny. It's very, very easy to use the pattern I described in order to have the yellow and red dice on every single adventure (provided luck is with you, of course).

I adore Amanda...it's really irritating sometimes with other investigators to roll multiple successes and end up only able to use one, but with Amanda you can potentially clear a whole adventure with a single roll, which is just really cool when it happens.

I was able to win thanks to all the support on this board. I played with Jenny and realized quite quickly that her special ability gave a HUGE advantage. Once I realized that I could exchange clue tokens for the extra yellow and red dice I was laughing. Now, the game was close and I was able to seal the door to Hashur's arrival with only one free space on the doom track left. In addition, it was because an adventure card turned over with a prize of 2 Elder Signs that secured my victory.

Because the game was so close, I would like to try again. Having the yellow and red dice offered a tremendous advantage. Hashur was particularly irksome because it ment every time I went to an other world adventure the doom counter ticked one step closer to armageddon. I thought I may have had a chance to beat the old one but didn't want to find out.

Overall, I get the impression that the Old one in play will affect the game greatly. A relatively weak old one with a short doom track and a smaller Elder Sign requirement will lead to a quicker game. I also imagine that the weaker old ones make it more possible for the investigators to fight them directly.

Now I realize the root of the problem. I was playing the game with Ashcan Pete who is the weakest player in the game. Referring to an excellent thread on this board by a player who played and recorded many games, Ashcan Pete could not win a single adventure.. He is a good person to play to people who believe that the game is too easy.

I just got the game and love it!!! It is very cooool. I am still learning, but I try to knock out the easy adventure cards first or cards that have the elder sign that aren't too difficult, until I have enough clue, spell and items to help me with the harder adventure cards.

Sdrolion said:

I did that once with Amanda at R'lyeh! Wow, was I pumped!

Rashley said:

Just remember you can only focus if you fail a task.