Hi all!

After some months of play of the basic game, me and my cultists we are eager to start to add the expansions.

First of all I have to precise that we already own all of them, we felt in love with this cruel game at first sight and we did a serious purchase campaign whenever we found a box available at a nice price.

Resisting the suicidal foolness of adding in everything in one shot we planned to put in the expansions one at a time roughly following the publication order, then play some games to familiarize with mechanics and difficulty and then adding the next one.

So:

1)CotDP (r.e.), 2) DH, 3)KiY, 4) KH, 5) BG, 6) IH, 7) LatT.

Even with this "slow" roadmap we wonder if it will be better to add one expansion, try it, then remove it before adding the next, or if it will be fine (which is what we would like to do) to simply add one after the other letting the game grow more and more.

There's also a side doubt about MH: is it better to integrate each expansion with the MH related stuff from when we introduce that exp (our intended choice) or to add MH as a whole when we're already at ease with the "base" expansion? I looked at the cards from MH and it seems to me that they just add variety to each expansion remaining true to the complexity and challenge added by it....

Thank you in advance for any answer and suggestion that will come!!!

Most definitely remove one expansion before adding another. It's important to be familiar with the mechanics and theme of each.

Though, I would recommend a different order. In fact, I actually constructed a series of scenarios for EXACTLY your situation:

Introductory and expansion scenarios

Every expansion has its own flavour and its own challenge, and different combinations can give you a completely different Arkham experience. My suggestion is to play some games without mixing expansions. Just the core game and one expansion at the time. Just to get into them. And then you can start mixing things a little more. Some players here tends to play one big + one small expansion together, others prefer the complete Arkham experience, with everything mixed in. It strongly depends on what you want from the game, the way you live it (pure strategy? then go with everything mixed in, it's the greatest challenge. like exploring locations and losing some time searching for cool and strange stuff around the neighbouring cities? then one (or two, if the second one is Kingsport) expansion boards + one or two small expansions), how good you're at playing the game (some expansions - read IH and MH - boost a lot the difficulty of the game, and losing all the bloody times can be frustrating).

As for your MH question... it's a good one. I personally have started everything again. At the moment, I'm playing only AH + MH games; in a couple of weeks (when I finally will have a bigger table at home), I'll add the Dunwich board and the MH-Dunwich components, and so on, just to taste every bit of the latest (hopefully not last) expansion

Hope this helps!

JULIA

Thank you both for the quick answer...

I had the feeling that add too much stuff too fast was excessive...

I've already downloaded the scenarios and I'll use it in the next ten games (it will take some time to complete all of them, unluckily we meet quite seldom to play) as a campaign... My tentacled cultists will love the idea of a campaign!

I really appreciated your point Julia, that you must tailor your AH experience on your personal playing taste... We (me and my gaming party) have this childish tentation to add up everything and create a dhole-size game as fast as possible to celebrate the old time CoC p&p rpg glories, but it is better to taste well everything (like good food) from the start... Is it true that adding or removing cards from a deck it's not an hard job, but the risk (and from that the reason to ask to expereinced people) is to deplete the fun and the first feeling (which is always important!) of something new...

So, we need to learn and experiment... but thanks to Tibs'nice job we have a excellent starting point... Like a saddled byakhee (you're an hastur fan, right?) and a big keg of space mead!!!

Just one question about the scenarios Tibs: I looked quickly to the setups and a question jumped up: when you say to include all mosters except those listed you mean to include also the masks? I would say no (except in scenario 2) considering the attention you gave to the thematic aspect in monster selection...

Just to avoid to get off topic or ask you already answered question, do you already have a thread on this scenarios?

Thank you both again very much!

Byga said:

::smiling:: Don't worry, I succumbed to this tentation quite often in my life, so I get perfectly your point! And if I had to start now playing Arkham... well, it'd not be that simple adding one expansion at the time. But yeah, if you can, tame your time and enjoy the glorious path toward utter insanity, ehm, knowledge. Tibs' Scenarios are something really *good* to start with. I played some of them to introduce some friends to Arkham, and they were all delighted by the theme and the way things get more an more complicated during the way.

And if you hae any questions or doubts, feel free to come here and post ;-) this community is like a big family.

Julia said:

A big cannibal family ;'D we got big by eating the other members.

Hmmm... I think that playing the expansions in order of their publication with the Miskatonic stuff mixed into them from the start would be a really good idea. Once you master each of the enhanced expansions individually :') come back for some advice. (I'm tempted to say leave in the Madness and Injury cards, and monsters, but really the most fun thing to do with the monsters is if you are playing a big box expansion, use the base monsters, the new monsters, and trim other stuff for thematic suitability, ask for advice prior to a game here and I'm sure it'll be given).

Avi: I would make a particular reference here, but I suppose it would qualify as a spoiler.

It already happened to me in the last months to ask some questions on the forum and I've always had quick and nice answers, so I had already a glimpse of the family...

But after all Cthulhu, Hastur, Gathanathoa (just to say three) they all belong to a big family... Not to speak of Cthylla waiting in the tower for Prince Charming to rescue her... or was that another tale?

I hope to start with exps very soon, now I'm even more excited then before, BUT I must walk slowly on the spiraling stair towards insanity ;-)

What is the spoiler (if it's a speakable one) you're talking about, Walk?

Walk said:

What the... Dam it! I hate enigmatic statements. Now I'm going to spend the rest of my day curious about the secret unspoken spoiler.

This...is an interesing matter. I'm actually referencing something Avi said, which serves as the twist ending to a Lovecraft story. If I said which, it would be spoiling that story. For those who do not care about me spoiling...a Lovecraft story (and you should), I discuss it below. Avert your eyes as necessary.

Really? You don't care? Alright. I was responding to Avi's "big cannibal family" comment. In Lovecraft's "The Lurking Fear," the protagonist is investigating accounts of a terrible creature(s) originating from an abandoned mansion on a mountain. In the end, it's revealed that the Martense family, who lived in the mansion, have, for inadequately explored reasons, degenerated into savage, bestial cannibals who spend their time roaming the mountain and randomly attacking people. When the protagonist finally sees the horde of degenerate Martenses, one of them randomly decides to snack on another.

While I'm throwing around "The Lurking Fear" spoilers, I'd better mention one of my favorite moments in any Lovecraft story for sheer absurdity/hilarity/shock. The protagonist, his fellow investigator, and several locals are holed up in a cabin during a rainstorm, hoping to catch a glimpse of the monster(s). The other investigator (I can't remember his name) wanders over to the window and looks out. Nothing untoward happens, and everyone just lingers uneasily in the cabin, with the fellow I mentioned staying at the window. Eventually, the storm ends, and the protagonist goes to talk to his friend. The latter doesn't respond, and, upon investigation, the protagonist discovers that his face has been eaten!!!!

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, "conditional" monsters like Masks and Spawns are left out unless called for by specific AOs and such. Just what you would consider a "normal" monster bag. This of course has your players experiencing many expansion monsters right from the get-go, and some base-game monsters are only seen in a few scenarios. But, it was in the interest of theme.

And, yes, I'm a Hastur fan. Can't wait to see what Arkham Nights has done to him.

Welcome to Lost Carcosa. The first rule of the Unspeakable One is: you do not speak about the Unspeakable One. The second rule of the Unspeakable One is: you DO NOT speak about the Unspeakable One!

Tibs, your scenario compilation is amazing! I am a sucker for thematic gameplay and often tailor my games in a similar vein to what you've described, but you've gone a step beyond in terms of detail and tweaking. Replacing Yuggoth for Lost Carcosa for the King in Yellow scenario is inspired, something I wouldn't have considered.

I'm a bit surprised that something like this hasn't been officially made by FFG to be honest, given the amount of narrative and roleplay this game can invoke.

Treguard said:

You're entering in a shadowy realm by saying this, you know... The list of things FFG could have done (and didn't) is rather long. But on the other hand I have to say that they're working on so many projects that probably AH received all the attention they could give to it