Hey Just wanted to create another thread for house rules. Always found others house rules to be pretty cool so thought I'd post some of my own.

Usually deal three random investigators to each player after the GOO is picked so they can pick the one best suited to fight that ancient while still having enough randomness to prevent the same investigators being picked against the same ancient.

Play portals face down and only reveal them once someone has entered it. When closing/sealing a gate any monsters on the same space as the gate get removed from the board regardless of their dimensional symbol. Also two monsters are placed on the first open gate. Most of these were actually from KW's house rules.

For locations with special encounters such as the general store or the science building even if you're using the special encounter you get a normal encounter as well. Implemented this one because it seemed like those encounter cards were never drawn. So if you go to the general store to shop before you draw three items you draw a location card and have the encounter shown and if this doesn't remove you from the general store you can shop afterwards. However if you've been at the location for more than one turn you can skip the encounter and go straight to the location's ability.

For the bank we also added that you can drop off money and items there for other investigators to pick up. Also if you receive a salary through a retainer or if you're the sheriff when you're in an other world your money is sent to the bank. Anything there can be picked up by just moving to the bank as well, no encounter is required, and movement doesn't need to end just like when trading items or money with another investigator.

Lastly I saw this on a forum post on the Black Goat of the Woods expansion and I though it was a really cool rule. Any Investigator in the one of thousand cult has hexagon monsters become elusive to them.

As a last note I had a question about some of the lore. With some heralds/boards its pretty obvious whos associated with who (ex. Nyarlathotep-The Dark Pharoah, Hastur- The Tattered King, Yog-Sothoth-Dunwich.) For Tulzscha and Kingsport is there any particular ancient one associated with them? I couldn't find alot on Tulzscha other then being in the court of Azathoth, but Ghroth already serves as a really good herald for games with Azathoth. As for Kingsport I suppose the rifts could tie in with Atlach Nacha's web between worlds, but I haven't found any real definite tie between the town and a particular ancient one such as how Yog-Sothoth is tied in with Dunwich and Cthulhu is with Innsmouth.

arachnidshadow9 said:

Offers WAY too much choice for the players. Around here you get 1 random investigator (of course, when playing 2 players, both get 2 and solo I draw 4) and that's it, no choosing. Also, GOO gets drawn AFTER investigators, as per the set up sequence in the rules. Otherwise an already easy game gets even easier AND certain investigator won't see action ever.

Interesting I think i will cut down on investigators dealt to players.

We just deal out two investigators to each player for them to choose between before we pick the Ancient One. Sometimes this changes, if we decide we need to fight somebody because we haven't fought them in forever, or we want to play a specific character for whatever reason. Sometimes we are pickier than that, though. One on our team has a predilection for spellcasters, and another just loves fighting. Yet another adores money. I'm really good with whatever.

We normally let the players pick which investigator they pick with a lot of influence put on playing one you haven't played before. After that we narrow the selection of GOO's down to 6 (or sometimes before investigators, whenever really) that fit our current mood (if we want an "easy" game, a hard one, etc.). Then we roll a die and pick the GOO that corresponds. I don't like mixing Heralds with GOOs that aren't supposed to be matched up (fluff wise) so if we play Hastur, Yog, Nyarlathotep, Shub, etc. we play with the corresponding Herald. There is a big of leway given to The Green Flame and Ghroth. If we are playing with a lot of inexperienced players we may use a Guardian to make things easier (if needed).

In my group, we always use the house rule of playing gate markers face-down. In addition, we usllay pick our investigators manually before randomly choosing the GOO. As for a herald or guardian, we roll 1d6 for each. 1-3 is a no, and 4-6 is a yes. If it's a yes, we randomly determine the herlad or guardian. We like the feel of randomness this creates, while allowing for a sense of (perhaps false) security in being able to pick our favorite investigator.

We use a lot of the house rules that have already been mentioned but the one I don't ever see mentioned is the use of more than one Environment Mythos Card at the same time. We only replace Environment cards with the same Environment (ie Weather for Weather and Mystic for Mystic etc).

This can be a benefit at times but most of the time it makes the game even harder (which is why we do it). We just feel it makes more sense.

I random everything...GOO, investigators, Heralds and Guardians... I only add guardians cause I love content, and If I have it...why not use it ?! ...Plus...we all seem to igonore bast so far...and nodens was just good for the +1 on the outskirts, cause his bless was lost in 2 turns...lol.

Also gates on the others side are BAD...again I state the obvious:

a) Gates don't suck you in anymore.

b) Makes the white ship useless cause you don't know if you can get out or not.

c) Makes some missions impossible.

At the beginning of any phase, if you're standing on a Clue Token, you can take it. (I didn't think this was a House Rule, but apparently it was.) All this really does is allow players to grab Clues if they are relocated during the Arkham Encounter Phase or if they return from LiTaS to a location with a Clue. (If you think that's a game-breaker, then I am simply not hardcore enough for you.)

Allies are dealt into two decks: the Ally Deck (the 11 Allies dealt out for Ma's) and the Citizen Deck (everyone else "living" in Arkham). If an Encounter names a specific Ally, you may search both decks for it; if you take it from the Citizen Deck, it switches decks to become an Ally, and you must take 1 card from the Ally Deck and place it in the Citizen Deck. Ma's Encounters (or any "random" Ally) must be selected or drawn from the Ally Deck. When the Terror Track increases, return 1 Ally and 2 Citizens to the box (at least until some expansion adds more Allies). Charlie may only recover cards from...uh... ...never mind.

If playing with Corruption Cards but not the Black Goat Herald, after defeating any Hexagon Monster, draw a Corruption Card.

Rift Variant: use Shudde M'ell's Rubble Tokens (if not being used) as Rift Progress Markers.

The Ancient One is selected face down. For three turns, the unknown Ancient One is not in play. No Gates are played (unless Luke is in play, in which case the pre-game Gate is placed and a Doom Token placed on the AO's back), but Monsters are placed as if a Gate were opened. For those three turns, the Monster Cup consists of all Crescent Monsters, Witches, Warlocks, Ghouls, Children of the Goat, Mi-Go, Byakhee, Wizard Whateley, the Ghast, the Dark Druid, and the High Priest (if being used at all). Before starting Turn 4, flip Ancient One over (now fully active), add the rest of the Monsters being used to the Cup, make any necessary adjustments (Cthulhu, etc.), and begin normal play.

It only costs a dollar to gain a Bast Token, and if the First Player cannot become the Beloved of Bast, the next clockwise player with a Bast Token gets those cards. (Still doesn't work, though...everyone's gone sour on Bast.)

One can "ride the train" (switch boards) without spending money by starting their Movement Phase on the Train Station or any Depot and spending all their movement points instead.

A house rule I sometimes use: Before each round of combat roll a die, on a roll of 1 the moster does it's damage first.

This can make things a lot harder, but it also keeps the weeker monsters like Cultists and Zombies from being treated like Star Wars storm troopers.

arachnidshadow9 said:

I love this one! I don't think I've seen a single event of the spell shop yet, and only 2-3 of the others. Looking forward to giving this a shot, thanks a lot.

crimson said:

Hmm. How about making things a little more risky by reversing the order: handle the the encounter and then, if you are still in the location afterwards, use the special ability. So yes, you can get two "good" things in one turn, but there is also the chance you will get moved to the street / encounter a monster/ etc.

We play with a house rule which considerably increases the difficulty of the game. No investigator except Rita Young may take an Injury or Madness card when reduced to 0 Stamina or Sanity; instead they must lose half their items and clues.

ricedwlit said:

I tacitly assumed that's how it would work, yes.

ricedwlit said:

Yea that's how I had been using the rule and it usually works out pretty well, most of the time the encounter is something positive like a spell but other times the clerks out on their lunch break.

arachnidshadow9 said:

I tried it that way for a while, but I think it tends to make the game too easy. Just as an example, at the Curiositie Shop a lot of the time you can get two sales per turn. I still draw encounter cards for locations with special encounters. But to keep things from being too easy, I marked a lot of the encounters with a "-", meaning that the encounter card replaces the special encounter, or a "=", meaning that the investigator chooses between the encounter card and the special encounter.

Encounters with a "-" (the encounter card replaces the special encounter): the store is closed, there is a sale at the Curiositie Shop, or inconvenient things that you have no choice over, like falling asleep at the hospital or having a stick-up at the bank.

Encounters with a "=" (the investigator chooses between the encounter card and the special encounter): special treatments at the hospital/asylum, special offers at the shops (like taking a cursed item of your choice at the Curiositie Shop), or encounters where you can choose to get involved or not, like helping with a fire at the Science Building or volunteering for art therapy at the Asylum.

Other encounter cards are pretty simple, like finding a $1 or seeing a creepy guy from Innsmouth. They take place in addition to the special encounter.

Also, there's lots of encounter cards for the hospital and the asylum that assume that you are snooping in restricted areas. I marked those with an "s". They only take place if the investigator announces that he is snooping before the card is drawn. They're pretty evenly balanced between positive and negative encounters.

Giving investigators choices introduces another level of strategy into the game and it also cuts down on extra items and clues.

The only house rule that we play is you count the monster toughness at time of defeat and I may add in another where retired investigators are not placed on the board until they get their turn.

Skip Your next turn = removed from the board