I own Core, Black goat, dunwich. Should I stop there...do I have the best mix?

It's all about preference, really. Each expansion adds more (Obviously) and I know I will pick up all of them eventually. If you feel you don't need or want more, then don't, but if you really want to experience everything this game has to offer, you're gonna need it all.

Yeah, King in Yellow and Curse of the Dark Pharaoh are both quite good, in my opinion both are better than Black Goat. The only expansion I'm currently missing is Kingsport Horror, and that is purely because of the exchange rate. The Australian dollar is currently so bad that it will cost me $10 more for Kingsport than what I spent on base Arkham Horror in the latter half of last year.

darkkami said:

That is a very good (challenging) mix in my opinion. But I also think it's fun to have elements from the other expansions. Heh... I could probably live without CotDP and KiY (although I love CotDP allies and the AO in other world encounters). Kingsport comes with a bunch of good stuff— new monsters, Ancient Ones, investigators, Epic Battle Cards. And the board is decent. Having it won't actually make the game *easier* most of the time. I also think it's going to be more interesting once Innsmouth comes out (because it has lots of aquatic locations on it— and I suspect Innsmouth monsters will be travelling between those two towns alot). ::Shrug:: so personally I'd say get KH, although if money's an issue, skip CotDP and KiY.

--

Heh... And there's the heralds— forgot about those ;')

"Best" is in the eye of the beholder. I believe my "best" games are with Kingsport and the King in Yellow, but I think Black Goat mixes well with Dunwich (Gate Bursts abound!).

Honestly, I don't like mixing "Box" expansions with "card" expansions, I suppose they tried to fix the 'mythos deck dilution' in Kingsport, but if I play with KiY, CotDP and Dunwich, almost no gates open in Dunwich so we have no reason to visit there.

I think all expansions are good, but it's important to mix them appropriately.

Agreed, DieStar - at least to the extent that Dunwich is never as dangerous in my games as I would like it to be. I play DH, KH, and KiY, but even before I added KiY I was starting to think that KH had made the whole game a little less frantic. Yes, rifts are dangerous, but it's not the same kind of danger preventing them as it would be to have to send someone to Dunwich. In fact, in our last game, only one gate opened in Dunwich out of (I think) 12 mythos cards, and it spawned a Dhole and a Star Spawn, whose dimensional symbols didn't come up before the final battle. It was a fun game, but... something was missing.

If you really love this game I would get all the expansions as they are available or you have the money. Kingsport adds more characters like Dunwich. I've been only playing since September and loved the game so much that I've been buying all the expansions as they are available. So far I've only played with CotDP and DH. The first game we lost was with DH. I don't think I'll ever combine DH and Kh, too much going on. The card expansions I'm not sure yet if I'll keep them all in.

DaveB 53 said:

I don't know if you're aware, but it's in the Kingsport rules that if you use multiple expansion boards, you count all the mechanics in the game as if there was one fewer investigator (except for final battle) for each expansion board being used beyond the first—to help accommodate for the investigators who are busy taking care of expansion-board duties.

For example:

In a 5-investigator game with both DH and KH boards:

• Monster limit is 7 instead of 8
• Outskirts limit is 4 instead of 3
• Open gate limit is 7 instead of 6
• One monster gets spawned per gate instead of 2
• If all gates are closed, the investigators collectively need 4 gate trophies instead of 5
• Rumors like The Mad Bomber and Riots add to their ransoms as though there were 4 investigators rather than 5 (THANK GOD. I HATE THESE-TYPE RUMORS)

DieStar said:

[here's a post of mine from the old forums]
An easy way to fix the Dunwich Horror expansion in normal games (when you have all the expansions, but Dunwich Horror has been diluted) is:
A)Your first mythos draw must be a Dunwich gate
B)Before drawing a mythos card, roll a die, if you roll a one, you must draw and discard mythos cards until you draw a card with a Dunwich gate. This should help boost the frequency. If it's still not enough, you could make it a roll of one or two (which I think is overdoing it, since, after all, it's not like you can't still draw Dunwich mythos cards normally, this'll just give you an extra boost of maybe two more gates in Dunwich, it'll help ensure Dunwich doesn't have a mostly inactive game).
C)If you're really masochistic you can add a rule that says you can not seal Wizard's Hill :'D and if you're masochistic and enjoy playing with seals you can make an exception rule, "Except if you have The Great Seal." ;') if that's still not tough enough for you, you can make a rule that causes Wizard's Hill to spawn double monsters.

Tibs said:

OMG! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT SUBTRACTING FROM RUMORS WITH MULTIPLE BOARDS! :'D that will *definitely* help.

Although we have all the expansions...

Its like old Talisman (I want new Talisman but there's a credit crunch you know?)

It is definitely worth getting all the small sets because they are extra cards and its good to mix it up. When you start adding extra boards it starts to get tricky. Do you have enough space to get them out? Will anyone even bother to go there if you do and there are no gates open? Then isn't it a waste?

tamsyn said:

OT: I don't think I've seen you around the Talisman section, tamsyn. You only hang with the cool cats, like AH ?

Im old skool Talisman (the one with the board like a jigsaw - 2nd ed I think) and I would feel out of place with all you people who have upgraded.

Also, I like the AH crowd, they're as weird as me

tamsyn said:

::Cough cough:: what do you expect from fans of a boardgame that tries to eat a group of players? :') (I was tempted to say Lovecraft fans, but I realize that not all of us are).

Sometimes I like to think you get squished by a huge claw instead of always eaten....

Or choked to death by tentacles :') that's fun too.

exactly, I sometimes think there should be more interesting deaths than just devoured....

How about partially devoured? I think I rather be devoured to tell the truth!

tamsyn said:

Death Scenes: Aftermaths of Cthulhoid Kills
By Sandy Petersen

First published in Different Worlds magazine issue 35, July/August 1984, pp.14-15

One of the commoner fates of the hapless investigator in Call of Cthulhu is to be slain or devoured by some alien terror. Naturally, this is often a time for sorrow, mourning, and frantic attempts to avoid that same fate for oneself, but it can also be helpful to the survivors. The very manner in which their comrade has met his doom may well provide other investigators with potent clues as to just exactly what they are up against.

Following are a series of 50 scenes, one for every type of monster included in Call of Cthulhu, as well as one for the 11 new deities and alien races included in the Cthulhu Companion. A Keeper may simply read the quote directly, or modify it to suit circumstances. Or he may simply use the information contained to invent his own death scenes. Naturally, not all beings will slay in exactly the same manner, but there will be similarities. In each case, the victim is assumed to be a male investigator.

Azathoth: "The entire house was leveled, as though by some vast catastrophe. Even the trees for several hundred yards around were injured and broken. Inside the house's ruins we found his corpse -recognizable only by the twisted gold ring set amidst the ruin of his left hand."

Byakhee: "His body lay twisted in the middle of the road. His throat was ripped out, but there was oddly little blood about. The rest of his body was slashed and torn, and his clothes were torn to rags. The corpse seemed strangely shrunken and pale."

Chthonian: "There was a great bruise, nearly a foot and a half across, encircling his body. A hole, with ragged edges, was bored into the base of his throat, so deep that I could insert my hand. His whole corpse was coated with a thick layer of putrid slime."

Cthugha: "The corpse was burnt to a frazzle. His blackened skull and bones still sat upright on the smoldering car's seat. The forest for an acre about was still aflame."

Cthulhu: "All that was visible was a reddish discoloration near the centre of the great green smear across the road. "

Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath: "Black pus filled the corpse's face and mouth. Open, ulcer-like sores covered half his body, still oozing a greasy clear liquid. The expression on what was left of his face was indescribable."

Deep Ones: "Slash marks were neatly incised across the victim's throat, as though someone had drawn four razor blades simultaneously through his neck. Four similar slashes encircled his arm, which was broken, as though some powerful thing had gripped him there unmercifully."

Father Dagon or Mother Hydra: "The great webbed footprint spread for several feet across the sand. In the middle of the print was our friend's body, torn nearly in half from the crushing weight of the Thing."

Dholes: "A great wad of mucus engulfed the entire front half of the car, and a path was visible through miles of forest. But of our friend, there was no sign."

Dimensional Shambler: "We heard him scream, and rushed to his room. But when the door opened, all we found was a slight spatter of blood on the carpet and his despairing cry echoing faintly through space."

Fire Vampire: "The chair he sat in was untouched, but his skull was charred into an awful grimace, as was the upper half of his body. Weirdly, his arms and legs were untouched."

Flying Polyps: "His expression was unendurable, and we covered his face. His corpse was marred with regularly sized circular pockmarks, like hollows in the sand. The flesh seemed slightly desiccated, as though baked in an oven, though it was only slightly reddened."

Formless Spawn of Tsathogghua: "All we found were his bones, sucked clean of flesh. A wet trail led away from the spot."

Ghouls: "The corpse was gnawed and chewed, as though by rats. The eyes had been neatly plucked from the sockets, the long bones cracked for marrow, and the back of the skull broken open to get at the toothsome gray matter. His belly was split open and completely gutted. Whatever had killed had viewed his entrails as quite a delicacy."

Great Race of Yith: "His body was intact, save that his head was severed cleanly, with surgical precision."

Hastur the Unspeakable: "Every bone in his body was crushed to a pulp, and his skin was one massive bruise, with dull purplish blood tingeing all his features."

Hounds of Tindalos: "He lay flat on his back, a thin bluish slime covering his entire body. His head was severed and sat atop his chest."

Hunting Horrors: "The corpse was mauled as if by a wild animal. Erratically, and with no seeming purpose, portions of his body were curiously missing, as though some being, with alien logic, had selectively mutilated him. "

Ithaqua the Windwalker: "The body was found frozen solid, buried halfway into the tundra, as though it had been dropped from a great height. When it was unearthed, both feet gave the peculiar appearance as of having been burnt to stumps, though crusts of ice clung to them."

Lesser Other God: "His corpse lay face down. The back was partially dissolved away, eaten by acid, so that his spine and ribs were laid bare. His ribs were visibly cracked and splintered, and his skull broken, as well as corroded. His face and front were intact, though shoved into the earth as though by some great weight."

Mi-Go: "The victim's entire abdomen and chest were scissored open with dozens of tiny cuts and deep incisions. Blood pooled redly through the myriad wounds and the corpse lolled sideways on the ground."

Nightgaunts: "He had been carried off. A frantic sound, half-screaming and half frightened laughter, came from the night sky and we recognized his voice as he was carried away, toward that black mountain from which no man had ever returned alive."

Nodens: "His corpse was nearly intact, save for the mark of a single blow, breaking his collarbone and neatly sending the splintered end through his heart."

Nyarlathotep: "He was sprawled back on his chair, an awful look on his face, with scorch marks over his body. He had evidently been struck by lightning, though how lightning could have entered that windowless room remains a mystery."

Nyogtha: "His bed was smashed upon the floor, and he was not in it. A trail of destruction led to the window, where the grisly sight of one severed foot, caught in the jamb, met our eyes."
Old Ones: "His body was literally torn apart, though there were no cuts or punctures. His limbs were ripped from the body, and thrown asunder. Strange annular marks were seen on his limbs and around his torso."

Sand-Dwellers: "His body looked as though someone with a sharpened garden rake had struck him again and again, without sense nor reason. When we rolled him over, we could see that great hole through his back where whatever had slain him had chewed and clawed its way through to his liver. "

Serpent People: "He lay dead, two great punctures in his throat, though only a trickle of blood oozed from them. Around the punctures his skin was so eroded that it gave way under the fingers, permitting a trickle of greenish liquid to drip out. This liquid pained the hands, and was quickly washed off, though a tingle persisted for several minutes. His skin was bluish and his face bright blue, his tongue blackened and protruding, and his eyes unrecognizably black."

Servitors of the Other Gods: "His body was torn and bloodied with strips of skin removed, as though great whips and lashes had beat him with such force as to not only remove the skin, but break the bones underneath. All the whip marks were filled with blood and a thin greenish-clear juice, which stank of swamps."

Shantanks: "His head and upper chest were removed in a single great semicircular bite."

Shoggoths: "The body was covered with putrescent slime, green and yellow shifting in the night air. The head had been literally sucked off the corpse, with ragged fragments of skin spreading all round."

Shub-Niggurath: "His entire body was smeared with a black cheesy material. Instead of a face, the front of his head was now a single suppurating sore, red and blue with glistening serum."

Shudde M'ell: "A hole had been bored completely through his torso, and all the blood and internal organs seemingly sucked out. The corpse was buried under at least a foot of stinking clear translucent sIime."

Spawn of Cthulhu: "A great spatter of blood and guts lay on the ground, mixed with a pool of green slime. Of our friend, there was no sign, unless the blood and mangled organs signified his doom."

Star Vampires: "His body was absolutely white, completely drained of blood, and his bones and back were snapped. Great and deep claw-wounds injured his chest and legs, and he lay in a position impossible to an intact human body."

Tsathogghua: "On the ground was a wrinkled bag, withered, hairless, punctured with scores of holes, and empty of all except bones, which rattled bleakly as we poked it. The bag was our comrade's skin."

Y'golonac: "His lips and tongue had been methodically bitten out, as were various other parts of his anatomy. The wounds still dripped unclotted blood, though he must have been dead for hours."

Yig: "His body was swollen and cyanotic, puffed blue-black as with some fearful poison. Even as we watched in horror, the corpse suddenly split down the middle with a sloppy noise, oozing black poison and viscera everywhere

Yog-Sothoth: "The right side of his face and his right arm were withered and wrinkled, no more than half their normal size. The rest of his body was scared and scorched to the point that it was dry as dust. It crumbled at a touch."

Abhoth: "We never saw him again. The only hint as to his fate were rumours of a particularly horrible worm-thing seen in later weeks on the mountain slopes. The worm-thing was reported to have his face."

Atlach-Nacha: "The corpse was covered with a thick, yarn-like material, tough as steel, but soft to the touch, and there were two thin needle-like holes in his face. His entire interior seems to have been liquefied and sucked out, leaving only the shell of a man."

Cyaegha: "The corpse was nailed upside-down to the front door, the throat slit, and wrists cut open. But no blood marred the clean floor."

Ghasts: "The body seemed to have been beaten by heavy sticks and then gnawed by wild animals. Great chunks had been chewed out of his side and arms. Whatever had done the deed must have come by night."

Ghatanothoa: "His body appeared to be a thousand-year-old mummy, though he could not have been dead more than a few days. His skin was hard as stiffened leather, and his flesh as hard as stone. A look of utmost horror and fear was on the face, whose eyes were closed tightly shut."

Gnoph-Keh: "The body was frozen solid as ice. But the frozen corpse had been broken-the shoulder and left arm had been snapped off and carried away by the unknown Thing in the Snow."

Gugs: "His spine was shattered, as from a colossal blow, and a great ragged bite split his body. Tufts of coarse black hair were still spasmodically gripped in his hands."

Lloigor: "The body lay face-down in a pool of peculiar blue-green water. He must have died of a heart attack, for no wounds were visible on him. Strangely, the autopsy showed no sign of atherosclerosis."

Moon Beasts: "Whatever had killed him had tortured him slowly before he died. There were penetrating wounds on his torso, and burns all over his arms. The fire pit next to him gave mute evidence as to the source of the burns."

Zhar: "Only his watch, rings, and the silver plate from his skull remained. Everything even remotely organic had vanished forever."

Zoth-Ommog: "His body was peculiarly slouched, as though the entire interior of his torso had been pulped and squeezed together into a single solid mass. A poke showed that his ribs had been pulverized."

They are cool. they should be added to board game geek as a download

Wow, that's seriously cool!