Arkham has a staggering number of different mechanics, and pretty much all of them are based on a more or less solid thematic and mechanical foundation, but a number leave something to be desired in terms of execution. Fortunately, it is (theoretically) possible that some of these mechanics might be rescued by a revision or the addition of a new rule down the road. (For instance, the King in Yellow Acts, which, although they worked alright with a small Mythos deck were, so to speak, lost in the shuffle when you played with a large number of expansions, were rescued by the new mechanic introduced in Miskatonic Horror). That in mind, which mechanic would you select to receive a similar rescue? While general mechanics are the most likely targets, realistically speaking, feel free to nominate an individual card as well. If you feel like it, you can also enumerate how you would do it, if you suddenly found yourself body-switched with one of the designers (who, as we all know, are some of the most powerful sorcerors living today). Oh, and to prevent all the responses from being Call Ancient One, I would reinforce that the mechanic is one you see potential in and dislike the execution of, not just one that you generally dislike.

Personally, I'm tempted to go with the Bureau of Investigators, simply because its execution is so stunningly lackluster. However, it ultimately cannot be anything but Corruption. The idea and mechanics are so very compelling, but it's difficult to get any decent amount of Corruption even just playing with Black Goat and the base game, and nearly impossible when you play with all expansions as I do (unless you're playing Lola and specifically gunning for Initiate, and even then, the Skill deck is pretty large). The Black Goat itself doles out plenty of Corruption, but it also doles out a number of other things (well, just one other thing, really) that makes playing with it less than ideal for anyone whose user name is four or more characters. Fortunately, it would be pretty simple to fix, and there's a decent chance FFG might take a swing at it in future. Although Corruption was introduced with Black Goat, it's not exclusively thematically linked with Shub; a number of the Miskatonic Black Goat encounters in Dunwich give you Corruption. Thus, it would be a fairly simple matter to bring out a new expansion with a Herald or mechanic that distributes Corruption.

I had a Ghroth herald, inspired by the Strange Eons herald, that was much more fun than the later-published official one.

Tulzscha can be easily compatible with Abhoth or Rhan-Tegoth, but the official stance is "use a different herald."

While I'm thinking of it, Rhan-Tegoth sucks. His ability is mostly random, with little the investigators can do to influence its effect, and big penalties if it triggers. Plus they could have caught the McGlen loophole.

The Deep One Rising mechanic is not fun. The Dunwich and Kingsport mechanics build up to an explosion, where some out-of-control effect starts threatening the investigators' chances. The DOR just simply awakens the AO. Innsmouth came with six Deep Ones and four Deep One Hybrids, and they couldn't have some invasion mechanic? Or, if the DOR track's at 6, each monster entering an Innsmouth vortex would add a doom token as well? Something like that? Not just an abrupt endgame.

Bast, at least, should be cheaper to utilize. Bureau should be cheaper or more cleverly implemented (when a gate opens, add a clue to the Bureau sheet. When buying the Bureau's abilities, clues may be spent from the Bureau's sheet.)

The grievances I had with the Act deck and Dunwich/Innsmouth dilutioon has been fixed with Miskatonic, and the Cult of the Thousand's bonus and Lurker at the Threshold's threat have both been amplified.

Cult of 1000 for me.

There are very few opportunities to join it and the encounters are so lousy that there's next to no benefit for joining. Of course, you could house rule that you could sacrifice 5 monsters at any cult location to join the cult and that getting Cult Membership was a full heal, +1 Max Stamina and a Corruption Card. I'd also make Cold Sping Glen a cult location.

Tibs: Thus, one relatively simple erratum sends old Rhan from (with a particular investigator) "impossible to lose against" to "(nearly) impossible to win against". Only in Arkham….I do quite like your idea for the Bureau. Being an enthusiast of needless complexity, I'd like several different effects (on a gradient, perhaps; no clues, one clue, two clues, an instant agent placement) tied to a chart like Ghroth's, or maybe even a deck. (You know, it's odd; Arkham, like all Lovecraft stuff, is full of crazy, convoluted names, but the only one that I can never remember how to spell is Ghroth's.) I would probably agree with you the Deep Ones Rising track but, oddly enough, it almost never gives me much trouble. I think I've lost because of its filling up maybe once. Luck of the draw, I suppose.

So I've been thinking about the idea of a new mechanic that would save Corruption, and I've hit upon an idea for a new expansion. Of all the cults mentioned in Lovecraft's stories, the one that receives the most detailed description (at least, in the works I've read) is the one in "The Festival" (well, that and "The Horror At Red Hook", but the less involved one is with that story, the better, in PR terms if nothing else).

WARNING: There follow spoilers for Lovecraft's "The Festival".

Alright, so, as in the story, the expansion would have a mechanic whereby investigators could travel to Kingsport in the past. The simplest way would be for anyone who enters Kingsport to have the choice of staying in the present or traveling to the past. (It also might be fun for anyone entering Kingsport to have a very small chance of ending up in the past whether they like it or not.) Any investigator in the past would use the same board, but (obviously) would be unable to interact with any investigators or monsters in the present and would be unaffected by Mythos cards. The normal location decks would be replaced with new ones, although it might be easiest to just declare some of the locations closed to investigators in the past; the only really important one would, obviously, be the 7th House on the Left, but WIlliam Bain would almost certainly be present as well, as would the Terrible Old Man. Other locations could be changed to reflect their occupants in the past, and one could be repurposed (or a new, imaginary space declared to be in existence) as the caves where the cult gathers in the story's finale. The encounters would pretty much all be positive (representing the cultists, who are quite friendly in the story, showering the investigators with gifts, magic, and fell knowledge), with the possible exception of the occasional bit of Sanity loss and the definite exception of lots of Corruption. A number of them could include conditional effects, whereby, if Tulzscha is the Herald, the encounters get more positive and more Corrupting. The only caveat would be that it would be somewhat difficult to return to the present. Anyone going insane or fallng unconscious would be sent back, but other than that, returning might be handled through a mechanic that required a cost and/or hoping for encounters that sent you back.

So…not to be boastful, but I really, really like this idea. It would save Corruption, and it might very well save Kingsport as well. If investigators could remove rift progress markers by going to locations in the past, you would have the option of trading Kingsport's standard encounters for more beneficial (and interesting) ones in exchange for receiving Corruption and possibly having a tough time getting home. (Admittedly, this idea stands, thematically speaking, on somewhat shaky ground, but then, the rifts are tears in the fabric of reality, which is to say, they are tears in space and time .) I'd love to see this created; in the incredibly unlikely event that someone from FFG is reading this and is actually interested, I hereby relinquish all rights to the idea and urge the company to make use of it. Failing that, if some individual with even more time on their hands than myself were willing to fine-tune the rules and write up the encounters, I'd love to see the results.

Jake yet again said:

I agree. the cult really adds the right atmosphere to the game but it's way too difficult to join and there's relly no point in doing so, unless you like me join a soon you get the option just for the thematical effect.

Something similar could be said about the silver twilight lodge. It's much easier to join the lodge than the cult but I rarely have that much of a use of my membership. It's very rare for me to have more than two encounter at the lodge and I don't think that the inner sanctum encounters are that much better.

And speaking of memberships; I don't think I've ever had a Shedon gang memberhip.