So what are people's general thoughts about the Kingsport Expansion? Here are mine:

Mythos Cards: Kinsport has some nasty Mythos cards, including gate bursts and an excellent distribution of gate openings. Two of the three Rumors are exceptionally tough, easily on the level of Terrible Experiment and Good Works Undone in terms of difficulty, reward and punishment. A strong thumbs up in this category.

New Investigators: Lily Chen the Martial Artist, Wendy Adams the Orphan, Lola Hayes the Actress, Daisy the Librarian, Luke the Dreamer, Rex Murphy the Reporter, Charlie the Politician, and Tony the Bounty Hunter. There are a couple I don't especially care for, but the others are top notch. They did it right here.

New AO's: This one is a bit more mixed. I really like Eihort and Atlach-Nacha is a great challenge. Yibb-Tistill I loathe, as this AO is simply too hard. 11 doom token track, Investigators can have a maximim of five Clue tokens at one time, two successes for an evade check AND double the normal number of doom tokens if it comes down to a final fight? That's just ridiculous. Y'golonac isn't as bad, but a final fight with him is still a little too challenging in my opinion. Compare this to Duwich, where every AO is at least good, and this category rates mediocore.

Heralds: I can't see using Ghroth for any AO except Azathoth. Like Yibb, he's just too powerful. Tulzscha, on the other hand, is terrific, doing exactly as Kevin claimed: turning Cultists from wimpy monsters to dedicated foilers of the Investigators' plans. I especially like the idea of using Tulzscha with Yig, Eihort or Chtulhu. So one good, one bad, equaling another mediocore rating.

Guardians: I was skeptical about these at first, but after playing with them I've changed my mind. Basic-Dunwich-Kingsport is a tough combination and a Guardian can provide needed assistance. Oddly, Nodens has the least effect on the game. I figured that honor would go to Bast, but a Bast token can make a lot of difference to the Investigagor who has it. Hypnos, of course, has the greatest effect and probably should only be used with the tougher AO's. The Guardains are a good addition to the game, in my opinion.

Unique Items: Many of these are quite good, especially the new Elder Sign!

Common Items: Not as good as the Unique Items by any means. Another thumb sideways.

Spells: The first real failure. Fist of Yog-Sothoth and Spectral Razor are just ridiculously bad.

Allies: These I can't complain about. I quite like several of them, such as Granny Orne and Basil Elton.

Arkham Encounter Cards: These are great! There are some very interesting cards here, some beneficial, some horrifying.

Gate Cards: Not as good as the Arkham encounter cards, they are still quite good.

Kingsport encounter cards: These disappoint a bit since most of them are so safe. There are a couple of shockers, but in general I'm not too fond of the Kingsport encounters.

Monsters: The four unique monsters-Gnoph Ka, Ghast, Werewolf and Tcho-Tcho Priest-aren't the equal of Dunwich's five unique monsters. Still, this is the only complaint I have with the Kinsport creatures. As a whole they make for an excellent addition to Arkham and the two new Masks, The Skinless One and the Shadowy Figure, are arguably the two best Masks in the game.

Kingsport itself-This is probably the focus of most people's criticism of the Kinsport expansion. The board istelf is very safe, which can actually be a detriment if you like challenge and danger. The rift mechanic virtually necessitates stationing somone in Kinsport and duty there can be a bit bland, not to mention it puts the players down an investigator. The Strange High House in the Mists is too difficult to reach and the route to get there is too punishing. All that said, though, I do still enjoy playing with the board.

Final Battle Variant-The crowning jewel of this expansion and its absolute best feature. I can't imagine playing Arkham ever again WITHOUT using his variant.

Overall, a strong thumbs up. Not the equal of Dunwich, but certainly a worthy expansion in its own right.

Other reviews and opinions?

You're forgetting the most important thing ;') Kingsport hasn't been released yet.

"Huh? What?" You ask? Simple. The expansion was set up in a way where aquatic monsters should play a major part in adding excitement to it, however, there are only four aquatic monsters currently, and it's very difficult for them to appear in an aquatic location considering that gates don't open in Kingsport. The true Kingsport will be released in May (or whenever Innsmouth is actually released) when the Deep Ones come in for a swim :') I can't wait.

Also, I disagree with you on Eihort. He's pretty fun to try and face in a final battle, although I'll grant that he's pretty tough to fight. And grozoth really isn't that tough— *really* I mean, I was able to beat scenario ten with him with three minimally competent investigators (granted I did get very lucky, but still). Yeah, you're not going to want to play against Yig with him on the board, but if you want to turn a 13 doom token AO into a tense challenge, or better yet a 12 doom token AO (hah! good luck with that!) Well... He could definitely spice up the game. No one said he's easy.

I enjoy drawing both The Werewolf and the Tchotcho priest. I wasn't really crazy about the new monsters. They were okay. Leng spiders are a bit tough, Shans are fun, but other than those, nothing really notably horrifying, hrm.... And frankly I'd rather draw one of them than a Wraith ::shrug:: And of course, there's no Kingsport monster that makes me scream like a Colour Out of Space does. I was very pleased with elusive, although I was disappointed that there are so few elusive monsters. Ah well... At least the number of actual monster additions wasn't watered down by a bunch of spawn monsters :')

P.S. I hate Tony

Solan said:

I was kind of hoping for a few more responses that this. Oh, well, maybe people are just taking their time.

Avi_Dreader, your point about the deluge of aquatic monsters that will enter the game with Innsmouth is well-taken. As it is, I was greatly pleased to be able to use Aquatic movement even once so far(a Skeleton came out of Unvisited Isle and attacked Jim Culver in South Shore. One Dead Man's Stomp later, bye-bye Skeleton).

Huh? How do you disagree with me on Eithort? I said I LIKED Eihort. Do you mean to write that you disagree with me on Y'golonac or Yibb-Tistill?

I tip my hat to you for beating Scenario Ten. Personally, though, I still think Ghroth is a little TOO hard.

Actually I agree with you there. I thought the Werewolf was a great idea, though in practice he has disappointingly only damaged one person so far. The Tcho-Tcho Priest, on the other hand, is a fearsome monster indeed.

Nothing notably horrifying in the new monsters? Are you serious? What about Moonbeasts, which devour you if you go down to 0 Stamina or Sanity? What about Crawling Ones, which are far and away the most powerful one toughness monster in the game? I'd take a Wraith over either of those any day.

"At least the number of actual monsters wasn't watered down by a bunch of spawn additions " WTF?!?!? I've really gotta disagree with you here; I've found the spawn monsters to be the best monsters in the entire game! Look at how greatly the Servants of Glaaki contribute to that AO's difficulty! Think about how challenging Abhoth's stalker Children are to defeat! The Riot Spawn monsters in KiY are the neatest part of the KiY Herald and as for the Dunwich Horror, well, his appeal goes without saying. I'm hoping we see at least half a dozen Spawn monsters in Innsmouth, including Dagon and Hydra (not to mentioon I'm keeping my fingers crossed for three new Masks).

Would anyone else like to share their thoughts on the Kinsport expansion?

Solan said:

I have to get to class so I'll keep this short. Yes I meant Yibb Tistill.

Custom play the werewolf so it moves three :'D then it's even *more* fun when it's on the board.

Being devoured isn't that bad, as long as it isn't by surprised. In fact, you can even use it as a game exploit. And moon beasts aren't that tough anyways. Crawling Ones are a bit cool sometimes, I admit. And I love the sour taste they give you after they become disgustingly strong and then after you kill them they only have one toughness. A clue or two can take them out easily though.

::Sigh:: I like spawn monsters, but I like new monsters in the cup more. I'm basically saying I want both :'D bye.

Mythos Cards: Kinsport has some nasty Mythos cards, including gate bursts and an excellent distribution of gate openings. Two of the three Rumors are exceptionally tough, easily on the level of Terrible Experiment and Good Works Undone in terms of difficulty, reward and punishment. A strong thumbs up in this category.

I haven't noticed this.

New Investigators: Lily Chen the Martial Artist, Wendy Adams the Orphan, Lola Hayes the Actress, Daisy the Librarian, Luke the Dreamer, Rex Murphy the Reporter, Charlie the Politician, and Tony the Bounty Hunter. There are a couple I don't especially care for, but the others are top notch. They did it right here.

Which ones don't you care for? Lily and Wendy are two of the very best anywhere. I'd almost say too good. Nobody knows how Charlie works and maybe not Luke. The others are OK. Rex is really a needy investigator meaning he needs help from someone else to get going.

New AO's: This one is a bit more mixed. I really like Eihort and Atlach-Nacha is a great challenge. Yibb-Tistill I loathe, as this AO is simply too hard. 11 doom token track, Investigators can have a maximim of five Clue tokens at one time, two successes for an evade check AND double the normal number of doom tokens if it comes down to a final fight? That's just ridiculous. Y'golonac isn't as bad, but a final fight with him is still a little too challenging in my opinion. Compare this to Duwich, where every AO is at least good, and this category rates mediocore.

Eihort is a great concept but too random in a game where randomness is king. Atlach and Yibb I've beaten about 3 out of 4 times each. In fact, Atlach is where I learned that gate closing is more than just a viable victory condition. Yibb is like Hastur to me. It's easy to pick up all the clues even with his limitation. On the other hand, the Old Ones are all reasonably difficult and mostly fun to play against. I usually play with 3 or 4 investigators, if that makes a difference.

Heralds: I can't see using Ghroth for any AO except Azathoth. Like Yibb, he's just too powerful. Tulzscha, on the other hand, is terrific, doing exactly as Kevin claimed: turning Cultists from wimpy monsters to dedicated foilers of the Investigators' plans. I especially like the idea of using Tulzscha with Yig, Eihort or Chtulhu. So one good, one bad, equaling another mediocore rating.

Ghroth is uninspired. Adding two clue tokens is powerful but its also boring. Tulzscha cultists have never eaten an elder sign. We kill them as soon as possible. I rarely use either.

Guardians: I was skeptical about these at first, but after playing with them I've changed my mind. Basic-Dunwich-Kingsport is a tough combination and a Guardian can provide needed assistance. Oddly, Nodens has the least effect on the game. I figured that honor would go to Bast, but a Bast token can make a lot of difference to the Investigagor who has it. Hypnos, of course, has the greatest effect and probably should only be used with the tougher AO's. The Guardains are a good addition to the game, in my opinion.

In our last game Bast made a big, big difference keeping the monsters off the investigators. I've noticed that Hypnos' clues often go begging. In the first game I played with Nodens we had a pet Nightgaunt that took us everywhere. Since then, not so good.

Unique Items: Many of these are quite good, especially the new Elder Sign!

???? You mean just an additional one?

Monsters: The four unique monsters-Gnoph Ka, Ghast, Werewolf and Tcho-Tcho Priest-aren't the equal of Dunwich's five unique monsters. Still, this is the only complaint I have with the Kinsport creatures. As a whole they make for an excellent addition to Arkham and the two new Masks, The Skinless One and the Shadowy Figure, are arguably the two best Masks in the game.

I think the monsters raised the average strength signficantly! I looked at them a while back.

Kingsport itself-This is probably the focus of most people's criticism of the Kinsport expansion. The board istelf is very safe, which can actually be a detriment if you like challenge and danger. The rift mechanic virtually necessitates stationing somone in Kinsport and duty there can be a bit bland, not to mention it puts the players down an investigator. The Strange High House in the Mists is too difficult to reach and the route to get there is too punishing. All that said, though, I do still enjoy playing with the board.

My experience is a bit difference. When we play Kingsport, which is less and less now, he usually just ignore the rifts until one actually pops. If its late in the game, which it usually is, we still ignore it. I have yet to have more than one doom token added to the doom track from it. More monsters are fun, so no problem there. Only once have anyone been changed and that was because we forced a scenario for that too happen. Twice I've been captain, but by the time I've got enough blood, its not worth the trip and usually its not necessary.

Overall, a strong thumbs up. Not the equal of Dunwich, but certainly a worthy expansion in its own right.

I could have lived without Kingsport. The more little cards the better and the Epic Battle is a fine addition, but the board itself and the Rift mechanic is just to much work for little fun and/or danger.

Managing rifts....

The trick is to let them all fill up half way and only half way (because once a half track is filled up, movement patterns that open on it are wasted). You can neglect them maybe the first third of the game and stay safe, most of the time ;')

I agree with you about the elusive cultists... I made a Nyarlethotep variant which is intended to be used with that herald though (I haven't tried it yet, but it promises to be very fun— and difficult— I hope).

::Shrug:: I agree with you— I *could've* lived without Kingsport (honestly, I think Dunwich Horror is the only *must have* expansion) but I still liked it. It's my favorite expansion after Dunwich Horror, and I expect it will get better after Innsmouth (which I'm extremely excited about and I hope I'm not disappointed with it).

Also, Rex doesn't *need* help. It's useful if someone can get him help. But while he's waiting for someone else to bless him, he'll probably be gathering eight to ten clues. If no one can help him, he can just pop into a gate and waste a couple turns until he can seal it (granted, he's not the best for solo games, but still, if you can get that curse off, he could put up a mean fight).

Btw... Ghroth goes well with Hastur, in my opinion. Especially if you make him a double herald along with the King in Yellow. Heh heh heh...

Unless he starts with an Elder Sign, I usually move Rex directly to the bank at the beginning of the game, and try to get him blessed, while someone else works on getting a gate trophy to bless him.

Tibs said:

Waste of time. He should be picking up clue tokens at relatively safe locations.

Solan said:

I wasn't saying Rex isn't playable, but I am wondering what I am missing if 6 of the Kingsport adventures are top notch. I agree that Wendy and Daisy are 2 of the top three.

The others can be good, but not top notch, but their rules are in question: Lily, Luke and Charlie. (Maybe Lily comes close to being top notch, but I don't really think so. Self healing is really nice though.).

I don't see Lola, Rex and Tony anything to write home about. Just average (which of course all investigators should be).

My group, in fact, considers both Rex and Lola as below average. (I always pass out two investigators, a boy and girl). They pick one and the other goes on top for the next game. Rex and Lola spend lots and lots of time top along with Sister--until someone (usually me) feels sorry for them and lets them join in the games.

I dunno. I LOVE LOVE Lola Hayes.

Every time I've played with her, I've managed to get an extra skill and man, she's awesome!

You can basically turn her into whatever kind of machine you want! I suppose it's like the Sister Mary arguement, where some people find it awesome and some people don't care.

Now that I think about it, Avi, you're forgetting one thing about Kingsport too: it only has four Aquatic locations. One is at the Causeway, which no one will deliberately visit anyway. Two others are at stree locations, which Investigators will try not to end their movement at, and the fourth is at the Lighthouse. Therefore the addition of numerous Acquatic monsters might actually make very little difference to the situation in Kingsport.

It is true, Mageith. Kingsport Mythos cards have a good gate distribution because they add cards not only for the frequent and semi-frequent gate locations, but for the Science Building, Silver Twilight Lodge, Historical Society and Hibbs Roadhouse as well.

I disagree, Mageith. Lily is certainly good, but I wouldn't put her at the very top level; she's not equal to Mandy, Jacqueline and Wendy. The two Kingsport characters I don't care for are Luke the Dreamer and Tony the Bounty Hunter. I don't have a problem with either one of them thematically (in fact I like both of their backstories), but mechanically Tony's three sanity and lack of a starting weapon (unlike Micheal and Mark) make him decidedly inferior in my book. As for Luke, I have simply had terrible luck with him whenever I've chosen him.

I play with four Investigators as well, Mageith, and I'm not sure how it is possible to beat Yibb in final combat even if you have picked up all of the clue tokens off the board (hard to do with the limitation, Kinsport and Dunwich); can you really score eighty-eight successes before the Final Battle card "The End of Everything" comes up?

And you don't find it a bit of a distraction and a strain on your resources to have to hunt down Tulzscha's elusive -3 Cultists? It can be done, of course, but my experience is that it requires some effort, especially if you have no character whose sneak can go above three.

Yes, I mean the additional Elder Sign.

You've been luckier on the Rifts that we have, then. Sometimes they add more than one doom token and many of our six seal victories are only won when we're one doom token away from the final fight in any case.

I agree with you on the Rift management, Avi. That's what we do.

I do the same as you, Tibs! The Bank has many opportunities to be blessed and I figure it's worth gambling a couple of turns against the possibility that you can get Rex's Curse lifted.

So your group sees Rex and Lola as below average? Wow, differing perspectives! Here's why I like Lola: First, she has four Stamina and Six Sanity, my favorite ratio. Second she has a reasonable amount of money, $6, and two clue tokens. She starts with one of everything except an ally. She has potential movement five, another big plus, and her fight goes up to four while still retaining two will. Her ability to discard a Skill should be used every turn until she has one of the really good ones, such as Mythos Lore or Disguise. Finally, I love her backstory.

As for Rex, he's a 5/5 with $3, 3 Clue tokens, 1 common item, 2 Unique Items, 2 Spells, and 1 Skill. Oh, and one Curse which he never rolls to discard, The money is subpar, but he starts off with an awful lot and his power to gain an extra clue ANY TIme he gains one or more Clues is just sickeningly good. Once you get his Curse lifted there's no stopping him, and if you can't get that done at the bank, it's easy enough to trade your first gate trophy in at the Church for a Blessing to counter his Curse.

I disagree, Mageith. Lily is certainly good, but I wouldn't put her at the very top level; she's not equal to Mandy, Jacqueline and Wendy. The two Kingsport characters I don't care for are Luke the Dreamer and Tony the Bounty Hunter. I don't have a problem with either one of them thematically (in fact I like both of their backstories), but mechanically Tony's three sanity and lack of a starting weapon (unlike Micheal and Mark) make him decidedly inferior in my book. As for Luke, I have simply had terrible luck with him whenever I've chosen him.

Actually I think I said, she's close. No, she is definitely not top top notch, but above average even with the harshest interpretation of her rule.

I play with four Investigators as well, Mageith, and I'm not sure how it is possible to beat Yibb in final combat even if you have picked up all of the clue tokens off the board (hard to do with the limitation, Kinsport and Dunwich); can you really score eighty-eight successes before the Final Battle card "The End of Everything" comes up?

mmm. Done it twice. I see the stats show him as tough too. He creamed me the first time I played him, but never lost since at home with my main group. We play a format where once we've beaten the GOO he goes on the bottom and well, Yibb's been on the bottom a lot. One of the convention games two weeks ago lost really bad to him, however. Six players and 8 clues on the boards (Kingsport and Dunwich), so we didn't last long. But mostly we go for the seal or close on those GOOs!

And you don't find it a bit of a distraction and a strain on your resources to have to hunt down Tulzscha's elusive -3 Cultists? It can be done, of course, but my experience is that it requires some effort, especially if you have no character whose sneak can go above three.

There's always strain and distraction. That's why I play AH. I guess I've always had the right characters. Catching them is the hard part. Usually we just keep an eye on them and if they get close to an elder sign we get 'em. Never played Tulzscha with Hastur though.

So your group sees Rex and Lola as below average? Wow, differing perspectives! Here's why I like Lola: First, she has four Stamina and Six Sanity, my favorite ratio. Second she has a reasonable amount of money, $6, and two clue tokens. She starts with one of everything except an ally. She has potential movement five, another big plus, and her fight goes up to four while still retaining two will. Her ability to discard a Skill should be used every turn until she has one of the really good ones, such as Mythos Lore or Disguise. Finally, I love her backstory.

I've played Rex about 4 times and others have played him and we just can't seem to get him blessed very early and when we do the clues have pretty much dried up and so two times zero is zero. It seems he gets a bunch of clues early on and then gets into a situation where he has to use them up. Lola usually gets her great skill early on and we don't do any more with her. Only once can I remember ever getting two skills with her. At a recent convention I played 11 or 12 games all but one with 6 players, so that's about 120 character draws Lola never found action and Rex was chosen once and the player (experienced) said he was the worst he ever played. They always were almost the worse of a field of two. But then Mandy got turned back once and so did Wendy. A good percentage of the players were first or few timers, so what do they know? Darrell found lots of action as did Wilson and Michael.

johnwatersfan said:

Yeah well Lola Hayes managed to screw up royally last night.

We haven't played Yog-Sothoth in a long while. But I still knew the dangers.

Dexter Drake nabbed $5 from Joe Diamond, and picked up an Elder Sign from the C.Shoppe. He then entered a gate and got this encounter: "the stairs lead both up and down. Which way to go? Pass a Luck -1 check or be Lost in Time and Space." Dexter had Luck: 0 and no clues. Elder sign wasted!

He was replaced with Lola. She first went to the bank to use her Deposity key in the next round. While there, she got a chance to get a loan for $12 instead of 10. EXCELLENT! I knew that that was just enough to buy her a skill at the Administration building and still have enough to pay off the loan. So I did that, and then accidentally got her a third skill at the Unnameable. Three skills. THREE.

Various circumstances brought Yog close to awakening; when he was at 10 out of 12 doom tokens, Lola was preparing to escape her Other World and close her gate (Another Dimension: +0). The mythos card was: gate on a seal! We were saved!

Lola even had the Grapple skill. She maxed out her fight, and rolled: 4, 3, 3, 2. Well that's one success. I'll use my one remaining clue for a 50/50 shot: 3.

**** IT

The next turn, a gate burst blew a seal. Panicked and against all odds, we sent everyone with at least 5 clues into a gate. No bother--the one rift that opened (while Joe ventured up the Kingsport Head because rift activity was low--on the way down, he was delayed multiple times and chose the wrong rift to attempt to quell) added the last doom token after another gate had opened.

Lola, ironically, was the only hope for the battle. She had both Grapple and the same skill for Will. She had two gates, and everyone else had one. She had a ton of money and the Elephant Gun. It was no use... as the battle carried on and the less important investigators were swallowed, Yog-Sothoth pulled a trick: the Key and the Gate, and killed Lola with no chance to defend her last trophy.

The point I'm trying to make is that she critically failed the most important check in the game.

Later, Lola--have fun dying eternally in nowherespace.

I've beaten Yibb-Tsill in a four player game, and I think he might even have had a -2 modifier (might've been -1, i don't remember). And we didn't just gear up for combat since the beginning, we were aiming for a sealing victory.

Re: acquatics in Kingsport. Only four locations? :' How many of those streets can you be booted out to due to encounters at adjacent locations? Check the deck :')

Re: Rex ::rolls eyes:: yeesh... You guys really aren't using him effectively. Here's a potential strategy. Send a player into a gate *immediately* (i.e. either turn one or turn two). Just close it, don't worry about sealing. Having an uncursed Rex Murphy by turn four or five with ten or more clue tokens is *well* worth the potential extra doom token.

I agree about lola being potentially fairly strong (even moreso if you get a bankloan with her and do money laundering so you can afford a skill). That way you can cycle through the deck for two high powered skills, and still hold on to your derringer when you default on your loan.

I hate Tony. I've tried to see the good in him, but I can't. Handcuffs... Yeesh. And his bounty hunter ability might be decent if he weren't such a lousy fighter.

You shouldn't underestimate Luke... Yeah, he's a little clunky, but he basically adds to the total amount of clue tokens available to the team and his basic stats are pretty strong in fight/will... Sure, his movement sucks, but he can appear nearly anywhere with his gate box (which you shouldn't necessarily use to seal gates he comes out of— if something like The Dreamlands opens, I'll just keep him popping in and out of it for clue tokens). I think Charlie is good, but overrated (especially since it seems like he's getting a weaker interpretation of his skills in which he can only choose from the eleven allies, not all the allies). Lily, also overrated— I don't like her poor starting equipment, and her stats aren't exactly amazing. On the other hand, being a built in healing stone and being able to punch through physical and magical immunities can come in handy. I wouldn't put her in my top five, but I would put her in the top ten (probably). I would like Jaqueline better if I didn't prefer using clues to seal gates... And Rex... Try playing him my way a few games and see if your luck doesn't change ;')

Avi's top five (and honestly the placement within this list would vary depending on which AO you're fighting):

1.Mandy (I shan't state the obvious).

2.Daisy (Turn One: Search for Alchemy, Next five to eight turns, get spells, become Goddess of Destruction).

3.Joe (There's nothing funny about being shotgunned in the face, said any number of AOs— also, he's fast, loaded, starts with a derringer, and has great focus, and he starts with 3 clues— despite his stats not really being anything worth bragging about. Still... Double clue token rolls... Very useful if not squandered...).

4.Wendy (Superninja, basically can dodge any monster, super fast, and most importantly, basically starts off able to seal two gates).

5.Darrell (for being able to exploit his ability to get very useful encounters— it's still useful in the expansion boards even when the main board's encounter decks are dilluted— it's even more breakable if you can get him The Dragon's Eye).

Honorable Mentions:

Rex, Luke, Leo Anderson (I'd rather have his preventative care that can affect anyone and his starting equipment than Lily's abilities), Lily, and Ashcan Pete (mostly for his ability to exploit shops in a number of instances— much more commonly than Kate and her Arcane Insight exploit).

Wilson and Michael see alot of action because they look appealing (and their fixed items sound fun to new players). Wilson I can tolerate, at least he has five sanity and can dodge encounters while gathering clues. But Michael? Bleh.

Tibs said:

Why are you blaming Lola for what is obviously a residual effect of Dexter being in the game ? Dexter jinxed your game with his presence. Put the blame on the correct investigator tibs . Incidentally, his Luck/Lore slider is one of the reason I really dislike Dexter (IIRC, his Speed/Sneak has the same options). You want to have 2-3 Luck in the OWs, but Mr. Magic is then fairly to absolutely useless if he has to resort to spell use.

Dam said:

You know what? I think you're right. I like Dexter, and his ability to weed through the ever-weak spell deck is great, but he does seem to get devoured more than his share of times. His luck was at 0, making his luck become -1 when being devoured. That negative luck tricked down to Lola, who found it completely impossible to punch a gate in the face despite her rowdy nature.

One thing I do like about Dexter though is that his speed slider goes up to 5. Drake can book it if he really needs to.

Tibs said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had a lot of practice running away during his stint in WWI . "Last to leave the trenches, first back."

I checked Dexter's sheet, Speed/Sneak wasn't as bad as I remembered, that 3/3 option is nice. Fight/Will slider on the other hand .

Dam said:

You don't need to run if you can do a stupid magic trick with smoke and mirrors.

And you can't use rolls to judge things...

We were playing Arkham one night, and someone had the former cultist (whose name eludes me at the moment).

Anyway, she was collecting clues left and right, and whenever there was a critical roll for a skill check, the player failed every time. And he'd use clues. And fail.

He probably wasted 20+ clues in the course of the game trying to pass skill checks. It was sad.

I still like Lola.

Avi_dreader said:

Feel like I need to ask how you play Rex in a Tsathoggua game (or vs Shudde if you happen to get gate opening + surge rubbling South Church say on turn 2)? Just do as you mention, go about your business even with the Curse?

Avi_dreader said:

Of course, that's one of his better strategies, but your phrase "waste a couple of turns" is exactly my point. An investigator only gets about 16-18 turns in a game. If your wasting a couple turns sitting on a gate and using (wasting) a couple of clue tokens (also equal to a turn), Rex becomes very inefficient. I'm not saying is not playable and he's also not the worst investigator, but I'd put him in the bottom 25%. It's even a waste of a turn (and a game point) for another investigator to go to the church and bless him--and that's just to bring him up to everyone else. He does have a very excellent other special rule about gathering an extra clue and he essentially has five more (I think or maybe 10) extra character points to make up for his curse.

I'm impressed with you guys you like him and even think he's a benefit to the party. I suppose it all evens out in completely random draws which the game is designed to use. IMO he just evens out the investigator pool in Kingsport and is designed for you masochists who like a tougher game and a challenge.

I've made my own Injury and Madness cards. I think I'll add masochism to the Madness deck. Maybe the rule will be subtract one from every skill check forever.

The last time he was played, I promised the player that I (Wendy) would seal a gate right away and bless Rex and that Rex should gather clues as fast as possible in anticpation. Wendy did got her gate trophey. then we drew the rumor that requires a blessing be sacrificed. Then Rex ran into trouble and used up all his clues. I don't think he ever got blessed in that rather short game. It's just hard for Rex to stay out of trouble inour games.

Dam said:

Errr... I've never actually played with Rex vs. Tsathoggua. Against Shudde the odds of A)drawing Shudde, and B)then having the South Church rubbled while C)Playing Rex are verrrrry small. In a Tsathoggua game, probably the best way to handle him would depend on which expansions you're playing— if you have a high frequency blessing location, send him there. If you have shopping to do, make him your shopper. If you have neither, probably the best use for him is to have him just pick up one or two clue tokens. Don't have him carry any items (or no more than one— so if you get knocked out, you won't have to lose it— because half rounded down of one is zero), or just have him take injuries and insanities in a game against one of these AOs so he can retire soon. What I would use him for though, is to try and seal gates with +1 and +0 modifiers. Those shouldn't be *too* difficult for him to seal, as after all, he does have five lore. So... Statistically speaking he should be able to do it in a turn or two (although realistically I'd budget three in case of unlikely rolls). Yes. It would suck to draw Rex vs. Tsathoggua :')

mageith said:

::Rolls eyes:: if you're unable to bless Rex by the fifth turn you're not trying hard enough. Honestly, it's not wasting turns if you're using them to pick up 8-10 clue tokens. If you play with a cooperative team, blessing Rex shouldn't be a problem, and after all, AH is supposed to be a cooperative game. I think I've only used Rex to bless himself once (this was before I knew that you could use South Church to bless other players— heh, two years of owning the game and I'd never read the box all the way through). And drawing the rumor that makes you sacrifice a blessing... Seriously? What are the odds of that? If that's a real concern of yours, just make sure you close two gates at the beginning of the game ::laughter:: although I wouldn't recommend it. I think the real question for you is *why* did Rex get into trouble? He should've been carrying no or one items and avoiding high risk unstable locations. And if he gets knocked out, he's proably better off taking an injury or madness than losing half his clues. Yeesh... Assuming that a game lasts 16-18 turns and you use Rex to seal two gates (6 turns), you still probably gather 8-14 extra clue tokens by playing him (i.e. he can seal gates faster, and the other players can seal gates faster too, because he makes clue token frequency higher by requiring a team to pick up less of the clue tokens because his pickups are worth more). So, if you ask me, there isn't the slightest question about whether he's in the top third or the bottom third.

I give Wendy all due credit for opening my eyes to "alternative strategy". Flashback: I've always been able to adjust strategy to each AO (some more easily than others), but even during Tsathoggua games where I tend to end up in less-used Locations looking for Clues, my Investigator play was usually the most common: adjust for survival fighting, by gun or spell. Back to the Present: Wendy is a lousy fighter. Yes, anyone can be "made" into a fighter, but my first game with her was disastrous, and you rarely get a second chance to make up for a bad first impression. I simply didn't "get" Wendy, until her fans explained her during some online popularity thread. "Hunh. Never really thought of that." Next game, I tried Wendy as the supreme Evader she is, and damned if she wasn't MVP by MIDGAME. (By Endgame, she was running the town.) And now I understand an Investigator DEVOTED to Sneak: "Let the surges ramrod the Terror Track, because I'm ignoring the monsters and concentrating completely on Gates...y'know, the part that wins the game."

Lola is FUN, because the Skill Deck is FUN. We chew through the green deck and the red deck, even the purple deck sometimes, but the yellow deck often gets one pregame round, and is then heard no more. (Yes, even with Amanda.) It's fun to try to get the Skills she has at any given time to fit the "part" she would be playing: "Speed and Bravery? I'm a postman!"

I like Tony! He's no Michael, true, but he's no **** Mark either. I agree that Handcuffs are pretty weak, but how hard is it to get him a gun? His Fight-Will ratio is still decent enough to be an effective fighter, and unlike the rest of the fighters, he can actually score off-world with his amazing Luck. Tony was the first Investigator to successfully secure the "Changed" cards for me, with a Goat-Thing, a Nightgaunt and a Cultist against Shub. (I guess I just didn't have the same First Impression that others did.)

Daisy. WOW. Just WOW. She makes Spellcasting a blast, and some of us love Spells.

Charlie and Lily. I love them, but I refuse to discuss them for any reason until a FAQ provides the icewater to cool our collective heads.

Rex is usually fun, especially the opening reaction to someone who doesn't know him, but he is a little hard to accept if you're not in a...um...forgiving mood? Rex can really piss ya off, s'all I'm sayin'. At least until he's "patched", and then he's a freakin' godsend in those critical endgames.

And then there's Luke, and whew, is he polarizing. When he works, he REALLY works, slipping around the Other Worlds like a pro. But when he's blowing it, WORLDS DIE. I can't say I'm a fan, but he's not "broken" for me by any means.

Holy crap. I guess I like all the Kingsport Investigators. Am I the target audience or what?