I've always felt that the Curse of the Dark Pharoah was judged too harshly by most players. It's probably my favorite small box expansion, and perhaps the single best addition to Arkham it conains are the three Dual Color gate cards, each of which allows a single player to encounter and fight an Ancient One in a specific other world.

For a long time I've let those cards gather dust in the box with the rest of the CotDP expansion (Though I like CotDp, I have my hands full with just Dunwich and Kingsport, plus the Dunwich dilution factor which would come into play if I added CotDP), but a few days ago I decided to add just those three cards to our current set-up. Tonight one of my players was Devoured by Ithaqua:)

Don't get me wrong, I would have been pleased as punch if the player had beaten Ithaqua, but having him Devoured was almost as good! Just encountering Ithaqua in that manner added greatly to the game, in my opinion. I would encourage any player who enjoys challeng and doom to keep those three cards in their Other World deck, and I wonder: With Innsmouth only adding sixteen gate cards, is there any real chance that a few of them will be dual color?

I agree that the Dual Color Gate Cards are good, but they are one of the few things from CotDP that deserves the title "good".

In all the games I've played (and thats quite a bit!) I think I've seen Dual Gate Color cards show up about 6 or 7 times. Thrice it initiated a combat. Once against Ithaqua, which was won and twice against Cthulhu which was lost. The other times the investigator was in the wrong dimension. They do make the game more exciting, even if its just for those five minutes or so. I hope that Innsmouth includes more Dual Color Gate cards.

Do you guys use the Epic Combat cards with Dual Color Gate Cards? Or is that just too hard?

Why does Arkham Horror attract so many masochists? ;')

Acebob said:

I don't. I don't think you're supposed to. But I'm not sure.

I don't use Epic Combat either. Epic Combat is supposed to be a suspenseful end to the game. It's less climactic when it occurs twice.

Also I changed my yellow/blue card to be Hastur in Lost Carcosa, as it is infinitely cooler than Shub at Yuggoth (?)

Avi, have you actually read any of Lovecraft's stories? How could a game based on those NOT attract masochists?

Seriously, though, I prefer a suspenseful and exciting defeat to a walk-over victory. "When the one great scorer comes to write against your name, he will mark, not that you won or lost, but how you played the game."

Whether you are supposed to use the Epic Combat Cards for the Dual Color gate cards has been asked. Hopefully we'll get an answer one of these days.

I loved Curse of the Dark Pharaoh when it first came out! Ancient Egyptian lore combined with the Mythos really appeals to me. But my excitement wore off pretty fast, and in retrospect, I know it wasn't just me, because my enthusiasm for the King in Yellow has never worn off. But I'm not gonna bash anything...today.

When I officially "retired" DP to my gaming closet, I took the cards that I did like and integrated them into Dunwich if they were Investigator cards, and Arkham if they were Ancient One cards. Which generally means they're in every game, since I've been using almost all Investigator cards available in them recently:

All DP Allies: Allies are still generally somewhat rare, so I don't have a problem with a fat Ally Deck. (I do split it into two decks anyway...even less of a big deal.) But even after all the current expansions, the DP ones remain unique as the ones to affect only Special Checks--every combination of any two Special Checks, in fact--as well as the only Ally with a Focus bonus. I didn't want to lose them! (BTW, I've recently House-Ruled that Sarah Danforth now brings the Book of Anubis specifically with her since I don't play with the Exhibit Deck.)

The seven Arkham Encounter cards that specifically name those nifty Allies. Some text needs to be edited if one of the other 14 Encounters on those cards is drawn, but nothing really that significant.

The three Dual Color cards. The faces I've seen when those are drawn...pure awesome. Even though I still play the Cthulhu one wrong (sez FFG).

Feeding the Mind (2): The Spell to make Vincent the Doctor an amazing Spellcaster. I think Cloud Memory is a better, more-balanced Spell, but FtM was first.

Markings of Isis (2): The "sister" to Mists of Releh in the Spellcaster Combat Survival Handbook, this is the only DP Spell that feels like it should have been in the base game all along.

Premonition (2): I initially kept this one because there used to be a lot of Upkeep shenanigans about the clever adjustment of sliders during various moments of the phase. It set up the idea that sliders COULD be moved outside of normal play without trying to loophole the rules. Of course, the Upkeep subroutines have since been reinforced into a rigid procedure, so this Spell kinda slides back into "novelty" status.

Astral Travel (1): The Nightgaunt Spell. Because it's just a HOOT.

I still miss a couple of Exhibit Items and several Mythos cards, but that nostalgia has lessened much since there are a lot of great cards in any expansion.

I still have everything mixed in, 100%.

Doesn't Corinna Jones offer +1 focus? I'm pretty sure there's another ally.

How are you playing the Cthulhu card wrong? Do you restore the sanity/stamina maximums when battle is over? Then you might as well restore all the items lost when fighting Ithaqua or the monster trophies with Shub :-P

Solan said:

If you look back to my original quote, you will notice that it contained my ironic/bemused smiley face. Yes, I've read some Lovecraft :') it was an entirely rhetorical question.

Tibs said:

Okay...I'm in a talky mood...

That's exactly what I do, because that missing max Stamina/Sanity is the ONLY thing I can think of in this entire game that has something affecting an Investigator AFTER the card or event causing it has LEFT PLAY. Ith Items are discarded...and they've gone back to the deck, like any discarded card. Shub trophies are discarded...and they've gone back to the Cup, like any discarded trophy. Cthulhu Max Stam/San is lowered...and then Cthulhu's gone, and there's NOTHING in play anywhere telling me to modify my Maximums.

A stranger walks up to my game. Duke's in play...Duke's not in play...he knows what my Maximums are. Mythos Lore is in play...Mythos Lore is not in play...he knows what my Maximums are. Third Eye is in play...Third Eye is not in play...he knows what my Maximums are. I faced Cthulhu several turns ago...Cthulhu is no longer in play...what are my Maximums? Well, of course, he can look at my heart/brain pool. But then he has to ask WHY.

I DON'T LIKE IT. And considering the great many boo-boos inside Dark Pharaoh, I simply consider it to be another slip of the gametesting.

And you can't argue theme, because I can just reject your theme and substitute my own theme.

jgt7771 said:

I guess. But I'll always see those who stumble out of R'lyeh with severely lowered maximums still lucky to be alive after a run-in with Dread Cthulhu. You shouldn't have so much of an issue tracking maximums. When I lose a maximum, I put the piece back into the box; it's now out of sight. When I lose sanity or stamina regularly, it goes off of the sheet, to the side. I'm just thrilled that the official rule is the way I've been playing it anyway. I just hope that you're not supposed to use Epic Battle, because I printed the new cards stating that you do not

If a stranger walks in and is confused about why your maximum sanity and stamina doesn't add up to all the modifiers in play, just tell him "I just barely survived a run-in with Cthulhu on his home turf!"
If he still doesn't know what you're talking about, then there is no bother further explaining Arkham Horror to him. He should go back to playing Settlers of Catan.

so reading the text on these cards am i correct in assuming that its a tougher encounter if the ancient one named on the card is not the one in play?

ie

if its say the middle of the game and cuthulhu is you slumbering ancient one only has say 6 doom tokens on him then you fight a 6 doom tokened cthulhu if you draw the dual coloured encounter card, but if azathoth is the ancient one then you take the cuthulhu ancient one from the box and tool him up with a full complement of doom tokens?

The Thing In The Attic said:

Exactly. I suspect they did it the way they did for no reason other than that it was easier to keep track of the AO's doom level after the battle was over.

Tibs said:

Agreed. I love the idea that Cthulhu causes permanent crippling for characters who fight him :') and lets face it, no one is forcing you to have your characters come back crippled ;'D they don't need to come back at all.