Hey all, really simple question. Normally, I like to add expansions to a game in the order they were released, since they tend to build on each other, or the first one seems like the most valuable. With Arkham Horror, however, I find the later expansions much more interesting. Innsmouth as a setting is way more appealing to me than kingsport -- I haven't read much Lovecraft, but everybody knows about the Deep Ones and the Innsmouth Look. Both of those seems more appealing than Dunwich, just because they come with new investigators. On the small expansion front, King in Yellow and Lurker are the coolest thematically, while Black Goat looks like the best bang for my buck when it comes to adding more challenge. So, the question is:

Is there anything lost by buying Innsmouth->Kingsport->Dunwich? Or Goat->Lurker->Yellow->Pharaoh?

I'm no authority on this, but…

Most discussions about which order to get the expansions in seem to pretty much agree that Dunwich is best bought first because it includes injuries and madnesses.

The consensus seems to be that madnes and injury should probably have been part of the base game and, once played, you'll never want to play without them - whether you include the rest of the expansion or not. I've not seen any other part of an expansion talked about as being as important (though epic battles and personal stories may come close).

Indeed, Injuries and Madnesses are a fundamental twist in the game. Plus Dunwich has a lot of new small items and adds some new unstable locations and has a ton of new monsters and great Ancient Ones; this expansion adds a lot of new stuff in each "category", while other big box lack in something (no new small cards in Innsmouth, no new unstable locations in Kingsport, so it's not suggested as first expansion, even if is probably - IMHO - the best second expansion ever).

Clearly, you can also consider picking up a small expansion, but if you really want to boost the game, go for Dunwich first.

Finally, my strongest suggestion is: search this forum for similar threads. You'll find hundreds of answers detailing the pros and the cons of each expansion, so that you can figure out what fits better your desires

Dunwich first - Injuries and Madnesses and expands the gate pool to up the difficulty level a bit.

Big boxes tend to give more bang for your buck, except Miskatonic Horror which should always be last.

Small boxes doesn't matter so much. I prefer CotDP, but they've all got something to add to the game.

Don't ignore the fan-created content: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/898104/fans-of-fan-created-content-fofcc-post-here-ah-ver

Two things.

First, I get the impression that you don't think Dunwich adds new investigators. It does (and some really fun ones to). There are 8 new investigators in Dunwich, 8 in Kingsport and 16 in Insmouth so don't skip Dunwich just because you want new investigators.

Second, personaly I kind of like the Black Goat but if you want it to make a real impact on the game you pretty much have to play with the herald. I saw that you want a greater challange but beware, the Black Goat herald can be really brutal sometimes and I would recomend you to get one of the other small boxes first. Both because you can then get started with another herald and also if you get tired of using the herald BG will not offer as much other stuff as the others. Watch out for the Lurker though since this herald actually makes the game easier (but the new gates from it's expansion can be a bit hard).

And I must agree with Julia, this is probably one of the most common questions here so there are tons of good material for decision making.

Tbla said:

Bottom Line: Dunwich completes Arkham. If FFG had put out the intended game all at once, it would have been Arkham + Dunwich, but (a) they didn't want to scare us off before we were all hooked, and (b) Dunwich makes for a great straightforward expansion. Dunwich brings the Madness/Injury deck (brilliant), fills out the Monster Cup with a bit more deadliness, provides a few more Investigators that are a tad more "advanced" in their mechanics, fills out all your Item decks with much-welcomed variety, and brings a couple of Ancient Ones that start you down the road of "just how bad can they be?"

Really, it's what your game should have been from the beginning. Everything after that is icing.