Surviving Avi's Fan League :-)

By eagermind, in Fan Creations

Uuuuuh, you risked to lose the game at turn 4 with 7 gates open...

Ah. I see what happened here. It's just the way you phrased the sentence. It sounds like you were saying the risk was losing the game at turn 4 with 7 gates open. Welllll... That sort of is what you said, actually ;'D The only way to know that's not what you meant would have been studying the context it was referring to more carefully :'D

If you said something like, "At turn four, you had seven open gates, and risked losing the game" it would have been clear, but the way it's phrased it sounds like the risk was losing "at turn 4 with 7 gates open."

So that's what confused both of us. I was a bit surprised you "made" a mistake about a rule like that, since you seem to have a better memory for rules than me.

Anyway, back to the threshold.

:laughter: ok, I see what you mean. Thanks for clarifying the nature of the misleading point.

Bonus Scenario: Avi created this League with many Heralds / AO in mind but before I started creating my custom content for Arkham. He said it was a pity because some were good and they could have been used for the League, so that, in the end, he agreed in allowing me to design 4 "bonus scenarios", not linked to the main flow of the events (so, don't expect any extra narrative or so) to showcase something nasty. I designed the first one last summer (who knows where it's buried now...), and took notes on two more. Considering you're half way through the League, it's better if I finish these Scenarios before it's too late. Clearly, you'll still be considered a "winner" of the League even if you don't play with the bonus four, but in case you want to... well, it could be an interesting challenge.

Julia...It would be a pleasure :-). But Take it easy, I still have a long road ahead before I can take the bonus ones. Anyway I am curious... and I do not think I will be disappointed :-)

Bonus Scenario: Avi created this League with many Heralds / AO in mind but before I started creating my custom content for Arkham. He said it was a pity because some were good and they could have been used for the League, so that, in the end, he agreed in allowing me to design 4 "bonus scenarios", not linked to the main flow of the events (so, don't expect any extra narrative or so) to showcase something nasty. I designed the first one last summer (who knows where it's buried now...), and took notes on two more. Considering you're half way through the League, it's better if I finish these Scenarios before it's too late. Clearly, you'll still be considered a "winner" of the League even if you don't play with the bonus four, but in case you want to... well, it could be an interesting challenge.

Julia...It would be a pleasure :-). But Take it easy, I still have a long road ahead before I can take the bonus ones. Anyway I am curious... and I do not think I will be disappointed :-)

Yeah, but I know me pretty well... better starting the engine soonish... I'm a very slow diesel...

Scenario 12 in Hard mode

Joe, Marie, Michael, Roland and Sister Mary in a spider nightmare.

Starting items:

Sister Mary : Holy water, Cross,Wither & Mist of Releh – Mental fortitude skill (exhaust/pass horror check)

Joe: 45 automatic, Time bomb & safety key deposit- +1 Will skill

Marie: Voice of Ra, Enchanted Knife, Plumb the void & sigil of hermes – Ancient language skill (exhaust/pass spell check).

Michael: Tommy gun, Dynamite and Puzzle box- +1 Lore & 4 monster trophies

Roland: Shotgun, Holy Water & Earl Sawyer Ally (+1 Fight/+1 Sneak) - Stealth Skill.

All investigators start with a random green corruption. At the same time Joe starts with Delirium Madness and Sister Mary with Arachnofobia.

4 leng spiders patrolling eastown, miskatonic & northside streets.

First Mythos -Gate at Witch house guarded by a Rat Thing. A rusty train releases a cultist & a Goat spawn at the northside streets.

1 st Turn: Marie as usual gets money from Michael and goes to the Magick shop to buy spells. She buys a find gate spell. Before going there she gives Voice of Ra spell to Michael. He will need it for the next turn. Joe gains two clues from the safe deposit key and then moves to Easttown streets and kills the 1 st Leng spider (unfortunately using some of his clues).. Sister Mary evades a copy spider on the way to Miskatonic streets where she purifies the 2 nd Leng spider with her Holy water. Meanwhile Michael passes by Sister Mary giving her his puzzle box and stops at Merchant district where he fights a spider copy . Finally Roland sneaks by a copy spider and collects clue at independence sq . Mythos opens a gate in the Woods. Marie gains one extra corruption.

2 nd Turn: Joe collects 2 clues at the black cave, while Sister Mary collects the other two clues at the Historical society . Roland goes to Hibbs and pays 2$ to get his 5 th clue passing his PS. Marie also passes her PS by buying alchemical process spell. Finally Michael gets his stats buffed after casting Voice of Ra and moves north where he has a lot of hard work to do. First he deals with the cultist & Goat spawn passing his PS. Then he dynamites the 3 rd Leng spider & uses his tommy gun for the last Leng spider. Now that there are no more spiders it is time to focus on her mother, the spider queen. Mythos: Gate at Science Building with a Warlock. Marie’s corruptions get activated again. This time she loses two sanity and gains two clues.

3 rd Turn: Uneventful turn where everybody continues gathering clues and planning maybe for an all together dive into gates on the following turns. Mythos opens a gate at the Unnamable where Marie was. She wakes up in the Abyss. Maries corruption gets activated again gaining 2 more clues and losing 2 sanity..she is getting in the verge of nervous breakdown.

4 th Turn: Roland goes through the gate in the Science building. Joe& Michael go shopping at the curisiosity shop . Joe finds a cheap King in Yellow tome and Michael buys without hesitation Livre d’Ivon. He has a bold plan. Sister Mary with some money borrowed from Joe goes to the Hospital to recover her stamina. Mythos opens a gate at the Unvisited Isle releasing a maniac which moves to the street together with a Skeleton who was at the Unnamable.

5 th Turn: Sister Mary jumps into the gate at the woods. Michael reads first Livre d’Ivon Tome and by successfully passing the Lore test , he can take any spell. He chooses “Arcane Insight” spell and pays 2 sanity which he recovers later by killing the two monsters at the Merchant districts streets. Afterwards Joes goes through the gate at Unvisited Isle. Roland continues in Plateu of Length. Finally Marie casts find gate and returns to the Unnamable. She could stay there 2-3 turns and wait for a simultaneous gate closure, but I don’t think she can hold it since she is only at 1 sanity, so better be off with it. She decides to close the gate. She has to summon a monster (due to Elder god difficulty) and a Byakhee appears , she disposes of it with her enchanted knife and closes the gate. Mythos is a monster surge at the woods.

6 th Turn: In the next upkeep Michael uses one clue to cast Arcane insight and check the next 3 mythos cards. Then next mythos was supposed to open a gate at Dagon’s order and the second one was opening a gate at Independence Sq. He puts the 3 rd mythos on top which is a monster surge at Unvisited Isle. Marie moves first this time, she gets the Arcane insight spell from Michael and rushes to the Asylum in order to recover sanity. Michael then goes through a gate at the witch House. Joe& Sister Mary travel to their respective 2 nd area of the other worlds and finally Roland comes back to Arkham. He evades a summoned Colour out of space and closes the gate at the Science building. The mythos causes a monster surge at the unvisited isle and Maries corruption get activated again. She gets 2 clues and goes insane getting two madnesses (agoraphobia & claustrophobia).

7 th Turn: Mary starts by exhausting her Ancient Language skill and casting Arcane Insight. This way she puts “The next act begins” KiY mythos from the 3 rd place to the top of the mythos deck. Then she casts Plumb the Void and brings Michael back to the witch House. Joe& Sister Mary come also back from Arkham. Joe is the first one to close the gate at Unvisted Isle after defeating a Ghoul. Then Sister Mary evades a crawling one and closes the gate at the Woods. Finally Michael has to summon 4 monsters since it is the last opened gate: 1 st one is a witch no problem there. Then he evades a Cthonian and a Flying Polyp with his last clues and the last one is a Mi-go. He then closes the last gate at the Witch House….an it is a Victory by closing gates (one each investigator).

Madness cards: 4, Corruptions: 7 Doom track : 5 Terror Level: 0.

I realize now that I completely forgot to use Marie’s witch blood ability this time.Anyway after dealing with the initial spider thread, it was basically an Atlach-Nacha game with corruptions and a high risk to get injuries/madnesses.

I am looking forward to the next segment. I was a little bit tired to play with the same investigators the last scenarios again and again…. Now I get a new investigator pool J .

PS: As a side note I must admit that I finally “succumbed to the trend”….Yes I bought Eldritch Horror and have already played 3 games. Who knows? Maybe In some years there will be another fan league for Eldritch Horror J .

Uh, uh, closing victory on the last chapter of the segment, uh? And on hard mode :D Well done, sir, congrats!

I agree, 7 games with the same investigators are quite a lot. The next segment is shorter, and certainly you'll find playing Monterey enthralling ;)

A final note: I noticed your name among EH contributors list. Happy you like that game as well ;)

Nice win :'D Glad you squished the spider on your first try. I hate Atlach :'r

So what were your favorite and least favorite scenarios from segment two?

Enjoy the next segment :'D

Thanks Avi.

My favorite scenarios are 9 & 11. I like the 9th because Shudde M'ell has always been one of my favorite ancient ones. If I remember right, It was a close call with so many monster surges. I had fun.

I think Scenario 11th was one of the toughest in Elder god difficulty, but I really enjoyed playing as an outlaw from The Sheldon Gang :-).

I also liked scenario 8th. It is always nice to play with a new custom-made Ancient One.

My least favorites are 7 & 10 & 12. The game with Ithaqua was the worst one. I hated the crippling wind effect from Wendigo... In my game I think it was paired with a nasty environtment from mythos deck that slowed even more investigator's movement resulting in having a team of snails :-).

Scenario 10th: I hate Shub and I hate even more muscled Dark Youngs :-)....and Atlach, what can I say? It is always uncomfortable to play against it... I am glad I passed the scenarios, but I don't feel like playing them again.

I think also as a whole segment 1 was better than segment 2.

I have one question for segment 3: I do not own the old version of CotDP...is it ok to play with the revised edition? Segment 3 seems to focus a lot on CotDP items, so I do not know if I have to make some tweaks.?

I can see the rules say that at the start of a scenario, one investigator without an Exhibit item may randomly draw one. Does it count for the first scenario on segment 3?

Cheers -Enric

Edited by eagermind

Eagermind,

I can't but agree. Even for me, Segment 1 was better than Segment 2. Actually, I believe Segment 3 is the best in the League, followed immediately by Segment 1. So, I do hope you can enjoy further the coming Scenarios ;)

As for your question about the new Pharaoh, Avi answered in his blog:

NOTE: if you are using Revised Curse of the Dark Pharoah, make or use copies of the Barred from Neighborhood cards.

so, I guess, a little print-and-play is required, but only for Scenario 14. The other in the mix are ok with the new Pharaoh :)

Well, I can't complain, segment one and three are my favorites ;') although I have some scenarios in segment two and four I'm fairly pleased with. I actually *like* the Ithaqua scenario for those atrocious movement penalties!

And yeah, I'm not 100% sure how it'll work with new Pharoah ;'D but it should work more or less.

Well, I can't complain

I never imagined I'd have read something like you are not complaining :devil:

:P :p :P :p :P :p :P :p :P

Well, I can't complain

I never imagined I'd have read something like you are not complaining :devil:

:P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P

The apocalypse is definitely at hand ;')

Scenario 13 in Hard mode

Mandy,Monterey, Ursula, Minh Thi and Darrell against Nyarlathotep.

Starting items:

Mandy : Ancient tome, Sedanette, For the greater god mission - +1 Luck skill.

Monterey : .38Revolver, Bull whip, Mi-go brain case & Cabala of Saboth- Expert occultist skill

Ursula : Bull whip, Ley line map, Alien device & Cabala of Saboth – +1 Luck skill

Minh Thi : KiY tome, Dynamite, Shotgun, Lamp of Alhazred& Bind Monster spell- Mystic gift skill

Darrell : Research Materials, Palid Mask & Warding statue - Disguise Skill.

Ursula starts with a random Exhibit item: Mask of the Black Pharaoh.

First Mythos -Gate at Witch house guarded by a Dark Young.

1 st Turn: Mandy, Ursula and Minh Thi meet up at the Silver Twilight Lodge looking for a membership. It is only Ursula who gets it. Minh Thi gets though Mandy& Ursula tomes . Mandy is successful sneaking into the lodge and can savage a make-up kit and a press pass. Meanwhile the guys meet up at the Curiosity shop and they buy some magical weapons . Mythos opens a gate at the Graveyard and a rat thing moves to the rivertown streets.

2 nd Turn: Mandy& Minh Thi are joined by Darrell at the Silver Twilight lodge, but neither of them is lucky enough to get a membership, although Minh Thi finds a Gladius of Carcosa. Monterey starts collecting clues and Ursula kills the Rat thing roaming the streets. Mythos is a monster surge at the Graveyard. A hideous Shoggoth moves onto Ursula. Due to some bizarre couriers investigators can exchange items by paying 1 sanity. This way Ursula gets a Gladius from Minh Thi.

3 rd Turn: Ursula kills the Shoggoth and a witch on the rivertown streets and passes her PS. Mandy, Minh Thi and Darrell stay at the STL begging Carl Stanford for a membership. None of them get it. Darrell gets even kick out to the street and stripped of his clues L . Monterey goes to the Unvisited Isle and gets the three clues lying there bringing him up to 5 clues and failing his PS. The Skinless one appears at the Unnamable. Mythos opens a gate at Independence sq .guarded by a Skeleton.

4th Turn: Mandy, Minh Thi and Darrell continue at the STL and still no luck. Mandy finds two clues there spawing another Mask monster. This time is the black man who appears in the black Cave. Monterey & Ursula go through gates to Great Hall of Celeano and both get delayed L . Mythos opens a gate at Gardners place.

5 th Turn: Min Thi finally succeeds at reading all her tomes and passes her PS getting Basil Elton as an Ally as a reward. Since she gained 5 clues after reading the KiY tome with the Press pass, another mask monster pops up at Hibb’s (The beast). Mandy gets her membership finally. Minh Thi and Darrell are still trying to get a membership from Carl Stanford. Ursula & Monty continue on other worlds. Mythos opens a gate at Wizard Hill with a Maniac.

6 th Turn: Finally Minh Thi gets her TSL membership. Mandy goes through the gate in the graveyard. I guess Darrell will be then relegated to patrol the streets, but before that he heads back to the curiosity shop for more goodies. He buys a seeker of the yellow sign which will put in use next turn. No major events in other worlds; though Ursula finds a useful Illuminated script in the Great hall of Celeano. Mythos: gate at the Unvisited Isle with a Lloigor.

7 th Turn : Minh Thi goes north direction to Dunwich, she meets Darell in the northside streets from whom she borrows money. Darrell discards the seeker of the yellow sign to pass the horror check against the Skinless one. Then he manages to kill the monster with Gladius/Golden sword Yha-talla. Monterey & Ursula come back this time to Arkham, but only Ursula manages to seal the gate at Independence sq sending the Beast back to the Mask pool. Mandy is still in the city of the great Race. Mythos: monster surge at Wizards Hill. A witch goes through a vortex adding the first Dunwich doomer.

8 th Turn : Monterey & Mandy seal gates at Witch House and Graveyard respectively. Minh thi takes the train to Dunwich and kills one witch in the Village commons. Ursula goes to the Asylum to get some sanity back and has enough movement to read the Book of believer rewarding her with one clue. Finally Darrell who lost his retainer has 5$ left and goes to The curiosty shop again and tries his luck. He buys the “De vermiis mysteriis” Tome. Mythos: Gate at witch house, which is sealed J . A crawling one goes through another vortex…Dunwich Horror is closer to awakening.

9 th Turn : Minh Thi goes through the gate at Gardners Place to Yuggoth. Ursula stays at the Asylum and reads the Illuminated script gaining another clue. Mandy kills the cultist at the graveyard and Monterey collects clue at Science Building. He meets there a student with a dimensional beam machine that can eventually close gates. At this moment there are 3 gates opened now (2 to yuggoth in Dunwich and 1 to another time at Unvisited Isle). Why not? Let’s give it a try… As a result the gate at Wizard’s hill is closed. Finally Darell collects clue at Train station. Mythos is a monster surge at Unvisited Isle.

10 th Turn : Darrell kills a formeless spawn roaming the merchant district streets while the other investigators start collecting clues: Mandy at Historical society, Monterey at the woods and Ursula at Darke’s Carnival. Minh Thi has an uneventful turn in Yuggoth. Myhtos : gate at Witch House which is sealed.

11 th Turn : Darrell successfully read the Vermiis Misteriis and closes the gate at Unvisited Isle. Minh Thi seals the gate at Gartners` Place…. 5 gates trophies achiving another victory by closing gates J

Doom track : 6

Terror level : 2

I liked the scenario, specially the “2+ clues mechanic”. It makes you plan carefully when you can risk having more mask monsters on the board, although it can be a long game if you do not get a TSL membership earlier on the game.

I am looking forward to the next scenario. It looks more...menacing :-)

Eagermind,

first of all, thank you. For reminding me the place I belong. In the last thee months I was snowed under with games to playtest and I dropped Arkham after the games played at the beginning of January. Reading your chronicle made me feel such an intense nostalgia that I'm setting up the table for a new game right now. Really, thank you.

As for your game: congratulations for passing it on the first try :) Sorry you had to wait so long to get all the Membership required, but hey, you won, so the extra turns were not a big impediment on your march.

And welcome to the third segment. I'm really curious to see how you'll approach the next games, and how you'll like them. For me, this has been the best segment of the entire League. Maybe not the most challenging, but certainly one of the most interesting as mechanics and for the theme.

Good luck with what's to come :)

JULIA

You're welcome Julia. You made me blush :wub: . Reciprocally I should also thank you ;) . I must admit that more than once after reading your "intense" game reports , I was suddenly in the mood for playing Arkham(I can actually recall one nightmare game you reported I think for New years with Yog-sothoth-Hydra/Dagon? that made me play Arkham with same AO/heralds/investigators straight away :) ).

Cheers

Enric

:blush: too :D

Aye, Yog was the first this year, with Rex. I won with the DOR at 5 and the doom track at 11, IIRC. What a game!

Then good if there is a mutual encouragement in playing Arkham!

Now we should force Avi to dust the board and play an Atlach game with my herald in! That's the dream (at least, mine) :devil:

:blush: too :D

Aye, Yog was the first this year, with Rex. I won with the DOR at 5 and the doom track at 11, IIRC. What a game!

Then good if there is a mutual encouragement in playing Arkham!

Now we should force Avi to dust the board and play an Atlach game with my herald in! That's the dream (at least, mine) :devil:

You want to force an old man out of retirement, and into a game where he'd end up losing? Are you trying to make me use Patrice? ;'D

How many investigators would you recommend for the Atlach game with your herald? Might be a bit of an interesting project for a weeknight sometime in the next month...

And welcome to the third segment... For me, this has been the best segment of the entire League. Maybe not the most challenging, but certainly one of the most interesting as mechanics and for the theme.

They can't all be the most challenging ;'D

@Eagermind

Glad you're still enjoying these. I wish that scenario on hard mode was a bit more challenging for you ;'D doom track six, ouch. I feel like I should have thought it through more. On the other hand, you could try playing it again with no free Twilight Lodge membership :'D and the all-star four investigator team of Jack, Mary, Vincent, Dexter!

@Eagermind

Glad you're still enjoying these. I wish that scenario on hard mode was a bit more challenging for you ;'D doom track six, ouch. I feel like I should have thought it through more. On the other hand, you could try playing it again with no free Twilight Lodge membership :'D and the all-star four investigator team of Jack, Mary, Vincent, Dexter!

Hmmm... so, not the dreaded Vincent and his Vincent-clones game we are all afraid of... :P

:blush: too :D

Aye, Yog was the first this year, with Rex. I won with the DOR at 5 and the doom track at 11, IIRC. What a game!

Then good if there is a mutual encouragement in playing Arkham!

Now we should force Avi to dust the board and play an Atlach game with my herald in! That's the dream (at least, mine) :devil:

You want to force an old man out of retirement, and into a game where he'd end up losing? Are you trying to make me use Patrice? ;'D

How many investigators would you recommend for the Atlach game with your herald? Might be a bit of an interesting project for a weeknight sometime in the next month...

Hey, don't cheat! When you accepted the challenge (two years ago, or something) we decided for "no Patrice" otherwise there's a need for a rematch ;) Anyhoo... five should beat it. Atlach's not that complex, though. It's just boooooooooooring... so, some extra spice with Heralds is needed!

And welcome to the third segment... For me, this has been the best segment of the entire League. Maybe not the most challenging, but certainly one of the most interesting as mechanics and for the theme.

They can't all be the most challenging ;'D

:laughter: fair point ;)

@Eagermind

Glad you're still enjoying these. I wish that scenario on hard mode was a bit more challenging for you ;'D doom track six, ouch. I feel like I should have thought it through more. On the other hand, you could try playing it again with no free Twilight Lodge membership :'D and the all-star four investigator team of Jack, Mary, Vincent, Dexter!

I like actually more the scenarios with a constant threat (even if it becomes a smaller one due to good items, lucky circumstances,... ) like the last one, than the scenarios with a huge initial threat, but after solving it, becoming a normal Arkham game.

For the next scenario I can't use Mandy or Darrell on hard mode....then I am thinking of taking Vincent as the fifth investigator (just for making it more challenging ) :-). I know I am going to regret it if I do it.

I like actually more the scenarios with a constant threat (even if it becomes a smaller one due to good items, lucky circumstances,... ) like the last one, than the scenarios with a huge initial threat, but after solving it, becoming a normal Arkham game.

Yes, I had the same feeling. Somehow the game seems impossible but only because of the starting conditions, then, when the major threat is resolved, you can play as normal Arkham. The last segment of Scenarios is the most interesting under this point of view.

Anyhoo, good luck against Nyarly + Vincent ;)

:blush: too :D

Aye, Yog was the first this year, with Rex. I won with the DOR at 5 and the doom track at 11, IIRC. What a game!

Then good if there is a mutual encouragement in playing Arkham!

Now we should force Avi to dust the board and play an Atlach game with my herald in! That's the dream (at least, mine) :devil:

You want to force an old man out of retirement, and into a game where he'd end up losing? Are you trying to make me use Patrice? ;'D

How many investigators would you recommend for the Atlach game with your herald? Might be a bit of an interesting project for a weeknight sometime in the next month...

Hey, don't cheat! When you accepted the challenge (two years ago, or something) we decided for "no Patrice" otherwise there's a need for a rematch ;) Anyhoo... five should beat it. Atlach's not that complex, though. It's just boooooooooooring... so, some extra spice with Heralds is needed!

To paraphrase James Joyce, cells are born and die, all my cells from then are gone, hence I am other I, physically a different person. I will not be bound by the forgotten words of my dead clone.

However ;') the Patrice part was a joke. I'd sooner rot in spider hell than play her.