I love Eldritch Horror. I love it. I've had two game nights this week dedicated to it and am organizing more. Let nothing I ever say here be misconstrued as anything but a reverent question for the benevolent Messianic Figure that is Eldritch Horror.

THAT BEING SAID...

Am I misunderstanding something, or do the Mythos deck restrictions ensure that any given game will be approximately 14 turns long?

When playing with a friend, we were having an epic tussle with the Ancient One when we realized that, with only 3 cards left, were almost done.

It seems that this puts an intense new pressure on efficiency as a core component of the game's strategy.

Just confirming.

Long live EH!

I love it too. It seems a shame that it has to come to an end so soon, but you're correct, at least almost. In counting up the Mythos Deck size for each Ancient One, from the front of their respective sheets, you have the following:

Cthulhu: 15. Shub-Niggurath: 16. Yog-Sothoth: 16. Azathoth: 16.

Then you'd still have another turn (or 2/3 of a turn) even though the deck had run out, because you wouldn't lose until you could no longer draw a new mythos card..

A blessing and a curse. The beautiful part of this game is that it is so intricately balanced. The backedge of that sword is that I dare not mod in rules to create more turns.

Thank you!

One of the perennial complaints about Arkham Horror is that - on occasion - it can drag on because you have the Gates under control so Doom doesn't advance, but for the same reason, you can't end the game. In EH, if you hit a similar condition (stagnation), the Mythos deck will end the game for you. One of the design aims of EH seems to be that it have a more predictable play time.

Of course if you really want the game to last more turns you could always add more cards to the Mythos deck, but you'd have to be careful which ones so as to not disturb the Reckoning/Spawn/Rumour ratio.

Then you'd still have another turn (or 2/3 of a turn) even though the deck had run out, because you wouldn't lose until you could no longer draw a new mythos card..

You don't resolve mysteries until the end of the Mythos phase and you immediately lose if you have to draw a Mythos card and can't. While you can technically continue playing after drawing the last Mythos card, the game is effectively over: You can't win.

There was mention in the FAQ about if a circumstance occurred where the investigators would both lose and win the game at the same time they win. Even though the investigators would draw a non-existent card, it triggers the lose effect and then continues on to the end of the mythos phase. If you have the the 3rd mystery solved it would trigger a win condition for the investigators. Thus with the win and lose condition triggered, investigators win.

I suppose you could use an inHouse rule for more Mythos cards if you wanted? Like ...

>>> When the Mythos deck runs out, the GOO awakes!

>>> Create a new Mythos Deck with all the "Hard" card indicators ( P14 Ref Guide )

... That sort of thing. That way u get to play on but under extreme pressure as the GOO's stomping about the china shop again and you need to go and tell IT off ... bad GOO, BAD GOO!

Walts

I really like that you have a more set time to complete the game, you cant just go wandering around the board like in AH.

I have played two games with a group, both with a loss, and that was because there was no focus.
Part of it was my fault as I didnt stress the importance of solving mysteries. So people began just randomly moving about the board, to buff their characters, which is how we usually win in AH, by beating up the GOO in the end.

But that will not work in EH, you need a tight focus on solving the current mystery and any rumour cards that are out. If you dont delegate tasks, and redistribute Assests and clues, you are gonna lose.

Although I guess the new way the mythos deck and the GOO spawning works can draw out games, you already lost.

In the second game I played with a group (against Yog-Sothoth), we had lost the game, the doom track had run out and we had only solved one mystery, the next one needed 6 clue tokens, also there was rumour that needed 3 clue tokens. There was no way we could get all the clue tokens we needed, before the last gate would be placed on Yog-Sototh, and we just called the game instead of letting it drag on. I can see why it works the way it does, if you are on the third mystery, it can make for an intense endgame, and it was just because my group did not know the strategy yet, that we failed. To be fair it was also the first game for this particular group, so they were learning the rules at the same time.

But that game also made it clear to me how different EH plays to AH, when you look below the surface.

AH is more like an adventure, the encounters (thus far) are more interesting and have longer text, you can go around and just experience the game: i wanna become deputy! Why? Because I can! AH is lot closer to a distilled (and more than a little random) roleplaying game.

EH is a more an actual Game, you have very specific and changing tasks, you have limited time to complete these tasks and the board gives a pretty clear indication where you have to go to help complete these tasks. Need spells? Go to one of the two american locations. Need more clues? Go to London (I think? Dont have the board in front of me) to spawn more.

If you take this into account I think I can easily justify having both. Although I personally I won't, I have two friends who co-owns Arkham Horror and most of the expansions :-)