Arkham Horror: Great Old One? Eh, just shoot it.

[Thatwasademo]

Player order has been decided randomly. I will link to the wiki page for game elements (such as items) as they appear throughout the game for your convenience (and so you can look at the art), but will also provide all relevant information in the summary at the end of each game post. Let us begin.

Setup: Investigators
(in player order, which was decided randomly)
Aestrix chooses Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist, and begins the game in Arkham Asylum with 6 Sanity, 4 Stamina, $7, and 1 Clue Token.
jalapeno_dude is assigned Gloria Goldberg, the Author, and begins the game in Velma's Diner with 6 Sanity, 4 Stamina, $7, and 2 Clue Tokens.
Tamien chooses Mandy Thompson, the Researcher, and begins the game in the Library with 5 Sanity, 5 Stamina, $6, and 4 Clue Tokens.
Bethesda is assigned Michael McGlen, the Gangster, and begins the game in Ma's Boarding House with 3 Sanity, 7 Stamina, $8, Dynamite, and a Tommy Gun.
pistachi0n chooses Kate Winthrop, the Scientist, and begins the game in the Science Building with 6 Sanity, 4 Stamina, $7, and 2 Clue Tokens, one of which is taken from the Science Building instead of from the bank.

Setup: Random Possessions
Carolyn Fern (Aestrix) receives 2 Unique Items: Cultes Des Goules, Nameless Cults; 2 Common Items: .18 Derringer, Cavalry Saber; and 1 Skill: Bravery.
Gloria Goldberg (jalapeno_dude) receives 2 Common Items: .38 Revolver, .38 Revolver; 2 Spells: Shrivelling, Heal; and 1 Skill: Lore.
Mandy Thompson (Tamien) receives 2 Common Items: Ancient Tome, Tommy Gun; 1 Unique Item: Cabala of Saboth; and 1 Skill: Speed.
Michael McGlen (Bethesda) receives 1 Unique Item: Holy Water, and 1 Skill: Stealth.
Kate Winthrop (pistachi0n) receives 1 Common Item: Cross; 1 Unique Item: Healing Stone; 2 Spells: Bind Monster, Wither; and 1 Skill: Sneak.

Setup: Mythos
You are facing Hastur, The King in Yellow. Doom Track starts at 0/13.
Slum Murders Continue!
A gate to the City of the Great Race opens in the Woods, advancing the Doom Track (1/13), destroying 1 Clue and releasing a Formless Spawn and Warlock.
A second Clue appears at the Historical Society.
No monsters move.
(Headline) An old basement is opened, releasing 2 monsters (Cultist, Dark Young) into the Easttown streets.
Carolyn Fern (Aestrix) is First Player.

Turn 1: Upkeep


Carolyn Fern (Aestrix): 6/6 Sanity, 4/4 Stamina, 2 Focus, $7, 1 Clue, First Player

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Speed 0 1 2 3 | Fight 1 2 3 4 | Lore 2 3 4 5
Sneak 3 2 1 0 | Will  4 3 2 1 | Luck 5 4 3 2


Psychology (Innate): Upkeep: Dr. Fern may restore 1 Sanity to herself or another character in her location. She cannot raise a character's Sanity higher than that character's maximum Sanity.
Bravery (Skill): Any Phase: Exhaust to re-roll a Horror check.
Cultes Des Goules (Tome, $3 Unique Item): Movement: Exhaust and spend 2 movement points to make a Lore (-2) check. If you pass, draw 1 Spell and gain 1 Clue token, but lose 2 Sanity and discard Cultes Des Goules. If you fail, nothing happens.
Nameless Cults (Tome, $3 Unique Item): Movement: Exhaust and spend 1 movement point to make a Lore (-1) check. If you pass, draw 1 Spell, lose 1 Sanity, and discard Nameless Cults. If you fail, nothing happens.
.18 Derringer (Physical Weapon, 1 Hand, $3 Common Item): +2 Combat check. .18 Derringer cannot be lost or stolen unless you choose to allow it.
Cavalry Saber (Physical Weapon, 1 Hand, $3 Common Item): +2 Combat check.


Gloria Goldberg (jalapeno_dude): 6/6 Sanity, 4/4 Stamina, 2 Focus, $7, 2 Clues

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Speed 1 2 3 4 | Fight 0 1 2 3 | Lore 1 2 3 4
Sneak 3 2 1 0 | Will  5 4 3 2 | Luck 5 4 3 2


Psychic Sensitivity (Innate): Other World Encounter: When drawing gate encounters in Other Worlds, Gloria draws two cards that match the color of one of the Other World's encounter symbols, then chooses whichever one of the two she wants. This ability does not work when drawing location encounters in Arkham.
Lore (Skill): +1 Lore. When you spend a Clue token to add to any Lore check, add one extra bonus die.
.38 Revolver (Physical Weapon, 1 Hand, $4 Common Item): +3 Combat check.
.38 Revolver (Physical Weapon, 1 Hand, $4 Common Item): +3 Combat check.
Shrivelling (Magical Spell, 1 Hand): Casting Modifier: -1, Sanity Cost: 1, Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to gain +6 to Combat checks until the end of this combat.
Heal (Magical Spell): Casting Modifier: +1, Sanity Cost: 1, Upkeep: You may cast and exhaust. You or another investigator in your area gains Stamina equal to the successes you rolled on your Spell check. This Stamina cannot be split between multiple investigators.


Mandy Thompson (Tamien): 5/5 Sanity, 5/5 Stamina, 2 Focus, $6, 4 Clues

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Speed 1 2 3 4 | Fight 0 1 2 3 | Lore 1 2 3 4
Sneak 5 4 3 2 | Will  5 4 3 2 | Luck 3 2 1 0


Research (Innate): Any Phase: Once per turn, Mandy can activate this ability after any investigator (including herself) makes a skill check. That investigator then re-rolls all of the dice rolled for that check that did not result in successes.
Speed (Skill): +1 Speed. When you spend a Clue token to add to any Speed check, add one extra bonus die.
Ancient Tome (Tome, $4 Common Item): Movement: Exhaust and spend 2 movement points to make a Lore (-1) check. If you pass, draw 1 Spell and discard Ancient Tome. If you fail, nothing happens.
Tommy Gun (Physical Weapon, 2 Hands, $7 Common Item): +6 Combat check.
Cabala of Saboth (Tome, $5 Unique Item): Movement: Exhaust and spend 2 movement points to make a Lore (-2) check. If you pass, draw 1 Skill and discard Cabala of Saboth. If you fail, nothing happens.


Michael McGlen (Bethesda): 3/3 Sanity, 7/7 Stamina, 1 Focus, $8, 0 Clues

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Speed 2 3 4 5 | Fight 3 4 5 6 | Lore 0 1 2 3
Sneak 4 3 2 1 | Will  4 3 2 1 | Luck 3 2 1 0


Strong Body (Innate): Any Phase: Michael reduces all Stamina losses he suffers by 1, to a minimum of 0.
Stealth (Skill): Any Phase: Exhaust to re-roll an Evade check.
Dynamite (Physical Weapon, 2 Hands, $4 Common Item): +8 to one Combat check. (Discard after use)
Tommy Gun (Physical Weapon, 2 Hands, $7 Common Item): +6 Combat check.
Holy Water (Magical Weapon, 2 Hands, $4 Unique Item): +6 to one Combat check. (Discard after use)


Kate Winthrop (pistachi0n): 6/6 Sanity, 4/4 Stamina, 1 Focus, $7, 2 Clues

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Speed 1 2 3 4 | Fight 1 2 3 4 | Lore 2 3 4 5
Sneak 5 4 3 2 | Will  3 2 1 0 | Luck 4 3 2 1


Science! (Innate): Any Phase: Gates and monsters cannot appear in Kate's location due to her flux stabilizer. Monsters and gates do not disappear if she enters their location, however, and monsters can move into her location as usual.
Sneak (Skill): +1 Sneak. When you spend a Clue token to add to any Sneak check, add one extra bonus die.
Cross (Magical Weapon, 1 Hand, $3 Common Item): +0 Combat check (+3 if Opponent is Undead). +1 Horror check.
Healing Stone ($8 Unique Item): Upkeep: You may gain 1 Stamina or 1 Sanity. Discard Healing Stone if the Ancient One awakens.
Bind Monster (Magical Spell, 2 Hands): Casting Modifier: +4, Sanity Cost: 2, Any Phase: Cast and Discard this spell to pass one Combat check. You must roll successes equal to the monster's toughness to cast this spell. This spell doesn't work on Ancient Ones.
Wither (Magical Spell, 1 Hand): Casting Modifier: +0, Sanity Cost: 0, Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to gain +3 to Combat checks until the end of this combat.


Monster List:
Formless Spawn (Woods): Movement: Normal / Hexagon, Evade: +0, Horror: -1 / 2 Sanity, Combat: -2 / 2 Toughness / 2 Stamina; Physical Immunity.
Warlock (Woods): Movement: Stationary / Circle, Evade: -2, Horror: -1 / 1 Sanity, Combat: -3 / 2 Toughness / 1 Stamina; Magical Immunity. If you pass a Combat check against Warlock, remove it from the game and gain 2 Clue tokens.
Cultist (Eastside): Movement: Flying / Crescent, Evade: -3, Horror: None, Combat: -2 / 1 Toughness / 1 Stamina; Is modified by Hastur's Worshipper effect.
Dark Young (Eastside): Movement: Stationary / Hexagon, Evade: -2, Horror: +0 / 3 Sanity, Combat: -1 / 3 Toughness / 3 Stamina; Physical Resistance, Nightmarish 1.



Everyone, please post your initial skill slider positions.
(Technically, this was supposed to be done during Setup, before the first Mythos card was revealed, and then you would only be able to move the sliders using Focus, but the advantage gained from the extra knowledge is small in the grand scheme of things (he said, echoing a central theme of Lovecraft's work), and I really didn't want to pause during setup just to ask about skill sliders)
Aestrix, please additionally select a location to move to (and path, if significant, or tomes read on the way, if you desire to read some).
(Other players may of course also post their movement plans at this time.)


Comments on format are welcome, especially comments on the size of that map (Is it, perhaps, too big? Or, somehow, too small?). Feel free to ask questions if you're confused about anything.

[Thatwasademo]

Okay, so that's a lot of info all at once. I should know, I had to type it. But what does it all mean? Well, let's start by asking a certain famous set of three questions.

What do you want?
The objective of the game is to either seal away the Ancient One before he can awaken, or successfully fight him once he does. Sealing away the ancient one requires that you either seal 6 gates or close every gate while you have at least as many gate trophies as there are players in the game (which would require sealing gates, since otherwise a gate will open every turn). To successfully seal gates, you'll need clue tokens or the Elder Sign Unique Item. Clues can be found just lying on the ground in unstable locations (red diamond above them on the map, gates also appear at these locations), or in encounters.

You'll also want to keep the Ancient One from awakening as long as possible. The Ancient One awakens if the Doom Track maxes out, there are too many Gates open at once (6 gates for 5 players, as noted on the map), the Terror Track maxes out and there are twice as many monsters in Arkham as the normal monster limit, or a Gate or Monster should be drawn but there are none available. To keep the Doom Track low, you'll want to not close gates unless you can seal them (since opening a new gate advances the Doom Track, but if a gate is already open it simply causes a Monster Surge), but you'll need to balance doing that with just getting them closed so that there aren't ever 6 open at once. Again, the Elder Sign item can help with that. To keep the Terror Track low, you'll need to fight monsters or close gates so the monsters with the same symbol as the gate vanish, since if there are too many monsters in Arkham every monster that would spawn contributes to the Terror Track instead. Running out of Gates or Monsters to draw is incredibly rare, and basically only ever happens if everyone is hoarding trophies instead of spending them so they can be returned to the supply. Don't do that.

In order to make closing gates and fighting monsters easier, you'll probably want some equipment. This is what the Arkham Encounters phase is for. During it, if you're in a Location in Arkham and there is no gate there, you'll either get a random event based on your location (Importantly, the map shows a couple of icons below each location indicating what kind of things you are likely to get there if you pass encounters) or you'll be able to use that location's special ability. Of particular note are the Newspaper, which gives you a reasonable chance of finding a Retainer to get $2 every turn for a while, the Curiositie Shoppe, which sells Unique Items including the all-important Elder Sign, and South Church, which lets you trade trophies for Blessings, which make passing skill checks easier for a while. The other stable locations also have abilities that can be useful in the right situations, of course (except the Train Station in the base game, that's really just there to let you go to other maps in large expansions).

What do you have?
For starters, I'm seeing a lot of guns. This is good, since guns help you fight things that don't have Physical Immunity. I also see a lot of books, which you can read during the movement phase (at the cost of walking a little slower) to get useful things. Cabala of Saboth is particularly good, since it has no Sanity cost and gives a Skill, and Skills are quite powerful. The Healing Stone is an amazing item, since it means whoever is carrying it doesn't have to waste time going to Arkham Asylum or the Hospital to heal if they don't want to, they can just go shopping instead and slowly heal each upkeep.

It's important to note that possessions can be traded freely any time two investigators are in the same Location, Street area, or the same half of the same Other World, even if this occurs in the middle of movement phase (though investigators don't move simultaneously, so merely crossing paths isn't enough), so if you think someone else could make better use of something you have, it might be worth spending a little movement to give it to them.

You also, of course, have your innate abilities. It should be fairly obvious how these are used. Kate Winthrop's is especially powerful, since it lets her act as an extra gate seal. On that note, different unstable locations have different chances of having gates open in them. Some might consider it spoilers, but you can search the web for "arkham horror gate frequency" if you really want to know which have the highest chances (which should, of course, be sealed first), or you might know from experience or be able to figure it out during this game.

How can you best use the latter to obtain the former?
Of course, the details of this are for you to figure out, since you're the ones playing the game, and I am simply administrating. But in general, I would advise gearing up a couple characters for combat to help keep the streets clean, and a couple characters for gathering clues (or Elder Signs) and closing/sealing gates. You could also choose to have some characters devoted to gathering resources and handing them out to the other investigators. Don't be too afraid of running out of Sanity or Stamina, it's inconvenient but not the end of the world (he said, while the end of the world is occurring).

In the short term, you might be wondering about how to set your skill sliders. What I generally do is as follows: For Speed/Sneak, set it to the lowest Speed value that will give you the number of movement points you need to get to where you want to be (and let you read all the books you want to read). For Fight/Will, try to keep it fairly balanced, but it'll matter most when you're about to fight a monster, at which point you should know how many dice any particular value will let you roll for that monster's Horror and Combat checks when you're setting sliders during Upkeep, so set it based off of that. For Lore/Luck, I tend to raise Luck whenever I'm not immediately about to cast a Spell or read a Tome, since it appears much more often in encounters in my experience. Of course, if you are about to cast a Spell or read a Tome, you know that you're going to need Lore that turn.

[Aestrix]

I think your map didn't load, demo.

Anyway, my stat allocation:

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Speed 0 1 2 [3] | Fight 1 2 [3] 4 | Lore 2 3 [4] 5
Sneak 3 2 1 [0] | Will  4 3 [2] 1 | Luck 5 4 [3] 2

Can I make it to the Newspaper with my current speed while reading one of my tomes, or no?

[Thatwasademo]

That's odd. Edit: Changed image hosts, refresh?

No, since you'd have to traverse three edges to reach the Newspaper, leaving you with no movement. Unfortunately Carolyn is not that good at running (those points got put into Lore and Luck instead), so if you want to read a Tome you'll have to either stay put or go to a Location in the same area (or, I suppose, hang out in the street).

[Aestrix]

That fixed it.

Ah, so that's how that works. All right, thanks.

I'm tempted to go for the clue; can I give them away so we can consolidate, or are they bound to the player that grabs them?

[Bethesda]

My skills allocation:

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Speed  2 [3] 4 5 | Fight 3 4 [5] 6 | Lore 0 [1] 2 3
Sneak  4 [3] 2 1 | Will  4 3 [2] 1 | Luck 3 [2] 1 0


According to the wiki, you can't trade clues. Since my character has the highest maximum speed, I could more easily collect the clues on the right side of the map than Aestrix or jalepeno, but I also have the highest maximum fight. It might make sense for me to just be on monster-killing duty. Depending what you guys think makes sense, I can do either one come my turn, but if I'm going to be bouncing around for clues, Aestrix should probably get clues on the left side. I'll adjust my skills later depending on what strategy we decide on.

Also, relevant question for demo: If there's a monster surge when there are 8 monsters on the board (which I think is our monster limit), that gives at least 5 more monsters. The rulebook says their placement should be chosen. My question is, how does the limit for the Outskirts (3 in this case) interact with these surges? Do surges not count to the limits?

[Aestrix]

I think I should probably not pick up many clues, if any, because my speed is shit and I know it.

My current priorities: get spells, because if Carolyn isn't built to be a caster I literally don't know who the hell is, and get items to hand out to various people that need them. I don't think I'm a good choice for clue gathering and gate sealing due to my awful speed, but once I have spells ~lord will I cast.~

[jalapeno_dude]

3 questions:

1. Closing a gate requires making a Lore or Fight check, "using the number printed on the gate marker as the modifier". What's that modifier for the currently open gate (in the Woods)?
2. I have 2 .38 revolvers. Do they stack to give me a +6 combat modifier, or can I only use one at a time?
3. How many Elder Sign cards are there in the game? (I'm reading the rules correctly that you can only use a given Elder Sign card once per game, right?) Are they all at the Curiositie Shoppe?

Strategy: Given my innate ability, I should be exploring gates, which if I'm reading the rules correctly means I need to be the one to seal the gates I've explored. I guess that means I should be collecting clues, right? But I only have 2 tokens and Hastur means I need 8 to seal a gate, which means I can't possibly seal a gate for at least 9 turns (at least 6 more to get clues, at least 1 to enter the gate, 2 to explore and leave), right? That seems like an excessively long amount of time given that the Doom Track only goes up to 13. Or am I misunderstanding how quickly it increments? I was assuming a new gate appeared roughly once per turn...

Not going to allocate my skills until I've figured out whether I'm on clue duty or fighting duty or resource collection duty.

[jalapeno_dude]

Also, if you can't trade clues, does that mean everyone other than the people on gate duty should be intentionally refraining from picking up clues? I have no idea how scare a resource clues are in this game.

[pistachi0n]

Skill allocation:

Speed 1 2 [3] 4 | Fight 1 [2] 3 4 | Lore 2 [3] 4 5
Sneak 5 4 [3] 2 | Will 3 [2] 1 0 | Luck 4 [3] 2 1