gibberingcultist

[gibberingcultist]

Dark Side of the Moon

Campaign A - Scenario 3

Our ship’s captain and crew get dream-napped and yet we still manage to sail their massive ship to the moon by ourselves. Impressive. I suppose anything is possible within the dreamworld. So why not just teleport to Kadath by tapping our shoes together and thinking “There’s no place like Kadath…”? I know that Randolph Carter gets captured within his Dream-Quest story and gets taken to the Dark Side of the Moon but I kind of wish there was more of a semblance of reality, even within this dream reality. I love the idea of a new phantasmal world to explore but I would have also preferred to see the Laws of Nature still be utilized. I tend to get ripped from the emersion of the game from the sheer absurdity of it all. This would be more of a criticism for HP’s writing and less so for the writers of Dream-Eaters, as they are just following in his footsteps. Possibly a little too much. Story wise, we sail to the moon and rescue the crew and make an escape on The White Ship (which is another lovely dream infused short story worth reading).

During this scenario we are essentially conducting a prison break, so we start out with an alarm level on each of our investigators. Many of the act, agenda, location, and mythos cards could potentially raise or lower this alarm amount. Also some of the monsters and mythos cards will act differently based on the player’s alarm-level. So investigators are forced to manage this level through out the scenario in order to best sneak past certain creatures, attack and kill the roaming moon-beasts and moon lizards that populate the dark side of the moon, and to get away on the white ship. The Moon Lizard– essentially the scenario boss, would have been more of a pain had it been able to leave cave locations but we were glad it could not.

#Dark Side of the Moon #h.p. lovecraft #Arkham Horror LCG #dream-eaters

[gibberingcultist]

A Thousand Shapes of Horror

Campaign B - Scenario 2

I’m so glad to have read the Randolph Carter short stories before playing this campaign. I can see a combination of The Unnamable and The Silver Key being utilized in the making of this scenario. I love the idea of reading a novella prior to playing a board game or card game just for some background information, scene setting, and character introductions. Reading these stories seemed to have enhanced playing this campaign for me. I suppose it does also give the reader an edge as I chose to support the cats of Ulthar knowing full well how important they will be in the dreamworld. Hopefully more companies will come to utilize and or create stories to go hand in hand with their games.

A Thousand Shapes of Horror felt very much like a two part scenario. In the first part, investigators decide to explore an old abandoned house; the site of The Unnamable where Randolph Carter got jumped by a jello monster and ended up in a hospital, seemingly losing his silver key in the process. So we enter the very same creepy haunted house in search for Carter’s long lost silver key. During our search for the key we also learn much about this creature called the Unnamable. In fact the more you learn about it, the better off you will be when you have to deal with it, which is very soon. After discovering the silver key within the house (and as much information on the Unnamable as possible) part two of the scenario takes effect which is to quickly enter the tomb and rush down the seemingly endless set of stairs that lead into the dreamworld (thanks to the newly acquired silver key). This last half can and will take a while to do. Moving down the stairs isn’t as easy as just taking a move action over and over again.

Each location has a set of specific tasks or requirements that need fulfilled before any investigators may move through them; slowing down any and all progress. Worst yet is the Endless Descent treachery card which takes all your hard work and energy you just completed and throws it all in the garbage. This Endless Descent moves the top most stair location– a location you’ve already entered, fulfilled, and departed from, and moves that location to the bottom of the descending stairwell for you to have to complete all over again. There could be up to four of these treachery cards that come out. Descending the stairs and not gaining any headway felt very much like a fever dream. A little frustrating but incredibly tense when you are running out of time via the Agenda deck as you can’t leave until you reach the bottom landing, completing it’s requirements. Then you may resign and enter the dreamworld. Finally.

But hey! Why do we want to enter the dreamworld again?

The Oneironauts

The black cat waits for us at the bottom of the mysterious stairs and once again offers to pass a message to our friends. We chose to inform our dreamworld partners of the underworld. A place we are supposedly entering into within the dreamworld. So now they know I guess.

#thousand shapes of horror #h.p. lovecraft #Arkham Horror LCG #dream-eaters

[gibberingcultist]

The Search for Kadath

Campaign A - Scenario 2

I’m very impressed. They took the summation of H.P.’s Search for Kadath story, to which I thought would be impossible to compress into 4 scenarios and they did it in just one scenario. Bravo. I’m very confused though on how or why Randolph Carter doesn’t remember where Kadath is located. He’s been there before! Is he intentionally not sharing? He must not want us to find it faster than when he found it, alone as a twenty year old. It must be a pride thing. Unfortunately, we didn’t find Kadath. Nor did we find all 10 Signs of the Gods per the Act Objective. We found 6! Not bad for being intentionally sent in the wrong direction. Ignoring all that went down in the official story, this scenario does a fantastic job in recreating Randolph’s long and laborious trek through the Dreamworld, as he encounters distant nation states that all have their own set of terrors and oddities. The only reason I didn’t give The Search for Kadath five stars is that each one of these city states (Oriab, Mnar, Skai, etc.) could have been it’s own individual scenario; I wanted to stay and soak-in each location as if I were taking personal vacations at each of the port cities. It was a whirlwind tour of the dream world and I felt like a whirlwind went through my head after finishing (resigning in this case).

Perhaps someday, someone far more talented and creative than I, could turn this 4-part campaign into a standard 8-part campaign by just extending the length of this scenario in particular; from one to five scenarios. Allowing the investigators to choose which region (or scenario) to travel to (and play) first. Each scenario would consequently make future trials and tribulations easier or harder based on your decisions/interactions with merchants, sailors, lava-miners, etc located there. Now look whose dreaming.

The elder thing chaos token acts as positive result for tests during this scenario! Thanks to the support of the black cat. We enjoyed that aspect of the chaos bag. The skulls started out as a minor irritant but quickly became rather problematic the further into the scenario we progressed. Luke Robinson spent a decent amount time and energy removing these skull tokens from the draw bag during the last half of the scenario. That probably helped us out a lot.

Story time. Both Virgil Gray and Randolph Carter pack to go on this expedition with us through the dream world. Our first stop is that of the high priest Atal in the Temple of the Elder Ones…who doesn’t really give us too much information. He speaks of some gods but doesn’t offer to help us any further. We do find a ship willing to transport us all over but after many months of traversing the dream world, exploring and searching out signs of the gods, we return to our ship to find our captain and crew missing. Even Virgil is missing. It is presumed the corsairs with their black galleys have finally caught up with us and have enslaved our crew, potentially taking them to the moon where they reside. Yes, the moon.

#Arkham Horror LCG #The Search for Kadath #h.p. lovecraft #dream-eaters

[gibberingcultist]

Waking Nightmare

Campaign B - Scenario 1

Our compatriots have been asleep for 24 hours now. Concern for their well being grows. We discover that no matter what we do, we are unable to wake them from their slumber. After we notice their eyes are glazed over in a milky-white fog, we rush them both to St. Mary’s Hospital in the Uptown neighborhood of Arkham, Massachusetts. Dr. Maheswaran is confounded with their status but while she is in the process of diagnosing our sleeping friends, numerous spiders start to emerge from all the nooks and crannies of the hospital and the hospital quickly falls into chaos. We convince Dr. Maheswaran to come with as we figure out what in the hell is going on. She agrees.

This scenario is another win for the Dream-Eaters campaign. I loved having Dr. Maheswaran with us so she could, once per round, talk down some suspicious orderlies. The orderlies follow you around, far too closely, making sure you can’t properly investigate. Worst of all, no damage can be done to them as they are still innocent civilians. Just highly suspicious innocent civilians. I ended up handcuffing a rather persistent orderly to a radiator. I’m sure he’ll be fine. We discover that there’s another patient that had a very similar condition to that of our friends. However this patient recently woke up in the last day or so. We rush to find this patient to glean some much needed information. We head down into the basement, falling down all the stairs as we go, where we discover a few creepy corridors but ultimately we find the patient we were seeking. His name is Randolph Carter! He must be in both the dream world and in the waking world. I like the idea that Randolph Carter is, presumably HP Lovecraft’s altar-ego. Who better to guide us through this current nightmare?

Meanwhile, during our exploration of the hospital and our attempts to find Randolph Carter, there is an Outbreak taking place. An full on outbreak of spiders is moving from one hospital room to the next with each round. At the end of the each Mythos Phase, we are forced to draw from a Infestation Bag to determine if the outbreak spreads, a spider-monster appears, or nothing at all happens. We were quite lucky with the broken seal tokens (where nothing happens) coming out more times than not. So that helped slow the spread of spiders for us. With Randolph Carter in tow, we were able to test or spend clues to close the rifts that are allowing the spiders to enter our world. We successfully got all the rifts closed and Randolph Carter decides to join our party to further investigate what is going on in the waking world.

I can definitely tell Dream-Eaters is throwing a lot more victory points (and trauma) at the investigators as we only have half the number of scenarios to play and level up with. We got 10 xp from this one scenario! We could have got 1-2 more xp had we dealt with some spider monsters in particular. 10-12 xp is a heck of a lot of experience for just one scenario. I like the feel of these mini campaigns even though we are playing them in unison with each other. Can’t wait to play the next dream scenario.

The Black Cat

“In the town of Ulthar, no one may kill a cat.” That’s fine. I won’t be killing a cat anywhere!

Randolph Carter takes us to the town of Ulthar, the center of cat society within the Dreamlands and introduces us to Virgil Gray, the famed writer. We are told it is impossible to bring any proof back from the dream world into the waking world but perhaps if we seek out a marvelous city just beyond the unknown mountain Kadath, it should hold that which we seek. A talking black cat tells us we can’t wake up until we find Kadath. We ask the black cat to deliver news of our plight to our friends within the waking world and he does just that. How there’s a Randolph Carter within both the waking world and the dream world is curious. Also the black cat eyes the waking Randolph suspiciously. I imagine something is going on with one of them.  

#dream-eaters #Arkham Horror LCG #h.p. lovecraft #waking nightmare #dreamlands

[gibberingcultist]

Beyond The Gates Of Sleep

Campaign A - Scenario 1

The first scenario within the dream world! Calvin & Luke suit up! Or rather take your suits off and put on your pajamas because it's nighty-night time.

Our dreams eventually lead us to a doorway that opens to a stairwell that gives way to the deeper levels of slumber. Similar to that of Virgil's written accounts (and of Randolph Carter's search for Kadath). We descend a spiraling stairwell down into the Cavern of Flame where we parlay or fight with Nasht and Kaman-Thah, priests of the Dreamlands. Both priests act as gate-keepers determining if we are worthy enough to enter the dreamworld. Turns out...we are

Upon proving our worth we continue on, descending even more stairs (700 to be exact). We are warned not to stray from the path and almost immediately we stray from the path in search of clues that are easier to ascertain. Spending an entire round (three actions) to add one clue to the Enchanted Path location didn't seem like much fun at all. Especially since the shroud to beat is a whopping 8! Nah, we can stray a bit.

I really enjoyed not needing to draw cards from the encounter deck for the first half of the scenario. We started drawing encounter cards once we made it to the Enchanted Path within the dreamworld. As if we weren't really in danger until we made it to the deeper levels of our dreams. I suppose the further down into the dreamworld we go, the more treacherous it will become for us. Having players add twice as much doom to the Agenda deck while on a step location kept us from tarrying too long on the stairs. Investigators received physical damage each round they stayed within the Cavern of Flame, which makes total sense. In addition, I found the continual need to reduce the amount of cards in your hand, the further down you go, to be rather unique and enjoyable as well. Overall a great start to the campaign. We decided to stop exploring Enchanted Wood locations the moment the Laboring Gug appeared. The Gug quickly became trapped within his woods location because his woods location didn't connect to any other revealed woods locations and it couldn't enter the Enchanted Path location. Thank god for that. It was tough enough dealing with all the swarming Zoogs. Pesky critters.

Randolph Carter and his cat friends come to our rescue just when the Zoogs were amassing for a deadly attack. We decided not to involve ourselves with the conflict between the Cats of Ulthar and the Zoogs of the Enchanted Woods. We would definitely side with the cats if ever there is a need to choose a side but the Cats had it all under control and they received some needed tributes from the zoogs as well. Luke Robinson acquires Randolph Carter's assistance and Calvin Wright acquires two trauma (one physical and one mental). I got to play my Ghastly Revelation card, bringing in the last few clues needed for Luke to snag a win, and now all my stats have a base of 1. Huzzah!

#dream-eaters #Arkham Horror LCG #h.p. lovecraft

[gibberingcultist]

The Dream-Eaters

We just received our last mythos pack of the Dream-Eaters cycle so we will be starting this campaign very soon. A dream come true if you will. We will be playing both the waking and the dream world scenarios as a interconnected 8-part campaign, switching back and forth between the two sets of characters. But first I must read The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft (along with the other Randolph Carter short stories). To help set the mood. Find my thoughts on those at the bottom of this entry.

Designers: Matthew Newman, Daniel Schaefer Artists: Lots and lots! Cover image by Cristi Balanescu. Playtime: 60-120 minutes per scenario. BGG Weight: 3 / 5 (based on 2 votes. Ugh!) Mechanisms: Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers

Prologue

It’s Friday the 13th! Uh oh. “Something odd was happening in Arkham, Massachusetts (That’s like every day in Arkham).” A writer by the name of Virgil Gray submitted a story to the Tales from Nevermore  (ode to Poe) magazine in regards to his experiences within the dream  world. Others start to write in, confirming they had similar  experiences. Experts believe it’s a result of some sort of shared mass  hysteria brought on by Virgil Gray’s writings; many of which are  convinced to undergo therapy at the local (insane) asylum. In the end,  nobody really knows why dreams happen or how they function let alone  shared dream experiences. My group of investigators all decide to  recreate Virgil’s dream experiments and check it out for themselves.  Luke and Calvin will enter the dreamworld and will be watched over by a  …rookie cop and a researcher. Sounds good!

Dream World (Alpha Team)

Luke Robinson: The Dreamer (Lead) Luke Robinson seems like he is a pretty powerful investigator. Catherine will be playing him. She got a taste for the Mystic class after playing Norman Withers in the Return to the Dunwich Horror campaign. Luke's Gate Box, which starts in play, will allow him to pretty much escape from any amount of monsters hounding him and will allow for Luke to traverse the board as he see fits. That is until Gate Box has been depleted of charges. She has incorporated many of her favorite attack spells as well as a few spells that seal unwanted chaos tokens. I only hope Calvin Wright is equally capable.

Calvin Wright: The Haunted We probably shouldn't have brought a man referred to as The Haunted into the dreamworld. In fact Calvin is the only investigator not from the Dream-Eaters expansion. Perhaps I should have brought Tony Morgan instead. But I felt like Calvin was more thematic and would seek out Luke in order to keep what ever dreams he may have, under control. Calvin is an interesting investigator, and frankly quite terrifying to play. He starts with zero stats and only acquires +1's to these nonexistent stats when he suffers physical or mental damage. So the more damage he receives, the more powerful he becomes. Due to this strange interaction between pain and strength, he is weak to begin with but slowly grows to be very strong near the end of the scenario. But also he could die at a moments notice. I incorporated the two spirit cards that allow for one last hurrah before being eliminated; Ghastly Revelation and "I'll see you in hell!". Along with a "I'm Outta Here!" card....just in case.

Awake World (Bravo Team)

Tommy Muldoon: The Rookie Cop (Lead) Tommy is one of my favorite playable characters from Mansions of Madness as he starts with Becky, his dependable rifle, equipped. I only wish Tommy started with Becky in hand from the start in Arkham Horror LCG as well. I was spoiled with Ashcan's Duke in the last campaign. Tommy will hopefully act as protector and monster mitigation for Mandy as she focuses on clue gathering.  Tommy will focus on upgrade cards for Becky (and for other weapons) and will stock up on as many asset cards that soak damage/horror for a potential future resupply of income or  ammo for Becky. A Backpack and a Prepared for the Worst will help pull Becky out of his deck faster, especially with Mandy's presence adding to the number of cards that can be searched.

Mandy Thompson: The Researcher The researcher will be our devoted clue gatherer for the waking world. Mandy is a new Seeker investigator for my girlfriend to try out. She chose the starting deck-size of 50(!) cards with Rogue as her secondary class. It's a pretty thick deck and is rather hard to shuffle. Mandy placed as many "resolve when searched" cards into her deck that will hopefully combo well with her special ability. Having 50 cards to search through will make them less likely to appear but the treacheries will be less likely to appear as well. Catherine is heart-broken that she won't be able to take Leo De Luca along with her though. Having her Seeker cards being split between Mandy Thompson AND Luke Robinson of the dream world, will be an added challenge for her when it comes to deck-building and determining which upgraded seeker cards are best for which investigator.

My Shitty Analyses of Randolph Carter’s Short Stories

The Statement of Randolph Carter was good. Although I question the validity of anything undead that would still retain the use of it’s vocal chords. Or knowledge of telephone operation. I would certainly consider Harley Warren a jokester; knowing full well, feeble Randolph Carter couldn’t possibly lift the slab back over the sarcophagi all by himself. B+

The Unnamable has Randolph Carter and a Joel Manton debating and sharing stories amidst a graveyard, their back to a tomb, when they get jumped by a Jello monster. Both characters wake up battered and bruised in a hospital uncertain of the events that befell them. I shall call the creature Bill Cosby. Easy! D+

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, the longest of all the short stories featuring Randolph Carter. A younger Randolph goes on a rather lengthy adventure within the Dream World, to which he seeks out an Elder God on the peak of Kadath. Makes me wonder how they are going to pack all of this in to four scenarios. Just know that Randolph traverses a near infinite universe, full of alien cities and vast wastelands filled with strange sentient creatures from all the waking worlds. As if the dreamworld is a place of convergence for all known locations and beings throughout all of time; past, present, and future. Cats seem to be the best guides and protectors of those in need within the dreamworld. I will keep this in mind whenever I see a cat in need of a saucer of milk or a good petting. No man may kill a cat! C

The Silver Key is a decent story. Randolph Carter speaks of growing up and being chained down to adulthood and having all mystery slowly drain out of his world. Until the rediscovery of a special key that unlocks Randolph Carter’s dreamworld. Aka his immense imagination. If Lovecraft used Randolph as a fill in for himself than this story has a lot of insight into how Lovecraft truly felt about the world around him. B+

Through the Gates of the Silver Key is … just too boring to finish. Zzzz

#Arkham Horror LCG #dream-eaters #ffg #h.p. lovecraft #Living Card Game

[gibberingcultist]

Return to the Dunwich Legacy

There is only one h in Dunwhich. There is only one h in Dunwhich. There is only one h in Dunwhich. . .

Designers: Matthew Newman, Adam Sadler, Brady Sadler Artists: Lots and lots! I’ll do my best to credit the imagery utilized. Cover image by Tomasz Jedruszek. Playtime: 60-120 minutes per scenario. BGG Weight: 4 / 5 (based on 1 vote. Pshh!) Mechanisms: Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers

Our Investigators

What’s a smelly drifter doing teaming up with a famed astronomer? I have…no idea. I chose “Ashcan” Pete primarily because he was an investigator from the Dunwich expansion that I have yet to play. But also Ashcan seems pretty flexible with his trusty dog Duke which starts immediately in play. Duke can assist Ashcan Pete in either investigating and or attacking monsters while not taking up his crucial ally slot. Lets just hope nothing bad ever happens to Duke. Ashcan seems pretty flimsy without him. My GF chose or rather settled for Norman Withers (replacement) because he is the last Seeker Investigator that she has yet to play. She loves the Seeker Class. He will be able to cast some spells which will help us with combat and encounter deck mitigation perhaps. It also helps that both our investigators have high willpower in preparation for some barn-busting bastards that may or may not be coming to a country side near you.

Ashcan Pete allows for up to 5 level 0 cards from any other class. I went for all Guardian cards. Trusted to help boost Duke’s health and sanity, and in-turn Ashcan’s overall success. I also grabbed a few trusty weapons from the Guardian deck and most importantly Dynamite. The Forgotten Age has scarred me. Besides that, I love my Lucky‘s and my Resourceful‘s from the Survivor class.

It does make sense for Norman Withers to have connections with Dr. Henry Armitage. I’m going to imagine Ashcan to be like Mack from Cannery Row. And Norman would be Doc. Ashcan is going to work real hard to get Norman some frogs. But first Norman will need to lend Ashcan some gas money. . . and a car.

The House Always Wins

I thought one of the two primary purposes of the Return To boxes was to fix any errors or problems with the original scenarios and yet the creators didn’t think to fix that lack of instruction about criminal enemies losing their aloof keyword after Agenda 1a. We should have realized sooner but because the scenario didn’t specifically state that they lost the aloof keyword, we didn’t even think of it until we already moved onto Agenda 3a. There was no turning back three rounds. It wouldn’t have even been an issue had they become hostile sooner either. I was prepared to fight anything and everything by Agenda 2a. It’s just frustrating to do something wrong and so soon in the campaign. I would like to see the necessary reprinting of specific cards included in these Return To boxes. I suppose FFG has plans to sell us errata packs later or a RE-Return to…

Beyond that one miscommunication, The House Always Wins is a very thematic and enjoyable scenario. We are tasked by our old mentor Dr. Henry Armitage to seek out two of his colleagues, Francis Morgan and Warren Rice. Armitage is in distress about Warren Rice potentially being in danger and Armitage is unable to contact either individual. Francis Morgan will know where to find Warren so we decide to find Francis first in hopes that he will give us some sort of benefit later on. So off to Francis’ favorite casino and lounge.

One doesn’t only get clues through the conventional method of taking an investigation action but rather he/she needs to press their luck gambling, grease some wheels by purchasing drinks for patrons at the bar, tip the performers for some inside information, and or just plain cheat your way through. The aloof hunter pit-boss will follow you around the establishment making sure you aren’t putting your nose anywhere it doesn’t belong. I only wish I could have killed him myself for his victory point before allowing the Conglomeration of Spheres to devour him. The conglomeration moved through, consuming everything and anyone in it’s path a la The Blob. Using any melee weapons against the blob also devours the weapons in the process. Fun! In the end we did manage to knock Francis Morgan out of his trance and run out into the back alley before any serious harm was done. Overall a very fun scenario.

Extracurricular Activity

Turns out Dr. Henry Armitage has separation anxiety issues. It’s been only 5 hours since he has last seen Professor Rice and already he’s digging in the trash, having accidents, barking at the door. I wonder what kind of extracurricular activities were going on between these two. Anyway, now that we have Francis Morgan in tow. . . never mind, Francis didn’t help one bit. Extracurricular Activity was another incredibly enjoyable scenario, this time taking place late at night, at the Miskatonic University. Being that we chose to find Professor Rice second, he was no longer in his office. Where could he have gone? Meanwhile a strange biological experiment breaks out of the Chem labs, and starts making it’s way towards student housing. Both Ashcan and Norman rush to warn the kids and successfully manage to wake them before the foul experiment conducts a few experiments of it’s own on the sleeping students. But instead, I suppose it just slinks off into the woods. Who knows!  

The need to locate and request the help of the night janitor to gain access to the offices was top notch. Immediately soon after finding and making friends with “Jazz” Mulligan, we are forced to make the decision between finding Professor Rice or saving the students while the clock quickly ticks down. Everything in this scenario worked at making you discard as many of your cards as possible. That in combination with the Beyond the Veil treachery card, a dire feeling of dread from running out of time is established. Beyond the Veil would almost certainly eliminate most investigators unless you have a ton of allies to help soak some of that damage. So between a quickly thinning deck and the ever creeping experiment, decisions need to be made. I hope we made the right one. In the end, Professor Rice is believed to be kidnapped. Armitage ends up joining our party as he can’t handle staying home alone any longer.

The Miskatonic Museum

Several months ago, Armitage and his colleagues stopped a rampaging horror from tearing through Dunwich, a backwater town several hours north and west of Arkham (read The Dunwich Horror for a better understanding of what all went down). Shortly after, a bestial citizen of Dunwich, named Wilbur Whateley recently made an attempt to steal the Latin translation of a book called The Necronomicon but died in the process. Armitage feels that this book, currently located at the Miskatonic Museum, will once again be the target for theft. So in order to protect it we are tasked with stealing it first. Makes total sense! Harold Walsted, curator of the museum, might also be able to help us. Upon breaking and entering into the museum, a monster called the Hunting Horror is also discovered to be perusing the exhibits long after visiting hours has ended. The Hunting Horror is a persistent winged snake creature that grows stronger the longer the scenario runs. We end up killing it three or four times over the course of the break-in, yet it manages to keep coming back from the void.

This scenario was just as fun as the other two played so far. We seem to be on a whirl-wind tour of some of Arkham’s notable locations. Gaining control of the night security guard was a god-send for my character as both Ashcan’s personal-weakness cards have double action resolutions. So having good old Adam Lynch with us helped save me many actions through-out the scenario.  He even made it easier for us to know which exhibit halls we should or shouldn’t enter. Adam Lynch should get a raise. Harold Walsted was unfortunately ripped to shreds at some point during the night. We eventually gained access to the restricted hall, where we once again decimated the hunting horror and retrieved the cursed Necronomicon. The Hunting Horror is like a backwoods version of the Harbinger of Valusia.

We choose to keep the Necronomicon because destroying books, even evil ones, are against our nature. If evil did exist, I would want there to be some sort of record or compilation of the knowledge of evil rather than to live in ignorance of it. Not knowing doesn’t keep the evil from happening. So in direct opposition to that of HP Lovecraft’s written stories. Afterwards, we decide it’s best to lay low for a while after all that we have seen and done. So we catch the next train to Dunwich to continue our investigation into what else is possibly going down. I only wish Adam Lynch could have submitted vacation time to come with.

The Essex County Express

Zebulon Whateley and a Earl Sawyer meet us at the station. We are so exhausted from the events on the train that we fall asleep upon the drive to Dunwich and wake up naked in a stranger’s bed. Actually I don’t know if we were naked. Probably though. This is a horror game after all. Upon our waking, we find a mostly abandoned Dunwich to explore and to judge with great disdain. You know Blood on the Altar is going to be fun when you are instructed to assemble a stack of potential sacrifices. Investigators are tasked with exploring the streets and back alleys of Dunwich in search of missing citizens. Something strange is going down and we aren’t getting any warm welcomes from those still too present to not be missing (?). In our thorough search we find a hidden chamber (and the key for admittance) that was housing a massive grotesque abomination. We find this hidden chamber very quickly strangely enough. Armitage must have had some prior knowledge of its where-abouts from his previous gallivant through the scenic Dunwich countryside. We somehow make the determination that this abomination, a mass of flesh, meat, and bones is that of Silas Bishop, one of the missing townsfolk. Or perhaps many of the missing townsfolk. Not sure. We quickly resort to the Necronomicon and cast a restoration spell as if this wasn’t our first abomination rodeo. Someone seems to be turning people into mini Yog-Sothoths. Somehow in the process, Zebulon Whateley gets himself scarified to Yog-Sothoth. I do hate when that happens. Sorry friend.

Kidnapped was especially terrifying for me as Ashcan because if Duke had been kidnapped and sacrificed to Yog-Sothoth. . . I’m pretty sure Ashcan would have just given up on life and drank himself into an early grave. Or at least that’s the story I would make up in my head as I file his investigator card away and build a new deck for my new investigator.

Blood on the Altar

Zebulon Whateley and a Earl Sawyer meet us at the station. We are so exhausted from the events on the train that we fall asleep upon the drive to Dunwich and wake up naked in a stranger’s bed. Actually I don’t know if we were naked. Probably though. This is a horror game after all. Upon our waking, we find a mostly abandoned Dunwich to explore and to judge with great disdain. You know Blood on the Altar is going to be fun when you are instructed to assemble a stack of potential sacrifices. Investigators are tasked with exploring the streets and back alleys of Dunwich in search of missing citizens. Something strange is going down and we aren’t getting any warm welcomes from those still too present to not be missing (?). In our thorough search we find a hidden chamber (and the key for admittance) that was housing a massive grotesque abomination. We find this hidden chamber very quickly strangely enough. Armitage must have had some prior knowledge of its where-abouts from his previous gallivant through the scenic Dunwich countryside. We somehow make the determination that this abomination, a mass of flesh, meat, and bones is that of Silas Bishop, one of the missing townsfolk. Or perhaps many of the missing townsfolk. Not sure. We quickly resort to the Necronomicon and cast a restoration spell as if this wasn’t our first abomination rodeo. Someone seems to be turning people into mini Yog-Sothoths. Somehow in the process, Zebulon Whateley gets himself scarified to Yog-Sothoth. I do hate when that happens. Sorry friend.

Kidnapped was especially terrifying for me as Ashcan because if Duke had been kidnapped and sacrificed to Yog-Sothoth. . . I’m pretty sure Ashcan would have just given up on life and drank himself into an early grave. Or at least that’s the story I would make up in my head as I file his investigator card away and build a new deck for my new investigator.

Undimensioned and Unseen

This is the most frustrating scenario in the history of scenarios. I refuse to believe anyone is able to kill all the Dunwich Horror’s that are running amok. Armitage and his buddies only had to deal with one within the story of The Dunwich Horror. Why do we have to deal with five of them! Seems a bit excessive don’t you think? I do appreciate the variety of them within the Return To campaign. Each horror has unique stats, conditions, and artwork. I did not realize the first time playing this campaign that these horrors are supposedly invisible and are only detectable through Armitage’s special dust concoction. Or the transferring of clues from specific map locations. I suppose that makes sense why we can’t damage them through normal means although I feel like dynamite would still do damage to anything, invisible or not. The title makes me think they are undimensioned as well. But diminsioned enough to destroy everything in their path

These massive horrors wander randomly from place to place, completely without purpose. Half the time you hope they don’t move into your location because it’s a terrible place to try to combat them. The other half of the time, you are finally ready to sink some damage into them, but now they moving away from you! It’s like herding cats. Giant hideous cats with lots of tentacles and mouths. So much of your time is spent either taking location-specific actions to draw them a particular way or you are taking the move action, one to three times in round, just to chase them down. Still a very thematic scenario. It’s just a scenario that you are meant to lose. We did what we could until eventually we just ran out of time.

Where Doom Awaits

Armitage & Friends™ speak of Sentinel Hill as a known site for dark rituals. Someone is making or calling these creatures into being, so we head there looking for anything out of the ordinary. The Dunwich townsfolk all seal their doors for the night, aware of something sinister is just on the horizon. The path up to the peak of sentinel Hill is long and winding. We get turned around quite a bit but eventually make our way to the peak where a Seth Bishop is conducting some sort of foul sorcery. Seth has managed to open up a rift in time and space, allowing for unknown horrors to escape through. We manage to appeal to Seth’s humanity by showing him what was left of Silas Bishop. Or perhaps it was the constellation pendant (elder sign?) that brought him back to reality. Anyway, his ritual was interrupted and we… enter the rift?! Yeah sure why not.

I enjoyed the struggle of getting up to the peak by exploring all the ascending and winding paths. Each path holding unknown dangers of losing time, resources or cards. My Ashcan was defeated by the infamous Beyond the Veil treachery card. But at least I died at the peak. Exactly how I imagine a real hike would be like, for me. Doom awaits at the peak it seems. I don’t quite follow all the different characters’ backgrounds and story lines but I do enjoy the thematic aspects of the Dunwich Legacy. I suppose the next step is to enter the gate and fight Yog-Sothoth itself.

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.

Lost in Time and Space

We entered, we stumbled around different times and spaces, we got stumped on what to do with the small rift just beyond our reach at the Edge of the Universe. Fortunately the Necronomicon seemed to understand our desires and worked through us to recite the proper verbiage to close the rift. Or something like that happened. Not sure how we suddenly knew what to do to close it. Then we high-tailed it out of there all the while avoiding Yog-Sothoth’s unwanted gaze. Some Yithian creatures make their appearance. Less scholarly then those from the Forgotten Age campaign.

The Return To made the scenario slightly more challenging in that when forced to move via a treachery card’s effect, you are instead returned to the terrifying presence of Yog-Sothoth. Yog-Sothoth can not be dealt damage and every so often, it’ll strike out at you from Realms Beyond. So Yog-Sothoth seems to be very much like an Azathoth in that it seems to be a destroyer of worlds.  So big and so beyond one’s comprehension that he’s not killable per say. Luckily it has been banished and locked outside the universe and now will remain so for the duration of this campaign.

In Summary

This has been a very enjoyable campaign. Having as many additional cards in your investigator deck would be key to surviving and doing well in this campaign. Most of the treacheries or scenario specific effects will force you to discard cards from your deck. This can be great if you have some weaknesses get discarded this way. Terrible if you have a Beyond the Veil hiding down there waiting for you to exhaust your deck. So you play knowing full well you only have a few rounds left before you are straight up killed. Building a good deck can feel somewhat less worthwhile considering half the time you will end up just discarding your nice upgraded cards from these treachery effects anyway. So there’s a higher chance you won’t even see the cards you put into your deck.

I felt like the story was a little lacking, or perhaps you have to understand what just took place in the Dunwich Horror (story) to best enjoy this narrative in this campaign. I would say the story doesn’t matter as much because the scenarios were fun to play. There’s the Miskatonic University, The Clover Club Casino, and the Miskatonic Museum. Then we take a treacherous journey on a midnight train to Dunwich where we explore the sodden streets and decrepit shanty town and uncover a series of sinister rituals to help Yog-Sothoth escape into our realm. Why anyone would ever want that is beyond me. Time for “Ashcan” Pete, Duke, and Norman Withers to retire.

Final Score (AVG): 4.375

#Arkham Horror LCG #h.p. lovecraft #Dunwich Legacy #the dunwich horror #return to

[gibberingcultist]

The Forgotten Age

We think we know the history of the Earth, but there are secrets that lie beyond our reckoning and truths that could undo our entire understanding of the universe. When renowned historian Alejandro Vela discovers one of these secrets, the ruins of an ancient and forgotten Aztec city, it sets into motion a plot that could unravel the very fabric of time.

Designers: Matthew Newman Artists: Andreas Adamek, Justin Adams, W. T. Arnold, Borja Pindado Arribas, Cristi Balanescu (cover), + 55 more! Players: 1-4 (best at 3 per BGG). But I would say Arkham Horror LCG is always best at 2 players. Playtime: 60-120 minutes per scenario. BGG Weight: 3.86 / 5 Mechanisms: Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers

I am so far behind schedule on all these Arkham Horror LCG expansions and mythos pack reviews. The Dream-Eaters Cycle was recently released and already FFG has two more Arkham Horror LCG box expansions planned for the near future. The Innsmouth Conspiracy and potentially something called The War of the Outer Gods. We shall see if that second title is accurate or not in due time. Either way I can already see the money draining from my wallet like venom from a serpent’s fangs.

This will actually be my second time playing through The Forgotten Age expansion. The first time was with a party of three and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I found my first overall experience with TFA to be a incredibly frustrating. It was a grueling, torturous journey through the Mexican rain forest. We picked all the wrong supplies for all the wrong characters it seemed.

So after it was all said and done, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t ever going to play this expansion again. But with recently finishing The Circle Undone and not having all the mythos packs for the Dream-Eaters Cycle in my possession, I caved and returned to base camp to go on the expedition all over again. This time with a better idea of what will be needed. Characters with very high agility and well…. blankets. Why didn’t my first expedition group take basic bedding with them?! I’m surprised we even had boots on our feet, we were so unprepared for survival in the outdoors. Hopefully the second time through will be a little smoother.

We think we know the history of the Earth, but there are secrets that lie beyond our reckoning and truths that could undo our entire understanding of the universe. When renowned historian Alejandro Vela discovers one of these secrets, the ruins of an ancient and forgotten Aztec city, it sets into motion a plot that could unravel the very fabric of time.

So as I already mentioned, knowing how important agility is for your investigators; my girlfriend and I selected the two investigators from the The Forgotten Age campaign with the highest agility (feetsies). These two also seemed to have the highest potential for the most bonus actions in a round, which is always a good thing to have in this god-forsaken game. We chose Ursula Downs and Finn Edwards. We can’t help but think that Finn is really just allowing himself to be employed by Ursula to get himself away from some sort of shady business dealings back home. Or to make a hefty profit selling all of our equipment and provisions. Because why else wouldn’t we have blankets?! I swear that stuff is getting stolen from under us.

“I have had it with these motherfucking snakes in this motherfucking jungle!” The pit vipers aren’t too bad as long as you are as spry and nimble as Ursula and Finn. We were able to stay ahead of the sneks by constantly moving and clearing each location of clues as quickly as possible. The Boa was a bigger concern as he was hunting us through most the scenario. We don’t plan on killing anything with vengeance points. IF we can help it that is. Neither of us really had any weapons readied during this scenario anyway. Just the trench coat on our backs and the track shoes on our feet. We were bouncing all over the jungle like gummy bears hopped up on Ayahuasca juice (is that a thing?).

Once confronted by Ichtaca, Keeper of the Etzli, we really had no choice but to parlay with her. I’m not sure why Alejandro Vela is so opposed to working with the locals (at this point in the game). Sounds like he’s part of the White Savior Industrial Complex. We discovered the Etzli ruins, thanks to Ichtaca and left behind a wake of snakes (very much alive mind you) and watchful Guardians. Rushing exploration and clue gathering was the way to go for this scenario. Very thematic and fun.

In this first scenario, one gets introduced to the exploration deck. Where one could potentially lose his/her movement actions based on what cards are randomly drawn from a small shuffled deck. A deck consisting of a handful of treacheries mixed in with a variety of potentially discoverable locations. I guess I don’t mind the exploration deck mechanic. More times than not, we will unluckily draw all the treachery cards rather quickly. So we take the explore action early knowing full well that we are going to draw treachery cards. After all the treachery cards have been randomly drawn and discarded, THEN we can explore without fear or consequence. And that’s a great feeling.

Welp. So much for trying to maintain zero vengeance points. Yig’s fury went from 0 to 5 in just one scenario. We were rapidly overwhelmed with serpent humanoids and barely got out of the Etzli temple with the Relic of Ages in hand. It’s almost as if investigators were meant to die/lose this scenario. Ursula suffered a mental trauma after being hounded by Yig’s minions every step of the way. Her treachery card was what did her in though. She was unable to heed the Call of the Unknown after taking such a beating from the treachery filled exploration deck.

We both found this scenario too frustrating. The difficulty ramped up to 11 and we were still ill prepared for such things. None of our weapons were even drawn during this game, so once again we just had to keep moving. Trying our best to stay ahead of the wave of snake creatures. The only reason Finn was able to get out of the temple, after snagging the Relic of Ages, was because he was lucky enough to draw his I’m outta here! card right when he needed it most. There was no way he was going to make it past the 7 or 8 monsters in his linear path. This relic better be worth it.

….Aaand it’s gone. We lost the relic. Or Harlan did. Whoever the fuck he is. We chose to keep the relic safe by giving it to some rando in passing. Then we are shocked when the supposedly trusty vagabond up and leaves town. Great.

Threads of Fate was another rather frustrating scenario with a ungodly amount of enemies. The moment we were able to eliminate just one of the Haunting Nightgaunts terrorizing us, we would advance the agenda deck, reshuffle the discard pile, only to draw the very same Haunting Nightguant! GAH! These guys are tough as well, 4HP, running away from them is hard due to doubling the negative modifiers. Terrifying creatures.

It was neat that there were multiple Acts or multiple storylines (threads) to follow and investigate. We were only able to fully complete one of the three but at least the scenario still rewarded us for making an attempt at the others. In that you receive some bonus experience points for just getting past Act 1 of each deck. Alejandro Vela was rescued and now resides in one of our decks. I would have preferred to have the Relic but circumstances prevented us from making it so.

Wait, it was all a dream?! But I consumed actual gas in driving to this fever dream. I want my gas supply point back. The Boundary Beyond would be strike 3 for us. Another overly frustrating scenario with too many monsters and a damn near impossible end goal. We were suppose to lose weren’t we? Considering we only managed to get 3 out of the 6 locations explored correctly, and then wiped of clues before being overwhelmed by enemies. The added penalties for exploring was very rough and we felt it… hard. Like for instance, one location forced you to take a physical damage to take the explore action. Which inevitably resulted in drawing a treachery card, making the damage you received to draw the treachery even more painful. So consume another precious action, take another physical damage, and try your luck again!

The Harbinger of Valusia once again made his appearance known. A damn near impossible enemy to combat while also trying to achieve your necessary win condition. With Alert and Retaliate active even when exhausted, the Harbinger is going to just decimate anyone interested in doing any amount of damage to him. Especially book nerds like us. We were able to inflict 2 damage on him though before getting TKO’ed. 2 damage out of his 20hp! I feel like we should be further down on his health track. Ugh.

During set-up, players are instructed to set aside the Agenda 3 and Act 3 cards. I imagine this is to mislead the players about the intended length of the scenario? And well… it worked! During what we thought was our very last turn (before the agenda would advance), we both made some hail mary plays to try and acquire as many clues/locations as possible before ending the scenario. Only to find out, the scenario wasn’t over. By the time we realized we had more rounds at our disposal, we were either already eliminated or stuck in some impossible situation. I can see that designers are looking to subvert players expectations in whatever means possible, but this ended up just frustrating my girlfriend to the point that she considered quitting the campaign all together. She is calling AH-LCG an abusive relationship. Wondering why we keep going back to it.

The Story So Far

Wait. Why are we back in the jungle again?! Let’s recap. Going back a few scenarios, we uncovered information on a secret cabal, called the Brotherhood, who had interests in the Eztli relic (missing!). This Brotherhood also had a great deal of information on Alejandro’s previous expedition into the Mexican rain forest. According to Ichtaca, the Brotherhood is seeking a place called the Nexus of N’kai. OK fine. So without any other bit of information given by Ichtaca, we set off on another expedition back to the relic’s original location. For what I imagine is to seek out additional clues in regards to the power behind the relic.

During our road trip to Mexico City, Alejandro voices his opinion that the documented symbols adorning the relic is not of Mayan or Aztec heritage. Hmm…ok.

We putz around Mexico for a while, eating lots of fish tacos and drinking lots of margaritas (or so I imagine), but doing not much else. A week later, Ichtaca FINALLY decides it’s time perform some sort of cryptic incantation, alone in her room. An event that results in a dream like scenario which gives us some insight. Insight into (Tenochtitlan locations?) a cave that Ichtaca believes is the path that leads to the Nexus. She wants us to go with. Do we have time to grab some Pozole before we go? I think so.

Part 1

The first half of the Heart of the Elder’s mythos pack seems more of a catch-up scenario. Because we only received insight on 3 of the 6 paths/stone pillars outside the cave, we had to spend some days trying to decode the other 3. The stone pillars are essentially the lock tumblers allowing access to the cave maw.

I find it hard to believe Ichtaca had been running all over this jungle, secretly protecting the relic from outsiders, and never once discovered or learned about this cave. And if she did know of it, why did it take so long for her to explore it? And it she did explore it, why didn’t she know the 6 paths from the start?! Gah!

We did not like this part of the scenario. It felt like another throw away scenario that really wasn’t needed. It took two attempts at it to get the remaining 3 paths. Our first day/attempt resulted in no additional paths and Ursula ended up dying to the snake monsters. On the second day, a replay of the same scenario mind you, we had much better luck in not drawing snake monsters to hound us the entire time. So that helped us focus on clue gathering. The whole idea of playing the same scenario over and over again until you achieve some specific goal, rubs me the wrong way. Repetition in this regard is no fun. We also were annoyed that progressing the Act deck, which is normally a good thing to advance, significantly hampered our overall goal. So on the second day, knowing that it would be detriment to advance the Act deck, we advanced it only when we were ready to take on the additional headache.

Part II

After we gained access to the cave, we had a good spelunking time getting clues and discovering locations. It’s as if clue gathering is what we excel at. We lucked out on drawing a minimal amount of enemies during the mythos phase. Which helped us deal with everything else thrown at us. We felt like we had plenty of time to achieve the overall objective and we got a heck of a lot of XP from this scenario (both parts 1 and 2). Which makes the sting of part 1 a little less so. Part 2’s flavor text alludes to a Journey to the Center of the Earth type inner world, taking place below ours. Which is kind of neat.

The end of the scenario was a little confusing. Alejandro betrayed us?! He was working in unison or is commanding some sort of alien race to find and gain access to Yoth, cavern of the serpents? Why? I take it Alejandro is a member of the Brotherhood, which would explain why they had information on Alejandro’s expedition. It was information of the inside variety lols. My girlfriend thought the entire campaign was over after reading “It is your last human memory.” So we just died?! Not quite.

Alejandro was working with scientific, alien creatures? Hah! So we got mind-swapped with a couple Yithians and mentally transported to some unknown location beyond space and time that acts as a mass-information compiler. What are the aliens doing with our physical bodies right now? The other aliens didn’t seem to mind us wandering around their utopian society. That is until we fucked with their experiments. I suppose we would be the real aliens at this point. We had a lot of fun playing this scenario. This would be the first time, in publication order, that your investigator’s card gets swapped out for another scenario specific one. The next instance of this taking place during the prologue of The Circle Undone campaign. Both enjoyable experiences.

We slithered around, doing our best to hold on to our items with our noodly appendages. We did manage to perform all six of the necessary intellectual pursuits before mind-melding back into our original bodies. AKA we were a rightful pains in the ass. 9 xp from this scenario! So that’s very nice. This scenario required a lot of card-play. Mostly we used our cards just for the modifier icons to pass tests. As your Yithian character card allowed for the doubling of icons for one card per test. This coupled with our ever reducing max-hand size, made the end goal of holding 10 cards at once a rather tricky puzzle to figure out. We would not have achieved this goal had it not been for our new pen-pal, the Custodian, and the best room in the house, the Yithian Orrery.

What were we suppose to do with the Out of Body Experience treachery cards? I was never instructed in the setup but I feel like these should have been shuffled into our decks at some point. The backside of the Yithian investigator cards have Do you remember…? in the Deckbuilding Requirements section. So maybe it was a mistake in that these treachery cards should have been included in our decks to start. Not sure. We didn’t utilize them. This will probably be corrected in the Return to.

Now lets see what Alejandro and his alien buds were up to while we took a mental holiday.

I hear people play this scenario just to see how far down into the depths they can get before they are torn to shreds. We got to level 5 (the bare minimum) and immediately got the hell out of there! One could get a significant amount of XP on this scenario though. If everyone is well suited for fighting monsters and dealing with the ever growing pain that is the chaos bag. We on the other hand are NOT well suited for dealing with monsters. Besides running away from them. Finn Edwards recently purchased a Ornate Bow which has been pretty damn effective at eliminating a bunch of annoying or persistent enemies. Enemies with the Hunter trait mostly. Lets hope the next scenario is more about getting clues and not fighting a Boss of some kind.

The Depths of Yoth is an alright concept for a scenario but just like in a previous scenario (The Heart of the Elders Part 1) you essentially just play the same mini-game multiple times. At least with this scenario, with the reset between floors/levels, the locations are randomized. Your starting location and which locations are available will be slightly different between floors. We quickly learned which icon to look for in order to find the Steps of Yoth (how to progress). And I’m so confused on what’s going on in the over-arching story that we don’t even care anymore. Both Ichtaca and Alejandro have turned on us and want the Relic of Ages for different reasons. Ichtaca, I believe wants to awaken Yoth for some terrible reason. Hopefully it will all make more sense after the next scenario.

We finished! …thank God/Yig. We did get an above-average ending. Resolution 1 if that does anything for you. We lost the original Relic of Ages so we didn’t get the best ending but we refused the tempting offers from both Ichtaca and Alejandro Vela and went about mending the tear in the fabric of time…ourselves somehow. Luckily for us, The Relic of Ages was rediscovered in A Pocket of Time which I suppose makes sense that we traveled through time and found a earlier/later version of the one we lost. I’m always impressed with the final scenarios of each of the major campaigns. This one was no different. The story seemed to come together. Both Ichtaca (Yig worshiper) and Alejandro (Yithian in disguise) had ulterior motives which is understandable. I liked that we could have sided with either of them to change the world as we know it forever.

We didn’t kill a single enemy this scenario. Besides those EZ-PZ cultists. So we were once again dogged by a myriad of serpent & elite enemies. We were use to though after the sixth or seventh scenario where that happened this campaign. Finn Edwards handled running away from 5 different monster enemies himself, each round for two or three rounds. One free evade, three normal evade actions, and a Leo De Luca evade action. While Ursula Downs worked vigorously at exploring and clearing clues from as many shattered locations as possible. Taking damage and horror when necessary. It worked. I can’t wait to go back to playing some Guardian and Survivor class characters. Or really anyone with dynamite

We don’t officially get to play the bonus, secret mission because we lost the Relic of Ages from our timeline but we will play it anyway just to see what it’s like. Going on the assumption that we didn’t hand a complete stranger one of the most powerful objects in the known universe. So we will play that next and I will report on it here.

Man, fuck this game. We got devoured by Yig pretty quickly in our attempt to undo our past mistakes. Turn Back Time has a cool concept but this scenario is not designed with pacifists like us in mind. It’s tough! Arm yourself to the teeth before entering the Eztli Ruins again! We didn’t REALLY deserve to unlock this scenario and we are going to continue acting like this scenario never happened. Our own form of time travel.

Now that we are done with this campaign we will play a Return To… or start The Dream-Eaters cycle and hope that our last Mythos pack gets delivered very soon.

In Summary

Of all the Arkham Horror campaigns that I’ve played, The Forgotten Age is and will remain my least favorite. With that said I was impressed by how many of the scenarios ended up having a decently high personal rating. This tells me that the scenarios themselves aren’t bad but the over-arching story and mechanisms introduced are what leaves a foul malignancy festering in my mind when contemplating The Forgotten Age. Mainly due to the frustrations with the exploration deck, the supply point system (never having what you need), and having to suffer the ridiculous amount of serpent creatures all looking to settle their poisonous fangs into your meaty neck. The Harbinger of Valusia is still out there, slithering around the jungle with a whopping 18 HP! Good luck with that Mexico.

Final Score (Avg)

#Arkham Horror LCG #The Forgotten Age #h.p. lovecraft

[gibberingcultist]

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Designers: Nate French, Matthew Newman Artists: Christopher Hosch, Marcin Jakubowski, Ignacio Bazán Lazcano, Henning Ludvigsen, Mercedes Opheim, Zoe Robinson, Evan Simonet Players: 1-2 per base game. Playtime: 60-120 minutes per scenario. BGG Weight: 3.31 / 5 Mechanisms: Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative Living Card Game® set amid a backdrop of Lovecraftian horror. As the Ancient Ones seek entry to our world, one to two investigators (or up to four with two Core Sets) work to unravel arcane mysteries and conspiracies.

Their efforts determine not only the course of your game, but carry forward throughout whole campaigns, challenging them to overcome their personal demons even as Arkham Horror: The Card Game blurs the distinction between the card game and roleplaying experiences.

I would consider Arkham Horror LCG as one of my favorite games at this moment so why not take some time to touch on it even though the game came out three plus years ago. I was introduced to the base game last year by a friend and I haven’t stopped playing and in turn buying additional expansions, mythos packs, or standalone adventures ever since. It’s been a costly endeavor however an enjoyable one. Currently I’m only half way through The Path to Carcosa campaign so I will try to touch back when I finish that campaign and any future campaigns. I will be playing them all eventually.

Arkham Horror LCG is a great two player game. My girlfriend and I like to fit one of the scenarios into our busy work week whenever we can. AH-LCG can be a bit chaotic at four players, due to each player drawing at least one or even two cards from the mythos deck (bad events) each round. This addition of more enemies or obstacles can overwhelm an already complicated board state. But in turn, having additional players can help with achieving particular goals or taking care of all the monsters that have spawned over the last few rounds. Personally I tend to just stick to 2-player games of AH-LCG, as it cuts down on the time between turns, keeping those with short attention spans, like me, engaged from start to finish. But I’m happy and willing to try a scenario with any additional players as well.

Replayability

One might think you play each scenario only once but really you could play each of them numerous times. Not only does most of the scenarios have multiple strategies to win and in turn multiple outcomes but also you could play with different characters who are using slightly different decks. I have played the base game composed of 3 scenarios, 3-4 times, each with different friends and playing as different characters. I’m on my second play through of The Dunwich Legacy Campaign and I am enjoying it just as much as I did the first time around. There is also a harder difficulty that I might attempt someday. Probably once I have all the necessary asset/event cards from all the different mythos packs.

Playtime

Each scenario will be set up slightly different so the set-up of the game can take a bit of time. But with the help of other players experienced in AH-LCG, this can go rather quickly. Most scenarios tend to play in 1.5-2.5 hours I would say. The harder scenarios playing a bit longer as there is more discussion and consideration regarding what should be done to succeed. But this is an story-driven experience so the time it takes to play a scenario is an engaging one!

Night of the Zealot

The base game of AH-LCG comes with only three scenarios unfortunately. But it’s a decent primer for what you will be getting into with future campaigns. Part I: The Gathering You and your partners have been investigating strange events in your home city of Arkham, Massachusetts… A quick and easy scenario and a great test scenario for any and all future characters you might later acquire. It throws you right into the action with all those strange occurrences you were supposedly investigating, coming to investigate you. Part II: The Midnight Masks A rather difficult scenario with just the base asset/equipment cards but this scenario shows you that you can’t do everything you want to do each scenario. You will need to know when to cut your losses and run! Part III: The Devourer Below So I’ve played this (mini?) campaign three times now and I’ve only got two of the three end campaign resolutions. It’s hard! But again, I haven’t played it with any of the expansion cards so maybe another go at it is in order!

Return to the Night of the Zealot

This will be the next campaign(?) I start after the Path to Carcosa. I imagine there will be a Return To… for each of the five major expansions. Plus I just love owning these expansions in particular mostly for the boxes that they come in. They are a great way to store and organize all the cards you will inevitably amass.

Final Thoughts

Pros: + One of the best storytelling experiences within board gaming that I have found. Besides straight up RPG. + Really fun to build a deck for new characters or improve a deck for a current character through XP generation. + LCG means I don’t have to waste time and money searching for one card in particular. I know exactly what cards will be with what expansion. + Really enjoyable campaigns where the decisions you make during and after play will have direct outcomes and lasting effects that carry over from scenario to scenario. Cons:    – There’s much to purchase. Each Mythos Pack and standalone scenario will run you $10-15 (USD). A second base game is needed to play 3-4 players which can run you another $20-40. Additional major expansions are $25-30. I spent at least a $100+ to fully customize the box, sleeve the cards, use coin capsules on the tokens, buy a decent sized mythos bag to pull from, etc. – Some scenarios can have vague rule sets and will usually result in you as the player googling rule clarifications. And other scenarios can be just downright frustrating.

Andy’s Rating: 9 / 10

#Action Point Allowance System #cthuhlu #h.p. lovecraft #Arkham Horror LCG #fantasy flight games #Living Card Game #Arkham Horror #Matthew Newman #Nate French #Hand Managment