Arkham Horror is an based on 's and taking place in the. It was designed by Richard Launius in 1987 for and was revamped and re-released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2005.
![Arkham horror lcg characters Arkham horror lcg characters](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5535817fe4b0704995ea431e/t/5ba27f2170a6ad2a00154755/1539707203716/12246956_1027607667301392_5705954197736644588_n.jpg)
The players must cooperate as a handful of investigators trying to prevent the awakening of an with the fate of the city of Arkham, and sometimes the whole world, in the balance. The investigators will collect ordinary and magical items, explore forgotten or forbidden regions of the town, battle monsters, enter alien worlds, and (per the setting) go gibbering insane in the process. The game is fairly complicated and features a staggering amount of cards, markers, and counters.
Three decks of standard size Ancient One cards are used for random encounters and events. Nearly a dozen decks of smaller sized Investigator cards track the possessions/status of the players.
There are fistfuls of cardboard counters for health, sanity and money, monster markers, and other miscellaneous tokens. Success or failure is determined by a pool of six-sided dice; every roll of five or six counts as a success, but modifiers can add or subtract from the dice pool for your roll and difficult tasks can require multiple successes.
Investigators are the player characters. Each investigator has scores for stamina and sanity, some set and random starting items, and a special ability such as healing or extra income.
Aug 5, 2010 - When it comes to the board game Arkham Horror, people either love it, hate it. Flight's [the game's creator] defining element,' forum-goer iko wrote. Here's how it works: each player controls a character with different.
They also have a collection of linked and adjustable attributes, so raising one stat will lower its counterpart. For example, you can move faster at the expense of stealth to speed through the town on one turn and next turn change scores to sneak past the monster guarding your destination at a snail's pace. The Ancient One is a powerful, alien monster featured in the, including Cthulhu himself. Each Ancient One has a character sheet akin to an investigator which includes special rules that modify the game as a whole (such as ongoing harmful weather), rules modifying its favorite monsters, and combat stats should it awaken. One is randomly drawn to be your antagonist for the game and the players ultimately race against time to prevent its awakening. Almost every turn a counter will be added to the doom track. When full, it awakens and the investigators have.
There are very few ways to slow the doom track down and many to speed it up. It also serves as a health meter during the fight. Ancient Ones are horribly powerful in combat, often resistant or immune to forms of damage and usually able to kill unlucky investigators who fail to meet specific requirements before combat even begins. The game is played on a large board depicting Arkham city and divided into neighborhoods with multiple locations within them. Random encounters can occur at almost any location in the game and the encounters range from paranormal horror to mundane accidents.
![Character Character](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125376446/530672820.png)
Some areas provide set beneficial effects that allow the players to shop, heal, or learn new skills. On the long side of the board are the other world locations representing alien dimensions like Yuggoth or lost terrestrial regions like the Plateau of Leng. Investigators must brave the other worlds to seal the portals; while they generally don't encounter monsters while doing so, they often face other threats to their health and sanity.
Mythos cards control the flow of the game. One is drawn at the start of each turn. A mythos card will open portals, move monsters, reveal clues, and activate other events that can hinder or help the investigators.
Portals open in unstable locations and release monsters. Having too many open portals can awaken the Ancient One early. Portals can only be closed after slowly exploring the other world linked to it, and in most cases, they can be reopened later in the game.
Every new portal brings at least one new monster to the city. Monsters move randomly based on a series of black and white arrows on the game board and the mythos card drawn, and some also have special movement rules such as being able to fly. While you can attempt to evade monsters with stealth, they must ultimately be dealt with; having too many monsters in play is not only dangerous and obstructive, but will advance the terror track.
The terror track measures the level of fear in Arkhams residents, and the higher the track advances, the fewer services and allies will remain in town. Eight have been produced for Arkham Horror so far. Four of them are larger expansions with new boards representing other cities in New England, a host of new investigators, Ancient Ones, and monsters.
They're also almost as expensive as the original game. The four smaller expansions feature a few new rules, monsters, and additional cards in the base game. A major new rule spanning the expansions is the addition of the Herald, a powerful monster acting against you and serving as the Ancient One's. A later expansion adds Guardians, which are beings and/or organizations supporting (or at the very least being on roughly the same side as) the Investigators. Curse of the Dark Pharaoh: Small expansion. An exhibit of Egyptian artifacts has arrived in Arkham and is stirring up trouble.
Exhibit items: Similar to unique items but can only be received through random encounters. Barred from the neighborhood: A combination of offending the locals or a traumatic experience on your end prevents you from entering locations in a given neighborhood. Benefits and detriments: Some new special effects that can be attached to your character. Dual-color Gate cards: Double-duty random encounters for other world events.
In 2011, a revised edition was released. Among the changes:. The Exhibit Items, Spells, Allies, Benefits, and Detriments had their effects overhauled.
The Barred from Neighborhood mechanic was replaced with Patrol markers. The Ancient Whispers marker and Exhibit Encounter deck were added to provide an additional and more certain method of obtaining Exhibit Items. The inclusion of the Dark Pharaoh Herald. The Dunwich Horror: Large expansion. In a rural town outside of Arkham, a family of sorcerers have created an abomination that threatens mankind.
Adds eight investigators, four Ancient ones, and two other worlds. The Dunwich Horror: An extremely powerful monster that can be summoned during the game. The Horror can randomly advance the doom track and has randomly drawn abilities and combat stats per battle. Injury and madness: Being reduced to zero stamina/sanity now has a lingering effect.
Injured/insane investigators can be retired to allow the player to draw a fresh character. Conditions: These are ongoing effects that have 'toggle' conditions and can activate/deactivate continuously during the game. Stalker monsters: Sneaky monsters which can directly pursue nearby investigators, even ignoring the boundaries that limit monster movement in the process. Tasks and missions: Lengthy side quests may be taken to gain rewards, missions also require sacrifices to complete. Vortices: Special locations in Dunwich of dimensional instability.
Monsters will enter them to advance the terror track and to summon the Dunwich Horror. The King in Yellow: Small expansion.
A charity performance of the, will be performed in Arkham, driving the populace mad and destroying the town. The King in Yellow: The play is performed in three acts; reaching the third act ends the game.
The first two will randomly occur based on new mythos cards unless the investigators pay the cost of preventing it. Magical effect cards: These keep track of ongoing spells cast on your investigator. The Herald rules were introduced in this set.
The Herald changes the game much like having a second Ancient One in play. The first Herald, the King in Yellow, forces you to choose between adding Blight characters into play or advancing the doom track under certain conditions. Blight: These characters have gone mad from the play and serve as anti-allies to hinder you.
Spawn monsters: These are monsters that only enter play under specific conditions. The Kingsport Horror: Large expansion. Mythos-related problems are starting in nearby Kingsport, however, there are friendly powers intervening for humanity. Adds eight investigators, four Ancient Ones, two other worlds, and two new heralds.
Guardians: Three benign entities are aiding mankind. Aquatic monsters: These monsters can directly move from aquatic locations to attack investigators. Elusive monsters: These monsters try to avoid investigators. Rifts: These are mobile Gates that might open during play.
Once open they move across the board spawning monsters and possibly advancing the doom track. Epic Battle rules: These are randomly drawn events that change how the battle against the Ancient One plays. The Black Goat of the Woods: Small expansion. The cult of Shub-Niggurath is rising in power and must be stopped. Corruption: Exposure to the Mythos now causes horrible mental and spiritual decay to investigators. Gate bursts: Gates that have been sealed can be forced open again.
This, however, doesn't advance the doom track. Cult membership: You can infiltrate the One of the Thousand Cult and experience new encounters. Difficulty levels: optional cards give guidelines on altering the difficulty of the game. The Innsmouth Horror: Large expansion. This town is directly under the control of Mythos forces and its Deep One masters are making their move for power. Sixteen new investigators, eight new Ancient Ones, two new heralds.
Innsmouth: The town is an enemy base and investigators will have to evade the police while exploring the area or suffer harsher consequences. The Innsmouth Look: The town is home to human/Deep One hybrids, possibly including the investigators!. Deep One uprising: The Deep One conspiracy in Innsmouth is represented by a new countdown track. If the track fills, their efforts have succeeded and the Ancient One awakens independent of the doom track.
The investigators can slow the uprising track by alerting the FBI. Personal stories: Investigator backstories now come into play with personal goals to meet. The Lurker at the Threshold: Small expansion. It's realized that the portals opening through Arkham are extensions of Yog-Sothoth, and it must be confronted to save the city.
Dark Pacts: Your investigator can make deals with the Lurker for power and aid. Until the Lurker decides to collect on your debts. Relationships: Investigators now draw cards that give shared background and benefits with another player. New Gates: Gates will have new special abilities to spice things up; from movement to sharing other worlds, to advancing the doom track. Miskatonic Horror: Large expansion. A discovery at Miskatonic University has created new mysteries concerning Arkham's dark days. Unlike other large expansions it doesn't add a new board, new rules, and new features to the game, rather it builds on the additions from other expansions by adding more cards to the pools (such as new exhibits and cult encounters).
Institutions: One confirmed new feature is gaining the help of 'friendly' (at least non-Mythos) organizations. Currently, Fantasy Flight has switched from expansions to producing spin-offs. Among them are:.: Players investigate an (one of many possible ones) while one player designated as the controls the opposition. Sort of a lite-version of roleplaying. Has so far received two large expansions. Forbidden Alchemy introduces a new puzzle type as well as three new scenarios with a angle.
Call of the Wild features five new scenarios with an outdoors locale as well as non-linear gameplay. There are also six single scenario expansions: Season of the Witch, The Silver Tablet, Til Death Do Us Apart, House of Fears, The Yellow Sign, and The Laboratory (the last one requires Forbidden Alchemy). The second edition of the game introduces a mobile device app which, among other things, eliminates the need for a Keeper player.
The box of this game states the app is required, whereas with the base game it is only a suggestion.: A Dice-based game where you complete adventures at a to gain the needed amount of Elder Signs to prevent an from awakening. Essentially a scaled-back version of Arkham Horror. The shortest of all the games, with average playtime around 45 minutes.