Arkham Horror: The Card Game

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Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Re: train scenario, I wonder if more players makes it more difficult than normal. I've played it with two and three players and that extra encounter card each time can really hurt given how quickly the agendas advance and all the cultists and doom nonsense.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2017 17:56

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 06:10

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

This is incorrect for both examples.

The tentacles/auto-fail token effect gets applied in ST.4 of the skill check timing window before you have the chance to play Lucky!, which means you've failed. For the purposes of other card effects (like Rotting Remains) you are considered to be at skill 0 so that you can figure that stuff out.

The difference with negative modifiers (-4 vs 2 skill in this case) is that they resolve in ST.4 of the timing chart, but success/failure is determined separately on ST.6 of the chart. In addition, all modifiers, including Lucky!, are taken together per the Modifiers section of the rules reference, so in the above example you would end up with 0 in the end (2-4+2).

Arkhamdb.com has the rules referene in a mostly plain text webpage that is easily searchable, which is super nice and handy. Relevant sections are Modifiers and Skill Check Timing.

This is a great rundown, but the way they implemented it is very frustrating. Reading through the steps, there's no player window until after the effects of the skill test has resolved and the effects of failure have been applied. So the technical order for something like Rotting Remains would be outright fail the test, take horror, then play Lucky and rewind everything? It seems a lot better to just have a player window after the draw.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2017 15:21

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

This is correct.

I went back and edited my post to correct a mistake: only chaos token with symbols (Elder Sign, Tentacles, etc.) have their affects applied in ST.4. Chaos tokens with just numbers on them don't do anything in ST.4 and are just tallied up with everything else in ST.5.

Lucky! has its own special window in ST.6 that then kind of bounces you back to ST.5 before going back to ST.6. They could probably stick a free action player window in the chart, but Lucky! is sort of covered by the general, "if a card breaks a rule, follow the card's instructions," line in the rules.

Yeah thinking about it, it's more elegant than another window, that'd open up questions about whether the pump assets could be used after a failed roll.

Anyone play with the new investigators? I'm waiting for a build up of scenarios before hitting The Path to Carcosa, but I went through the core with a buddy as Minh and Yorrick. Minh is a lot of fun, especially in the core scenarios where they throw XP at you. She just burns through her deck. She is REALLY versatile- I was able to pick a locked door and murder a cultist with her on the same turn, no problem. Yorrick looked fun, but I'm bummed Dark Horse doesn't work with his ability at all.

Prairie Bus fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Sep 19, 2017

# ¿ Sep 19, 2017 15:51

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Soothing Vapors posted:

New preview of Carcosa Pack 3, giving some more details about the Doubt/Conviction system. Also Pickpocketing is even better now.

*mild, nonspecific spoilers for a Carcosa Pack 3 encounter card*
I'm hoping there's more to doubt/conviction than what's on that encounter card. Its pretty boringly mechanical - do you want to test intellect or will? They've done a great job integrating the theme in the past, so I'm hoping there's more to this. I do like that it's a choice between the head (intellect) and the heart (will). Hopefully it'll have greater narrative effects.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2017 20:16

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Max posted:

FYI this depends on which act card you get. For me it was a loving fire the started spreading everywhere.

We had water flooding the theater. The Carcosa scenarios were both great. The story was more realized through the cards and was just better written than the core or Dunwich. Re: The Last King I loved seeing the bystanders' art go from party-ready to completely grotesque. It wasn't entirely unexpected given what you see throughout the scenario, but it was still very cool. The story cards have a ton of exciting potential.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2017 01:21

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Has anyone seen complete spoilers for the player cards from The Pallid Mask? It�s supposed to release tomorrow, but I�ve only seen two cards from the set.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2018 16:55

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Zerf posted:

pallid mask spoilers https://imgur.com/gallery/MIKnO

Just saw that. They look cool, I really like the new skill cards. Eureka will be great for my Minh deck.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2018 21:10

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

oXDemosthenesXo posted:

Do you have a list for your Minh deck? I haven't tried too hard to build one but haven't seen a good one yet.

I�ll pull it up when I get home, but the core of it is skill cards and card draw. Two copies of Guts, Perception, Manual Dexterity, etc., along with Preposterous Sketches. I went after Cryptic Research and Higher Education first. She�s support/clue hound in a three player game, so I can rely on Mark and Akachi to handle most monsters. Her play is pretty straight forward - pitch skill cards all over the place so you can dig until you hit Analytical Mind. She can usually get one good hit/evade in, but she�s a little vulnerable if isolated. We just played A Phantom of Truth and I was able to consistently be up four on almost all of my checks.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2018 17:31

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/1/31/the-forgotten-age/

New cycle announced. The new mechanic looks cool, hopefully the scenarios will jump around the world. I�d love to see some Mountains of Madness settings in this one.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2018 19:59

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Soothing Vapors posted:

Oh man I love Ursula Downs. Give me Diana Stanley in this cycle and my wishlist is complete

Exploration sounds cool

I�m not super familiar with the Arkham investigators, but she looks fantastic. I�m guessing she�s a seeker/rogue by her stat line. She�s going to be killer with the upgraded Shortcut.

It looks like they�re using rules text in an interesting way - Circuitous Trail tells you to �check your supplies� to see if anyone �has a compass.� I wonder if a compass is an asset or if it�s just text you remember.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2018 21:12

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Lichtenstein posted:

are nerds buying a lot of these books when will this scam end

It�s a stupid way to sell bad books, but nothing is stopping people from proxying the new investigators.

Silas looks cool. When I first started the game, I really undervalued skill cards. Looking forward to running him with Resourceful and Desperate cards.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2018 18:49

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Now that the Carcosa cycle has wrapped up, what did people think? Spoilers through the end of Dim Carcosa:

On the whole, I liked this campaign. They did a good enough job with the unreliable narrator schtick, that�s a very hard thing to pull off in this medium. But I was a little let down by the Stranger tally resolution: I kept hoping they�d pull some legacy nonsense and include a �Do Not Open Until You Have 5 Tally Marks� or something. It just affecting how quickly the first agenda ended was a bummer.

We went full on with Conviction: we burned the house down, heeded the warning, and fought the stranger in the Catacombs. Hastur, Lord of Carcosa was a real challenge, especially with Mark�s already low sanity and mental trauma.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2018 03:07

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Lichtenstein posted:

what

matt what are you even

how

why

That�s so cool. Run with plenty of desperate cards in group play, go full martyr. Ward of Protection and �I�ve Had Worse� look great for him.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2018 17:34

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Does anyone have ideas for a survivor deck? Right now I�m thinking about running Ashcan with Yaotl, desperate cards, and possibly True Survivor or Cornered. Maybe throwing in Double or Nothing and Deduction for his splashes. I�ll be playing a three player Forgotten Age campaign with a mystic and a rogue (Mateo and Finn). Is there a better option for a more investigative survivor?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2018 17:10

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

Agreed. Waiting for Olive McBride is killing me--I keep checking the packs as they come out only to realize she was waaaaaaaay later in the Forgotten Age cycle.

Or just waiting to see if Ancient Stone is worth the xp.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2018 04:43

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Wazzu posted:

Finished the Carcosa campaign as Wendy Adams, comboed with Leo Anderson. Having previously focussed on combat, it was neat to be such an anti-combat character. Lockpicks were key to getting clues, but it was always funny when I inserted a lockpick into The Stranger for value. I hosed up by finishing the campaign with a Possession in hand. Time for a little girl to be come a succesful playwright!

I think I might do a solo campaign as super rich Jenny. Any advice on the most fun solo characters to play?

Just for future reference, you can't use Lockpicks on the Stranger - it's an action symbol on his card to investigate him, and the Lockpicks are a separate action. Same reason that you can't use the flashlight on him.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2018 05:42

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

alg posted:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/9/5/return-to-the-dunwich-legacy/

Noice

Sounds like they�re fixing the Essex Express scenario. The replacement for Ancient Evils looks cool - it�s still worse than the average card, but it�s not straight backbreaking.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2018 21:04

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Lichtenstein posted:

Nothing would break, but some things might be lost.

Sometimes, like in the Gathering, Ancient Evils are just a random event and you probably won't miss them much.

However, Ancient Evils has a purpose in the game, that is seriously disrupting players banking on carefully managing doom. So if you're playing:
- one of these scenarios heavy on cultist-chasing shenanigans,
- a scenario where you know you're doing some agenda-timing trickery on a replay,
- a doom-juggling mystic,

I think you'd be doing yourself a bit of disservice. Though this is admittedly a "rambling about easy mode in dark souls" kind of opinion.

Well, it�s not like the replacement card would make any of those scenarios that much easier - the alternative is drawing two new encounter cards, which is still much worse than any single card.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2018 14:57

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Orange Devil posted:

Clearly it isn't if that single card says "add a doom, this can cause the objective to advance" or else you would've picked that option instead.

Fair, you�ve caught my sloppy writing. I should�ve said �most cards.� The point remains, it�s still a very tough encounter card.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2018 16:01

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

The Lord of Hats posted:

Finished The Forgotten Age!

Next up is Return to Dunwich (First playthrough of Dunwich, but I've had the Return recommended as generally better), with another player joining in.

We forged our own path the entire way through, which led to a really brutal Shattered Aeons with both Alejandro and Ichtaca showing up to poo poo in our cheerios. Thankfully, Ursula is naturally dodgy, and Agnes was packing Mists of R'lyeh, so we were able to dance around both of them long enough to finish up the relic before it went bad. And then surprise, super-secret bonus scenario!

Fuuuck me but the Epilogue is rough. It's a great gimmick for the story, but expecting you to fight Yig and the (full health because timeywimey shenanigans) Harbinger at the same time is something else completely. We barely made it to the bit where Yig shows up, because the encounter deck was making GBS threads every single enemy at us, and Agnes couldn't find any offense. So we said screw it, Edge of Tomorrowed ourselves into a position we could actually do something from, and punched him in his stupid snake face.

Overall, TFA was a lot of fun, but it was kind of... uneven. The parts that were good were fantastic--Deapths of Yoth, City of Archives, Doom of the Eztli--but the bad parts are pretty bad--the Boundary Beyond, Heart of the Elders, the supply system handing out more trauma than it really ought to. It'll be interesting to see how Dunwich's overall flatter level is going to compare.

Funny, my wife and I finished TFA last night as well. We ran Ursula and Skids and managed to keep Ichtaca happy. Skids ended up turning Alejandro to paste with a Chicago Typewriter before we could talk to him. It�s a shame, because I�m pretty curious about what he (and Ichtaca) would�ve said. If we do it again I�ll want to do what you did, just to see the 9th scenario. Final note, Ursula was a monster throughout the campaign. She took the expedition journal and was easily getting 5-6 actions every turn.

Am I the only one let down by Rita�s deck building? Most tricks are already survivor cards, so her only great pickup right now is Ace in the Hole.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2019 15:48

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Yeah, I held off on Finn thinking he�d get a similar treatment. I agree with KPC, it takes the excitement out of new releases. It sucks for a crucial level 0 card to come out halfway through the campaign. We waited until last weekend to even start TFA for that reason. Well, that and because we had a baby.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2019 17:03

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Guiding spirit seems like it�ll be better than most other exile cards. Playing it doesn�t guarantee it�ll be exiled, and it fills a niche for survivors.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2019 23:41

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Is anyone else trying out Patrice? We started a two player run through TCU and I�m enjoying playing her. The early game seems to be trying to survive until you can hit Cornered or a couple cats. I was initially doubtful about her violin, but it�s so good. My next upgrade is going to be Scrapper, and I probably should�ve done it earlier.

Regarding TCU, I�m enjoying the story and art so far. We�re playing through The Wages of Sin right now. The toddler makes it hard, but our Jasper game table is paying for itself with how easy it is to pause a game and hide it in the vault.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2019 17:48

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

LupusAter posted:

This module is kept very up to date, has a lot of automation and somehow doesn't explode trying to track every token you've created during a campaign. Very recommended.

It�s incredible. Tried it with the wife and it does some great things. It can import decks from ArkhamDB and automatically sets up any scenario up to Weaver.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2020 17:50

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Anyone have ideas for fun Seeker/Survivor builds for Innsmouth? I�ll be going in blind, and I haven�t been paying attention to the new cards. I�d like to do a Calvin deck, is he strong enough now?

# ¿ Dec 9, 2021 20:06

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 06:10

Prairie Bus: Sep 22, 2006

Thanks for the ideas. I�m playing around with an Amanda deck but might switch over to Trish. It�s been a long time since I went Rogue.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2021 05:11

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