The Stars Are Right... for an Arkham Horror LP!

March 9, 2011, 3:06 AM

Finally, after weeks of preparation, it was time. The Circle was cast, the candles were lit, the incense was burning, and the glyphs had all been meticulously drawn. Here, in the second-story bedroom of this secluded farmhouse, on a hill at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere, I would be able to receive my answers.

My city, my once beautiful hometown, so vibrant and full of life, has become a desolate and fearful place. Entire streets are boarded up or even closed off, factories shut down, plazas razed to the ground. The people live in a spiral of depression, and that was before the whispers started.

People would disappear without a trace, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, only to return exactly where they were last seen, reduced to gibbering madness. Rumors had begun to spread of otherworldly creatures stalking the streets of the city at night, carrying children out of their bedrooms. Gang activity had always been a problem, but now the word "cult" had been getting thrown around in the media more often. Even the sounds of thumping bass and an occasional siren would have been welcome, as opposed to the now oppressive silence.

I have seen these things for myself. I have witnessed the changes in the air. I have even tried to get a glimpse of one of these mysterious creatures, but all I have been able to catch is a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye, and then nothing, but a lingering sense of wrongness. How I have managed to keep it together for this long, to see the signs, I cannot say. Am I faster than they are? Am I sneakier? Is it my knowledge of crystals and energy, or just plain dumb luck? Of course, my 9 mil could be an effective deterrent, but thank the gods I haven't had to use it yet.

Which brings me to this moment, the pivotal juncture. I sit in the Circle, an ancient book I found in an abandoned library in front of me. I steel my resolve, ground and center, and speak the words on the page as I inhale the smoke. I focus my will with a silent prayer: "What must I do to stop this madness from destroying my home?!?"

The wind builds, and builds, and then stops, and in front of my eyes, something impossible happens. The air thickens, a point of light appears in the middle of the room, and opens like an iris, a spinning vortex. It is pulling me in, and I cannot resist it. The world goes black.

I awake on a bench under open sky. It is nighttime, but the sky has a strange reddish hue... it feels like Summer. I put my hand over my face, only to realize that I can see right through it! I remember the ritual, the vortex; everything comes rushing back. This place is not my city, but it feels the same, the same oppressive air everywhere, but thicker, more pervasive. A slight breeze brings a page of newspaper to my feet; the front page of the Arkham Herald. The date reads March 9... 1926!!! My ritual seeking answers somehow dragged me 85 years in the past! Which means...

I hear a scream. A woman in a flapper dress is being chased by something... horrible. Misshapen limbs reach for her as she turns a corner into a dark alley. I try to yell, but I have no voice. Now I realize what I am being forced to witness: The strange events that plague my home happened before, in this place, this Arkham. Maybe, with what I learn here, I can stop my city's own decay! However, there were two key problems in front of me:

How can I keep my mind together long enough to solve this puzzle? And how do I get back?

Submitted for your approval, a Let's Play of Arkham Horror, the Revised Printing. This is my first LP, so helpful criticisms are welcome and encouraged.

My plan for this thread is two-fold: the first phase will be a solo playthrough using 4 characters I draw at random. You, the readers, may vote on what actions I take, both major and minor. Win or lose, it will be a learning experience, because the second phase could be much more entertaining, as a full-on Let's Play! 7 readers plus myself will join forces through this board to bring an end to the evil that pervades the city of Arkham. In both phases, moves and results will be posted hopefully once per day, but no longer than every 48 hours.

Most importantly, I wan to give an early shout-out to poetfox, because her original LP of this game is what got me interested in the first place, and because her dissection of the mechanics assisted me greatly in my own sessions with friends out here in meatspace.

Set-up will be posted soon!

(poetfox is a she) Good luck! i look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Will you be using any expansions in this LP, or is it base game all the way?

Only base game, as it is all I own (to this point). Even if I had the expansions, I would still probably just use the base game, so as not to overwhelm myself on my first go-round.

Honestly, I've never found the expansions to add very much to the game. We typically just end up using them for the extra investigators, skill cards, items, etc.

I think I actually made the effort to ride the train up to Dunwich once. It was okay. Kind of a waste of time.

I wish you super luck with all this! There's still plenty to tell about this crazy game, and I'm interested to see what your take on making an LP of it will be.

Also, use these characters.

Oh Brick, it's blatantly obvious that you have played this game many times, as you are clearly already completely mad. =)

Maybe I will use the Vector gang, after my plan has run its course.

I am so god damn excited about this. Poetfox inspired me to buy the game with her LP alone so yeah. Also, is it too early to try to reserve a spot for Phase 2?

So is it assuming too much that phase 1 is the past whereas phase 2 is going to be the battle for the present? Gorram I am already hooked on this dude.

I have yet to decide on if Phase 2 will be a story or just a "Let's Play for the heck of it" yet, but perhaps... perhaps...

Phase 2 Participants:
1.) SladeForrester (Host)
2.) Tefari
3.) Sarcasmorator
4.) Destil
5.) StriderDL
6.) ajr82
7.) Umby
8.) Nodal

The list is filled!

I am down for Phase 2.

Arkham is a game I used to enjoy, but honestly, I can't stand playing it anymore. Ghost Stories has similar theming, better mechanics, and takes a quarter of the time to play. The only time I'd choose Arkham is when I have 5+ (and then it gets even LONGER). I might enjoy seeing somebody else play it, though!

Also, PBEM (or is that play by board post?) sounds like the appropriate way to do the game, as long as there's a way to manage the decks.

Hey, General Leo is missing from that page.

The Past

I can feel my consciousness being pulled, drawn to four people, all from different walks of life and yet bound by a common thread. These brave souls share the same insight as I, the knowledge that something is wrong and must be righted. Their skills are various, their personalities diverse, and all essential to solving the mysteries of these occurrences. I have not been in this time long, but I have already learned my first lesson: I cannot succeed in my own time alone.

It is then that my mind is pulled, violently, to an unknowable point somewhere in the outer reaches of the universe, and I become aware of... something. I cannot describe it, I only know that is the source of all this madness, and it is terrifying. Completely inhuman, inexorable, unstoppable... I can sense its hunger, but does not seem to notice my intrusion. It appears to be... asleep? It stirs, and I force my consciousness back to Earth, to Arkham. I am shaken to my core. This is what these people must try to stop? Is this the same evil that afflicts my home in my time? So many questions, so few answers...

And yet, I become aware of fluctuations in energy, of specific locations around Arkham that are unstable, and yet may contain vital clues as to the nature of this horror. This quartet of souls seem drawn to these locations, for better or for worse... Perhaps I can guide them? I seem to be able to manipulate objects, but the creature I saw in the streets, and it's horrid master, did not perceive me. But in all the stories I have read and television and movies about time travel, they warn against altering the timeline, for fear of paradoxes. I wonder, surely these people must have succeeded in stopping this beast, or the world would have been annihilated years ago, and that obviously did not happen!

...Or did it?

Ladies and Gentlemen, after much shuffling and random draw, we have our Investigators!



Not a bad little team, if I do say so myself. The Author can pick and choose between two Encounters when in the Other Worlds (to be explained later), the Salesman and the Archaeologist get to pick from a larger pool of items, and the Scientist can stop Gates from opening on top of her head.

And what items and abilities will our Investigators have at their disposal? These decks hold that answer!



And so, without further ado, here's our starting load-out! (And sorry about the blur.)




Well, we could have done better, but we could have also done worse. The magnifying glasses are Clue Tokens, representing the nuggets of information our Investigators will have to decipher in order to stop the evils that threaten the city. Those Holy Waters probably won't see any use from my experience since they are one-offs, but I got some fantastic spells, especially Find Gate. That Ancient Tablet that Monty got puts us in a weird position: since he is not meant as a spellcaster, I'll actually be hoping for failures on the dicerolls. 3 out of 4 characters have both Physical and Magical ways to augment combat damage right off the bat, and I cannot stress enough how important this is. Money is money; we like the kind that jingles, we prefer the kind that folds. =)

However, will these items and abilities be enough to see our intrepid heroes through against... THIS?!?



Hoo boy. Granted, there are no "preferable" or "easy" Big Bads in this game, but this one is pretty darn nasty. The increase in difficulty to close Gates is somewhat troublesome, but the other problem... Normally, if an Investigator is ever Lost In Time And Space, they just float in nothingness for a turn and get spit out in Arkham a little worse for wear. However, instead of becoming Lost, Investigators get catapulted right into Yog-Sothoth's... wait, does it even HAVE a mouth? *shudder* We might be seeing a re-casting of a hero or two during this run.

A further explanation of the mechanics, turn order, phases, and other such infodumpiness will come during the opening turn, which I will run autonomously. After that, I will be taking suggestions on both general strategy and individual tactics.

The stage is set, the orchestra swells, and the show is about to begin. The curtain rises in 24 hours.

Same here. Slade, we are anticipating this LP to be as rad as Poetfox's was, and hers was very rad!

can you write out the text on the cards? the pics are too blurry to read.

Looking forward to this, and maybe even phase 2 if I can get the gameplay down. Can you list the items your investigators are starting with and maybe talk a little bit about them? If you're waiting to do so during play that's fine too!

You may find this list to be useful.

I want to play phase two!

It occurs to me that other folks reading this board may be running higher resolutions, so I will be linking the item and ability cards to their respective Wiki entries and giving information on how they are applied. Thanks to Aaron M for the initial link, I didn't even know it existed. =)

Destil, StriderDL, you're in Phase 2.

Fuck yes, Monterey Jack's back in action.

This is exciting. I am excited.

I haven't had a chance to play my copy yet, but I know I'm going to have a hard time not picking Kate. Her special ability is "Science!"

Bob Jenkins?! I commend your commitment to the random draw process. At least with that Shotgun and Dark Cloak, he might not be totally useless.

The Past

The natives are getting restless, as the phrase goes. Just as in my time when the madness began, the people are at least trying to do something, although it seems to someone with the gift of hindsight as trying to stick a finger in a damn that is about to break. The police are mobilized in the streets, and a curfew is enforced. I highly doubt it will have the intended effect; this time period was not known for adherence to the law.

I sense something... a tearing, a folding, a rip in time and space. I have felt something like this before, when I was pulled into this time. A Gate is opening! I focus on the location of the energy fluctuations, and see something come through, a disgusting aberration of nature, surely not of this world. I feel something as well, and my eyes dart skyward, but only for an instant. The Evil that awaits in its slumber, I can feel it stirring... Are the Gates responsible for awakening this monstrosity, or is it the other way round? So many questions...

There is something else... the four bright souls I keyed on have started to move. At the moment the Gate opens, they seem to be aware of it.
The Scientist, working in her lab in the dead of night. Her head comes up from her microscope, she rubs her eyes, and she knows something is wrong.
The Archaeologist, peddling artifacts from a long-dead civilization. He stops mid-sentence as something in is satchel begins to hum, and he knows.
The Salesman, all fast-talk and smooth moves. His enjoyment at another closed deal is interrupted by a flash in his mind, and he knows.
The Author, sipping coffee in a diner. A people-watcher who sometimes has visions, another one hits her in an instant, and she knows.

They all know. But they do not know all. Will the knowledge lead them to salvation? Or destruction?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now my friends, we complete or initial setup and take our first tentative steps into the night.

First, the board:

The main section of the game board, the city of Arkham itself, has two different kinds of locations. Streets areas, such as Uptown and French Hill, act as hubs to connect the other individual locations.

Locations marked with a green diamond are considered stable, and Gates will never open there, but Clues don't appear there either. Stable locations typically have text on the board that you can follow instead of drawing from the encounter deck, which we will go over later. Red diamonds signify unstable areas, where both Gates and Clues can appear. The other icons, the dollar sign, gun, star, etc. match the backs of the card decks and refer to what can typically gained from successful Encounters at these locations, to give you an idea of what to expect if you move there. If the icon is black, then you can guarantee that you will receive the item or bonus the icon refers to, for a price.

This is the board as it is laid out during the opening turn, or perhaps you could say Turn 0. Clues, represented by green dots, appear at all the unstable areas, except for the Science Building at Miskatonic University, due to a caveat printed on Kate Winthrop's character card. The Investigators' starting locations are also on their character cards, and they are on the board with the first letter of their names. Investigators may collect Clue tokens by ending their movement on a location with one or more in place. And speaking of our characters...


Each Investigator has 6 stats split into 3 offsetting pairs. What determines the current ratings is the placement of oval-shaped sliders. Instead of taking a new picture, I drew them on so they would stand out better. These sliders are not fixed permanently, they can be moved, based on the Focus rating. In this case, a Focus of 1 means that one slider can be moved one spot in either direction each turn, at the player's discretion. A higher Focus means more slider moves. You will notice that the offsetting pairs make sense: You can be fast or quiet, strong physically or mentally, and rely on knowledge or random chance. While each stat does come into play during various Encounters throughout the game, they do have some standard applications:

Speed equals movement points in the overworld of Arkham.
Sneak is used for Evade checks against monsters if you wish to avoid combat.
Fight is the base stat for Combat checks (to be explained later), when evasion is bypassed or failed.
Will is used for Sanity checks (to be explained later), required to avoid going stark raving mad from viewing the horrors spewing forth.
Lore is used for Spellcasting.
Luck... seems to matter more in the Other Worlds, but does not have one main draw like the others do.

Now, how do you make these checks? Well, in most cases not relating to Combat, you only need one success to pass. A 5 or 6 is a success, unless there is a Blessing or a Curse in effect. For example, a card asks for a "Luck check -2". You take your Luck stat, add any items or abilities you have, and subtract the -2 difficulty, and that equals how many dice you have to roll to get that one success. If the card reads "Lore check -1 [2]", then you roll your Lore + Items + Abilities - Difficulty of 1, and the bracketed number means you need 2 successes to pass. For anyone who played any of the White Wolf pen-and-paper games back in the day (Vampire: the Masquerade et al) this should be giving you some serious flashbacks. Combat throws these conventions out the window though, but we'll get into that nest of vipers later.

In the event of a failed check, a player can spend one of their Clue tokens to roll another die (or two with the appropriate Skill) to stave off doom, but this carries risks. It only buys you another roll, not a guaranteed success, and it costs a Clue token, which have another extremely important application: Sealing Gates, to stop monsters from appearing and as victory condition (to be covered later).

I like to start as well-rounded as possible, and specialize later on when certain stats become more used than others, like a character becoming a specialized spellcaster, or a persistent Environment.

Each Investigator has a Stamina and Sanity rating, which represent physical and mental health. Monsters can damage both during Combat, and most spells and unique items have a Sanity cost to attempt to use them. Now, if one or the other of these stats is ever reduced to zero in Arkham, it's not the end of the world (yet), you just end up losing a turn and waking up in either the Hospital or Asylum. However, if both are reduced to zero at the same instant, that character is Devoured. If either are reduced to zero while in the Other Worlds that we will have to explore eventually, then that character becomes Lost in Time and Space, but with our Big Bad, that results in being Devoured as well. Rough stuff. There are ways to heal both stats, but neither may exceed the starting rating. Some characters have equal Stamina and Sanity, others are more imbalanced, but the total of the two will always equal 10.

*Starting Load-out*

Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 4/4
Focus: 1
Speed: 3
Sneak: 3
Fight: 2
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Lantern +1 to Luck checks
Unique Items:
Holy Water Magical Weapon, +6 to Combat checks, 2 hands, discard after use
Spells:
Find Gate Casting Modifier: -1, Sanity Cost: 1, Movement: Cast and exhaust to immediately return to Arkham from an Other World.
Mists Of Releh Casting Modifier: Special, Sanity Cost: 0, Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to pass an Evade check. The casting modifier is equal to the monster's Awareness.
Skills:
+1 Speed When you spend a Clue token to add to any Speed check, add one extra bonus die.
Allies: NONE

Analysis: Not very combat effective, but Mists of Releh will help her get out of fights against anything too nasty, and Find Gate is absolutely wonderful to start a game with, as Other Worlds can be particularly nasty. Also,
"She blinded me with Science!"

Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
Sanity: 3/3
Stamina: 7/7
Focus: 2
Speed: 2
Sneak: 2
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 3
Luck:3
Money: $7
Clues: 1
Common Items:
Bullwhip Physical Weapon, +1 to Combat checks, Any Phase: Exhaust to re-roll 1 die after making a Combat check., 1 hand
.38 Revolver Physical Weapon, +3 to Combat checks, 1 hand
Unique Items:
Enchanted Blade Magical Weapon, +4 to Combat checks, 1 hand
Ancient Tablet Movement: Spend 3 movement points and discard Ancient Tablet to roll 2 dice. For every success rolled, draw one Spell. For every failure rolled, gain 2 Clue tokens.
Spells: NONE
Skills:
+1 Lore When you spend a Clue token to add to any Lore check, add one extra bonus die.
Allies: NONE

Analysis: His awesomeness due to his Fixed possessions, the .38 and the Bullwhip; his unique ability, which allows him a greater chance to find Elder Signs; and his general Indiana Jones-iness are well-documented and have made him a fan favorite, but his random draws have made him even more well-rounded than he was before. With the Enchanted Blade, he can do damage to monsters with Physical Immunity, and he might even get a spell or two that he can use, as long as the Sanity cost isn't too high. His low max Sanity and crazy item bonuses make him the only character starting with a stat slider pushed to one extreme side, as he needs all the Will he can get. Also,
"CheeEEeeEEeeEEse!"

Bob Jenkins, the Salesman
Sanity: 4/4
Stamina: 6/6
Focus: 1
Speed: 3
Sneak: 2
Fight: 3
Will: 4
Lore: 2
Luck: 2
Money: $9
Clues: 0
Common Items:
Dark Cloak +1 to Evade Checks
Shotgun Physical Weapon, +4 to Combat checks, Any Phase: When using Shotgun in Combat, all 6's rolled count as 2 successes, 2 hands
Unique Items:
Holy Water Magical Weapon, +6 to Combat checks, 2 hands, discard after use
Dragon's Eye Any Phase: Exhaust and lose 1 Sanity after drawing a gate or location card to draw a new card in its place.
Spells: NONE
Skills:
Stealth Any Phase: Exhaust to re-roll an Evade check.
Allies: NONE

Analysis: Bobby J, the items guy. His effectiveness is determined by the common items he can get, but his unique ability lets him pick and choose between pairs for his starting load-out, as well as when he shops or loots in Encounters. The Shotgun is NICE, and the Dragon's Eye will help keep him out of trouble with a low Sanity cost. Since he starts with the most money, he has less of a hard time staying healed and sane, although none of our Investigators are exactly poor in this regard. And once again, Holy Water. Usually blah, but will suffice for him until he gets something that does Magical damage that isn't a one-off. Also,
"BOOBBBBYYYYY JENKINS!!!!" "Oh my god, he just ran in there."

Gloria Goldberg, the Author
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 4/4
Focus: 2
Speed: 2
Sneak: 2
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Dark Cloak +1 to Evade Checks
Bullwhip Physical Weapon, +1 to Combat checks, Any Phase: Exhaust to re-roll 1 die after making a Combat check., 1 hand
Unique Items: NONE
Spells:
Wither Casting modifier: 0, Sanity Cost: 0, Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to gain +3 to Combat checks until the end of this combat. 1 hand
Dread Curse of Azathoth Casting Modifier: -2, Sanity Cost: 2, Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to gain +9 to Combat checks until the end of this combat. 2 hands
Skills:
+1 Will When you spend a Clue token to add to any Will check, add one extra bonus die.
Allies: NONE

Analysis: Gloria, the psychic author, should be our spellcasting powerhouse in this game, and Wither allows her to fill this role nicely. This will be our go-to every single combat, since it's free. Dread Curse will be more of a "Holy Shit" spell-of-last-resort. The Bullwhip gives her a safety net. All in all, pretty survivable. Also,
"Stay in the back, and burn all the books (the ones I didn't write, anyway)!"

And now, all that remains for Turn 0 is the Mythos. The Mythos Phase is usually the last phase of any turn, but one must be resolved for set-up to be complete. It is also the most complicated. The Mythos Deck gets drawn from once each turn to determine where Gates, Monsters, and Clues spawn, as well as which, if any, Monsters move, and persistent effects.

Environments persist until another Environment is drawn to replace it.
Headlines are only in effect for the turn they are drawn.
Rumors persist until the printed Pass or Fail condition is met. If another Rumor is drawn, it does not replace the Rumor currently in effect and gets discarded. Pray we don't see these.

Once the Mythos card is drawn:

1.) Gate opens and Monster is spawned. A Gate will not open if one was Sealed in that location, or if one is already open there. Something worse happens then (to be covered later). If a Gate does open, the Doom Track advances (see below)

2.) Clue appears.
3.) Monsters move (if any). White and black arrows on the game board are followed by monsters that have an icon that matches the icons on the Mythos card.
4.) Mythos ability is activated.

So what did we draw?


This is the only time I will put up the picture of the card, for the purpose of example. Gate opens at the Unvisited Isle, Clue appears at the Science Building (which Kate can claim right away!), and no monsters move because there are none yet, and monsters freshly spawned this turn don't move. The Other World that the Gate leads to will remain hidden until it is traversed. But what did the Gate spawn?


Now these, I will be posting as such. It's all... drippy.
On the front, we have the difficulty to Evade checks to get past it, and it's movement icon, which relate to the icons on the bottom-right corner of the Mythos card. The border of the Monster token also determines special movement rules.
Black is standard movement, nothing special.
Yellow is Stationary, these monsters never move.
Red monsters are Fast, they move twice if their icon appears on the Mythos Card.
Green have special movement rules on the back of the token.
Blue monsters Fly, which also have special rules. And they suck.

The back of the token has a lot of info as well.
Physical Immunity means any Physical damage is ignored. There are also monsters with Magical Immunity. Resistance only ignores half. As I was corrected earlier, even if an Investigator has no items to counteract Immunities, a straight Fight check may still be used.
The blue number is the difficulty modifier of Horror checks. If an Investigator chooses to engage in combat (or gets jumped), they have to make a Horror check first, or lose an amount of Sanity equal to the number of blue pips under the difficulty number.
The red number is the difficulty modifier of Combat checks against the monster. The hearts under the red number determine how much Stamina damage the monster deals to the Investigator if it gets a chance to land a hit.
The blood drops in the bottom center of the token determine the stamina of the Monster, or how many successes must be rolled to kill the monster in one single roll. Monsters are considered undamaged at the beginning of every combat round, and if the player fails to kill a monster in one hit, the monster will counterattack. If the Investigator manages to kill a monster, in almost all cases, he gets to keep the token as a trophy, the value of which is also determined by the number of blood drops. Trophies can be spent throughout the game in certain instances for effects, and if you're keeping score, are worth victory points.

Whew.

The other consequence of a Gate opening is the advancement of the Doom Track on the bottom of the Big Bad's character card. This is not the only way for the Doom Track to advance, but it is the primary way. The Doom Track acts as a countdown of turns until the Big Bad wakes up, when it becomes Fight Or Be Eaten. There is only one real way to reduce the Doom Track: Seal Gates with Elder Signs (to be covered later).


The dinner bell rings in 11 turns. We have that long to achieve one of the 2 main game Victory Conditions:

1.) Close the last Gate on the board, and have enough Gate trophies to equal the number of Investigators playing. When a Gate is closed, it is claimed.
2.) Seal 6 gates.

But what is the difference? Well, once a Gate has been moved through and explored, it can be closed by passing either a Fight or Lore check against the difficulty modifier on the Gate token itself. Basically, you either destroy the Gate through sheer determination, or use your knowledge of such things to ritual the Gate shut. Each Gate has an icon on it that matches the icons on Monster tokens, and when a Gate gets closed, all Monsters with the matching icon get sucked out of existence. =)
However, once the gate is closed, another one can open in that same location, unless it is Sealed. To Seal a Gate, either spend 5 Clue tokens, or if you have an Elder Sign, you can Seal a gate without having to close it first, at the cost of 1 Sanity and 1 Stamina, and you still keep the Gate trophy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so we are ready for Turn 1, one Clue richer and a little wiser as to the inner workings of this game. Turn 1 will be posted tomorrow night, as this took a lot longer to put together than I had anticipated, but infodumps have that tendency, and it should allow me to avoid info-overload later, especially where combat is concerned.

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions for stat slider movement, please post away!

That's not quite right. Physical weapons can't add their bonuses to your Fight rating, but you can still roll for a combat check using your unmodified Fight score.

And oh, man. Rumors. Some of those can just ruin your day. There are a few I won't play with at all.

I need to go into Strange Eons and tweak my designs for Sovereign from Mass Effect and Lavos and the Chrono Trigger crew. I should set up a game with them some day!

I heard a rumor
Someone said we're wack
I think that it's wack to call someone wack
I am not wack no matter what you say!
What did you say?
Did you say I'm wack?

Pump Monterey Jack's Fight/Will to 2/3 and go Spawn-huntin'.

I've resisted until now, but another LP of this will probably be enough to convince me to buy it, especially since Monterey is back.

@Sarcasmorator: really? That was how my brother explained it to me. Maybe he was trying to artificially increase the difficulty on us. I'd much rather play your way, thanks =)

Your bro was wrong! Playing his way would make the game absolutely impossible, as several expansion monsters and GOOs have physical AND magical immunity.