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

Gloria is going to be a gate-closing powerhouse this game. The 'draw two, choose one' ability doesn't sound all that great to new players, until you realize that other world encounters have the ability to seriously fuck you. Especially since there's one that's "you are lost in time and space," which is particularly bad in this situation.

Anyway you should prepare to have her start closing gates ASAP, which means she'll have to fight the Formless Spawn. Lore and Sanity up, and go get rid of that thing.

Looking forward to this! I'll sign up for Round 2.

"Hey, boss! I dropped your Sanity."

By the Elder Gods, I've ben Percy'd! It's feels like a real LP now! I feel so loved... =3

March 12, 1926

Dear Diary,

I've been sitting here in this diner for almost 6 hours now, trying to put my head together. My visions are not new to me, they have come and gone for most of life, but this... this one almost broke me. The thing I saw, I had thought to be simply the effect of not enough sleep and an overworked schedule, but then I felt the PAIN, and I knew it was real. Ordinarily a night like tonight would find me in my study with a bottle of gin, but the numbing effects of alcohol would do me no good tonight. I never thought I would admit this, but on this night, thank God for Prohibition.

---

Dear Diary,

The must peculiar thing just happened! I felt something strange, like a vision, but not... My visions were always of the future, or of some sort of jumbled esoteric images, but this was of the present! I saw a young man in strange clothing, but he was only half-way here, or maybe he was here and not here at the same time... he flickered like he was an image in one of those damned silent pictures everyone is all impressed with (just a passing fad anyway, can't stand up to a good book), like he was made of smoke. He pointed west, and faded away. When I stare in the direction he indicated, I can Feel it, the hole in the sky I saw in my vision from earlier! I have to see what this is all about!

--From the personal journal of Gloria Goldberg

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Past

I had done it! She could see me, if only briefly. I found that if I concentrated hard enough on a single point within myself, and if I was around people with psychic sensitivity, then I could appear as a shadow or a phantom for just a moment. It was a gamble, but it was worth it. I only pray that I did not send an unwitting soul to her doom. I tried to remember this Goldberg, but I was unfamiliar with her work, just as I was unfamiliar with this whole city. Has my memory somehow been frayed by my ritual? Or is this just a result of my own damnable ignorance? Too many questions...

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

Turn One

Alrighty folks, we have a strategy! In this entry, I'll be going over turn order and the Phases not called Mythos. Ordinarily, the designation of First Player rotates around the table, but since there is only me here and I'm strategizing for all 4 characters, Firstie designation is rather moot.

Phase the First: Upkeep
Upkeep is typically a short phase, and half the time gets skipped entirely. There are some bonus cards, like Blessings and Retainers, that require you to roll every Upkeep phase to see if they still persist. If any items or spells were exhausted (aka tapped) during the previous turn, they are refreshed (untapped) now. It is also during Upkeep that we can use our Focus to shift our stat sliders. I will be using both of Gloria's focus points to shift her Speed/Sneak all the way to the right, to giver a Speed of 4 and a Sneak of 0. Why? Because she's going Spawn hunting!

Wait! Why her and not Monterey Jack? Quite simply, the Gate. Gloria has a better chance of surviving Gate travel than Monty does due to her unique ability, which we will get to see in action this turn, because ending your movement in a location with a Gate means you will get sucked in later in the turn. We have to explore the Gate to be able to close it, and even though we can't Seal the Gate yet, closing it still has its uses and helps to mitigate risk.

Phase the Second: Movement
Movement is actually pretty simple. As we have covered, your movement in the Overworld of Arkham is equal to your Speed stat. Each location or streets area counts as one move, connected by white path lines. Other World movement is different, but we'll be seeing that soon enough.

Phase the Third: Arkham Encounters
The Meat and Potatoes phase. You'll notice when looking at the board that each set of locations has a different color border, red in this case.

Those colors correspond with different colored Encounter Decks. If you're not in a location like a Shop or the Hospital that has text on the board, or if you are and choose not to do what the board says, then you draw a card from the appropriate color Encounter deck and and follow the instructions laid out for you. There are risks and rewards abound.

The exception to this is if you are in a location with an open Gate that you have not explored yet, as Gloria will be. Instead of getting an Encounter card, you simply get sucked in, which leads rather nicely to...

Phase the Fourth: Other World Encounters

These behave a little differently. Each Other World, as you can see, has 2 or 4 colors associated with it. The Other World deck is one single large deck with card faces of one of the four colors, kinda like Uno. Also like Uno, you draw cards until you get one of a color that matches the Other World you are currently in, and then follow the instructions on the first valid card. In the event that you get a card of the right color but it does not list the name of the Other World you are in, you follow the encounter listed under "Other." These are typically pretty rough, but once again, Gloria will see us through with her unique ability to draw two Other World cards and pick the path of least pain and suffering.

Phase the Fifth: Mythos
We had one of these already, so you know all about it.

Now, on with the show!

Starting Board

Upkeep
Gloria makes her advertised stat move. Monty also uses Focus to adjust his Speed to 3 and Sneak to 1. Everyone else stands pat.

Movement
Kate decides that the relative seclusion of the Woods is a good place to test her equipment, and gains a Clue from her experiments there. Add that to the Clue that fell on her during the Turn Zero Mythos Phase, and she's in good shape.
Clue tokens = 4


Monty is fascinated by the Ancient Tablet in his bag that started to hum all of a sudden, and as he touches it, his mind is flooded with Knowledge. We upped his Speed to 3 so he would have 3 movement points to spend for this action, and now we get our first die roll!

Go Spectral Blue Six Siders!


Wow. I swear, I didn't make this up. I was actually kinda hoping for a failure. But, as it stands, Monty gets 2 shiny new spells! The arcane knowledge fills his mind while the shopkeeper stares at him like he just grew a second head.
We drew:
Heal Casting Modifier: +1, Sanity Cost: 1, Upkeep: You may cast and exhaust. Your or another Investigator in your area gains Stamina equal to the Successes you rolled on your Spell check. This Stamina cannot be split between multiple Investigators.
Flesh Ward Casting Modifier: -2, Sanity Cost: 1, Any Phase: Cast and exhaust to ignore all Stamina loss being dealt to you from one course. Discard this card if the Ancient One awakens.

Egad. Montery Jack just became a Paladin. He can't use them too much without going insane, but as safety nets go, this rocks.


Bob decides to act on a tip he got from the owner of the General Store about the mysterious stranger that just bought up all the incense and charcoal in the whole store. He hides his Shotgun under his Cloak and heads for the Silver Twilight Lodge. Even if he can't fast-talk his way inside, he'll still gain something from the experience, and acquires a Clue token.
Clue tokens = 3


Gloria shoots out of the diner and hails a cab to take her to the lakeshore, and she commandeers a rowboat to reach the Unvisited Isle. The Formless Spawn awaits her, as does the swirling vortex beyond it. She knows she must get past this monstrosity, and her conscience won't let her leave it to attack some innocent. Time for our first throw-down!

First order of business when choosing to face a monster is the Horror check. As you may recall, we have to roll our Will against the difficulty represented by the blue number, -1 in this case. 3 base Will + 1 Will Skill - 1 Difficulty = 3. We need one success on 3 dice, or we lose 2 Sanity points. Go dice roll!

Excellent, no Sanity loss! Now, we Combat. First order of business, because not to do so would be ludicrous, we cast Wither. With a +0 Casting Modifier, this is just a straight Lore check, so 3 dice.

With a wave of her hand and a spoken word in a forgotten language, Gloria's spellcasting succeeds and the Formless Spawn shrinks down to a fraction of its size, granting Gloria +3 to her Combat check. Now is the time to strike! The plus bonus of the Bullwhip won't help here due to the monster's physical immunity, but the successful casting of Wither gives us 5 dice to roll, or it would if not for the monster's Combat difficulty, represented by the red -2. The Spawn also has 2 toughness, shown by the blood drops, so we need 2 successes on 3 dice. This one's for the teddy bear!

Hot diggity damn, the Spawn goes down! Gloria claims it as a trophy, and steels her resolve for the task ahead.

Encounters will be resolved in the following post.

Arkham Encounters
Kate
Damn bootleggers. Notice the card does not say "you may" so this something I must attempt. Kate's Sneak is 3, and the -2 means 1 die. 1 lonely die...

Well, crap. Kate loses 2 Stamina and gets shoved out into the streets. Now, because she did not end her Movement here, the effect of the Environment does not trigger.


Monty
Instead of having an Encounter from the deck, we're going shopping, since Monty's unique ability lets him pull from a pool of 4 cards instead of 3 in this case. However, we MUST buy one of them if we can afford to. He rifles the shelves and finds:

Any Phase: When sealing a gate, lose 1 Stamina and 1 Sanity and return this card to the box. You do not need to make a skill check or spend any Clue tokens to seal the gate. In addition, remove one doom token from the Ancient One's doom track.

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Monty slaps a fiver on the counter and leaves the shop one Elder Sign richer, suppressing a very unmanly giggle as he does so.
For the sake of posterity, these were the other 3 cards he pulled.

Never a doubt.

Bob
Well, Bob may be silver-tongued, but he's not quite sneaky enough to make it past the guard at the door. His Sneak is only 2, and the -2 makes that zero. He does have 1 Clue token if I wanted to spend it, but I don't, as there is no penalty for failure here. Bob might take another crack at the Lodge next turn.

Gloria
Since she shares a space with an unexplored Gate, her Encounter is to get sucked through. But to where? We flip the gate token to reveal:

So Gloria moves through to The City of the Great Race, and because the Gate didn't open on top of her head, she gets to have an Other World Encounter here this turn. I won't show both cards she draws, just the one I pick.


Other World Encounters
Gloria
First of all, yuck. This is a Fight check, not a Combat check, so Wither does not help us here. Gloria's base Fight is 2, so we have only 1 die to pass this.

Nutbunnies. Still, the damage isn't too severe. It could have been worse, I assure you.

Mythos
Yes, <> is supposed to be a diamond. Anyhoo.
Most of this card does not affect us at all. There are no monsters in the Downtown streets (or anywhere at all), and so no monster movement either. The clue appears, and the gate to *somewhere* opens, releasing...

Not too terrifying. Probably never be able to Evade it with a die roll, but our group is pretty combat damage heavy anyway, and it's a relatively easy kill. Ambush just means that you can't flee from it once you start fighting it. Big deal in this case.

And, lest we forget...

One step closer to Doom.

Board, End of Turn 1:



Character Sheets, End of Turn 1:
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 2/4
Focus: 1
Speed: 3
Sneak: 3
Fight: 2
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 4
Common Items:
Lantern
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Spells:
Find Gate
Mists Of Releh
Skills
+1 Speed
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
Sanity: 3/3
Stamina: 7/7
Focus: 2
Speed: 3
Sneak: 1
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 3
Luck:3
Money: $2
Clues: 1
Common Items:
Bullwhip
.38 Revolver
Unique Items:
Enchanted Blade
Elder Sign
Spells:
Heal
Flesh Ward
Skills:
+1 Lore
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

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: 1
Common Items:
Dark Cloak
Shotgun
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Dragon's Eye
Spells: NONE
Skills:
Stealth
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Gloria Goldberg, the Author
Sanity: 5/6
Stamina: 3/4
Focus: 2
Speed: 4
Sneak: 0
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Dark Cloak
Bullwhip
Unique Items: NONE
Spells:
Wither
Dread Curse of Azathoth
Skills:
+1 Will
Allies: NONE
Trophies: Formless Spawn (2 pts)

And there we have it. Turn 2 will be posted in less than 48 hours, and input is highly encouraged! Shall Bob continue to try to sell the Silver Twilight Lodge members Earthquake Insurance? What bizarre experiments will Kate try next? And when does Monterey Jack get to shoot something in the face (assuming what he's shooting even has a face, or only one...)?

Also on the docket:
The Terror Track!
Monster Limits!
Outskirts!
And much much more!

I've never seen this game and now I'm hooked on this LP.

That's how this works!

If there's a spot, I'd like to jump in and try to play the game on the second time through. I read poetfox's LP and I was hoping for her to do a second run, but this works too!

GO MONTEREY JACK

Give it at least another try. The Lodge is too much fun (and potential reward) to pass up.

If I see these Arkham Horror LPs, I kinda want to program a video game conversion every time.

As somebody who has played this game many times, and had to read the errata for it even more often: Clue tokens disappear from a location when a gate opens on them. But, unlike I thought before, you do resolve monster encounters before going through a gate (except when drawing a card that indicates a gate/monster appear on top of a character, in which case the gate is resolved first).

Things are off to a swimming start for you, though!

March 14, 1926

Ma's Boarding House
Arkham Asylum
Curiositie Shoppe

Well, that was damned unexpected. I've found a lot of strange artifacts before, but never any that decided to write something in my brain. Not only that, but I feel... "charged" somehow, like I just stuck my finger in a light socket. Unfortunately, I have run out of leads. There is something going on in this godforsaken town, and I need to find out what. I know that it is somehow related to my father's murder, and I need to find out how. I know I didn't imagine that symbol. I need to find someplace with a lot of people, hopefully I can get a lead on that guy. More importantly, I need a damn drink. I swore I wouldn't come back to States while Prohibition was still in effect, but this is too important to me. I asked the Shoppe owner, and he pointed me to Hib's Roadhouse, but with a warning: Keep one hand on my wallet, and the other on my holster.

Sounds like my kinda place.

--Excerpt from the exploration notes of "Montery" Jack, c/o Miskatonic University Archaeology Dept.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Past

My heart is breaking. The Author vanished into that portal, and she was gone without a trace. I sent her there. I could only pray that she was alright, wherever she was. She seemed capable enough against that oozing monstrosity she faced, so maybe she'll survive. Incredible that she used magic against it, I don't think she knew what she was doing, it seemed more instinctual than anything.

And that poor Scientist. What was she thinking, trying to steal a shotgun from a sleeping bootlegger? I tried to defend her against her assailant, but I could not change what happened, intangible as I appear to be. To be able to see everything, yet do nothing when it counts... No. I cannot give in to despair. I can only press on. Hopefully she has learned to be more careful.

Ah, the Salesman. How like him I was in the time before my city started to decay. Always a quick word, always another angle. It seems like he has a plan of some sort in mind, but even at my sharpest, I don't know if I would try to talk my way into the confines of a Hermetic Lodge. I wish him the best of luck, for if anyone would know what secrets this place holds, it would be them.

That Archaeologist impresses me with his fortitude. He just handled an immense arcane surge and it barely fazed him. While he was connected to the tablet, I was able to see inside his mind. His focus seems too fixated on revenge, and I fear it may lead him into a trap. Still, his idea of talking to the locals is a sound one, and I shall follow him, to see if I can catch any clues of my own...

Before I begin, I would like to announce that all slots for Phase 2 are now filled. Thank you so much for the interest everyone! It's going to be a blast!

There are couple small areas of the board we have not seen yet, and I will go over them here. Hopefully we will have to refer to them as little as possible though, because they kinda suck. Both areas relate to an important rule, that of Monster Limit. The Monster Limit is determined by a very simple formula: the number of players + 3 = Monster Limit. In this game, the Limit is 7. If something should happen that would cause an 8th monster to be put on the board, it instead goes to the Outskirts.

The other 2 spaces are pretty simple. The Sky is where Flying Monsters go when they have no one to attack until they have a target, and Lost in Time & Space is something we will never use in this playthrough because of the Big Bad's nasty appetite. With other Big Bads, it's just a one-turn delay.

Now, the Outskirts does have a limited capacity as well. There is a handy chart that shows what that capacity is in the Instruction Manual. In this playthrough, our player count of 4 means no more than 4 monsters can be in the Outskirts at any one time. Should a 5th monster be placed in the Outskirts, all monsters that are already there get put back in the bag, and the Terror Track increases.

The Terror Track Is a representation of the levels of fear in Arkham. A purple ring shows its current setting of zero, as things have not gotten that bad yet (but it's still early). The Terror Track increasing has several consequences.
Each time it increases one step, one Ally card form the Ally deck is removed from the game. We haven't gone over Allies yet, but they are very helpful and almost impossible to get early on, unless your character starts with one. They're almost like super-Skills.
If the Terror Track hits 3, 6, and 9, one of the shops closes. The General Store closes at 3, the Curiositie Shoppe at 6, and Ye Olde Magick Shoppe at 9. Obviously, this sucks if you have a desire to buy your way to power.
Lastly, if the Terror Track hits the top at 10, Arkham is overrun. The Monster Limit no longer applies, and the Doom Track advances. This is a Very Bad Thing(tm).

Hopefully, we will see this go up as little as possible. The main way the Terror Track advances is through too many Monsters being allowed to live, but there are also Mythos cards that can advance the track, so hopefully we get some lucky draws in that regard.

Ushers, tell the smokers to come back to their seats, the Intermission is almost over!

Turn Two

Board, Start of Turn Two


Character Sheets, Start of Turn Two
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 2/4
Focus: 1
Speed: 3
Sneak: 3
Fight: 2
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 4
Common Items:
Lantern
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Spells:
Find Gate
Mists Of Releh
Skills
+1 Speed
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
Sanity: 3/3
Stamina: 7/7
Focus: 2
Speed: 3
Sneak: 1
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $2
Clues: 1
Common Items:
Bullwhip
.38 Revolver
Unique Items:
Enchanted Blade
Elder Sign
Spells:
Heal
Flesh Ward
Skills:
+1 Lore
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

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: 1
Common Items:
Dark CloakShotgun
Unique Items:
Holy Water Dragon's Eye
Spells: NONE
Skills:
Stealth
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Gloria Goldberg, the Author
Sanity: 5/6
Stamina: 3/4
Focus: 2
Speed: 4
Sneak: 0
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Dark Cloak Bullwhip
Unique Items: NONE
Spells:
Wither Dread Curse of Azathoth
Skills:
+1 Will
Allies: NONE
Trophies: Formless Spawn (2 pts)

Upkeep
Kate decides that she needs to be more careful in the future, and changes her Sneak to 4 and her Speed to 2.
Gloria shifts her Speed and Sneak to 2 each, since Movement Points don't mean much in the Other Worlds, and we have no idea what's coming next.
Bob takes a cue from his earlier failure and makes his Sneak 3 and Speed 2. He'll need a little extra "oomph" to get past those guards.
Monty pushes his Fight to 3 and his Will to 2, thinking a bar brawl might be in his future.

Movement
Kate heads for the Historical Society, thinking that some time amongst fellow academics will do her some good after her beating at the hands of those unwashed hooligans, and gains a Clue token from discussions with the members there. She now has enough to Seal a Gate!
Clue tokens = 5


Monty arrives at Hib's Roadhouse and starts to chat up the locals, earning himself a Clue token as well.
Clue tokens = 2


Bob stays put, trying his luck at the Silver Twilight Lodge once again.


Gloria is still exploring the City of the Great Race, and so moves from the first area of it to the second. Whether you have one Movement Point or 5, you will always move this way in the Other Worlds. If nothing delays her this turn, then her next move can take her back to Arkham.


Arkham Encounters
Kate
Quite a dilemma. We're going to do this for 2 reasons: We can choose the better encounter of the two, and there is a Clue token there we can snap up on our next turn. Unfortunately, you can only acquire Clue tokens at the end of Movement phase. Just as with Gloria in the Other Worlds, I won't show the encounter card I choose against.
Oh, we are SO doing this. We only have one die to roll, but there is no penalty for failure. Go die roll!

Nuts. However, with 5 Clue tokens in hand and one more waiting for us here when Kate gets her next turn, I decide to spend one and roll another die.

Success! Now the question is, what does she get? Well kids, that's up to you decide!
Clue tokens = 4


Monty
Unfortunately, Monty only has 2 Clue tokens, so we cannot take advantage of this awesome opportunity. Next time Ryan, the drinks are on me.

Bob
Wow, two chances for Allies in the same turn? Once again, no penalty for failure, so here goes! Fight 3 -1 = 2 dice.

Bobby J, ladies' man! Here is our first Ally, Ms. Ruby Standish.

+2 Sneak, Draw 1 Unique Item when Ruby Standish joins you.
And the bonus item is...

Tome
Movement: Exhaust and spend 2 movement points to make a Lore (-2) check. If you pass, draw 1 Skill and discard Cabala of Saboth. If you fail, nothing happens.

Tomes are pretty "meh" in this game, but at least this one has no Sanity cost, and since I'm thinking we'll be giving this Lodge one more crack (three times lucky) we'll have the Movement points to spend. Skills make me happy.

Gloria
In Other World.

Other World Encounters
Gloria
Mere words cannot adequately express how much I adore Gloria's unique ability. She is now back at full Stamina.

Mythos
Wouldn't it figure that the post where I discuss the mechanics of the Terror Track is where it would come into play. The track stands at 1, and a potential Ally leaves play for good.

Sir William Brinton decides that his estates in Wales are much nicer this time of year. Safe travels buddy.

The Ghoul stays still as his icon does not match either on the card.
The Clue does not appear, as there is an open Gate at the Unvisited Isle already.
The Gate opens, destroying the Clue at the Graveyard in the process, and out comes...

Cultists are the most numerous enemy in the game, and are the most likely to be modified by the Big Bad in play. Without that modification, as you can see Cultists are insultingly easy, as that +1 actually helps us. However, thanks to Yog-Sothoth:
Joyous. Not terrible, but annoying. I have been in groups with no physical damage items at all, and this can be a massive pain. At least they still only take one hit to kill.

Last, but certainly not least...

Doom inches ever closer.

Board, End of Turn Two


Character Sheets, End of Turn Two
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 2/4
Focus: 1
Speed: 2
Sneak: 4
Fight: 2
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 4
Common Items:
Lantern
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Spells:
Find Gate
Mists Of Releh
Skills
+1 Speed
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
Sanity: 3/3
Stamina: 7/7
Focus: 2
Speed: 3
Sneak: 1
Fight: 3
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $2
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Bullwhip
.38 Revolver
Unique Items:
Enchanted Blade
Elder Sign
Spells:
Heal
Flesh Ward
Skills:
+1 Lore
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Bob Jenkins, the Salesman
Sanity: 4/4
Stamina: 6/6
Focus: 1
Speed: 2
Sneak: 3
Fight: 3
Will: 4
Lore: 2
Luck: 2
Money: $9
Clues: 1
Common Items:
Dark CloakShotgun
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Dragon's Eye
Cabala of Saboth
Spells: NONE
Skills:
Stealth
Allies:
Ruby Standish
Trophies: NONE

Gloria Goldberg, the Author
Sanity: 5/6
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
Bullwhip
Unique Items: NONE
Spells:
Wither
Dread Curse of Azathoth
Skills:
+1 Will
Allies: NONE
Trophies: Formless Spawn (2 pts)

Board's not looking all that hot kids. We didn't get a newly spawned Clue this turn, and another one got sucked into a gate. Next Turn is mostly decided already, since Kate can't move, Gloria's exiting the Gate, and Bob's taking one more crack at the Lodge. I'd like your input on 2 things: Monty's move, and which reward Kate should take from her encounter:
1 Skill
2 Spells
4 Clues

Turn Three goes up in 48 hours. Keep your comments, corrections, criticisms, congratulations, and cookies coming! Yay alliteration!

I'd take the clues, man. It's going to be hard enough to close gates in this game with Yoggy in play — you want to seal them for good, not risk them opening up again a turn or two later.

My only experience with this game is the LP right now (and it is fantastic by the way) but you have painted clue tokens as ambrosia, and who could pass up the nectar of the gods.

I'm with Sarc. Sealing gates is your best bet, especially against a beast like Yog. Grab the clues.

Kate Winthrop, the Scientist

Clue Tokens all the way. Aside from sealing stuff it has more functions than meets the eye. This is my first experience with this and still interested.

Did our salesman actually infiltrate the Lodge yet?

With Kate's ability I prefer to keep her out and about in the areas of Arkham that are most likely to have gates open. Having her in another world generally isn't a priority (she's won entire games by shutting down gate after gate).

I'd go with the skill, myself. She'll have enough clue to seal a gate soon, anyway.

Get Monty over to one of the gates and elder sign that bitch. The gra veyard is really common if memory serves.

EDIT: also, I'm not sure if we're doing it wrong, but I believe my group plays that you need to choose to spend clues before rolling. Did I miss some errata?

You are allowed to spend clue tokens to add a die to any roll at any time!

@Lindblum: No he has not, but he's going to take one more crack at it.

@Destil: I <3 that video. Truly I do. ^_^

One minor rules quibble: when placing a gate in Mythos phase, you place it face up so you know where it leads to. That way you have less of a chance of getting lost in time and space if there are ever two investigators in that particular world. Your house rule makes it more adventurous but potentially harder.

Still, great job! I haven't actually played enough to make a good opinion on where Monterey Jack would go (just read the rules a ton), but sticking with clues seems like a good option.

This house rule was not my own idea, rather one I read from Fantasy Flight's website and decided it made thematic sense. Granted, in this particular playthrough the consequences are hella bad, but this game in general is not supposed to be fluffy.

March 16, 1926

This is why I don't leave my lab much. I've never been particularly good with people, but what on Earth possessed me to try and steal that sleeping man's shotgun? Good job Kate. For a brilliant scientist, you can be pretty dumb sometimes. I would never have come back to these woods alone, but I figured that being surrounded by a dozen other men and women with binoculars might keep those brutes away. Something tells me that this would be a good place to test my equipment outside of my lab.

--Research Notes of Kate Winthrop, c/o Applied Physics Dept, Miskatonic U.

-------

March 16, 1926

Dear Sis,

I met a man today! I know, I know, I have wayyyy too much work to be doing to let myself get distracted this way, but he was so interesting... Yes, he was older than me, old enough to be my dad, but he reminded me of my favorite teacher back in high school (go Arkham Fighting Squids!) and I have been so lonely lately... His eyes were like endless blue pools, and he was intelligent, but he was also wise, and we talked for hours about everything under the sun. I invited him to get some coffee over at Velma's, but he said that too many things were in motion right now. Then he said something that sent chills down my spine... no, nothing like that, I AM a Lady, you know! I asked him if we could talk again next week, and his eyes darkened, and he said "If there is a next week." Scary stuff. Anyway, I have plenty of work to catch up on. Give Greg and the kids a big hug for me!

Love,
Katie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Past

Watching the Salesman was definitely enlightening, and more than a bit amusing. It seems that others are willing to help, although not quite able to do so directly. I would have to keep my eye out for such people in my own time. I could tell that these Lodge members knew more about the strange occurrences than anyone suspected, and the minor prod I was able to give the Salesman should inspire him to continue to seek entry. There are no such Lodges still in existence in my time, and I shudder to think how much knowledge has been lost.

The Archaeologist and the Scientist both decided that the presence of other people is the way to go, him for information and her for protection. When the most recent portal opened in the graveyard, I decided to try my influence on the Archaeologist, thanks to the sensitivity he gained through that tablet. He seemed to be headed in that direction. I hope he will be alright. I still don't know what happens when someone goes through one of these portals, but I can still sense the Author, however dimly, and she seems to be no worse for wear, even though I cannot find her. I keep my eye on the portal she disappeared into for any signs of activity but there is nothing so far...

Wait! A pulse! I send my consciousness to the island, and pray that it is the Author that emerges, and not... something else.

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

Turn Three

The Board, Start of Turn Three



Character Sheets, Start of Turn Three
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 2/4
Focus: 1
Speed: 2
Sneak: 4
Fight: 2
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 4
Common Items:
Lantern
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Spells:
Find Gate
Mists Of Releh
Skills
+1 Speed
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
Sanity: 3/3
Stamina: 7/7
Focus: 2
Speed: 3
Sneak: 1
Fight: 3
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $2
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Bullwhip
.38 Revolver
Unique Items:
Enchanted Blade
Elder Sign
Spells:
Heal
Flesh Ward
Skills:
+1 Lore
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE

Bob Jenkins, the Salesman
Sanity: 4/4
Stamina: 6/6
Focus: 1
Speed: 2
Sneak: 3
Fight: 3
Will: 4
Lore: 2
Luck: 2
Money: $9
Clues: 1
Common Items:
Dark Cloak
Shotgun
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Dragon's Eye
Cabala of Saboth
Spells: NONE
Skills:
Stealth
Allies:
Ruby Standish
Trophies: NONE

Gloria Goldberg, the Author
Sanity: 5/6
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
Bullwhip
Unique Items: NONE
Spells:
Wither
Dread Curse of Azathoth
Skills:
+1 Will
Allies: NONE
Trophies:
Formless Spawn (2 pts)

Upkeep
Gloria adjusts her Lore to 4 in preparation for an attempt to close the Gate, dropping her Luck to 2.
Monty again shifts his Will to 1 and Fight to 4, preparing to be on the boot-end of an ass-kicking.
Bob decides not to use his Focus, having been warned by the lovely Ms. Standish to expect the unexpected.
Kate cannot do anything since her turn is skipped.

Movement
Kate cannot move. Instead we will use this time to add 4 Clue tokens to her already impressive stack. She will be able to claim the Clue token still sitting on the space on her next turn, if she decides to stay here.
Clue tokens = 8


Monty heads for the Graveyard on a tip he got from a man at the Roadhouse, where a man in robes stands chanting while holding a staff in one hand and a wickedly serrated dagger in the other. As he cocks his revolver, the sound causes the figure to spin around, with an insane, murderous intent in his eyes. It's Go Time!

In this case, due to the fact that the Cultist has no Horror modifier and does no Sanity damage in the event of a failure anyway, a Horror check is unnecessary. We go straight to the Combat check. Since this Cultist is immune to Magical damage, we add the bonuses from the .38 and the Bullwhip, to Monty's current Fight rating of 4, for a total of 8. Taking away the -1 the Cultist has thanks to Yog-Sothoth (and probably all the drugs he did before he started chanting) leaves a whopping 7 dice. Let's make it hot!

All those dice and only 2 successes, but still one more than necessary. All that chanting couldn't protect the Cultist from a lead slug, and Monty claims it as a Trophy. The Gate awaits, looming.

Bob stays put, giving the Lodge one more try.


Gloria finds her way back to Arkham from the Other World and reappears at the Unvisited Isle. Now that she has returned through the Gate, she can attempt to close it during the Arkham Encounters phase, which is coming right up.


This is an Explored marker. When an Investigator returns from an Other World, they keep this marker until they either close the Gate or move off the location where the Gate is. A player may only attempt to close a Gate while they have one of these markers.

To be continued...

Turn Three, continued

Arkham Encounters
Kate has no Encounter, missing this turn completely.

Monty does not have a standard Encounter, instead getting drawn into...

This is not a nice place to be. Because he went in willingly, he gets to have an Other World Encounter this turn.


Bob
Three time lucky, indeed! Join or get roughed up? Let's sign our name on the dotted line!

As you can see, if we go back to the Lodge space, we would use the "Inner Sanctum" entry on the Arkham Encounter card instead of the "Silver Twilight Lodge" entry. Many strange things await our fast-talking friend.


Gloria does not have a standard Encounter, as she shares the space with an explored Gate. Time to see if we can shut it down!

To close a Gate, you may choose to make either a Fight Check or a Lore check. In Gloria's case, we upped her Lore to 4 for this exact reason, it's maximum possible value. The modifier on the token would affect our dice pool for this roll, but +0 does nothing. Ordinarily we would only need one success to close the Gate, however, Yog-Sothoth rears its ugly head (wait, does it even have one?) again and this happens:
So we need 2 successes to Close the Gate. Let's make it happen!

No luck. We could spend Clue tokens to get more dice, but it's still early and she only has 2. So we stay here next turn and Try Again.

Other World Encounters
Monty
The "Other" entries on the cards are usually pretty simple, but I'm not complaining. Good pick-up!
Clue tokens = 3

Mythos
Crap crap double crap.
First of all, the ^ is a Triangle and the {} is a Hexagon.
Now, this really sucks. Since Gare Trophies cannot be traded between players, a single Investigator will have to close 2 Gates before this can be passed. There is a time limit here, but too brutal.
Also, no Clue token again. Eurgh.
The Gate appears at the Black Cave, swallowing the Clue token that was there (again) and our Monster Du Jour is...

Nasty, the first real challenge we've seen this game. The Horror check is very rough, and while it only has a 0 Combat modifier and 2 Toughness, if we fail it not only smacks us for 1 Stamina, it also eats some of our stuff!

Lastly, we get to show off Monster Movement for the first time. The Ghoul has a {} Hexagon, so it moves in the direction of the black arrow. In this case, since there is only way to move anyway, the arrow is split, so both white and black would move in the same direction. This puts the Ghoul at the Merchant District Streets.


And as always...

Getting closer now.

Board, End of Turn Three


Character Sheets, End of Turn Three
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
Sanity: 6/6
Stamina: 2/4
Focus: 1
Speed: 2
Sneak: 4
Fight: 2
Will: 2
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $7
Clues: 8
Common Items:
Lantern
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Spells:
Find Gate
Mists Of Releh
Skills
+1 Speed
Allies: NONE
Trophies: NONE
Others: NONE

Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
Sanity: 3/3
Stamina: 7/7
Focus: 2
Speed: 3
Sneak: 1
Fight: 4
Will: 1
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Money: $2
Clues: 3
Common Items:
Bullwhip
.38 Revolver
Unique Items:
Enchanted Blade
Elder Sign
Spells:
Heal
Flesh Ward
Skills:
+1 Lore
Allies: NONE
Trophies:
Cultist
Others: NONE

Bob Jenkins, the Salesman
Sanity: 4/4
Stamina: 6/6
Focus: 1
Speed: 2
Sneak: 3
Fight: 3
Will: 4
Lore: 2
Luck: 2
Money: $6
Clues: 1
Common Items:
Dark Cloak
Shotgun
Unique Items:
Holy Water
Dragon's Eye
Cabala of Saboth
Spells: NONE
Skills:
Stealth
Allies:
Ruby Standish
Trophies: NONE
Others:
Silver Twilight Lodge Membership

Gloria Goldberg, the Author
Sanity: 5/6
Stamina: 4/4
Focus: 2
Speed: 2
Sneak: 2
Fight: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 4
Luck: 2
Money: $7
Clues: 2
Common Items:
Dark Cloak
Bullwhip
Unique Items: NONE
Spells:
Wither
Dread Curse of Azathoth
Skills:
+1 Will
Allies: NONE
Trophies:
Formless Spawn (2 pts)
Others: NONE

Alright people, things are starting to get a trifle tense. Bob has his Membership, so that's something, and Gloria and Monty are locked in, but Kate has some options. Stay and collect the Clue, move to another space, or make for one of the open Gates? Turn Four goes up in 48 hours.

I'd say go for the clue again, or head to the church and hope for a blessing. You need to send Gloria through that new gate ASAP and get it closed (after the first one, of course) so you can shut the rumor down, and she's the best choice for it with her encounter ability.

Well I'd vote for Kate move onto else where. She's been idle enough.