Evil Goes Global! Let’s Play Eldritch Horror

The Ancient Ones’ influence has spread across the world and only our intrepid band of heroes can stop it!

In Eldritch Horror, the players travel the world, trying to solve 3 Mysteries that will prevent the Ancient One from gaining a foothold in to our world.

Eldritch Horror rulebook!
Eldritch Horror reference guide!
Eldritch Horror FAQ!

Each round consists of three phases.

1. Action Phase
2. Encounter Phase
3. Mythos Phase


The players can perform two unique actions during this phase.

• TRAVEL – The investigator moves to an adjacent space. The investigator may then spend a Ticket to move an additional space.
• REST – The player regains 1 Health and 1 Sanity. This cannot be done on a space containing a Monster.
• TRADE – Trade possessions (Assets, Artifacts, Spells, Clues, Tickets) with another Investigator in the same space.
• PREPARE FOR TRAVEL (CITY ONLY) – Gain one ticket of either Ship or Train type only if the location is connect by a track of that type. May only be performed in a City. Limit of two tickets total per Investigator
• ACQUIRE ASSETS (CITY ONLY) – Test Influence. May gain card(s) from the Reserve with the sum of their values up to the number of successes rolled. If no cards chosen, the Investigator may instead discard one card from the Reserve. Then, replace the cards removed (bought, discarded) from the Reserve. Cannot be done on a space with Monsters.
• COMPONENT ACTION – Perform an action on your card or Investigator sheet (preceded by “Action:”) or on another Investigator’s (preceded by “Local Action:”) if on the same space. Each action from a different source counts as a different action.

Encounter Phase

Players must resolve one type of encounter.

• COMBAT ENCOUNTER - This is required if the Investigator shares a space with a Monster. If there are no Monsters left after combat, the Investigator may then resolve one other encounter.
• LOCATION ENCOUNTER - The player draws a card from the Investigator’s location (America, Europe, Asia/Australia, or General), resolves the effect, and discards the card. The player may choose the type if multiple are possible. The text below a location suggests the most common encounter type for that space.
• TOKEN ENCOUNTER - The player may choose to resolve an encounter for a token on the space instead. Depending on the token, resolve based on the following card type:

TOKEN TYPE - CARD

• Clue - Research
• Gate- Other World
• Active Expedition - Expedition
• Rumor - Rumor Mythos
• Defeated Investigator - Back of Defeated Investigator Card

MYTHOS PHASE

The Lead Investigator draws a Mythos card and resolves the icons and effects in order (left to right, top to bottom).




These are the characters the players can choose and also an explanation for their stats.

• Lore is usually used when closing Gates and casting Spells.
• Influence is usually used when buying items and when doing City encounters.
• Observation is usually used when doing Expeditions and Clue encounters.
• Strength is usually used when doing Expeditions and fighting enemies.
• Will is usually used when closing Gates and fighting enemies.

WIN OR LOSE

• The game immediately ends when an effect specifies that “Investigators win the game,” or “Investigators lose the game.”
• In the rare circumstance that both of these effects happen at the same time, investigators win the game.
• Investigators win the game by solving Mysteries.
• If all players have been eliminated, investigators lose the game.
• If a Mythos card cannot be drawn during the Mythos Phase, the Mythos Phase ends and investigators lose the game.
• If the Doom token reaches the “0” space of the Doom track, the Ancient One awakens. The Ancient One sheet is flipped and indicates how investigators can lose the game.

Tests

When an investigator resolves a test, he performs the following steps:

1. Determine Dice Pool: The investigator determines the number of dice he will roll. This number is his dice pool.
   • He starts with a number equal to the skill being tested.
   • He adds or subtracts the test modifier (the number that follows the skill icon on the effect).
   • If he has an Improvement token for the skill being tested, he adds the Improvement token’s modifier.
   • He may use one effect that provides a bonus (for example “Gain +3). If multiple effects provide a bonus, he uses only the highest bonus.
   • He adds any “additional dice” he gains from effects that apply. Additional dice are cumulative and are in addition to other effects.
2. Roll Dice: He rolls a number of dice equal to his dice pool.
   • If an investigator’s dice pool is below 1, he rolls 1 die instead.
   • If an investigator’s dice pool is greater than the number of dice available, he rolls as many dice as possible, counts his successes, and rolls the dice again until he has rolled a number of dice equal to his dice pool.
3. Determine Result: Each “5” or “6” rolled is one success. The total number of successes rolled is the test result. If he rolls at least one success, he passes the test. If he does not roll any successes, he fails the test.
   
4. Resolve Pass or Fail Effect: The consequence of passing or failing the test is determined by the effect that triggered the test.

Combat

During the Encounter Phase, an investigator on a space containing one or more Monsters must encounter each Monster on his space, one at a time, in the order of his choice. An investigator resolves a Combat Encounter by following these steps:

1. Check Monster Effects: The Monster might have effects that alter how the investigator resolves the combat. It is important to read the Monster’s effects before resolving any other part of the Combat Encounter.
   
2. Resolve Will Test: The investigator resolves the Monster’s test.
   • If the Monster’s horror is greater than the test result, the investigator loses Sanity equal to the difference.
3. Resolve Strength Test: The investigator resolves the Monster’s test.
   • If the Monster’s damage is greater than the test result, the investigator loses Health equal to the difference.
   • If he passes, the Monster loses Health equal to the test result. Indicate this by placing an equal number of Health tokens on the Monster token. The investigator and Monster lose Health simultaneously.
   • When a Monster has lost Health equal to or greater than its toughness, the Monster is defeated and returned to the monster cup.
   • If a Monster does not have a { or } test, the investigator does not resolve that test.
   • If an investigator defeats every Monster on his space during the Encounter Phase, he may resolve an additional encounter of his choice.

When an investigator has lost all Health or Sanity, he is immediately defeated and resolves the following steps:

1. Advance Doom: Advance Doom by one.
2. Relocation: Move the Investigator token to the nearest City space. Then lay the Investigator token on its side with a Health token on it to indicate the investigator has lost all Health or with a Sanity token on it to indicate the investigator has lost all Sanity.
3. Collect Possessions: The investigator discards all Condition cards, Health, Sanity, and Improvement tokens and places his possessions on his Investigator sheet. Keep the sheet faceup and place it in a common area, out of the way.
4. Pass Lead Investigator: If the defeated investigator has the Lead Investigator token, he must pass it to an investigator of his choice.

When an investigator is devoured, he resolves the following steps:

1. Advance Doom: Advance Doom by 1.
2. Discard Possessions: The investigator discards all possessions, Condition cards, Health, Sanity, and Improvement tokens and returns his Investigator sheet and token to the game box.
3. Pass Lead Investigator: If the devoured investigator has the Lead Investigator token, he must pass the token to an investigator of his choice.
4. The player chooses a new investigator at the end of the Mythos Phase.

Delayed

When an investigator becomes Delayed, lay his Investigator token on its side.

• A Delayed investigator cannot perform any actions.
• If an investigator becomes Delayed on his turn during the Action Phase, he immediately ends his action and loses all remaining actions instead of becoming Delayed.
• Instead of performing actions during the Action Phase, a Delayed investigator rights his Investigator token and is no longer delayed.

Conditions

• Condition cards are double-sided. An investigator cannot look at the back of Conditions unless an effect allows him to.
• Conditions cannot be traded.
• An investigator cannot have multiple copies of the same Condition. If he would gain a Condition that he already has a copy of, he does not gain another copy of that Condition.
• Some Conditions allow an investigator to perform unique actions as described on the card.
• If a Condition’s effect does not list a limit, it may only be used once per instance of the triggered event.

Conditions:


Locations:
These are rough guides as to what can happen at each unique location, but far from a certainty.

Yog-Sothoth is what we'll be facing.

The top left corner shows what number the Doom Track will be starting at. If it ever reaches 0, Yog-Sothoth will awaken and we'll flip the sheet over. There will be a final mystery to solve for us to defeat him.

All Cultists are Ancient One specific, so if I ever place a Cultist on the board, we'll go over to the Ancient One's sheet to get the stats to defeat it.

Yog's has a Reckoning effect, so whenever the Reckoning symbol shows up on the Mythos card, each investigator on a space containing a Gate advances Doom by 1 unless he discards 1 spell.

Mysteries

This Mystery will actually be the first Mystery we'll be tackling. It's fairly self-explanatory. You just gotta do what the card says.


The Omen token starts on the Green Comet and whenever the Advance Omen symbol comes up, the token advances one space clockwise. The Doom Track advances by 1 for every Gate that has the same symbol as the current Omen.



On the map is the major and minor locations that you can visit. The red lines are Train paths, the blue lines are Ship paths, and while it can be hard to see on this image, the yellow paths are Uncharted. Neither of the tickets can be used to for a free ride down the Uncharted paths.

The Reserve is where players will be buying items. There will be four items always available to purchase, and, if you deem necessary, a Bank Loan. If you take the Bank Loan, you are given 2 successes to your Acquire Asset test, and you gain a Debt condition.

When I update the map, the Reserve will be empty and I'll just put it on a chart somewhere in the post.

Combat Example!

Mark is facing off against the Elder Thing!

1. It has no monster effect, so we go straight into combat.
2. Mark tests his Will of 4 and rolls 2,1,5,6 for 2 successes. The Elder Thing has a Horror rating of 3, so Mark loses the difference between the rating and his successes, which is 1 SAN.
3. Mark then tests his Strength -1. He gets a 6, 3 and 1. Only 1 success. The Elder Thing has a Combat rating of 2, so Mark loses the difference, which is 1 HP. The Elder Thing also takes damage, equal to the amount of successes Mark rolled, which is 1 HP.

This ends the combat encounter. Mark is free to attempt the kill the Elder Thing on the next round. Any damage the Elder Thing incurred this turn stays with the monster.

This and That

• There are no autofails. If you find a negative modifier will take you to 0 or below, don't worry. You will always roll 1 die.
• Took a whooping from a monster and don't think you can take another round of combat? Just walk away. You do not have to stay and fight the monster again. You just can't stay and have a non-combat encounter while it's still there.
• The Lead Investigator can be moved around. I can be Lead for the whole game or we can discuss it and pass it to Mogri on turn 3. The Lead is whomever we want it to be. Just FYI, Charlie Kane should be Lead for the first turn.

When you post your turn, number your actions. It will help be keep track of things.

1. Rest
2. Travel to Shanghai, then Boat ticket to Tokyo,

At the end of your turn, tell me which Encounter you want. If you're on the San Francisco space and it has a Clue token and an Expedition marker*, you have four choices for encounters: research, expedition, city, and the San Francisco encounter.

*This will never happen because San Francisco isn't in the Expedition deck. It's just an example.



This is the reference card for 6 players. It indicates the number of Clues and Gates spawned from the Mythos cards, and the number of monsters spawned from a Monster Surge.

Based on the claims thread, it looks like prospective players are myself, Gerad, Mogri, jpfriction, and possibly Teaspoon if we need him to play.

Just one or two more people, guys! (also we should probably have sign ups here so we don't clutter the claims thread for falselogic)

I'll be playing too. My computer crapped out so things are a bit slow.

Including teaspoon, we've got six but if he'd rather be an alternate, we need one more.

You can put me down if need be. I missed the roll call thread, but I've been wanting to try this.

Calling Ashcan Pe*BLAM*

Ok, we got our six. The game goes up to 8, but I did that with Arkham Horror and,while fun, it was a lot of work.

I'll take the international superspy if no one objects.

Mark Harrigan.

import random
print(random.randint(1,10))
>> 5

Skipping over Mark, looks like I get Lola Hayes.

Random.org gave me Jim Culver, the musician.

Norman Withers sounds about right for me.

AND I'LL FORM THE HEAD I'll be Charlie Kane

VOLTRON, GO! So when do we start?

In the next 2 or 3 days

Truly the C. Kane of Call of Cthulhu characters

Any particular thing we're waiting on?

For me to fix my PC woes

Ah, alrighty. Good luck! Don't delete system32 (assuming you have Windows)!

Uploaded the Ancient One we'll be fighting. I'll slowly be putting up everything we need to play

I put some more stuff up. Give it a looksy and tell me if you have any questions!

if he drops Mimiron's Head, I call dibs.

Start of Game/Turn 1



Omen Doom = 14
This is the player order. All this means is that Turn 1, Norman will be Lead Investigator. Turn 2, Mark will be Lead. We'll just go down the list each turn.

I'll kick things off.

1. Acquire Asset - I roll a 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. Reroll the 4 and get a 3. 2 successes! I take the Bank Loan and get 2 more successes to spend.
   • I buy the Spirit Dagger (2) and the King James Bible (2). The Spirit Dagger goes to Lola and the Bible to Trish.
   • Dynamite (3) and the Arcane Scholar (2) enter the reserve.
2. Local Action - Debt - Test Influence: I get 1, 1, 5, 5, and 6. I pass and discard the Debt condition.

San Francisco Encounter

So, lemme get this straight. When you roll, successes are when the die is less than or equal to your stat, right?

EDIT: Oh, no. I must not have seen that rule go up when you put it up. Sorry.

So, me next? Sorry, don't quite grok the importance of the lead investigator.

1. Move to London.

2. Move to Rome.

Clue encounter.

Edit: Now that I read the rules a little more carefully, am I not allowed to use both actions for travel? If so:

1. Move to London

2. Prepare for travel (take a ship ticket).

London encounter.

Double edit: confused the ship and train lines, changed my acquired ticket to a ship one.

You have to take two different actions on your turn.

EDIT: yeah, you almost got it on your second try. London has no Train paths connected to it, so only Ship tickets are available to you.

Everyone can just post their moves concurrently. Re: Lead Investigator, sometimes the Mythos card will say the lead investigator can do x but they have to gain y. By having it move to a different player each turn means not one person is dealing with the brunt of bad Mythos cards.

The number on your stat is how many dice you roll. 5s and 6s are considered successes.

Afraid of that, I edited my post.

I realize it's not my turn, but unless something crazy happens, I'll be doing this:

1. [Special] Take a clue
2. Move to Istanbul

Unless I already have a clue and don't realize it.

So, when I scroll up, I get lost in the posts.

What all can I do?