Let's Play Arkham Horror Already!

This is totally fascinating. None of my friends here play board games so it's nice to live this one out vicariously. If I could get my hands on a Triumph of Chaos board and find somebody to play it with I would totally do an LP of that and it would take like 4000 pages. Goddamn that game is long.

I like the dice roll pictures. They recreate the effect of rolling the dice ourselves and then looking down to see the results. It's a moment of suspense and then relief/disappointment that wouldn't be conveyed as effectively in text.

Of course, I imagine that it's pretty tedious to snap a picture of every dice roll, so if you want to cut that out of the process it wouldn't be that big a deal.

Maybe a good middle ground would be to only take a few pictures of rolls that could be considered dramatic (closing of a gate, a fight that looks to go badly for the adventurer involved, etc.).

I wish the expansions were something I could go into my Wal-Mart or Target and pick up, but no, I have to drive 30 minutes to find a store with them.

sigh

I see what you did here.

Today was supposed to be a great day.
I mean, I stayed up all night studying for that final, it seemed like, and it totally paid off. When Professor Walters said to put our pencils down, what was before me was one of the better bits of essay question answer I've ever created. It was picked up and turned in. The semester was over, and not a moment too soon. Arkham has seemed colder, darker the longer and longer the semester went on, it felt like. I noticed so many students dropping out, and I really was tempted to join them. College is hard work! But I'd made it once again, and all that stood between me and my vacation was one last shift at the bank.
It was supposed to be a great day, you know?
It was a slow shift as expected. Not many people coming or going, and I sat, slumped in my window, with my head propped up in my hands for most of the time. Just as my clock-watching was hitting that fever pitch as the minute hand was ticking towards closing time, she entered. It was really hard to miss her, as she was wearing a cloak of all things. Mr. Bradley seemed to recognize her though, and soon ushered her into the safety deposit box room. Nine minutes and three seconds later (I was really paying attention to the time, you understand) she walked back out and headed for the door. It was close enough. As soon as she was gone we could lock up, and then I would be free, free free! But then a glint on the floor caught my eye.
"Hey!" I yelled. But I was too late, the woman was already out the door.
"What are you yelling about?" Bradley asked me.
"She dropped her deposit box key," I said, getting out from behind the window and picking it up off the floor.
"Well, go on after her," Mr. Bradley said. "I'll clock you out and such."
"Thanks, Mr. Bradley!" I grabbed my coat and rushed out the door.
Scanning the horizon, I thought I saw a bit of her cloak disappearing behind a corner. She was going towards the University, apparently. Fair enough, I had to head back to the dorm before I left anyway. I hurried after her.

---

Evil waits for no one, not man, woman, or half-man, half-woman. However, it will wait while I clear up some rules things.
My status as a rule whore has been tarnished by someone pointing out to me earlier in the thread (in case you missed it) that Clue tokens can't be put on spaces with gates and when a gate opens, you remove all clue tokens from it. Harsh. I've fixed the board, but the main thing that has an effect on the game is that Monterey has 1 less clue token. Not too big a deal, as he still has enough to seal a gate, but of interest to note.
Also, I forgot to mention a small fact about the terror track: When the terror track moves upward, you draw a random ally and remove it from the game. That ally simply can't be recruited anymore. They've left town for safer pastures.

Professor Rice has hit the road in what appears to be a blinding flash of light. Oh well, so it goes. I toss him back into the game box.
It is also interesting to note that, while reading the rules to make sure no other such mistakes occur, I learned investigators can't trade money. What kind of sense does that make? It makes less sense that they can trade Spells, you know. And I mean, what would you be more willing to give up, a rare magical artifact, or $5? Crazy.

Anyway, BACK INTO THE FRAY.

Turn 5: Upkeep
Marie cowers in fear at her upcoming encounter with the Hound of Tindolos, so she maxes out her Sneak. Alternatively, Amanda kicks her Fight up to the max in preparation of kicking some Cultist ass. Everyone else seems pretty good.

Turn 5: Movement
Monterey manages to crawl out of the tiny space without being detected and gets back on the road to Arkham in the City of the Great Race.
Marie decides she's getting out of there while the getting is good, and makes to use her measly 1 Speed to get to the street. To get there, though, she'll have to sneak past that Hound. We've upped her Sneak to 4, and the Hound is only -1 to Sneak past, so we have a chance... GO, DICE ROLL!

Whew. A close one. Unfortunately, she can't get any farther than the French Hill Streets, where a group of protesters start calling her mean names and waving signs in her face with intimidating slogans. With only 2 Fight to pass the Fight (-1) check, she doesn't have much of a chance to push past them. I roll a three, and she's Delayed.

Oh well, maybe we can get an Exhibit item or two out of it. Then again, she only has 1 point in Luck right now. At least she's alive, I suppose.

Amanda finally lucks upon a portal out of the Abyss and back to Arkham, returning to Independence Square. She now has explored this gate, and thus gets a little Explored token put on the gate. This means we can close or seal it, though it's lost if Amanda decides to move away from Independence Square before the job is done. Now, investigators returning to Arkham from gates do not have to fight any monsters on the gate their first turn back. It's a little bonus. However, fighting a monster ends your movement, even if you have additional movement points. Since we'd probably like Amanda to move next turn and Cultists are hard to sneak past with their -3 difficulty, we might as well throw down now. Cultists are among the easiest enemies anyway, even with Shubby's buff giving him an extra hit.

See? Pitiful. Because a Cultist is a normal human, facing it doesn't require a Horror check, and he's so easy to attack that he actually gives us an extra dice to hit. With Amanda wielding her Enchanted Cane and Derringer, that means she has 10 dice to hit him twice! Catching the Cultist off-guard as she walks out of the very gate he's guarding, she aims her Derringer, channeling the energy from her cane into the shot...

Needless to say, she makes quick work of him, and takes the Cultist as a 2 point Monster Trophy.

Joe Diamond decides that his combat was a close call, and he needs better weapons to fight the forces of darkness. Therefore, he goes to the Curiosite Shoppe to see what Unique Items he can pick up.

Turn 5: Arkham Encounters
Monterey is still racing along, so he sits this phase out.

Marie has no encounter because she is in the streets. However, since we have a free clue token from her Mythos Lore, we might as well use that to get a 1 in 3 chance of securing an Exhibit item. However, I critically miss (Note: There is no such thing as a critical miss in this game) with a 1, and so she finds nothing in her search of the mysterious sands.

Diamond is going to turn down an encounter so he can use the Curiosite Shoppe's special ability to go shopping for Unique Items. Walking into the mysterious shop, he examines the rarer items on display, looking for something that might be of us. We draw three Unique Item cards to represent the selection the store has this turn.

Swing and a miss. No enchanted blades or Elder Signs to be found. Instead we have a Tome that gets us an ally, an item that basically gives us an extra man, and a charm that lets more gates be open before Shub-Niggaurath is summoned. In this game, Investigators are very serious shoppers. We have to buy an item out of these three, even though none of them are impressive. The Elixir of Life is almost certainly the most useful out of these, so Diamond drops a fiver on the table and pockets the bottle. The other two cards are discarded.

It's time for Amanda to close the gate to The Abyss. If you look on the Gate token, this gate has a difficulty of -2 to close. To close a gate, you can either use your Lore or your Fight, whichever is higher. However, Amanda has a 4 in both of those areas, so either way she gets two dice. She starts to chant a little spell, using everything she's learned about the occult to attempt to force the gate shut...

And she fails miserably. Damn. She'll just have to try again next turn.

Turn 5: Otherworldly Encounters

Running ahead, Monterey can see the portal back to Arkham in sight! But before he gets there, he notices a group of creatures to one side. Jack watches as they disperse, and then realizes what it is they're doing as he spies the magically sealed cages!
The [2] in this encounter means that, unlike most encounters, you need two successes to pass this. With Monterey's 1 Lore, he has no chance of getting 1 success, much less 2! His efforts are heroic, but the creatures return as he tries desperately to unlock the cages. Hopefully he will be able to figure the cages out before too long, but we can do nothing but set him back down and Delay him once again.

Man, this turn has been pretty disappointing.

what counts as a success when you roll again?

Turn 5: Mythos

Apparently a collector of rare artifacts has passed on, leaving us to rummage through his belongings and shop! We put an Activity token in the Uptown streets to remind us that this is going on. The best thing about this, though, is that it replaces our other Urban environment, which is that annoying one with the protesters that's got Marie delayed.

Also a clue appears at the Black Cave, and a gate opens at... the Witch House. Which already has a gate open. Uh oh.

When a gate is supposed to open where there is already a gate, a Gate Burst occurs. You draw a monster from the cup for each open gate (We have 4) and place a Monster at each gate. No Doom Token is added to the Doom track. These are the four monsters I drew.




I could have done a WHOLE lot worse. Easy monsters at most of the gates. The worst part is the Chthorian. If he moves, he doesn't move, and we instead roll a die. On a 4-6, everyone in Arkham gets dealt a damage. Ouch. Luckily, the portal that Monterey is in has the same symbol as the Chthorian. If he can ever get out of there and get that sealed, that would take care of it.

Monster movement brings great news: The Hound moves again and follows Marie to the street! Hurrah! The Witch also moves to join the Formless Spawn in the Merchant District streets.

This was the worst turn by far. Let's see if we can't turn it around. Monterey gives the First Player token to Marie.

Turn 6: Upkeep
Marie refreshes her Mythos Lore, and ups her Luck to 3 so she can have a chance at Exhibit items this turn. I'm tired of Monterey getting screwed in Lore checks, so I bump that up to a 3. Of course, that'll probably mean he'll need a Luck check this turn, since I just lowered it.

Turn 6: Movement
Marie can finally move again now that the protesters have dispersed. However, she notices the Hound has followed her to the streets! She attempts to hide in the shadows of the street by passing another Sneak check.

Thank goodness, she evaded the Hound again. Of course, she'll have to do it one more time to get her ass out of there next turn, but there's not a whole lot else we can do with her without getting her killed.

Amanda stays right where she is, to have another go at this portal, but the newly spawned High Priest has something to say about that.

Ick, Magical Immunity. Forgot about that last turn when I said these monsters were easy. That means Amanda can't use her Enchanted Cane. We'd have 4 dice to hit 3 successes. I don't like those odds. Amanda attempts to hide in the bushes in Independence Square, keeping away from the High Priest...

Whew, she remains hidden. She can take another crack at the portal this turn. Let's hope she finally closes the thing.

Diamond isn't satisfied just with an Elixir that can bring him back to life. He wants a sword! He's going to stay and shop once again.

Monterey manages to slip out of his cage, making him no longer Delayed.

Turn 6: Arkham Encounters
Marie digs around in the sand once again, this time with a bit more Luck. She has three dice, counting her Mythos Lore clue token die, and she searches hardcore.

A handful of threes means no Exhibit item. Rats.

Amanda decides to try her chant once again and seal this bastard gate once and for all. From her hiding place in the bushes, she focuses...

And comes through this time, sealing the gate to the Abyss! She takes it as a gate trophy. Also, as a bonus, it shares a symbol with the Formless Spawn, sucking it back through the gate and returning it to the Monster Cup. Unfortunately, though, she still doesn't have the clue tokens to seal this location, so we're no closer to victory.

Complaining and haggling with the store owner, Joe Diamond manages to get him to show off more of his wares, and he attempts to purchase another Unique Item...

A Healing Stone! There are very few items more useful than this. Unfortunately, Diamond doesn't have the $8 it would cost, which means we have to discard this one. Now, the Golden Sword of Y'Ha-Talla, however, is exactly in our price range, and would help Diamond kick considerable amounts of ass. Note that to use this weapon, you have to tap it, making it sort of a 1 hit wonder. If you don't kill the monster in one round, you can't use the sword anymore. Most combat in this game lasts but one round, however, so it's not too big a deal, and +5 is a huge improvement over the +1 of the Knife. He takes the sword, and leaves the shop a broke, but much better equipped Investigator.

Turn 6: Otherworldly Encounters

As he escapes from his captors, Monterey manages to steal a strange device from them, but has no idea what it does.
Monterey smacks random buttons on the device, trying to make it do something...

The device sends a jolt through him, filling him with previously unknown knowledge! He pockets two clue tokens for being a lucky bastard.

Turn 6: Mythos
You know what a great way to end these two mediocre to bad turns is? A Rumor.

Rumor has it that the dead walk again! It's freaking the shit out of the citizens of Arkham, too.
Rumors are totally your enemy in this game. If you have the resources to pass the rumor when it comes out, you get a big bonus, but otherwise, it's a pain in the ass. It stays in play until either the "Pass" or "Fail" requirement is met.
Also, a Rumor means no Clue token.

However, a portal re-opens at the Black Cave, taking a clue token down with it. Damn. I draw a new monster, and it's the difficult-to-kill Colour Out Of Space. Damn.

Also, Shubby gets another Doom token. He's officially halfway summoned! Damn.

Also, the Chthonian moves. Damn. Luckily, I roll a 4, and everyone keeps their Stamina.

Well, let's see everyone's status after these two shitty turns.


Monterey Jack (J): 1 Sanity, 7 Stamina
Speed: 2
Sneak: 2
Fight: 4
Will: 1
Lore: 3
Luck: 2
Cash: $7
Clues: 8
Items: Bullwhip, .38 Revolver, Alien Device, Wave of Destruction, Stealth, Brass Knuckles
Trophies: Ghost (2 pts)

Marie Lambeau (M): 3 Sanity, 3 Stamina
Speed: 1
Sneak: 4
Fight: 1 (+1)
Will: 4
Lore: 2
Luck: 3
Cash: $4
Clues: 4
Items: Enchanted Knife, Voice of Ra, Cloud Memory, Vision Quest, Mythos Lore, Fight +1
Trophies: Plateau of Leng (5 pts)

Amanda Sharpe (A): 5 Sanity, 5 Stamina
Speed: 1
Sneak: 4
Fight: 4
Will: 1 (+1)
Lore: 4
Luck: 1
Cash: $1
Clues: 4
Items: .18 Derringer, Enchanted Cane, Wrack, Will +1, Expert Occultist
Trophies: The Abyss (5 pts), Cultist (2 pts)

Joe Diamond (D): 4 Sanity, 4 Stamina
Speed: 6
Sneak: 1
Fight: 4
Will: 1
Lore: 0
Luck: 3
Cash: $0
Clues: 4
Items: .45 Automatic, Knife, Ancient Tome, Spot Hidden, Tablet of Bast, Golden Sword of Y'Ha-Talla, Elixir of Life

Well, we gotta turn this shit around. We've got to get sealing gates to deal with this Rumor of the walking dead, or things are going to get real nasty really fast. Should Diamond work to seal gates, or should he just kick ass and take names with his new sword? What the hell is trapped Marie going to do? Will Monterey ever stop being delayed in the City of the Great Race? Do we even want him to? Why is Amanda Sharpe being one of the most useful characters?
We'll find out all this, and more, next time. Or something.
Next time should be tomorrow afternoon. Today afternoon. Whatever. Comment away!

A 5 or 6 unless you have a Blessing which makes it 4, 5, or 6.

Rough turns. I don't know if our heroes are going to have the juice to keep Shubby bottled up.

Have I mentioned how much I love the Terror Track mechanic? It forces you to move like hell before everything shuts down, and it scares the hell out of you while you do it. This is probably the most atmospheric boardgame ever.

We're getting our asses handed to us! Is the game usually this harsh on the players? Is it supposed to be very difficult to win? Give you that by the skin of our teeth feeling? I don't know if I'll be able to find friend who'll be willing to play a game they can barely win...

The game can be very difficult. You need to keep pushing forward without dawdling to keep the gates under control. That said, I've only lost twice in 10 or so games I've played.

All of these Call of Chthulu games are like that, as far as I know. You're supposed to be desperate and against odds you shouldn't be able to take. But hey, I make some progress in these next two turns. I'll get to posting them now.

So sealing the gate and sealing a location are different things? I guess that means that a gate can re-open there? Does closing the gate remove one of the counters from Shub's summoning card? Can you close locations before they are ever opened?

"I am so sorry for your loss."
There were so many people about that I didn't know. I have to admit it was kind of awkward, being in a room of mourners and feeling like an outcast. It was also oddly intriguing, like I was looking into my grandmother's life, and seeing everything I didn't know about her in the people paying her respects. I looked down at her body, laid out all nice and pretty in the casket, remembering old times. It... she was a really great person. Soft music played in the background, and I began to sing along with it. She would have wanted it that way. I sang, and I sang, and when I finally stopped, there was no sound in the place. I turned around and noticed everyone's eyes on me.
I excused myself and left the room. Sitting down in the lobby, I let my eyes explore the floor and withdrew into myself. At least I tried to, before I was interrupted.
"Marie?"
"Yes, that's me..." I looked up. An older man was standing there, with some sort of package.
"She wanted you to have this."
"She?"
"Your grandmother. Made me promise to give it to you." He held out the package. I took it. It was oddly heavy.
"Oh... well... thank you." I said, looking up at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Probably for the best," he said, and left.
I undid the wrappings around the object. It was one of the oddest things I had ever seen. Some sort of statue or something? I had never seen anything like it before. Atop it was a small, handwritten note. "Keep this safe. I believe in you." I read aloud. What was all this?

---

Turn 7: Upkeep
Marie refreshes her Mythos Lore. Diamond ups his Fight to the Maxx. It's monster-killing time.

Turn 7: Movement
Amanda still doesn't want to fight that High Priest, so she decides to Sneak out of the Square into the Downtown streets. She stealthily moves through the shadows...

And manages to sneak past once again! She moves to the streets, but unfortunately has no more movement points.

Meanwhile, Joe Diamond, private eye, decides that it's a good time for a career change into Joe Diamond, professional monster slayer. He heads to the Merchant District streets to give that Witch what for, but he takes the long way, passing the Ancient Tome to Amanda so someone might get some use out of it. Drawing his new sword and automatic, he faces down the witch.

She has Magical resistance, but even at half-effectiveness his magical sword is better than the knife... I throw gobs of die as he charges the Witch...

And soundly defeats her, taking her as a monster trophy. Diamond has a movement point left, but you can't move after you've engaged in combat. If you want to pass by monsters and keep moving, you have to sneak. He stops in the streets.

Monterey finally find a portal back to Arkham, happy to be back after so many delays. He's greeted, though, with a dark wind that lowers his max stamina and makes him lose a point. Ugh. However, he spots a Cultist. No time like the present to get rid of him, and anyway, Monterey has tons of weaponry. He gets 12 dice for this roll! Should be easy-peasy!

Or... not. I use the Bullwhip's ability to re-roll one of my failures, but I roll a 1. Monterey is overconfident as he faces down the Cultist, and is caught off-guard. The Cultists swipes at him with a knife, taking off a point of Stamina. Not about to let him get away with that, he charges into the fray once again.

Much better. He takes the Cultist as a monster trophy, and is now ready to seal our first gate!

Marie is once again having to sneak past that pesky Hound of Tindalos. Once again she rolls 3 dice and once again she succeeds this time retreating to the Rivertown streets.

Turn 7: Arkham Encounters
This Encounters phase has a lot of Sand searching in it.

Amanda would like to get in on the action, but with only 1 luck, she fails automagically. Unfortunate. Joe Diamond has a go with his two dice, but with a 1 and a 4, he strikes out.

Marie, however, finally comes through. I draw the top card off of the exhibit item deck and... woah.

Eye of Light and Darkness! I know from experience that this is one of the better exhibit items, and turns Investigators into God-killing machines. However, it's sort of useless before that final all or nothing assault after a God is summoned, but still, it's good to have an ace up our sleeve. Marie pockets the Eye.

Technically before Marie gets the eye, however, Monterey tries his hand at sealing his gate! The difficulty is +0, so Monterey gets all 4 of his Fight dice to try... using his strength and force of will Monterey attempts to force the gate closed...

And succeeds! He spends 5 clue tokens as well, sealing the gate permanently. We're 1/6th of the way to victory, plus get gets a Gate trophy and sends the Chthonian packing for his trouble. Huzzah!

Turn 7: Otherworldly Encounters
Hey, everyone is back in Arkham! Neat! Let's move on, then.

Turn 7: Mythos

Goodbye, Mr. Sawyer. Your ability is hella useful, and we will never get to use it. I toss him back into the game box.

Wait, see that at the bottom of the card? Uh oh. No gates open this turn, but Shubby gets a double dose of Doom! This seems like the perfect time to use Marie's Witch Blood ability to soften this blow. We can only use it once all game, but it removes a Doom token, making this turn effectively add only 1.

A clue appears at the Science building. What fun!

Also, the Hound of Tindolos is on the move again. This time, however, there are two investigators at equal distance from it, so we get to choose. I'm having it go after Marie again, because she's an expert at avoiding this thing by now, and Monterey would go insane if he glanced at the thing.

Of course, the Colour Out Of Space moves, too, and that means I have to roll a die, and if it's a 4, 5, or 6, Monterey is going insane anyway, because all investigators will lose a sanity. Luckily, I roll a 1. I roll for the rumor while I'm at it, and get a 4, keeping the terror track where it is.

Onward to turn 8! Diamond gets the first player token.

Turn 8: Upkeep
Mythos Lore, Diamond's sword, and the Bullwhip are refreshed for another exciting maybe turn in Arkham. Amanda ups her Speed to 3 so she can get around town a little and get away from the Square she's been stuck at all game. Monterey does similarly, maxing his Speed.

Turn 8: Movement
You know what? I am fed up with that stupid Hound, and so is Joe Diamond. He moves to the Rivertown streets and engages the bastard.

...which may have been a bad idea. If he doesn't pass this horror check, he's insane. That, combined with the fact that Horror checks are at a -2 penalty in Arkham right now means that even if I did up his will, he wouldn't have any dice.

It takes every single one of Diamond's clue tokens, but he passes the Horror check. But now he has to get three successes to kill the Hound, and with the Hound's Physical Immunity, all he has in one round to use his sword. Diamond makes an impressive slash...

Bam! Our gamble paid off! Diamond slices off the Hound's head with his sword and gains an incredibly well-deserved Monster Trophy. Was it worth it? Eh, I don't know, but it felt damn satisfying.

Monterey Jack moves to search the Unnamable again for clues, since it proved so fruitful last time. He pockets a Clue token for his trouble.

Marie no longer has to Sneak the Hound of Tindolos, cause it's dead! However, I've got a real dangerous mission in mind. She moves to the Black Cave, and now has to sneak past both the Colour and the Wraith. Ick. Neither are hard to sneak past, however (The Colour is +1 to sneak past and the Wraith is +0), and she sneaks a sneaky snake right past both of them.

This earns Marie a first class, one way ticket to the Great Hall of Celano! She'll have to find her way back, now, and hopefully seal that gate! (She only has 4 clue tokens, but remember, she can use her Mythos Lore to pay for the 5th!)

Amanda decides to report the strange occurrences she's experienced to her professors at the University, and heads to the Science Building, gaining her 2 clues.

Once you've passed through the gate and come back out you can close the gate. Optionally, you can seal it. In order to seal it you have to either have 5 clues or an Elder Sign (something you can pick up at the magic shop). If you don't seal the gate, then another one can open at that same location again. If you seal it, then you remove a marker from the Big Bad's card and place it on the location and no further gates can open there. The key to the game is to be steadily sealing gates, because if you draw a Mythos card that directs one to be opened at a place where you sealed one previously, you essentially get a turn of breathing room, which can make all the difference. Additionally, if a Mythos card directs a gate to open where there already is one, you spawn monsters at every open gate, which can get hairy fast.

That was curiously gripping for a picture of dice on a bed.

See you in Hell, Tinder Dog! Or, Double Hell, or wherever you'd go.

Turn 8: Arkham Encounters
Marie gets to sit this one out.

Diamond once again spends his turn sifting through sands, but I fail at that roll once again. Oh well, he was probably too busy enjoying his hardcore victory.

Exploring the house, Monterey notices some strange figures outside. He goes to investigate.
As nice as those items would be, Monterey had to move his sneak down to 0 just to get here. He'd only get a monster fight for his trouble. Luckily, it's an option to follow the Cultists. Monterey decides he has better things to do than chase after odd people on a hunch, and gets back to his investigations.

Hanging around the Science Building, Amanda notices someone who seems a little out of place, and goes to see who he is.

Sir William is far from the most useful Ally, but we can eat him to refill Amanda's stamina if losing 2 gets her killed later, so why not take him along? Amanda fails spectacularly to best Sir William in arm wrestling, but makes herself a friend and takes his Ally card.

Turn 8: Otherworldly Encounters
Marie wanders along the Great Hall, taking in the sights. She enters a strange room that looks an awful lot like a cave, and spots some odd drawings on the wall.
The vision shows Marie what she must do to return to Arkham, and she is filled with confidence and knowledge.

Turn 8: Mythos

The High Priest is on the move.

So is the Wraith, moving away from the portal and right on top of Joe Diamond! Good thing he's a bad-ass.
You may wonder why I'm moving the monsters first. Well, that's because technically monsters move before we resolve the Mythos ability. Since monster movement is written on the bottom of the Mythos cards, this is really kind of pointlessly confusing, as you'd normally want to resolve the card from the top down. Luckily, it normally doesn't affect anything, but this turn, it does. Why?
Man, disgorging. There's a good word.

Since these monsters are created after the movement phase, they stay here, even if the card would make them move. The Goat Spawn isn't too bad, but Shubby has special effects on the Dark Young, giving them the Endless ability. This means they can't be killed. If we'd kill them, they're just stunned until next turn. Not good.

A clue would appear at the Black Cave, but there's a gate open there. A gate would appear at the Witch House, but Monterey has sealed it! The area is no longer unstable! Shubby doesn't gain a Doom token and we have nothing else new to deal with. I roll for the rumor, and it comes up a 5, leaving the terror level alone.

These turns went better. Let's see how everyone is doing.

Monterey Jack (J): 1 Sanity, 7 Stamina
Speed: 4
Sneak: 0
Fight: 4
Will: 1
Lore: 3
Luck: 3
Cash: $7
Clues: 5
Items: Bullwhip, .38 Revolver, Alien Device, Wave of Destruction, Stealth, Brass Knuckles
Trophies: Ghost (2 pts) City of the Great Race (5 pts)

Marie Lambeau (M): 3 Sanity, 3 Stamina
Speed: 1
Sneak: 4
Fight: 1 (+1)
Will: 4
Lore: 2
Luck: 3
Cash: $4
Clues: 5
Items: Enchanted Knife, Voice of Ra, Cloud Memory, Vision Quest, Mythos Lore, Fight +1, Eye of Light and Darkness
Trophies: Plateau of Leng (5 pts)

Amanda Sharpe (A): 5 Sanity, 2 Stamina
Speed: 3
Sneak: 2
Fight: 4
Will: 1 (+1)
Lore: 4
Luck: 1
Cash: $1
Clues: 6
Items: .18 Derringer, Enchanted Cane, Wrack, Will +1, Expert Occultist, Sir William Briton
Trophies: The Abyss (5 pts), Cultist (2 pts)

Joe Diamond (D): 4 Sanity, 4 Stamina
Speed: 6
Sneak: 1
Fight: 5
Will: 0
Lore: 0
Luck: 3
Cash: $0
Clues: 0
Items: .45 Automatic, Knife, Ancient Tome, Spot Hidden, Tablet of Bast, Golden Sword of Y'Ha-Talla, Elixir of Life
Trophies: Witch (2 pts) Hound of Tindolos (3 pts)

Things went much better this time around, didn't they? Shubby is close to summoned, but we're making progress now. I took some risks and they paid off! What other risks should I take? What else should I do? Let me know! Tell me things! I like being told things.

You can Close a gate, or you can Seal a gate. I might not be being clear with my turns. If you seal a gate, you put that little marker on the space. Gates can't open there anymore. If you close a gate, it's gone, but a gate can reopen there if you draw a card saying one does. You can't seal an area off without Sealing a gate, unfortunately. The Sealed tokens are the other side of the Doom tokens on Shubby's card, but are not normally taken off of the Doom track, but instead taken from the bank of a million tokens. If you use an Elder Sign, though, that's the benefit. You get to take the token from the Doom track.

i'm really digging the dice rolls =)

Actually, only Elder Signs remove a Doom counter. And the Dunwich expansion added Gate Bursts that can break through a sealed gate.

Some of the strategy of the game can involve knowing approximately which locations are most likely to have gates open, and give those spots the priority for sealing. e.g. Given a choice between Hibb's Roadhouse and The Woods, always seal The Woods first.

Right. I saw poetfox's response and realized I'd messed that up. Sorry for the confusion.

"Endless: A monster with this ability cannot be collected as a monster
trophy. Instead, each time it is defeated, return it to the cup."

Otherwise, The Masks of Nyarlathotep would just be brutal.

Wow. And to think I had been scared shitless of Endless monsters all this time. *sigh* This game and it's rules... I love you Arkham Horror, but man.
Well, then I guess I know where Diamond is going next turn! Wait, the Wraith... the turn after next turn!

This is really turning into a great story. I'm just glad I don't have to keep all the rules straight.

So, how come six gates is the requirement for winning? Is it because it just is, or because that means Shubby's stalemated? Would that then mean that monsters that summon with less gates are harder to play?

There's a sliding scale for how many gate trophies you need to win the game that varies by the number of players. You need to have no open gates left on the board and X gates in hand to win. The Big Bad doesn't factor into that calculation.

So what happens if the Big Bad is summoned, or is that something we're about to find out?

In my experience, the quick and dirty is that if the Big Bad is summoned, you die horribly (or to use the game's terminology "are devoured"). From my admittedly spotty memory (since I've only done it once), what happens basically is that each investigator takes a swipe at the Big Bad in turn and you must accumulate enough hits to do damage (equal or greater than the number of players regardless of whether they've been devoured or not). If you get enough hits, then you remove one doom token. If you can knock off all the tokens, then you win. Once each investigator has had his shot, the Big Bad gets a shot at each one of them and you go around again. The Big Bad's attacks vary by which one you're fighting, but generally they all suck.

One fun note: Cthulhu adds a token back to the doom track each round, so unless you're doing at least two damage each turn, you're sliding backwards into his gaping maw of doom.

As an aside, I hope poetfox doesn't mind me answering questions in the middle of his show.