Arkham Horror House Rules, suggestions, etc.

I know Richard Launius posted his house rules on FFG http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Arkham_Horror/House%20Rules%20RL.pdf and other people have posted some house rules on BGG. I was trying to find this on F:AT but I couldn't. Each time I've played AH I've tried out a new rule or two. Here's the house rules I've been using lately:

House rules:
Hidden gates, 2 monsters on the first gate, for your first skill draw 2 pick 1 (American Megafuna Dan's rule), Draw 3 investigators pick 1.

When I have time or when playing with less than 3 players sometimes we have encounters at locations even when the player is shopping or trading in trophies for stuff. If not you'll never have an encounter at the General Store or bank, etc.

Expansion stuff:
All card are used (wounds, corruptions, exhibition, King in Yellow). However, I've been only playing 1 expansion at a time lately so I've been putting the expansion I'm playing, Mythos, Gate and encounter cards on top to focus that expansion. In past and future I'll probably shuffle in the Mythos, Gate and encounter cards. But I'm just trying to learn more about each expansion. I like the Epic battle cards in Kingsport but I don't think anyone else I've played does so I'll use them when I solo but not when I'm playing with other people.

For Solo play:
I've been playing with 3 Investigators. My usual solo table does hold 4 very well. I was losing a lot of games with 3 investigators and 1 expansion. I read MrSkeletor suggestion about playing 1 investigator and drawing 1 Mythos every 4 turns. I thought that was a pretty nice easy handicapping system so I decided on my newest solo game base game with the Pharaoh expansion that I'm playing 3 investigators but I'm only drawing a Mythos card 3 out 4 turns. So the investigators get 1 free turn out 4.

So what rules have you been playing with lately?

I always play you have an encounter on spaces where you use the board element (eg shops), encounter happens first.

Play with all allies in the aly deck, then remove 3 each time the terror level rises. When using Ma's boarding house, draw 3 and pick 1 (just like shops.) I hate the 'deal 11 at the start of the game' rule.

Optional rules that we use: hidden gates; draw 2 investigators and pick 1; if we are playing a 2-player game we each play 2 characters (draw 3 pick 2).

We also have some optional rule involving the nun, but I can't remember what it is offhand, something to compensate for her blessing not being a good enough ability. I think it's something like this: she can automatically get a new blessing for herself only at South Church without spending any trophies. Maybe we could modify that now by saying she loses that ability if she gains any Corruption cards.

Expansions: We mix them all in, except we don't use the Kingsport board unless we have at least 5 players. To get more flavor from a given expansion, the hard way is to cull the decks of the cards from the other expansions. The easy way (our way) is to simply use the appropriate Herald. Alternatively, you can still get more action out of the Dunwich Horror if you use the Black Goat herald. With Dark Young mobile, double monster draws and that nasty Dark Druid, the chances of the Dunwich Horror showing up are definitely higher.

And I absolutely insist on using the Epic Battle cards, because life is too short to suffer through the tedious final battle without them. A couple of my regular players object that it makes the game too hard, but the rest of them hoot them down for being weak. If Arkham Horror was just about winning an easy game, we would play with a Guardian and no expansion boards or epic battle cards. Screw that. Besides, the last time we played, those complainers deliberately threw the game in the most blatant act of passive-aggressiveness that I've ever seen in our group. It was sickening.

Solo: I play either 3 investigators without Kingsport or 4 investigators with Kingsport. I don't give myself a choice of characters, just play the first random ones that I draw.

draw 2 investigators and pick 1

We play that you draw one randomly. You can swap this in for a second character if you like, but you have to stick with the second character, even if it sucks more than the first one.

If it's your first game, you're allowed to choose your character.

We play the above rules with Descent, also.

I thought that was a pretty nice easy handicapping system so I decided on my newest solo game base game with the Pharaoh expansion that I'm playing 3 investigators but I'm only drawing a Mythos card 3 out 4 turns. So the investigators get 1 free turn out 4.

I don't get why you'd do that. Playing solo, I take 2-4 characters and play one Mythos turn after all the players have moved. I don't think you should get a free turn because you're playing alone. It's still three CHARACTERS to combat the Mythos, regardless of how many PLAYERS are playing.

We're trying our first game with one of the expansion packs tonight (CotDP), so I can't really offer any expansion based house rules.

Good ideas.
Mr Skeletor:
I think I'll try your ally rule. I've never liked the start with 11 if your using all the expansion allies. I was starting with all 32 and then dropping to 10 with the first terror and then 1 per terror level. But dropping 3 per terror makes sense.

I like the encounter but do you do that even at the Hospital and Arkham Asylum?

Shellhead:
Everybody I've ever played with always throws back the nun. I've played with her in a solo game once. Solo games I been picking characters random out of the characters I've never played solo. So that I get to play all the characters about the same number of times. I need to get out Minnesota so I can play the Epic Battle cards with you.

BradH
3 investigators would be fine playing the base game, Dunwich by it's self or Kingsport by itself. I just haven't been able to beat the King in Yellow Touring Performance with Herald, Curse of the Dark Pharaoh visiting exhibit or Black Goat Herald with 3 investigators. For each of these the Doom tokens have come out so fast or in the case of the King in Yellow the Act cards come out so fast that I've had difficulty with only 3 investigators. I should probably try to squeeze in 4 investigator on my table when playing against a Herald. Good Luck against the Dark Pharaoh. I've had fun with the new exhibit items but watch out for the gate encounters some of them are really nasty.

KingPut wrote:

I like the encounter but do you do that even at the Hospital and Arkham Asylum?

Yes. Which means if you get knocked out the cards can knock you out again the next turn before you have a chance to recover. Them's the breaks!

Cursed Relics Rumor Card from Curse of the Pharaoh:

Ongoing effect: Move a doom token from the card to the terror track. Any player may exhaust a ready Exhibit Item or discard a Unique Item to negate both effects. I don't see any Exhibit items that can be exhausted or refreshed. Does that mean you just tap any Exhibit Item so you can't use it for 1 turn?

Do you have a verbatim transcript of the card to hand?

Cursed Relics Rumor (from Curse of the Dark Pharaoh)
Place 5 doom tokens on this card when it comes into play.

Ongoing effect: At the end of every Mythos Phase after the first, move 1 doom token from this card to the terror track and increase the terror level by. Any player may exhaust a ready Exhibit Item or discard a Unique Item to negate both effects.

Pass: If there are no doom tokens on the terror track after the last doom token is removed from this card. Each player draws 1 spell.

Fail: If there are doom tokens on the terror track after the last doom token is removed from the card, discard the card and all doom tokens from the terror track. The terror track rises by a number equal to the number of doom tokens discarded.

I understand everything on this card except exhaust a ready Exhibit Item. None of the Exhibit items can be refreshed so does that me a player must discard a Unique or Exhibit item? Or does it me I just can't use the exhibit item for that turn but later I can use the item after the rumor is completed?

I figured it out. There are 5 Mask, exhibit items that can be exhausted. The Mask Cards says Any Phase: Exhaust to place tokens . . . So I guess if your playing Dark Pharoah Visiting Exhibit and get a Mask exhibit item you should hold onto to until the Cursed Relic rumor comes out.

That seems right. It's an odd card though.

KingPut wrote:

Shellhead:
I need to get out Minnesota so I can play the Epic Battle cards with you.

That would be great. We could try to get Thaadd and Joel and a couple of my regulars together for some Epic Arkham Horror.

Lots of good suggestions. I particularly like the mandatory encounters when buying things. I've realized there are probably a hundred encounters that I have simply never seen (Police Station, Newspaper, etc.)

We don't really have much in the way of variants, but when I play a two-player game, we generally use two investigators each. I think the game is more fun when the entire cause is not completely unhinged by one investigator getting delayed.

Now for things I'd like to see. More Dunwhich encounter cards, more Kingsport encounter cards and most of all.... more heralds. Heralds are really interesting, but we really have a limited selection of them. I saw a DAGON herald on TOS with deep ones that looked pretty cool.

I do wonder if we're going to get more expansions, or this is it. While I love the game and will play any expansions that come out, I'm not sure my bookshelf can take another big box!

I'm fairly certain that FFG still plans to eventually publish an Innsmouth Horror expansion, of the same size as the Dunwich or Kingsport expansions. If it follows the pattern of previous releases, there will be 4 more GOO, 8 more investigators, plus more cards for every deck in the base game. And like Kingsport, there will probably be some kind of specific threat tied to Innsmouth instead of more potential gate locations like in Dunwich. And there will definitely be Deep Ones.

Deep Ones, Schmeep Ones. I want my Anatarctic Expedition expansion.