Purchasing Arkham Horror & Expansions

Pat II wrote:

Really? Bonus - thanks for the info as that is one of my favorites also. Does this game feel like a twisted Lovecraft story or is it more of a hodge podge monster action game (not that I can think of one right now to compare...) I guess what I'm saying is does the theme come through properly? I've read some reviews etc but I've really had a re-interest in the setting lately and would love to capture some of that in a game.

Arkham Horror feels more like a Call of Cthulhu adventure than a Lovecraft story. There is somewhat more hope and at times a feeling of adventure comparable to other pulp fiction of the era. It's not like you're playing Doc Savage or the Avenger, but maybe like one of their sidekicks, like Monk or Smitty. Losing Sanity in the base game feels like losing a different flavor of hit points, but receiving a Madness card from the Dunwich expansion does have a more Lovecraftian feel, that your character has been permanently harmed by exposure to unspeakable horrors. The Corruption cards from the Black Goat expansion are also good. Each individual Corruption card isn't that bad, but they can accumulate, feeling like a downward spiral into horror.

I reviewed Arkham Horror recently, if you're interested:
fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_cont...w&id=1203&Itemid=638
It covers a lot of stuff, including the "adventure game" feel.

I'll just add to the chorus of voices that say the base game is perfectly good alone - expansions just add variety. So if you must buy expansions out of the gate, don't start adding them in until the base game starts to sour on you a bit.

The only one I own at the moment is Dunwich. It's a great expansion. The extra stuff is just doozy and the injury and madness cards are a really nice, thematic expansion. I was surprised that what I enjoyed most though was the challenge of the extra board. More unstable locations means that the GOO waking up through doom tokens is a much more frequent occurrence than before (it rarely happens in the base game). And the need to control monsters and gates and pick up clue tokens in a remote location really adds to the tactical challenge of the game.

The only other expansion I might buy is Innsmouth. I like the fact that these two expansions are tied directly to Lovecraft stories whereas the others are not. My experience with the board in Dunwich has lead me to disregard the small box expansions and besides which I often hear people saying that the small box stuff is easily "watered down" when mixed with big box expansions and I can't be bothered to go sorting through my card decks every time. I'm hoping that Innsmouth & Dunwich together won't dilute each other too much. The only thing I'm interested in from Kingsport are the epic battle cards, and since I'm not keen on the final battle in any case I think I can comfortably pass on those.

Shame FFG can't do more of a "mix and match" with parts of the expansions though

I like the sound of the madness cards. Being driven insane by creatures from another dimension should leave you twisted in very specific ways rahter than just run down...I speak from experience having been divorced 15 years ago.

I'll go take a gander at the review Matt.

I recently asked essentially the same thing in this thread: fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_kune...ew&catid=10&id=33256 By way of follow-up, I ended up getting Innsmouth and King in Yellow. I've only played the base game about 7-8 times, so by no means am I played out on that yet, but by the same token, as much as I love the game system I wanted to jump in right away to explore more of that. Innsmouth was kind of a tough choice, as all of the big box expansions seem to have some "must have" elements, but for some reason that seemed to be the one I wanted most from all I've read. One thing that influenced that was the personal stories, which are provided for all AH characters... so that immediately adds something cool to the base game, whether anything else is added or not.

King in Yellow was kind of an arbitrary choice... it was the small box with the cheapest price at the store I happened to be in that day. I've since been in other stores where another small box was less expensive, so it easily could have gone another way. The rules aren't kidding when they say that only experts should play with the "traveling" version of the game, as it kicked my butt pretty severely. I'll keep the cards in as the "permanent exhibit". I don't really care if the new cards are featured, necessarily, but having more choices for encounters and mythos cards is a cool thing. The same few encounter cards can get "samey" after just a few plays. I just got Innsmouth and haven't added that yet, so I imagine that will add quite a lot more.

On a side note, in response to Matt, I actually like the final battles. Yeah, it may not be thematic, but I don't really care to read any Lovecraft so that doesn't matter so much to me, and it feels like a more exciting ending that way, especially when the matchup is relatively even (which it admittedly often is not).

I picked up the base game last night and must say I like the looks so far. The store I went to didn't have the Dunwich expansion so another trip out before I go on vacation is in order. As far as i can remember the only significant story with a final battle is Dunwich. The thought of having all sorts of different monsters turning up in Arkham certainly does not move along with the genreal story lines of Lovecraft but the theme and general sense of the monsters is there. I can't wait to try this one out.

Pat II wrote:

As far as i can remember the only significant story with a final battle is Dunwich.

And that's not even a GOO in the game, it's just another monster. Ok, it's a little bit more than that, but still.

The closest thing to a final battle with a GOO I can think of is Cthulhu waking up at the end of the Call of Cthulhu tale.

Columbob wrote:

Pat II wrote:

As far as i can remember the only significant story with a final battle is Dunwich.

And that's not even a GOO in the game, it's just another monster. Ok, it's a little bit more than that, but still.

The closest thing to a final battle with a GOO I can think of is Cthulhu waking up at the end of the Call of Cthulhu tale.

yes you're right and Disney totally ripped off the ending and used it in the "Littlest Mermaid" when the which turns virtually into Cthulhu and gets rammed by the ship. Chtulhu of course doesn't die...