Arkham Horror is a cooperative horror game based on the Lovecraft mythos. It's complicated, contains huge amounts of pieces, and feels like an RPG turned into a board game. I like it.
Could you describe the dice-rolling mechanic in general terms? I gather that it's not percentile dice as in CoC, right?
Other than that bit of ambiguity, great review!
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Just wanted to thank you for the review. Excellent job!
I'm on the fence about buying this game (your review really helped, though ). Part of me says, GO FOR IT! Part of me says, "If it's that complex, why not just play the Call of Cthulhu RPG?"
Re: [Board/Tactical Game]: Arkham Horror, reviewed by Tom Vasel (5/4)
Recently, I've been hearing these spooky voices in my dreams. They're saying:
"It's not just overpriced nostalgia in a box. Honest. Buy Arkham Horror."
I'm prone to distrust this strange call.
However, Vasel seems to like it, and he's not a total Cthulhu fanboy, so that's encouraging. I will have to try it out and see if this new version holds up as a good game and not just a nostalgia trip.
Could you describe the dice-rolling mechanic in general terms?
To put it simply, every 5 or 6 that you roll on a d6 is a success, unless you are blessed (in which case also 4 counts) or cursed (in which case you fail on anything but 6). The initial dice pool for any given check is determined by one of the character's six skills, and the default amount of successes required is 1: any number of factors can alter these, though, including equipment, environmental effects, and the innate abilities of the monsters.
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Just wanted to thank you for the review. Excellent job!
I'm on the fence about buying this game (your review really helped, though ). Part of me says, GO FOR IT! Part of me says, "If it's that complex, why not just play the Call of Cthulhu RPG?"
Hmmm...
Because, in my case, I could get my wife to play a REALLY complex board game before I could get her to play an RPG...=)
Re: [Board/Tactical Game]: Arkham Horror, reviewed by Tom Vasel (5/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin28
Do the pieces still get stuck in a circle, like in the original?
The only instance of anyone being stuck anywhere during our games (apart from being delayed in the Other Worlds) took place when one of the investigators wouldn't leave the Curiosity Shop because there was a dhole outside...
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"Vacant heart, and hand, and eye / Easy live and quiet die." (From "The Bride of Lammermoor" by Sir Walter Scott)
Proud Member of the Society of Flowers & the Tangency Changeling Motley (Unseelie Sluagh Grump).
Re: [Board/Tactical Game]: Arkham Horror, reviewed by Tom Vasel (5/4)
I played this game a few weeks back. Absolute blast. We had a great time, all the flavor text on the cards was very well-written and suited the genre.
Pity we kept drawing Mi-Go out of the monster box, though. I think we killed half-a-dozen of the damn things during the course of the game. At least one player ended up in Arkham Asylum multiple times, and I think everyone but him went through a "gate" to another realm. We did cheat a bit by giving Clue tokens to each other to permanently seal gates, which isn't explicitly covered by the rules.
Still, it was great fun, and I'm going to pick up a copy for myself once I've got the spare cash.
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Re: [Board/Tactical Game]: Arkham Horror, reviewed by Tom Vasel (5/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kesh
We did cheat a bit by giving Clue tokens to each other to permanently seal gates, which isn't explicitly covered by the rules.
You are only supposed to trade cash, items, and spells, I think, but sharing clues does fit in with the theme... Not that anyone could blame you for that, though: unless you get some of those "unstable" locations sealed, a single session can drag on for a long, long time (but not indefinitely, of course, what with the Doom Track and all). Still, a fine game.
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"Vacant heart, and hand, and eye / Easy live and quiet die." (From "The Bride of Lammermoor" by Sir Walter Scott)
Proud Member of the Society of Flowers & the Tangency Changeling Motley (Unseelie Sluagh Grump).
). Part of me says, GO FOR IT! Part of me says, "If it's that complex, why not just play the Call of Cthulhu RPG?"
At least one player ended up in Arkham Asylum multiple times, and I think everyone but him went through a "gate" to another realm. We did cheat a bit by giving Clue tokens to each other to permanently seal gates, which isn't explicitly covered by the rules.
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