Arkham Horror

Infobox_Game
subject_name=Arkham Horror
image_link=
image_caption=The box cover of the revised edition of "Arkham Horror"
players=1 to 8
ages= 12 and up
setup_time= 30-60 minutes
playing_time= 120-240 minutes
complexity=Medium
strategy=Medium
random_chance=Medium
skills=Cooperative gaming
bggid=15987
footnotes =

"Arkham Horror" is an adventure board game designed by Richard Launius, originally published in 1987 by Chaosium and most recently published in 2005 and revised in 2007 by Fantasy Flight Games. In both editions, players take on the role of investigators in H. P. Lovecraft's Massachusetts town of Arkham. Gates to other places and planes open throughout the town. If too many gates open, a powerful alien being will enter, likely destroying the town and possibly threatening the world. The investigators must avoid or fight alien creatures that enter Arkham through the gates, enter the gates themselves, survive the alien places beyond, return to Arkham, and close the gates.

Overview

The game board is made up of locations in Lovecraft's fictional city of Arkham during 1926. Street, building and outdoor locations are featured, as well as otherworldly locations that investigators can venture into. Players each have an investigator, represented by a character card, several attributes, and cards representing items, spells, and other things. As game play progresses, gates to these other worlds open and are represented by tokens placed on the board. Monsters from the other worlds enter through the gates and wander the city. The investigators travel through the city, avoiding or fighting the monsters, visiting city locations to acquire tools, and ultimately entering the gates. After traveling through the other world and returning, the investigator can try to close the gate. While exploring city locations or other worlds, the investigators face random challenges and benefits. As gates open, a "Doom Track" advances; if it reaches the end, a powerful alien creature breaks through into Arkham. In the 1987 edition of the game, this ends the game in failure for the players. In the 2005 edition, this (in most cases) begins an endgame in which the players have a small chance to defeat the creature and win; otherwise they lose.

History

"Arkham Horror" was originally submitted to Chaosium Inc. as "Call of Cthulhu: The Board Game", a new strategic game based on their "Call of Cthulhu" role-playing game. It was edited in house by Chaosium, who added such features as the Doom Track, a method to track progress toward the total failure of the players, and was published in 1987 as "Arkham Horror". The game won the "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1987" award in the Origins Awards. [cite web | url = http://www.originsgames.com/awards/1987 | title = 1987 List of Winners | accessdate = 2007-07-22 | language = English ]

"Arkham Horror" was one of several Lovecraft-based board games submitted by Richard Launius, with other designs from the same period including 'The Trail of the Brotherhood', 'DreamQuests', and 'Imprisoned with the Pharaohs'. "Arkham Horror" was the only of these games to see professional publication.

At the time "Arkham Horror" was one of the first cooperative board gamesFact|date=July 2007 - a game in which the players were working together to defeat the system. It was also a rare board game which did a good job of adapting roleplaying gameplay. As a result of these two elements, it quickly became a cult classic.

The original printing of "Arkham Horror" soon sold out, and throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s it was one of the most-wanted out-of-print American board games.Fact|date=June 2007 Chaosium announced reprints several times, but they never occurred.

In 2004 online game company Skotos acquired the rights to "Arkham Horror" from Richard Launius, and later arranged publication with Fantasy Flight Games. The game underwent several revisions in this process. Skotos reorganized many of the elements in the game for improved cohesion and arranged for it to more carefully follow the maps of Arkham created by Chaosium and used in their own online game. Richard added several new elements, including clue tokens and some rearrangements to the decks of cards. Finally, Kevin Wilson at Fantasy Flight massively revamped the game, throwing out a roll-and-move system as well as other concepts and also expanding a lot of the gameplay. The 2005 edition shares art and other elements with Fantasy Flight Games' other Cthulhu Mythos based game: "Call of Cthulhu Collectible Card Game".

The new edition was released in July, 2005 and sold out, with a second reprinting also being released in 2005.

1987 edition

The 1987 version of "Arkham Horror" has relatively simple rules in comparison with the 2005 edition. Cards and tokens are illustrated with black and white drawings and silhouettes. The map of Arkham consists of a set of intertwined routes with a large number of spaces. There are several locations off the routes, such as Miskatonic University or Dark's Carnival, where a player's investigator may have encounters, or where a gate to another world may appear. The other worlds themselves are in a row at the top of the game board. Encounter events in Arkham are determined by rolling a die and consulting a table for that location.

Investigators usually move a random number of spaces based on the roll of two six-sided dice. The investigator cards are pre-made, with four fixed attributes: Fast Talk, Fight, Knowledge, and Sneak. To successfully use an attribute, the player rolls one six-sided die to get a value equal or below the attribute's value. Paperclips are used to track two numbers that frequently change: Sanity and Strength.

The turns of the investigators are preceded by the "Mythos Phase," where a gate and monsters may appear. For each new gate that opens, the Doom Counter increases by one; the "Doom of Arkham" occurs when there are more than 13 open gates, and all players lose. Monsters move throughout the town, attacking any investigators they happen upon; seeing some monsters results in a sanity loss. In true Lovecraft fashion, if an investigator in the town loses all Sanity or Strength, they are ignored by the monsters. The collapsed investigator is transported to the Sanitarium or Hospital, as appropriate, for treatment. Such vital losses in the other worlds result in the death of the investigator, and the player must start a new one.

Victory is achieved by closing all of the gates that have opened. Closing a gate requires passing into it to another world, and taking two encounters there; upon return to Arkham, the investigator must attack the gate successfully to close it. Closing a gate reduces the Doom Counter by one.

2005 edition

Gameplay

Each player selects an investigator character that is provided with the game. These characters have several statistics to represent their strengths and weaknesses, as well as starting inventory and special abilities. Most importantly, the stats include Sanity and Stamina. These respectively measure the character's mental stability and physical health. The back of each card includes a brief history for the character, in case players wish to add an element of roleplaying to the game.

Each player's character is placed on the game board at the location specified on their card. They are given any items specified as well as their starting Sanity and Stamina tokens. At this time, the players should also pick which Great Old One they will be attempting to defeat. This is usually done by randomly drawing the Old One's card, but can also be selected intentionally if the players choose to do so.

The basic resolution mechanic is to roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the statistic, plus any modifiers. Results of a five or a six on a die is considered a success. For instance, a card may require a Lore -1 roll. If the character has a Lore stat of 4, they would roll three dice and any die that lands on a five or six counts as a success.

Characters may also become Blessed, which allows them to succeed on a four or higher; or Cursed, which means they can only succeed on a roll of six. Most checks only require a single success, with the general exception of Sanity and Combat rolls when fighting monsters.

Each turn, the players move their characters on the board and either have Encounters at a location (by drawing cards specific to that board location) or fight monsters. They may also purchase items at some locations, or take advantage of other special features. For example, characters who spend a turn at Arkham Asylum will regain a point to their sanity score, or they may spend $2 in-game to regain their maximum sanity. Either way, it takes the place of their normal Encounter card draw for that turn.

Characters who encounter monsters have the option to sneak past them or fight them. Fighting a monster first involves a Sanity check, needing only a single success but losing Sanity tokens indicated on the monster if the roll fails. After that check, the character may cast spells or use weapons to affect the combat. If the monster is not immediately destroyed or removed from the board, they then roll Fight plus any bonuses from weapons, items or spells. Some monsters only require a single success, while others may require several to destroy.

At the end of each turn, the first player draws a card from the Mythos deck. This causes a gate to another world to open, as well as releasing new monsters onto the board, causing existing monsters to move on the board and often adding a new effect to gameplay. Weather may make it more difficult to move through the streets or a rumor might require investigators to complete an action in a certain number of turns to prevent even worse effects from happening. After the Mythos card is resolved, play passes clockwise to the next player to start a new turn.

Certain events add tokens to the Great Old One's card, representing how close it is to awakening. Typically, when a new gate opens a token goes onto the Old One. Gates may be closed by investigators through a die roll. Alternately, a gate may be sealed by spending Clue tokens, or with an Elder Sign item. Sealing a gate prevents another gate from opening in that location again, and using an Elder Sign removes a token from the Old One.

If the Old One's card reaches a specified number, it awakens and investigators must immediately deal with the threat. Combat against an Old One varies, but typically involves making rolls to remove tokens from it, while the Old One lowers their stats each turn or takes certain tokens from them. Investigators who lose all of that token type are immediately devoured and removed from the game. If the Old One is defeated, the players win; otherwise, the game is over and they have lost.

Expansions

An expansion entitled "Curse of the Dark Pharaoh" was released in June, 2006. This expansion added many new cards to the game, including items and encounters. The theme was that a travelling museum exhibit from Egypt has arrived in Arkham, bringing with it accursed artifacts and strange happenings. Heavy emphasis is placed on Nyarlathotep, one of Lovecraft's iconic Old Ones.

The second expansion entitled "Dunwich Horror" was released during Gen Con 2006. Based on Lovecraft's short story "The Dunwich Horror", it includes a new board that is placed against the original Arkham Horror board. This new board features locations in the town of Dunwich. Investigators may visit Dunwich by travelling through the Train Station in Arkham or using certain vehicle items. In addition, the game includes new Encounter, Mythos and item cards as well as new mechanics, such as the stalking monster movement, & new Great Old Ones. When a character loses their last point of Sanity, they may take a Madness card which imposes restrictions on the character and restores their maximum Sanity, instead of being sent to Arkham Asylum. A similar Injury deck is provided for investigators who reach zero Stamina. Plus, a new monster, the Dunwich Horror itself, is provided as a special monster whose powers vary from combat to combat.

A third expansion, "The King in Yellow", was confirmed in October 2006 and released in June 2007. Like "Curse of the Dark Pharaoh", it is a card-only expansion, which this time focuses on a mysterious play that is being performed in Arkham. Based on the Robert W. Chambers story "The King in Yellow", this expansion introduces the mechanic of the Herald - a special card that permanently alters the game rules. The first Herald is The King in Yellow himself, which causes the Doom track to increase every time the Terror track does unless you take a permanent penalty. Support for The Dark Pharoah has since been added on the "Fantasy Flight Games" website as a Herald for the "Curse of the Dark Pharaoh" expansion. A third Herald has also been added on the Fantasy Flight Games website for the "Dunwich Horror" expansion.

A fourth expansion, "Kingsport Horror", was released in June 2008. It is similar to Dunwich Horror in that it is board-based rather than card-based. This expansion adds the additional locations of Kingsport, a new game element of Dimensional Rifts, and aquatic monsters that may move to any other "aquatic" location instead of following normal routes. The expansion also includes new Ancient Ones, new Investigators, new Heralds and introduces Guardians which assist the players much the way Heralds hinder them.

A fifth expansion, "Black Goat of the Woods", was released at GenCon in August 2008. Another cards-only expansion, the set adds another Herald, a new membership similar to the Silver Twilight Lodge, a new element called Corruption, and difficulty cards that allow you to make the game optionally easier or harder. In addition, the expansion includes additional Mythos, Gate, Encounter, Spell, Skill, and Unique and General item cards to be incorporated into the original game.

References

External links

* Fantasy Flight's [http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/arkhamhorror.html "Arkham Horror" webpage]
*