Saturday, November 16, 2013

Headline:  "Goat Game."

Ancient One

Shub-Niggurath

Investigators

Ursula Downs, the Explorer - Susan
Roland Banks, the Fed - Rob
Carolyn "Tell Me About Your Mother" Fern, the Psychologist - Justin 

Marie Lambeau, the Entertainer - Rachelle

End of Game

We tried to seal gates, only got 5 (we were one turn away), and Shub woke up.  
We fought hard and lost good men and women along the way.  
Roland Banks was the first to go, being tired after single-handedly defeating the Dunwich Horror.
Ursula followed, screaming "Take Me Instead!"
The only memory remaining of Carolyn Fern were patrons of Hibb's Roadhouse who complained she was a sore loser, having threatened them with a flamethrower rather than paying up at a card game.
Marie saved the day, with one final possible dice throw that had the one necessary success.

House Rules/Game Setup
Rob specifically chose Shub-Niggurath and the corresponding Herald, Black Goat of the Woods.
Based on that, Justin and Rob chose Hypnos as Guardian and The Bureau of Investigations as Institution.

We each chose a character from four dealt at random.  Then we determined relationships:

Ursula and Roland – Take Me Instead

Carolyn and Marie – Hunted

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror
The Lurker at the Threshold

Heralds, Guardians, and Institutions

Black Goat of the Woods
Hypnos
The Bureau of Investigations

Highlights

It was a tough game, with lots of twists and turns.  It looked bleak for a while, but there was always a glimmer of hope, as Rob reminded us.

Friday-Saturday, October 4-5, 2013

Headline:  "The Lurker at Susan’s Birthday”

Ancient One

Cthugha

Investigators

Mandy Thompson, the Researcher – Rob

Minh Thi Phan, the Secretary – Rob

Lily Chen, the Martial Artist – Susan

Rita Young, the Athlete - Susan

End of Game

We closed and sealed 6 gates.  The next Mythos card would have burst open a sealed gate and added the final doom token.  We sealed them just in the nick of time!

House Rules/Game Setup
Susan received The Lurker at the Threshold from Rachelle and Justin for a birthday present and we took it out for a spin.  We each chose two characters from eight drawn at random and then drew one relationship card each for the characters that we played.

Mandy and Minh Thi – Friendly Rivals

Lily and Rita – Fellow Travelers

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror
The Lurker at the Threshold

Heralds, Guardians, and Institutions

Nodens
Organized Crime
Lurker at the Threshold (not too bad, as long as you don't accept Power)

Highlights

·        Minh Thi took Foolish the Cat as a Bound Ally due to the first Reckoning card.

·        Rita defeated the Dunwich Horror with the Flute of the Outer Gods.  Cool!

·        On the establishing Mythos card, 2 rumors were initially drawn and discarded.  Thanks, rules!

·        We dispelled a rumor:  Virulent Disease.  No one fell victim to the illness.

·        Minh Thi completed her Personal Story and chose Young Zoog, the Otter, which got rid of Foolish, the Bound Ally.  [Cheating?]

·        Lily Chen, famous for lots of sanity and stamina, as well as restoring both to herself during upkeep, has two Allies:  Sir William Brinton and Duke, each of whom extend her maximum sanity and stamina.  Since the Allies were not really of any use, she ended up discarding them both to get her maximum sanity and stamina restored.

·        Minh Thi used the new card, Key Of Something-Or-Other, to enter a gate.  Neat card!

·        Lily Chen used the new spell Plumb of Something to get Mandy back from an Other World.  Neat card!

·        Rita ended up as Deputy with Necrophobia, Cracked Ribs, and was Despondent.  BUT she had 2 kerosene weapons and 2 Molitov cocktails.  Don’t mess with crazy!  She’ll burn your house down.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Headline:  "Rubble Rubble"  [ala Hamburgler]

Ancient One
Shudde M'ell

Investigators
Luke Robinson, the Dreamer - Susan
Vincent Lee, the Physician - Rob
Jacqueline Fine, the Psychic - Justin
Mandy Thompson, the Researcher - Rachelle

End of Game
We fought and defeated Shudde M'ell

House Rules/Game Setup
Rachelle randomly chose 3 AOs, and we picked Shudde M'ell, since we hadn't played him in a while.

We chose Investigators out of 4 random ones based on their anticipated balancing of abilities and skills, and based on their "Personal Stories."  We're using both the Personal Stories and the "Relationship" cards this time. 

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Heralds, Guardians, and Institutions
Rachelle chose these at random:
Tulzscha, The Freen Flame
Hypnos, Lord of Sleep
Miskatonic University, Academic Institution

Highlights
*  Rob's character's story required him to discard 5 clues.  He started with the spell "Vision Quest," which allows him to pick up clues from an entire neighborhood, which sped up the process of passing the personal story!

*  Rob's guy's special ability is to restore stamina.  However, he constantly won items, etc., that allowed him to get MORE stamina.
*  Susan's guy was about to sacrifice the ally Basil Elton to the AO to skip an attack, but she didn't need to.  The investigators beat Shudde.  Basil!  It's summertime currently, with really great basil.  ;)

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Headline:  "I've got a raging clue right now."

Ancient One
Quachil Uttaus

Investigators
Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist - Susan
Akachi Onyele, the Shaman - Susan  (artistic and spiritual ladies!)
Luke Robinson, the Dreamer - Rob
Wendy Adams, the Urchin - Rob  (losers.  on purpose.)
Norman Withers, the Astronomer - Robbi
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist - Robbi  (sciency theme! )

End of Game
We sealed 6 gates!  (1 Elder Sign, otherwise, Patrice's clues)
9/12 doom tokens

House Rules/Game Setup
We chose Investigators based on their anticipated balancing of abilities and skills, and based on their "Personal Stories."  We're using both the Personal Stories and the "Relationship" cards this time. 

Robbi randomly selected the AO, guardian, herald, and institution.

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Heralds, Guardians, and Institutions
The Dunwich Horror
Nodens
Bureau of Investigations

Highlights
*  A couple of Other World encounters that give/could give lots of $.
*  Norman was the first player 3 times in a row!  (Due to the AO's Dust Deck.)
*  Kate failed her personal story, which made her unable to seal gates with clues.  However, she had an encounter that gave her a unique item:  an Elder Sign!
*  We ran out of clue tokens (=none more in the box) a couple of times, largely due to Akachi passing her personal story and getting all of the unstable locations loaded with clues.  Also, an encounter or Mythos card caused all of the adjacent areas to a rift to be filled with 2 clues each!
*  Rob and Suz have been watching a lot of "Arrested Development," to catch up and watch the new shows.  Suz's character Patrice got Eric Colt as an Ally - "ERIC COLT!!"  [get it?  "STEVE HOLT!"]
*  This AO would have been terrible to fight (attack = devouring the first player).  It's a good thing we went for sealing the gates.
*  This was the first time we used the new dice!  (red & purple with gold pips)

Monday, April 1, 2013

Headline:  "We won!  APRIL FOOLS!"

Ancient One
Cthugha

Investigators
Ursula Downs, the Explorer - Susan
Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist - Susan  (exciting people doing exciting things!)
Anges Baker, the Waitress - Rob
Daisy Walker, the Librarian - Rob  (both strong, magical people)
Norman Withers, the Astronomer - Justin
Minh Thi Phan - Justin  (academic theme!  Norman's special skill is sweet, and Minh is his secretary )

End of Game
We lost the final battle.

House Rules/Game Setup
We chose Investigators based on their anticipated balancing of abilities and skills, and based on their "Personal Stories."  We're using both the Personal Stories and the "Relationship" cards this time. 

Justin selected Cthugha as AO at random.

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Heralds, Guardians, and Institutions
Father Dagon
Bast
Bureau of Investigations

Highlights
*  Minh's synergy is doubled with the VOICE OF RA.
*  Norman and Minh got pulled through a gate during a mythos phase.  Norman came back due to his other world encounter and Minh then used find gate to follow him back.  They closed and sealed the gate the turn after they were pulled through.
*  We were only able to get rid of 8/13 doom tokens, even with Norman's special Personal Story removing 2 of them at the start of battle.
*  Agnes and Daisy were Book Club members (relationship card), making it possible for Agnes to read anything Daisy read, and Daisy could read tomes without losing sanity (librarian).

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Headline:  "Eihort Sealing Gates, Part Deux <3"

Ancient One
Eihort

Investigators
Gloria Goldberg, the Author - Susan
Akachi Onyele, the Shaman - Susan  (she chose women for Women's History Month)
Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist - Rob
Jim Culver, the Musician - Rob  (he chose both musicians :))
Dexter Drake, the Magician - Justin
Hank Samson, the Farmhand - Justin  (one magical investigator, one physical investigator, first time with Hank)

End of Game
Sealed gates.  No bursts.

House Rules/Game Setup
We chose Investigators based on their anticipated balancing of abilities and skills, and based on their "Personal Stories."  We're using both the Personal Stories and the "Relationship" cards this time. 

Justin selected Eihort as AO at random.

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Heralds, Guardians, and Institutions
Dunwich Horror
Nodens
Organized Crime

Highlights
*  We started off with the "Clothing Drive" Environment, which had caused us to lose in a previous game, so it was not a good sign.  However, since we had Organized Crime going on, we were still able to buy Unique Items no matter where we were.
*  Gloria, the author, continually draws tomes (while hoping to draw weapons).
*  Gloria also pulled an Ayn Rand and refused to donate money to a needy family in front of the bank.
*  There were many retainers due to the organized crime, and near the end there were also many blessings.
*  It was a relatively short and straight-forward game.  We did not have to change strategies.
*  No one used their relationships.
*  Only half of the investigators passed their Personal Stories.  None failed.
*  Dexter's skill was "Criminal," which combined nicely with the Organized Crime institution...

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Headline:  "Epic Adventure Begins!"

Ancient One
Abhoth

Investigators
Joe Diamond, the Private Eye - Susan
Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist - Susan
Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter - Rob
Luke Robinson, the Dreamer - Rob

End of Game
Our first strategy:  Complete "Personal Stories" and just have a good time.
Our second strategy:  "Oh look! We have closed almost all of the gates!"  Close all gates.
Our final strategy:  Beat up Abhoth.  Many gates opened, making our second strategy futile.

We won!  We only needed to get rid of all of our clues, a few gate and monster trophies, and very few items.  Patrice had the "Changed" card in the end, which allowed for her to gain more clues.

House Rules/Game Setup
We chose Investigators based on their anticipated balancing of abilities and skills, and based on their "Personal Stories," which we were using for the first time this game.  

Rob selected Abhoth as AO at random.  Susan's reaction:  Patrice will come in handy for the Attack ("Each investigator must discard a total of 3 Clue tokens, monster trophies, gate trophies, and/or Items or be devoured.")

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow
Kingsport Horror
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Heralds and Guardians
Nodens
Tulzscha (but with Abhoth, there are no Cultists!  ha!)

Highlights
*  On the first turn, Patrice and Joe meet up in the Graveyard to exchange stuff, and they both have encounters that would give them Allies, but they don't qualify.
*  There was a monster surge, followed by "Manhunt in Arkham" (Mythos card), which sent all monsters 'in locations' back to the cup.
*  Not a "highlight," more like a lowlight:  Patrice constantly made bad rolls.  So much for an abundance of extra clues.
*  Luke is usually pretty lame, but even though he failed his "Personal Story," he became pretty badass in the end.
*  "The Great Ritual" rumor was dispelled, giving everyone 2 clues - very helpful in defending against Abhoth.
*  There were very few monsters out, in general, until the end, when we decided to stop trying to close gates and just get ready to fight.  There were a few monster surges then, and that brought out a few Children of Aboth, but they were always avoided by evade checks, by gates being closed with their symbol, or by encounters or Mythos cards that returned monsters in certain areas to the cup.

Continuing the Game...
If we choose to keep playing with these characters, this is what they had when they won:

Joe
Skills:  Sneak
Allies:  Ryan Dean
Injury/Madness:  Anxiety
Common Items:  Axe, Cross, Shotgun
Unique Items:  The Light of Reason, Golden Sword of Y'ha-Talla
Spells:  Dread Curse of Azathoth x2
Other:  5 toughness of monster trophies, 1 gate trophy
Clues:  none
$:  none
Stamina/Sanity:  3/3
Personal Story:  not passed or failed
Speed: 4
Fight: 5
Lore: 2
Location: River Docks

Patrice
Skills:  Bravery, Painter
Allies:  David Packard
Injury/Madness:  -
Common Items:  Flamethrower, Dark Cloak
Unique Items:  Soul Gem, Sacrifices To Make
Spells:  -
Other:  1 gate trophy, Blessing, Blessing of Noden (+1 Horror), Changed, The Great Seal
Clues:  none
$:  1
Stamina/Sanity:  5/2
Personal Story:  passed
Speed: 2
Fight: 4
Lore: 5
Location: Gardner's Place

Tony
Skills:  Expert Occultist
Allies:  -
Injury/Madness:  Jinxed
Common Items:  Axe, .45 Automatic, Athame
Unique Items:  -
Spells:  -
Other:  Blessing, Blessing of Noden (+1 Combat)
Clues:  none
$:  4
Stamina/Sanity:  2/7
Personal Story:  passed
Speed: 4
Fight: 4
Lore: 0
Location: South Church


Luke
Skills:  Run
Allies:  -
Injury/Madness:  -
Common Items:  Shotgun, Bullwhip, Understudy's Script, 
Unique Items:  Gladius of Carcosa, Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, Gate Box
Spells:  Arcane Insight, Find Gate, Dread Curse of Azathoth
Other:  1 gate trophy
Clues:  none
$:  1
Stamina/Sanity:  5/1
Personal Story:  failed
Speed: 1
Fight: 4
Lore: 4
Location: Rivertown Streets


Rules for continuing game:
Investigators stay in the last location from previous game.
All Investigator cards remain (items, abilities, Personal Stories, injuries/madnesses).
All board changes are reset, since the AO left - including clues, gates, monsters, rifts, terror track, etc.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Headline:  "Strange Sightings!  An Ancient One Fights Back!"

Ancient One
Rhan-Tegoth

InvestigatorsLily Chen, the Martial Artist - Susan
Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist - Rachelle
Usrula Downs, the Explorer - Rob
William Yorrick, the Gravedigger - Justin ("I knew him well!")Mandy Thompson, the Researcher - Robbi


End of Game
We fought and defeated Rhan-Tegoth.  It was a relatively short game, with doom tokens adding on quickly. The "Sealing the Beast's Power" Mission made the end battle much easier!

House Rules/Game Setup
Robbi chose Rhan-Tegoth out of 6 or so AOs that we don't normally play (based on frequency of certain labels).  She said he looks like he's not too bad when he's slumbering.

Expansions in play
Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
The King in Yellow (we use the new cards from this, but we never have actually had the 'play' enter play)
Kingsport Horror (we left out Heralds and Guardians)
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Highlights
*  many "Strange Sightings"!  drawn 2x in 3 turns.

Usrula Downs, the Explorer - RobWilliam Yorrick, the Gravedigger - Justin ("I knew him well!")

Mandy Thompson, the Researcher - Robbi

we fought 'em.  we beat 'em.  "end of story." - Rachelle

Miskatonic Horror

*  rumor drawn and discarded on first turn!  no mistrust!
*  no gate opened on the actual first Mythos card in play.  this actually happened a few times during the game - no gate opening.

*  William and Lily both lost a turn on the first turn - Justin cuz he had to go to City of Great Race and have an encounter, and Susan cuz she chose to select a reward.

*  Gladiuos of Carcosa x 3!!!!

*  AO actually "fought back" with his attack against the best stamina and then turning it into a bounce-back type action.

*  luckily, Justin's character drew a mission that made the AO's combat rating lowered by 2: "Sealing the Beast's Power"