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, January 28, 2012

Headline: "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here"

Ancient One
Yibb-Tstll  ♀ 

Investigators
George Barnaby, the Lawyer - Susan
Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist - Rob
Norman Withers, the Astronomer - Robbilee
Mandy Thompson, the Researcher - Denis

End of Game
We abandoned the game at 6 out of 11 doom tokens, with no gates closed or sealed in 1 hour of play.  Two rumors came out (one at a time), and there were plenty of clues for Yibb-Tstll to use against us.  However, there was no way to pick up the clues, due to the mummies in our environment (see below).

House Rules/Game Setup
Other possible headlines: 
"A Bunch of Brains Can't Save You!" (lawyer, archaeologist, astronomer, researcher)
"This Game Continues to Suck." - Rob
"Yibb's Secret Band of Mummies Keep Investigators from Fighting Back" (get it? "band"? lol...)

We most likely chose an Ancient One at random, but it's possible that Denis chose this one, since he hadn't played in a while.

Investigators were most likely chosen from 4 possible randomly dealt investigators, after finding out the Ancient One's abilities and discussing winning tactics.

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
* The game began in a promising way, with unique items and skills during Arkham encounters.
* Rob toasts and shows off an actual glass of whiskey:  "I'm preventing sanity loss."
* Mummies are worse than rumors!  Due to a "clothing drive," we could barely move for 3 full rounds at the beginning of the game.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Headline: "An unlikely bunch of investigators narrowly escape Cthulhu's awakening"

Ancient One
Cthulhu

Investigators
Norman Withers, the Astronomer - Susan
Lola Hayes, the Actress - Rob
Akachi Onyele, the Shaman - Denis
Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist - Robbilee
Wilson Richards, the Handyman - Justin
Jim Culver, the Musician - Boston

End of Game
We closed and sealed 6 gates. There were 12 doom tokens out of 13 on on Cthulhu's doom track.

House Rules/Game Setup
It's been a while since we've fought Cthulhu, and we've won several of the last games we've played. We were looking for a tough game. So we specifically chose Cthulhu as the Ancient One, and then we discussed winning tactics and chose investigators from all possible cards. (Hence all of the lore-heavy, mystic-types.)

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 this time, since it was Boston's 'first time.'
The Black Goat of the Woods
Innsmouth Horror

Highlights
* There were several expressions of doubt in Boston's ability to win a particular skill check. He had one die to roll. He says, "I only roll 6's" and then proceeds to roll a 6.
* Norman became deputy in 5 turns - he started with Find Gate, Wither, Golden Sword of Y'ha-Talla, Tommy Gun, and Strong Will. flippin' sweet.
* Denis suddenly loses all of his character's stamina, and Rob turns to him and says, in a spirited manner, "Injuries are fun!" But Akachi suffers a concussion and loses all focus.
* Everyone chooses spiritual investigators, to get through Other Worlds more easily and to help close and seal gates. However, Justin says, "I'm Wilson Richards, bitch." Someone's got to stay home and clean up the streets.
* There is a mysterious rash of thefts... and Jim is implicated. He then falls into a coma and stays at the hospital for the remainder of the game.
* Patrice made a lot of allies through encounters - 3 total.