Arkham horror

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Arkham horror
Deskohraní 2012 - 6749.JPG
Game data
author Richard Launius ,
Kevin Wilson
publishing company Chaosium (1987),
Fantasy Flight Games (2005, 2007),
Heidelberger Spieleverlag (2006) a
. a.
Publishing year 1987, 2005, 2007, 2019
Art Horror board game
Teammates 1 to 8
Duration 120 - 240 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

Origins Award 1987,
Griffin Scroll 2007

Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game developed by Richard Launius and first published by Chaosium in 1987. It was last published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2005and revised in 2007. Players take on the roles of investigators who investigatethe city of Arkham in 1926, where gates to Other Worlds open,in HP Lovecraft's universe. The aim is to travel to these places and find clues, to close the gates permanently and thus to save humanity from destruction.

overview

Various locations inside and outside Arkham are marked on the game board, which players can travel to. The players each have the figure of an investigator with special skills and items that should be used specifically. In the course of the game, gates to other worlds open in various unstable locations. Monsters enter the game through these gates, wander through the streets and must be fought by the investigators. Too many monsters raise the terror level, which can eventually lead to the permanent closure of some locations and the loss of the game. Likewise, the game is lost if the players fail to close all the gates in time or to successfully fight a Ancient One in time . Various random events can influence the actions of the players positively and negatively.

history

Arkham Horror was originally planned by Chaosium as Call of Cthulhu : The Board Game , a strategy game based on the role-playing game of the same name, and finally released as Arkham Horror. The game won the Origins Award in 1987 for best fantasy or science fiction board game. It was one of several board games by Richard Launius based on the Cthulhu myth , but the only one that was published in a professional setting. At the time of its release in June 1987, Arkham Horror was one of the first cooperative board games in which players fight together against the game mechanism. It is also considered to be one of the few successful board game adaptations of a role-playing game, which quickly made it a cult game and sold out for a long time. Chaosium planned a reprint several times, but it did not happen.

In 2004 Skotos took over the rights to Arkham Horror from Richard Launius and later agreed a release with Fantasy Flight Games. The game has been completely revised several times. Skotos reworked many of the game elements to improve the coherence of each element and followed the official Chaosium maps when designing the game board. Richard Launius added some new elements like the hint markers and changed the deck a bit. Kevin Wilson finally removed the " don't get annoyed" mechanism popular at the time in favor of more strategic gameplay. The 2005 edition shared many of the artwork elements of Fantasy Flights Cthulhu trading card game .

The new edition finally appeared in July 2005, the German edition was brought onto the market by Heidelberger Spieleverlag in 2006.

Edition from 1987

The 1987 edition has relatively simple rules compared to the new edition. The maps and markers are illustrated with black and white drawings. The map of Arkham consists of a series of interconnected paths with a large number of fields. Some places like Miskatonic University are outside of this network of trails; there gates can open and encounters take place. The Other Worlds are in a row at the top of the game board. Encounters are determined by rolling the dice and comparing the result with tables.

The investigators usually move around a random number of squares determined by throwing two six-sided dice . The four attributes of the characters are given: eloquence, combat, knowledge and stealth. In order to use an attribute successfully, the player must reach or undercut the respective value with a die roll. With paper clips , the values are recorded, which are constantly changing: strength and mental stability.

The moves of the players are followed by the “myth phase” in which gates and monsters appear. For each newly opened gate, the number of doom tokens is increased by one; if more than 13 goals are open, all players lose. The monsters roam the city and attack the investigators when they encounter them. If a player loses all stability or strength points due to a lost battle, he is taken to a sanatorium or hospital to be healed. If the investigator suffers this loss in one of the Other Worlds, he dies and the player must start over with another figure.

Players win if all the gates that have opened are closed. This requires a character to travel to another world and survive two encounters there. Upon returning to Arkham, the investigator must successfully attack the gate in order to close it. When the gate is closed, the number of doom tokens is reduced by one.

Edition from 2005

Style of play

Each player chooses one of the pre-made characters. The characters have different values ​​that represent their strengths and weaknesses, as well as special skills and an individual inventory. The most important values ​​are mental stability and constitution, which reflect the current mental and physical strength of the character. On the back of the cards there are short biographies of the characters in case the players want to bring some role play into play.

Each player takes his pawn and places it on the specified starting point. He also receives his property and the number of clue markers shown on the card. Then it will be decided which old man should be fought. This usually happens randomly, but players can also agree on a specific opponent.

The basic test mechanism consists in determining the number of six-sided dice to be rolled from the attributes and a modifier, rolling the dice and thereby achieving the required number of successes. Fives and sixes are considered successes. Most rehearsals require a single success, but some fights may require multiple successes. Characters can also be blessed or cursed; in the former case all fours are also successes, in the latter only sixes.

Each turn, players can move their figures across the map to either have encounters or to fight monsters. However, you can also use the special actions printed on the map for the buildings on which they are located.

Characters who encounter a monster have the opportunity to evade it through a successful sneak test. Fighting a monster first requires a successful stability roll, which in the worst case scenario can cause mental stability to be lost. Only then can the monster be fought, and depending on the monster, several successes can be achieved in the attack.

At the end of each turn, the starting player draws a card from the Mythos pile, which causes a new gate to open, new monsters to invade Arkham, existing monsters to move or other events that affect the game mechanism to occur.

If a certain number of monsters is exceeded, some will be removed and the terror level increased by one, which should show that Arkham is slowly being overrun by monsters. If the terror level rises too much, individual locations in Arkham close and potential allies flee. When the terror level reaches its maximum, there is no longer a limit for monsters. If the terror level were to rise further, the summoning of the Ancient One would come closer instead. After the Mythos card has been processed, the starting player marker moves clockwise to the next player who begins the new round.

Certain events cause doom tokens to be placed on the Ancient One's card. This bar shows how close he is about to awaken. Usually this is done by opening a new gate. Gates can be closed by the investigator passing a trial. Alternatively, indicator markers or an older sign can be output, which prevents a gate from opening again at this location. An Elder Sign also removes a doom token from the Ancient One.

When the doom track is full, the Old One wakes up, and the investigators must deal with this threat immediately. The manner in which this battle is fought varies between the different Ancient Ones. If the old man is defeated, the players win, otherwise all characters are devoured and the players lose.

Extensions

The expansion "The Curse of the Black Pharaoh" was published in June 2006 and later also appeared in German. The expansion adds many new maps to the game, including items and encounters. The backdrop is a traveling exhibition from Egypt that has arrived in Arkham, bringing some cursed artifacts into the city. A new version of this extension has been available since 2011.

The second expansion was “The Dunwich Horror” at Gen Con in Indianapolis 2006 (DE, 2007). The expansion is based on Lovecraft's short story of the same name and has now also appeared in German. A new board with locations in the city of Dunwich will be added to the existing one from Arkham. Investigators can travel back and forth between these locations at the train stations. There are also new encounters, mythos cards and items, as well as a new mechanism such as chasing monsters and new ancient ones. If a character loses the last point of stability, he can now choose. Instead of being sent to the sanatorium, he can take a psychosis that hinders him, but regains full stability. He can also take a disabling injury if the constitution drops to zero.

“The King in Yellow” was published in June 2007 as the third expansion and is also available in German. Like "The Curse of the Black Pharaoh" it is a pure card expansion. The theme this time is a mysterious play that is being performed in Arkham. The story of the same name by Robert W. Chambers serves as a template . The expansion introduces the Harbinger as a new mechanism, a special card that permanently changes the rules. The first harbinger is the king in yellow himself, which ensures that the doom track increases at the same time as the terror track, unless you accept a permanent handicap. The support on the website of Fantasy Flight Games introduced a harbinger for the "Curse of the Black Pharaoh". There is also a third harbinger of The Dunwich Horror there.

The fourth expansion, "Kingsport Horror", was published in June 2008 and has been available in German from Heidelberger Spieleverlag since September 2009. Similar to "The Dunwich Horror", it is an expansion with an additional board. Dimensional gaps and aquatic monsters are new play elements. The box also includes new Ancient Ones, New Investigators, New Harbingers, and introduces the Guardian as a new mechanism, which helps players in much the same way that Harbingers hinder them.

"Black Goat of the Forests" is the fifth expansion that was released at Gen Con in August 2008. The German edition has been around since February 2010. It is a further pure card expansion and contains another harbinger, a new membership similar to the Silver Box of Twilight, a new game element called Corruption and new cards that optionally make the game more difficult or easier. In addition, there are new mythos cards, gates, encounters, spells, skills and items.

The sixth expansion is "Shadows over Innsmouth", which appeared in English (as "Innsmouth Horror") in May 2009 and in German in July 2010. The box includes a new board with the City of Innsmouth, 16 new investigators, eight new Great Olds, and two new Harbingers. There are also new investigator cards, monsters and encounters.

The seventh expansion is “Das Tor des Verderbens”, which appeared in English in May 2010 and in German in January 2011. The small box contains u. a. a complete set of 18 new goal markers, which are handled in the same way as the previous goal markers, but each has an additional attribute with additional rules. There are also new items, myth cards and, for the first time, relationship cards that regulate the relationships between the players.

The currently last expansion is "Miskatonic Horror", which appeared in English in June 2011 and in German in January 2012. The box adds new elements and cards to every expansion that has appeared so far.

The game components of all expansions can be combined with the basic game and with each other. The cards are marked on the front with the symbol of the respective extension so that the cards can be separated again without any problems. On the other hand, some optional rules cannot be combined and require consultation.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Winner of the Origins Award 1987, category 'Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1987' ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gama.org
  2. ↑ BGG page on 'The Curse of the Black Pharaoh' expansion
  3. ↑ HDS page for the new edition of the 'The Curse of the Black Pharaoh' expansion
  4. ↑ HDS page on the 'The Dunwich Horror' expansion
  5. ↑ HDS page on 'The King in Yellow' extension
  6. ↑ HDS page on the 'Kingsport Horror' expansion
  7. ↑ HDS page on the 'Black Goat of the Forests' expansion
  8. ↑ HDS page on the 'Shadows over Innsmouth' extension
  9. ↑ HDS page for the 'Gate of Doom' expansion
  10. ↑ HDS page on the 'Miskatonic Horror' expansion