Innsmouth Horror

According to the Fantasy Flight Games website, their final expansion to Arkham Horror is still on the boat. But F:AT's own Thaadd is bringing an advance copy of Innsmouth Horror over to my place on Sunday, so that a small group of players can face a rising tide of Deep Ones and worse. I will post tantalizing details here soon after.

In the mean time, let's talk about the previews at FFG.

1. Story Time:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=516

The new personal story cards are clearly something very similar to the plot cards in Android. Since there will be 16 new investigators in this set and 96 personal story cards, and the preview shows a personal story card for a character from the base game, there will either be 2 personal story cards for every character, or 3 each for the new characters and the characters in the base game. I'm betting on two for every character, with the first card setting up a personal dilemma and then the two sides of the second card addressing either outcome. I'm guessing that either the Terror Track or the Doom Track will be used as a timer for many of these personal stories.

2. The Ancient Ones Rise from the Sea at Innsmouth:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=528

Rhan-Tegoth looks fairly nasty, and I'm betting that his Insatiable Hunger puts a lot of pressure on the Personal Story front. And his Attack ability is insanely vicious. It's hard to believe that anybody will ever defeat him in final battle, with or without Epic Battle cards.

And we're getting seven other GOO. So which Great Old Ones? The component list mentions Ghatanothoa, a name that I have rarely seen outside of the original Chaosium version of Arkham Horror. I vaguely recall that seeing him turns the viewer into stone or something like that, and the components list eight "visage" tokens related to him. I wonder if those are only used in final battle, or if there is a potential effect during the main game?

Another component listed is "1 Zhar token," so Zhar is another new GOO. I don't remember anything about Zhar, except that it is vaguely reptilian and tentacly in appearance, and there was another GOO just like Zhar (twins?). The dust cards might be related to Quachil Uttaus, who causes rapid aging. And I thought that I read somewhere that Bokrug (aka the Doom that came to Sarnath) was going to be in this set. Father Dagon and Mother Hydra will probably not be GOO, since they are on Herald cards in this set.

3. Monstrous Awakenings:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=539

Ah, here it is, the reference to Bokrug as a GOO. And it looks like there are some great new monsters. We are all expecting Deep Ones, but it appears that there will also be a mechanism for players to degenerate into Deep Ones, with a new type of card similar to the corruption cards introduced in the excellent Black Goat expansion. I don't quite get how the Beings of Ib work, in that it's important to kill them before Bokrug shows up, but they have no apparent combat ability. Maybe they start in Innsmouth, and players must hunt them down there despite risking Deep One transformation. I love the Servitor of the Outer Gods, a nasty heavy-hitter that devours you if you fail to kill it on the first round of combat, or even if you fail to evade it.

...to be continued...

Is that to be continued in the DRE...I better shut up.

4. Fresh Faces:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=553

A year or two ago, I remember Kevin Wilson asking people at the FFG forums to suggest some new character types. With sixteen new characters in Innsmouth Horror, he must have gotten some interesting suggestions. (I suggested an anarchist, as that was an odd player character class in the first edition of Call of Cthulhu.)

The ones in this preview are certainly unusual. Trish is a spy with really strange skill sliders... instead of opposing pairs, hers are all weak on the left and strong on the right, but she re-sets to the left every turn and then gets a limited numbers of points to move right. She will probably be challenging to play, better for an experienced player than a rookie. Silas is a sailor, and gets an alternative movement based on aquatic locations. Zoey is sick and cool, a cook who is also a talented monster killer. She reminds me of Wilson the handyman, that dude that starts with a shotgun, a cycle and a bottle of whiskey.

5. The Tide is Rising:

(and six shall turn it back, uh, oh wait, wrong story)

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=562

Years ago, Chaosium published an Innsmouth supplement which included a big, action-packed scenario featuring the Feds invading Innsmouth, which was inspired by the final sentences of Lovecraft's classic story, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. FFG gives both the story and the adventure a nod with the Deep Ones Rising track in this expansion. It's similar to the Dunwich Horror track, triggered by monsters falling into vortices in Innsmouth or by gates being prevented from opening. If the track fills up, proceed directly to final battle with the GOO.

There is a second and opposing track, where investigators in Innsmouth can dump clue tokens. Whenever that track fills up, clear it out and also clear out the Deep Ones Rising track, simulating a federal raid on Innsmouth.

This preview also shows us Father Dagon. He speeds up the Deep Ones Rising track a little, beefs up Cthulhu a little, and does a nasty thing every time the terror level goes up. He is not as bad as the other Heralds, but is apparently playable in tandem with the Mother Hydra herald, probably making for a really nasty game.

6. Some other stuff I noticed from the component list.

36 new Arkham location cards, so 4 more for each neighborhood.

42 new Innsmouth location cards, so probably 7 cards each for 6 new neighborhoods. That's a lot of neighborhoods, twice as many as Dunwich and 50% more than Kingsport. I don't have my Chaosium sourcebook handy, so I'm curious what the possibly 18 new locations might be. There was a temple in town, and an abandoned refinery. Probably another police station which is much nastier to spend time in than the one in Arkham. There was a hotel that was the starting point for the story and the PC game. Maybe that devil reef offshore is one of the neighborhoods, though I can't think of any good reason for investigators to go there.

16 gate cards seems pretty stingy, so I assume that there are no new exotic locations. Probably just two cards each for the 8 outer worlds in the base game, like Plateau of Leng and of course R'lyeh.

24 Ancient One plot cards? Interesting... are these going to be mid-game events like in Android? Or possibly a way to play with the GOO not known at first?

10 Innsmouth Look cards... doesn't seem like enough to support the new mechanic. Maybe the intent is to limit the effect unless one or two investigators spend too much time in Innsmouth.

Is it just me or is Arkham Horror getting REALLY complicated? And you guys think Descent is too fiddly ...

But, then again, the only expansion I've played with is Dark Pharaoh. I've generally been content with just the base game, but those investigator story cards have me tempted.

The core game is still intact and very playable. A lot of the things added to Arkham Horror are modular in nature, easy to leave out if you don't want to use them. However, with the exception of the Rifts from Kingsport Horror, so far I have enjoyed every new aspect of the game, and insist on including as many as possible in every game. Injury and Madness cards are more fun than the old-school beatdowns, and Epic Battle cards deliver a lot more narrative flavor than the drab original dicefest. If you play with everything in like I do, you are always getting unexpected amounts of various elements, keeping everything fresh. I can play three games in a row without a single act from the King in Yellow making an appearance, then play a game where we get to Act 2, which is scary.

I'm certainly stoked to try it.

We're in this awkward situation where a few of our friends own AH and all the expansions so we never bought it, but it's one of my wife's favorite games and pretty high p there for me too. But the big problem is that we wouldn't want to just get the base game, we'd need to pick up at least a few expansions from the get go and it becomes a question of dropping $200+ to get our own set. Though on the other hand, we would probably end up spending that $200 on other games that aren't nearly as good.

I'm really interested in the character plots that this expansion promises. I will stay posted on your reports just to see if it makes the characters different enough to warrent the purchase.

Sounds cool all in all though and the innsmouth story is one of my fav's. The feeling of impending doom is especailly strong in this one... and the talkative drunk is very cool.

Shellhead wrote:

24 Ancient One plot cards? Interesting... are these going to be mid-game events like in Android? Or possibly a way to play with the GOO not known at first?

These are just the Ancient One-specific Epic Battle cards.

Originally, those weren't GOO specific. I have a prototype deck of those somewhere.

dragonstout wrote:

Shellhead wrote:

24 Ancient One plot cards? Interesting... are these going to be mid-game events like in Android? Or possibly a way to play with the GOO not known at first?

These are just the Ancient One-specific Epic Battle cards.

Ah, good catch, I should have figured that out. Then again, sometimes I stumble upon useful ideas when I get something wrong. So now I'm thinking that it would be cool to have a mid-game event for each GOO, just like Android has for each murder case. Actually, maybe three mid-game events for each GOO, each one thematic, with only one drawn per game. I can use that Strange Eons card generator to format them, then sleeve them up.

And picking up on that other random guess, maybe I could format up a herald that delays reveal of the GOO until mid-game. The herald itself could be one of the lesser incarnations of Nyarlathotep. Maybe that herald causes the terror track to increase by one every time there is a monster surge, and every time the terror track increases, place a doom token on the herald. When the fear factor hits five, discard the herald, reveal a random GOO, and move all those tokens to the Doom track. Something like that.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Originally, those weren't GOO specific. I have a prototype deck of those somewhere.

I wonder if Strange Eons now supports an Epic Battle card template? It might be fun to add a few more all-purpose red and green Epic Battle cards for variety.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Originally, those weren't GOO specific. I have a prototype deck of those somewhere.

Elaborate, elaborate!

I do love the GOO-specific ones, though: we have definitely SPOILER had someone join Nyarlathotep and win in the final battle. END SPOILER

And it would definitely be nice if there were a few more green and red Epic Battle cards.

Still pondering my own ideas a few posts ago... maybe 72 mid-game events is too much. I could do just one for each GOO, and then tie them to my other idea upthread, the herald that keeps the GOO secret for a while. When the terror track hit five, draw a random mid-game event, which simultaneously:

1. Does something nasty
2. Reveals the GOO for that game
3. Does something thematically appropriate to get that GOO up to speed, including adding Doom tokens.

So Thaadd brought over her copy of Innsmouth Horror and we played two five-player games today, using just the base set plus Innsmouth, for a more fishy flavor. It was plenty of fun. Running down the new stuff using the numbering system of the previews:

1. Story Time: The story cards are cool. In addition to the story on the back of your character sheet, there is a brief new development on your first story card, in italics. On the flip side is a pass/fail condition, much like in Android, or in Arkham Horror terms, it's kind of like your own personal Rumor card. With some characters, the pass result is a nice prize, like gaining a new ally or maybe some clue tokens. For other characters, it's more like leveling up in an rpg. And for other characters it's a heroic sacrifice. The fail results are comparable to a Madness, Injury or Corruption card in impact, a permanent drawback.

Either way the pass/fail conditions and results are personalized for each character, and also thematic. In game effects, chasing after your personal story result may handicap your early game play, but will pay off in the latter part of the game. Ignoring your personal story leaves you free to focus on dealing with gates and monsters, but will cost you later on. I wonder how much we will like Personal Story cards after a number of plays? Maybe it will feel constraining to always face the same pass/fail each time you play that character, or maybe it will be fun to be forced to use different strategies based on which character you are playing. Maybe both, and I suppose players could eventually pair up investigators with random story cards, just for variety.

2. The Ancient Ones Rise from the Sea at Innsmouth: The new Ancient Ones are even tougher than ever. The first game, we were up against Chaugnar Faughn (spelling?). His cultists are Tcho-tchos, but we never drew any from the cup that game. While he slumbers, there is a -1 penalty on all skill checks if you are carrying an Elder Sign or even in the same neighborhood as an Elder Sign token, like on a sealed gate. In final battle, he has a nasty attack causing each investigator to lose an ally or three clue tokens, or be devoured.

The second game, we battled Cthuga. As with Ithaqua, you ignore weather environments. If you move more than 3 spaces in a turn, you lost one stamina due to the extreme heat. In final battle, he is unbelievably nasty... if you attack with a weapon, you discard that weapon after that attack. For his attack, each investigator loses 1d6 clues, Stamina or Sanity. or is devoured.

3. Monstrous Awakenings: I still don't know what the deal is with Bokrug and the Beings of Ib, since we didn't battle him today. But the Innsmouth Look is scary. Certain encounters in Innsmouth will require you to draw a certain number of Innsmouth Look cards, all at once. You draw them, read them aloud and suffer any effects. Some are harmless, but at least one causes you to be devoured (actually turned into a Deep One... you replace your investigator token with a Deep One, and then start over with a new investigator.

4. Fresh Faces: Thanks to multiple devourings, we got to play with most of the new investigators in our two games. One memorable character was Agnes the waitress, who is apparently a reincarnated sorceror. (In one of our games, she ended up as a Deputy, but I think that the police just liked her coffee that much that they made her an honorary deputy.) In the first game, I played Zoey the (violent) chef, who is apparently visually based on Zoe the art director at Fantasy Flight, according to Thaadd. Zoey the chef is a brooding brute with a delicate and pretty face. She is also one helluva a monster slayer, motivated by her strong religious beliefs. After getting ahold of a crowbar and a pistol, I easily whacked seven monsters that game, though constantly teetering on the edge of madness.

Another cool guy was Tommy the cop. He really, really wants to be a hero, and is perfectly willing to die a hero, according to his story card. The ex-con is neat. He gets an odd die-rolling bonus, but can't get a bank loan or become deputy. There are a couple of nice support characters that work well with a team effort, kind of like the Expedition Leader from the Dunwich set.

The second game, I played Hank the farmhand, who is now one of my all-time favorite characters. He potentially wastes a lot of time and clue tokens looking for his Pa at first, but he is a relentless killing machine. See, Hank is actually so dim that he doesn't lose sanity right away from seeing a monster. Only after failing a combat check does he have to roll for sanity loss. With his strong Fight track, plus the shotgun and Fight skill that I drew, he piled up a lot of kills. Also, he starts with a Sanity of 5 and a Stamina of 6, plus a Food card.

5. The Tide is Rising: the Deep Ones Rising track is great. It's easy to work with compared to those fiddly Kingsport rift tokens. It's very similar to the Dunwich Horror track, only twice as long but more likely to go off, but the players can work against it. Every time a gate is thwarted from appearing (usually because of an Elder Sign token at that location due to a successful seal), you add a token to the Deep Ones Rising track. And every time a monster jumps into a vortex space in Innsmouth (identical in nature to the vortex spaces in Dunwich), you add a token to that Deep Ones Rising track. If it fills up with all six tokens, go to Final Battle with the Ancient One.

To clear out that Deep Ones Rising track before it fills up, you can discard clue tokens in Innsmouth locations during the upkeep phase, placing those clue tokens on the Federal Raid track. When all six spaces on the Federal Raid track fill up, you remove all those clue tokens and also remove all tokens on the Deep Ones Rising track, to indicate that the Feds just raided Innsmouth. The tricky part is that you can only discard up to two tokens to fill the two Fed Raid spaces that match the color of that Innsmouth neighborhood that you are. To fill up all six spaces, two clue tokens will need to be discarded in each of three neighborhoods in Innsmouth.

Speaking of Innsmouth, once the Doom Track is at least half full, Innsmouth enacts martial law. From then on, investigators must make Evade roles in Innsmouth, modified by their current location there, or else be arrested. And jail in Innsmouth is a very bad place to go, because sometimes they feed people to monsters there. You can literally get encounters there where you are Devoured. There is a location next to the jail where other investigators can go to try to break you out of jail.


Ultimately, our two games were a little too easy. We won with old-school tactics by sealing six gates, with the game getting distinctly easier after that third sealed gate. Both games, characters got devoured, but we won both games by sealing six gates instead of going to final battle. But that was just the base set + Innsmouth. I'm certain that this would be very challenging if we were playing all the boards, or even just adding in Dunwich. Also, by not even playing the small expansions, we missed out on numerous gate busters or extra doom token-type Mythos cards. All in all, Innsmouth is a very good expansion for Arkham Horror, not quite essential like Dunwich, but still very, very good.