Review of the board game “Horror Arkham”

Hi all. Today I continue my blog about board games and this time I will conduct a review of the board game on the universe of the famous American poet, writer and journalist Howard Phillips Lovecraft "Horror of Arkham". But before starting analysis, I want to tell the background for those who do not know who is Lovecraft at all and remind for those who are in the course.

I will not go into the details of the biography, but I will only tell about his work, and more specifically about the "myths of Ktulhu". Myths of Kthulhu are usually called mythology created by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, as well as the works of other authors based on his work, designed in his special style. In myths, it is possible to use the gods and creatures, heroes and places described by Lovecraft, ancient books and artifacts. Although, by and large, this is not the same – in the endless universe there is enough space for other gods. An important element of myths is the creation of an atmosphere of supernatural horror in a person’s clash with something that is outside the world who is familiar to him, with the fact that he cannot explain. The author does not indicate something specific, but offers the reader to independently speculate the essence of the inexplicable.

What is translated “in his house in R’lyeha, the dead Ktulhu sleeps, waiting in the wings”.

I also want to talk about several elements of Lovecraft mythology.

Places presented in the stories:
-Arkham – a city in Massachusetts. Frequent scene of the myths of Kthulhu;
-Danwich – a settlement in Massachusetts, not far from Arkham;
-Innsmaut (Innsmouth) – a small port settlement in Massachusetts;
-Yuggot (Yuggot, Yuggot)-the planet of the solar system (Lovecraft identifies it with Pluto), Mi-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mi
-Kingsport – a settlement in Massachusetts;
-Miscamatonics – a river flowing through Arkham; By her name, the University of Miscatonika, constantly appearing in the myths of Kthulhu;
-Mu – a sunken continent;
-Ryu d’Oseil – street in an unknown city, the scene of the story “Music Erich Tsanna”;
-R’Leh (R’layh) – the sunken city of Ktulhu and its offspring;
-An abandoned city of elders in Antarctica.

Mystical creatures present in Lovecraft’s stories:
-Azatot is an ethereal spirit commanding the ancients, whom the ancient gods hid from the earth in chaos, behind 11 seals;

-Gatanoa (tzh. Gkhatanothoa) – an immortal creature left on Earth by aliens from the planet of the Southgot;

-Hydra (mother Hydra) – together with Father Dagon is the patron of deep -sea. The younger ancient creature;

-Deep -sea – reasonable amphibians. Were at enmity with the elders;

-Dagon (also Father Dagon) – underwater deity. Together with his mother, Hydra is the patron of deep -sea;

-The ancients are ancient and terrible deities that came to the ground from the stars;

-Yog-Sotot is a deity connecting different dimensions and worlds ("I am the gates. I am the key.");

-Ktulhu (also Kthuu) – the brother of the ancients and the driving of their slaves;

-Mi-th (also “mushrooms from the Yuggot”)-a race of aliens (supposedly from Pluto), absolutely alien to people;

-Nyarlatotep (also Nyarlathotep) – the embodiment of chaos, the messenger of the gods;

-Elders (elders) – alien creatures. At the moment have died out, or inactive. Forely with the descendants of Ktulhu and Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-GOG, they created shoggots;

-Shub-Niggurat (also a black https://jackpotlinerukcasino.co.uk/games/ goat of forests with a thousand young)-a deity of fertility;

-Shoggots – a mass that can change the shape and has the likeness of the mind;

-Khartur – a deity living outside the cosmos, usually comes in the form of a whirlwind. Capable of sucking the defiant, leaving only a shell. Also known as Hashtur unusual. Mentioned in some stories g. Lovecraft and a. Derlet;

-The descendants of Ktulhu are mentioned in the novel "Ranks of Madness", as the race of cosmic octopus aliens who came to Earth, led by Ktulhu, during the reign of the elders with whom fierce wars for the spaces of the Earth.

Well, on this we will probably finish the introductory part and move directly to the review. There are two publications of this board game. In both editions of the game, players try on the role of researchers who in 1926 are investigating strange and terrible incidents in the city of Arkham, Massachusetts. In the city, the gates open to other worlds, evil monsters go out on its streets, and all sorts of ugliness begins to happen. If there is too much gate, then one of the ancients comes to Arkham, and players, to save the world and themselves, must fight him. The first edition, published in 1987, was created by Richard Launis and released by Chaosium.

This publication, compared with the later, had simple rules. There were either black and white drawings or silhouettes on the cards and chips. The Arkham map depicts intersecting streets divided into cells, and various buildings.

Researchers could move by a certain number of cells during the course, based on the number thrown out on the cube. Each character – the researcher had four permanent parameters: conversationalism, fight, knowledge, duties (respectively Fast Talk, Fight, Knowledge, Sneak) and a certain number of mental health and strength glasses. To mark the number of points for a certain moment of the game used paper clips. When determining random events in the city, a table of values ​​and a cube throw was used. Victory could be achieved by closing all the gates.

If the participants in the game could not prevent the appearance of the ancient, then they lost.

As we may not be perfect, but it gave an impetus to the fact that in 2005 the company Fantasy Flight Games reissued the game, thereby making the “horror of Arkham” one of the most famous board games in the world.

I’ll probably start with the most important game of the game

Each player can choose (accidentally or deliberately) as his character of one of the 16 researchers, whose cards are described by a brief story, a set of characteristics and unique abilities is given. Each character has its own maximum meaning of mental and physical health (Sanity and Stamina). Each character also has its own story, written on the circulation of cards, its own set of values ​​of six parameters: speed – secrecy, fight – willpower, knowledge – luck (English. Speed ​​- Sneak, Fight – Will, Lore – Luck), which depend on each other (the higher the value of speed, the less secrecy and vice versa) and may vary at the beginning of each move in the “Dodger” phase according to certain rules. Each character begins the game with the number of ordinary items indicated in his card, unique objects, skills, spells, money and evidence, and in a certain place Arkham.

At the beginning of the game, it is chosen (by chance or based on the preferences of the players) that ancient whose appearance will threaten Arkham. Initially, in the game eight ancient deities (with the release of additions, their number increased to 24). If on the ancient card some features of the game with him are indicated, then they are performed either before or during the game. So Ktulhu reduces by one the maximum meaning of mental health and vitality for each player before the start of the game, and during the game cultists – a kind of monsters, receives additional bonuses thanks to him; If the ancient Nyarlatotep is chosen, then new monsters appear in the game – masks; The cultists of Yiga, the father of the snakes, become poisonous; If the ancients are chosen by Sudde M’ell, then in Arkham an earthquake occurs during each breakthrough of the monsters, destroying one of the locations.

At the beginning of the game, all the decks of events and myths are mixed, evidence is laid out on the map, chips depicting players are placed, and the first map of the “myth” is read – a map that randomly determines what is happening throughout the city.

The mechanics of the game are based on a throw of a certain number of hexagonal cubes-D6, this number is equal to the value of some kind of character parameter plus modifiers. Cubes are thrown against a certain complexity of verification. For example, if the value of the “knowledge” parameter of a character is 4, and the event card indicates that he needs to throw a cube for knowledge −1, this means that the character throws 4-1 = 3 cubes, and on three cubes he must throw away two successful values-five or six. Most of the checks, however, requires only one successful throw, and in this case it is simply written “Verification for Knowledge −1”. If the character is blessed (visited the church or somehow attracted the attention of the Higher Forces), then the one in which 4 fell out of 4, 5 or 6 is considered a successful throw. If the character is damned, then only 6 is considered a successful throw. You can reset the curse by visiting the church and donating the corpses of the dead monsters there.

In every move, players can move their characters around the game field, fight or run away from monsters, experience some events in certain locations (these events will be determined by a map of the event for a given area) or try to get out of other worlds. They can also sell or buy things or spells in some locations, get a blessing, or correct the shaken mental (in a psychiatric clinic) or physical (in the hospital) health for free or for money.

If the researcher meets the monster, he has two ways – try to slip past him (using the steady parameter) or join him in battle. If the researcher is going to fight (or has not passed the inspection for secrecy), then he must first determine whether he had enough mental strength to meet horror on the streets of Arkham. The player must throw cubes to check the parameter “willpower” against the meaning of “horror”, which causes the monster. If the player undergoes a check, then the researcher can fight with the monster. If it does not pass, then the character loses a certain number of “brains” (the human brain is drawn on the chips of mental health) and still should fight with the monster.

To fight the monster, the player throws the number of cubes equal to the value of the “battle” parameter plus bonuses from the gun (if any) or from spells (if there is) plus the modifier from the monster. If the player succeeds in this check, then the monster is killed, and the researcher takes his corpse as a trophy. Then this corpse can be sold in the docks, exchange it in the church for a blessing, but it cannot be given to another player (although the Homeruls may allow it). The researcher can try to run away from the monster, in which case the player throws cubes on "secrecy". If he succeeds, then his character runs safely. If not, the monster causes a certain damage to the researcher, reducing the number of endurance points, and the fight continues until one of the participants is killed or the researcher does not run away.

At the end of each course, one of the players (the one who walked first) takes the top map of the “myth” and reads it. This map says in which location the new gates will open, where evidence appears, what occurs in the city. The monsters who have appeared and already located in the city move on the map in accordance with the map of the "myth". At each opening, the gate on the ancient card is put a trick of fate, showing how close to awakening is. One of the goals in the game is to close all the gate. This can be done in three ways. A certain check for the “battle” or “knowledge” of the gate closes, which means that in this location in any course of the gate can be opened again. To seal the gate, you need to either spend five evidence, or seal them with the sign of the ancients. In the latter case, one chip is removed from the “Fate scale” on the ancient card, slowing its appearance.

As soon as the scale of fate is filled completely, the ancient wakes up, and the surviving researchers should fight with him. There is an exception: if the Sultan of the demon Azatot wakes up in the game, then he does not fight with researchers, but immediately destroys the whole world.

Of course, this is only a brief description of the rules, but the description of such rules exists to attract people to play it. Also with additions to the “horror of Arkham” the rules are also changing, so I did not completely retell the rules.

I’ll tell you about the design of the game. I can’t say anything about the first edition, since I did not have a complete set of game, but as for the second, there is already something to talk about. Since the game takes place in the 1920s, then the surroundings of those years are here on the spot. Fonts, drawings, description of cards, everything here blows the spirit of America of the 20s.

Since the game belongs to the type of Americans, there are a lot of checks with a cube and other random (there is one of the classifications of board games: Americans-where it will be in charge of the random and the euro-where the random and the cube is not at all a place). I want to immediately warn if you do not plunge into the atmosphere of this game, if you do not feel like an investigator, then this game may seem very boring to you, since it only needs to be thrown a cube in it.

Well, on this I will probably finish my first review. We will summarize. "Horror Arkham" is a very beautiful, interesting and just a fun game in order to spend several evenings with friends after her. But if you don’t like to constantly throw a cube, then don’t even take the game. So far and good luck.

The best comments

Waiting for criticism for the first review. I also want to conduct an interactive-write in the comments which type of board games you like more: Americans or Euro (explaining what kind of terms are in the review)?

Interesting, already dozen reviews on Arkham appeared … They would have made a review on something less well-known, Bestiary Sigillum, I do not know. (I do not vouch for how popular it is/not popular)

Good review, as well as competent result. I was just afraid that you would recommend the game to everyone, but I rolled right about the random. I played 2 parties in Arkham and there is no more desire to return there either me or my friends. In general, after the World of Warcraft, it is impossible to play, because the WWII is very similar in mechanics, but a cut above the situation is higher in terms of monitoring the situation, t.e. There is a random, but it is not enough, thanks to all editing (transfer of cubes), adding to the cube indicator (for example +1 to the value of the cube), etc.D.

By a couple of moments ..
1) When I wrote about the value of the cubes there should be indicated “for example, if the value of the“ knowledge ”parameter of a character is 4, and the event card indicates that he needs to throw a cube for knowledge −1 [2], this means that the character throws 4-1 = 3 cubes, and on three cubes he must throw away two successful values-five or six."And then the players will get confused and will think that you need to always throw away 2 successes.

2) only simple things are indicated in the examples of things and spells.

And so – the review is good. The moments, although it noticed mainly negative, but described competently.

Guys, I will make a small announcement, I see that there were quite a few people who like board games, so I will continue to blog in this direction and further. Tomorrow during the day I will try to lay out a review of the Manchec card game, as well as several additions to it.

I would ask you can still write about Mancchkin in order to spread this excellent game among the masses, but it may not be as interesting as Arkham, the game itself is simpler … but it is a pity, a wonderful thing.

Naturally, many begins with him and begin their way in the hilies … But suddenly one of the slugs does not yet know?) S.s. I recently tried an amateur set of manCha on Fallout – Pikabu.ru/story/manchkin_fallout_2455921 – I highly recommend it if I have not tried it, it greatly changes the game for the better, hardcore as it is. The phrase "oh, you are dead" for a long time will become a meme in our company)