So, I saw this at the local game store. And being the little Lovecraftian-loving reptile that I am, this immediately tickled my fancy.
However, the closest I’ve gotten to tabletop play is playing derived computer games such as Planescape Torment. In other words, not very at all. (I’m not counting games like Risk and Monopoly, etc as they’re completely different genres)
If anyone’s played Arkham Horror, how was it? And would you recommend it for a tabletop noob?
Arkham Horror is complex, and you should expect to get some rules wrong at first (especially dealing with monster movement). It gets better if you have a group of players that will play multiple times, and you can start dividing labor between the players. It’s a great atmospheric game, as long as you’re ready to die horribly.
Also, there are multiple expansions which add all sorts of new options (and complexity) to the game.
I could not love Arkham Horror more if it were a woman. Though I would express said love in a slightly different manner. Seriously though, it’s staggeringly awesome. I’d actually been contemplating starting a thread just to gush about it, and possibly to discuss strategy.
It’s more or less taken over our game night from D&D, and amazingly enough, no one resents that, not even me. It’s just that good.
It is pretty complex, though, and a few of the instructions are less clear than they could be. It will take a couple of games before everyone’s comfortable with it.
It’s more than a little RPG-like. There are stats, equipment, spells and such, and it’s cooperative, not competitive. Everything in the game looks fantastic, and the writing’s great, too.
We’ve played with as few as four and as many as six people, (you can play with as few as one, but I think it would get a lot harder once you drop below 3)
In short, it’ll be a little tough to get into without tabletop experience, but it’ll be worth it. Just make sure you get the actual game! Many of the expansion packs look like they’re stand-alone games, but they’re not.
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Monster movements not so hard. The only thing we had real trouble with is figuring exactly when you get sucked through a gate, and when you don’t.
Seconding what’s already been said. It’s a pretty complex game, but it’s also a really fun game. I very much like the fact that it’s cooperative, rather than competitive.
You’d do well to find someone locally who owns the game and can lead you through a play session, so that (a) you can see if it’s up your alley, and (b) you have someone who can help explain the rules.
It’s a great game and it has amazing replay value for a boardgame. If you can just find at least 2-3 other players to play with regularily I’d certainly buy it. When our gaming group was between real RPG campaigns we played Arkham Horror once per week for like 2 months and nobody complained.
It is a bit complex, I have to admit. As long as you have the self-discipline to go through the rules and really learn them, it’s not super-hard game to learn though. We’ve had complete AH noobs in our games a few times and as long as we spent some time explaining stuff to them they were helpful team members even during their first game. It helps if you just start with the basic game without any of the expansion sets and only buy those when you know the base rules inside and out.
One big advantage it has over most boardgames is its cooperative aspect. There’s a lot of people who dislike playing against their friends, and in AH the players have a common enemy. Our veteran AH players tend to freely give each other weapons and money and so on, a nice change from the usual backstabbing in other games. It also has a Lovecraftian atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife.
I have the original Arkham Horror boardgame from the 80’s. I have not been able to afford the new one. How is it different?
AFAIK they are completely different. Seen some pictures of the old one and I wouldn’t recognize it as the same game.
This is a good place to check the new game out.
I think the game takes way too long to play and in the grand scheme of things there are plenty of board games that are better. I’m a big Lovecraft fan but Arkham Horror is one of those games I’ll only play once or twice a year.
Odesio
Agreed. 3/4ths of the way through Arkham Horror, I always start wondering how much of a douche my friends will think I am if my character commits suicide.
I like it okay, but I like Betrayal at House on the Hill better.
As far as cooperative games go, I like the LOTR a bit more. I would play Arkham once or twice a year because it is atmospheric as others have said, but I personally don’t see the replay value of it. If everyone loves Lovecraft it your group, that might be another story.
Don’t do that, though, as it’ll bleed a squamous liquid of a hue utterly unlike any human eyes were meant to see.
You left out the word “eldritch,” without which any Lovecraftian pastiche is glaringly incomplete.
Here’s the Wiki article: Arkham Horror - Wikipedia
I’m with you on this one. Each game is faster and easier to play, and it’s not always about eldritch horror.
Betrayal is not as balanced, though,
That is, indeed, one of its downsides. It takes a little while to set up, and it seems to be about a 3-hour game, IME (though, once, we got very lucky, and finished it in under an hour).
Betrayal just has the right balance of level of detail with effort for me. Arkham Horror is more than halfway to being a roleplaying game, without the underlying mechanics that would make it a /good/ roleplaying game. So it’s an overly complex board game that, while fun, is a lot more involved than it needs to be.
taking notes Thanks, all! It sounds like Arkham may be a bit of a stretch for a noob like me.
Is there a tabletop that you would recommend instead? Bonus points if it draws on eldritch things best left where no man may gaze upon them.
Isn’t squamous sort of essential as well, though? Hard call.
If I only have space for eldritch, squamous, or non-Euclidean, which should I use?
Cyclopean.