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wisdomknight · (This post was last modified: 11-02-2012 02:20 AM by wisdomknight.)

I really do and I did get all the expansions for my family for Xmas but....

Everyone loves Arkham Horror the most and there's a challenge every time with AH. Something that seems an impossibility with AToE without altering the rules.
I mean it is so easy that not only do we win every single time, but we do so with complete ease. We only played once after getting Arkham Horror.

I am hoping that the expansions will generate more excitement, along with making the miniatures of the Villains and Minions.

One thing I am going to incorporate is making player "knockout" = "death".
Though its so easy that no one barely ever gets knockout even, except during the final showdown.

Anyone have any house rules to spice-up and add a challenge to AToE?
I really need some more ideas, as I so much want to love this game.

LabRat · 11-02-2012, 07:39 AM

Seriously? I get knocked out all the time. Victor Danforth, unarmed, against a succubus? Unfortunate, unfortunate mystery card drawing. How can an unarmed Danforth beat a succubus with his 1 Combat dice?

wisdomknight · (This post was last modified: 11-02-2012 07:50 AM by wisdomknight.)

We play with 5 players so Im not sure if that makes a difference and yes we make sure the Villain is 5X stronger (more wounds)

Im always Cartwright Zombie03

themanfromsaturn · 11-02-2012, 07:55 AM

The times you're most likely to get knocked out are in the battles where you aren't allowed to escape. Other times, the weaker characters should just run away most of the time.

**Old Dwarf** · 11-02-2012, 11:35 AM

I do find it unusual (at least in my experience) that knock outs are so rare in your Games however in SWtWC they have options
to make the Game more difficult.So rip open those presents !

OD

Pfr_Fate · 11-02-2012, 01:11 PM

wisdom knight...you HAVE to be doing something wrong! It is never easy and we have die-hard old time gamers with loads of experience playing. Besides a few KOs we always come to the Showdown with the Shadow Track very very near its end. We lost a few and won a few... Admittedly we do use the SOMETHING WICKED events chart and that has been a horrible curse in itself..but the Core set should NOT be that easy...

**mqstout** · (This post was last modified: 11-02-2012 03:35 PM by mqstout.)

Don't play cooperatively. Though I'm not a big fan of ATOE (I like it occasionally), I find it is much better as a competitive game. Cooperative just never feels right to me.

(They fixed this with FANG -- both modes of FANG are great.)

Wasteland Jack · 11-02-2012, 02:13 PM

(11-02-2012 01:11 PM)Pfr_Fate Wrote: Admittedly we do use the SOMETHING WICKED events chart and that has been a horrible curse in itself..but the Core set should NOT be that easy...

Whole heartily agree with Pfr_Fate. The SW coop events chart makes everything a little more difficult.

WisdomKngiht, are you playing advanced rules? Where you need to roll vs cunning or spirit to collect investigation on the board? I have found that this rule alone has slowed the hero progress a lot. I think it would change your gameplay as you never get enough investigation to buy the really useful town items (silver bullets, rifle, etc). Also when you are KO'd you end up losing a lot of your gear and allies.

The other thing may be that some of the villain actions require movement of the shadow track that you may be forgetting, like for instance the crows. If you get the same random location, or a random location next to an already occupied space (by a crow) you need to move the shadow track 1 step per crow minion not placed. I know when playing the werewolf I ran out of feral kin, and if you run out of minions you must up the shadow track by 1 per missed minion.

I hope this helps.

BTW, this Halloween we played against the reaper HP2. We lost within 10 rounds. So yes, it gets a lot harder.

Have fun and don't give up on ATOE, please!

W.J.

Leonard · (This post was last modified: 11-02-2012 02:37 PM by Leonard.)

Just to echo what others have said, try competitive play! We lose the majority of the time when playing competitively as there are so many opportunities to screw other players over, especially when they enter a showdown. I really feel the game was designed with competitive play in mind primarily. It's so challenging, and very very (almost too) long!

Maybe try team competitive, if you find regular co-op too easy, and regular competitive isn't really your style? I believe there's a section in the rule book covering this play style.

You could always house rule some stuff as well. Maybe character abilities can only be used once per game? Double the investigation cost of everything such as secrets, town items, and healing at the doctors. Add an additional secret to a town elder each mystery phase. Move D3 spaces instead of the usual D6. Only hit successfully on a 6, instead of 5 or 6. Have at least one of your characters complete a showdown with the villain each mystery phase (randomly chosen, maybe draw a random location and make the nearest character to this location face off against the big bad!)

Just a few ideas! Watchmen02

wisdomknight · (This post was last modified: 11-02-2012 04:15 PM by wisdomknight.)

(11-02-2012 11:35 AM)Old Dwarf Wrote: SWtWC they have options
to make the Game more difficult.So rip open those presents !

OD

LOL

(11-02-2012 01:11 PM)Pfr_Fate Wrote: wisdom knight...you HAVE to be doing something wrong! It is never easy and we have die-hard old time gamers with loads of experience playing. Besides a few KOs we always come to the Showdown with the Shadow Track very very near its end. We lost a few and won a few... Admittedly we do use the SOMETHING WICKED events chart and that has been a horrible curse in itself..but the Core set should NOT be that easy...

I would like to know what it is.
From what it seems we are playing correctly.
But I still have my doubts we are using the Elders correctly.

Could the Elders impact the game that much?

(11-02-2012 01:46 PM)mqstout Wrote: Don't play cooperatively. Though I'm not a big fan of ATOE (I like it occasionally), I find it is much better as a competitive game. Cooperative just never feels right to me.

(They fixed this with FANG -- both modes of FANG are great.)

Co-op is the only reason I buy these games actually.
Well my kids want to play co-op only but Id love to do some competitive games myself....but alas having a 14 yr old daughter will a bad temper ...well you get the idea Watchmen02

(11-02-2012 02:13 PM)Wasteland Jack Wrote:
(11-02-2012 01:11 PM)Pfr_Fate Wrote: Admittedly we do use the SOMETHING WICKED events chart and that has been a horrible curse in itself..but the Core set should NOT be that easy...

Whole heartily agree with Pfr_Fate. The SW coop events chart makes everything a little more difficult.

WisdomKngiht, are you playing advanced rules? Where you need to roll vs cunning or spirit to collect investigation on the board? I have found that this rule alone has slowed the hero progress a lot. I think it would change your gameplay as you never get enough investigation to buy the really useful town items (silver bullets, rifle, etc). Also when you are KO'd you end up losing a lot of your gear and allies.

The other thing may be that some of the villain actions require movement of the shadow track that you may be forgetting, like for instance the crows. If you get the same random location, or a random location next to an already occupied space (by a crow) you need to move the shadow track 1 step per crow minion not placed. I know when playing the werewolf I ran out of feral kin, and if you run out of minions you must up the shadow track by 1 per missed minion.

I hope this helps.

BTW, this Halloween we played against the reaper HP2. We lost within 10 rounds. So yes, it gets a lot harder.

Have fun and don't give up on ATOE, please!

W.J.

Hey Jack, yes we played advanced rules our last couple of games and gaining investigation did make our progress gaining gear take longer.

I cant recall playing against crows yet.

Thanks for your help man!

(11-02-2012 02:33 PM)Leonard Wrote: Just to echo what others have said, try competitive play! We lose the majority of the time when playing competitively as there are so many opportunities to screw other players over, especially when they enter a showdown. I really feel the game was designed with competitive play in mind primarily. It's so challenging, and very very (almost too) long!

Maybe try team competitive, if you find regular co-op too easy, and regular competitive isn't really your style? I believe there's a section in the rule book covering this play style.

You could always house rule some stuff as well. Maybe character abilities can only be used once per game? Double the investigation cost of everything such as secrets, town items, and healing at the doctors. Add an additional secret to a town elder each mystery phase. Move D3 spaces instead of the usual D6. Only hit successfully on a 6, instead of 5 or 6. Have at least one of your characters complete a showdown with the villain each mystery phase (randomly chosen, maybe draw a random location and make the nearest character to this location face off against the big bad!)

Just a few ideas!

Those are some great ideas Leonard!