Hi everyone! I would like to thank Jeff D for his excellent donation. It will keep tzg.com up and running for about 4 months! If you feel so inclined, please feel free to click on that donation link to help keep the lights on. Much appreciated!


Post Reply 
 
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Votes - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
10-10-2012, 12:41 AM
Post: #1
So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
I'm a weird guy. For a number of reasons. One of which is this: while I like expansions, I'm also a little OCD about them. In some weird way, I kind of always think all the contents of them "fit together" better than they do integrated into the base set. Kinda.Zombie12

I finally got to play ATOE the other night w/ ALL expansions shuffled in (minus the web exclusives. Think I'll order them tonight!). While it was crazy good fun & I had a blast coming up w/ all kinds of mental back story to explain how The Crimson Hand were linked to the Ghost Ship (seriously, little buggers were influencing Lord AND Lady Handbrook, nearly found me at the Monastery, committed one of the murders in the game, & attacked me on board the Shipwreck. They were everywhere! Shi Hai!)

So, one thought that occurred to me was maybe keeping any "themed" cards separate & combining them w/ "duplicates" of other core game cards & creating a Mystery Deck for each board. When you were on the appropriate board, you would draw from the appropriate deck.

That way, board specific events would occur in those areas & (maybe) keep the theme a little tighter?

Either that, or I need to shift my perspective. Instead of thinking of it as one single movie or adventure I need to think of it as an ongoing series, with overarching plot lines that weave in & out & may or may not have anything to do with the current story. (a la "The X-Files" or "Babylon 5").Zombie12
---MSWatchmen01

"If you had any sense, you'd leave now! Get out while ya still can! It's too late for th' rest'a us. The Horseman rides tonight, an' he's comin' to take us all ta Hell!"
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 11:16 AM
Post: #2
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
Interesting,I haven't played with the Coast Yet.We have
played with the Base Game/Web Expansions/& SWTWC
& things held together.

I never thought about a disconect but I've always seen
the Game as a series(as you suggested)& The Crimson
Hand as sort as NPC.

AToE main attraction for me is the specific Villain &
his/her/its Minions so Theme is important to my enjoyment
of the Game.But we all have our levels of disbelief,
I could never make sense of why there were free lance
Ghost Hunters in post AWI so I created my own background
to explain things.

So if creating specific decks for each Board helps you
keep thing "Logical" for you,Go for it & keep us updated.

OD

Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain,—
Wailing for the lost one that comes not again:
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 12:53 PM
Post: #3
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
My take on the Hand is that they are a 'third party ' that ...like Dunes Bene Gesserit....are watching and subtly manipulating the paranormal events because they have a different plan. They are more often indirectly linked to the Main Villain in support, opposition or just managing the events but for their own goals. Rarely they are the actual minions.

________________________________
"The eternal struggle takes time, Max."
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 04:50 PM
Post: #4
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
(10-10-2012 12:53 PM)Pfr_Fate Wrote:  My take on the Hand is that they are a 'third party ' that ...like Dunes Bene Gesserit....are watching and subtly manipulating the paranormal events because they have a different plan. They are more often indirectly linked to the Main Villain in support, opposition or just managing the events but for their own goals. Rarely they are the actual minions.

I always viewed them as fanatical hitmen for the villain itself. They are doing the bidding of the beast but not as an active minion on the board. More like slip in, eliminate the target, slip out, but not taking a directly active role in taking over the town.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 06:57 PM
Post: #5
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
Mmm all good observations. Another reason I thought of this was to keep the action focused on whatever section of the board(s) you happen to be on at the moment. So it you're at Echo Lake, the theme would reflect that more, same w/ the Coast, same w/ Shadowbrook. Thought of doing this w/ the Location decks to, but it might be more likely to keep things where ever you currently are, unless you mix it up a bit.
---MSWatchmen01

"If you had any sense, you'd leave now! Get out while ya still can! It's too late for th' rest'a us. The Horseman rides tonight, an' he's comin' to take us all ta Hell!"
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 08:44 PM
Post: #6
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
Honestly, in my recent plays (just core and SW), I haven't felt that the cards from SW brought in any distinctive changes to the Shadowbrook locations.

That said, I feel to focus of Echo Lake is a lot more dangerous than that of Shadowbrook. There seems like there is a lot more peril involved. The Forgotten Island totally destroyed our party. I don't think a single one of us made it out of there without being KO'ed. The Inn seems more troublesome than not. and the monastery, well the Crimson Hand obviously set up this place as a front, because every other card is Make a X test, if failed you are attacked by the Crimson Hand.

I have not played the Coast yet so maybe your question presents itself better in the added game play there. I shall soon find out.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 09:05 PM
Post: #7
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
yep...on Echo Lake it:
....
the monastery is definately rife with the Hand...some actual monks retain it...gaurding the Suffian Crypt and the Library of Latador....but the hand is everywhere..

the inn is for sebastion skinner/scratch to play with travellers....funny that dedicated Abigail Sturn also calls it home....I think they keep each other in line...


the island! for tales of lovecraftian madness....but all those lost investigators sure left behind some great stuff! not great enough to save them though..

________________________________
"The eternal struggle takes time, Max."
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-10-2012, 10:04 PM
Post: #8
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
(10-10-2012 08:44 PM)Wasteland Jack Wrote:  Honestly, in my recent plays (just core and SW), I haven't felt that the cards from SW brought in any distinctive changes to the Shadowbrook locations.

Like I said, part of it may be my own perception. It just felt...different...to have so many "SW" themed events occurring while I was pursuing a Coast Villain. Most the minion attacks kept occurring there, The Hand kept popping up there, that's where 2 of 3 pieces of Cursed Gold kept turning up, etc.

Like I said, I DID have a lot of fun tying the various elements together. Maybe the fault lies not with my games but with myself. Zombie03

Maybe I need to think of Shadowbrook & surounding environs not has having one distinct Evil happening at once, but all kinds of crazy stuff going on at the same time, & just because you're pursuing one doesn't mean you won't run into the other.

Thus, you could be pursuing the Spectral Horseman, get attacked by a lycanthrope in the Olde Woods, Drowned Dead on the Forgotten Island & The Crimson Hand on the Shipwreck, & this is not a flaw but a feature. Insane20
---MSWatchmen01

"If you had any sense, you'd leave now! Get out while ya still can! It's too late for th' rest'a us. The Horseman rides tonight, an' he's comin' to take us all ta Hell!"
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-11-2012, 01:50 PM
Post: #9
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
(10-10-2012 10:04 PM)MoonSylver Wrote:  Thus, you could be pursuing the Spectral Horseman, get attacked by a lycanthrope in the Olde Woods, Drowned Dead on the Forgotten Island & The Crimson Hand on the Shipwreck, & this is not a flaw but a feature.

Now that you mention it, I do recall getting attacked by a lycanthrope in the Olde Woods, but the Villain was the Unspeakable Horror. It didn't make much sense at all. We thought that I accidentally shuffled it in and just discarded and drew a new card.

With this in mind, I see where you are getting at I think, but not as much a board issue but a Villain issue. Maybe, depending on the villain, you should remove certain cards from the game that are not related to the villain. Take for instance the werewolf. Werewolves, while supernatural, are not typically organized or better yet affiliated with other monsters. They are usually everday folk who have been cursed by the bite of another werewolf. Therefore, location encounters like the Spirits in the Keep or the beast in the Windmill, don't really make sense. Maybe keep the spirits for the Banshee, and the beast for Unspeakable Horror or the necromancer.

That said, you could keep the ghosts in Echo Lake's Inn, as everyone knows old Inns are always haunted. Maybe tone down the crimson hand, as they seem to be a vile organization (FANG) and what would be their interest in a little town of Shadowbrook.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-11-2012, 05:45 PM
Post: #10
RE: So...mix 'em all together? Or keep 'em seperate?
We chalked up the crossed themes as "Shadowbrook is a spooky place and you never know what kind of evil you're going to run into." Plus we draw our heros at random - so you get a random cross section of abilities - well rounded if you will. That seems to work well with well rounded evil. If you taylor the evil on a given board you may render some characters weaker on certain boards than other. Not sure how that would play out.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 


Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)