Arkham Horror style personal missions

[themanfromsaturn]

Some time ago on boardgamegeek, someone floated the idea of introducing personal missions into ATOE. Basically, each character would have a little side-quest, with a win condition and a lose condition. Success would result in something that harms the villain or benefits the heroes in general, but usually has an added perk for the hero in question. Conversely, failure halps the villain or harms the heroes, but usually has a particular penalty for that hero.

I thought it was a great idea, but sadly, it never materialized. I'd like to tackle the project myself, but I'd like some help and input from others on this forum, so I thought I'd open up the thread as a sort of brainstorming session for anyone interested.

I'm a writer, and as such, I'm interested in the idea of conflict and character arcs. I think there is potential to incorporate this concept into the personal stories/missions. Put simply, a character arc represents opposed extremes of a character's nature, typically one is positive and the other is negative. The character struggles between the two and arrives at an outcome that is accordingly either tragic or triumphant depending on which aspect of the character's nature comes out on top.

A possible example in ATOE might involve Victor Danforth. Danforth boasts about ficticious exploits, and wants to be thought of as a hero, but deep down, he has a craven heart full of fear. His character arc is Heroism Vs. Cowardice. His personal mission involves facing his fears and either conquering them or succumbing to them. His mission might look something like this:

VICTOR DANFORTH: "To Play The Hero"
SUCCESS:Victor must either defeat a minion in combat or survive an encounter with the villain in which he sucessfully scores at least one hit against the villain. Proceed to "The Show Must Go On"
FAILURE: Victor flees from combat. Proceed to "Exit, stage-right"

The Show Must Go On!: The famed playwright has found his courage. Have the people of Shadowbrook found a leader? Victor receives a +1 combat marker and 2 +1 honor markers, and can remove one mystery card from play.

Exit, stage-right: Danforth has shamed himself in the sight of his audience, and now, the grip fear holds over him is stronger than ever. The shadow track moves one space closer to darkness. From this point forward, whenever Victor Danforth participates in combat, he must succeed at an honor 5+ check each round or flee from combat.

So, that's one example I came up with. What do you guys think? Do you have any ideas?