Other Cthulhu games

[Roon]

Hello all,

Still a little lurker, and also still quite new to the Cthulhu-mythos. I've always been intrigued by the whole Chtulhu stuff, and last year I got my first game-taste. That was an RPG session with Malebolgia. It was alot of fun, and also made me participate in the Strange Aeons demonstration last saturday, again by Malebolgia. Resulting in me buying the rulebook. Now I don't see myself playing an RPG alot, and the miniaturegames also take more planning and preparing the let's say boardgames.
I've heard about the Arkham Horror boardgame, and there is also a new FFG Cthulhu cardgame (with Cthulhu statues!) I've heard.
Those seem as a nice quick alternative playing Cthulhu games aside from  the miniature-games.

My question was if any of you have any expirience with these games, and if they're worth investing.

Thanks!

[chicklewis]

I have played Arkham Horror a dozen times.  It is ALMOST always fun.  On one occasion the players (who all cooperate against the automatic 'system' of the game running the monsters) won so handily that it was a bit of a yawn.  The last two games we were waxed and buffed by the system, but these games were GREAT fun in spite of losing.

The Call of Cthulhu Living Card Game is also extremely good fun, and good value.  From a standard 'collectable' card game originally released five or six years ago, it has evolved into a very fun game with about six or eight updates per year.  The cards in the core set of the "Living" card game (new version) are fixed so you get 'em all when you buy one set, and the 'asylum pack' upgrades also have every card in them.  MUCH cheaper to keep up with now, and you don't have the frustration of chasing rare cards because all are common. 

The card game itself is hugely more entertaining than normal.  You can build your deck from one or two of seven factions, Agency (the government, police forces, PI agency), the Syndicate (organized crime), Miskatonic University professors, students, and staff, Hastur cultists, Cthulhu cultists, Shub Niggurath cultists, or Yog Sothoth Cultists.  Each faction has a few specialties, and lots of interesting cards.  The card art is spectacular. 

Sorry, I ran on a little, but I do like these games, ALMOST as much as the RPG, which I run monthly for my play group. 

Chick

[Roon]

Thanks for the reply Chick.  Seems I'll be spending more on Cthulhu related games then I anticipated at first. I'm a sucker for nice artwork, and if the cards are of the same quality as the FFG Cthulhu art I've seen, then it will be hard to resist.

If you, or anyone else, got some expirience with it, how much fun is Arkham Horror in single player mode? Is it any fun that way, as I recon it's more fun with more people.

Again, thanks for the quick reply, and I'll check out both games this weekend if possible. 

[gauntman]

I owned both...

Arkham Horror may be the most intricate and rule heavy board game I've ever played in my entire life.  It is fun but takes a at least one person to keep up and track all the phases of play.  What I enjoyed most about the game was the constant overwhelming impending doom that steadily increases as the mechanics of the game click down to the players doom.  This game takes hours to play and has more pieces/tokens and counters than you can easily keep track of.  And if that isn't complicated enough, you can buy the wonderfuly elaborate expansions.  It is a wonderful game to explore and play and was made with elaborate love for the subject matter.  On a scale of 1-10 in difficulty of play, it's definately an 8 or 9.

I enjoyed the Cthulhu Card Game for other reasons.  I loved the card art and it was simple enough for my children to play, at the time.  The art of the Cthulhu Mythos incorporated in this range of cards is astounding.  

Eventually, I sold both my Arkham Horror game and my Cthulhu Cards due to my astounding short attention span.  For some reason, I never bore with miniatures.

[ZenWired]

I'll third the previous posters' comments regarding Arkham Horror. (The current edition - I haven't had the opportunity to play the original 1980's edition.) I'd like to add that - in my experience - the players' like or dislike of the game tends to have a lot to do with their buy-in to its Lovecraftian theme.

To clarify: it's a challenging game in terms of complexity of the rules, time involved to play, strategic thinking, and sheer difficulty to overcome the enemy. All of these elements can easily turn players off to the game, but I've found that the more interest one has in its Lovecraftian theme, the more likely he or she is to stick with the game.

Another aspect of the game that tends to help players stick with it despite its challenges is that its character-driven nature is very conducive to a semi-role-playing approach, if players are so inclined. (It can be a lot of fun to treat it as a combination of a board game and a RPG.)

(Oh, one other challenge the game presents: physical dimensions. The core set alone can easily overwhelm a decent-sized table when set up. Start adding in the "big box" expansions, and you better have a lot of surface area available!)

Personally, I love this game. It's my favorite board game by far, and most people I've introduced the game to have fallen in love with it. The combination of Lovecraftian atmosphere, cooperative character-based play, and difficult challenges really make this game hard to beat in my book.

[Thom]

I strongly agree with what has been posted above. Arkham Horror is certainly a challenging game, but our group finds it very rewarding. We've only played the LCG a few times but we love the atmosphere and artwork. It's easy to lose yourself in the game. I find myself much more invested in the Cthulhu card game than say Magic The Gathering.

Two tentacles, er thumbs, up!

[P_Clapham]

There's the board game "The Hills Rise Wild", in which players use competing war bands after old Wizard Whately's Necronomicon.  The game uses cardboard fold outs for the character.  I wouldn't be to hard to come up with some lead substitutions there.

http://www.tccorp.com/site09/tccorp_HRW.html

Card game wise there's also Munchkin Cthulhu, which is good for a lark.
http://www.worldofmunchkin.com/munchkincthulhu/

[Roon]

Thank you very much for the helpful replies! I've been to a local comic-/gamestore while visiting my family-in-law, but while normally sell this kind of stuff, both games weren't available there at that time... So I will have to check out the local gamestore here at home. As a solace to myself I did pick up the latest 2 pockets of Hellboy comics though.

[richarDISNEY]

Please don't forget Cults Across America boardgame!

Arkham Horror BG is a little difficult, and long.  Let us not forget LONG...
 My club has tried to do it multiple times, and it never really keeps our attention for that long, as its a REALLY complicated game.  It now collects dust on the shelf.

[Uncle Mike]

My favorite (...next to Strange Aeons of course...) is the fantastic card game: Unspeakable Words. Basically a word game where you get points for the ammount of angles in the letters you use...try not to go insane with fun!