Thanks, Daniel for the review. I really like the dice mechanisms--having the 6 dice and being able to use them at any time (including as a reaction to another's action) is very appealing.
Thanks for the review. I wish they would come up with a MoM type of coop game, haunted houses and other places, with no app. Just classic deck of cards like AH 2nd ed.
I love rpgs that use board game mechanics/board use. So far I can’t find much gameplay videos online which sucks - that will determine what I really feel!
I appreciate your honesty and look forward to your recommendations for horror. I'm a big fan of World of Darkness / Chronicles of Darkness and am currently figuring out how to solo it.
Thank you for this review… i really like the whole dice/ turn system. This really let everybody get involved in a turn. 👍🏻🙌🏻 @character creation: that is a common thing nowadays… i experienced that in the Lord of the Rings/ Aliens and Blade Runner 🤪 Starter Boxes 🤦🏼
Looks interesting, will definitely have to grab a copy. Sort of wish Edge had made this an expansion for Genesys like with Terrinoth, Android, Keyforge, and Twilight Imperium.
I bought this last week in case our group wants to take a break from our long-running Star Wars campaign. Most of us have played various games from the Arkham Horror stable, so it should be fun.
The scripted adventure appears to be very similar to Folklore the Affliction. The dice mechanics are intriguing. I could see future investigators having less or more than 6 die as their starting value. I could also see a pre generated character the starts with a number of horror dice and a special ability that utilizes say a result of 6 (still allowing the roll of 1 to have a negative effect).
Great video.This product ticked a lot of boxes for me. I love the Arkham horror world. I like the tradition RPG structure of a GM helping players tells story. I think it is a good introductory game for players new to RPGs although I do think it needs an experienced GM to run it as some of the rules are not very clear especially in non combat situations. The visual appeal of the game is very good with lots of nice props and I am hoping that down the line they release more scenarios. I like GMing but writing a campaign takes more time than I really have at the moment.
I am always interested in Cthulhu Mythos games but the "starter sets" doesn't sound good to me generally. I want the whole rules set and judge if I like it. Thanks for the review anyway. 👍
Yeah - I really need to see the full rule set on this one to make up my mind. I don't have a good sense of how it REALLY plays with just this starter set. It's a starter set that teaches the starter set.
I think this is great for what it’s intended to be, a sample of what the game is and how to learn the basics of the system. Like most starter sets you can easily modify it to accommodate any pc’s once the rulebook comes out in a few months.
What I look for in a starter set might be something different than you do. Zweihander is a really good example of what I look for. So is Dragonbane. Starter sets like these give a full game experience, just truncated a bit. This set feels more like a mystery in a box style game to me. You could play the Zweihander starter set for many years, as an example.
My assumption on this, and it’s pure speculation is, I think some of the negatives that you speak about are actually intentional. They introduced a starter set and not a full core rulebook to get your feet wet. People know it as a board game and the target market is board gamers, so it’s meant to be a way to introduce people that aren’t familiar with how to play an RPG. I also think it’s going to serve as a feedback tool for them to see what the community likes, doesn’t like, and maybe make tweaks to address things based on the people’s reaction. It wouldn’t surprise me though if “robust character creation” is NOT a thing in the future though because the entire Arkham series is based around the specific characters of the mythos. Joe diamond is always joe diamond. So, they will most likely include a way of making your own characters and stories for sure but I suspect its focus will be about the characters everyone knows and loves.
@@TheDungeonDive oh for sure… it probably won’t be for a lot of people. Hell, I don’t even know if it’s “for me” yet lol. I don’t like Being the overlord in gaming anymore and I’ve never played a full DM role so. We shall see. I just love the AH collection so much (as do you) that I’m happy to give it a go
You answered my question. I really want this to be solo friendly but if its not, i guess i shouldnt spend money on it. Please suggest some good, preferably rules lite, solo lovecraft rpgs. I have mansions of madness, but i hate having to use an app. Plus, 2nd edition really did not have all the cool monsters 1E had and i would really love some lovecraftian minis
Mansions of Madness 2e is a masterpiece. Top 10 game of all time. I just released my guide to solo horror RPGs. th-cam.com/video/7m_UlzkGLlA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=eRzF7oSxTu1YRp-s
I found out today about my question of - how long is a narrative scene?... and its about 15 minutes to 1 hour of time, then you can refill your dice pool. So if you was at a dinner party sitting around, thats about 30 minutes eating and chatting and so you get a second refill.. hope that makes sense... for combat its each turn.
It would be really rare for an unstructured scene to last an hour and for someone to run out of dice while others have dice. You might have a bad player who just wants to troll others by not spending their dice to move things forward, but that's a table problem, and not a mechanism problem. But you don't refill pools like you do in structured turns until everyone has spent them all.
@@TheDungeonDive Indeed a hour could be a drive to a location but short 15 minutes "turns" seems right, like climbing over a wall entering masion and creeping around looking for clues...i`m looking forward to the game arriving here in the Uk
Thanks for sharing - mine arrives sometime this week. It will be interesting to re-evaluate the Arkham Horror RPG for solo play when the core book comes out later this year, as this is just a starter set designed to get GMs and players up and running. The starter set looks like it will be useful as a "suggestive resource" (as Geek Gamers calls them) though, what with all the maps and tokens and cards.
Balancing tokens on a character sheet? That is not going to work for my group, they'll end up all over the table and floor; it looks pretty but I'll pass. Warhammer FRP third edition was a board/RPG hybrid, it really didn't work for me. For me the gold standard of boxed sets is DragonBane; if you haven't seen it, check it out. The solo mode is brilliant. Great video.
Thanks for looking at this from the soloist prospective. I had been considering picking this up to use for solo Cthulhu Mythos games but I think I’ll stick with Call of Cthulhu 7th edition with the Solo Investigator’s Handbook.
Daniel hey. A bit off topic question here. I know you are fun of sci-fi books. Can you give me a few space opera book titles? Im trying to find some but in my country it is very difficult to find because the book stores doesn't have any distinction between sci-fi books having all of them together under the same genre. I am looking for SPACE opera books. Not generic sci-fi. I mean spaceships, aliens, unknown worlds and such. Can you help?
I don't really read space opera. I'm more into the speculative fiction, pulp, cyberpunk and new wave sides of SF. I don't really care for space opera or hard SF - those are the two sub-genres I simply don't read. Maybe check out Iain Banks - the Culture series. It definitely deals with space opera stuff, or maybe the 2001 and Rama books by Clarke. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series "The Culture series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks and released from 1987 through to 2012. The stories centre on The Culture, a utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoid aliens, and advanced superintelligent artificial intelligences living in artificial habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main themes of the series are the dilemmas that an idealistic, more-advanced civilization faces in dealing with smaller, less-advanced civilizations that do not share its ideals, and whose behaviour it sometimes finds barbaric. In some of the stories, action takes place mainly in non-Culture environments, and the leading characters are often on the fringes of (or non-members of) the Culture, sometimes acting as agents of Culture (knowing and unknowing) in its plans to civilize the galaxy. Each novel is a self-contained story with new characters, although reference is occasionally made to the events of previous novels. "
@@TheDungeonDive Thank you! That seems like a very nice recommendation for me. I'll check if it has a translated edition in my language. If not (most possible) I will try to get the original English version. 👍👍
@@TheDungeonDive I found Culture series. They are not translated in my language and some of them are not available... Seems like I have to read them in English if I can get them. Thanks again.👍👍
Excellent review! The game looks (to me) like a a quickly assembled and poorly devised RPG based to capitalize on the popularity of the Arkham Horror card game - another RPG to sit on your “shelf of shame” - but I love the artwork
Boy howdy have you ever come to the right channel! You've got a whole new world to explore! A guide to solo RPGs th-cam.com/video/iYHt1pdScK0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=CuF2M_cL2J2us-g9 A guide to solo dungeon crawl RPGs th-cam.com/video/eM2S4pWeczs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fnjOmCUXFVwKsT4f A guide to solo horror RPGs th-cam.com/video/7m_UlzkGLlA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XTx985XFhVy4xM_0 Mork Borg as a co-op RPG th-cam.com/video/VwTMGmXxghU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kZvdEeUlVwISG81g
Some neat mechanisms here, but it does seem too much like a boardgame to me, so... I don't know. I'd wait for the full version. It's a bit weird that they chose to use descending attribute levels, so that higher numbers are actually worse than lower numbers.
It’s a target number system, so lower is better to hit. Same as most D6 dice pool systems used in the Arkham Files board games and others, it’s just that the stats don’t represent your pool of dice, but the target number itself.
@@TheDungeonDive Yeah, I know. I just find it a bit confusing to see high numbers on a character sheet, and then having to stop and think for a bit that 5s are better than 6s.
Love the art and maps BUT, it seems like they are trying to "Boardgamify" a Pen & Paper game. I heard many reviews overall say stick to the original Call of Cthulhu.
RPGs have been gamified for a long time before this, and for me that’s a great thing. I love D&D 4E. Its way better than 5e and is secretly one of the best rules for dungeon crawling around. And a total board game. I think there is room for all kinds of different takes on RPGs.
I haven’t heard many reviews yet that say stick to Cthulhu and I’ve watched about 20 so far. They all question if it’s different enough to distinguish it from CoC or if it will catch on. Haven’t seen any dismiss it yet.
Appreciate the review Daniel, but I'm getting the impression of a cash grab low effort, incomplete board game trying to imitate an RPG, or a low effort RPG trying to use board game components as a gateway to attract people who have already bought their other Arkham Horror themed products. Not to mention milking the consumer for future expansions which should have been included in this base product. Not for me. But on another note, are you excited for Tsui Hark's upcoming Condor Heroes film? I'm hoping it's a return to form to his Swordsman 2 days. He really needs people around him to say, "Your older films were better. Get back to that style."
I don’t feel it’s a low effort cash grab at all! The system is solid, and for the price you get a good traditional game. It’s just not something I’d recommend from the solo perspective. A group of people could have a few amazing sessions with this for far cheaper than a single movie or dinner!
I haven’t liked a Tsui Hark film in a long time. Ever since he started making safe movies for a mainland Chinese audience. He’s lost his subversive edge. But I’m curious. His last really good movie, IMO, was Time and Tide in 2000! That was 24 years ago! OMG!
@@TheDungeonDive I think this product is aimed at Arkham Horror completionists, and perhaps that is FF's strategy, which to be fair is pretty sensible, market to your consumer base. But if you aren't an AH fan already, this product looks subpar. For a group you just go with CoC 7e. For solo you go with The Solo Investigator's guide. Just my opinion of course.
@@TheDungeonDive It's a pretty ironic turn of affairs, from making Wuxia movies about the individual versus a corrupt system, to making war movies propagandizing said corrupt systems. Maybe he paid his dues and they are letting him cut loose. We can pray.
Yeah - there was no way the CCP was every going to let him be subversive with his films. I mean, in Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain the main antagonist was a giant red flag, a figurative embodiment of the CCP! Or just compare the 90s version of Dragongate Inn with that terrible newer 3D version.
Thanks, Daniel for the review. I really like the dice mechanisms--having the 6 dice and being able to use them at any time (including as a reaction to another's action) is very appealing.
It’s a solid system.
Thank you for this review… i really like the whole dice/ turn system. This really let everybody get involved in a turn. 👍🏻🙌🏻
Yeah. That’s something that’s cool.
Thanks for the review. I wish they would come up with a MoM type of coop game, haunted houses and other places, with no app. Just classic deck of cards like AH 2nd ed.
Isn't that pretty much 1st ed MoM?
@@vanyadolly No. 1st ed has a gamemaster. And it's just as limited with its scenarios as 2nd ed.
I love rpgs that use board game mechanics/board use. So far I can’t find much gameplay videos online which sucks - that will determine what I really feel!
I appreciate your honesty and look forward to your recommendations for horror. I'm a big fan of World of Darkness / Chronicles of Darkness and am currently figuring out how to solo it.
Thanks for the review!!! Probably just gonna get the full book to read when it comes out
Thank you for this review… i really like the whole dice/ turn system. This really let everybody get involved in a turn. 👍🏻🙌🏻 @character creation: that is a common thing nowadays… i experienced that in the Lord of the Rings/ Aliens and Blade Runner 🤪 Starter Boxes 🤦🏼
Looks interesting, will definitely have to grab a copy.
Sort of wish Edge had made this an expansion for Genesys like with Terrinoth, Android, Keyforge, and Twilight Imperium.
That might have been a better route.
I bought this last week in case our group wants to take a break from our long-running Star Wars campaign. Most of us have played various games from the Arkham Horror stable, so it should be fun.
Should be good for that! A nice little self contained break.
Great insight and review detail!
Thanks!
i picked this up on a deal recently, and the box is packed with stuff
The scripted adventure appears to be very similar to Folklore the Affliction. The dice mechanics are intriguing. I could see future investigators having less or more than 6 die as their starting value. I could also see a pre generated character the starts with a number of horror dice and a special ability that utilizes say a result of 6 (still allowing the roll of 1 to have a negative effect).
Yeah! It’s hard to tell if these included characters are “level 1,” or not. They might be stronger.
Thanksfor the explanation.
its not that far from YZE system from Free Keague in fact... On the principle ...
Great video.This product ticked a lot of boxes for me. I love the Arkham horror world. I like the tradition RPG structure of a GM helping players tells story. I think it is a good introductory game for players new to RPGs although I do think it needs an experienced GM to run it as some of the rules are not very clear especially in non combat situations. The visual appeal of the game is very good with lots of nice props and I am hoping that down the line they release more scenarios. I like GMing but writing a campaign takes more time than I really have at the moment.
Sounds like a great fit! It's a very good and affordable box.
I am always interested in Cthulhu Mythos games but the "starter sets" doesn't sound good to me generally.
I want the whole rules set and judge if I like it.
Thanks for the review anyway. 👍
Yeah - I really need to see the full rule set on this one to make up my mind. I don't have a good sense of how it REALLY plays with just this starter set. It's a starter set that teaches the starter set.
I think this is great for what it’s intended to be, a sample of what the game is and how to learn the basics of the system. Like most starter sets you can easily modify it to accommodate any pc’s once the rulebook comes out in a few months.
I think for the right group this is a great starter set.
What I look for in a starter set might be something different than you do. Zweihander is a really good example of what I look for. So is Dragonbane. Starter sets like these give a full game experience, just truncated a bit. This set feels more like a mystery in a box style game to me. You could play the Zweihander starter set for many years, as an example.
My assumption on this, and it’s pure speculation is, I think some of the negatives that you speak about are actually intentional.
They introduced a starter set and not a full core rulebook to get your feet wet. People know it as a board game and the target market is board gamers, so it’s meant to be a way to introduce people that aren’t familiar with how to play an RPG.
I also think it’s going to serve as a feedback tool for them to see what the community likes, doesn’t like, and maybe make tweaks to address things based on the people’s reaction.
It wouldn’t surprise me though if “robust character creation” is NOT a thing in the future though because the entire Arkham series is based around the specific characters of the mythos. Joe diamond is always joe diamond. So, they will most likely include a way of making your own characters and stories for sure but I suspect its focus will be about the characters everyone knows and loves.
I’m really curious about where they take the full game. And hey, if it’s not for me, it’s not for me. That’s totally fine.
@@TheDungeonDive oh for sure… it probably won’t be for a lot of people. Hell, I don’t even know if it’s “for me” yet lol. I don’t like Being the overlord in gaming anymore and I’ve never played a full DM role so. We shall see. I just love the AH collection so much (as do you) that I’m happy to give it a go
It’s a shame, I liked the look of this initially especially the maps.
There’s a lot to like! For the price you could have an amazing time with friends.
You answered my question. I really want this to be solo friendly but if its not, i guess i shouldnt spend money on it.
Please suggest some good, preferably rules lite, solo lovecraft rpgs.
I have mansions of madness, but i hate having to use an app. Plus, 2nd edition really did not have all the cool monsters 1E had and i would really love some lovecraftian minis
Mansions of Madness 2e is a masterpiece. Top 10 game of all time.
I just released my guide to solo horror RPGs.
th-cam.com/video/7m_UlzkGLlA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=eRzF7oSxTu1YRp-s
Yay!
I found out today about my question of - how long is a narrative scene?... and its about 15 minutes to 1 hour of time, then you can refill your dice pool. So if you was at a dinner party sitting around, thats about 30 minutes eating and chatting and so you get a second refill.. hope that makes sense... for combat its each turn.
It would be really rare for an unstructured scene to last an hour and for someone to run out of dice while others have dice. You might have a bad player who just wants to troll others by not spending their dice to move things forward, but that's a table problem, and not a mechanism problem. But you don't refill pools like you do in structured turns until everyone has spent them all.
@@TheDungeonDive Indeed a hour could be a drive to a location but short 15 minutes "turns" seems right, like climbing over a wall entering masion and creeping around looking for clues...i`m looking forward to the game arriving here in the Uk
Thanks for sharing - mine arrives sometime this week. It will be interesting to re-evaluate the Arkham Horror RPG for solo play when the core book comes out later this year, as this is just a starter set designed to get GMs and players up and running. The starter set looks like it will be useful as a "suggestive resource" (as Geek Gamers calls them) though, what with all the maps and tokens and cards.
Really curious about the full game.
Balancing tokens on a character sheet? That is not going to work for my group, they'll end up all over the table and floor; it looks pretty but I'll pass. Warhammer FRP third edition was a board/RPG hybrid, it really didn't work for me. For me the gold standard of boxed sets is DragonBane; if you haven't seen it, check it out. The solo mode is brilliant. Great video.
Yep! Have an episode on Dragonbane.
Thanks for looking at this from the soloist prospective. I had been considering picking this up to use for solo Cthulhu Mythos games but I think I’ll stick with Call of Cthulhu 7th edition with the Solo Investigator’s Handbook.
That’s definitely the right choice for solo. Or, in my case, Tiny Cthulhu with the solo handbook.
Daniel hey.
A bit off topic question here.
I know you are fun of sci-fi books.
Can you give me a few space opera book titles?
Im trying to find some but in my country it is very difficult to find because the book stores doesn't have any distinction between sci-fi books having all of them together under the same genre.
I am looking for SPACE opera books.
Not generic sci-fi.
I mean spaceships, aliens, unknown worlds and such.
Can you help?
I don't really read space opera. I'm more into the speculative fiction, pulp, cyberpunk and new wave sides of SF. I don't really care for space opera or hard SF - those are the two sub-genres I simply don't read. Maybe check out Iain Banks - the Culture series. It definitely deals with space opera stuff, or maybe the 2001 and Rama books by Clarke.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
"The Culture series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks and released from 1987 through to 2012. The stories centre on The Culture, a utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoid aliens, and advanced superintelligent artificial intelligences living in artificial habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main themes of the series are the dilemmas that an idealistic, more-advanced civilization faces in dealing with smaller, less-advanced civilizations that do not share its ideals, and whose behaviour it sometimes finds barbaric. In some of the stories, action takes place mainly in non-Culture environments, and the leading characters are often on the fringes of (or non-members of) the Culture, sometimes acting as agents of Culture (knowing and unknowing) in its plans to civilize the galaxy. Each novel is a self-contained story with new characters, although reference is occasionally made to the events of previous novels. "
@@TheDungeonDive Thank you!
That seems like a very nice recommendation for me.
I'll check if it has a translated edition in my language.
If not (most possible) I will try to get the original English version. 👍👍
They’re a series, but you can read them in any order really. I’ve read 2 of them. Player of Games is great.
@@TheDungeonDive I found Culture series.
They are not translated in my language and some of them are not available...
Seems like I have to read them in English if I can get them.
Thanks again.👍👍
Does the physical starter set come with a pdf code like the other books from edge do?
I didn’t see one.
Excellent review! The game looks (to me) like a a quickly assembled and poorly devised RPG based to capitalize on the popularity of the Arkham Horror card game - another RPG to sit on your “shelf of shame” - but I love the artwork
is there a reason to play since there is already Call of Cthulhu rpg from chaosium still supported and with Solo Modules?
For me, not yet. My Cthulhu game of choice is Tiny Cthulhu. I’m waiting for the full rules book to come later to pass final judgement.
What is a "Co op RPG?" How do you solo a roleplaying game, something that is inherently a social activity? I am so lost...
Boy howdy have you ever come to the right channel! You've got a whole new world to explore!
A guide to solo RPGs
th-cam.com/video/iYHt1pdScK0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=CuF2M_cL2J2us-g9
A guide to solo dungeon crawl RPGs
th-cam.com/video/eM2S4pWeczs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fnjOmCUXFVwKsT4f
A guide to solo horror RPGs
th-cam.com/video/7m_UlzkGLlA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XTx985XFhVy4xM_0
Mork Borg as a co-op RPG
th-cam.com/video/VwTMGmXxghU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kZvdEeUlVwISG81g
@@TheDungeonDive thank you so much! I have my watch list for the night. :)
Some neat mechanisms here, but it does seem too much like a boardgame to me, so... I don't know. I'd wait for the full version.
It's a bit weird that they chose to use descending attribute levels, so that higher numbers are actually worse than lower numbers.
It’s a target number system, so lower is better to hit. Same as most D6 dice pool systems used in the Arkham Files board games and others, it’s just that the stats don’t represent your pool of dice, but the target number itself.
@@TheDungeonDive Yeah, I know. I just find it a bit confusing to see high numbers on a character sheet, and then having to stop and think for a bit that 5s are better than 6s.
Love the art and maps BUT, it seems like they are trying to "Boardgamify" a Pen & Paper game. I heard many reviews overall say stick to the original Call of Cthulhu.
RPGs have been gamified for a long time before this, and for me that’s a great thing. I love D&D 4E. Its way better than 5e and is secretly one of the best rules for dungeon crawling around. And a total board game. I think there is room for all kinds of different takes on RPGs.
Tiny Cthulhu is another good option
I haven’t heard many reviews yet that say stick to Cthulhu and I’ve watched about 20 so far. They all question if it’s different enough to distinguish it from CoC or if it will catch on. Haven’t seen any dismiss it yet.
Appreciate the review Daniel, but I'm getting the impression of a cash grab low effort, incomplete board game trying to imitate an RPG, or a low effort RPG trying to use board game components as a gateway to attract people who have already bought their other Arkham Horror themed products. Not to mention milking the consumer for future expansions which should have been included in this base product. Not for me. But on another note, are you excited for Tsui Hark's upcoming Condor Heroes film? I'm hoping it's a return to form to his Swordsman 2 days. He really needs people around him to say, "Your older films were better. Get back to that style."
I don’t feel it’s a low effort cash grab at all! The system is solid, and for the price you get a good traditional game. It’s just not something I’d recommend from the solo perspective. A group of people could have a few amazing sessions with this for far cheaper than a single movie or dinner!
I haven’t liked a Tsui Hark film in a long time. Ever since he started making safe movies for a mainland Chinese audience. He’s lost his subversive edge. But I’m curious.
His last really good movie, IMO, was Time and Tide in 2000! That was 24 years ago! OMG!
@@TheDungeonDive I think this product is aimed at Arkham Horror completionists, and perhaps that is FF's strategy, which to be fair is pretty sensible, market to your consumer base. But if you aren't an AH fan already, this product looks subpar. For a group you just go with CoC 7e. For solo you go with The Solo Investigator's guide. Just my opinion of course.
@@TheDungeonDive It's a pretty ironic turn of affairs, from making Wuxia movies about the individual versus a corrupt system, to making war movies propagandizing said corrupt systems. Maybe he paid his dues and they are letting him cut loose. We can pray.
Yeah - there was no way the CCP was every going to let him be subversive with his films. I mean, in Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain the main antagonist was a giant red flag, a figurative embodiment of the CCP! Or just compare the 90s version of Dragongate Inn with that terrible newer 3D version.