How I Keep Arkham Interesting | ARKHAM HORROR: THE CARD GAME

[@amansparekh]

Funnily enough, for me that game which I instantly fell in love with was spirit island. And now I’m buying into Arkham to try find another such game

[@mike_howes]

Best of luck with Arkham. Spirit island is my favourite game but Arkham is number 2 so hopefully you enjoy it as much as I have.

[@dylanhyatt5705]

One idea for variety and challenge, your initial custom player deck is 50% random, 50% selected.

[@Zybran93]

If you use arkham db and the arkham cards app, you could also use the draft button and just draft something together :D

[@BoxOfFear]

Congratulations on 200 list videos. Here’s to 200 more. Every run is a challenge run for me, because the game is challenging.

[@SteveLEKORodrigue]

Tip 5-6 applies to any board game. I put aside AH a couple of weeks ago because I received Earthborne Rangers. It helps so much to bounce between games to prevent fatigue. Also, just have more than 1 go-to hobby is great: books, video games, comic books, LEGO, TV/movies, etc. This definitely prevents fatigue.

[@Aflacist]

The GOAT, congrats on 200 and playing every card!

[@obsidian-dice]

Nothing burns me out on Arkham as much as playing alone. As long as I'm playing eith friends, I can keep jamming campaigns forever. Every time I want to play so much that I start a solo campaign, I get exhausted by decision fatigue and stop feeling like the game matters.

[@chrisismymiddlename5922]

I'm one of those viewers taking a break and consuming content while not actively playing. That's because of several reasons (life's demands, girlfriend, other hobbies). I really enjoy theorizing about the game though, even if it's just every now and then. I love viewing your content or going on Discord/Reddit whenever I feel the Arkham itch but don't have the time or enthusiasm to play full games or even campaigns myself.

[@thebeanz7838]

Now that you've played every Investigator and every Card. I'd actually love to see a revamped new players guide with all your new wisdom

[@Fragrances_n_Fur]

Definitely agree with number six as there are so many great games that, I'm sure, we all haven't played yet. For me, it's always Mansions of Madness, Cthulhu: Death May Die, The Others: 7 Deadly Sins, and Zombicide: Black Plague keep pulling me back in. Congratulations on the 200 videos!

[@DerBK2]

I can't believe that Justin is quitting Arkham! Heh. Kidding aside though, this is a video that resonated very much with me and touches on a lot of things that i believe a lot of people need to hear. In many ways it also mirrors thoughts that i had to sort out over the last year or so and i came to many of the same solutions that you have here. I also have been playing Spirit Island and Frosthaven a lot just to break up the rut and you know what? I am chomping at the bit for Hemlock Vale's campaign as a result. Absolutely agree on the homebrew stuff as well, i actually had a lot of that professionally printed recently and am currently going through Call of the Plaguebearer, and those scenarios are oozing originality. Hell, i even went and did some homebrewing of my own. In conclusion, congrats on the 200 and here's to the next 200.

[@styfen]

Taking a break is a huge one, I play other games instead of Kingdom Death when I'm not working. It's a superb recommendation. I've also found looking at other things gives me fresh ideas and perspectives to take back to work. Love this list.

[@jamesharland3727]

I wish I played Arkham enough to need more motivation to play. I play a regular game every two weeks with some friends, and I want MOAR! But still good advice, I'll bear it in mind if ever I do burn out!

[@richieinjapan00]

Interesting contrast to the recent Drawn to the Flame episode about waning enthusiasm for Arkham.

[@fivifivia1146]

Sadly, it is evident and was likely to happen when FFG switched to this new model. Paired with their lack of communication, terrible buisiness decisions etc, it was kinda unevitable

[@blankiecat9302]

@@fivifivia1146what terrible business decisions exactly

[@halforange1]

My opinion is that the Return To boxes solved a problem that only existed for the previous release model: players getting a new Mythos pack and playing it 4 or 5 times in a few weeks causing them to master and memorize the scenario. If you play a scenario once every few months (instead of weeks), there’s a better chance that you’ll enjoy the replayability of the non-Return To scenarios.

[@fivifivia1146]

@@blankiecat9302 canceled return to boxes, didn't do what they promised (when rTCU was announced for example they said they would fix issues with it ASAP which they never did), said we would get couple of tabboo lists per year which we didn't, had insane logistical issues from Innsmouth onwards (they said it was because of Covid but many companies adapted in the first 3-6 months and it took FFG something like 3 years to adapt which is horrible), switched to new model but stopped having any discussions about the game and went on radio silence for a year etc. etc.

[@patricksullivan6988]

Might not be fun enough, but if you're looking for another deckbuilding gimmick: You could generate a randomized legal deck for your character and then try to rehabilitate it through your upgrades over the course of a campaign. Could be a fun challenge - or could just be insufferable. Another idea - easier to one-off: You could each bring an investigator and deck legal to that investigator and then either swap investigators or decks at the beginning of the scenario, so that they no longer match. For extra chaos, you could trigger this during a scenario - either when an autofail token is drawn, when act/agenda advances, or some other metric.

[@KoDaMoJo]

I've had a surprising proportion of playable decks come from the Ultimatum of Chaos. I got to see a lot of cards I don't closely look at in relation to other cards-but because we're at the point where the card pool is so huge, I do recommend giving a free adaptable to all chaos decks to trade out cards so you can build on those new card insights.

[@davidko9289]

These are good recommendations for how to avoid burnout in general, I think.

[@Krispe]

Congrats on the amazing milestone! Here’s to many more, love you guys!

[@KoDaMoJo]

I got into the game midway through the Carcosa release cycle. For the few few years I had the habit of replaying with the same investigator until I refined the deck...at which point the new campaign would come out and I'd have to play my favorite decks through that. So my gaming resolution is to play every investigator

[@gabriel0santiago]

thanks for sharing those ideas

[@pb-bx1ll]

I appreciate all the help and videos.. Thank you. As a new player, I have learned a lot.

[@Brynney]

Congratulations on the milestone there. And thank you for the video, really gotta try the draft playthrough one day.

[@davidautinify]

digging the uzumaki shirt!

[@Casey093]

AHLCG has been my top 1 boardgame for the last 2 years, and I do not see this changing. Let's hope we get another few big campaigns!

[@Krvsrnko]

One advice I'd add (which was lihhtly touched upon in teh video): find new players to play with! Esepcially if they are new to Arkham, I really enjoy when I see a new person experience the game (or a campaign) for the first time!

[@dutyfreeadventures5924]

I think there's a big thing you're missing from this list... and it's: Have you tried playing on Hard/Expert? It fundamentally changes how the cardpool functions. The survivor 'fail by' or rogue "succeed by" feels a lot different when you can draw a -1 from the chaos bag as easily as you can draw a -8. Will you focus on testless everything? If so, what will you do with not having mandatory Unexpected Courage/Guts in your deck? How do less skill cards affect your resource economy? If you still do tests, Bless/Curse hit complete differently, Jim Culver's skulls being 0s is a godsend. Faustian Bargain isn't as good as it once seemed.

[@PlayingBoardGames]

I didn't miss it, it's not part of my perspective for how I keep the game interesting. I think it's a good approach for someone else, but I didn't include it here because it's not my in perspective of how I keep the game interesting for myself.

[@dutyfreeadventures5924]

@@PlayingBoardGames Do you find it as a possibility moving forward? After playing every card in a year (I didn't even think it was possible) I feel like that's the next step in deconstructing the game's mechanics the same way a challenge run might.

[@PlayingBoardGames]

I already have my plan for 2024 and while I still don't have any plans on going to hard/expert, there may be an expert run or two in the year.

[@DrDifra]

I don't get to play enough per week/month to need any of this :( Sadge

[@ryananthony110]

Does anyone know if there are any paper play and pass custom campaigns on BGG or anything like that? Another board game community does this where someone prints them out and the community shares them and pays shipping to forward to each other.

[@scotts1912]

Taking breaks from the game is important. At least once a year I spend a few months not playing or thinking about the game.

[@MikeB-nn4nh]

Since dad mode was enabled., it’s been hard to play when the kid is around., and the 🦠 killed boardgame nights.. I still blame Scythe.. I did introduce the SO to Arkham., and made a Roland deck for them.. that was so stressful.. don’t think they got it… far more interested in pulling tokens from the bag than actually passing tests…