Arkham Horror: The Card Game Tutorial

Arkham Horror the card game is a cooperative living card game in which one to four investigators work to unravel arcane mysteries while overcoming the dangers of the mythos and the personal demons that haunt their past each player assumes the role of a single investigator as they investigate a series of connected scenarios that create a narrative campaign during each scenario the investigators explore menacing locations look for clues that enable them to advance the story an attempt to defeat the treacherous forces arrayed against them as the players make progress in the campaign each investigator will gain experience and insight which allows them to develop in a variety of ways but they where as one's exposure to the arcane world increases so too does the risk of insanity steal your nerves and arm yourself all manner of strange and eerie investigations awaits you in Arkham Horror the card game in the following example the players choose to play the gathering the first scenario in the night of the zealot campaign while playing a campaign the investigators advance from one scenario to the next in sequential order the decisions made during each scenario may carry over to influence future scenarios during the campaign using the campaign guide the players follow the campaign setup steps beginning by choosing their investigators in this example one player chooses the players roland banks while the other player chooses the players Wendy Adams each player then assembles their investigator deck consisting of their investigator allies equipment talents skills and weaknesses during this example each investigator will use the starter decks outlined in the learn to play guide the players then choose a difficulty level which determines the chaos tokens that will be used throughout the campaign chaos tokens will influence all investigator skill tests for the duration of the campaign each scenario card in Arkham Horror the card game belongs to an encounter set and can be identified by its icon using the camping guide players gather each encounter set for the gathering scenario this collection of cards creates the encounter deck the act deck and the agenda deck the gathering acts cards and agenda cards are placed side by side along with the matching location cards and the gathering scenario reference card the act deck represents the investigators progress and advances from one at card to the next as the investigators gather clues and work towards their goal the agenda deck represents the objectives and progress of the malicious forces pitted against the investigators doomed tokens may advance the agenda deck through the course of a scenario revealing the unfolding story and presenting diet choices in this example the campaign guide also instructs the players to set aside the ghoul priest and the Lita Chandler cards and shuffle the remaining encounter cards to create the encounter deck the study location is then put into the play area the other locations are set aside and each investigator begins to play in the study when an investigator enters a location it is revealed and a number of clues equal to that locations clue value are placed upon it in this example the study's clue value is 2 per player each investigator then draws a starting hand of 5 cards and gathers 5 resource tokens from the token Bank the investigators are now ready to begin the scenario by reading the text on the agenda and ACT cards paying close attention to the details each round of Arkham Horror the card game consists of four phases the myth offs phase the investigation phase the enemy phase and the upkeep phase during the first round of the game players skip the mythos phase and advance directly to the investigation phase during the investigation phase each investigator takes a turn as they attempt to gather clues and survive the challenges they might face once each investigator has taken a turn the investigation phase ends when he was chosen to be the lead investigator and decides to take her turn first during a term each investigator may perform three actions with her first action Wendy plays a stray cat an asset card with a resource cost of one when played asset cards are placed in the investigators play area and remain in play throughout the game with her second action Wendy investigates the study hoping to find a way out each investigator possesses four skills willpower intellect combat and agility in order to investigate a location an investigator must make an intellect test against that locations round value the shroud value of the study is - Wendy has an intellect value of 3 which is higher than the shroud value however during all skill tests the investigator must reveal a Kaos token from the Kaos bag these tokens modify or influence the results of skill tests Wendy reveals a negative 1 token from the Kaos bag giving her a modified intellect value of 2 which equals a studies shroud value she succeeds at investigating the study and discovers one clue when an investigator discovers a clue from a location they move it to their investigator card when the investigators gather a number of clues shown on the current act card they may spend them to advance the act deck for her third action when he decides to investigate the study once more Wendy's intellect value is still three this time however she reveals a negative two token from the chaos bag giving her a modified intellect value of one when they has failed the skill test thinking fast Wendy decides to play one resource and play the lucky event card from her hand event cards represent tactical action manoeuvres spells tricks and other instantaneous effects at an investigators disposal playing an event card usually counts as one of in investigators three actions but lucky has the fast keyword which means it does not cost an action to play lucky reads play when you would fail a skill test get plus two to your skill value for that test Wendy therefore adds to intellect for this test for a total of three wendy has surpassed the studies round value and discovers another clue Wendy now has no actions remaining so she flips her investigator mini card over to indicate that her turn is over it is now Rowland's term for his first action rowland also decides to investigate the study rowland decides to commit a skill card from his hand in order to boost his chances of succeeding whenever an investigator performs a skill test before revealing a chaos' token that investigator may commit one or more cards from their hand that bear an icon matching the test they are performing for each matching icon committed to the test the investigator gets a +1 bonus to their skill value Roland commits the deduction skill card from his hand which has one intellect icon giving him a +1 bonus for this test his Internet value is increased from 3 to 4 Roland M pours a cow's token from the chaos bag revealing a negative 1 chaos token bringing his Internet total down to 3 a success skill cards often have additional effects that are active when the card is committed to a skill test in this case deduction reads if this skill test is successful while investigating a location discover one additional clue at that location Roland therefore discovers two clues from the study the investigators now possess a total of four clues in order to advance the story the at card trap requires that each investigator spend two Clues rowlandm when they choose to immediately spend their clue tokens to advance the ACT debt this allows them to escape the study which reveals new story elements and new locations to explore advancing the at deck does not cost the investigators in action the back of the axe card informs the investigators to place the hallway cellar attic and parlor location cards into play it also instructs them to discard any enemies that were in the study place the investigators in the hallway and remove the study from the game because the investigators are in the hallway this location is revealed the hallway has a clue value of zero so no clue tokens are placed on the location since there are no clues to discover in the hallway Roland uses his second action to move when an investigator moves they may move in any location connected to their current location the connections between locations are indicated by the icons at the bottom of each card if two locations share matching icons they are connected in this case the hallway is connected to the attic cellar and Carla Rolon decides to move to the Attic because Roland is moving to the Attic location for the first time it is revealed and four include tokens to clues / investigator are placed on it the attic also has text that reads forced after you enter the attic take one horror Rossum places one horror token onto his investigator card during the game investigators may be dealt damage and/or horror damage depletes an investigators health while horror depletes an investigators sanity if an investigator ever has damage or horror equal to or above the printed value on their investigator card they are defeated with his final action Rolen decides to draw a card from his investigator deck roland draws a 45 automatic a weapon he may find useful in the rounds to come with no actions remaining roland flips his investigator mini card over to indicate that his turn is complete now that each investigator has completed their turn the investigation phase ends and the game proceeds to the enemy phase during the enemy phase all enemies that are in play will pursue and attack the investigators since there are no enemies in play at this time the game proceeds to the upkeep phase during the upkeep phase the investigators find their bearings and prepare for the next round to begin each investigator turns their investigator mini card face-up and RIT is any exhausted cards each investigator then draws one card from their deck and gains one resource from the token back roland draws an evidence event card when the unfortunately draws her stubborn detective weakness card weakness cards have detrimental effects when they are drawn stubborn detective is an enemy who spawns engage with Wendy when it is drawn and reads while stubborn detective is at your location treat your investigator as if his or her printed textbook were blank except for traits while engaged with Wendy the stubborn detective will hinder Wendy's ability to perform actions and will attack her during the next enemy phase finally each player checks his or her hand size and discards down to eight cards if necessary the game round is now over and a new game round begins round two begins with the mythos phase first one doom token is placed on the current agenda if the amount of doom in play equals or exceeds the value of the agenda it will advance revealing some new information and bringing the forces of darkness closer to victory next each investigator draws a top card of the encounter deck the encounter deck represents the perils monsters madnesses and other obstacles that the investigators may have to deal with throughout their story roland draws a ravenous ghoul enemy when an enemy card is drawn that enemy spawns engaged with the investigator who drew it unless stated otherwise the ravenous ghoul reads prey lowest remaining health since roland has the most remaining help at that location the ravenous ghoul is placed in front of Roland's investigator card Wendy draws a grasping hands treachery card treachery cards have one-time abilities that resolve immediately when the card is drawn grasping hands reads revelation tests agility 3 for each point you fail by take one damage Wendy must perform an agility test in order to avoid taking damage she decides to commit a card from her hand with an agility icon in order to gain +1 agility for this test because allusive is not a skill card text has no effect while committed to this skill test wendy draws from the chaos bag revealing a negative for chaos token Wendy fails the test by two points and takes two damage whenever an investigator takes damage or horror that investigator may choose to assign it to the assets they control wendy assigns one damage to her stray cat and one damage to herself because the stray cat has only one hell it is destroyed and placed in Wendy's discard pile now that both investigators have resolved their respective encounters the myth off phase ends and the game proceeds to a new investigation phase Wendy as the lead investigator decides to take her turn first but is currently engaged with the stubborn detective enemy for her first action Wendy decides to evade the stubborn detective in order to evade an enemy an investigator must succeed at an agility test against that enemies evade value Wendy's agility value is 4 while the stubborn detective has an evade value of 2 Wendy reveals a chaos token with a special symbol on it which indicates a scenario-based effect when this type of token is drawn the investigators refer to the scenario reference card in order to determine the tokens affect the effect for this symbol reads negative 1 if you fail take 1 horror Wendy succeeds at the evasion attempt and does not take any horror the stubborn detective is exhausted and the engagement is broken the stubborn detective is moved away from Wendy's play area and placed next to her current location the hallway now that Wendy is no longer engaged with the stubborn detective she is free to perform which ever action she chooses without being attacked for her second action when he decides to move to the attic the attic reads forced after you enter the attic take 1 horror Wendy places one horror token on her investigator card for her final action when he decides to game one resource she then flips her investigator mini card over to show that she has completed all of her actions for this term it is now Roland's turn with its first action roland decides to fight the ravenous ghoul when attacking an enemy an investigator must succeed at a combat test against that Enemy's fight value Roland's combat value is 4 while the ravenous ghoul has a fight value of 3 Roland draws a chaos token from the chaos bag revealing an automatic failure symbol for his second action Roland decides to play his 45 automatic paying for resources from his resource pool because Roland is already engaged with the ravenous ghoul and is performing an action other than fight evade parley or resign the enemy interrupts Roland's action and performs an attack of opportunity against him when an enemy attacks an investigator there are no tests that need to be performed enemies simply deal damage and horror to that investigator in the amounts listed on the enemy card in this case 1 damage and 1 horror would the attack of opportunity completed Roland places his 45 automatic into play next to his investigator card whenever an asset with the uses keyword enters play a number of resource tokens equal to its uses value are placed on it the 45 automatic reads uses for ammo one of these tokens will be spent each time the cards ability is used with his final action roland uses the action ability on the 45 automatic which reads action spend 1 ammo fight you get +1 combat for this attack this attack deals +1 damage Roland spends 1 mo from his 45 automatic and performs an attack against the ravenous cool Roland's combat value is 5 before from his ability and +1 from the 45 automatic Roland then reveals a +1 Kay stokin bringing his combat value up to six the attack is successful and two damage is dealt to the ravenous ghoul one from Rowland's attack and one from the 45 automatics bonus however the ravenous ghoul has a health value of three so it is still alive Roland then flips his investigator mini card over to show that he has completed all of his actions for this turn the game now progresses to the enemy phase the stubborn detective is currently exhausted so it does nothing during the phase the ravenous ghoul is currently ready and engaged with Roland so it performs an attack against him dealing one damage and one horror the ravenous ghoul is then exhausted with no more enemies that need to activate gameplay continues to the upkeep phase during the upkeep phase each investigators mini card is turned to face up and all exhausted cards are readied to prepare for the coming round each investigator then draws one card gains one resource and checks their hand size play then proceeds to the mythos phase of the next round the investigators are currently on the second act of their story but the agenda will soon advance at the end of this scenario regardless of their outcome Roland and Wendy will advance to the next scenario in the night of the zealot campaign their successes failures and story decisions are recorded in their campaign log which may provide them with rewards or Consequences in future scenarios as investigators delve deeper into the mythos they gain insight into the hidden truths of the world which manifests in the form of experience points between scenarios an investigator may spend experience to purchase new cards for their investigator deck this allows an investigator to experience the game in new ways not simply participating in the game but actively shaping how it is played however an investigators exposure to monsters and arcane forces may also lead to dire consequences as investigators advance through scenarios their risk of insanity and injury increases taking the form of additional witnesses or trauma if an investigator suffers physical trauma equal to their health or mental trauma equal to their sanity that investigator is killed or driven insane and cannot be used for the remainder of the campaign Arkham Horror the car games campaigns are not only responsive to your successes and failures they are responsive to the degrees by which you succeed or fail at various tasks failure in one scenario may continue to haunt you into the next in Arkham Horror the card game deck-building starts with your choice of investigator each investigator has their own parameters for which cards can be included in their deck including a specific deck size class options and card level requirements for those classes each investigator also comes with a number of unique investigators specific cards which must also be included each of the games investigators belongs to one of five classes and each class is associated with a series of player cards that granted a distinct flavor and identity every player card costs experience equal to its level which is indicated by the number of pips in the top left-hand corner of the card when creating a new investigator deck investigators can only access level 0 cards and they must include the exact number of cards indicated on the back of the investigator card players may not include more than two copies of any given Claire card and each standard player card in a player's investigation deck must be chosen from the deck building options listed on the back of the investigator card finally each investigator must include their unique weakness card and a random weakness card these cards represent character flaws tressa's madnesses injuries or other elements that are part of an investigators backstory or that are required over the course of the campaign deck building in Arkham Horror the card game is an experience that deepens throughout the course of your campaign as you experience the horrors of your adventures your investigators deck will grow and change to reflect your journey [Music] something evil stirs in Arkham and only you can stop it blur the traditional lines between role-playing and car game experience and pursue layered mysteries within a world of Lovecraftian horror no matter what compels you no matter what won't you you'll find both your strengths and weaknesses as you and your fellow investigators unravel the world's most terrifying mysteries in Arkham Horror the card game [Music]

Channel: Fantasy Flight Games

Views: 511,719

Rating: 4.9386501 out of 5

Keywords: FantasyFlightGames, Fantasy Flight Games, Board Game, Board Games, Arkham Horror, Arkham Horror The Card Game, FFG, LCG, Living Card Game, Card Game

Id: zzliu_-xNNQ

Length: 24min 41sec (1481 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 15 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/LeonardQuirm]

Hurrah, more Kevan Brighting!

(He's the narrator from The Stanley Parable, as well as the voice in a lot of FFG's videos).

[u/SevenInHand]

Despite almost having finished the entirety of Dunwich Legacy (just finished Blood on the Altar yesterday), this is going to help my playgroup quite well, I think. :D

[u/unitled]

Couple of minor rules points, but all in all a great vid. I'll send this to any first timers who want to watch before their first game (or after it just to sharpen up what happened!).