-
While I love the 4 player game of AH. I have played a few 6-7 player games that just had too much downtime (never even attempted a 8 payer game). I'm wondering how many of you use simultaneous movment in a big game and how well it works for you. I'm thinking about using it next time, but don't want it to become a jumbled mess...
-
brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
-
DH 0001 wrote: While I love the 4 player game of AH. I have played a few 6-7 player games that just had too much downtime (never even attempted a 8 payer game). I'm wondering how many of you use simultaneous movment in a big game and how well it works for you. I'm thinking about using it next time, but don't want it to become a jumbled mess...
As long as you remember that turn order matters and that you may have to pause to resolve in turn order when it counts. This is particularly important if one person needs streets cleared of monsters before moving. This is when turn order is most important.
Also keep to the phases. Don't let Arkham and Other World encounters get mixed.
We have done 8-player and it worked ok. We were in for the long haul though.
-
David Jones
United States
Oregon
-
I actually did a teaching game with six once. We didn't do simultaneous movement, but we did do simultaneous encounter. I was a bit anxious about doing such a large game with so many new people, but much to my own surprise, it was actually a lot of fun. I suspect that there might have a been a couple of rules violations in the process, but everybody had a good time and thats what really matters. I think the only caveat I would have with doing this again is to not use Mandy (and I don't think we did anyway) as her ability becomes much more powerful when you can see all the die rolls ahead of time.
As Brian noted, turn order will matter if you have combat in the streets, but as long as nobody else needs to move through that spot, we treated combat as an encounter. There will also be certain times when you will have to slow down the clock (i.e. turn order can become significant if you are trading equipment or have Return to the Old Ways active) but this will more often be the exception than the rule.
We didn't have any problems doing Arkham and Other World simultaneously. If two investigators are in the same location it could matter, but off the top of my head I can't think of any Other World cards that would mess up someone's Arkham encounter. Similarly, other than a gate opening, I can't think of an Arkham encounter that could mess up another players Other World encounter. Even if it did, its something I would probably overlook in the interest of having a fun/quicker game. If you have a rule lawyer or similarly anal retentive type in your group, this could be a problem. But if everybody sticks to the spirit of the game and realizes that you may have one or two encounters where the rules will become "loose" then I say play the game in whatever way makes you and your group happy.
-
Gary Labrecque
United States
Endwell
New York
-
We generally do simultaneous movements even with a few as 4 players just to keep the game moving. Of course, our usual group is made up of people who are veterans who have played for years. If any monsters are in the way, we follow strict turn order until the movement has been resolved.
To add to player involvement, we usually read each other their encounters both in Arkham and in otherworlds. My wife and I started this years ago with the old AH and carried it through to this version. For us, it increases the enjoyment of the game and keeps everyone involved with what other investigators are doing. We do this even with with games of 6 or more. Yes, it does slow things down a bit, but Ah is not really a game to be played if you have time restrictions.
-
James
United States
Midlothian
Virginia
-
We do simultaneous order both because those are the rules of the game and it seems to produce less downtime. You definitely have to get in a rhythm, though. I wouldn't consider playing with more than five players unless all were die-hard Arkham fans.The game length and the logistics just are too much for players not fully committed.
-
Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
-
* Reduce the "er... ah.. ummm... durrr..." time by leading a discussion of what each player does during Upkeep.
* Assign a moderator (you) to read the Mythos card, move the pawns, fan the cards, read the cards (you know which variant I'm talking about, right?), etc.
* Tell everyone that, if they have nothing to do, read their *bleeping* cards! "If you don't want to die (lose the game, wake up Cthluhu, whatever), read the *bleeping* cards!"
I routinely play 6+ player games, and we finish in four hours. Except when there are Gate Bursts. *Bleeping* gate bursts! 
-
Darren Thornton
England
Exeter
-
1st ever game was an 8 player, lots of downtime laughing at each others misfortunes. Quickly ruled that if there aint no monster encounters simultaneous movement wasn't an issue. We also paired up to do encounters with each other, inc. other world as they didn't seem to be affected by Arkham encounters at all.
-
it's pronounced "em cee crispy"
United Kingdom
Basingstoke
Hampshire
-
Sam and Max wrote: * Reduce the "er... ah.. ummm... durrr..." time by leading a discussion of what each player does during Upkeep. * Assign a moderator (you) to read the Mythos card, move the pawns, fan the cards, read the cards (you know which variant I'm talking about, right?), etc. * Tell everyone that, if they have nothing to do, read their *bleeping* cards! "If you don't want to die (lose the game, wake up Cthluhu, whatever), read the *bleeping* cards!" I routinely play 6+ player games, and we finish in four hours. Except when there are Gate Bursts. *Bleeping* gate bursts!
Particularly important for us was the tactics discussion during Upkeep - it kept everyone feeling involved.
-
|
|
