Author Topic: In his house at R'lyeh dead C'thulhu waits dreaming... Let's Play Arkham Horror! (Read 5661 times)

AndrewRogue · « **on:** May 29, 2009, 05:26:42 AM »

So, I've finally lost my mind and arrived at the conclusion that, really. How hard could it actually be to run a game of Arkham Horror online? With some clever work, a bit of writing and some players at hand, it should be quite possible to do it (very slowly) through a forum or much swifter over IRC. Or some combination of the two. That can be decided later.

For those of you who don't know what Arkham Horror is...

Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game based around H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos. The basic concept is that the players take on the role of investigators who are looking in to strange things happening in Arkham. The source? One of the myriad Great Old Ones is stirring in their slumber, preparing to awake and bring horrors unimaginable to the world. Monsters, horrors indescribable and madness all swell, driving the city to the state in which the Great Old One can awaken. Thus it is up the the investigators to explore Arkham and stop the plot of the Great Old Ones... or fight them to their very last breath.

What makes the game particularly unique is that is is very much a case of players vs the game... a game which hate you, your loved ones, your pets and all the things that you like. I find that half the fun of the game is in seeing exactly how trainwrecky things can end up, although struggling to win against adversity is a fair enough approach as well.

The first game will just be a simple, core Arkham Horror game to see how well it works. If things go well, the future could include expansions or Arkham League scenarios or something.

For those who are interested but have never played before (and those who have played, but need to refresh themselves) a copy of the rules can be found here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Arkham_Horror/AH_Rules_internat.pdf

All told, I'd probably like to try and IRC it up since having a job makes playing over the board a lot less appealing since I could only update in the evening on on weekends. So I'd probably like players with free time in the evenings (PST) or weekends best, but hey. If you want to try and sign up, we can see what happens!

Anyhow, I need somewhere between 1 and 8 intrepid investigators who might be willing to take part in this experiment! So, bring forth the sign-ups!

Our Intrepid Investigators!

1. Alex (Kate Winthrop - The Scientist)
2. Sopko (Darrell Simmons - The Photographer)
3. Djinn (Sister Mary - The Nun)
4. Shale (Vincent Lee - The Doctor)
5. Excal (Jenny Barnes - The Dilettante)
6. QR (Carolyn Fern - The Psychologist)
7. Nitori (Montery Jack - The Archaeologist)
8. Strago (Dexter Drake - The Magician)

The Colors Out of Space
9. Yakumo
10. Carth

Lady Door · « **Reply #1 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:35:36 AM »

It's not like my living room floor is going to be taken up by a giant board game or anything.

... oh wait. That's exactly what's going to happen. Of course, it happens whether I join or not, so...

I'm in!

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #2 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:49:19 AM »

I'm in

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #3 on:** May 29, 2009, 06:41:10 AM »

I haven't played a forum game yet, but I imagine that the creative writing aspect would be easier over the forum rather than IRC.

I'm a huge Lovecraft fan (who's surprised?), so I'd really like to get in on this.

But living in Japan means my schedule hardly syncs up with anyone here... I could probably do this over a weekend. I like Lovecraft enough that playing an online P&P RPG over a weekend doesn't feel too nerdy because I like the subject matter enough.

Note that even if the timing isn't a problem, my IRC connection is... slow. On a good day.

Depending on how many others sign up, you can count me as... 'potential filler', but if no one else can play with my weird timezone schedule / laggy IRC connection, then I'll content myself with the logs ;)

Shale · « **Reply #4 on:** May 29, 2009, 06:46:50 AM »

This isn't P&P RPG, it's a board game. A board game that follows many RPG conventions, but there's no roleplaying involved, just movement, exploration and combat. And death. Rather a lot of that.

Anyway, I would love to play, but as usual my availability sucks. I can do weekends, but most evenings are no-gos. If that ends up fitting the schedule, count me in. If not, count me jealous.

Excal · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2009, 06:48:10 AM »

This is one of those games that have always interested me, but my ability to actually play has been sadly deficient. As such, I'll do what I can to be accessable for an IRC game, and will be an eagre participant in any forum game.

Carthrat · « **Reply #6 on:** May 29, 2009, 02:45:29 PM »

I would like to play in this game...

..but since I see it's IRC I probably have no time for more of such things. :V

QuietRain · « **Reply #7 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:39:10 PM »

I'd be in if it's forum based. My time on weekends and evenings are sucked into gaming of late (*shifty eyes to Gate who keeps me up till all hours on a work night gaming*), so IRC wouldn't be possible for me. I'd love to see a log of it if you guys do get an IRC game running, though.

VySaika · « **Reply #8 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:45:43 PM »

Yes, like you ever go to bed before midnight when left to your own devices. <_<

QuietRain · « **Reply #9 on:** May 29, 2009, 08:19:09 PM »

*sets her halo up on her devil horns* I have no idea what you're talking about. All your fault, you corrupting influence, you.

Now, hush, and let the people chatter in thread about the game. ;)

Yakumo · « **Reply #10 on:** May 29, 2009, 08:39:57 PM »

I'd love to join in, but I'm leaving on Wednesday to go home for my sister's wedding for about a week so I wouldn't be available to play, sadly. Unless for some reason this takes that long to start. We'll see when I get back I guess.

Nitori · « **Reply #11 on:** May 29, 2009, 09:42:35 PM »

This is probably a bad idea but I am totally in on this~

Excal · « **Reply #12 on:** May 29, 2009, 09:44:41 PM »

Wait... the DL is about the promotion of good ideas? Man, I've had this place backwards for years.

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #13 on:** May 30, 2009, 08:43:08 AM »

Will post some overall thoughts on stuff tomorrow!

SnowFire · « **Reply #14 on:** May 30, 2009, 07:54:05 PM »

I'm interested, but worried about the prospects of doing this well over the Internet. Unfortunately, I'm not super-familiar with all the item cards and the like, meaning that there'll be a lot of typing out what we just drew to keep track of things, alas. We'll also need some kind of unified board.

Tentatively, I'd recommend something like OpenRPG ( http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=orpg ), where we can upload a big Arkham Horror map, then doodle on it to show where everyone is. As keeping track of that easily is going to be the most important thing, I think. After that, most programs like that have die-rolling features as well (OpenRPG does at least), though we'll probably still be typing out cool items we pick up and their effects.

Dhyerwolf · « **Reply #15 on:** May 30, 2009, 10:48:05 PM »

I'd love to play, but weeknights are kind of horrid for me.

Ranmilia · « **Reply #16 on:** May 31, 2009, 03:15:41 AM »

Ah, man, out for the weekend and I miss this. In if there's still a slot available.

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #17 on:** May 31, 2009, 06:29:01 AM »

All right. With a lot of voices chiming in, I wanted to get some thoughts in.

While a handful of people can comfortably play in an IRC game due to time and such, I wanted to talk about the possibility of doing the game over the boards in brief. I'll be able to update nightly during the week and whenever on the weekends, which should, provided we have attentive players, allow the game to move at a decent clip.

There would be two main approaches. Either follow the rules to the letter (and have everyone take their turns in order) or allow you all act in whatever order you get the chance to post in. While the latter would be more advantageous (in the sense that it helps the players in a fairly significant way in-game) to the players, it would also help things move more smoothly, allowing me to set a deadline for each turn (say 48 hours, after which either your turn is skipped or the mod does something with your character or such). This would mean the game is constantly moving throughout the week and not require us to all gather together at some point, but it would require that players be available during the whole of the week.

Generally speaking, this would work pretty effectively. The game really would only require moderator input during the Arkham Encounters phase and the Mythos phase. Combat, movement and the resolution of the Arkham Encounters phase can be done wholly on the player side of things. So, as long as players are around and can dedicate some time each day to the game, we could make out pretty well during the week.

So I want to hear some thoughts on that, if people get a minute. ^_^

Shale · « **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2009, 07:20:08 AM »

Sounds like fun to me. You'd want to have somebody to verify that dice rolls were done fairly, but other than that it is all pretty self-directed.

Yakumo · « **Reply #19 on:** May 31, 2009, 08:55:27 AM »

There is a website I know of that can keep track of dice rolls a player has made and keeps records, though I don't remember it exactly offhand, I'll try and find it again.

EDIT: Here we go.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/ is the website I was talking about. Just for a reference, I put in a roll I made. When you click the roll link below, you'll notice a "link to character" link below the roll results. If you click that, it shows you a history of the rolls that were made using that particular name, so you'll know if the results were reported accurately.

4d6.hits(5)=1, 4d6.hits(5)=0

Lady Door · « **Reply #20 on:** June 01, 2009, 12:13:18 AM »

* Lady Door gives a thumbs up.

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #21 on:** June 01, 2009, 06:34:08 AM »

Sign ups updated. As it stands, presuming we start before Yakko is bag, Nitori gets precedence.

Colors out of Space will be given priority in a second game.

I need all current Intrepid Investigators confirm that they are okay with a forum game and that they can post at least once every 48 hours (which is to say, take their turn and whatever needs to be done on it). I also need statements about whether you guys think you can do an actual turn order game or we need to use simul-turns!

Mod Note: Ash is willing to become co-mod and step down so that one of the Colors out of Space can play. So if you guys can match my conditions, you can have a space too!

Nitori · « **Reply #22 on:** June 01, 2009, 07:06:57 AM »

I can totally do that

Excal · « **Reply #23 on:** June 01, 2009, 07:32:18 AM »

Yeah, I can post at least that often. Not sure how well turn based would work, but I'm game for whatever those with more knowledge of the game decide.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #24 on:** June 01, 2009, 09:04:23 AM »

No, I can't make a post every 48 hours. My schedule is WAY too full and cluttered to do that.

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Author Topic: In his house at R'lyeh dead C'thulhu waits dreaming... Let's Play Arkham Horror! (Read 5661 times)