The Whims of Fate

“It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be left alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.” 
   –H.P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness"

In order to prevent Ancient Ones from tearing this world apart, your investigators will have to carefully plan and prepare to take on eldritch forces far beyond your wildest imagination. However, the best laid plans can easily be cast apart by the fickle hand of fate, and you'll have to adapt if you have any hope of saving the world.

While investigators take the initiative in the action phase and the monster phase sees enemies moving about the city, you must also react to new situations as destiny and chance encounters intervene in your plans.

Join us today as we preview the encounters you'll face and the dread power of the mythos in Arkham Horror Third Edition, the new edition of the classic cooperative game of cosmic horror!

Strange Encounters

We’ve already shown how the encounter phase is essential in gaining clues. But even if your space is devoid of an important lead, you'll still have an encounter during the encounter phase, so long as you aren’t engaged with an enemy.

Every space on the board features symbols that represent the types of encounters you're likely to find there. For example, the General Store may allow you to purchase new items for use in your investigation.

The encounters of Arkham Horror Third Edition vary dramatically from location to location—every neighborhood has its own deck of encounters which you'll draw from during the encounter phase. While you never know what you might find, every location has symbols representing the theme of its encounters. Milling about the General Store will likely give you the opportunity to buy a new item, while hanging around the Arkham Advertiser may let you trade some of your strange stories and experiences for cold-hard cash. 

Of course, gaining a benefit is dependent on the decisions and skills of your investigators. Encounters will often require skill tests, and failure can mean a harsh penalty.

Still, if you have the time to spare, you can prepare for a skill test by taking a focus action on your turn. To focus, you'll choose one of your skills and take a matching token; as long as you have that token, that skill’s value is increased by one, and the token can be discarded to reroll a die during a test! Naturally, this can be invaluable in helping you succeed at your encounters and gather the tools you need to fight back against the darkness.  

Fate's Gamble

A round of Arkham Horror Third Edition is not over, however, until fate has had its chance to play the board in the mythos phase, which sees the game shift and change as the forces of evil spread across Arkham.

The cornerstone of the phase is the mythos cup. In each scenario, you'll find a different assortment of mythos tokens that must be assembled in the cup at the start of the game. Then, during each mythos phase, all players will take turns drawing two tokens from the mythos cup and resolving their effects. Some tokens may provide benefits, such as putting new clues on the board, but others will see an Ancient One's plans come to fruition, as new monsters and doom are spread in Arkham. Once a token is pulled, it is not returned to the mythos cup until the cup is empty, so you'll see a full range of tokens in nearly every game.

There are seven tokens that can appear in your mythos cup:

Spread Doom: Spread doom by discarding the bottom card of the event deck faceup and placing one doom token in the location marked with a doom icon.
 

Spawn Monster: Spawn one monster by drawing it from the bottom of the monster deck.

 

Headline: Draw one headline card. These cards chronicle mysterious events around Arkham and will provide a small effect.
 

Spawn Clue: Spawn one clue in the neighborhood shown in the top card of the event deck. Then, shuffle the event card with the top two cards of the neighborhood deck and place them on top.
 

Gate Burst: Take the top card of the event deck and place one doom token in each space of the corresponding neighborhood.
 

Reckoning: Resolve all effects featuring the symbol found on this token, known as reckoning effects.

 

Blank: When you draw this token, nothing happens. You have been afforded a most brief respite from the ever-growing dangers of the mythos.
 

You'll notice that the spread doom and gate burst tokens both increase doom in the city. While this can introduce negative codex cards and lead your investigators down the path to disaster, it also has a secondary effect. Some scenarios feature strange and terrifying occurrences like gateways to other dimensions. If any one space has three doom, or if there's five total doom in a neighborhood, you must place an anomaly token in the center of that neighborhood tile.

An anomaly token represents a neighborhood overrun with doom, a threatening area for any investigator. 

Each scenario has different rules for how anomalies can affect the board, but you can be sure the Ancient Ones will use it to their advantage. You’ll have to ward doom from the area to close these gates and repel their chaos. If you can remove all doom from a neighborhood, the anomaly stabilizes and is removed!

But lingering in these areas is dangerous. When you’re in a neighborhood with an anomaly, rather than a normal encounter, you have an anomaly encounter, bringing you face to face with otherworldly powers threatening to rip apart your sanity. The more doom in your space, the more severe your encounter becomes. 

Each round, the mythos slowly spreads about the city, and as a new turn begins, Arkham looks a little different… a little more threatening, a little more dangerous. Can your investigators overcome these new obstacles to save your city and the world?

An Endless Loop

The city of Arkham is always changing. As your investigators race to gather clues, doom spreads and eldritch abominations threaten to consume all. Do you have what it takes to survive?

Brave the whims of fate with Arkham Horror Third Edition (AHB01), available now for pre-order from your local retailer or our website. As of 12 p.m. CST on 10/23, the Arkham Horror Third Edition Deluxe Rulebook is officially sold out!