Geekery: Arkham Horror Board Game

I mentioned a couple of months ago in this blog how I was a huge fan of the D&D spinoff RPG series, Pathfinder.  Well, before I had ever heard of Pathfinder, there was another game, actually a board game, that had totally captured my mind and heart.  Funnily enough, I first heard of this game, and had the chance to play it, while at an IRL (In Real Life) moot hosted in Vermont by a bunch of awesome friends we had made while the Hubster and I were both still playing World of Warcraft online back in our first years together. There was a game night held one night out among the stars; some were playing a WoW board game that had just come out, some were playing Settlers of Catan (The "Seafarers" version, if memory serves), and the Hubster and I were inveigled to play a game of Arkham Horror.

Arkham Horror, despite your likely first guess, has NOTHING to do with the Batman genre.  For those not in the know, Batman's city of Arkham took its name from a popular, dark series of fantasy/sci--fi/horror novels written by eminent 20th century horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft.  Lovecraft invented the town of Arkham, developed the concept of elder gods, and was the genius-creator of the monster/elder god Cthulhu. 

"Baby's First Cthulhu"?

The traditional bada$$ Cthulhu we all know and fear

This one makes me giggle...and I'm not even American.

In my opinion, the mythos of "Arkham" could be used as a descriptor for a dystopian universe, where the veil between our reality and that of other, incomprehensible worlds and its gods is at its thinnest and most permeable, non-Euclidean geometry rules the day, and the breaking of sanity is a common occurrence.

So yeah, pretty dark stuff.

In university, *cough cough* years ago, I had the opportunity to take an unusual English course based on the history of Gothic Horror writing; we read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is viewed as the seminal horror novel, as well as the famous works from Bram Stoker (Dracula), H.G. Wells (The Island of Dr. Moreau), Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House), and even the current reigning king of terror, Steven King, and his nom de plume, Peter Straub (Salem's Lot and Ghost Story, respectively). But, of all the novels assigned to the class, none caught my imagination nearly as much as Lovecraft's incredible tales.

Player character tokens with comprehensive back-stories

The game's structure takes place in the roaring 20's, in a (hopefully!!!) alternate universe where the Cthulhu mythos is both real and imminently poised to break through, take over and destroy Earth. In the game, you choose and play investigators who search the town of Arkham finding clues, evading or battling monsters, and traveling to the other worlds to do battle with Elder Gods and their minions, all in order to stop an ancient evil from awakening and destroying our world. It's a cooperative game, in that everyone plays their own characters, but they work together to fight one of several chosen Elder Gods and its creatures from overtaking the town. It's a very richly detailed, complex game.

This "basic" board is about 3 feet long

The expansion sets...so far...

A standard game setup

Granted, it *is* challenging to play; not because the rules are difficult to understand, but simply that there's so much detail it can become confusing to try and remember everything. This is one instance where I would condone, and even encourage rule-lawyering, simply because if one of the players has gone to the trouble of memorizing the entire rulebook, then in a cooperative game this can only help everyone!  

Having said that, it's not for those who have a short attention span, don't like to read or think much when playing a game, or play cooperatively (non-competitively) with other players.  If your last boardgame was Scrabble, this may not be right for you. However, if you love a challenge, have several uninterrupted hours to play a game with good friends (2-8 people can play at one time), and you want to really feel like you've accomplished something (haha), then I can't recommend this game strongly enough!  Many gaming stores sell this game in Canada now, where only a few years ago you had to order it from the US, and there are even some stores who host RPG game nights that offer Arkham sessions too (shout out to the awesome Hobby Kingdom in Burlington! You rock!)

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) has also released a couple of other
games based on H.P. Lovecraft's work; namely, a boardgame called Mansions of Madness, and the collectible card game, Call of Cthulhu.  We own Mansions, and it's pretty awesome too, but I prefer Arkham Horror when I can get enough people to commit to playing through a game with me!

*Update: FFG is hosting an open Arkham Horror tournament this fall for new and seasoned players; one in Minnesota, and the Canadian distributor, Lion Rampant, is hosting one here in Toronto too!  Have a look here for more information on going to the "con" if you're interested in trying this game out before you commit to buying it.  If so, see you there -- so excited!!

So many activities...so little time...

I realized recently that the reason I've developed so many hobbies and activities in the last couple of years, is because I have all this free time on my hands that used to be devoted to going to university classes at night and working full time during the day. 

After ten years of part-time post secondary education, I'd been jonesing for something to capture my interest and stimulate my imagination.

One of the best time wasting investing things I've picked up this year has been a return to tabletop role playing games; while I'd originally delved into this world for a short while at the ripe old age of 25 (yes, very late, I know...), the opportunity came around to try it again, with a D&D-offshoot game called Pathfinder.

While the three original players who were the most enthused about running this game are now long gone, my hubby, a mutual friend, and I have decided to keep it going anyway. We've brought in some new players, we're learning a lot about the game as we go along, and we're having a huge amount of fun playing campaigns!

I'm enjoying it so much, in fact, that I've decided to join the world Pathfinder Society, and am committing to playing a certain number of games a month at a local game store with other enthusiasts (remember, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!).

So yes, I am a "gamer geek", although not nearly as hardcore as some of my other friends. I just enjoy the imagination, creativity, and sheer lunacy that goes into these games, and I always seem to have a great time.  I'd recommend this to any teens or young adults who are looking for something that gets them out and meeting new people, who don't judge or look down on you because you're not wearing the right brand of shoes. In Pathfinder, nobody cares what you look like on the outside; they just want you to bring your funny bone to the table!

Welcome to my brain droppings!

*blah blah vanity blog, blah blah*

What is the purpose of this blog, you may be asking?  You may wonder why you're even bothering to read further than this line here, as I've already failed to capture your attention....so let me explain.

After co-hosting a mildly successful baking blog for a couple of years, I felt it was time to start anew with my own blog, dealing with not only my baking exploits but my other interests as well.  And, since I have been accused of having the memory of a goldfish and the stick-to-itiveness of Hammy the Squirrel from the animated movie Over the Hedge, I tend to have a LOT of interests!  In my own defense, I do tend to go back to my "old" interests in a cyclical manner, depending on what's going on in my own life, the seasons, and whether anyone has asked me to make them something. This blog will be a good place to post pictures and tutorials on how I made stuff, as well as occasionally write about stuff going on in the world or my own little world.

So, a list of the hobbies and interests I've been pursuing over the last several years:

• Baking: My most successful and long-run "hobby"; it's more of a passion, really, and I *do* have professional training in this and my own micro cake-decorating business. I still count it as a "hobby", however, until I start making enough money to support myself financially. Which will probably be never.
• Knitting: Lots of scarves and a few blankets at this point.
• Crocheting: an abject failure so far; but I shall persevere!
• Quilting: I bought a sewing machine years ago for this purpose, and I have tons of fabric since I can't seem to stay away from fabric stores...but I haven't made a single quilt square to date. I'm getting there, though! One day...
• Fabric Arts: I got into this recently because I decided to make both guest boutonnieres and a bridal bouquet for myself out of non-perishables, such as brooches, bead flowers, and fabric flowers. 10 glue sticks later and a lot of burn marks on my fingers, and I can happily say SUCCESS! Pics and tutes of the bouquet after the wedding.
• Computer games/surfing the 'net: While technically a hobby, it's not exactly within the same sphere as listed above, but I list it anyway for full disclosure.
• Board and tabletop RPG's (role playing games): Yes, I'm "one of those".

I also have other interests that are less "hobby" and more "activity" related. But, since this is not a dating site and I don't want to bore you any further, this is what I'm sticking with.

Well, that wasn't an exactly efficient "sum-up", but I hope to bang all the rust off my writing style soon, and get to some more interesting posts!

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to feedback!