Azathoth vs the World!: an Eldrich Horror AAR

Started by airboy, November 18, 2017, 06:56:59 PM

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Nefaro

Quote from: airboy on November 19, 2017, 05:55:27 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on November 19, 2017, 05:46:16 PM
Those rolls.   :o

You're far better at rolling in this than I.  This game brutalizes my characters, due to my consistently bad rolling, every time.  :hide:

Lets talk probability!  In Eldritch Horror you get a success on a roll of 5 or 6.  That means each die you roll gives you a 1:3 chance of success without any modifiers.  If you roll 3 die you should get an average of 1 success.

If you get to reroll one die, your chances of success now balloon to 1:3 plus 1:3 since these are independent events.  Getting to reroll something is much better than getting an entire extra die because you only reroll if you get a loss.

If you look at my overall rolls, they were pretty close to average.  The difference was that I kept getting one success when I rolled 4, 5 or 6 dies (with rerolls) but got lucky with successes when one or two die were rolled.

If the die are fair (they came with the game) then everything will even out close to the mean probability over time. 

But...... 
in this game if you roll a fail the results can be catastrophic.  You can go insane, lose an entire turn, or even die from physical damage.  If you pass, most of the time nothing bad happens.  After all, this is Lovecraft based.


Oh, yes.  Don't I know it.

So many times in EH, I'm rolling 3,4, even 5 dice, and come up with zero successes. 

Usually by the third turn all my characters have some negative effect on them, sometimes multiples. 

I get some long shitty rolling streaks, and they end up having broken legs, paranoia, and worse.  :crazy2:

airboy

Wait for my turn 3 post tomorrow.  I've not had that many bad rolls but Azathoth keeps wrecking havoc.   >:D

chemkid

don't worry - azathoth awakes, swallows you whole with dice, planet and everything and the memories of your poor dice rolls will be like... 'tears in the rain'.  :-\

cheers! ...and good job on the AAR.  :)
chem!

airboy

Turn 3

Action Phase
- Charlie Kane moved with the train ticket from San Francisco to Arkham and rested.  He successfully overcame the leg injury condition while resting.  Health up to 3.
- Diana - rested to recoup health and moved to an ocean hex East of South Africa where there is a clue.
- Lily - rested and moved to Istanbul where a clue awaits.
- Jim - Used a train ticket to move to Scandinavia where a clue awaits.

Encounter Phase
- Charlie was tested by the Silver Twilight Lodge in Arkham and passed an easy knowledge test (+1) and obtained the Shriveling spell.  Given Diana's experience with this spell, if Charlie tries to cast it things will probably go wrong.
- Diana - Failed a research roll on the Southern Indian Ocean which advanced the Doom clock by one.  It is now at 14. 
- Lily - On the research to obtain the clue she has 2 die and 1 reroll.  The reroll was successful.  She observed a trephination of a human brain and spotted an insect like creature in the brain.  This gives her 2 clues, one of which she spends to solve the mystery (now 3 of 4 clues to close).
- Jim - He has to pass a strength test to resist the strange energy emanating from a stone associated with the disappearance of several geologists.  Since this is not a combat roll, he cannot apply his .45 automatic and has 2 die.  He fails.  He then rerolls one die by burning his clue and passes.  He gains the clue which is spent to solve the Occult Research Mystery!

With The Occult Research mystery solved the next mystery becomes active.  This is The True Name of Azathoth.  Two random eldritch signs were placed on the map.  One is in the Amazon and the second in India.  I have to obtain Eldritch Signs (have to look up how to do that) to solve this mystery.

Mythos Turn (aka Azathoth rampage)
- Omen is advanced.
- Resolve Reckoning Effects - And that Rumor in Moscow comes into play.  All +4 Assets in the deck, discards and reserve stack are removed from the game.  Three awesome level 4 assets are removed.  Aargh!
- Gate is spawned in Shanghai by a cultist.
- And every character with a spell takes a blow to the gut - "Sitting down for a simple meal in a restaurant, it strikes you how alien the people around you seem.  After everything you've seen and all the arcane secrets you have learned. , can you truly think of yourself as one of them?  The maître d asks you to please stop carving into the table with your knife."  reads the Treacherous Magic Card.
Each investigator may discard any number of spells.  Then they lose 1 sanity for every Spell they retain.  Each investigator that lost sanity from this effect gains a Madness condition.

Lovely.

Lily my kung fu queen has no spells, so she is unhurt.
Charlie Kane has a spell he is afraid to cast, so he forgets it and does not go mad.
But my two spell casters cannot drop their spells without becoming combat ineffective.
Diana the reformed cultist gains the Paranoia characteristic and loses sanity.
Jim gains Amnesia and loses sanity.

The Sanity losses for Jim and Diana are critical because neither is very sane to begin with (they are spell casters after all).  So both Jim and Diana are crippled until they can recover sanity and/or lose their Paranoia or Amnesia.


airboy

Recap at the end of Turn 3.

The picture will help you visualize what is happening.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/141130441@N06/shares/n82WCP

There are two gates open: Australia and Shanghai.  Each gate is guarded by a cultist.  Leaving the gates open will spawn monsters and eventually cause the doom countdown to accelerate.

There is a rumor mill in Moscow.  If I don't shut that down then all of the assets will vanish.  The level 4 assets are already banished from the game.

The doom clock is at 14 (it started at 15).

I win the game by solving three mysteries.  One is solved.  The current mystery requires obtaining elder signs.  One is in the Amazon and the other is in India.

My two spell casters have been struck by Madness.  One has Paranoia and the other Amnesia.  Both are barely hanging on there with 3 sanity.

Charlie Kane has the best chance to shut down the Moscow Rumor, but he is (at best) two moves away.  He also needs clues and has none.

Diana is probably best able to shut the gates since she can render cultists ineffective.  She is also one move away from Australia and two moves away from Shanghai.  But she is suffering from Paranoia and has marginal sanity.

Lily is the only character who has a clue.  2 clues are needed to solve the rumor mill in Moscow.

Jim has madness in Scandinavia. 

There is a lot of badness out there and the pressure is mounting.

Plan:
1] Diana will not attempt to get the Southern Indian Ocean clue.  She will rest, hopefully become sane, and move to the Australian gate and attempt to close it.
2] Charlie Kane will move to London and attempt to acquire assets.  London spawns clues and he needs at least two to shut down the London rumor.
3] Lily my Kung Fu Queen will move to Rome to hand off her clue and gain a rail pass so she can get to the India elder sign.
4] Jim will move to Rome to rest and obtain a clue from Lily.  He will be in a position to move to the Amazon for the 2nd elder sign if he can regain his sanity.

airboy

Nefero:

My rolls have been pretty good so far.  But two of my characters have madness conditions and have very marginal sanity.  There are two gates open.  That horrible rumor mill in Moscow could prevent me from strengthening my characters if I don't shut it down.  I don't have the tools necessary (clues or elder signs) to shut down the rumor mill or start solving the 2nd mystery.

Every time Azathoth acts the whammies slam the entire world.

Seems to mirror what you are talking about around turn 3-4.   :-\  :crazy2:  >:D

airboy

Turn 4

Action Phase
- Diana is designated lead investigator.  She rests, gains sanity and moves to Sydney.  On the rest she cured her Paranoia.
- Lily Chen - Moved to Rome, tried to acquire assets again.  Failed on all 3 die.
- Jim - Moved to Rome and rested.  Gained Sanity & health but is still suffering from Amnesia.
- Charlie Kane - Moved to London.  Attempted to acquire assets and failed (4die & 1 reroll).
Out of this, 10 rolls and 1 success.

Encounter Phase
- Diana attempts to get rid of the cultist and fails taking one health damage.  Cultist is discarded to the monster cup.
   She then tries to close the Sydney Gate.  She is surrounded by ghouls after passing through the gate.  She manages to pass an influence test.  The ghouls take
   her to the Tower of Koth in the city of the Gugs.  A big Gug approaches her and she failed a will test.  She lost a point of sanity and the gate remains open.
- Lily - She found an abandoned witch lair in Rome.  She took a gamble and drank a potion which she used to increase her observation skill.  She passed the bad
   thing check.
- Jim - While in Rome he intervenes with fascist blackshirts who were accosting a priest.  She passed a 3die influence test and gained a blessed condition from the
   priest.  This means 4s, 5s, and 6s are all now successes!
- Charlie - He got the opportunity to examine the John Dee translation of the Necronomicon and took it.  This delays him (no action phase for him next turn) but he
   gets the two clues needed to solve the Moscow rumor.

Mythos Phase
- Omen Advances.
- Monsters spawn if they have gates matching the Omen symbol.  Fortunately, the two gates open do not match.
- A clue spawned in Greenland and the Amazon.  The Amazon has a mythos symbol and a clue so somebody needs to get there.
- There was a health loss to each character if the gates corresponded to the omen counter.  They don't.  As a result, the omen counter advances again.

So nothing bad happened during Azathoths phase.  But next turn if the Omen counter advances (it will) there are two gates on that spot.  Not good.

airboy

Turn 5

Action Phase
- Jim Culver - went to London and bought a ship ticket.
- Charlie Kane - ended his delay
- Diana - rested, gain assets - success picked up a Vatican Missionary.
- Lily Chen - went to London.  Tried to get assets and failed again.  She stinks at shopping.

Encounter Phase
- Jim Culver - went into debt condition to obtain 2 clues.
- Charlie Kane - Decided to attempt to steal a clue from a Scotland Yard investigator.  He fails a 2d strength test and is arrested and delayed again.
- Diana - Gate Encounter.  Passed the first phase.  Had 4d to pass the second test and got one success, the Sydney gate is closed.
- Lily Chen - passed an observation test and found a clue in a London tabloid.

Mythos Phase
- Omen advanced to a space with an open gate marker.  Doom clock got worse (13).  Still, if Diana had not closed the gate it would be 12 instead.
- Ghoul Spawned at Shanghai gate.  It now has a ghoul and a cultist.
- 2 clues spawned: Alaska and West Africa
- Monster effect with red comet.  Only the cultist on the map had this, but it had no effect.

Again, a pretty easy mythos phase.
Lily, Jim and Charlie each have 2 clues so (hopefully) they can end the rumor and pick up the two elder signs to solve the 2nd mystery.

airboy

Turn 6

Action Phase
- Charlie - overcomes being delayed for the 2nd time.
- Diana - buys a boat ticket and goes to Shanghai
- Lily - goes to Rome and buys a train ticket.
- Jim - Travels to Arkham and uses boat ticket to get to Buenos Aries

Encounter Phase
- Charlie - goes to an asylum in London and is asked about the Yellow Sign.  He passes (4d) and gets 2 clues.
- Diana - Choses to encounter the cultist at the gate first.  She passes a will test (2d) and the cultist is eliminated.  She then encounters the ghoul.  She passes her horror test (3d) and uses the Wither spell on the Ghoul which is a 5d lore test.  Passes with 3 successes.  This gives her a 6d strength test with one reroll and she gets 3 successes on the 7 rolls.  Ghoul is killed by the spell and Diana takes no damage.  The gate guards are destroyed so she passes through the gate.  The gate takes her to the Great Hall of Celaeno.  The book Diana is searching for is not on the proper shelf and she passes a will test (2d & 1 reroll) and locates the tome.  She follows the instructions on the tome and passes the lore test (4d with 1 success) and closes the gate!
- Lily - 2d influence test at the Vatican to see a forbidden book.  She passes and improves her Will score.
- Jim - has a 3d influence test in Buenos Aries (where a 4, 5, or 6) would work and fails all of them.

Mythos Phase
- Omen is advanced
- Monster Surge.  Since no gate is open a new gate is spawned in Istanbul with a Mi-Go guardian.  This is very bad because Mi-Go have a huge strength advantage.
- Clues spawned in San Francisco and the Antarctic Sea.
- 1 Monster is spawned where there are cultists, but Diana has killed the only live cultist above ground so there is no monster spawn.

Next turn (I think) I automatically solve the next mystery.  It takes 2 clues to obtain an elder sign.  Lily and Jim both have 2 clues and can reach the elder sign next turn.  As advertised, London gave me a ton of clues.

airboy

Turn 7

Action Phase
- Lily - shopped and failed again.  She cannot shop to save her life.  Moved to India.
- Jim - Rested and successfully recovered his memories on a 4 (being blessed makes this work).  Moved to the Amazon.
- Charlie Kane - Moved to Rome and bought a train ticket.
- Diana - bought a train ticket and rested.

Encounter Phase
- Lily - traded 2 clues for an Elder Sign to learn part of Azathoths true name.
- Jim - traded 2 clues for an Elder Sign to learn the 2nd part of Azathoths true name.  Mystery solved.  One mystery left to thwart Azathoth.
- Charlie - In Rome visited a Magnificent Cathedral and gained 1 will.  He noticed something very disturbing on a mural which he had to pass with will -1, but he did.
- Diana - In Shanghai a Crime Lord offered to show her his occult library, but Diana lacked a clue to trade for a benefit.

New Mystery - Omen of Devastation
"The Nemesis Moon appears in the night sky, visible to all and heralding an imminent doom."
When an investigator closes a Gate that corresponds to the current Omen, he may spend 1 clue to place 1 Eldritch token on this card.  At the end of the Mythos Phase, if there are Eldritch tokens on this card equal to half the investigators (2), solve the Mystery.

This mystery will not be easy to solve.  There must be a gate open corresponding to the current omen.  Next, an investigator must both close the gate while having a clue.  If they do this, they get an Eldritch Sign which can be used to solve the mystery.  So I have to have an investigator (or more) at a gate when the omen clock is right who closes the gate while carrying a clue.  This is a lot more conditions than the two earlier mysteries.

Mythos Phase
- Omen advanced.  Gate corresponded with the Omen so Doom advances to 12.
- Conditions Strike.  Jim is carrying a debt which has a condition.  Jim got the loan from shady characters and they sent hit men to collect on the debt.  Jim is really good at fighting with his handgun, so this is a straight 5die strength combat test.  Jim passed so the debt condition is gone.
- Gate opened in London, which is also the easiest place to get clues - rats.



airboy

#25
Before Turn 8

I've got good things and bad things.  You can see this visually by clicking the link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/141130441@N06/shares/j3cA5Q

On the bright side, my characters are all in good shape.  Charlie has 2 clues, Jim has two clues and is also on a space with a clue.

On the bad side, Charlie needs to spend his two clues to shut down that rumor mill in Moscow before all of the good assets vanish.  Lily and Diana have no clues and are not close to any.  An London is the great clue spawning machine but it has a gate and a witch there. 

Lily and Diana really need to get a clue.  Charlie will need clues after he shuts down the rumor mill.  Jim has a clue but is far away.  I also have a timing issue now with closing gates and have to take mythos card hits every single turn until a gate matches with the doom clock. 

Lily is the only person who could potentially get to London with a clue.  Lily has to go to Liberia and win the clue and then move to London.  Hard to make that work.
Jim cannot get to London in two turns.  Diana is clueless and needs one.


airboy

Turn 8

Action Phase
- Jim - moved to Central America.  Shopped (3d) for 1 success.  Lowest item was 2 successes so he put a 3 value item into the deck.
- Charlie - Used train ticket to go to Moscow and shopped.  Got 1 success (5d) and kept a bullwhip.
- Diana - Got boat ticket, shopped with 1 success and bought a derringer
- Lily - Got a boat ticket and moved to Liberia.

Encounter Phase
- Jim - Investigated a grisly crime scene and passed a 3d test.  A clue was spawned in the Heart of Africa
- Charlie - Burns 2 clues and resolves the Moscow rumor.
- Diana - failed 2d test to persuade an Occult scholar to help her.
- Lily - Discovered that the element Radium is connected to Azathoth and got the clue.

Mythos Phase
- Clues spawned in Hawaii and London
- The omen counter did not advance, so Istanbul lowers the doom clock to 11.  The doom clock not advancing was a big surprise.
- The really bad thing is complex.  If an investigator on space 19 (Vladivostok) defeats a monster they can spend a clue to place the monster on the new rumor card.  If the total toughness of the defeated monsters (with a clue) = 4, the rumor is solved.  But if an event occurs, a monster is spawned in Vladivostok.  If there are ever 4+ monsters on space 19, then the Doom clock goes to 0 and Azathoth returns.

So it ends up, I have yet another way to lose the game if enough monsters spawn on space 19.

airboy

Turn 9

Action Phase
- Lily - Moved to Rome and bought a boat ticket.
- Jim - Bought a boat ticket and moved one space to Arkham.
- Charlie - Attempted to acquire assets, 3 successes gave a rifle to Lily.  Bought a train ticket
- Diana - Moved to Tokyo and bought a boat ticket.

Encounter Phase
- Lily - Passed a d4 will test and improved her will to 5.
- Jim - Option to delay to obtain two spells in Arkham and passed on the opportunity.
- Charlie - Entered a high stakes poker game, passed a d4 test and gained a random ally - a cat burglar.
- Diana - Encountered one non-epic monster from the board & chose the London Witch.
   Passed the Will test with the witch (1d & 1 reroll)
   I envision this as Diana has a world-wide reputation as a spell slinger who has taken out monsters and closed gates.  The Witch of London takes a boat to Tokyo and challenges Diana to a magical duel.  Diana accepts and shoots the Witch with her hidden derringer and kills her. [in game terms: Chose a straight strength test.  She has d3 - 1 for the witch which gives her 2die.  But the derringer improves her roll.  She got one damage.
the witch causes one damage so Diana is unharmed and kills the witch.]

Mythos Phase
- Omen is advanced
- Conditions strike.  Jim is able to stay blessed.  But the Mi-Go in Instanbul flies to London, kills the individual with the clue and now guards the London gate (Istanbul gate is now ungarded).  Space 19 Rumor generates a monster which is a cultist.
- Gate is spawned in Arknam and a Ghoul guards the gate.
- The rest of the card is a positive.  The Silver Twilight Society offers aid.  Each investigator can gain 1 clue, 1 asset or 1 spell.  Charlie and Diana each take clues.  Lily takes the Dynamite active asset.  Jim takes the clairvoyance spell.

JasonPratt

Was keeping watch on this one!  :-\

Hopefully after the Christmas season it'll return.
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airboy

Quote from: JasonPratt on December 13, 2017, 08:40:30 AM
Was keeping watch on this one!  :-\

Hopefully after the Christmas season it'll return.

I'll try to finish it up before I have to go visit relatives.