Category: BOOKS,COMIX,GAMES
Tags: dice hate me, Elder Sign, fantasy flight games

This is another DICE HATE ME! review! You can check out original posting here

Like that poeticized beast whose time has come round again, so slouches another Arkham-based game toward your local retailer. Many gamers have asked just how often Fantasy Flight Games can dig into that cyclopean well of Mythos and mystery. Luckily for us Lovecraftian fiends, with Elder Signthe well has not yet been tapped. And yet, despite the gritty goodness that lurks within, from the moment I cracked the box I knew that the loss of sanity would be inevitable. For contained within this eldritch vessel lie dice – lots and lots of dice. Specialty dice, actually, with strange symbols etched into their glimmering surfaces; symbols that – for want of a more apt description – continued to taunt me at every turn and on every roll.

Yes, this time around, Arkham’s fate is sealed all in the roll of a die. Judging by the name of this blog you might think I would not consider that entirely a good thing, but on the contrary it is the brooding atmosphere, tight mechanics and tense rolls that breath fresh air into the realm of these dusty tomes.

Like its bigger brother, Arkham Horror, Elder Sign delves into the realm of H.P. Lovecraft, with horrific beasts that prowl the night, scheming cultists that seek to awaken an ancient evil, and star-born gods that seek to rule the world once again. That realm is no less vast in character in Elder Sign, even though the flavor is more condensed. For those veterans of Arkham Horror, there are lots of familiar faces, places, and things present here – but not so much that those less familiar with the streets of Arkham, Mass. might feel lost. We’ll come back to those faces, places and things in a bit, but for now, let’s turn our attention to the dice.

In Elder Sign, the players strive to protect the world from the coming of a Great Old One, like Cthulhu or Nyarlethotep. To do this, they must work together to collect a certain number of Elder signs – ancient symbols that have vast warding powers – by completing tasks during Adventures within the Museum and Other Worlds beyond. To complete these tasks, players roll a set of six base green dice with the various symbols of Investigation, Lore, Peril and Terror on their six faces, choosing carefully which dice to use for each individual task after each roll. If players are able to match the right dice in the right combinations, they succeed on their Adventure and collect rewards such as weapons, ancient tomes, spells, or the great Elder signs. If they fail, their characters will lose precious Sanity and Stamina, drawing them closer to being devoured by a denizen of the dark.

Players are also able – through the use of items, spells and special abilities – to add a yellow and/or red die to their dice pool for a particular Adventure. Both the yellow and red die help players to accomplish Adventures that require a higher level of Investigation. The powerful red die also has a symbol that can act as any symbol in the game, which definitely comes in handy when your luck is running thin.

Elder Sign is filled with tons of tactical choices during each game. Each character has a special ability that may be more useful during certain Adventures, so deciding where best to spread your personnel is extremely important, as is when to use Common Items (most likely to add the yellow die to the roll), Unique Items (again, for the red die), Spells (usually to store a pre-rolled die result to help offset the luck of the dice), and Allies (citizens and such that can help in various ways). There are even oft-maddening decisions to be made during the dice rolls; choose the wrong die to use at the wrong time for a task, and you are likely to find yourself falling one step closer to death, insanity, or both!

Each Adventure has its own set of perils and pitfalls, as well as its rewards and punishments; some players may decide to send their characters after Clue Tokens, which allow a re-roll of the dice, or go straight for the toughest Adventures which often net Elder signs – and, more often than not, Monsters that prowl the halls of the Museum, and Doom Tokens that, if enough are added, herald the arrival of the Great Old One – and probably humanity’s destruction.

The injection of theme through the Adventure cards and dice roll mechanics is often what makes Elder Sign a special gaming experience. For instance, when an investigator fails a task, they must discard a die before again attempting that task – however, they may also choose one die to store on their player token without changing the facing. This is known as Focusing, and represents the character truly concentrating on what it is they’re trying to do. Other player characters that are in the same location may also Assist, storing one die on their player token. To me, this is a very simple and elegant way to represent the investigative and cooperative spirit that is present throughout modern gaming tales of the Mythos.

Returning to the aforementioned faces, places and things, Elder Sign includes characters that are long-familiar to Arkham Horror fans, and re-implements their legendary abilities in a unique way that fits well with the mechanics. For instance, Kate Winthrop and her ever-handy Flux Stabilizer are back, warding off Monsters, P.I. Joe Diamond and his penchant for getting the most out of Clues with double die re-rolls, and the ever-resourceful Ashcan Pete, complete with his canine sidekick, Duke, which helps him to avoid the negative effects of failed Adventures. These characters can often be equipped with the Dread Curse of Azathoth (which allows you to store two dice!), the Tommy Gun (use both the yellow and red die), and, of course, the Necronomicon (gain the red die AND a Clue Token!). Characters may also find themselves in peril across multiple Other Worlds such as The Abyss and R’lyeh, and fighting old foes like Cultists, Dark Young, Cthonians, and even Great Cthulhu, himself.

Elder Sign may be all about the dice, but even with bad dice karma, it’s possible to pull out a win with a good mix of Adventure cards, some wise tactics, and intelligent use of complementary investigators. However, there will be times when the dice seem to be controlled by some ancient eldritch power from beyond time and space, and they will stop at nothing to rend your soul. In one game, I tried to complete the same high-Investigation Adventure (that only counted as a level 1 Trophy, mind you) over six times, and that was with photographer Darrell Simmons whose specialty IS investigation.

With its relatively-short duration, inexpensive price tag, and accoutrement-thin (by FFG’s standards) table presence, many have dubbed Elder Sign as “Arkham Horror Lite.” There is a kernel of truth in that nomenclature, but Elder Sign deserves to serve as a complement to Arkham Horror rather than a shorter, somewhat-easier substitute. The rich narrative that is often weaved throughout a game of Arkham Horror may not be as ever-present in Elder Sign, but the tightly-integrated theme and dice mechanics allow those players with a good gaming spirit and a healthy imagination to enjoy just as satisfying an experience – all without the sometimes sanity-sapping playing time.

This is another DICE HATE ME! review! You can check out original posting here

About the Author: CnB