Arkham Horror is an adventure board game designed by Richard Launius, originally published in 1987 by Chaosium and most recently published in 2005 and revised in 2007 by Fantasy Flight Games. In both editions, players take on the role of investigators in H. P. Lovecraft's Massachusetts town of Arkham. Gates to other planes open throughout the town. If too many gates open, a powerful alien being will enter, likely destroying the town and possibly threatening the world. The investigators must avoid or fight alien creatures that enter Arkham through the gates, enter the gates themselves, survive the alien places beyond, return to Arkham, and close the gates.

The game board is made up of locations in Lovecraft's fictional city of Arkham during 1926. Street, building and outdoor locations are featured, as well as otherworldly locations that investigators can venture into. Players each have an investigator, represented by a character card, several attributes, and cards representing items, spells, and other things. As game play progresses, gates to these other

worlds open and are represented by tokens placed on the board. Monsters from the other worlds enter through the gates and wander the city. The investigators travel through the city, avoiding or fighting the monsters, visiting city locations to acquire tools, and ultimately entering the gates. After traveling through the other world and returning, the investigator can try to close the gate. While exploring city locations or other worlds, the investigators face random challenges and benefits. As gates open, a "Doom Track" advances; if it reaches the end, a powerful horrific creature known as the Ancient One breaks through into Arkham. In the 1987 edition of the game, this ends the game in failure for the players. In the 2005 edition, this (in most cases) begins an endgame in which the players have a small chance to defeat the creature and win; otherwise they lose.

Expansions

An expansion entitled Curse of the Dark Pharaoh was released in June, 2006, with a revised version released in 2011. This expansion added many new cards to the game, including items and encounters. The theme was that a travelling museum exhibit from Egypt has arrived in Arkham, bringing with it accursed artifacts and strange happenings. Heavy emphasis is placed on Nyarlathotep, one of Lovecraft's iconic Outer Gods.

The second expansion, entitled Dunwich Horror, was released during Gen Con 2006. Based on Lovecraft's short story The Dunwich Horror, it includes a new board that is placed against the original Arkham Horror board. This new board features locations in the town of Dunwich. Investigators may visit Dunwich by travelling through the Train Station in Arkham or using certain vehicle items. In addition, the game includes new Encounter, Mythos and item cards as well as new mechanics, such as the stalking monster movement, and new Great Old Ones. When a character loses their last point of Sanity, they may take a Madness card which imposes restrictions on the character and restores their maximum Sanity, instead of being sent to Arkham Asylum. A similar Injury deck is provided for investigators who reach zero Stamina. Plus, a new monster, the Dunwich Horror itself, is provided as a special monster whose powers vary from combat to combat.

Other expansions are: The King In Yellow, Kingsport Horror, Black Goat of the Woods, Innsmouth Horror, The Lurker at the Threshold and Miskatonic Horror.

Arkham Horror

You can buy the Arkham Horror board game, and all its expansions, by clicking on the corresponding image links below.

Film Adaptations of the Arkham Horror Stories (click on relevant image link to find out more).