Arkham Horror Relationship Missions

I posted last week that I felt the Arkham Horror relationship cards were poor because it just gave players extra abilities without the players having to work together to get the abilities. So here the idea, deal out the relationship cards as the rules say each player will share a relationship card with a player to their left and right. Now rather than taking place immediately players must complete the small missions listed.

I tried to make these missions easy enough that anybody could perform them. I like adding the encounters at the bank, train station etc. because most players don't visit them because there is no reason to.

Fellow Travelers - Each player has to have an encounter at the Train Station. This does not have to be on the same turn.

Friendly Rivals - Both players must have a monster trophy or both players must have a gate trophy.

Practitioners of the Art - Place a clue token on the Practitions of the Art after either player does a spell check. After 3 clue tokens have been placed on the card the effect takes place.

Skullcrackers - Place a clue token on the skullcracker after either player does a combat or fight check. After 3 clue tokens have been placed on the Skullcracker the effect takes place.

Business Associates - Both players must have an encounter at the bank. This does not have to be on the same turn.

Socially Connected - Both players must have an encounter at Ma's Boarding house. This does not have to be on the same turn.

Student of the Arcane - Both players must have an encounter at the magic shop. This does not have to be on the same turn.

World Ain't Big enough for Us - Both players must be in an outer world at the same time.

Survivors - Place a clue token on the Survivor after either player does a evade check. After 2 clue tokens have been placed on the Survivor card effect takes place.

The Best of Friends - If both players are in the same location during Upkeep the card takes effect.

Courageous Inspiration - Place a clue token on the Courageous Inspiration after either player does a horror check. After 2 clue tokens have been placed on the Horror card effect takes place.

Collectors - Both players must have an encounter at either the Curiosity or General Store. This can be on separate turns.

Fantastic! I will definitely use this idea next time and I may create new Relationship cards in SE to reflect that (or have you done that already?). I'm glad you kept the side-by-side connection between the players as I think that does work well for keeping things straight.

Are you signed up on the FFG forums? You should really post this to the Fan Creations forum for AH, and also on TOS. Others may want to use it who don't happen to come to F:AT. I can post it there on your behalf if you prefer.

I like the concept of the relationship missions. However, the relationship cards already seem like one thing too many to keep track of in this game. My regulars tend to only remember their relationship cards when they are desperate for one more bonus in a tight situation. It's sort of like how everybody is always forgetting the temporary skill bonuses and penalties granted by the current environment card.

Nice variant. But I actually like how they work in the game normally - not everything has to be a 'fuck you' to the players.

The best thing about relationship cards is that there is now a fixed penalty for being devoured (which can often be beneficial.)

Grudunza wrote:

Fantastic! I will definitely use this idea next time and I may create new Relationship cards in SE to reflect that (or have you done that already?). I'm glad you kept the side-by-side connection between the players as I think that does work well for keeping things straight.

Are you signed up on the FFG forums? You should really post this to the Fan Creations forum for AH, and also on TOS. Others may want to use it who don't happen to come to F:AT. I can post it there on your behalf if you prefer.

I wanted to float this among F:AT friends first and sort out some of the ideas first before we post at BGG or FFG. I decided to follow your idea about keeping the side-by-side to keep things simple.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Nice variant. But I actually like how they work in the game normally - not everything has to be a 'fuck you' to the players.

Yeah, I hear you. As it is, the backstory is implied and irrelevent to what's happening... somehow over the course of time, these two people forged some kind of relationship and both of you now get some benefit from that. And that's fine. And I also completely agree with Shellhead that as it is, they are yet another thing to forget about amongst your pile of items and spells and whatnot.

I guess what I like about KingPut's idea is it is a benefit to you but also requires a little bit of effort. It's not just a card you draw and go "whoopee, now I have a cool weapon". As they were included in the box, the Relationships seemed like a great idea but in retrospect I think they could have had just a little more to them (for which KingPut's variant is perfect) or could have included both positive and negative aspects (ya know, like real relationships), which is what some of the Relationship cards I've created include.

The best thing about relationship cards is that there is now a fixed penalty for being devoured (which can often be beneficial.)

No doubt. I think it's long overdue that devourings had some kind of negative effect. But keep in mind that in this case, it's not even necessarily a negative... Yes, you lose the Relationship bonus. But that was a bonus to begin with. So now you're just back to where you normally would have been.

Of course, some of the GOOs and heralds have negative effects when people are devoured (sometimes very nasty ones), so there's that. But still, it seems like there should be something standard, like maybe if you're devoured your next character starts with... no clues, no money, one less item, one less Sanity/Stamina... something like that to give a little penalty to the devouring.

ubarose wrote:

Shellhead wrote:

I like the concept of the relationship missions. However, the relationship cards already seem like one thing too many to keep track of in this game. My regulars tend to only remember their relationship cards when they are desperate for one more bonus in a tight situation. It's sort of like how everybody is always forgetting the temporary skill bonuses and penalties granted by the current environment card.

One problem is that only one player has the card in front of them. I think I need a second copy of the cards, maybe with a different color background, so that both partners have a copy of it. Maybe slip both copies into a sleeve, and when you get yours, you give the duplicate to your partner. Also they would be better with some kind of picture or icon on them to visually remind you of what they do.

Great suggestions. Yeah, we don't even know where to put the Relationship cards right now. Sort of in between the players, unless they are sitting across the table, in which case it just sits in front of one of them. And a picture depicting the relationship or even an icon would help.

We played this variant today and I liked it. Three out of the four relationships were kind ignored, but since Skullcrackers was seen as something worth having, the players worked together to get it.

We made a few changes, just because we wanted to emphasize having encounters in locations we don't often visit. Here's what we changed:

Skullcrackers: Each player has to have an encounter at the River Docks. This does not have to be on the same turn. (We figure the dock workers could toughen you up)

The Best of Friends: Each player has to have an encounter at Velma's Diner. This does not have to be on the same turn. (Two friends share a coffee together at the diner, before facing the fear that lies outside)

Courageous Inspiration: Each player has to have an encounter at the church. This does not have to be on the same turn. (King James Bible does kind of the same thing from the Lurker expansion)


We'll keep toying around with it, but I like it overall.

Partizan wrote:

We played this variant today and I liked it. Three out of the four relationships were kind ignored, but since Skullcrackers was seen as something worth having, the players worked together to get it.

We made a few changes, just because we wanted to emphasize having encounters in locations we don't often visit. Here's what we changed:

Skullcrackers: Each player has to have an encounter at the River Docks. This does not have to be on the same turn. (We figure the dock workers could toughen you up)

The Best of Friends: Each player has to have an encounter at Velma's Diner. This does not have to be on the same turn. (Two friends share a coffee together at the diner, before facing the fear that lies outside)

Courageous Inspiration: Each player has to have an encounter at the church. This does not have to be on the same turn. (King James Bible does kind of the same thing from the Lurker expansion)

We'll keep toying around with it, but I like it overall.

Partizan, excellent ideas. It's so rare that I have encounters at River Dock, Velma's, the Church or the other stable locations. This makes it worth while for the people with the relationship cards to have an encounter at these locations.

Hopefully, Grudunza will be working his magic in the near future and he'll post the revised relationship cards.

If you play with the Hypnos guardian, that gives you an incentive to have encounters at stable locations. Makes the game easier, too, so save it for tough GOOs or other off-setting challenges, like just three players, or all the boards, or a nasty herald like the Black Goat.