Something I was never really interested in when I was younger was the H.P. Lovecraft mythos, I just never had a lot of exposure to it. When I started working at Boards and Bites I realized that my experiences were not universal. The number of games based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft blew my mind. Coincidentally, my game of the month is Elder Signs, a fantastic cooperative dice rolling game about a group of ragtag adventurers aiming to defeat one of H.P. Lovecraft’s creatures before it can enter our world and cause unfathomable mayhem. To do this, each player chooses a character equipped with their own special ability that allows them to bend the rules just a little bit. Sidenote, choose Ashcan Pete, legend that he is. To stop the creature from entering our world, you must finish missions by rolling a set number of dice, hoping that you are successful so you lose neither health or sanity along the way.
If you are successful in defeating missions such as finding sacred objects, breaking up cults, or destroying the lesser monsters being sent ahead as henchmen (you know, typical Tuesday evening), you can find items that help you in your mission. These items range from letting you roll an extra dice to finding the Elder Sign tokens needed to seal the portal to Cthulu before he can begin his reign. As with many cooperative games, there is a clock system that activates different effects as time ticks down. Once the clock hand reaches 12 and a new day starts, a new Mythos card is drawn. These Mythos cards have different effects such as adding Doom Tokens to the Doom Track. The Doom Tokens are (obviously) not good, as each monster has a maximum number they can have before the monster is allowed to enter our realm. If the monster should break through the portal, fear not because you can still fight it, it’s just near impossible to win at this point. Congratulations on killing everyone!
This game plays well up to 8 players, so no matter the size of your group this weekend, come explore the Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft in a new and fun way. We also understand any wails of pain or woe. It’s good to let it out.