If you’ve played the Arkham Horror card game or board game, you already know the setting. It’s 1920s New England, cults are trying to wake the Ancient Ones, and a few brave investigators stand in the way. The Arkham Horror RPG from Edge Studio takes all of that and puts it in your hands as a proper tabletop roleplaying game. You get a Game Master, a story, and nobody knows how it ends.
What Makes the Arkham Horror RPG Unique
In Arkham Horror — the Roleplaying Game, the horror of the Cthulhu Mythos has been joined with the heroism of pulp adventure in the 1920s. Sure, there are still nightmarish terrors from beyond time and space, and yes, they are just as likely to shatter your sanity as they are to tear you limb from limb. But in this version of the Cthulhu Mythos you have a chance to fight back. Blast a shoggoth with a shotgun! Banish a star spawn with ten pounds of TNT! Crack open a tome of eldritch terrors, then use the dread incantations to seal an Ancient One beyond the veil of time and space! Sure, none of this is going to be easy, but in Arkham Horror — The Roleplaying Game, at least you have a fighting chance at saving the world.
Here’s what you need to know before your first session.
The dice: one pool does everything
The game runs on the Dynamic Pool System (DPS). All you need is a handful of six-sided dice.
- Each investigator has a dice pool. It is your health and your action economy at the same time.
- To make a check, take a die from your pool and roll it against your skill number. Meet or beat it and you succeed.
- Every die you spend is one less you have for the rest of the scene. Burn through them early and you’re running on fumes when the monster turns up.
- Damage shrinks your pool.
- Horror doesn’t take dice away. It swaps in Horror Dice that you’re forced to roll, and rolling 1s on them is bad news.
Scenes come in two flavours. Narrative scenes are for talking and exploring, and basic actions are free. Structured scenes are for fights and time pressure, and every action costs a die.
It’s simple to learn, but every roll feels like a choice. That’s the hook.
Who you play: eight archetypes
Card game players will recognise five classes: Guardian, Rogue, Mystic, Seeker and Survivor. The RPG adds three more: Adventurer, Believer and Hunter. What sets each one apart is its Knacks, special abilities you unlock as you level up. You can also multiclass if you want a hybrid.
Coming from Call of Cthulhu?
Expect pulpier action. In Call of Cthulhu your investigator is fragile and usually doomed. In Arkham Horror you’re still in danger, but you get to fight back with a Tommy gun and a spellbook. If your group loves the Mythos but wants more action, this is a good fit.
Where to start
- Starter Set: Hungering Abyss is the easiest way in. It’s an all-in-one box for up to 5 players plus a GM, and you learn as you play. It comes with five ready-made characters, dice, maps, tokens and a mystery about empty graveyards in Arkham.
- Starter Set: Welcome to Promise is a newer starter set. It sends investigators to a murky supernatural town in 1920s Louisiana, and it has a bigger adventure book than Hungering Abyss.
- Core Rulebook is the full game in a 256-page hardcover. It has the complete rules, character creation, a guide to Arkham and its neighbouring towns, the Ancient Ones, plenty of NPCs, and an intro adventure called Terror at the Tick-Tock Club.
- Songs of New Orleans is a new setting book, landing just before Halloween. It covers hoodoo, secret societies and the bayou, adds a new Musician archetype, and includes a full adventure.
My pick: Start with a starter set. Once your table is hooked, get the Core Rulebook to build your own investigators.
Bring it to the table
Official printable Arkham Horror RPG miniatures are available through Loot Studios. If you don’t have a printer, we can print them for you. Check out our 3D Printing Service here.
The Arkham Horror RPG Core Rulebook is in the shop. If you’d rather try before you buy, come join an RPG session at the store.
