Fantasy Flight Elder Sign Board Game

Although I've always been a big gaming fan I only recently started getting into the hobby seriously, after taking some time to read several reviews I decided to make Elder Sign one of the first additions to my collection - and I'm so glad I did. Initially I was interested in Arkham Horror because I really love the theme of the game but its so huge and detailed I wanted something a bit lighter that still had the feel and atmosphere that Arkham brings, which is where Elder Sign steps in. This is set in the same Lovecraft universe as Arkham but takes that rich theme and condenses it into a 60 to 90 minute gaming experience instead of the colossal 240+ minute marathon that Arkham delivers. So obviously this makes Elder Sign a much less intimidating game for somebody who is just getting started in gaming but wants a taste of that dark horror/sci-fi vibe, also at a much lower cost. Just in case you don't already know in Elder Sign you and the other players work together as a group of 1920's pulp investigators making your way around an old museum and completing adventures in the many different areas of the building in a collective effort to stop one of the ancient evil gods from entering our world and basically destroying everything. Overall for me this game ticks so many boxes, firstly it sets up quickly and the various cards and components are all beautifully made with great artwork. Secondly its easy to learn and teach which makes it perfect to pick up and play in a fairly short space of time. Thirdly it plays at a good speed and doesn't ever feel boring, thanks to the fast paced dice rolling nature of the game it gets really exciting at times. And finally the whole thing is dripping with that great Lovecraftian theme, everything from the monsters and investigators right down to the items you collect - it's very satisfying going into a creepy old museum armed with The Necronomicon and a tommy gun. So if you're interested in Arkham or Eldritch Horror but like me you want something more accessible then have a look at Elder Sign. Also even if you have no interest in these other games but want a fun cooperative game that plays quickly and has a solid theme then definitely pick this up.

This has quickly become a favourite in the house thanks to its easy to learn rules and quick set up. The basic premise is that you are a group of adventurers and experts in the occult rushing around Miskatonic University trying to gather enough Elder Signs to seal the dark lord Cthulhu or one of the other Old Ones before they wake from their ancient slumber and cause a nuisance. For Lovecraft fans everything will be instantly familiar. For those new to the world, each card and token comes with a brief but atmospheric bit of text that I like to read out in an old and creaky sounding voice. During initial setup you will lay down six adventure cards. These are rooms and events around the University that you must complete to earn rewards. The rewards will most commonly be magical or mundane items to help you clear further adventures but your main goal is to pick up Elder Signs from these cards which you will need a certain amount of to seal the current Old One you are facing off against. Fail these adventures and you will suffer the penalties which will most often reduce the players health or sanity, the two factors that keep each investigator alive. However they may also add Doom to a counter. Accumulate too much Doom and the Old One will wake up and you will be pushed into one last ditch effort to defeat the Old One as they wrack your body and mind with their ancient evil. To resolve these adventures you will have to roll six dice. Each adventure card has a number of results you must roll. Meet the requirements with a roll and solve that portion of the card. Fail and you must discard a dice and try again. When you run out of dice you fail the adventure and suffer the penalties. There are items and mechanics within the game that can help you make this easier or harder. Like items that let you use extra dice or monsters that will lock a die until you defeat them. It adds a nice layer of strategy to what could have been a frustrating reliance on the luck of the roll. The game is not perfect of course. It can be a bit too easy sometimes as the game really stacks the odds in your favour. Especially if you are choosing your own investigator at the start of the game, since certain combinations make you almost unstoppable. After a couple of games though it should be easy enough to tweak the experience slightly to add an extra challenge if you think it needs it.

Components: All of the cardboard pieces are of high quality material and are pleasantly thick, so there are no problems in picking the pieces up. The cards have a nice, high-quality textured feel to them. However, although the adventure cards are a nice 'tarot card' size, the smaller ones (which are smaller than normal playing cards) can be a bit fiddly when shuffling. The custom dice are also high quality and will last a very long time. Rules: The rulebook is quite brief but explains everything clearly with examples of gameplay given. At the back of the booklet, there is a quick guide to reference when playing to show the players the order of what they have to do. Gameplay: The artwork is of professional quality and is extremely pleasant to look at, with many cards providing some flavour text for additional immersion. Although it's worth noting that only the adventure cards contain flavour text, the other cards such as the player cards do not. The amount of randomness can alter slightly depending on the players' preferences. For example, the players may choose who to play as and what Elder God to fight against, or they may choose at random. With that said, there is some strategic elements the players must consider such as which adventure card to pick and deciding on whether the risk vs reward is worth it. Replay Value: Due to the amount of randomness, Elder Sign has a lot of replay value, ranging from adventure cards having certain terror effects that will affect the players negatively, or an Elder God's power that may be prevalent throughout the game. I have been spoilt a little by Betrayal at House on the Hill, with winning and losing flavour texts telling us a brief story on the outcome of the games. With Elder Sign, once you have beaten (or lost to) an Elder God, that's it. This somewhat breaks a little immersion, although this is subjective. Fun: Is it a fun game? Yes. The various mechanics the game has to offer does make this game quite fun to play, even with the sudden abruptness of the aforementioned flavour text, or lack thereof. I would definitely recommend this game to have in a board game collection.

Elder Sign is set in the same Arkham Horror universe and based on the Lovecraftian mythos that has proven popular for countless games and other knockoffs that has surfaced over the years. Unlike some of its predecessors and counterparts, however, this game is simple and quick to pick up and you can have a game in under a hour with 4 players once people know what they are doing. The idea behind the story is that you are a team of intrepid investigators going into the Arkham museum each night in hope of closing a gate that has opened, thus stopping on the of the Ancient Ones (of which you get 8 in the base game) from rising. How do you stop him/her/it from rising? Simple, get enough Elder Signs t do so before the Ancient One amasses enough Doom Tokens to awaken fully and take the world by storm (one of my gaming groups believe they intend to take over Broadway and attain stardom through a plethora of successful musicals, but we shall see). The Ancient One awakening does not automatically mean game over though, for you then get to combat the great ancient evil and try to force it back before it devours you and then the world (or conquers the aforementioned Broadway). While all of the dice rolling adds a significant luck factor to your endeavors, there is still strategy required in working with your strengths and what items you have to help you and working cooperatively toward your goal, you really do not want to try to be greedy and work solo thinking eveyone else will be fine, your character may quickly die and your teammates may not want to help you (as one fellow in another of my gaming groups found out). So get out there, kick down some monsters, solve those dastardly (and often deadly) investigations and send that Ancient One back down the hole It came from, but you'll be back as there are plenty more where It came from. While I do not have any of the expansions for this game I have had dozens of games and enjoyed each one since each game plays very differently since you never know what investigations or mythos cards events will come out next and you can really end up scratching your head trying to work out how to get 3 Terror results whilst also dealing with 2 monsters that have also attached itself to that devilish investigation. So, yes, while there is plenbty of dice rolling, it certainly is not the be and end all of this game, not by a long shot.

I really like this game but I have literally never lost it. Not even once, and not even coming close to losing. The base game is simply too easy. I've bought a couple of expansions that claim to increase the difficulty level so hopefully they will add some challenging twists. However, I'm still rating it 5 stars because I love it. My favourite Fantasy Flight game is still Arkham Horror but finding the time to play a game and the players willing to sit through a 4 to 6 hour session is challenging. This takes much less time and although it looks complex when all the bits are laid out it's still a relatively straightforward dice resolution game at heart. All the game mechanics fit together very well. The clock phases that trigger mythos and location events, items and spells that power-up investigators, health and sanity, monsters, etc. Then you have the special abilities of the different investigators that will make the group think a bit different about how they approach the game and the special rules that each ancient one brings to the game round off a good set of variations. I've already played this more than Arkham Horror despite having only just got it a few months ago and I'm looking forward to seeing what the expansions bring. I'd just like to feel that we're heading closer to the brink, or that we have to take more risks to win.

I wasnt sure what to expect when I ordered this. I have recently just got back into gaming, as an alternative to playing video games as I was finding that video games ont really excite me like they are used to. First off I have to say that the production quality is absolutely excellent. All of the tokens are sturdy, and well designed with great artwork. The same goes for the cards which definitely feel robust (although I might get sleeves for them later down the line). Elder Sign can be played with anything from 1 to 8 players. I have only played 1 and 2 player games at the moment, but would definitely like to get some more players involved. Even as a 1 player game, this really stands up well, but I roped my daughter into playing and we had a blast. The games so far have lasted 1-2 hours, with the first taking the longest as I was constantly referring to the rules, but once I had the basics down it got a lot quicker. I mainly bought this, as my daughter has recently started enjoying games, but doesnt cope well with the competitive side of things, so we play as a team. Both the games I have played have been very difficult, but we won both times. I really enjoy the fact that by shuffling and randomly dealing the demon/adventure/investgator cards you can have a completely different game every time. Although this is initially a deep game to get in to, it doesnt take long, and Im pretty much hooked already. Im already looking into the expansion packs.

This is a great game, but it has quite a lot of elements to it (8 card types, 6 token types, and 3 colours of dice) which can be a little confusing at first. The first time we played it we had to refer back to the rule book practically every round and we had to pause once or twice to check a Youtube video's explanation (not necessary at all from game 3 onwards). If you find this game confusing, check for a tutorial video online and persevere because it's super worth it. The game basically has two phases: the first part is more strategic and cooperative and the second part makes for a really great change of pace which prevents things from getting stale. It's also a really well put-together game, all the pieces are well designed and made, and the box comes with plenty of bags to store tokens and dice.

As a solo player I found this game very exciting. Needless to say, I lost by being using one character but after adding another, I was short of two Elder signs and list again. The incentive is there to play again. The characters have different strengths etc and dice rolling is ,ofcourse, down to luck. The game has atmosphere and a sense of doom which makes it a little like reading a horror book. Although I thought that the game is a multi player game is: using all the characters playing solo , I am glad to say that is not the case. Believe that I shall be back playing a lot of this game.....a good thing in my book. Personally, I highly recommend Elder Sign for solo players for reasons given above.

If you’re a fan of the cosmic horror genre looking for a fun, quick-to-set-up, moderate-length game with excellent replayability & extra options in the form of two decent, mechanics enriching expansions then this should hit the spot, center target. The game play is what I like to describe as “complex farkle” - for those familiar with that classic dice rolling game - in the sense that your main action to complete quests or challenges, defeat enemies, etc. involves rolling specialized dice in an attempt to acquire the right symbols (etched on the dice faces) in the right combinations & amounts, with game mechanics that allow you to store or “bank” certain rolls & re-roll misses. This all happens against the back drop of earthly locations with attached quests goals - represented by cards arrayed in a grid- and where monsters may spawn to increase the challenge at that locale. Additionally, cosmic locations - so called “other worlds” - are also flory introduced & present their own challenges & rewards. All of this is, of course, leading up to either the summoning of an elder god or the heroes prevention of the summoning ritual … or their deaths. The base game has a satisfying roster of ancient ones to choose among, and additional options for increasing the difficulty of challenging them in replay. The two expansions (which I also purchased) add to this roster, as well as introducing new mechanics, new locations, monsters, etc. This is a game that’s perfect for one of those game nights where you want a decent challenge, but also want to maybe have some “hang time” & maybe casually play things out while eating, laughing, & talking. In other words, it’s not going to be the kind of all nighter or beat-over-three-days type of session, but a good tone will be had & you’ll be able to enjoy another game if you’d like or plan other activities without feeling like you missed out on any one kind of thing that evening, if you get my drift. Highly recommended :-)

If you are a Lovecraft freak and love to get all Eldritch with your chosen clan of fellow freaks, then you already know that this has a place on your game shelf!! Arkham Horror-Eldritch Horror- Mansions of Madness-and Elder Sign, there’s really not much more I need to say, love Lovecraft and board games,!?, get yourself a copy and start following the Elder Signs, you won’t stay sane so you will not regret it…

Had a great time playing this with a like-minded sister of mine. The faces of the dice are well thought out and the general rules don't over-push the Lovecraftian theme, but has the artwork and mood down pat! We frequently found ourselves discussing what our next room of attack would be, weighing the odds as to whether our characters may just have the ability to clear the room. Now that my sister is back home with here family, I'll be playing it single player for awhile...

Being an avid fan of Arkham Horror, I got this game to see how it compared. I love the setting and this game didn't disappoint. For anyone who has played Arkham Horror, Elder Sign is a much "lighter" version of that game. For those that haven't, Elder Sign is a great introduction to the setting! TLDR Version: Coopertive Game No Board Cards and Dice, dice pools with match and discard mechanics to achieve success. Items and abilities allow you to modify this pool by granting more, re-rolling, or gaining "special" dice with higher probabilities. Great Art, High Quality pieces, tokens, and cards. Fun, Quick, supports up to 8 players. Simple rules, small learning curve. For fans of Arkham Horror: It's Arkham Horror "light" confined to a museum. Details: The game is board-less, making it good for gaming areas that are smaller, compared to Arkham Horror which takes the entirety of a moderately sized dining table. The game pieces are high quality, as expected from Fantasy Flight Games, and the cards are durable. I especially like the Adventure cards that are Tarot card sized instead of playing card sized, much better. The art is fantastic and the feel is very similar to Arkham Horror. The game plays like a story unfolding as a group of investigators work together to stop an ancient evil from awakening within the confines of a museum. A variety of Ancient Ones and Investigators with different abilities lends a lot of replay value. The central mechanic is the dice pool where you roll dice to achieve certain outcomes to succeed at "adventures" and gain rewards. Most coveted is the Elder Sign which will help the players win the game. Each Ancient One can be sealed away by obtaining a certain number, if the Doom Track reaches full before that time then he awakens and the group is offered one last attempt to fight him back in a "nearly hopeless" battle. (Manual's words) The writing and content is great, looking forward to the Expansion rumoured to come out in May 2013!

Nice dice chucking game. Can be quite easy. The expansion will make it harder.