Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a card-based investigative adventure game published by Fantasy Flight Games as part of their Arkham Horror Files range of Cthulhu Mythos-related products.
Overview
Replacing Fantasy Flight's first Mythos Card Game, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, Arkham Horror is a fairly major departure from the other. Instead of being a player-versus-player game (as was Call of Cthulhu), Arkham Horror is intended to be cooperative in nature, with players taking on the roles of Investigators attempting to find out more about the supernatural events which plague Arkham, and put a stop to them.
Gameplay
Players start by choosing which Investigator they wish to play, and then build their deck from there. Each Investigator comes with a small number of unique cards which they are required to incorporate into their decks (which affect gameplay in ways which other Investigators do not), but are otherwise free to choose from a large selection of cards which drastically affect the way they are able to play the game.
Instead of facing off against other players, the Investigators play against an Agenda Deck, which dictates the events and actions perpetrated by their Mythos opponents. The Agenda Deck advances the goals of the enemy each turn, and should the Investigators take too long to complete their goal, they will automatically lose the game.
Expansions
In addition to the core set, a large number of expansions have been released for Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Each of these adds new elements to the basic game, and new adventures for the Investigators to play through. The expansions have generally been released in waves (referred to as "cycles," with each cycle being thematically linked, and normally containing one deluxe expansion and a number of smaller packs.
Core Set Expansion
- Return to the Night of the Zealot, a set which expands upon one of the missions in the Core Set.
The Dunwich Legacy Cycle
The first cycle of expansions, which focuses on the events of The Dunwich Horror.
- The Dunwich Legacy
- The Miskatonic Museum
- The Essex County Express
- Blood on the Altar
- Undimensioned and Unseen
- Where Doom Awaits
- Lost in Time and Space
- Return to the Dunwich Legacy
The Path to Carcosa Cycle
A series of expansions based around the play The King in Yellow.
- The Path to Carcosa
- Echoes of the Past
- The Unspeakable Oath
- A Phantom of Truth
- The Pallid Mask
- Black Stars Rise
- Dim Return to the Path to Carcosa
The Forgotten Age Cycle
A Cycle set around archaeological discoveries in Latin America.
- The Forgotten Age
- Threads of Fate
- The Boundary Beyond
- Heart of the Elders
- The City of Archives
- The Depths of Yoth
- Shattered Aeons
The Circle Undone Cycle
This Cycle allows the Investigators to explore Arkham's occult history.
- The Circle Undone
- The Secret Name
- The Wages of Sin
- For the Greater Good
- Union and Disillusion
- In the Clutches of Chaos
- Before the Black Throne
The Dream-Eaters Cycle
A set which lets the players investigate the Dreamlands.
- The Dream-Eaters
- The Search for Kadath
- A Thousand Shapes of Horror
- Dark Side of the Moon
- Point of No Return
Stand-Alone Adventures
Not part of any Cycle, these packs add single adventures for the Investigators to play through.
- Curse of the Rougarou
- Carnivale of Horrors
- The Labyrinths of Lunacy
- Guardians of the Abyss
- Murder at the Excelsior Hotel
Gallery
