Greetings, Investigator.
Welcome to Arkham.
By entering the pages of this Investigators Gamebook, you have taken on the role of one of the brave Investigators driven to uncover the truth behind the strange goings-on in the legend haunted city of Arkham.
A gamebook is both a book and a game. The choices you make – as well as your success in tests of WILLPOWER, INTELLECT and COMBAT – will determine the route you travel through the book, deciding victory or defeat in your attempts to unravel the sinister mystery within. If you’ve played other adventure gamebooks, you’ll be familiar with the concept, but this is Arkham and a few things are a little… different. So, you’ll want to read over the next couple of pages before your investigation begins.
Unlike most other kinds of games, you don’t need to learn all the rules before you start to play, but you should embrace what it means to be an Investigator to the fullest. Take note of names, locations, and anything else that might prove advantageous to you on your adventure. Some clues are obvious while others are obscure. If you’re new to this type of adventure, or simply eager to begin, you have the choice to bypass some of the following instructions and leap right in. The book presents the choices you will be required to make and the tests that you will face as you go along. However, if you’re curious to understand the further complexities, there are just a few things you will need before you start, and additional pointers it will prove useful to know.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
You will need some ordinary six-sided dice – a couple is plenty. Grab them now…. good work. You will also need something to keep track of your Investigator’s progress. You can use (and photocopy, if you wish) the character sheet on page 283, or a notepad or piece of paper. You can also download character sheets from our website at https://aconytebooks.com/investigators. You’ll need something to write with, and as your Investigator can both acquire and lose CLUES, RESOURCES, HEALTH, SANITY, [ITEMS], and {ABILITIES} over the course of their investigation, a pencil is ideal. Most importantly, you’ll need to choose the Investigator whose role you will be playing once you begin the adventure.
CHOOSING AN INVESTIGATOR
You can find Investigator profiles for three Investigators on pages 13, 14, and 15: the waitress Agnes Baker, the boxer Nathaniel Cho, and the reporter Rex Murphy. There are more Investigators you’ll find as downloads on our website, but if this is your first time playing through an Investigators Gamebook, we recommend using one of the three Investigators that come with this book first.
Each Investigator’s profile shows all their skills, abilities, weaknesses, and items, as well as their starting HEALTH and SANITY. Before you begin, you should copy these over to your character sheet – or simply download the pre-filled version of the character sheet for your chosen Investigator from our website.
CHARACTER SHEETS
Now that you have your character sheet, you are about ready to begin, but first it’s useful to know a little more about the information your character sheet presents. Your character sheet represents you, in the role of your chosen Investigator. You are them now, and their fate is your fate. The character sheet tracks your progress through a number of game stats, and also provides space to record anything you pick up along the way, such as CLUES and RESOURCES.
SKILLS: WILLPOWER, INTELLECT AND COMBAT
Each investigator has three skills: WILLPOWER, INTELLECT and COMBAT. Throughout the adventure, you’ll face challenges which test these skills in a variety of
different ways. When facing one of these tests, the entry in question will explain how to resolve it. Skills are represented by a number, and this number may occasionally change during the investigation.
HEALTH AND SANITY
These two game stats describe your Investigator’s current physical and mental wellbeing. Like skills, they are represented by a number, and tend to go down as the adventure goes on – in fact, they can even go negative – although they can also go up. A lower HEALTH or SANITY score will negatively impact your chances when faced with various challenges. Once these stats dip below zero, however, things will be continuously affected, and we urge you to reference your character sheet to account for those impacts. Try not to lose your mind, if you please.
ABILITIES AND WEAKNESSES
Abilities and Weaknesses represent special aptitudes or limitations peculiar to your chosen Investigator. Most Investigators start with a small number of each, and you may acquire other types of Abilities and Weaknesses as your investigation progresses. These Abilities and Weaknesses are represented by keywords, which don’t do anything in and of themselves, but which may trigger bonuses or penalties, or other effects, depending on the challenges you encounter during the adventure. You don’t need to memorize your Investigator’s Abilities and Weaknesses. Instead, when an entry mentions an Ability or Weakness, you should check on your character sheet to see whether or not the effects described apply to you.
Sometimes, however, you may gain an Ability or Weakness as your investigation progresses. The mysteries surrounding Arkham are not for the faint of heart and can rattle any hardened Investigator, gifting you with proclivities such as {HAUNTED} or {PARANOIA} that don’t simply fade away. Yet, great powers and abilities can also be obtained… if one has the fortitude and cleverness to earn them. These too, for good or for ill, do not simply disappear.
Most Investigators also start with a Major Ability and a Major Weakness. You can only ever have one of each of these, and you can’t lose or gain them during the course of an adventure. These Major Abilities and Major Weaknesses represent key aspects of your Investigator’s personality, and each gives you a special rule, which make playing the adventure unique to you and your character. They are detailed on your Investigator profile.
DOOM
The deepening mysteries and their consequences impact not just you, but the world around you. As Arkham strains against the darkness plotting to envelop it, the state of the environment shifts accordingly. DOOM will appear as you further unravel the mystery contained within, representing a worsening state for humanity, but a more favorable one for the creatures and Ancient Ones influencing Arkham. Obtaining DOOM is most unadvisable. Try not to hand the universe over to the eldritch beings, won’t you?
ITEMS
Items are exactly what you would expect – various objects your Investigator might carry with them or pick up along the way. For example, right now you have your [PENCIL] and your [SIX-SIDED DICE]. These items are keywords without any special properties, but which may prove useful in certain situations over the course of the adventure.
Most Investigators possess one starting item, representing an especially useful or cherished personal possession that can be found on their Investigator profile, which also provides you with a special rule that may prove useful at points in the adventure. These items are specific to that particular Investigator and cannot be lost, transferred, or gained.
As mentioned, other objects can be found and collected during your investigation as you journey through Arkham and speak with its eccentric inhabitants, but you might stumble across other items on your journey that, unless they are notated in square brackets like your [PENCIL], alas, cannot be picked up. Record items that you can pick up on your Character Sheet but select with caution. Some items may be used to fight horrific creatures, while others might crumble the sanity you hold dear. Power corrupts, or so we’re told…
CLUES AND RESOURCES
As an Investigator, you are hopefully going to uncover lots of CLUES along the way, as well as picking up RESOURCES that can help you out when things get tough. Investigators begin with 0 CLUES and 0 RESOURCES but can acquire them over the course of the adventure. When you acquire a CLUE or RESOURCES, add a tally mark to the relevant box on your Character Sheet. There will be times when you have the opportunity to spend a CLUE or RESOURCES to make some of the tests or puzzles you face a little easier. If you choose to do so, strike out the appropriate number of tally marks on your Character Sheet, or reference your Investigator profile for Investigator-specific abilities regarding spending CLUES
and RESOURCES.
READY TO BEGIN?
We certainly hope so. This is not going to be easy but finding the courage to begin is the hardest part. From here on, your chances are going to be decided by the choices you make and the path you choose to follow – not to mention skill and a little luck.
This gamebook consists of individual numbered entries. Based on your choices – or your success in various test, challenges, and puzzles – you’ll be instructed to move to a specific numbered entry at the end of each step. If you’re ready to begin, turn the page, read the prologue for your chosen Investigator, and good luck. Arkham, and the world as we know it, is in your hands.
1
Velma’s Diner is a popular hangout in the town of Arkham. It provides precisely what its clientele expects of a diner: hot coffee, hearty home-cooked food, and a place to rest out of the wind and rain. But it’s not the kind of place you can stay forever. Through the windows, in the world beyond the diner, you can see the sun creeping toward the fir-lined hills to the west of Arkham. It’s time for you to leave.
You begin gathering your things, when a raised voice take hold of your attention and your eyes lock on one of the booths where two older people are sitting. ...
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
