Mentioned this one before, but I've found a decent picture now...

The School of Paranormal Science. You can level this one up!

Yes, I know Lovecraft was an atheist, but that doesn't mean that the Church is powerless.

Jake Yet Again; I love your enthusiasm, but would encourage you to put a bit of thought and time into your institutions.  good ideas, but hasty follow through.  Most of these institutions make the game very easy on the investigators and would get kind of boring after a bit.  easy wins aren't fun.  Try to emulate the institutions already in the game: like the Academic Institution.  It doesn't give the investigators a big advantage at all, unless they really invest into it.  IMO, if you're going to give players a big upgrade/advantage you have to make them work for it!  It takes 5 turns and 2 gate trophies to get "Changed" at the High House in the Mist on Kingsport.  Make 'em work for it!

Plus someone already made a Church Institution that is pretty awesome.  I recommend you check it out!

But aside from that jab of criticism;

I posted a while ago that we were working on a new institution with some cool Flavor Lore, and some messing with mechanics that none of the games or expansions have touched yet: Player Communication.

well after some hard games fought and some sore egos we've come up with: THE MEDIA INSTITUTION!  After play testing it, we still think it might be a bit unforgiving, but there you are.  We also thought about maybe making it an Institution/Herald since the Zushakon Lore is there.  We're leaving it open to thoughts and Critics!

Thank you for your feedback. The Eye of Amara was designed specifically to address the problem that spells are generally underpowered compared to Unique Items, whereas the Chamber of Commerce was designed as the inverse of the New World Industries Cult in the Heralds thread. The Church is my take on the Church - an underused location in Arkham.

The Institutions are positive because they follow the precedent set out in Miskatonic Horror. Institutions are essentially Guardians from Kingsport which take the form of human organisations instead of ancient gods. The reverse would be cults - human organisations which hinder the Investigators. If you find the game too easy, add a Herald (or a Cult). If you find that your game is too hard, add a Guardian or an Institution to mitigate matters.

Admittedly, this is a very black-and-white viewpoint and you could argue that there are plenty of organisations which both aid and hinder the Investigators (The Police might arrest Cultists and Investigators alike) Whilst I don't dispute that, it shifts the focus from a mythos-compliant or mythos-defiant perspective to a murkier middle ground. This can be potentially interesting for shaking up the game mechanics, but it is far harder to define when it should be used. (For me, the Church Insitution you mentioned falls into this category: The Regular Worship ability forces Investigators to return to the church on a constant basis or suffer a Curse) Ultimately, it's a question of personal taste, but I prefer my Institutions to be clearly defined as positive or negative. Your mileage may vary.

I'm not unsure about the media organisation. It's an aspect of the world which hasn't really been examined and wins points for originality and it certainly shakes the game up, but not being able to discuss your plans with your friends would take a lot of the fun out of the game for me. After all, games are social activities. I'd be more inclined to have double draws at the Newspaper, enable the Coded Messages condition, sell monster trophies to Doyle Jefferies, have some effect that kicks in when a Headlines comes into play and/or have Small Ads for Common Items, but that's a completely different design from yours.

I don't usually comment in this thread, but I thought the core of the Media herald was really interesting.  It drastically reworks Arkham so that it becomes quite a different game.  And I'd imagine it'd be quite fun to play that way in a social environment.  Especially for people with roleplaying sensibilities ;') So, yeah :') neat.

Avi_Dreader,

Thank you for your feedback,  I hope you play test it; or at least take the idea and run with it!  I've been following your institutions for a very long time.  Your Heralds have been the inspiration for our group of friends to start making our own Arkham Materials.  we especially love "The Maskless" along side "The Dark Pharoh"  VERY CHALLENGING! 

Jake,

Thank you for the criticism!  The Media Institution was Absolutely still fun, it makes the game MUCH more focused and keeps people into it.  Keep in mind that while you can't talk strategy or other Arkham Related Topics, you CAN still talk.  Try playing it!  add the Personal Stories for added Role Play Fun!  (Also, WIKI the Tunguska event and Zushakon.  good lore and depth to the institution!)

Getting some background on where your Institutions were coming from helps a lot.  I'm going to disagree only slightly, in that when you look at the Guardians set out, they really don't help all that much (for for very long).  Take Baast for example: she helps very slightly, except for the happenstance of the "And the Story Continues" mythos being drawn.  Even then  you must have players with Baast tokens, which are easy to loose if you like using your Focus.

I dunno, I think the ideas are cool and the concept of the human organizations are interesting.  I haven't seen any "Cults" in play like Heralds, and I think FFG didn't add them for a reason.  Human institutions/Heralds are the foundation for most of the card expansions, those are your human cults.  For example the Black Goat card Expac wouldn't be good at all without the "Cult of a Thousand". 

adding that many easy bonuses doesn't appeal to me, I'm all about the challenge and the Role Play of the game.  Institutions are clearly supposed to be beneficial in some regard, but should add depth to your plot.  The game builds a story and it's boring if you know how it ends.  I really think it'd be tough to lose using most of the institutions you've posted.  I still think you need to make investigators work harder for their benefits.

I really like your idea of "The School of Paranormal Science".  Mind if I steal the concept and tweak it?

for the record my 2 favorite arkham horror games were when a friend and I 2 manned the game (we won with 1 doom token left), and the other day when we had Shudd M'ell come out and beat him! (Thank God for the Red Sign of Shudd M'ell!)

BenKHS said:

Great to hear that :'D

I'm glad you enjoy the pairing of my Nyarlathotep heralds.  Did you ever play my demi-gods variant?  It's buried deep in the threads, so I imagine you never saw it before.  It's...  Quite an experience :'D  I just raised that thread from the dead, but I'll repost it here.

Anyway, welcome to the forums :') as a poster I mean, and I hope you...  heh heh heh...  enjoy my little welcoming present ;')

A Nyarlathotep Variant:

The Demi-Gods

Drawing a mask will trigger various game effects, keep at least one copy of this sheet for reference during the game. You may want to mark on the sheet which masks are currently active for easier reference of their abilities and effects.

Masks can not be gained as trophies, if a game effect would have them be gained as trophies, return them to the cup instead. They can be returned to the cup as normal by the closing of gates.

Whenever an investigator is knocked unconscious, search the cup and place the first mask drawn on the location the investigator was (the Black Cave if in Another World), masks don’t count against the monster limit, and if they are placed in the outskirts they go to the Black Cave instead).
For the masks, “in play” means being permanently in play (not just temporarily appearing as the result of an encounter and not in the outskirts).

My True Glory: When Nyarlathotep awakens, he has weapon immunity instead of magical resistance, and rather than losing a clue, the penalty for failing a lore check against him is being devoured. With new Curse of the Dark Pharaoh, for investigators without an exhibit item, his combat rating is raised to -8. With old Curse of the Dark Pharaoh, unless investigators have two exhibit items between them, his combat rating is raised to -8.

Investigators not on gates carrying an exhibit item must roll a die during their Arkham Encounter or Other World Encounter phase and a random monster appears on him or her on a roll of 1-3. All monsters adjacent to investigators with exhibit items move as stalkers, and flying monsters consider unstable locations they are in as stable as well.

Suggested rule: If Curse of the Dark Pharoah is being used and the investigators do not collectively have two Exhibit Items when the doom track reaches nine, add two doom tokens to the doom track.

The 6th doom token causes you to search for a random mask and place it at the Miskatonic University streets).
11th Doom token (on a 13 doom Nyarlathotep) summons The Dark pharoah at Miskatonic University Streets (for that good old fashioned feeling of apocalyptic terror).

With Dual Gates, only the top symbol can remove masks from the board (unless there are three or more masks on the board, and God of the Bloody Tongue is not in play).

The Dark Pharoah- He has two extra toughness and weapon immunity. While he is in play, the monster limit is ignored (this will not cause the Ancient One to potentially awaken unless the terror track is at 10). When he enters play, all investigators’ monster trophies are reanimated and placed on their locations. If he leaves play, the monster limit is restored (remove excess non-mask monsters of your choice from the board to get as close as possible to the normal monster limit).

The Black Man- Whenever he moves, the first player must draw two madness cards or add a doom token to the doom track. Investigators who draw these madness cards can not be retired. He must move when he comes into play, even if his movement symbol is not shown. He moves like a Fast Stalker. When he leaves play, replace him with a random mask (an investigator in the new mask’s location, must immediately evade or enter combat with it).

The Bloated Woman- When she enters play each investigator loses two stamina and two sanity. While she is in play will checks have an additional -1 penalty (this includes horror checks) and all sanity damage is increased by 1. An investigator who defeats her in combat is Cursed.

Haunter of the Dark- It has +1 toughness and physical and magical immunity. While in play, flying monsters treat unstable locations as adjacent to the sky, are not counted against the monster limit, and if they are in or are placed in the outskirts, they go directly to the Sky instead. When it leaves play, all flying monsters in play are returned to the monster cup.

God of the Bloody Tongue- It has weapon immunity. While it is in play monsters can not be returned to the cup by closing gates with their dimensional symbol and red, black, and purple bordered monsters move toward the nearest investigator (following yellow lines like an investigator could) with the lowest Sneak (first player’s choice when nearness and sneak are tied).

Wailing Writher- It has +2 toughness. While it is in play, investigators must fight or evade an unmodified copy of Wailing Writher before attempting to seal a gate by means of clue or power tokens. If you declare you are intending to attempt to seal a gate, fight or evade a Wailing Writher copy before rolling against the gate modifier. Unmodified copies of Wailing Writher can not be modified by any game effects and defeating or evading them has no effect beyond ending or avoiding combat.

Shugeron- He has +2 toughness. While he is in play, all streets are treated as aquatic locations and black bordered and yellow bordered monsters move as orange bordered monsters instead.

Skinless One- He has +1 toughness. While he is in play, whenever an investigator is devoured, raise the terror level by one. Also, all monsters move twice, and yellow bordered monsters are treated as black bordered monsters.

The Beast- It has +1 toughness. While it is in play, all other monsters gain +2 toughness, except as monster trophies.

The Shadowy Figure- When he comes into play, remove one Elder Sign token from the board, and investigators in Arkham lose all their clues.

BenKHS said:

Sure, go ahead. I rarely use material as written on the site, but I often steal ideas and then tweak them to meet my requirements.

One of the uses of Cults was to turn old ancient ones into their new versions from Arkham Nights. I don't like having two copies of the same Ancient One, but using a cult to turn the old Ancient One into the new Ancient One neatly sidesteps that problem, plus you can still play old style. As an added bonus, you can mix things up a bit if you want, such as adding new Cthulhu's effect to Yig or Azathoth. See http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k506/jabie1/Heralds%20and%20Guardians/ for more Heralds and Guardians or navigate around the other subfolders for plenty of other treats and goodies.

 This is the start of a Mini-Expansion I'm working on.  When all is said and done, it'll be this Institution (and its cards) plus a number of Investigators themed to the Circus.  Maybe some Allies/Items if I'm feeling particularly rambunctious.  But here's the Institution - and the cause of the latest trouble in Arkham!

Interesting idea.

You might want some links to Darke's Carnival (e.g. Searching the caravans behind the circus, you find an intriguing letter addressed to Ringmaster Darke. Place a clue token at Darke's Carnival or Ringmaster Darke is trying to recruit new acts from the circus. You may discard an Ally to put the Darke's Blessing condition into play)

I'm not convinced about the" take in a show" ability. $2 will fully heal you at the Asylum. Proximity to the Hospital helps, but $3 for a variable gain is a little too expensive. I'd reduce it to $2 or possibly even $1 for d3 Sanity.

I'm also not sure about Cultists gaining Nightmarish 1. I'd reserve that for really gruesome mosnters. Clowns, for all the horror motifs, don't really fit the "I don't understand how that thing can possibly exist" model, so I'd suggest a Horror (-1) for 1 Sanity (unless worse already) ought to be enough.

Still I love the concept and eagerly await your next work.

Somebody had proposed a variant for a traveling carnival a while back that had some really good ideas.  You might want to merge some of that with this.  But that being said, I do like this idea a lot as it is, though as Jake suggests, it could use a few tweaks.  I always like the idea of additional locations that are adjacent to certain others (like you have the Circus adjacent to the Uptown Streets).  That could open up a lot of smaller expansion ideas, where you don't need a new board of the size of Dunwich or Innsmouth, but a herald or institution sort of functions as a small board extension.

Jake yet again said:

The only problem with Darke's is that I didn't want this to require Dunwich.

You're right on the ability - I'll reduce it to 2 - any less though would likely make it too powerful (because of how close it is to the Hospital).

As for Nightmarish, I needed something to be a bit negative, and I really wanted to run with the clown-in-cult idea i had.  Do you have any thoughts n some sort of global effect?

Grudunza said:

THat's exactly the idea!  I actually came up with the location idea fairly late into the concept, but once I hit it, I fell in love.  It's certainly a much better (as far as custom components and actually printing them out goes) than another board.  I'd love FFG to do some similar expansions.

I wante to share this idea of mine: