Hee hee. I like that. The logical extension of this idea is that you start the game with several unique monsters in the cup, each representing a particular herald, and whichever one appears first will cause its herald to appear.

thecorinthian said:

good thinking, although if you have really bad luck playing the game with 4 heralds is a bit overkill

edit: messenger of the green flame should read "all cultists move one area towards the nearest elder sign".

kroen said:

It should just work for the first monster of this type that you draw - so the text is "Instead of moving, if there is no herald, roll a die. On a 1, set up the such-and-such herald as you would during game setup."

A suggestion: Instead of the Yellow messenger it should be: The Phantom of Truth. In the play, it is the Phantom that Heralds the coming of the King. He should have pretty High Sanity damage, as he drives the characters insane when they realise that his palid mask... is his actual face. On a side note, the palid mask is an actual item. Perhaps as an added incentive to defeat these monsters you can draw an apropriate item? The mask in the case of the phantom, the milk incase of the Goat. Cant quite think of the others right now. Realy like those monsters btw, gotta figure out how to print this stuff up with my printer...

(Here are the versions I started working on, although looking at Kroen's they're not much different)

 Monsters that make Heralds... weird and could be very Dangerous and also make other odd game things happen...

Random mask monster. Still toying with the idea of a monster whose stats are connected to the Terror level; this may not be the perfect form.

Loosely based on the Conan story of the same name. The God in the Bowl is Stygian, therefore Egyptian, therefore Nyarlathotepian. Booyah.

MrsGamura said:

My Orangutan will eat your Spaghetti Monster for Breakfast!  GOvolution!

thecorinthian said:

Too easy.  Terror rarely rises much.  Ooooo....  I didn't notice it was a mask ;') heh...  Ummm...  Still a bit easy, why not make it easier to evade and just have its X equal to the terror level?  ::laughter:: seriously, what's the worst it could plausibly become?  A -6/-6? ;'D usually terror doesn't rise to 3 in my games.  Besides, a -6/-6 serpent is a great idea ;') thematically it would be as if it were going around and feeding on people as the game went on, growing larger and larger as serpents do ;'D

Avi_dreader said:

I agree, just let X be the terror. Even if it hits -10, that's what you get for ignoring the terror track.

The Message said:

Yeah, you're right. I agonized about this when I was designing it, and eventually decided to err on the side of caution and so cut the modifiers in half. In retrospect that makes it too easy. I suppose even if it did get as far as being -8/-8 or higher, it's the players' own damn fault, and even if it's utterly invincible in combat, they can still get rid of it using a Time Bomb or a Blue Watcher or whatever.

New concept to skill checks:

Imagine it being used in encounters: "Being slow is of the essence. Make a Speed (+2) check. If you pass, the creature sees you! Lose 1 Sanity and 1 Stamina. If you fail, it doesn't notices you and loses interest." More "reversals": A lore (+X) check to act dum. A sneak (+X) check to be intentionally seen. A fight (+X) check to appear weak. A will (+X) check to avoid convincing someone. A luck (+X) check to stumble across something bad yet enlightning. The possiblities are endless.

kroen said:

I don't know about endless...but the idea's not bad in itself. You can't put it on too many cards or it messes with the fundamental tactics of the game. Some cards in my fan expansion have this sort of skill check.

You should change the name tho'. The name 'Dark Youngster' is too funny to me. What's next? The Dark Sprog? The Dark Tyke? The Dark Whippersnapper?

What? the word "dark" doesn't appear anywhere on the monster...