Here he knew strange things had happened once, and there was a faint suggestion behind the surface that everything of that monstrous past might not – at least in the darkest, narrowest, and most intricately crooked alleys – have utterly perished.
– H. P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House

Brave the dark alleys and dangerous streets of Arkham in the Gates of Arkham expansion for Elder Sign , a cooperative dice game based on the horror stories of H. P. Lovecraft. In Gates of Arkham , the search for elder signs leads investigators across the legendary and cursed city of Arkham, where monsters lurk in the alleyways and gates to Other Worlds rupture space and time.

Out of the Museum and Into the Streets

In the Streets of Arkham game mode featured in Gates of Arkham , the horror breaks out of the museum and spreads throughout Arkham. Instead of confronting the monsters and challenges of museum rooms, investigators find adventures in over twenty Arkham locations, from Ma’s Boarding House and St. Mary’s Hospital to the Uninvited Isle and the River Docks. The expansion features a complete deck of Arkham Adventure cards to substitute for the core set deck, and an accompanying deck of dreadful Mythos cards specifically designed for the Streets of Arkham mode.

In the museum, you could know what horrors awaited you in a given room before entering it. The closed doors of Arkham’s buildings, however, hold uncanny secrets inside. Arkham Adventure cards are laid out on the table facedown, so that you choose a location to visit without knowing what adventure may befall you there, although the back of the card does reveal whether the adventure at that location is easy, medium, or hard. Card backs also have effects and opportunities on them: by visiting the South Church, you can regain sanity. At the General Store, you can spend trophies in order to gain a common item. But once you are at a location you must undertake the unknown adventure that awaits within.

Even the mere act of crossing a building’s threshold can prove dangerous. Arkham Adventure cards sometimes have entry effects that occur whenever an investigator moves to that Adventure. Upon entering the Curiostie Shoppe, you may suddenly lose one stamina. Venturing into the Silver Twilight Lodge may force you to add a token to the doom track. Similarly, many Adventure cards have Midnight effects that cause gates to open, monsters to appear, or the entire group of investigators to lose sanity. In addition, Event cards bring to life the unstable conditions and mysterious forces that permeate Arkham. Drawn at the start of a player’s resolution phase, an Event may cause a monster to instantly appear at that location – or they may unexpectedly give you an unique item to use in that Adventure.

Distortions of Space and Time

For the first time in Elder Sign , gate markers connect adventures to Other Worlds. You may walk from the noisy hallways of Ma’s Boarding House straight onto the Far Side of the Moon, and see the Great Pyramids of Ancient Egypt from the Uninvited Isle. Once a gate has opened on an adventure, any investigators present there are moved to the Other World. No investigator can enter an adventure with a gate on it, but you can move to the Other World and undertake its tasks in order to close the gate. The more open gates you have, the more difficult your struggle against the Ancient One becomes, so it is wise to visit Other Worlds and take on the challenges that await there.

Time has also begun to destabilize, so that midnight falls more often than it did before. Investigators at some locations may choose to move time ahead in order to gain a skill, a clue, or spell. Moreover, whenever you see the clock icon in a task, it means that you must advance the clock as part of completing that task. It is possible, therefore, for Midnight to occur more than once in a player’s turn. If it does, you must resolve any Midnight effects and draw a Mythos card upon the first Midnight, and add a doom token for every other Midnight that turn.

Behind these dimensional disturbances are the evil stirrings of four new Ancient Ones, each promising a unique form of doom for humankind. You may choose to combat the monstrous, human-faced arachnid Atlach-Nacha, worshipped by the most fearsome spiders on earth, whose webs connect Other Worlds more closely to our own. The omniscient Yog-Sothoth is also beginning to stir, the formless and terrible guardian of all gates. All four of the Ancient Ones introduced in Gates of Arkham can both cause monsters to spawn and make gates open, tearing apart our physical and psychic space.

Valuable Memberships and Lifelong Skills

On the streets of Arkham, investigators have resources and connections that were previously unavailable. Skills, acquired in the same way as items and allies, represent an investigator’s enduring knowledge and abilities. Unlike items, which must be discarded once they are used, skills remain in play and can be used once every turn. Scientific Training , for example, allows you to change an investigation result on a die to the next highest result.

Useful connections can be just as potent as enduring knowledge. Gates of Arkham allows investigators to acquire a membership in the Arkham branch of the Sheldon Gang, a bootlegging gang known for their ruthless efficiency in eliminating their competition. You could also become a member of the secretive Silver Twilight Lodge, privy to their ancient knowledge and a participant in their dark rituals. Membership can be earned from certain items or by visiting specific locations. They you to occasionally skip tasks without assigning dice to them, and grant additional rewards for your success in some adventures.

Ancient Horrors in a Modern City

In Gates of Arkham you will encounter not only grotesque, prehuman horrors and Other Worlds, but also unforgiving gangsters, selfish politicians, haunted woods, and deteriorating mansions. With time shifting unpredictably and the logic of space beginning to break, the struggle against the Ancient Ones depends on your sanity and strength. Fortunately, skills, memberships, and additional investigators help you to seek out the elder signs you need to defeat the Ancient Ones and save us all.