Let him choose a new personal quest ? I deliberately chose quests which seemed close to the character's personality-- the Scoundrel, for example, has the Perfect Poison quest.
I went the opposite route and took a quest that feels incredibly wrong for my Scoundrel, hopefully it should be fun:
Spoiler for personal quest
The one where you have to find some sort of undead bane axe and then use it to murder a bunch of undead. Might be called Instrument of Light? Axe-wielding Scoundrel, LOLOL
(pls don't spoil me on what the axe actually does or whether this choice was good or bad, I want to be surprised)
I don't think we've seen that one, does it open the Sun box?
Naming conventions when marking spoilers: Use these descriptions:
01 - Brute
02 - Tinkerer
03 - Spellweaver
04 - Scoundrel
05 - Cragheart
06 - Mindthief
07 - Sun
08 - Three Spears
09 - Concentric Circles
10 - Moon/Eclipse
11 - Cthulhu
12 - Lightning Bolt
13 - Music Note
14 - Spiky/Angry Face
15 - Saw
16 - Triforce
17 - Two-Mini Class
A list of Some Class guides, and action card reviews. These are just the opinion of the player who wrote them, but for someone new to a new class, it can help give you some insight into what the class is good at, and what kinds of builds that might be the way you want to go with.
Also, be aware that they do sell a 'gloomhaven refresh set' that includes all the stickers for you to reapply so you can start from scratch if you want.
I figure if I ever get to the point where I've completed the whole thing and want to go for another round, it probably deserves to be bought again. I mean, conservatively, it's going to take us a couple of years to get through this monstrosity. And by then the expansion will be out, soooo.
As far as quests go, I went thematic as well.
My Cragheart wants to donate a bunch of money to the sanctuary. Finding faith is a pretty likely thing after getting his chest smashed in for being worthless, and having to rob a bunch of people to fuel that faith is plenty entertaining. Cragheart isn't great for looting, but I picked up a fancy gadget that I immediately sold, so I'm doing fine for cash at the moment
Let him choose a new personal quest ? I deliberately chose quests which seemed close to the character's personality-- the Scoundrel, for example, has the Perfect Poison quest.
I went the opposite route and took a quest that feels incredibly wrong for my Scoundrel, hopefully it should be fun:
Spoiler for personal quest
The one where you have to find some sort of undead bane axe and then use it to murder a bunch of undead. Might be called Instrument of Light? Axe-wielding Scoundrel, LOLOL
(pls don't spoil me on what the axe actually does or whether this choice was good or bad, I want to be surprised)
I don't think we've seen that one, does it open the Sun box?
Yep, it does
That makes sense. Pretty sure I've seen the item via a different route to it; won't say more per Fry's request.
We are about ten or so missions in, plus a side quest or two. Running a Brute & Spellweaver as a two character party, with the Brute tanking and the Spellweaver on mob control. We did get in a few games with three and our third player used a Scoundrel who chipped in with single target spike damage. We struggled a bit when the monsters first leveled up but our damage output eventually caught up enough to compensate.
We hit at least 6 of them, which was rough. None of the big attacks, thankfully, but that "ignore scenario effects" perk is looking pretty nice.
We made a big mistake too
We didn’t realize that the number of curse cards that could affect your characters was limited, so we accidentally threw some monster curse cards into our decks too. We had 16 total! And we still managed to eke out a win.
We hit at least 6 of them, which was rough. None of the big attacks, thankfully, but that "ignore scenario effects" perk is looking pretty nice.
We made a big mistake too
We didn’t realize that the number of curse cards that could affect your characters was limited, so we accidentally threw some monster curse cards into our decks too. We had 16 total! And we still managed to eke out a win.
I strongly suspect that my group made the same mistake
but I was not in the room during setup, so I'm not sure. I think someone read the scenario rule as "each player gets three curses" and I think I found out later that there should only exist ten player curses? (not sure how you would have gotten to 16).
Really weird design decision to have the scenario rule violate the component limit like that. So do you just decide how to divide up the curses then if there aren't enough?
We hit at least 6 of them, which was rough. None of the big attacks, thankfully, but that "ignore scenario effects" perk is looking pretty nice.
We made a big mistake too
We didn’t realize that the number of curse cards that could affect your characters was limited, so we accidentally threw some monster curse cards into our decks too. We had 16 total! And we still managed to eke out a win.
I strongly suspect that my group made the same mistake
but I was not in the room during setup, so I'm not sure. I think someone read the scenario rule as "each player gets three curses" and I think I found out later that there should only exist ten player curses? (not sure how you would have gotten to 16).
Really weird design decision to have the scenario rule violate the component limit like that. So do you just decide how to divide up the curses then if there aren't enough?
Oh you’re right it was 3 apiece
I saw the creator post on BGG that two get 3 and two get 2, as the official explanation, since you can only use as many as you have
Humm. I might run some solo scenario's outside campaign mode to unlock my personal quest. I'm enjoying the mindthief but i think we could do with something new.
Just from things that are present in the rulebook, there are classes that are unlocked by having either a high party reputation or low party reputation. However:
- rulebook also hints that there could be multiple ways to unlock a particular class (rules for what happens if you unlock a class twice)
- you could start a separate party and have the second party try to go the other direction on the reputation track
- maybe over a long enough time line, you can get one party all the way from one end of the reputation track to the other? I haven't played enough to see how alignment changes happen
Both the Sun and Moon classes, which unlock at positive and negative ten reputation, respectively, can be unlocked with personal quests as well -- that's how it happened in my play group.
Some classes are alignment locked? So is there a chance I just won’t see an entire class?
We got Sun off rep and Moon off PQ.
If you dig in the scenario book you'll see Scary Face can unlock real late in the game off what I'd call a branch of the main storyline.
I think it's the only one but I'm not 100% on that.
I believe it's possible to run out of non-random quests before opening everyone; it certainly seems to be where my group is headed. We'll probably miss Saw and Lightning Bolts altogether.
We hit at least 6 of them, which was rough. None of the big attacks, thankfully, but that "ignore scenario effects" perk is looking pretty nice.
We made a big mistake too
We didn’t realize that the number of curse cards that could affect your characters was limited, so we accidentally threw some monster curse cards into our decks too. We had 16 total! And we still managed to eke out a win.
I strongly suspect that my group made the same mistake
but I was not in the room during setup, so I'm not sure. I think someone read the scenario rule as "each player gets three curses" and I think I found out later that there should only exist ten player curses? (not sure how you would have gotten to 16).
Really weird design decision to have the scenario rule violate the component limit like that. So do you just decide how to divide up the curses then if there aren't enough?
Oh you’re right it was 3 apiece
I saw the creator post on BGG that two get 3 and two get 2, as the official explanation, since you can only use as many as you have
Why that design decision happened:
Because originally there was no division between player curses and monster curses. There were just 20 curse cards and they went where they went. Breaking them up was an errata made later on, presumably because getting to flood the monster deck with 20 curses can trivialize just about any scenario (and is not difficult to do for certain classes if you build for it). When updating the scenario book for second edition, Isaac Childres either forgot to change the "add 3 curses" special effect, or just didn't want to change the scenario balance.
We did it with 4 people and we weren’t really on the razor’s edge at all since the guards just sort of stood there dumbly with their shields up almost the entire time
My brute got to the treasure and found a blueprint he will definitely want to purchase
+3
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
Retired the Brute tonite and unlocked the guy with two boxes.
Me and my partner have been playing this. I picked it up after hearing about it because it sounded like totally a game I'd be super into. Good news, it is!
She's never really played a board game like this so we failed the first scenario a couple of times but now we've got things under control. We're running a brute/mindthief combo and it's working out alright, just finished scenario 3 tonight! I think we've got like 5 places we could go next? I've got the feeling we've got our weekends cut out for us for awhile.
+2
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
I think that might vary by character and by how much you've upgraded your cards. If you have a good/important non-lost card or two that you want to be using all the time, it's pretty good, but so far I haven't found it to be that useful for my level 1 scoundrel. Most of my cards are pretty samey, so it doesn't do much other than stave off exhaustion for one turn.
I think that might vary by character and by how much you've upgraded your cards. If you have a good/important non-lost card or two that you want to be using all the time, it's pretty good, but so far I haven't found it to be that useful for my level 1 scoundrel. Most of my cards are pretty samey, so it doesn't do much other than stave off exhaustion for one turn.
I went back and reread it says "recover discarded" instead of "recover lost". Whoops!
Well, it's a minor potion. I assume there's a major one available eventually; maybe that lets you reclaim lost cards. The minors are still useful, though, letting you use something twice in a row without having to short rest.
You get loot immediately, but if it's an item you can't actually equip it until the scenario's done, since "choose your gear" happens at the beginning. I'm not sure it ever matters if you wait til after the scenario to find out what you've got, except then you'd have to wait to open your present, which so far we have not managed to do.
You get loot immediately, but if it's an item you can't actually equip it until the scenario's done, since "choose your gear" happens at the beginning. I'm not sure it ever matters if you wait til after the scenario to find out what you've got, except then you'd have to wait to open your present, which so far we have not managed to do.
Oh durr, yeah, we've already encountered a situation where it would matter. Nevermind.
Anyway, session report for this week: spoilers for scenarios #3 and #8, a few events, and the Sanctuary donation unlock.
The Spellweaver was off meditating somewhere this week, so the other three ventured out to a bandit camp (#3), as taking Jekserah up on her offer was more appealing than the prospect of another bloody crypt. Said camp turned out to be more of a permanent home than expected, and an unfortunate purge was the result. Nobody was very happy about that, especially when Jekserah herself just kind of dismissed both it and us out of hand.
Naturally we immediately entered a pie-eating contest after this, because nothing says cheerful like hurling up a bunch of apple and pastry. At least the audience was impressed. The Sanctuary doesn't discriminate when it comes to donations, though, and gold from fruit-stained hobos is as good as any other. (We unlocked the ability to... donate more gold. But a surer path to prosperity is quite nice).
Didn't take a great deal of thought to agree with the guard telling us that Jekserah is a bit of a dick, and so it was off to her warehouse (#8), which (shock, surprise) was full of the skeletons we've been trying to avoid. Sigh. At least the indoor environment provided plenty of walls and tables for the Cragheart to throw them into. (He might also have stolen a treasure that the Scoundrel stepped into a trap for). He was thoroughly shown up in the final room, at least, when the Brute basically headbutted one of Jekserah's massive bodyguards to death by himself, and a combination of poison and a brutal point-blank flintlock blast mostly dealt with the other. The merchant herself has fled, sadly, but we have plenty of adventure options now between a side quest, the crypts, and the leads she left behind.
(Despite playing on Hard now and with only three players, we pretty much steamrolled both missions. The guards at the camp seemed to just shield/retaliate 90% of the time, and the shamans did regular move-and-attacks apart from a couple of heals. The undead at the warehouse went down real fast, and the Inox Bodyguards had all of about two rounds of actions; the Brute seriously just crushed one by himself with enormous crits after using his fastest move and boots of striding, followed by that "attack X, where X is how much you moved", plus the helmet that adds one damage for faster movement. Still fun, though.)
Wait, why did you start at level 2? The beginning scenario should be done at 0 or 1.
Josh is right. Enemy level, according to the rule book, should be (party's average level)/2, rounded up. So you shouldn't be playing against level 2 monsters until your party has an average level of 3.
But we learned what to do and what not to do; I think a key factor was burning powerful cards too early.
Bingo. Exhaustion is the only real danger in the game, which means you need to keep as many cards in your hand/discard as possible. Losing a card early in the scenario is roughly equal to giving up 3-4 turns; you should only burn a card when it seems worth it to give up 3 turns for the card's effect.
Opening doors is a bit of an art as well. I like to open doors with someone who can go invisible to hide from the inevitable arrows, swords, or claws, or alternately with someone who has enough movement to duck back into the previous room if necessary.
+1
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
Wait, why did you start at level 2? The beginning scenario should be done at 0 or 1.
Josh is right. Enemy level, according to the rule book, should be (party's average level)/2, rounded up. So you shouldn't be playing against level 2 monsters until your party has an average level of 3.
We must have mis-read "average" as "total" in the rules.
Hell in that case I don't feel so bad since we were taking the scenario on hard mode.
That one's kind of a beast regardless, mostly because you have relatively few tools to apply to it. Isaac seemed to want people to learn by doing, so he set that up the way he did to show players they need to hustle while still being thoughtful about what risks they take, imo.
Posts
Yep, it does
Naming conventions when marking spoilers: Use these descriptions:
01 - Brute
02 - Tinkerer
03 - Spellweaver
04 - Scoundrel
05 - Cragheart
06 - Mindthief
07 - Sun
08 - Three Spears
09 - Concentric Circles
10 - Moon/Eclipse
11 - Cthulhu
12 - Lightning Bolt
13 - Music Note
14 - Spiky/Angry Face
15 - Saw
16 - Triforce
17 - Two-Mini Class
A list of Some Class guides, and action card reviews. These are just the opinion of the player who wrote them, but for someone new to a new class, it can help give you some insight into what the class is good at, and what kinds of builds that might be the way you want to go with.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gloomhaven/comments/6lmxz3/class_guide_repository/
Also, be aware that they do sell a 'gloomhaven refresh set' that includes all the stickers for you to reapply so you can start from scratch if you want.
As far as quests go, I went thematic as well.
That makes sense. Pretty sure I've seen the item via a different route to it; won't say more per Fry's request.
Fingers crossed we get to do more
Scenario #4:
We made a big mistake too
I strongly suspect that my group made the same mistake
Really weird design decision to have the scenario rule violate the component limit like that. So do you just decide how to divide up the curses then if there aren't enough?
Oh you’re right it was 3 apiece
Some classes are alignment locked? So is there a chance I just won’t see an entire class?
- rulebook also hints that there could be multiple ways to unlock a particular class (rules for what happens if you unlock a class twice)
- you could start a separate party and have the second party try to go the other direction on the reputation track
- maybe over a long enough time line, you can get one party all the way from one end of the reputation track to the other? I haven't played enough to see how alignment changes happen
We got Sun off rep and Moon off PQ.
I think it's the only one but I'm not 100% on that.
I believe it's possible to run out of non-random quests before opening everyone; it certainly seems to be where my group is headed. We'll probably miss Saw and Lightning Bolts altogether.
Why that design decision happened:
My brute got to the treasure and found a blueprint he will definitely want to purchase
She's never really played a board game like this so we failed the first scenario a couple of times but now we've got things under control. We're running a brute/mindthief combo and it's working out alright, just finished scenario 3 tonight! I think we've got like 5 places we could go next? I've got the feeling we've got our weekends cut out for us for awhile.
2-Box Character Stuff
Brute+Cragheart seem really solid together.
Minor Potion of Stamina seems insane.
Looking at Cthulhu's cards-- Dang.
I think that might vary by character and by how much you've upgraded your cards. If you have a good/important non-lost card or two that you want to be using all the time, it's pretty good, but so far I haven't found it to be that useful for my level 1 scoundrel. Most of my cards are pretty samey, so it doesn't do much other than stave off exhaustion for one turn.
I went back and reread it says "recover discarded" instead of "recover lost". Whoops!
I had been recovering lost cards
Without spoiling, it matters.
Anyway, session report for this week: spoilers for scenarios #3 and #8, a few events, and the Sanctuary donation unlock.
Naturally we immediately entered a pie-eating contest after this, because nothing says cheerful like hurling up a bunch of apple and pastry. At least the audience was impressed. The Sanctuary doesn't discriminate when it comes to donations, though, and gold from fruit-stained hobos is as good as any other. (We unlocked the ability to... donate more gold. But a surer path to prosperity is quite nice).
Didn't take a great deal of thought to agree with the guard telling us that Jekserah is a bit of a dick, and so it was off to her warehouse (#8), which (shock, surprise) was full of the skeletons we've been trying to avoid. Sigh. At least the indoor environment provided plenty of walls and tables for the Cragheart to throw them into. (He might also have stolen a treasure that the Scoundrel stepped into a trap for). He was thoroughly shown up in the final room, at least, when the Brute basically headbutted one of Jekserah's massive bodyguards to death by himself, and a combination of poison and a brutal point-blank flintlock blast mostly dealt with the other. The merchant herself has fled, sadly, but we have plenty of adventure options now between a side quest, the crypts, and the leads she left behind.
(Despite playing on Hard now and with only three players, we pretty much steamrolled both missions. The guards at the camp seemed to just shield/retaliate 90% of the time, and the shamans did regular move-and-attacks apart from a couple of heals. The undead at the warehouse went down real fast, and the Inox Bodyguards had all of about two rounds of actions; the Brute seriously just crushed one by himself with enormous crits after using his fastest move and boots of striding, followed by that "attack X, where X is how much you moved", plus the helmet that adds one damage for faster movement. Still fun, though.)
Josh is right. Enemy level, according to the rule book, should be (party's average level)/2, rounded up. So you shouldn't be playing against level 2 monsters until your party has an average level of 3.
Bingo. Exhaustion is the only real danger in the game, which means you need to keep as many cards in your hand/discard as possible. Losing a card early in the scenario is roughly equal to giving up 3-4 turns; you should only burn a card when it seems worth it to give up 3 turns for the card's effect.
That one's kind of a beast regardless, mostly because you have relatively few tools to apply to it. Isaac seemed to want people to learn by doing, so he set that up the way he did to show players they need to hustle while still being thoughtful about what risks they take, imo.