Arkham Horror (Third Edition)

Objective and scenarios: This is a cooperative, scenario-driven Arkham adventure. The team follows objectives on the current scenario’s Archive and Codex cards, advancing the story with clues while trying to prevent doom from worsening the situation. Scenarios have their own victory and failure conditions rather than one universal scoring endgame. Fantasy Flight Games lists core box AHB01 for 1–6 players, ages 14+, and about 2–3 hours.

Choose a scenario and build the map: Select a scenario sheet and assemble neighborhood and street tiles according to the map on its reverse. Prepare the scenario’s encounters, events, monsters, and Mythos token cup, then place the required clues, doom, and Archive cards. The publisher recommends Approach of Azathoth for a first game. Scenario materials determine the story and objectives; expansion scenarios are not required core-box setup.

Choose investigators and components: Each player chooses one investigator and takes that investigator’s board, token, action markers, reference card, and starting items. One person can play by controlling one investigator under the same setup; the rules do not require a solo player to control additional investigators or add an automated opponent. The team uses the scenario sheet and Archive cards together, while each investigator’s skills, items, and location shape tests and action choices.

Four phases each round: Play the Action, Monster, Encounter, and Mythos phases in order. During Actions, investigators advance objectives, gather resources, or address threats. During Monsters, ready monsters move or resolve their printed activation text, engaged monsters attack, and exhausted monsters then ready. During Encounters, investigators resolve story content at their locations. During Mythos, draw and resolve tokens. After Mythos, begin the next round.

Action phase: Each investigator may take up to two actions in any order, but cannot repeat the same action during a round. Basic actions include move, gain resources, focus a skill, remove doom at the investigator’s location, attack, evade, research clues, and trade. Being engaged with a monster restricts which actions are available, so use applicable attack or evade actions as allowed. The team coordinates positions, clues, and skills to decide whether to advance the scenario or contain immediate danger.

Monster and Encounter phases: Ready monsters follow their card text to move or resolve a special effect; engaged monsters then attack, and exhausted monsters ready afterward. During Encounters, each investigator not engaged with a monster draws an available encounter for their location, applying special rules for anomalies and other exceptions and resolves its narrative, choice, test, or consequence. An investigator who remains engaged skips that encounter. Monster movement toward prey or a target follows the movement rulings in the Rules Reference and official FAQ.

Mythos, clues, and tests: Each investigator draws and resolves two tokens one at a time from the opaque Mythos cup. Depending on the token and scenario, effects can spread doom, spawn monsters or clues, trigger headlines, disasters, or retribution. Investigators can gain clues through encounters and other effects, then use a Research action and test observation, placing one clue on the scenario sheet for each success and spend them as Archive or Codex objectives require. Skill tests create a pool of dice; normally, each die showing 5 or 6 counts as one success.

Victory and failure: Advance the current scenario using its Codex and Archive objectives until a card declares victory or a scenario failure condition is met. Doom is placed and resolved as the rules direct, driving the scenario’s negative progression. If all available investigators are defeated, devoured, or resigned, the players lose together. The game does not rank players by personal score; the outcome depends on whether the team meets that scenario’s objective.

Official 2020 FAQ and edition boundaries: The FFG product page still lists the Third Edition FAQ dated 2020-09-18, which contains errata and clarifications. It says a monster moving toward a target must take a possible shortest path; if multiple targets are tied, the players decide together. The FAQ also clarifies retribution timing, attacks against multiple monsters, engagement and movement, trades, and some scenario or card text. This draft follows Third Edition sources and excludes Second Edition, 2026 Arkham Horror Remastered, the card game, and three compatible expansions from the core rules.