Ludifying Lovecraft in Arkham Horror - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 9

through rules-based play. In Arkham Horror, many choices are mathematical.
For example, when ighting a monster, a player must compare a numerical
assessment of the monster's “combat rating” to the character's “ight” score,
and then add the role of a die. he die ofers a sense of uncertainty, a random
element that may afect whether the player wins or loses the ight, but the
algorithmic structure by which the ight progresses is mathematical and
systematic. Yet, the base skill set is highly changeable, manipulable by the
players. Paratextual board games mirror our experiences within the cult world
upon which they are based. All paratextual board games ask us to play for a
time within an alternate world. his world is necessarily incomplete; it relies on
us to ill in the contextual details. hese details, as Marie-Laure Ryan describes,
emerge from our own interpretation of the world around us. 21 Like the iction
upon which it is based, Arkham Horror asks us to re-envision the world. We are
not in Lovecrat's universe, except insofar as we allow ourselves to develop an
understanding of the universe inluenced by the same elements that inluenced
Lovecrat. Interpretation is key—we see chaos and horror in our lives and
justify it, balance it with what we “know” to be true. Lovecratian horror, the
type of horror that excels at being unknowable, inluences our knowledge of
the diegesis of the game. 22 It is not enough to see Middle-earth in he Lord
of the Rings board games, but we also have to input our own interpretation of
what Middle-earth means, and how it developed out of an understanding of
our culture, to make the game have meaning for us. Working in concert with
each other, randomness and strategy in Arkham Horror balance the structural
efect of both the game and the iction rules. 23
he modularity of Arkham Horror reveals additional elements of algorithmic
culture. he game focuses on the town of Arkham as the site of an otherworldly
occupation; Ancient Ones, who have secretly controlled humanity for thousands
of years, have emerged to take over the Earth. With them are various monsters—
zombies, cult leaders, vampires, etc.—who lurk in various buildings and streets
in Arkham. Playing as a band of intrepid heroes, the players move throughout
the town defeating monsters, exploring environments, having encounters with
the people of Arkham, opening (and closing) gates to the Other World, and
(hopefully) earning Elder Signs, which can be used to seal those gates. hese
Other World gates send players out of Arkham, where they are instructed to
move diferently or have diferent encounters. he diferent dimensions call for
new sets of rules, which help determine the play of the Other World. One could
change the rules for the Other World without afecting the overall universe of
Arkham Horror or the larger diegetic game play.