Ludifying Lovecraft in Arkham Horror - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 17

changes game play. he many rules that guide these characters not only help
to diferentiate them from one another, but more importantly, also bring the
diferent skills that the individual team will need to defeat the Ancient One.
his “coming together to defeat an evil” motif is a structural element of the
game that the Lovecrat mythos does not necessarily invite; however, the structural
elements of character individuality actually end up providing the same sense of
unstructure as in Lovecrat. For example, even with a full game complement
of 8 players, not every character in the game will be able to be played—there
may be a noticeable absence of some characteristics. his randomness increases
the level of unstructure in the game. Further, the cooperation mechanic forces
players to communicate to defeat the Ancient One, but the more players that are
in the game, the harder the game becomes: less cooperation is possible, more
monsters are allowed on the board, the Ancient One can awaken earlier, and
fewer monsters can be banished to the “outskirts” of the city. More cooperation
means a more diicult game—and more unstructure within the organizational
parameters of the game.
Individual components
Another method which Arkham Horror uses to realize the unstructure of
Lovecrat's universe is through individual components in the game. For
example, throughout the game various clues are scattered around the game
board representing the town of Arkham. Clues are both a means of tracking
progress in the game (the number of clues corresponding to how well the team
is playing), and tools that all the investigators can use to defeat the Ancient One.
he rule book states, “Clue tokens represent information about the mythos
threat that an investigator may acquire. A player may spend Clue tokens, one
at a time, ater any skill check … to roll one additional die.” 42 In addition, as the
town of Arkham is slowly being overrun with gates to the “Other World” (one
gate appears at the end of every turn), the investigators have to close each one.
If too many gates are open at once, the Ancient One immediately awakens and
begins his destruction of the town. Clues can be used to seal these gates. A player
can spend ive Clue tokens to seal the gate forever. his is a powerful move in the
game, as sealing six gates wins the game.
Yet, the “Clues” themselves are pieces of non-information—images of mag-
nifying glasses instead of text. here is no actual, textual clue as to the meaning
of the Ancient Ones; rather, the Clue tokens are simulacra of information.