Arkham Horror RPG: Starter Set – Hungering Abyss

There’s no chance that Steve would ever set foot in a house like that. Not on your nelly, sunshine.

A swollen moon leers over the rooftop, the eye of some vast and unknowable beast peering through the velvet curtains of night. Steve has read too many horror books and seen too many horror movies to cross this particular threshold. He would take one look, wonder what kind of serial killer dwells inside, and move along. A wise man, that Steve. The kind of guy who stays alive beyond the end of the story.

However, this is why we created roleplaying games, surely? You see, it’s all well and good reading Lovecraft’s tales of terrors from the edge of the universe, and it’s fun to fill your head full of horror movies, but these are non-interactive forms of entertainment, they happen in front of you. And while they’re not completely passive – we can get quite emotionally involved with the good ones – we are basically following a path that someone else has set. You might be able to see the other paths, but you can’t take them. In real life you wouldn’t want to take them because, you know, death and all that. But a TTRPG lets you experience it for yourself. You make the choices, you set the agenda, you investigate the crime and either solve it or fail. So, let’s step inside that terrible house and stumble upon a cultist plot that you and I are way out of our depth to deal with.

Fig 01: It’s a packed box, with plenty of story awaiting.

The disclosure section. I’m not kidding when I say that I’m basically a noob to the TTRPG world. Here’s my gaming life, short form (shortish): We start with the family faves, Monopoly, Cluedo, etc. Then aged twelve I have one of the greatest Christmases of my life: HeroQuest awaits me under the tree. Life changing stuff. Space Quest follows soon after, then mid-teens see the arrival of the Advanced versions of both games. We’re edging closer to full roleplaying here. I start reading Dragon magazine, even though I don’t play any of the games listed: I find the worlds fascinating and want to tell stories within them. A few rounds of Warhammer occur here and there, although I’m never entirely sure of what I’m doing. And then I went off to university, and the board gaming stopped completely, and only resumed at the start of 2024. I drifted perilously close to TTRPGs, then, but we seemed destined to be forever distant. Funny how things can come back round.

Who is this Starter Set for then?

The clue could be in the title. Alright, clever boy that I am, but what kind of starter? Someone new to Arkham Horror, someone new to this style of TTRPG, or someone new to the entirety of TTRPG? See, it’s an important question to answer.

Fig 02: These dice! And the LCG fans might recognise Daisy…

During my time learning and playing Arkham Horror I’ve come across some chatter online, and isn’t there always chatter about everything online, and doesn’t it always skew somewhat towards moaning? You know what I mean, the kind of thing with people saying ‘I don’t like it, or I know I won’t like it, therefore it’s trash,’ usually said before they’ve come anywhere near the thing they’re trashing. I’ve seen some dismissive stuff, saying what’s the point of Arkham Horror TTRPG when Call of Cthulhu already exists. I’ll tell you why. Me, and people like me.

(I just want to add that we all have and are entitled to our own viewpoints, so there’s nothing wrong with saying that a product isn’t for you, thank you very much, then move on with your day. However, bear in mind that many other people exist and while you may believe something is pointless or shouldn’t exist, be prepared to be proven wrong.)

This is a gateway to an entirely different aspect of a hobby I already love – after all, I imagine that the vast majority of roleplayers also love board games. I’ve always looked at TTRPGs and thought they look like great fun, but it also looks pretty deep and there’s no way I’ve got the time to learn how to run a game, let alone the skills to make sure my fellow players are having fun. Unless a smartly put-together Starter Set comes along that’s built around a game universe I already know well…

Let’s return to the story, because that’s the whole point, isn’t it? The emergent storytelling is what we want, the developments and twists brought about by a combination of the campaign setting, the gamemaster’s whims, and the players’ unpredictable decisions and interactions. This starter campaign is called The Hungering Abyss, which tonally and thematically keeps with the kind of scenario titles you’d get in the LCG, as well as in Lovecraft’s original fiction. Arkham has been rocked by a series of murders, and you and your pals are starting to suspect there’s something darker and more dangerous behind them than a few gangland hits. The police aren’t doing much, so it’s time to investigate…

Fig 03: Even the fonts and layouts are the same as the LCG, and this familiarity definitely helped to ease me into the game.

A brief side-natter about Lovecraft himself, as there’s always someone who brings up the fact that he was a foul man with foul beliefs and that therefore the entirety of his work should be buried and forgotten. There’s no denying that his beliefs were not only unpleasant, they were deeply wrong, and I don’t even countenance the mitigation that he was ‘a product of his times’. I don’t buy that explanation as there were plenty of people at the time who held entirely different moral standards. If you hate him so much that you’re determined to steer clear of the entire Arkham Horror range, go for it, make your own choices. Here’s the thing though: he’s dead. Been dead a long time. He made no profit from his stories in life, and can make none now. And sometimes we have to confront unpleasant notions in order to improve ourselves and help others understand the right way to live.

How Does It Play?

This is the opening scene of Act 1: The Howl of the Hounds. The opening will be very familiar to anyone who has played Arkham Horror LCG – which, considering the target audience we discussed earlier, is an excellent design choice. This element of familiarity gives a nice firm base to ease into the game from.

Bear in mind I’ve never been a Games Master before and I’m convinced I’ll make a hash of it. I’m about to find out that I’m playing with a pair who care not one jot about my inexperience.

Imagine the Games Master as a somewhat nervous Story God just behind the heavy clouds above Joe Diamond’s house (a few raised eyebrows of recognition amongst the audience). Joe Diamond himself is present, as is Daisy Walker.

Fig 04: Bad things are going to happen in these locations.

I reproduce this (mostly) verbatim as a demonstration of how easy it is to get the game going. Even when it seemed like I was making a hash of things or blagging it, the story progressed with our own little flavour sprinkled across it. This is from the viewpoint of a trio of absolute RPG virgins, and it was a little bit chaotic to say the least.

GM: An unsettling force has been casting its hungry gaze upon the streets of Arkham,

Daisy: Can I get a cup of tea? I wanted a cuppa before we started.

GM: Er, in game or real life?

Daisy: For real, duh.

Joe: Could be both, couldn’t it? Make it both, then I can keep in character.

(Several stops for drinks, snacks, and checking why the cat is shouting at us (it turns out she doesn’t have sufficient variety of food in her bowls), all apparently both in game and real life.)

GM: Okay, so you should have both read your investigator portfolio, which tells you…

Daisy: I think Joe leaves the room, and I check his drawers.

GM: Right. Not sure you’re meant to make Joe’s decisions for him.

Daisy: Okay. Joe, leave the room.

Joe: Why am I going to do that?

Daisy: Oh no, Joe, I think I heard something rattling at the front door, can you go and check it’s locked? All of these reports of missing people have got me so nervous.

Joe: Yeah, I’m a 1920’s gentleman, so I would do that.

GM: Okay, you leave the room to investigate the noise that Daisy claimed to hear.

Daisy: You said there’s a large desk in the middle of the room?

GM: Yes, with a stack of very important-looking papers on it.

Daisy: Great. I want to look in the drawers.

GM: So we’re ignoring the very important-looking papers to go rooting around.

Daisy: I don’t know this guy from Adam. We’ve only met because of these disappearances and because we want to solve them. He could still be a freak.. I need to watch my own back.

GM (totally blagging it and trying not to panic that we’re already nowhere near the story): Um… alright. Roll two dice. You score more than a 7, you hear Joe coming back. Less, and he catches you rifling through his belongings.

The interesting part is how Daisy carried her distrust of Joe on as the campaign progressed. A throwaway moment became an integral part of the relationship between these two characters, and it made the moments when they succeeded all the more intriguing. Daisy ended up with a whole other backstory that doesn’t feature in the detailed portfolio provided in the box, and alluded to the possibilities of new character creation once we eventually take the dice into the Core Rulebook somewhere down the line.

Fig 05: The cat crystal ball is just about the only thing you won’t get in the box.

There are further elements as the campaign progresses that will also be familiar to long-time players of the LCG. Shortly after the above situation occurred, the investigators hear a loud crash from the cellar, and the troubles escalate rapidly. The barrier is present, but resolves differently in the TTRPG compared with the LCG. It’s presented here as a puzzle that needs to be solved, and it’s this shifting of different play styles that really keeps both the players and the GM engaged and invested in the campaign.

A note on the progress of my somewhat chaotic players: once the noises began in the cellar, a very real sense of the danger their fragile characters were in took over. This is another aspect that the TTRPG shares with the LCG. The opening scenarios seem relatively easy until the confrontations begin, and then the odds feel stacked against the players – as they should when facing such overwhelming forces – and death is one bad choice away. It makes the victories that much sweeter, makes them feel earned, and the ongoing story all the more absorbing.

In Conclusion, This Horror is Tremendous Fun

Just as the initial campaign of the LCG was an ideal introduction to the game, so it is in the TTRPG. In fact, it functions even better as a way of easing players into the game, due to the manner in which concepts are introduced. The opening scene gets players used to interacting with each other, with the environment and with the key items and documents they need to use in order to progress. It introduces the necessary mechanics to get both the players and the GM through the opening chapter, and more elements are brought in as the story unfolds. This layering of the mechanics is balanced perfectly and means that no-one feels overwhelmed or put off playing.

Fig 06: Here’s the real GM. Tonto is considering which dastardly evil to unleash next…

This is a packed box. You get a heck of a lot for the very reasonable price you pay – this is a serious bargain. There’s plenty of dice – some of them a delicious shade of green – although having more dice at your disposal is always a wise plan. Each pre-made character has their own detailed portfolio, there’s documentation for the players to discover, puzzle materials, a GM screen and more. There’s ten scenes spread across three acts, and by the end the GM and the players will feel like they’ve lived through a gritty and pulpy adventure, one filled with great individual and unique experiences, some surprising, some satisfying, and – if you’re lot are anything like my lot – some ridiculous and hilarious.

I’m in no position to compare this to any other TTRPG, as this is where the world of tabletop roleplaying games begins for me. What I can say is that I’m genuinely pleased I threw myself into it, and it’s been an experience like none other I’ve had in gaming. I hope to play as a private investigator in Arkham myself next time. It’s the kind of world setting that’s right up my alley. It oozes atmosphere and has a constant thread of threat and dread that drives the story onward, with a real sense that the odds could be insurmountable.

More please