A real interesting idea here, in that players were competing to complete a "story" in this one. Unfortunately, the mechanics were rather lengthy and convoluted for a CCG.

I think that was the idea I couldn't quite comprehend. It was probably 1998 that I last looked at the rules.

I haven't got this on the table yet, but after reading the rules, it does seem like you end up going through your deck a lot.

And despite being based on HP's works, the 'adventures' are incredibly bland. 'an ALLY in the LIBRARY fights a MONSTER with a WEAPON before taking a TRAIN to the BEACH'. Uh-huh. If that doesn't sap some sanity, what would?

Me thinks that unless you have Chthulu bed sheets, and have lied on at least one job application that you attended Miskatonic University (before a certain unmentionable event forced you to leave), that this game may not have much lasting appeal.

But there's a chance it'll get on the table soon and I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I used to play this with a few people when it was first released. It was fun up to the expansion that added the dream worlds. Then you could do wacky things like take an airship to the dream world! Fun...

AS I recall we did enjoy the game though..

We picked this up recently. The stories are bland but the thing that makes this fun is how quick the gameplay is. Each player is working towards independent goals with cards that have pictures of Lovecraft stuff on there.

I've always looked at CCGs as "just another cardgame" and so I may be more open-minded about mechanics though.

The Adventures are nothing more than checklists. You don't have to play the cards in the order on the card. The "adventure" aspect comes from the actual play.

As for mechanics, any CCG'er or AT! should be able to pick up the game fairly easily. Unfortunately, the game came out in the days before anyone thought players would play out of a starter deck. The Standard Game Set decks are actually playable, but sub-optimal.

If you're bored of combat-oriented CCGs and don't mind a multiplayer solitaire game, Mythos is a great AT game.

great game

I wasn't terribly impressed with this.

Hill's Wholesale Gaming has starter and booster boxes of this for $6-$8.

You'll want to find several friends for this one, with two players its pretty pointless IMHO. Since you accumulate mana, and then build abominations, the first player is always one mana or one minion ahead, so the second player mostly just gets to ape the first player to cling until they are slowly rubbed out, or get really lucky with a card effect.

I've read (how true I wouldn't know) that this game was part of the inspiration for Dreamblade, and if so, maybe there is something in that game that could help form some better house rules for this one? But of course Dreamblade is also defunct now, so maybe we should just admire the cards for their artwork and go play something else.

There are some thematic similarities between this and Dreamblade (horror minions as opposed to mostly nightmarish dream minions) and of course both share certain collectible game mechanics such as spawning units for various costs, constructing warbands/decks for combinations, having units of four different factions. All that said, the games themselves are quite different and Dreamblade is a far superior design in my opinion. At the current prices, though, I've had some fun putting together a few Hecatomb decks and trying the game out. I'd like to explore it a bit further (although I'm certainly not bowled over by it yet).

I had some high hopes for this game, it had a unique look and feel and I thought it was a pretty decent game system... not many people got into this one though, so it was only played a couple of times... the only complaint that I had was the cards would get really dirty from peoples finger oils and whatnot after touching them a few times... something that isn't noticable on standard paper cards.

Derek...

I got into this one briefly. It was fun, but it could take a long time. I may have to look this one up again.

Long time?

Three player games could take a whole day to finish.

This was a great game. I loved sending my ship to the different locations. Very fun game.

I should really break this one out again sometime.

I think I still have a starter deck of this somewhere.... but never got to play it.

You can play this online on the Gatling Engine:
http://www.ccgworkshop.com

Includes all five original sets, plus 6 additional online only sets.

Picked this up recently. Mechanics are outdated and there are several combos that allow a 1-2 turn game.

I really only play 2 player now... back when I used to love the game I was doing multiplayer more. As a multiplayer game I enjoyed it. Still would, even with the ridiculous combos. As a 2 player too much tit-for-tat.

Check out the updated rules at http://www.werepenguin.net/rage/rules/

It really cleans up a lot of the timing issues and cuts down on the one turn wins.

I love the original Rage and it's probably still my favorite CCG to play. Sadly, recent changes to the rules and the addition of fan cards have really turned me off from the game. I really feel they're trying to "fix" a game that is meant to be "broken" given the subject matter. What makes these changes all the more frustrating is that they only represent the preferences of a small, and apparently "more dedicated than you" group of people.

It's true that you can play the game fairly well via CCG Workshop, but you should be warned that A) Games take hours to finish and B) They play by their updated rules using fan cards which leads to an experience that is noticeably different. YMMV, but it was enough to drive me away.

Oh yeah, Black Furies RULE!

The Z-man has revived this game.

This one had a quite active group at the FLGS where I lived last. I was just about to make the jump and get into it when I ended up moving away. Now I have no FLGS.

If you play EVE, this game is fantastic. However, if you own EVE you might as well play it.

I played EVE briefly, but I didn't know a CCG had been created for it.

This game is so broken it's unplayable. Which is a real shame considering how nice looking the cards are.

The idea of a shared mana pool is intriguing.

Indeed, this is one of the best CCG's of all time. The shared resource pool makes for some fantastic game play whether you're stealing resources from other players or making deals with them. The wandering monsters are great as well since it forces all players to unite and keep their numbers down or everyone loses.

Watch out for quiet players though, somehow they manage to sneak towards influence victory. Beware offers of considerable help and payment for only a small amount of influence for you may find yourself handing someone victory.

I can remember when I ran tournaments the amount of prize support that Jennifer used to send out was enormous.

I prefer this to L5R by a long shot. I have a few decks still lying around. Anybody in the Montreal region send me a geekmail.

I hate this game more than EVE, and that's saying something. I played the game before it was released and all that did was ensure I didn't waste my money. L5R was far more interesting and challenging with considerably less frustration.

This game while having some broken cards, was abuilt for 3 plus players.
Loved this game and the cards lent them to theme decks.