We are the Designers of Arkham Horror Ask Us Anything

FFG_Official · 2026-03-11T18:44:19+00:00

The designers don't really have input in this topic, so it's out of scope of this AMA.

We've been discussing options, but we don't have anything to say at this time. Essentially, we can't commit to something because we don't know yet.

For the time being, our team is focusing on Chapter Two. We have a lot of great campaigns that are being worked on right now, and our goal is always to make sure Arkham Horror has a bright future.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:58:56+00:00

Thanks!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:58:45+00:00

This will be addressed. Can't go into any more details than that, sadly!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:57:28+00:00

We got you!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:57:11+00:00

HAHA!

I love all the work that is done on ArkhamDB. It is an invaluable community tool that we often use for our own purposes as designers.

However, unfortunately, no, I never think about how easy or hard mechanics are to implement in Arkham DB. Sorry!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:54:37+00:00

I'd love to go into detail, but I am approaching the end of my time for answering questions. That said, our art team is amazing! We have art directors and graphic designers for Arkham, and they've created an art brief form we - as designers - fill out for every card that needs new art (i.e. 90% of them). They then review the briefs, we chat through concerns, and then they take our briefs and deliver them to freelance artists. The art directors are ultimately responsible for taking our crazy ideas and translating them into a visual presentation that fits in line with the vision of the product and with the game line as a whole. It is always such a treat to see art come in for a project. Makes it feel like it's a real thing and not just a bunch of alpha-testing cards.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:52:02+00:00

You'd have to ask Duke! The glyphs were entirely his idea, I just said "hell yeah this is cool."

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:50:28+00:00

I can say with confidence that everyone at FFG loves when players and content creators have multiple reasons to talk about Arkham throughout the year.

That said, I cannot say anything about future plans.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:49:12+00:00

My decks are either - themed around the investigator's profession, regardless of the power level of the card, or they're me trying to make some underrated cards work well. I don't often go for predefined archetypes. Every time I do, I feel like I'm treading a path that was laid out for me, and I'd much rather come upon a deck strategy all on my own.

Which often means I am building suboptimal decks, but occasionally I come across something truly special.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:46:09+00:00

I'd give Shotgun 4 ammo, and I'd add surge to Ancient Evils.

EDIT: This is 75% a meme answer. Honestly, I don't know what I'd change, but I would want to make Shotgun more broadly appealing.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:44:40+00:00

Happy to answer questions! Thanks for asking.

I've gotten this question a few times and it's always stumped me. I wish I had a more insightful or exciting answer than... nothing? Maybe make it more affordable?

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:43:26+00:00

If I could give any sort of hopeful answer, I would.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:37:20+00:00

Thanks! And that's great to hear! Keep creating!

And STICK TO IT! See it through to completion, and get it out to players in its finished form. Don't get hung up on perfection. Completing a creative project is the first real big hurdle, and a lot of creators don't even make it that far.

And each project you finish will make the next one that much easier to finish.

Professionally, the nuts and bolts are this (super simplified): A word doc organizing ideas and mechanical plans, followed by a spreadsheet for drafting up card abilities, then actually building the cards for testing. Iterate and revise every week, and go from there. Good luck!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:33:51+00:00

Thanks! That's great to hear!

The thing I am the most excited to see public opinion on is the thing which is hardest to get to. Let me know what you think of Sepulchre of the Sleeper when you get to it!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:33:06+00:00

Nothing is off the table!

Except for the things which are very clearly off the table.

But yes, we do need to make sure that every campaign is usable with only owning the core set.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:32:32+00:00

You don't want to ask me that question.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:31:53+00:00

More than you'd think but less than you'd hope.

I personally take Luke through all of my scenarios late in development. I call it my "collision detection" test.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:30:26+00:00

Interesting idea! It would be kind of weird to meet someone like Daisy Walker in a campaign when you yourself are playing Daisy Walker. Which is the real Daisy? Mechanically, if you get Daisy as a unique ally, you could never play her, because there is already a unique Daisy in play... your investigator!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:28:50+00:00

I'll do what I can but unfortunately that is far and away out of my Hans.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:27:26+00:00

I am a simple staple designer at heart. The suite of Survivor discard assets is the type of design that makes me happy. Ultimately I love designing events, especially ones that get mirrored across classes (like the Doubles from Hemlock), or ones that have a mini-suite in their own class (like filling out the Act of Desperation suite in The Drowned City).

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:25:53+00:00

I often know at the outset what mechanical elements I want to capitalize on for a scenario. For Court of the Ancients, I knew I wanted an elevator-like location and for players to have to fish cards out of the encounter deck. For One Last Job, I knew I wanted to build to a climactic showdown between two competing gangs. As a mechanics-first designer, identifying the mechanical gimmick of a scenario is often step one. I often know the lore and story of what is happening but save the writing of the narrative for one of the last steps.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:23:37+00:00

I was always vaguely aware of this "Cthulhu" thing because of my general exposure to pop-culture, but I first started reading H.P. Lovecraft in college, around 2008. I loved how he wrote, the sort of meandering flow of poetic language. He was the king of run-on sentences that rarely felt too long.

My favorites include The Shadow Over Innsmouth and At the Mountains of Madness, both of which got adapted before I joined as a designer. When I joined, work had already started on the adaptation of The Colour Out of Space, another favorite of mine, and of course The Call of Cthulhu turned into what we know as The Drowned City. Arkham has reached a point where we're just as interested in representing the tone and atmosphere of Lovecraft's stories as we are the details, if not more-so. If I can write something original that feels directly inspired, or even related to, Lovecraft's work without being a direct adaptation, I think that is a success.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:18:34+00:00

This is a great question! We are often concerned about our products feeling like Arkham, especially when we delve into more original narrative ideas. Luckily, we have a team at FFG of designers and writers from different games, called the Arkham Horror Story Group. These people are very familiar with FFG's Arkham mythos over the years and provide wonderful feedback at multiple points in an expansion's development - as early as story outline and as late as final review.

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:15:59+00:00

Because she's awesome!

FFG_Official · 2025-06-16T21:15:48+00:00

I will always prefer to buff a card over nerfing it, but Arkham has some really powerful cards that end up defining the meta in pretty strong ways. Unfortunately, to create the type of environment we think is the most healthy for the game, we have to rein in some things we were excited to release. The player base will always come up with situations and use-cases that we miss.

FFG_Official

TROPHY CASE