The Interview:

Innkeeper Vase Odin: Greetings, Mr. Crabbyterror.

Crabbyterror8: Hello Innkeeper.

Innkeeper: What was your entry into the game? What other games do you play currently or played before?

CT8: Oh man...where to begin? I first bought The Call Of Cthulhu 2nd edition in 1985 on a trip to the US and never looked back (from Australia). Whilst I enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons, it lacked the survival horror elements and more streamlined gameplay that Call of Cthulhu offered. I also bought the original Arkham Horror Boardgame when it came out in 1987. A group of us played it to death trying to beat it. I have a photo of us all triumphantly holding up our investigators, in some typical 80s-Stranger-Things style rumpus room....like we'd won the lottery or something!

Fast forward to the 90s and I played a fair bit of "Magic: The Gathering", but disliked the hyper-competitive aspect. These days I'm at a stage in my life where solo play is more realistic, so when Arkham Horror The Card Game came along I was instantly hooked because it ticks all the boxes for me: co-op, solo, Cthulhu Mythos with a collectible card game and deck-building elements. Just perfect!

Innkeeper: Clearly, you are drawn to the Mythos. What is your favorite Lovecraft story?

CT8: Mountains Of Madness. It was the first Lovecraft story I read and whilst I found it a difficult read it has all of the key elements I love. It's classic Lovecraft: it's narrated after the fact as a warning to others. It lays out the key elements and themes of cosmic horror: the limits of human understanding & knowing, the insignificance of human civilization in the face of deep space and deep time.

Importantly, and this relates directly to the way I approach playing AH: LCG, there is no happy ending and no tidy resolution. There is this impression of having touched the void, having briefly experienced a new reality and been left permanently damaged by the experience. That's why I don't care if I never finish some of the campaigns because for me that's not the point....its the experience, the journey, even if that journey is one of madness and death...

Innkeeper: In Arkham Horror The Card Game, who is your current favorite Investigator?

CT8: I'm a sucker for Seekers. Why? No-one else has a clue! I think it because I love Survival Horror Video games (Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Deadly Premonition, Alone Against The Dark, etc) where the protagonist is relatively weak but overcomes unspeakable horrors through sheer intellect and problem-solving. Ursula is the seeker I've played the most, so she is my favorite.

Innkeeper: In that same vein, what is your favorite scenario so far?

CT8: The Carcosa campaign is my favorite so far. Carcosa is just such a wonderful campaign. It really messes with your head: Is it all real? Is it just imagined? Am I the problem? I also love the European locations: Paris, Catacombs and Mont Saint Michelle - just wonderful, I can play that campaign again and again...

Innkeeper: Your YouTube channel, "Out of Ammo Out of Time", features a unique take on Arkham Horror LCG playthroughs where you use the recommended starter decks from FFG's website and run them through the "Night of the Zealot" mini-campaign. You set it up in a league style scoring system and run it as a kind of fun "Hunger Games" theme. What inspired you to come up with this idea?

CT8: Dark Souls was my inspiration. Sounds strange, but I've spent a great deal of the past few years being part of that community and the thing that always struck me about Dark Souls was the really varied ways that different people interacted with that game and made content for the community. Some focussed on the lore creating amazing videos, others Player vs. Player (PVP) & Fight Clubs, still others focus on support and cooperation, some even focussed on the clothing! (fashion-souls).

I had seen Octgn being used by The Whisperer In Darkness and I really wanted to use it, but I wanted to have a different take on it. I had always enjoyed the league mode in Magic on-line - so I started to think through how that might work playing AH:LCG solo, and that's how The Investigator Games came about on my channel. In addition, it gives me a chance to master each scenario by playing it a lot, which is incredibly satisfying (like Dark Souls). I now find when I play The Gathering (now 26+ times!) I almost have a feel for what encounter cards are going to pop...its weird!

Innkeeper: What was the most memorable or surprising moment in a campaign or playthrough?

CT8: Two things. First was playing Minh for the Investigator games. I fully thought she would fail so badly, I was prepared for a terrible game and I spent half the game waiting for the King In Yellow weakness to drop.....I imagined this poor girl sneaking around the house in The Gathering barely making it past hordes of ghouls and all sorts. And she not only got through but she defeated the Ghoul Priest!!!!

I was overjoyed for her until I remembered that (Minh) doesn't exist!! But it was a great outcome, I dug out your comment which summed it up: "Minh pulled it off! I am so pleasantly shocked at how amazingly well she did!"..fantastic!!!

The other one was getting all set up to play The Forgotten Age for the first time with my daughter. We spent ages crafting our decks and getting ready, carefully choosing our supplies, etc and then we played. It was so hard!! We failed miserably! In only 9 turns!!! People said it was tough....but man..this tough?? Then we realized we'd gotten agenda 1 and 2 back to front ARRRRGH!