I love the Arkham Content and honestly this is my most watched channel, I really appreciate all the videos you do and agree, I would rather see doing you things you enjoy. Keep making awesome content!
Thanks for the kind words and the support. I'm not allowed to pick favourites, but I will say that I always love playing Arkham with you during Patron Game Days.
2 points: I love developer diaries. Seeing you design your campaign as you go would be really cool. You have a great evaluation of cards. I absolutely agree that 90% of the time any card can be good so long as it's in the right deck.
@jamesbailey5486 Yeah, it wouldn't need to be a weekly update, but several general overview episodes would be cool and probably get people involved in playtesting
Developer diaries would definitely be something I can do! I already have a ton of stories regarding changes to the scenarios I have designed and I'd love to share that insight. And thanks for the kind words regarding my evaluation skills! :)
Thank you, Justin, for your transparency, honesty, and commitment to your craft. Regarding custom stuff, I think there is a sizable audience for custom campaign videos along the lines of what you do for official campaigns, whether it be reviews, tier lists, tips, etc. I have watched almost every single one of your Arkham videos the past two-plus years. I have noticed a shift of sorts in how you seem to view power level, strategy, and the like--at least that's the vibe I've gotten. You're so dang experienced and talented at Arkham at this point, I can see why things like encounter cards don't scare you anymore. I tend to take a middle of the road approach between that viewpoint and the view of players who appear to panic over Rotting Remains, Grasping Hands, Ancient Evils, etc. Likewise, you having to work harder to be successful with Calvin is probably different from many players who struggle to be successful with Calvin at all no matter how hard they work at it. Anyhow, I am always grateful for your content and hope that 2025 is a smashingly incredible year for you with Arkham! Let's get those 2M views!!!
Thanks for the comment. You're right, there has definitely been a shift in my view of power level over the last two years. I think it's a true testament to Arkham and why I enjoy it so much. I'm curious to see how this continues to evolve into 2025 with my quest to come to terms what "good" means in Arkham to me.
I really like your thought experiment about what is "good" in Arkham. To comment on that, I'll mention the things that keep bringing me back to the channel (and thus help propel you to 2M views!): I love the different personalities and points of view between you, Bryn, and Travis. Bryn especially has a very different view of what is "good" (because to him if something is too good its bad, but if it's too bad it's also bad lol) which I enjoy seeing. I would love to see the 3 of you exploring custom campaigns, providing reviews and feedback on those campaigns, and even discussion/review vids. Like "Each of our top 3 'must-print' custom campaigns" and the three of you can do your thing, much like your other campaign list vids. Appreciate this channel and everything you do!
I listen to your videos while driving, while on the treadmill, while sleeving cards. I listen to your videos so much that my non-gaming wife knows you as the "Notably Guy" because she thinks you say notably more often than the average person 😂
As someone who's been playing Arkham for nearly 8 years now, the custom content I *desperately* want to see isn't gamplay - it's "Which custom campaigns/scenarios are actually good? Do they hold up to official content?" Me and my friend that I mostly play with have only tried ONE custom campaign in our entire time playing Arkham, and it was AWFUL. Constant typos, rules issues, cards that weren't templated correctly... and when we got halfway through we realized it wasn't even finished. It was such a miserable experience that we've been wary to try custom content again. But surely - at this point - some of the custom content must have gotten pretty good! I think highlighting custom campaigns/scenarios that really hold up to the official content would be incredibly helpful. Not only would it let players know which campaigns are worth playing (or even getting physically printed!) but having reviews of custom content would help shine a spotlight on the great stuff, and spread it to players (like me) who are wary, but interested!
To quickly throw a few out there: “Dark Matter” is an excellent campaign IMO, kind of a sci-fi sequel to Path to Carcosa (if the sci-fi setting sounds weird, I thought it actually pulled it off and fit in pretty darn well, but YMMV). For a scenario, I thought “Consternation on the Constellation” was quite fun.
Yes, I think you're right that what custom content is missing are the videos that aren't just gameplay. Actual discussions and reviews, treating them like official content, may be the way to go.
As someone who will never play digital, or use home printed cards, I often wonder why FFG can't collaborate with some of these independent creators in releasing edited and honed versions of the best custom campaigns as official products. If such a run of campaigns were released between the fully in-house stuff, without investigator cards, called something like "The Acolyte Series", to keep it firmly adjacent to the main product, it would surely boost fan engagement while potentially lowering development costs and providing the opportunity to lengthen the in-house development cycle.
For what its worth, when I look at your content it is usually either to answer questions/get inspiration related to 1. which investigator could be fun to play, 2. which campaign could be fun to play, 3. which cards are cool ideas for the investigator I am currently looking to play.
Great question about what is good in Arkham. I think the best illustration of this at the extreme is combo decks. A deck like the pre-taboo Daredevil recurring advanced signatures Wendy deck that can potentially get endless actions and resources. Tuned and with some luck, the deck could go infinite on turn 2. Is that fun? It was fun to build and tune, and fun to play through a couple of times (although mostly just cold drawing hands and figuring out how quickly I could get the engine running without even setting up a campaign). From a Spike point of view, the deck is Extremely Good. But bringing it to a non-solo game of Arkham, it is the opposite of good. It's refusing to play the game, involves no cooperation, in fact it turns any other players into an inconvenience slowing down putting your combo together, and then everyone else just sits there twiddling their thumbs while you go through all the math and clean out the scenario. It's an inefficient machine for destroying fun. On the other end, the games of Arkham I like the most are when it's incredibly close, when everything feels like a disaster and we just barely manage a narrow win against the odds.
To add to your first point, to me the Daredevil combo deck doesn't really vibe with me and my Spike tendancies, because my idea of "good" is winning with as little as possible as quick as possible. And I think both are fair things for a player to find resonance with. It's why the "what's good?" question is so compelling to me right now and why I think it's kind of my personal thesis to our content going into 2025.
Some thoughts on your resolutions: I like the challenge runs least of your playthroughs because it adds artificial constraints on the game. So I think I'd watch more of your videos if they included playthroughs with full card pools. I don't follow much custom content. Custom campaigns are interesting but not investigators. Adding videos about your designs would be great content. Defining "good" would be a fantastic multiple part series. Some of the best Arkham content is discussion of power, decks and card selection. Good for me can be probability of winning vs a good feeling akin to an RPG. Generally I won't play a super optimised deck - why - because I don't always want to run Runic axe in every guardian fighter and pick the same upgrades. That isnt fun to me but for some it may be "Good". "Good" for me involves picking cards that thematically fit my investigator and meet a threshold of adding enough to my deck to allow me to beat a scenario. I want to lean into my investigator's "thing" whilst not playing the same "draw 3/gain 5 resources" card in every deck that can take it. The best content on RUclips for Arkham Horror LCG for me is: TTS playthroughs (it has much better camera angles and no channel has a good tabletop setup to capture AH well) Investigator and scenario Tier lists - for power and for enjoyment playing Deck discussions - 3-4 different decks or core cards and investigator can build around deeper dives into topics (10-30 minute discussion of 2+ people) Any content on your channel like this I'd love to see in 2025. I think the videos with Quick learner in 2024 have been the best things you have put out last year. Gameplay on TTS is far easier to watch than the in person stuff with Eric, Bryn or Travis. That is not a person problem just a way of seeing the game played problem. The discussion topics have been fantastic - some of the best content for the game.
I agree with most of what you said I tend to skip the watching part in the in person game play completely and just listen to them as a podcast with extra steps . I can't see any token drawn anyway so I just vibe with the reaction to the draw
I'm definitely not going to argue that paper gameplay is more legible than TTS. You're 100% right there. TTS is definitely the preferred format for gameplay legibility (and it's why I still have the TTS gameplay as one of the 3 gameplay videos each week). It's the downside that we want to actually play with our physical cards because that's more fun to us. And the good news is that I have plans to explore discussion-based content specifically in 2025, so you'll probably see a bunch of stuff you like regarding that in 2025. Thanks for the comment!
About 80% of my plays are three-handed solo. It’s a lot to track, sometimes, and it definitely moves slower than three individual players. Happy to see more custom content!
Three-handed solo? You're a warrior. Maybe I should try that in 2025. It'd open up the Mystic class a lot for me (and probably open up my mistake potential too...)!
Love your channel! Whenever I get to buy a new cycle I'm excited for the hours of content I get to unlock on your channel along with it. Here's to 2M views and hopefully many more years of awesome and fun content with you! :) Regarding your custom content idea: I really enjoyed your video where you just reviewed an entire custom investigator card expansion a user sent you. It was just a lot of fun seeing you evaluating those cards, pointing out design flaws and getting excited for new innovative mechanics. It inspired me to do custom content myself. Also the custom card challenges were a blast and fun for the community, but I totally get that those videos probably appeal to a rather niche audience and most likely aren't really worth the effort the three of you need to put into them.
We actually are going to have more of the custom content challenge. We have two in the backlog that we just need to record. I love making those videos, so they will return!
I am very happy to hear that you want to focus more on Custom Content - I bookmark all the videos to watch them when I´ve had the chance to play the respective campaigns and scenarios to not spoil the experience for me. And I am very curious to learn more about your own Custom Campaign! Thanks for your content Justin!
Being a custom content creator myself (The Morrigan Tales), it takes awhile to solidify the design, playtest and get a build out that you are happy with. Everything starts as ideas scratched on paper but eventually it will get completed.
I'm honestly very impressed by your creative output with your campaign. I remember you pitching the idea and then I swear it was just finished. Very excited to play it and you should be proud you finished it.
I love the Arkham Custom content. I've pretty much read through every single custom investigator. I LOVED you going through the custom investigators in earlier vids. I think deck building for a few of them could be really interesting and maybe going through either a standalone or whatever content they came with.
For custom content, would love to see player cards reviews. I remember really enjoying the videos about Baldur's Gate 3 custom expansion and custom investigators reviews
I did my own "play all the cards" challenge along side a "play all the investigators" challenge last year and I've experienced a similar shift in perspective and view nearly every card as good in the right deck.
I'd be interested in seeing a strict release order progression run, but I also think it might be fun to follow that up with a non-release order progression run. Something like pretending you are a group of new players now - with the full selection of campaigns, standalones, starter decks & investigator expansions to pick from - add in the player content & play through the campaigns & standalones either in a random order, in an order you think might actually provide a better experience for new players. So things like leaving campaigns you like least until last, buying powerful investigator expansions or starter decks earlier to power up your card pool (or certain classes that otherwise may take a while to get going) quickly / cost effectively, ordering campaigns to minimise big difficulty jumps between campaigns, or to just experiment with different entry points into the game (is Dunwich really still the best place to start & does playing Carcosa second mean the campaign experience will effectively peak early for most groups?), not adding in the matching investigator & campaign expansions at the same time (say if the investigator box is particularly strong / well balanced so makes a good early buy for new players, but the matching campaign box is maybe too complicated / difficult / unusual for new players, just split up the order they are each acquired / added in to your pool), deciding at what point adding in new standalone scenarios would be a good option (not too difficult for your card pool, while still offering something a bit different to the campaigns played so far) and which should be avoided as they are heavily multi-group focused etc. People buying into the game in 2025 are likely to have more options for acquiring expansions (or limited based on availability at their local gamestore) so put out some content that replicates that experience and see how it compares to your own first experience with Arkham LCG.
I've actually been debating the idea of a non-progression progression run in the future, so thank you for giving me more to think about with that idea!
For another long time supporter of Arkham Horror try an interview with Nathan Early. He has been supporting the game since it camo out with events at the game store he manages in Portland. His blinged out home setups are legendary.
That's cool to hear! That could be a good interview. Thanks for the idea. If you're part of our Discord, reach out to me. I'd love to get more info on this.
I love the question of what does doing good in AH means. I think without the competitive aspect that is such an interesting topic. You HAVE to have a criteria if you want to compare results, but ultimately, i think winning a campaign is simply good enough .
Even if you want to compare results, who is to say what are the best results? Like full clear vs win in minimal turns vs no damage/horror vs win with no tests? Ahh! It's why it's such an interesting topic to me.
I rather enjoy custom content. And would love to see more recommendation videos on which ones have stood out to you. Easily my favorite regular occurring videos are your deck tech ones. Love seeing new takes on Investigators. Your science Roland Banks is still my go to for Standalone scenarios. Keep it to and looking forward to your 2 million view celebration 🎉
I enjoy your custom arkham content. I watch the Investigators ones from start to finish, I enjoy the ideas you bring and how you show the potential of the investigators. The the campaigns I only check them out. I enjoy seeing the gimmick of the scenario and the wild ideas, but I don't have much fun watching others play Arkham. To sum up, I would watch all the showcases you might make of custom arkham content, but none playthrough.
Some great ideas that should be fun to watch being implemented! A couple of thoughts: Custom stuff is great, because you’re better when you’re excited. Instead of deck building restrictions, maybe different solutions? You tend not to like evading, for example, even when it’s the better option (looking at you, lumbering gug); maybe a run from our problems team. The blessed and cursed runs with quick learner also are good in getting at deck building synergy, that could be fun to see more. Also maybe some thematic constraints - not so difficult but more role play, like a police run or a professor run. Finally, maybe two tempo investigators - a fast deck (unearth Ursula or Patrice) and a slow deck (any mystic), or even a very non-Justin combo engine. Happy 2025!
I think you're right that a better method this year is exploring the card pool and deck variations without restrictions. The curse run on Quick Learner is definitely a showcase for why I'm looking forward to open pool content with "themes." Also I love killing the Lumbering Gug too much, it's true.
I’ve been working on a custom Bioshock campaign on and off for the past year and a half and I’m finally almosttttt done with it (on the 8th of 9 scenarios). I’ll need help from people getting it up and running in TTS, and haven’t play tested it yet, but I’m really excited to share it with you since I know it’s your favorite game, like it is mine
I have limited time to play. I will be lucky if I play 6 campaigns in a year so I like videos that help me make the most of my games like deck building guides etc. I would like short videos explaining how to use the more tricky cards or investigators. For example I find it hard to get my head around quick learner.
there have been a couple of times that i lost almost all the scenarios of a campaing via defeat or resign, fail-forwarding myself to the finale and just win it with ease. So as I am playing the campaing i feel like im losing but then I win the campaign. Pretty weird feeling since other times are the opposite.
I’m excited for more custom content; ‘25 is the year I’m trying to explore them myself. I’m trying to get Cyclopean Foundations printed up and I’m holding off on your/Eric’s Dark Matter run until I can play that one.
Just to say, I'd be super happy if now and then you would present other games that you like. I think that generally, when it's not Arkham related, we only have you playing the games with friends, but id love to have you chat about them in shorter videos. Ive bought Spirit Island thanks to you, and im super curious what your analyze would be ^^
I'm glad to hear this. If I am be a bit "RUclips content vulnerable" here, I have been a little nervous about the idea of potential rotating out a day of Arkham content for Spirit Island discussion content. Travis, Bryn, and I have been wanting to do some discussion based Spirit Island videos; and we may try something like that in 2025. It's hard for me to **not** put an Arkham video out because I know it works, but I know that there are people that would find use in discussion content for other games. So thanks for your comment. This gives me a bit of security regarding the idea of trying out other discussion based content for the other games we play.
Hey Justin, thank you for all the fantastic content, we look forward to another year watching you play and chat about Arkham every day. These resolutions sound like a nice way to keep things exciting and fun for you--its good for your work to be fun too! -Doug and Eric P.S. How do we sign up to playtest your custom campaign? 😅
Tbh stopped custom content for a lot of 2023 & 2024 due to the challenge runs. Custom content videos are my favorite Arkham videos. It seemed like most of those videos and their ideas got pushed aside for challenge run gameplay (which is fine if you enjoy those), so I just slowly stopped doing / looking at custom content. Trying to get back to it as well. I have notes in numerous notebooks, lists, and google docs everywhere. Campaign’s cool if done !
Discussion: Which Arkham conventions are there in North America? MythosBusters already announced that there will be no BusterCon 2025. What other options are there for Justin in 2025?
While Bustercon is not happening in 2025, I am apart of a team that is putting together a Arkham LCG-specific convention entitled "Arkham Con '25: The Con in Yellow". The dates are set for Sept 11-14 in Minneapolis, MN, taking place at the Gamezenter in Roseville. We are getting the date out there in the next week so this is as good of an opportunity than any. We don't have any more details other than this is definitely happening! 🎉
I play solo on easy, and do fine. There are some investigators who just can't play solo because of various issues. Still I have never not enjoyed playing solo, and yes earlier campaigns solo are better, but I still play middle ones like Innsmouth and Ciricle Undone. Edge of the earth is tougher, but I have played a couple scenarios and they were ok. If you play custom content you should highlight how to get print and play rather than just print stuff yourself. If you show how to do it, you can actually give people access to content they didn't know is there. So something to think about to draw in custom content viewers.
Wow just learning you are Edmonton based! We have a bit of a growing player base here in Edmonton although not very organized. It would be great if we could even put together a small convention for Arkham here. Maybe would make for some good content as well!
Also I urge everyone to watch PBG’s other, non-Arkham videos. They’re all really fun too, especiallyyyyyy Lethal Company, which was one of the funniest series I watched on RUclips in 2024
Thank you! I always love seeing comments on our non-Arkham content. I agree that they're all really fun and I do wish that more of our viewers got to experience the joy that is Mitchell, Mike, James, Phaidra, Tyler, Meghan, Paul, and the rest of our crew.
Yes, I plan on releasing it to the community and will be looking for playtesters. The release and design progression will likely be announced on the channel here, while playtesters will likely be called upon in our Discord. Either keeping your eye here or joining our Discord is the way to keep updated.
Mine is to play more non rouge characters. And to finish every campaign at least once, half of my original group stopped playing so we are doing some of the return tos with 2 new players
I think a good way to increase views could also be get in touch with more people in the community, especially content creators. Organize interviews, round table discussion, guest games online, maybe even break your own rule and reach out to some folks at FFg for some fan meets designer content. Could be cool!
I personally would like more reviews / content discussions / guides, even if it's content that's already been covered a couple years ago. I don't love the multi-person review format that you've used in the past where each of you picks something for a particular number. Because often you all don't align on where you rank things l, thoughts and ideas quickly get less coherent. I would prefer if you would all sync up on one rank list or, whatever have you, that way we could see the three of you discussing a single things together versus bouncing all around to different items then having to return again later because it popped up again on someone else's list. If you must have multiple lists or rankings, an alternative would be to show the lists themselves then walk the discussion through an individual item at a time from those lists together so you only hit on a single thing once. It's probably just me but the taboo rules are a drag. Dump them in a ditch.
I'm personally also shaking my head a little bit at the multi-person rating format we used in the past. I've been thinking of the idea of revisiting old videos with new perspective, so maybe tackling scenario reviews (with a bit more depth) would be a good place to start.
I love the Arkham Content and honestly this is my most watched channel, I really appreciate all the videos you do and agree, I would rather see doing you things you enjoy. Keep making awesome content!
Thanks for the kind words and the support. I'm not allowed to pick favourites, but I will say that I always love playing Arkham with you during Patron Game Days.
2 points:
I love developer diaries. Seeing you design your campaign as you go would be really cool.
You have a great evaluation of cards. I absolutely agree that 90% of the time any card can be good so long as it's in the right deck.
Nice idea. Also how about kind of directors commentary to be watched after each scenario.
@jamesbailey5486 Yeah, it wouldn't need to be a weekly update, but several general overview episodes would be cool and probably get people involved in playtesting
Developer diaries would definitely be something I can do! I already have a ton of stories regarding changes to the scenarios I have designed and I'd love to share that insight.
And thanks for the kind words regarding my evaluation skills! :)
Thank you, Justin, for your transparency, honesty, and commitment to your craft.
Regarding custom stuff, I think there is a sizable audience for custom campaign videos along the lines of what you do for official campaigns, whether it be reviews, tier lists, tips, etc.
I have watched almost every single one of your Arkham videos the past two-plus years. I have noticed a shift of sorts in how you seem to view power level, strategy, and the like--at least that's the vibe I've gotten. You're so dang experienced and talented at Arkham at this point, I can see why things like encounter cards don't scare you anymore. I tend to take a middle of the road approach between that viewpoint and the view of players who appear to panic over Rotting Remains, Grasping Hands, Ancient Evils, etc. Likewise, you having to work harder to be successful with Calvin is probably different from many players who struggle to be successful with Calvin at all no matter how hard they work at it.
Anyhow, I am always grateful for your content and hope that 2025 is a smashingly incredible year for you with Arkham! Let's get those 2M views!!!
Thanks for the comment. You're right, there has definitely been a shift in my view of power level over the last two years. I think it's a true testament to Arkham and why I enjoy it so much. I'm curious to see how this continues to evolve into 2025 with my quest to come to terms what "good" means in Arkham to me.
I really like your thought experiment about what is "good" in Arkham. To comment on that, I'll mention the things that keep bringing me back to the channel (and thus help propel you to 2M views!):
I love the different personalities and points of view between you, Bryn, and Travis. Bryn especially has a very different view of what is "good" (because to him if something is too good its bad, but if it's too bad it's also bad lol) which I enjoy seeing.
I would love to see the 3 of you exploring custom campaigns, providing reviews and feedback on those campaigns, and even discussion/review vids. Like "Each of our top 3 'must-print' custom campaigns" and the three of you can do your thing, much like your other campaign list vids.
Appreciate this channel and everything you do!
I listen to your videos while driving, while on the treadmill, while sleeving cards. I listen to your videos so much that my non-gaming wife knows you as the "Notably Guy" because she thinks you say notably more often than the average person 😂
Notably she's probably right.
As someone who's been playing Arkham for nearly 8 years now, the custom content I *desperately* want to see isn't gamplay - it's "Which custom campaigns/scenarios are actually good? Do they hold up to official content?"
Me and my friend that I mostly play with have only tried ONE custom campaign in our entire time playing Arkham, and it was AWFUL. Constant typos, rules issues, cards that weren't templated correctly... and when we got halfway through we realized it wasn't even finished. It was such a miserable experience that we've been wary to try custom content again.
But surely - at this point - some of the custom content must have gotten pretty good! I think highlighting custom campaigns/scenarios that really hold up to the official content would be incredibly helpful. Not only would it let players know which campaigns are worth playing (or even getting physically printed!) but having reviews of custom content would help shine a spotlight on the great stuff, and spread it to players (like me) who are wary, but interested!
To quickly throw a few out there: “Dark Matter” is an excellent campaign IMO, kind of a sci-fi sequel to Path to Carcosa (if the sci-fi setting sounds weird, I thought it actually pulled it off and fit in pretty darn well, but YMMV). For a scenario, I thought “Consternation on the Constellation” was quite fun.
Yes, I think you're right that what custom content is missing are the videos that aren't just gameplay. Actual discussions and reviews, treating them like official content, may be the way to go.
As someone who will never play digital, or use home printed cards, I often wonder why FFG can't collaborate with some of these independent creators in releasing edited and honed versions of the best custom campaigns as official products. If such a run of campaigns were released between the fully in-house stuff, without investigator cards, called something like "The Acolyte Series", to keep it firmly adjacent to the main product, it would surely boost fan engagement while potentially lowering development costs and providing the opportunity to lengthen the in-house development cycle.
For what its worth, when I look at your content it is usually either to answer questions/get inspiration related to 1. which investigator could be fun to play, 2. which campaign could be fun to play, 3. which cards are cool ideas for the investigator I am currently looking to play.
Great question about what is good in Arkham.
I think the best illustration of this at the extreme is combo decks. A deck like the pre-taboo Daredevil recurring advanced signatures Wendy deck that can potentially get endless actions and resources. Tuned and with some luck, the deck could go infinite on turn 2. Is that fun? It was fun to build and tune, and fun to play through a couple of times (although mostly just cold drawing hands and figuring out how quickly I could get the engine running without even setting up a campaign). From a Spike point of view, the deck is Extremely Good.
But bringing it to a non-solo game of Arkham, it is the opposite of good. It's refusing to play the game, involves no cooperation, in fact it turns any other players into an inconvenience slowing down putting your combo together, and then everyone else just sits there twiddling their thumbs while you go through all the math and clean out the scenario. It's an inefficient machine for destroying fun.
On the other end, the games of Arkham I like the most are when it's incredibly close, when everything feels like a disaster and we just barely manage a narrow win against the odds.
To add to your first point, to me the Daredevil combo deck doesn't really vibe with me and my Spike tendancies, because my idea of "good" is winning with as little as possible as quick as possible. And I think both are fair things for a player to find resonance with.
It's why the "what's good?" question is so compelling to me right now and why I think it's kind of my personal thesis to our content going into 2025.
We all know what's good in Arkham is playing and losing, and losing, and losing, then winning. 😊
Some thoughts on your resolutions:
I like the challenge runs least of your playthroughs because it adds artificial constraints on the game. So I think I'd watch more of your videos if they included playthroughs with full card pools.
I don't follow much custom content. Custom campaigns are interesting but not investigators.
Adding videos about your designs would be great content.
Defining "good" would be a fantastic multiple part series. Some of the best Arkham content is discussion of power, decks and card selection. Good for me can be probability of winning vs a good feeling akin to an RPG. Generally I won't play a super optimised deck - why - because I don't always want to run Runic axe in every guardian fighter and pick the same upgrades. That isnt fun to me but for some it may be "Good". "Good" for me involves picking cards that thematically fit my investigator and meet a threshold of adding enough to my deck to allow me to beat a scenario. I want to lean into my investigator's "thing" whilst not playing the same "draw 3/gain 5 resources" card in every deck that can take it.
The best content on RUclips for Arkham Horror LCG for me is:
TTS playthroughs (it has much better camera angles and no channel has a good tabletop setup to capture AH well)
Investigator and scenario Tier lists - for power and for enjoyment playing
Deck discussions - 3-4 different decks or core cards and investigator can build around
deeper dives into topics (10-30 minute discussion of 2+ people)
Any content on your channel like this I'd love to see in 2025.
I think the videos with Quick learner in 2024 have been the best things you have put out last year. Gameplay on TTS is far easier to watch than the in person stuff with Eric, Bryn or Travis. That is not a person problem just a way of seeing the game played problem. The discussion topics have been fantastic - some of the best content for the game.
I agree with most of what you said
I tend to skip the watching part in the in person game play completely and just listen to them as a podcast with extra steps .
I can't see any token drawn anyway so I just vibe with the reaction to the draw
I'm definitely not going to argue that paper gameplay is more legible than TTS. You're 100% right there.
TTS is definitely the preferred format for gameplay legibility (and it's why I still have the TTS gameplay as one of the 3 gameplay videos each week). It's the downside that we want to actually play with our physical cards because that's more fun to us.
And the good news is that I have plans to explore discussion-based content specifically in 2025, so you'll probably see a bunch of stuff you like regarding that in 2025.
Thanks for the comment!
About 80% of my plays are three-handed solo. It’s a lot to track, sometimes, and it definitely moves slower than three individual players.
Happy to see more custom content!
Three-handed solo? You're a warrior. Maybe I should try that in 2025. It'd open up the Mystic class a lot for me (and probably open up my mistake potential too...)!
Love your channel! Whenever I get to buy a new cycle I'm excited for the hours of content I get to unlock on your channel along with it. Here's to 2M views and hopefully many more years of awesome and fun content with you! :)
Regarding your custom content idea: I really enjoyed your video where you just reviewed an entire custom investigator card expansion a user sent you. It was just a lot of fun seeing you evaluating those cards, pointing out design flaws and getting excited for new innovative mechanics. It inspired me to do custom content myself. Also the custom card challenges were a blast and fun for the community, but I totally get that those videos probably appeal to a rather niche audience and most likely aren't really worth the effort the three of you need to put into them.
We actually are going to have more of the custom content challenge. We have two in the backlog that we just need to record. I love making those videos, so they will return!
@PlayingBoardGames That's great news then! Looking forward to those.
I am very happy to hear that you want to focus more on Custom Content - I bookmark all the videos to watch them when I´ve had the chance to play the respective campaigns and scenarios to not spoil the experience for me. And I am very curious to learn more about your own Custom Campaign! Thanks for your content Justin!
Being a custom content creator myself (The Morrigan Tales), it takes awhile to solidify the design, playtest and get a build out that you are happy with. Everything starts as ideas scratched on paper but eventually it will get completed.
I'm honestly very impressed by your creative output with your campaign. I remember you pitching the idea and then I swear it was just finished. Very excited to play it and you should be proud you finished it.
@@PlayingBoardGames Thank you! I'm just glad my group (my brothers) liked it, I hope you do too.
I love the Arkham Custom content. I've pretty much read through every single custom investigator. I LOVED you going through the custom investigators in earlier vids. I think deck building for a few of them could be really interesting and maybe going through either a standalone or whatever content they came with.
I'm glad you love the custom content videos! I want to find the right way to show custom investigators off, so I appreciate you sharing some ideas.
Love this year resolution! Looking forward to play your custom campaign!
Thank you! :) I want to get it done so you can play it!
For custom content, would love to see player cards reviews. I remember really enjoying the videos about Baldur's Gate 3 custom expansion and custom investigators reviews
I did my own "play all the cards" challenge along side a "play all the investigators" challenge last year and I've experienced a similar shift in perspective and view nearly every card as good in the right deck.
It was incredibly eye opening for me. I'm glad I'm not alone in that.
I'd be interested in seeing a strict release order progression run, but I also think it might be fun to follow that up with a non-release order progression run.
Something like pretending you are a group of new players now - with the full selection of campaigns, standalones, starter decks & investigator expansions to pick from - add in the player content & play through the campaigns & standalones either in a random order, in an order you think might actually provide a better experience for new players.
So things like leaving campaigns you like least until last, buying powerful investigator expansions or starter decks earlier to power up your card pool (or certain classes that otherwise may take a while to get going) quickly / cost effectively, ordering campaigns to minimise big difficulty jumps between campaigns, or to just experiment with different entry points into the game (is Dunwich really still the best place to start & does playing Carcosa second mean the campaign experience will effectively peak early for most groups?), not adding in the matching investigator & campaign expansions at the same time (say if the investigator box is particularly strong / well balanced so makes a good early buy for new players, but the matching campaign box is maybe too complicated / difficult / unusual for new players, just split up the order they are each acquired / added in to your pool), deciding at what point adding in new standalone scenarios would be a good option (not too difficult for your card pool, while still offering something a bit different to the campaigns played so far) and which should be avoided as they are heavily multi-group focused etc.
People buying into the game in 2025 are likely to have more options for acquiring expansions (or limited based on availability at their local gamestore) so put out some content that replicates that experience and see how it compares to your own first experience with Arkham LCG.
I've actually been debating the idea of a non-progression progression run in the future, so thank you for giving me more to think about with that idea!
My favorite channel! Your (and your friend passion) radiates through!
I'm excited to see your custom campaign!
For another long time supporter of Arkham Horror try an interview with Nathan Early. He has been supporting the game since it camo out with events at the game store he manages in Portland. His blinged out home setups are legendary.
That's cool to hear! That could be a good interview. Thanks for the idea. If you're part of our Discord, reach out to me. I'd love to get more info on this.
I love the question of what does doing good in AH means.
I think without the competitive aspect that is such an interesting topic. You HAVE to have a criteria if you want to compare results, but ultimately, i think winning a campaign is simply good enough .
Even if you want to compare results, who is to say what are the best results? Like full clear vs win in minimal turns vs no damage/horror vs win with no tests?
Ahh! It's why it's such an interesting topic to me.
I rather enjoy custom content. And would love to see more recommendation videos on which ones have stood out to you.
Easily my favorite regular occurring videos are your deck tech ones. Love seeing new takes on Investigators. Your science Roland Banks is still my go to for Standalone scenarios.
Keep it to and looking forward to your 2 million view celebration 🎉
Thanks for the comment. I love hearing you dug Even Science Roland. I am very fond of that deck too.
I enjoy your custom arkham content.
I watch the Investigators ones from start to finish, I enjoy the ideas you bring and how you show the potential of the investigators.
The the campaigns I only check them out. I enjoy seeing the gimmick of the scenario and the wild ideas, but I don't have much fun watching others play Arkham.
To sum up, I would watch all the showcases you might make of custom arkham content, but none playthrough.
Appreciate your comment to help me try and find potential shapes for custom content sized videos in the future!
Some great ideas that should be fun to watch being implemented! A couple of thoughts:
Custom stuff is great, because you’re better when you’re excited.
Instead of deck building restrictions, maybe different solutions? You tend not to like evading, for example, even when it’s the better option (looking at you, lumbering gug); maybe a run from our problems team. The blessed and cursed runs with quick learner also are good in getting at deck building synergy, that could be fun to see more.
Also maybe some thematic constraints - not so difficult but more role play, like a police run or a professor run.
Finally, maybe two tempo investigators - a fast deck (unearth Ursula or Patrice) and a slow deck (any mystic), or even a very non-Justin combo engine.
Happy 2025!
I think you're right that a better method this year is exploring the card pool and deck variations without restrictions. The curse run on Quick Learner is definitely a showcase for why I'm looking forward to open pool content with "themes."
Also I love killing the Lumbering Gug too much, it's true.
I’ve been working on a custom Bioshock campaign on and off for the past year and a half and I’m finally almosttttt done with it (on the 8th of 9 scenarios). I’ll need help from people getting it up and running in TTS, and haven’t play tested it yet, but I’m really excited to share it with you since I know it’s your favorite game, like it is mine
Would love to see that. I'm currently replaying Bioshock again right now!
I switched from 2-handed solo to true solo about a year ago, and found it really cut down some of the friction in playing by myself.
I tried true solo in 2025 and it unfortunately didn't resonate with me. I'm glad to hear it worked positively for you, that's awesome!
I think this is a good direction for your resolutions to go down.
I have limited time to play. I will be lucky if I play 6 campaigns in a year so I like videos that help me make the most of my games like deck building guides etc. I would like short videos explaining how to use the more tricky cards or investigators. For example I find it hard to get my head around quick learner.
I think the shortform videos you are requesting may be a perfect fit for my approach to some of our 2025 content.
there have been a couple of times that i lost almost all the scenarios of a campaing via defeat or resign, fail-forwarding myself to the finale and just win it with ease. So as I am playing the campaing i feel like im losing but then I win the campaign. Pretty weird feeling since other times are the opposite.
I agree it's an interesting part of the structure of the game and another wrench into my inner conversation about what "good" is.
I’m excited for more custom content; ‘25 is the year I’m trying to explore them myself. I’m trying to get Cyclopean Foundations printed up and I’m holding off on your/Eric’s Dark Matter run until I can play that one.
Cyclopean Foundations is great, I hope you enjoy it!
Just to say, I'd be super happy if now and then you would present other games that you like. I think that generally, when it's not Arkham related, we only have you playing the games with friends, but id love to have you chat about them in shorter videos. Ive bought Spirit Island thanks to you, and im super curious what your analyze would be ^^
I'm glad to hear this. If I am be a bit "RUclips content vulnerable" here, I have been a little nervous about the idea of potential rotating out a day of Arkham content for Spirit Island discussion content. Travis, Bryn, and I have been wanting to do some discussion based Spirit Island videos; and we may try something like that in 2025.
It's hard for me to **not** put an Arkham video out because I know it works, but I know that there are people that would find use in discussion content for other games.
So thanks for your comment. This gives me a bit of security regarding the idea of trying out other discussion based content for the other games we play.
Hey Justin, thank you for all the fantastic content, we look forward to another year watching you play and chat about Arkham every day. These resolutions sound like a nice way to keep things exciting and fun for you--its good for your work to be fun too! -Doug and Eric
P.S. How do we sign up to playtest your custom campaign? 😅
Tbh stopped custom content for a lot of 2023 & 2024 due to the challenge runs. Custom content videos are my favorite Arkham videos. It seemed like most of those videos and their ideas got pushed aside for challenge run gameplay (which is fine if you enjoy those), so I just slowly stopped doing / looking at custom content.
Trying to get back to it as well. I have notes in numerous notebooks, lists, and google docs everywhere. Campaign’s cool if done !
Nothing else to say but know that I appreciate you a lot, Astute.
🥺
Discussion: Which Arkham conventions are there in North America? MythosBusters already announced that there will be no BusterCon 2025. What other options are there for Justin in 2025?
Gen Con usually has some Arkham events. Not exactly the same.
PBG Con 2025
While Bustercon is not happening in 2025, I am apart of a team that is putting together a Arkham LCG-specific convention entitled "Arkham Con '25: The Con in Yellow". The dates are set for Sept 11-14 in Minneapolis, MN, taking place at the Gamezenter in Roseville. We are getting the date out there in the next week so this is as good of an opportunity than any. We don't have any more details other than this is definitely happening! 🎉
See the Arkham Con '25 comment. I'm planning on doing a video about that once the details are live.
Nice, it’ll be great having you here in the Twin Cities!
I play solo on easy, and do fine. There are some investigators who just can't play solo because of various issues. Still I have never not enjoyed playing solo, and yes earlier campaigns solo are better, but I still play middle ones like Innsmouth and Ciricle Undone. Edge of the earth is tougher, but I have played a couple scenarios and they were ok.
If you play custom content you should highlight how to get print and play rather than just print stuff yourself. If you show how to do it, you can actually give people access to content they didn't know is there. So something to think about to draw in custom content viewers.
Great idea. A print-and-play guide could be very helpful.
Wow just learning you are Edmonton based! We have a bit of a growing player base here in Edmonton although not very organized. It would be great if we could even put together a small convention for Arkham here. Maybe would make for some good content as well!
Are you in our Discord channel? If not, you should join and reach out to me there. I'd love to chat with you more about this.
@@PlayingBoardGames Yes I am. I'll DM you there.
Also I urge everyone to watch PBG’s other, non-Arkham videos. They’re all really fun too, especiallyyyyyy Lethal Company, which was one of the funniest series I watched on RUclips in 2024
Thank you! I always love seeing comments on our non-Arkham content. I agree that they're all really fun and I do wish that more of our viewers got to experience the joy that is Mitchell, Mike, James, Phaidra, Tyler, Meghan, Paul, and the rest of our crew.
Please take care of yourself and play what you enjoy how you enjoy it :)
Will you release your campaign online to be played by the community? If so where?
Also are you looking for play testers for the campaign?
Yes, I plan on releasing it to the community and will be looking for playtesters.
The release and design progression will likely be announced on the channel here, while playtesters will likely be called upon in our Discord.
Either keeping your eye here or joining our Discord is the way to keep updated.
Much more interested in custom campaigns than custom investigators/player cards.
Appreciate the intel. :)
Mine is to play more non rouge characters. And to finish every campaign at least once, half of my original group stopped playing so we are doing some of the return tos with 2 new players
Good luck with your resolutions!
you should use sled dogs
2026 Resolution for sure, for sure.
I think a good way to increase views could also be get in touch with more people in the community, especially content creators. Organize interviews, round table discussion, guest games online, maybe even break your own rule and reach out to some folks at FFg for some fan meets designer content.
Could be cool!
Who knows, maybe 2025 will see me remove my "separation of Church and State" sentiment. I would love to chat with the designers about the game.
I personally would like more reviews / content discussions / guides, even if it's content that's already been covered a couple years ago.
I don't love the multi-person review format that you've used in the past where each of you picks something for a particular number. Because often you all don't align on where you rank things l, thoughts and ideas quickly get less coherent. I would prefer if you would all sync up on one rank list or, whatever have you, that way we could see the three of you discussing a single things together versus bouncing all around to different items then having to return again later because it popped up again on someone else's list. If you must have multiple lists or rankings, an alternative would be to show the lists themselves then walk the discussion through an individual item at a time from those lists together so you only hit on a single thing once.
It's probably just me but the taboo rules are a drag. Dump them in a ditch.
I'm personally also shaking my head a little bit at the multi-person rating format we used in the past. I've been thinking of the idea of revisiting old videos with new perspective, so maybe tackling scenario reviews (with a bit more depth) would be a good place to start.
lets go True Solo.
I wish! I tried it in 2024 and it just didn't vibe with me. :(