Arkham Horror
Rules for Vassal Componentoverview
Main>> Component Overview
The following is an introductory summary of the various components included in Arkham Horror. This summary should help you identify the components and understand the ways they are used as you read through these rules.
The game board is divided into several sections: Arkham (A), the Other Worlds (C), the Terror Track (D), and the City Limits (E-G). The Arkham city section of the board shows the city of Arkham divided into 9 neighborhoods, each of which has between 2 and 3 important locations in it, as well as a street area (B). The investigators move around on this section of the board, passing through the streets to visit the various locations. Each location is marked with a number of icons showing the most common types of encounters at that location. The Other Words (C) section of the board shows several alternate dimensions that the investigators can enter by moving through the gates that open up on the Arkham section of the board. Investigators enter gates in order to explore them and find some weakness that will enable them to close the gate once they've returned to Arkham. The Terror Track (D) section of the board tracks the current terror level of the townsfolk of Arkham. If the investigators allow the terror level of Arkham. If the investigators allow the terror level of Arkham to get too high, people will begin to leave town, making it difficult to recruit Allies. Eventually the three shops in town (The General Store, The Curiositie Shoppe, and Ye Olde Magick Shoppe) will close down, making it more difficult for the players to win the game. The City Limits section of the board contains three special areas: Outskirts (E), The Sky (F), and Lost in Time and Space (G). Investigators that suffer a horrible fate of some sort move to Lost in Time and Space for a short time. Monsters on the board in excess of the limit wander out of town to the Outskirts where they terrorize the inhabitants. Finally, flying monsters move to The Sky before swooping down on the next investigator they spot moving through the streets of Arkham. |
![]() |
This marker is given to the investigator who acts first in a turn. The marker is passed to the next investigator at the start of each new turn. In VASSAL, this marker is available in the Counters/Specials Button. It must be placed in a Player's Hand, then after the Mythos Phase, removed and placed on the game board where the next investigator can pick it up and place it in their hand. |
![]() |
The players roll the dice to make skill checks, fight battles, and determine other random encounters. Dice in VASSAL are represented by 3 buttons:
When players select one of these buttons, a dialog box will appear asking how many dice should be rolled. Usually, the investigator will click the 'Normal Dice' button. Blessed and Cursed dice are explained in the Miscellany section.
Investigator Sheets and Markers
Each player can receive up to 8 investigator sheets, depending on the total number of players in the game. The total number of investigators should never exceed 8. (i.e., a solo player could play up to 8 investigators, 2 players could each play 4 investigators, etc.) The optimal number of investigators, regardless of number of players is 3-5.
Markers for each investigator can be found in the Investigator Pieces map window: These are the markers that represent your character on the game board.
1: Name and Occupation: Your character's name and job. 2: Maximum Sanity: This is how much Sanity your character starts the game with. You cannot raise your Sanity higher than this number (although you can increase this number). To increase/decrease your investigator's Sanity, right-click on the investigator sheet. 3: Maximum Stamina: This is how much Stamina your character starts with. You cannot raise your Stamina higher than this number (although you can increase this number). To increase/decrease your investigator's Stamina, right-click on the investigator sheet. 4: Home: This is the location on the game board at which your investigator starts the game. 5: Possessions: This is the equipment your character starts the game with. Clue tokens and money can be added by right-clicking on the icon on the Investigator Hand. Items can be searched for in their respective decks and dragged to the Investigator's Hand. 6: Unique Ability: This is a special ability only your character can use. 7: Focus: This is your character's ability to adjust his skills each turn. 8: Skill Pairs: These are your character skills. They are paired so that if you increase one skill in a pair, the other decreases. |
![]() |
These tokens are used to track an investigator's current Skills, Sanity, Stamina, Money and Clues.
![]() |
Skill sliders track the investigator's current skill levels. Investigators make skill checks throughout the game in the course of their adventures. Skill sliders are already present in the Investigator Hands. |
![]() |
Sanity tokens represent an investigator's current level of mental health. These tokens are added/removed from investigators by right clicking on the investigator sheet. They are also present in the Counters/Specials button, but are there only if needed for extraordinary reasons (such as a Mythos card that might call to use them as counters) |
![]() |
Stamina tokens represent an investigator's current level of physical health. These tokens are added/removed from investigators by right-clicking on the investigator sheet. They are also present in the Counters/Specials button, but are there only if needed for extraordinary reasons (such as a Mythos card that might call to use them as counters) |
![]() |
Clue tokens represent vital insights and information an investigator has accumulated either before or during the game. Investigators can spend Clue tokens to gain bonuses on skill checks or to permanently seal gates. Clue tokens are added/removed from the investigator's hand by right clicking on the token inside the player's hand. When a Mythos card calls to place a clue token on the board, they should be dragged from the Counters/Specials button and placed in the appropriate location. When an investigator collects tokens from the board, he/she should add them to his hand by right-clicking on the icon in their player's hand, and then discarding the tokens from the game board surface. |
![]() |
Money tokens represent the investigator's current wealth. They are spent to purchase equipment, pay fines, etc. They are added/spent from the investigator by right-clicking on the icon in the player's hand. They are also present in the Counters/Specials button, but are there only if needed for extraordinary reasons (such as a Mythos card that might call to use them as counters) |
These cards represent useful allies the investigators may meet and items they may acquire during the course of the game. There are six types of investigator cards:
Common Items are ordinary but useful items that can aid an investigator. | ![]() |
Unique Items are unusual, sometimes bizarre, and possibly magical items that can greatly assist an investigator. Elder signs, which can permanently seal gates, are found in this deck. | ![]() |
Skill cards represent an investigator's abilities. Skill cards typically either give a bonus to a certain skill or allow you to roll the dice again when you fail a certain kind of dice roll. Skill cards are rare and expensive to acquire. | ![]() |
Spells are magical rituals that an investigator can perform using the Lore skill. | ![]() |
Allies are people that offer to assist the investigators in their adventures. Allies are the most power investigator cards and can be found either at Ma's Boarding House (a location on the game board) or through encounters at some of the more dangerous and unstable locations in Arkham. | ![]() |
Special cards represent unique privileges or obligations. These include Retainers, Silver Twilight Memberships, Bank Loans, Blessings, Curses, and Deputy of Arkham cards. Special cards have a wide variety of effects. Unlike the other cards, which have their own decks, these cards are found by pressing the Counters/Specials button in the toolbar. |
![]() |
At the beginning of every game of Arkham Horror, the players randomly determine (the deck is auto-shuffled in VASSAL) which Ancient One will threaten the city. An Ancient One sheet lists the powers, combat statistics, and worshippers associated with each of these alien beings as shown below:
1: Name: The Ancient One's name. 2: Combat Rating: This is the Ancient One's combat rating. It is only used if it awakens and the players have to fight it. 3: Defenses: This section lists any defensive abilities that the ancient one may have. Click the 'Charts' button on the toolbar to get an explanation of Monster Special Abilities. 4: Worshippers: This section grants certain abilities to one or more types of monsters. These abilities are active all game long. 5: Power: This is a unique effect that the Ancient One has on game play. Most effects are active all game long. 6: Attack: This is the Ancient One's attack, only used during combat with it. Some Ancient Ones also have a Start of Battle ability that occurs only once, when investigators begin to battle it. 7: Doom Track: This tracks how close the Ancient One is to waking up. Doom tokens are added/removed during the game by right-clicking on the Ancient One's sheet. |
![]() |
Doom tokens are placed on the doom track on the Ancient One sheet as new gates open in Arkham. When the doom track is filled up with doom tokens, the Ancient One awakens!
In VASSAL, doom tokens are added/removed to the Ancient One's sheet via right-clicking directly on the Ancient One's sheet. As such, doom tokens do not exist as movable, separate entities in the VASSAL version of Arkham Horror.
Elder Sign tokens are available by pressing the Counters/Specials button on the toolbar. When an investigator successfully plays an Elder Sign (available in the Unique Item deck) to permanently seal a gate, a doom token is removed from the Ancient One's doom track and an Elder Sign Token is placed on the sealed location. Sealing a gate using Clue tokens does not reduce the number of doom tokens on the Ancient One's doom track in this manner. For more information on sealing gates, go here.
These cards represent events that take place within Arkham or the Other Worlds. These events can include confrontation with monsters, beneficial encounters, etc. there are three types of Ancient One cards: Location cards, Gate cards, and Mythos cards.
![]() |
Location cards represent the encounters that take place at the various locations in Arkham. Each of the nine neighborhoods on the game board has a deck of seven cards dedicated to it, and each card has one encounter for each of the locations in that neighborhood. Location cards are found by clicking on the 'Arkham Encounters' button on the toolbar. |
![]() |
Gate cards represent the encounters that take place in the Other Worlds. Unlike the Location cards, which are divided into separate decks for each neighborhood, the Gate cards are all shuffled together into one deck. |
![]() |
Mythos cards depict major events in Arkham. One is drawn each turn during the Mythos phase. When a mythos card is drawn, it has several effects. It identifies a location where a gate opens, it determines monster movement in Arkham, and it presents an event that may affect the investigators. Most mythos cards also list a location where a Clue token appears. |
Monster markers represent the monsters roaming the streets of Arkham. Each monster has two sides; a movement side and a combat side. Leave the monster's movement side up while it wanders around the board. When an investigator battles a monster, right-click on it and select 'Flip'. This flips the marker to its combat side. Players may look at either side of any monster marker at any time.
Movement Side 1:Name: The monster's name. 2:Awareness: This is the modifier used to Evade this monster. 3: Movement Border: The color of the border indicates the monster's movement type (Black = normal, Red = fast, Yellow = stationary, Blue = flying, Green = special). 4: Home Dimension: This is the monster's home dimension. When a gate is sealed or closed, all monsters in play that share its home dimension are returned to the cup. |
![]() |
Combat Side 1: Abilities: Any special traits or abilities that the monster has. 2: Flavor Text: This text has no game effect. It is there only to provide atmosphere. 3: Horror Rating: This is the modifier used in Horror Checks against this monster. 4: Horror Damage: This shows how many Sanity tokens an investigator loses if he fails a Horror check against this monster. 5: Toughness: This is the difficulty of any Combat checks made against this monster. 6: Combat Damage: This shows how many Stamina tokens an investigator loses if he fails a Combat check against this monster. 7: Combat Rating: This is the modifier used in Combat checks against this monster. |
![]() |
![]() |
These markers are placed on the board to indicate locations where gates to the Other Worlds have opened. Each gate marker identifies the Other World it leads to and includes a modifier to the dice rolls of investigators attempting to close the gate. |
Activity markers can be found by clicking the Counters/Specials button on the toolbar. They are used to indicate areas on the board where unusual events are taking place. One should be placed on the street/location in question, the other on the card describing these events. | ![]() |
Explored markers indicate that an investigator has braved the Other World beyond a gate and returned. This is activated by right-clicking on the investigator's marker on the board. | ![]() |
This marker is placed on the terror track to indicate the mental state and morale of the townsfolk of Arkham. As the terror level increases, stores close and people leave town, eventually allowing the monsters to overrun the town completely! This marker is on the game board whenever a new game is created. |
![]() |
![]() |
These markers are placed on locations that have closed, whether because of the terror level or specific events that have occurred in the game. Neither investigators nor monsters can enter closed locations. |