Follow the steps below to prepare for a game of Arkham Horror.

1. Prepare Playing Area

This is taken care of you via the magic of the VASSAL engine.

Normally, players place their investigators and items around the board in clear view of the other investigators. All other player hands are visible to each investigator to simulate this ability.

When you start a game, you need to choose a player side. This determines which player hand you control. For these rules, I will assume

2. Place Initial Clues

Clue tokens are placed automatically on their appropriate locations at the beginning of the game. Again, thank you VASSAL.

The locations with red diamonds over them are considered 'unstable' and are locations where gates may appear during the course of the game.

3. Choose First Player

Select one player at random to be the first player. That player can take the first player marker from the Counters/Special window and place it in their player hand.

4. Determine Investigators

Each player randomly (VASSAL automatically shuffles the deck) chooses an investigator from the Investigator Sheets window. Place the investigator on the main game board so the other players can see them, then drag them to your hand ( ).

If you're playing with only 1-3 players, I recommend choosing more than 1 investigator per player. Each player hand is accessible by all other players, so if you have only 2 players, each can play 2 investigators (player 1 would play hands 1 and 3, player 2 would play hands 2 and 4, for example)

You can also right-click on the investigator deck and select specific investigators instead of having them randomly drawn.

5. Reveal Ancient One

Draw an Ancient One from the button, and place them on the Card Board in the location labeled 'Active Ancient One'

This is the Ancient One that is threatening Arkham for this game. If the Ancient One's ability lists any actions that take place at the start of the game, such as Nyarlathotep's "Thousand Masks" ability, they are resolved now.

Alternatively, the players may choose which Ancient One they face by right-clicking on the Ancient One deck. This is often helpful if there are time constraints or other considerations involved. (Yig makes for a shorter game, for instance, while Cthulhu makes for a particularly challenging game.)

6. Separate Decks

All the investigator decks are located in map windows which can be opened via the toolbar (Common Items, Spells, etc.). Special cards (such as Retainers, Bank Loans, Deputy) are in the button.

The Ancient One cards are already on the Card Board.

7. Receive Fixed Possessions

On each investigator sheet, certain items may be listed as fixed possessions. Each player, beginning with the first player and continuing clockwise, now receives the items listed on his investigator sheet in the "Fixed Possessions" area. The first player should locate these cards in their appropriate decks by right-clicking on the deck and selecting the appropriate card, and hand them out to the players.

8. Shuffle Investigator Decks

Already done via the magic of VASSAL =)

9. Receive Random Possessions

Each investigator sheet may indicate that the investigator receives one or more random possessions. Each player, beginning with the first player, draws the indicated number of cards from the appropriate decks, as listed on his investigator sheet in the "Random Possessions" area.

Note: Abilities that affect drawing cards from the card decks, such as Monterey Jack's Archaeology ability, do work when drawing random possessions at the start of the game.

10. Finish Investigator Setup

Each player now adds the Sanity and Stamina tokens to their investigator sheets by right-clicking on their sheet and adding an amount equal to their investigator's Sanity and Stamina values.

Each player can now move their three skill sliders to any one of the four 'stops' on each skill track. This will be their starting position.

11. Create Monster Cup

The monster cup is represented by a stack of monsters on the Card Board.

If the Ancient One is Nyarloathotep, continue to step 12. Otherwise, remove the 5 monsters from the monster cup with the [MASK] label. You can do this by right-clicking the monster cup and highlighting all 5 of these monsters. Then, drag them to the game board. Right-click and return them to the box.

12. Shuffle Ancient One Decks and Gate Markers

These decks are all automatically shuffled, thanks to VASSAL.

13. Place Investigator Markers

Each player now takes the investigator marker (located in ) depicting their investigator and places the marker on the game board location indicated on his investigator sheet in the "Home" area.

14. Draw and Resolve Mythos Card

Finally, the first player draws the top card of the mythos deck and resolves it as described in the Mythos Phase section of the rules. If a Rumor is drawn, discard it and draw again until you draw a mythos card that isn't a Rumor. The mythos card will indicate an unstable location where a gate and monster appear. Remember, unstable locations are identified by red diamonds on the game board.

Important: Remember to place a doom token on the Ancient One's doom track (by right-clicking on the Ancient One's sheet) after the first gate opens.

After the mythos card has been completely resolved, the first turn begins, starting with the first player.