Secrets of Arkham: The Storm

A 6-hour, 40-player game of Lovecraftian survival horror.

Reading Megagames is excited to present the third run of Secrets of Arkham, a megagame by Kristian Mitchell-Dolby of Kristian's Brain. In teams of 2-5, lead one of the factions vying for power and influence in the isolated and parochial city of Arkham. Spend your resources and deploy your followers wisely to survive the growing tension in the city. Make alliances, enemies, and questionable choices, and become increasingly embroiled in the mysterious events unfolding around you.

What side of the crisis will you support? Can you uncover the mysteries before things get out of control? And will you have to sacrifice your team's agenda and individual goals to do it?

Game rules and background information will be sent out in the weeks shortly before the game, and you will have a chance to provide information about what role you would like to play. On the day, the venue will open at 10.30, with an introductory briefing for new megagamers at 10:45, and the game proper will start at 11.00. Due to the themes and contents of the game, tickets are only available for players aged 18 and over.

Pictured: not the venue we'll be using for the game.

Teams:

• City Hall: City Hall is a team of smooth-talking career politicians, looking to hang on to power and (ideally) make sure the city doesn't collapse around them.
• St. Mary's Hospital: Keeping folks alive and well is hard enough at the best of times - and these are far from the best of times.
• Arkham Police Department: Keeping order in Arkham often requires a firm hand, something the chronically underfunded police can't always supply.
• South Church: Always a heterodox congregation, the leaders of South Church know more than they're letting on...
• Union Station: The city's transport hub - and the home of its anti-establishment radio station.
• Miskatonic University: Demonstrating that the smartest people make the worst decisions since 1824.
• Independence Square: An outlet for the city's free-thinkers and anarchists, Independence Square is home to a half-dozen fractious political movements at any given time.
• Arkham Asylum: The city of Arkham seems to attract an unusual number of delusional, manic, and otherwise disturbed individuals. Recently, keeping them safe and well (and contained) has been an escalating challenge.
• Sheldon Gang: Who says crime doesn't pay? Not the Sheldon Gang, that's for sure.
• Dunwich Farms: Just a perfectly normal, innocent rural community that keeps itself to itself.
• Detective Agency: The city's most hard-boiled, whisky-slugging, cigar-smoking crime-solver (and their sidekick).
• Silver Twilight Lodge: An ancient and well-respected private club for students of the occult.

Roles:

• Leader: Sets the team's priorities, makes deals with other teams, pulls strings at City Hall.
• Dispatcher: Commands a group of units who can be sent into the city to keep order - or pursue other goals...
• Runner: Keeps the team connected, carries key information, finds out secrets.
• Scavenger: Scours the city looking for vital resources, or equally vital clues.
• Specialist: Most teams have at least one role that no other team has - details of these are only known by their own teams, and sometimes not even then...

Not all roles are available on all teams

As the storm clouds close in, can you uncover the secrets of Arkham?