Miskatonic University UK

Welcome to the Miskatonic University investigators…

So you wish to learn to deal with the cosmic horrors that are threatening to break through and consume our reality? How futile…

I suppose there are those who would attempt to teach you…

Our faculty are high strung academics, but they have travelled from your past to their future so that you may learn…

Be kind to them…

 

The Miskatonic University UK are bringing a host of games set in the Arkham universe – they will be available to teach the basics of all the games in 20-30 minute sessions and will be running tournaments too! Learn to play the games, and you may leave with a degree from the University!

While the games being brought by the Miskatonc University are set in a world of horror, their sessions will focus more on the fear of horror than the horror itself to keep them as a safe space for minors and those who struggle with horror themes.

With a pre-booked ticket, you can sign up to the Miskantonic Universities sessions in advance here!

Games Offered

Description from Board Game Geek:

The year is 1926, and it is the height of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers dance till dawn in smoke-filled speakeasies drinking alcohol supplied by rum runners and the mob. It’s a celebration to end all celebrations in the aftermath of the war to end all wars.
Yet a dark shadow grows in the city of Arkham. Alien entities known as Ancient Ones lurk in the emptiness beyond space and time, writhing at the gates between worlds. These gates have begun to open and must be closed before the Ancient Ones make our world their ruined domination.
Only a handful of investigators stand against the Arkham Horror. Will they Prevail?

Arkham Horror is a cooperative adventure game themed around H.P Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Players choose from 16 Investigators and take to the streets of Arkham. Before the game, one of the eight Ancient Ones is chosen and it’s up to the Investigators to prevent it from breaking into our world. During the course of the game, players will upgrade their characters by acquiring skills, allies, items, weapons, and spells. It’s up to the players to clean out the streets of Arkham by fighting many different types of monsters, but their main goal is to close gates to other dimensions that are opening up around town. With too many gates open the Ancient One awakens and the players only have one last chance to save the world – defeat the Ancient One in combat!

Tournament at 3pm on Saturday. While this is a co-op game, tables will be competing for the best score to graduate with a better degree. Sign up here with a pre-booked ticket!

Description from Board Game Geek:

Something evil stirs in Arkham, and only you can stop it. Blurring the traditional lines between role-playing and card game experiences, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a Living Card Game of Lovecraftian mystery, monsters, and madness!

In the game, you, alone or with a friend (or up to three friends with two Core Sets), become investigators within the quiet New England town of Arkham. You have your talents, sure, but you also have your flaws. Perhaps you’ve dabbled a little too much in the writings of the Necronomicon, and its words continue to haunt you. Perhaps you feel compelled to cover up any signs of otherworldly evils, hampering your own investigations in order to protect the quiet confidence of the greater population. Perhaps you’ll be scarred by your encounters with a ghoulish cult.

No matter what compels you, no matter what haunts you, you’ll find both your strengths and weaknesses reflected in your custom deck of cards, and these cards will be your resources as you work with your friends to unravel the world’s most terrifying mysteries.

Each of your adventures in Arkham Horror LCG carries you deeper into mystery. You’ll find cultists and foul rituals. You’ll find haunted houses and strange creatures. And you may find signs of the Ancient Ones straining against the barriers to our world…

The basic mode of play in Arkham LCG is not the adventure, but the campaign. You might be scarred by your adventures, your sanity may be strained, and you may alter Arkham’s landscape, burning buildings to the ground. All your choices and actions have consequences that reach far beyond the immediate resolution of the scenario at hand—and your actions may earn you valuable experience with which you can better prepare yourself for the adventures that still lie before you.

Description from Board Game Geek:

You arrived too late to stop the loathsome rite, and a monstrous, transdimensional Ancient One tears through reality. An iridescent rift slashes across the darkened skies, heralding the nightmarish creatures that pour into the hallowed buildings of Miskatonic University. As howls and screams cut through the night, there is only one path left for your fearless investigators—hold back the horde long enough to somehow reverse the summoning.

Arkham Horror: Final Hour is a fully co-operative, fast-paced board game for one to four players. An endless tide of monsters sweeps across the Miskatonic University campus, and you must hold them back, all while searching desperately for the ritual components you need to put an end to this insanity. Playable in under 60 minutes, your fate depends on cooperation between you and your fellow investigators. The odds against you are astronomical, but if you don’t succeed, this will indeed be the final hour for Arkham…and the world.

Description from Board Game Geek:

Step into the eerie town of Arkham with Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter, a chilling twist on the classic deduction card game. Delve into the madness of the Lovecraftian universe as you face eldritch horrors and uncover allies tainted with madness in this gripping battle of wits. Can you maintain your sanity and outwit Cthulhu, or will you succumb to the creeping darkness that lurks within?

Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter is a game of push-your-luck, deduction, and risk for 2-6 players that uses the award-winning Love Letter system.

Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter is played over a series of rounds. Each round, you collect clues to investigate an eldritch mystery while trying to hold onto your sanity—or embracing the horror.

The card in your hand represents the clue you’re currently investigating. Each turn, you draw 1 new card, then play 1 of your 2 cards. Playing certain cards will drive you Insane, which gives you access to powerful Insane effects on cards you play but also forces you to make a Sanity check each turn to see if you break down completely.

This is an updated version of the popular Lovecraft Letter with Gameplay and visuals that are reimagined for Arkham Horror.

1pm on Sunday. Sign up here with a pre-booked ticket!

Description from RPG Geek:

Beneath the glitz and glamour of the Roaring Twenties lurk terrors older than time and more dangerous than you can imagine.

In the heart of 1920s New England, nestled among the rolling hills of the Miskatonic River Valley, lies Arkham, Massachusetts.

Caught in the midst of the tides of change and progress, the city struggles to shrug off the myths of its past and step into a shining future. But too many of those myths have a kernel of truth at their core, and the eldritch horrors that haunt Arkham’s past still lurk just beyond the threshold of our understanding. Nothing can stand against the monsters that stalk the darkness…except you.

Dive into glamour, danger, and mystery with Arkham Horror – The Roleplaying Game! With intuitive, exciting mechanics enabling tough choices and immersive storytelling, all you need is this book and a handful of six-sided dice to start investigating eldritch mysteries with your friends! Take on the role of one of the few investigators brave and resolute enough to step into the shadows beyond our world and face the crawling horrors beyond. If you fail, your sanity will be shattered and your body consumed by things worse than you could ever imagine.

But if you succeed, you just might save the world from total destruction!

Description from Board Game Geek:

The House on the Hill still sits abandoned, and fearless group of explorers has been drawn to the house to discover its dark secrets. Immerse yourself in the narrative gameplay as you take on the role of one of those explorers.

The co-operative board game Betrayal at House on the Hill: 3rd Edition includes fifty haunts and dozens of danger-filled rooms that will terrify even the strongest among you. At first you’ll work together, but beware…one explorer will betray the others and then the haunt begins.

This edition of the popular haunted house traitor game features content and gaming elements that help new players jump right in. So gather friends for a game night of monsters, miniatures, and modular board pieces in this immersive, story-driven hidden traitor game.

1pm on Sunday. Sign up here with a pre-booked ticket!

Description from RPG Geek:

The Old Ones ruled the earth aeons before the rise of man. Traces of their cyclopean cities can still be found on remote islands, buried amid the shifting desert sands, and in the frozen wastes of the polar extremes. Originally they came to this world from the stars. They sleep now, some deep within the earth or beneath the sea. When the stars are right they shall again walk the earth.

Call of Cthulhu is a tabletop roleplaying game based upon the worlds of H. P. Lovecraft. It is a game of secrets, mysteries, and horror. Playing the role of steadfast investigators, you travel to strange and dangerous places, uncover foul plots, and stand against the terrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. You encounter sanity-blasting entities, monsters, and insane cultists. Within strange and forgotten tomes of lore you discover revelations that man was not meant to know. You and your companions may very well decide the fate of the world.

1pm on Sunday

Description from RPG Geek:

Cthulhu Dark is a tabletop roleplaying game of cosmic horror, set in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft.

It’s about the things we fear, amplified until they are unbearable. It’s about stories that genuinely creep you out, not well-worn tropes and creatures you’ve seen hundreds of times before. And it’s about bleak horror, in which humans are powerless when confronted by hyperintelligent alien horrors.

You can’t beat them. You can’t fight them. You can only watch, run, hide and fear.

Description from Board Game Geek:

It is 1926, and the museum’s extensive collection of exotic curios and occult artifacts poses a threat to the barriers between our world and the elder evils lurking between dimensions. Gates to the beyond begin to leak open, and terrifying creatures of increasing strength steal through them. Animals, the mad, and those of more susceptible minds are driven to desperation by the supernatural forces the portals unleash. Only a handful of investigators race against time to locate the eldritch symbols necessary to seal the portals forever. Only they can stop the Ancient One beyond from finding its way to Earth and reducing humanity to cinders.

Elder Sign is a fast-paced, cooperative dice game of supernatural intrigue for one to eight players by Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson, the designers of Arkham Horror. Players take the roles of investigators racing against time to stave off the imminent return of the Ancient One. Armed with tools, allies, and occult knowledge, investigators must put their sanity and stamina to the test as they adventure to locate Elder Signs, the eldritch symbols used to seal away the Ancient Ones and win the game.

To locate Elder Signs, investigators must successfully endure Adventures within the museum and its environs. A countdown mechanism makes an Ancient One appear if the investigators are not quick enough. The investigators must then battle the Ancient One. A clever and thematic dice mechanism pits their exploration against monsters and the sheer difficulty of staying sane and healthy, all within the standard game duration of one to two hours.

Demo only

Description from Board Game Geek:

Across the globe, ancient evil is stirring. Now, you and your trusted circle of colleagues must travel around the world, working against all odds to hold back the approaching horror. Foul monsters, brutal encounters, and obscure mysteries will take you to your limit and beyond. All the while, you and your fellow investigators must unravel the otherworldy mysteries scattered around the globe in order to push back the gathering mayhem that threatens to overwhelm humanity. The end draws near! Do you have the courage to prevent global destruction?

Eldritch Horror is a co-operative game of terror and adventure in which one to eight players take the roles of globetrotting investigators working to solve mysteries, gather clues, and protect the world from an Ancient One – that is, an elder being intent on destroying our world. Each Ancient One comes with its own unique decks of Mystery and Research cards, which draw you deeper into the lore surrounding each loathsome creature. Discover the true name of Azathoth or battle Cthulhu on the high seas.

While the tasks on these Mystery cards (along with the locations of otherworldly gates, menacing monsters, and helpful clues) will often inform both your travel plans and the dangers you confront, you can find adventure anywhere in the world…even where you least expect it. It is during the Encounter Phase of each turn that players resolve combat or, alternatively, build their investigators’ personal stories by reading an encounter narrative from one of several types of Encounter cards. You might go head to head with a monster in Istanbul or find yourself in a tough spot with the crime syndicate in a major city. Maybe you will embark on an expedition to the Pyramids or research a clue you uncover in the unnamed wilderness. You may even find your way through a gate and explore a dimension beyond time and space.

Should you fail an encounter, the cost is steep. If you are fortunate, you will merely incur physical or mental trauma. However, you might also be compelled to take a Condition card, which represents a specific injury or restriction gained throughout your journey, such as a Leg Injury or Amnesia. You could find yourself getting in over your head to acquire assets and receive a Debt condition – or maybe you’ll owe a favor to something far more insidious than a debt collector, and enter into a Dark Pact! Whatever your condition, you would be wise to find a resolution with haste; many conditions have a “reckoning effect” which, if triggered, ensure a much more sinister fate.

All the while, the arrival of the Ancient One approaches. Its malign influence is manifested in Eldritch Horror as you draw Mythos Cards, which govern the appearance of otherworldly gates, fearsome monsters, and other ominous elements. Mythos cards keep your investigators under pressure, introducing new threats, even as the arrival of the Great Old One draws nearer! Since the investigators draw a new Mythos card each round, they’re certain to have their hands full battling foul creatures and following up on strange rumors, even as they work to solve their three all-important mysteries.

With twelve unique investigators, two hundred-fifty tokens, and over three hundred cards, Eldritch Horror presents an epic, world-spanning adventure with each and every game.

Description from Board Game Geek:

In Fury of Dracula, a game of Gothic adventure, one player takes the role of Dracula while up to four others attempt to stop him by controlling Vampire hunters from the famous Bram Stoker novel.

Dracula has returned, and is determined to control all of Europe by creating an undead empire of Vampires. Dracula uses a deck of location cards to secretly travel through Europe, leaving a trail of encounters and events for the hunters that chase him.

Meanwhile, the hunters attempt to track and destroy Dracula using the limited information available to them – a task easier said than done when their prey has the power to change forms into a wolf or bat, and can even melt away into the mist when confronted.

To save Europe and rid the world of Dracula’s foul plague, the hunters must destroy Dracula before he earns enough victory points to win the game… will they have enough wit and bravery to defeat the dark count?

The third edition of Fury of Dracula features all-new art and graphic design crafted to complement the game’s intuitive, thematic mechanisms. Rounds are now broken into day and night, with hunters taking actions during both, while Dracula can act only at night. Combat is more streamlined and decisive, and new rumor tokens allow Dracula to mislead hunters and extend the terrible reach of his influence. Count Dracula triumphs if he advances his influence track to thirteen; if the hunters can defeat him before then, they save the continent of Europe and win the game.

Description from Board Game Geek:

Hotel Lovecraft enables you to create a terrifying and unsettling experience in the comfort of your own home. Based on the works of the master of cosmic horror H.P. Lovecraft, it blends roleplaying, adventure gamebooks and audio horror theatre into a hybrid entertainment.

In a darkened candlelit room or even over the internet via video chat, you will take your guests on a journey through a world of twisted nightmares and reality-bending encounters.

To Play
One or all of you will take on the role of host. It will be their job to read from the book. The other players must create their persona and then within 5 minutes be ready to enter the twisted rooms of Hotel Lovecraft.

If they get through all six floors of the building and escape alive maintaining their reality, they win. Fail, and they never check out.

Each room has its own specially designed soundscape and narration, once entered you will be given four choices, from which you must choose before you are allowed to descend further. The HOST will tell them of the results and elaborate upon the story to bring the players deeper into the adventure.

A player will start on the top floor of “Hotel Lovecraft”. Play or read the Acts in order, before the player can start opening each door to the floor. They must open all but one of the doors on each floor before the lift will allow them to move to the next level. They can if they wish to revisit a floor, once they have activated the lift.

Players will start with full HEALTH and Zero MADNESS. If the players lose all their HEALTH or REALITY points, the game ends for them.

Description from Board Game Geek:

That flaming column was spouting volcanically. The combustion does not lay warmth, but only the clamminess of death and corruption. – The Festival, H.P. Lovecraft, 1923

In the unimaginable darkness of Kingsport, silent wanderers are called to a profane celebration. Their goal: to invoke unthinkable horrors! A dread terror that is not of this world or any other — but rather from the spaces between the stars — demands your submission. Meanwhile, unwary investigators vainly attempt to halt this appalling chapter in the dark history of Arkham.

As the high priest of one of these shadowy cults, you must dominate the city. You will invoke cosmic creatures and unholy gods to receive their “gifts”, but you must take care to preserve your sanity and thwart the investigators who seek to stop you. This time, you are the bad guys. Why settle for the lesser evil?

Kingsport Festival, a game of bizarre cults set in the terrifying world of Howard Philips Lovecraft, lasts 12 rounds, each divided into six phases. All Cultists roll their dice and the one that rolled the lowest sum will play first and so on, then (in turn order) each one may invoke an Elder God by using one or more of his dice, where the sum of their values is exactly equal to the number of the Elder God, or pass. Once all the dice are placed or players have passed, in ascending order, the Elder Gods give their gifts to the Cultists who invoked them: the Cultists may have to lose Sanity points to receive the rewards. After Cultists have taken their dice back, in turn order each one may place his disk on one Building that is connected to another one he has already marked (starting from the House). To do so, he must pay the Domain resources required.

In turns marked with a blue marker on the Calendar, a Raid takes place: first the Event card and then the Investigator card is revealed. Each Cultist calculates his Strength by adding up any modifiers he has due to Spells, Buildings, and other game effects (such as Events, Scenarios, etc.). If his strength is greater, the Cultist receives rewards; if is less, he suffers the penalty.

The game ends after the twelfth round is played. If the Scenario has a Festival card, it is revealed and its effects resolved at this time.
The Cultist who has the most Cult points is the winner.

Description from Board Game Geek:

Mansions of Madness: Second Edition is a fully co-operative, app-driven board game of horror and mystery for one to five players that takes place in the same universe as Eldritch Horror and Elder Sign. Let the immersive app guide you through the veiled streets of Innsmouth and the haunted corridors of Arkham’s cursed mansions as you search for answers and respite. Eight brave investigators stand ready to confront four scenarios of fear and mystery, collecting weapons, tools, and information, solving complex puzzles, and fighting monsters, insanity, and death. Open the door and step inside these hair-raising Mansions of Madness: Second Edition. It will take more than just survival to conquer the evils terrorizing this town.

Description from Board Game Geek:

Munchkins have hacked their way through dungeons, kung fu temples, starships, haunted houses, and super-foes. Now they face their greatest challenge – Cthulhu! Will they survive? Will they retain their sanity? Will they…level up?

Munchkin Cthulhu is a standalone game in the Munchkin universe, this time lampooning Lovecraft’s Mythos and the horror gaming that surrounds it. This base game features four new Classes, including the Cultist, and a lot of classic monsters from outside reality – and they all have Stuff you can take from their twitching bodies. You can play Munchkin Cthulhu by itself, or combine it with any number of other Munchkin titles for mind-bending silliness.

Part of the Munchkin series.

Munchkin is a satirical card game based on the clichés and oddities of Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games. Each player starts at level 1 and the winner is the first player to reach level 10. Players can acquire familiar D&D style character classes during the game which determine to some extent the cards they can play.

There are two types of cards – treasure and encounters. Each turn the current players ‘kicks down the door’ – drawing an encounter card from the deck. Usually this will involve battling a monster. Monsters have their own levels and players must try and overcome it using the levels, weapons and powers they have acquired during the game or run away. Other players can chose to help the player or hinder by adding extra monsters to the encounter. Defeating a monster will usually result in drawing treasure cards and acquiring levels. Being defeated by a monster results in “bad stuff” which usually involves losing levels and treasure.

Description from Board Game Geek:

Shadows of Brimstone is a fast-paced, fully cooperative, dungeon-crawl board game set in the world of Darkstone, substance of supernatural properties which can be used to power hi-tech machinery, grant magical properties, open inter-dimensional portals… but also bring corruption and mutation to those who are too greedy.

Players create characters, taking on one of many roles like classic Western Hero Archetype, such as the Gunslinger, or Saloon Girl, feudal Japan Samurai or Geisha, Spanish Conquistadors, Vikings, Pulp-fiction Adventurers, and even different types of Aliens. Forming an adventuring posse, the Heroes venture down into the dark places, overrun with all manner of ancient demons, unspeakable horrors, and foul creatures from another world. With tactical gameplay, lots of dice, and a robust card-driven exploration system, no two games are ever the same. Game can be played as one-shot adventure, but with solid campaign system and character development it can turn into multisession fun lasting for months (quite literally).

With over 250 fully compatible products Shadows of Brimstone is not anymore a game, but rather an entire game system with 7 different core sets to start your adventure with, 66 hero classes, 17 worlds to visit, over 220 unique enemies to fight and countless items to find and upgrade your hero with.

Description from Board Game Geek:

Have you ever wanted to play a pop-up book? Have you been searching for a game that is filled with magic and mystery? Is your gaming group looking for something quick and fun without pages and pages of rules? Look no further!

The Shivers is a truly one-of-a-kind tabletop experience that features the magic of hand-crafted pop-ups, combined with just the right amount of spooky puzzle-solving mystery and role playing.

Using our patent-pending modular pop-up system, the mystery will unfold as you and your friends explore a magical mansion, as one of the members of the Shivers family. Each episode takes about an hour to play cooperatively, with one person taking the lead as the Storyteller. Once players finish one episode, a quick change of the system reveals the next story which will be completely new and unique: filled with new clues, puzzles, room layouts, and foes to vanquish.

The Shivers is fun and challenging for young kids, teens, and even older experienced game players. While most games have dozens of pages of rules and take many hours to learn and play, Shivers players have just a couple simple rules, and can get up and playing in less than 5 minutes. Similar to an escape room in structure and feel (but on a much smaller scale), players can get immediately immersed in the mystery, discovering the right path forward as they progress.

For each scenario, one player takes on the role of the “storyteller”, which is akin to an RPG GameMaster (GM). They know the whole story, and facilitate the rest of the players as they play the game. They are not an adversary, as they can’t win or lose. Their goal is to make the game as fun as possible for the group.

Demo only

Description from Board Game Geek:

The year is 1913. The steamship SS Atlantica is two days out from port on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Its unsuspecting passengers fully anticipated a calm journey to Boston, Massachusetts, with nothing out of the ordinary to look forward to. However, strange nightmares plague the minds of the people aboard the ship every night; rumors circulate of dark shapes following closely behind the ship just beneath the waves; and tensions rise when a body is discovered in the ship’s chapel, signs of a strange ritual littered around the corpse.

Lurking within the depths of the Atlantic Ocean are a swarm of vicious, unspeakable horrors: the Deep Ones, led by Mother Hydra and Father Dagon. For reasons unknown, they have set their sights on the Atlantica, and their minions, taking the form of human-Deep One hybrids, have infiltrated the steamship to help sink it from within. Each game of Unfathomable has one or more players assuming the role of one of these hybrids, and how well they can secretly sabotage the efforts of the other players might mean the difference between a successful voyage and a sunken ship.

If you’re a human, you need to fend off Deep Ones, prevent the Atlantica from taking too much damage, and carefully manage the ship’s four crucial resources if you want any hope of making it to Boston, all while trying to figure out which of your fellow players are friends and which are foes. Everyone shares the same resource pool, but humans will try to preserve them while traitors will strive to subtly deplete them. Being able to tell when someone is purposefully draining the group’s resources is harder than you think, especially when you take crises into account!

At the end of each player’s turn, that player must draw a mythos card. Each of these cards represents a crisis that the whole group must try to resolve together. Some of these crises, such as “Food Rationing”, call for a choice that could potentially put the ship’s passengers or resources at risk, while others, such as “Hull Leak”, call for a skill test in which failure could have disastrous consequences.

During a skill test, each player contributes skill cards from their hand to a face-down pile shared by the group. Once everyone has contributed (or chosen not to), the cards are shuffled, then revealed. If enough of the correct skills were contributed, then the group passes the test! But if the wrong skills were contributed, they can actually hinder the results, leading to failure. Thus, skill tests are dangerous opportunities for traitors to sabotage the humans’ efforts, so you have to stay on your toes at all times.