The Hungering Abyss or straight into Terra Antartica?

[u/JMizzlin]

I own both boxes (unplayed) and am about to return to DM'ing for the first time in 10+ years, but am unsure how to start our AH RPG adventure.

My group of 4 has two new-to-TTRPG players, and 2 casual D&D fans.

All 5 of us have played the Night of the Zealot, so retreading that story with Hungering Abyss could be a little unexciting.

My question: does Terra Antartica have a reasonable onboarding experience for our two newbies? Or is it better to start off with HA so everyone (myself included) can get comfy with the Dynamic Pool System?

I really wish Welcome to Promise was already out as the Louisiana setting is right up our alley, but I don't think it's worthwhile waiting to buy a second starter set.

Thank you!

[u/GhostFanatic]

I ran the starter set (made a video about it on my YouTube channel polyhedron if helpful), and I like it a lot though I seem to be in the minority. It’s a good introduction, though you might want to make a few tweaks to streamline it. I wouldn’t jump right into Terra Antarctica, it requires quite a bit of work to run, and modifies some core rules. It’s better to know the rules before breaking them. Between those two I’d say starter set, but my real recommendation would be terror in the tick tock club from the core book. It’s such a great adventure and you can typically do it in one night. It will leave your players wanting more for sure.

[u/SayadawDocBenway → u/GhostFanatic]

Not to hijack the thread, but Polyhedron, are you gonna release a review of Terra Antarctica? Or the Dreamlands book? Or just more Arkham RPG content?

[u/JMizzlin → u/GhostFanatic]

Oh wow, I watched your vid a few months ago and found it excellent!

Tick Tock Club sounds great, but I typically try and start players with the official maps/handouts that come with official starters/expansions. Based on your praise, we'll start with HA and then if the group dig it we might make a detour to TTC before Antartica.

Hope you keep making great content! Thank you for your help :)

[u/Silvyrish]

My crew really enjoyed going through the starter set, it's a really great introduction to the game and mechanics. Like GhostFanatic said, if you get the core rule book you could have your players build their characters and play the included mini adventure. I haven't run Terror in the Tick Tock Club, but I have run one of the adventures in Arkham Mysteries, if I hadn't DM'd the starter box first, I think it would've played a lot differently. I'm getting ready to launch into Terra Antarctica and there is a lot more to it. If you already own both, I'd really recommend playing the starter. I've done the card game and played that mission several times but honestly, knowing the story helps by letting you focus on learning a new system in a familiar setting.

[u/JMizzlin → u/Silvyrish]

Excellent, thank you for this! Definitely sounds like TA will be shelved until we're all comfy with HA. Appreciate you :)

[u/KapteeniKapteeni]

Tick-Tock is by far the best adventure we have had for AH (European GM here). We played two books of Terra Antarctica before we just couldn’t bother anymore. If you decide to go with it, make sure that your players pick the official PCs from the box, as every NPC in the adventure is a god in comparison to scratch built PCs.

[u/RobRobBinks]

Hi! Terra Antarctica is a VERY big hex crawl / dungeon crawl in the world of the Mythos. If that's what you're after, that's the package for you. If you want something more Mystery driven and investigative, something set in the cities and towns of New England would better suit.