Barkham Horror mixes Lovecraftian horror with loveable pooches, and it’s out this Friday
April Fool's joke-turned-real scenario pack for Arkham Horror LCG.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game’s joke-turned-actually-real dog-filled scenario pack Barkham Horror: The Meddling of Meowlathotep is being let out (perpetrators unknown) this Friday.
Originally announced as an elaborate April Fool’s joke last year, Barkham Horror is based on the Arkham Horror living card game that sees players working together to save the world from any number of nightmarish cosmic horrors, but switches its roster of human investigators for canine characters and cultists for an evil cabal of cats and the feline monstrosities they worship.
Shots of the then-fake game featured familiar investigators from the Arkham Horror Files universe with their heads switched for good dogs, along with a litany of puns and in-jokes. Meanwhile, the cats were transformed into terrifying monsters - including a cat constrictor and an eight-legged arachnicat.
Following the reception of the April Fool’s gag, publisher Fantasy Flight announced late last year that it was turning its joke creation into a real release.
A scenario pack for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Barkham Horror: The Meddling of Meowlathotep is a standalone adventure that sees five of the waggy-tailed investigators race to stop the titular moggy monster - a play on Cthulhu mythos mainstay Nyarlathotep - from destroying the world.
While cards from the Arkham Horror LCG can be used to build decks for use in the scenario, no human investigators can be used and the pack is deliberately made to be played detached from any ongoing campaigns. Like their human counterparts, each of the investigators has unique traits, items and abilities. According to Fantasy Flight, a number of the animals in the game are based on the designers’ own pets.
Barkham Horror: The Meddling of Meowlathotep will be released this Friday, September 18th. It’ll cost $20 in the US. Whether you can pet the dog(s) is yet to be confirmed.
Members of the Barkham Horror development team played the upcoming release as part of this year’s PAX Online x EGX Digital - the virtual convention run by Dicebreaker parent ReedPop taking place until September 20th. You can watch the designers show off the scenario below.
