Good day! We've got a big update written by Drew Penn on everything that has changed in
Gloomhaven: Second Edition, but first we'll do a little review. We didn't do any streaming yesterday, but we do have some upcoming streams!
Pixel Circus is back today to play good old game of
Frosthaven at 11am PST. Like the games with Good Time Society and Penny Arcade, this was a custom scenario that will be available after the episode airs. Unlike the others, which were a bit on the easy side,
this scenario is pretty brutal. It's a real nail-biter!
And the
Tabletop Minions will be back at 5pm PST to paint some more miniatures!
The only other thing I have to tell you is that it is Monday, so check out the Cragheart puzzle (created by Mike Clinton) at the bottom of the main page. This one should be a little more challenging than previous puzzles.
And before we get into this mega set of info below, I also want to let you know we'll be off tomorrow for the holiday, so I'll catch you Wednesday!
The question of how much has actually changed in the second edition of Gloomhaven has been asked a lot during this campaign, and many people may still not have an accurate idea. We’ve provided individual examples (and will continue to do so) but wanted to take the time to break it down by the numbers, looking at many of the components in the game.
Classes
While most of this article is quantifying the number of changed game components, classes are simply too difficult to classify in terms of the degree changed - “how much a class has changed” is too subjective. So rather than try to break that down here, we invite you to take a look at the individual class previews below. As a general note: all classes received three new non-AMD perks, standees for their summons, and an initiative token. And there are now 18 classes in the box instead of 17.
Scenarios
Gloomhaven: Second Edition has 101 scenarios (up from 95). Of those, let’s break down how different they are from scenarios in the first edition mechanically. We will not define these categories precisely, but will provide examples below the breakdown to give an idea of what each means. General note: all scenarios have received some degree of narrative updates, from small tweaks to fit the new campaign flow to entirely new stories (
you can find out more about that here).
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Slightly Modified: 32
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Significantly Modified: 36
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Reworked: 14
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New: 14
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Unchanged: 5
Note: Graphic design on these scenarios has not yet been started. These are just playtesting materials.
Slightly Modified
First of all, the scenario effect was removed, although this is simply because the scenario is now in the first three in the game and it doesn’t make sense to have scenario effects before many people may not have a single perk.
In the first room, we moved the Hounds further from the starting position. This scenario could start off really brutally depending on what the Hounds did on round 1, and giving the party more space will make this a bit less punishing.
Most of the difficulty in this scenario came in the first and third rooms and with the changes to make the first room a bit easier and more forgiving, we slightly increased the amount of enemies in the second room to provide slightly more even difficulty throughout.
Significantly Modified
As above, this scenario being in the first three, it no longer has a scenario effect.
More attention has been paid this time to making the first few scenarios for new groups more forgiving and with this being the second scenario, we’ve added an additional starting room to give groups some breathing room against the aggressive Night Demons (while still helping to teach the tactic of approaching enemies late in the round after their turns).
This scenario is also the first introduction to Cultists and monster summoning in general, so we’ve provided a very low number of Cultists and set up exactly what they’ll be doing each round so that players can learn how to play around it.
This scenario previously featured Flame Demons, a tricky enemy for new Gloomhaven players to face as they require very specific tools to deal with. As players are just learning the game at this point, we didn’t want them to face the unique difficulty of Flame Demons this early on and thus replaced them with a much simpler enemy in Earth Demons.
Reworked
The old version of Ritual Chamber threw the party in a room with a bunch of Cultists and told them essentially to hope the Cultists didn’t summon too soon or too often and essentially wipe the scenario with limited player control of the outcome.
The new Ritual Chamber presents a similar scenario but with different mechanics to introduce the Cultists gradually such that their ability card flips for a given round are not so significant in the success or failure of the scenario.
New
And alongside all of the changed scenarios, you’ll find 14 completely original scenarios like this one.
Items
Gloomhaven: Second Edition has 152 different items (up from 132). Of those, let’s break down how different they are from items in the first edition. I will not define these categories precisely, but will provide examples below the breakdown to give an idea of what each means.
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Modified: 76
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Reworked: 19
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New: 43
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Unchanged: 14
Modified
The old Minor Stamina Potion was simply too powerful and also scaled far too well. The new Stamina Potion had both its power and scaling reduced, making it still a strong item for gaining an extra turn or repeating a good level 1 action, but without all of the extra unnecessary power that made it one of the strongest items in the game. And it has been made unrecoverable to avoid potentially degenerate combos that gain too many extra turns or repeat the same actions ad nauseam.
Reworked
We wanted to keep the existing theme of moving a long distance to gain experience, but incorporated it into something much more regularly usable so you wouldn’t have to give up a valuable item slot for the pleasure. And what makes someone happier than looting?
New
Prosperity 1 items were largely dominant in the first edition as many of them were far too cost effective. This time around, we aimed to make Prosperity 1 items that provide smaller bonuses to allow for more room to improve as you progress through the campaign. Scouting Lens is still useful, especially for any class that struggles a bit with shielded enemies, but it’s never going to be so cost effective you hesitate to replace it as you unlock additional head slot items down the road.
Personal Quests
Gloomhaven: Second Edition has 22 personal quests (down from 24, as envelope X has been integrated into the Town Records book). Of those, let’s break down how different they are from personal quests in the first edition. We will not define these categories precisely, but will provide examples below the breakdown to give an idea of what each means. As a general note: all personal quests now end with a scenario or a section book entry, even those that did not change mechanically.
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Modified: 4
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Reworked: 8
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New: 6
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Unchanged: 4
Modified
Finding the Cure is actually an amalgamation of two first edition personal quests: Finding the Cure and Elemental Samples. We removed any personal quests that required finding specific monster types because these had such high variability and many times led to parties feeling stuck between no foreseeable retirement or being forced to replay a scenario. With 101 scenarios in the game, we never want people to feel like they need to replay a scenario to advance their character’s personal quest. So that meant cutting the old Finding the Cure. Meanwhile, we had something else to do in place of Elemental Samples, so we could easily move the mechanic from that personal quest to this card and fit the narrative accordingly.
Reworked
The old Fall of Man personal quest was infamous for players who started the campaign with it (like myself!) and took forever before they could retire. This one was reworked as part of our goal to change any personal quests where players were often stuck. Instead, we were able to make this mechanically follow the theme even more so than before.
New
In addition to fixing up old personal quests, we also made some new ones that avoided the existing issues and let characters explore and interact with the world in unique ways (such as becoming a politician).
Monsters
Gloomhaven: Second Edition has 36 different monster types (up from 34). Of those, let’s break down how different they are from the monster types in the first edition. I will not define these categories precisely, but will provide examples below the breakdown to give an idea of what each means.
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Minor Adjustments: 14
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Substantial Mechanical Changes: 20
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New: 2
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Unchanged: 0
Minor Adjustments
The biggest change for City Guards was in their ability card deck: previously both of the 15 initiative non-move actions were the reshuffles, which could lead to Guards in general spending a lot of time sitting around potentially doing nothing (and also meant a big difference between the difficulty of facing them as a melee or ranged character). Now one of the two reshuffles is on their 55 initiative action which self-strengthens. Beyond that, they’ve had the same level 6 and 7 stat increases that all monsters have been given to help increase the difficulty of late campaign for groups who choose to increase the difficulty level.
Substantial Mechanical Changes
Most of the threat of Cultists in the first edition was their ability to summon Living Bones. This is certainly still their most threatening action, but we’ve taken steps to reduce the randomness and swinginess overall. Now, when they summon, they take less damage than before but also stun themselves, meaning they won’t typically be able to summon multiple rounds in a row, which could previously be a scenario-ender. Their heal abilities now apply Safeguard (the new condition that blocks a negative condition and then goes away), which can actually prevent the self-stun, giving your party a big incentive to try to get any negative condition on a Safeguarded Cultist as soon as possible. And as we made their summoning weaker, we wanted to keep their average threat level similar by increasing the strength of their non-summoning turns through slightly stronger actions and better stats.
New
We introduced two new monsters to Gloomhaven: Second Edition, Chaos Demons and Crystal Rot. Chaos Demons you’ll already recognize if you’ve played Jaws of the Lion or Frosthaven - these popular enemy types fit in very easily in the base game as well. Crystal Rot, on the other hand, are entirely new enemies. One of the most common scenario types in Gloomhaven is facing off against mostly undead enemies. We wanted to add a new, mechanically different undead monster to add more variety to these types of scenarios. Crystal Rot are powerful support casters that bolster their undead allies, making them high priority targets in combat without the swinginess of summoning.
Bosses
In addition to the monster changes, most bosses and their scenarios have been substantially reworked. There is also one brand new boss.
Events
Gloomhaven: Second Edition has 180 events (up from 160). Of those, 17 are from the first edition. 15 of those had edits ranging from rewrites to match the existing theme down to minor mechanical tweaks. Two cards had no edits at all — they're the only ones that made it through unscathed. The other 163 are all-new.
And More…
While we’ve primarily focused on quantifiable component changes in this article, there’s plenty more that’s new in
Gloomhaven: Second Edition. To learn more,
check the pledge page here.
