Arkham Horror: The Card Game has grown into a sprawling catalog of campaign boxes, and that depth is exactly what makes it intimidating to start as a new player. Knowing what to buy first makes the difference between an easy on-ramp and an overwhelming first purchase.
The short version is simple: you need the Core Set first, every time, regardless of which campaign eventually interests you most. Everything else in the game's catalog builds on what the Core Set establishes.
Beyond that first purchase, the decision gets more nuanced, since campaign expansions vary in scope, player count support, and how self-contained each one actually is.
This guide breaks down exactly what the Core Set includes, how campaign expansions work, and a sensible buying order for building out your collection from there.
The Core Set gives you five playable investigators, the full rules for the game's core mechanics, and the first campaign, Night of the Zealot, which is short but a genuinely complete introduction to how a full Arkham Horror campaign plays out. It also includes the chaos bag and tokens the entire game system depends on.
Because so many core mechanics - skill tests, the chaos bag, investigator building - are introduced here and reused in every later expansion, skipping the Core Set isn't really an option even if a later campaign's theme appeals to you more.
Each campaign expansion (the larger box format) introduces a complete new multi-scenario story, new investigators, and new player cards, functioning as a full-sized follow-up to Night of the Zealot. These are the game's biggest content releases and the ones most players eventually gravitate toward.
Campaign expansions generally require the Core Set's base components - chaos bag tokens, damage and horror tokens, and so on - meaning you can't play one in isolation without already owning the Core Set first.
Night of the Zealot is intentionally short, meaning most new players finish it faster than they expect and immediately want more content. This is by design - it's meant to teach the system, not be the game's primary draw.
Understanding this upfront helps set expectations correctly, since budgeting only for the Core Set and stopping there will leave you wanting more content within just a few play sessions.
Picking a campaign expansion based on its theme and investigator roster is a reasonable approach, since all of the major campaign boxes are built to a similarly high standard of scenario design. There's no objectively "best" first choice, more a matter of which story hooks you.
Checking a campaign's player-count support before buying matters too, since some campaigns handle solo or two-player games more smoothly than others depending on scenario pacing and mechanics.
Smaller-format products like Mythos Packs and investigator-specific starter decks exist mainly to extend an existing campaign or add replayability to a campaign you already own, which makes them a poor first purchase before you have a campaign expansion to attach them to. They're a later-stage purchase, not a starting point.
Resist the urge to buy every available product at once; the game's catalog is deep enough that a staged buying approach saves money and avoids owning content you can't use yet.
Start with the Core Set, play through Night of the Zealot to learn the system, then commit to one full campaign expansion that matches your preferred theme before considering any smaller add-on products. This keeps your early purchases focused and avoids decision paralysis from the game's full catalog.
Once you've completed your first full campaign expansion, you'll have a much clearer sense of whether Mythos Packs, deluxe expansions, or a second full campaign is the better next purchase for your group.
A realistic first-time budget covers the Core Set plus one campaign expansion, rather than trying to acquire the game's entire catalog at once, since the two together already provide dozens of hours of content for a new group. Spreading purchases out as you actually need more content avoids buying expansions you won't touch for months.
Shared ownership within a regular playgroup is also worth considering, since Arkham Horror LCG is commonly played cooperatively and splitting the cost of a campaign expansion across two or three regular players meaningfully lowers everyone's individual buy-in.
Yes, campaign expansions rely on the Core Set's base components like the chaos bag and tokens.
Night of the Zealot is intentionally short, meant to teach the system rather than be the main content.
No, they extend an existing campaign and work best once you already own one.
Not objectively - pick based on theme and investigator roster, since all major campaigns are similarly well-designed.
Protect your new investigator decks from day one with sleeves and a deck box from EVORETRO's Sleeves Collection.
!
