I had a couple of responses on BGG to this but I put it inthe Lurker variant forum, so not a lot of visibility, and I don't know how to do a liked forum post there.

I'm going to be adding in LatT to my Base Game + DH setup. Reading comments and the cards themselves, I can see why players are saying that Lurker makes the game too easy.

Anybody have favorite ways of throttling or scaling back the Herald while still using him?

If Miskatonic addresses this, that's good to know, but I won't be getting MH for a while.

One of the easiest fixes for Lurker is that you're not allowed to spend power in the turn you gain it.

If you want some extra challenge and don't mind playing with custom creations, you can play with Aforgomon

CrusherJoe,

     I'm a big fan of the Lurker…but, as Julia mentioned it's easily exploited if you can rid yourself of the Power Tokens as quickly as you earn them.  Having said that, there are a few Reckoning Cards which can cause pain or even devouring simply by having them…so are they worth the price.

Cheers,

Joe

I used the Lurker only once so far--all of the characters wound up with at least one pact and Mary in particular seemed to abuse the hell out of it. (Heh). Now, I may have been using it wrong since she really did rock the game from the moment she picked up her first pact, but yeah, it definitely does make things easier.

I like the idea of not being able to spend Power in the turn you get it, but I also do agree that there are considerable punishments for having Power--or even for NOT having power since a handful of Reckonings force players with pacts to force other players without pacts to take them too. The Lurker, in my mind, is more about being used with the right people. It's very situational--if you use him as the Herald with a group that you know is cometitive or enjoys a little back-biting then he's the Herald for you. Otherwise, I would say just don't use him at all or go with the 'No power the turn you get it' rule instead. Maybe draw two Reckonings instead of one during Mythos? Or have a player draw a Reckoning whenever they make a pact instead of following the Herald card's instructions of only during Mythos or Spell Casting.

The Herald becomes very exploitable if you know how to fool him. You should play  normal Arkham game until you have three seals on the board (no pacts, no power, no nothing). Then, simply throw three investigators in OW even without clues. As soon as they come back, have them taking pacts and so on. It's game over. And it's very unlikely that you're screwed by the only two bad Reckonings coming in the base deck if you have pacts only for one / two turns in the whole game