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I am genuinely drawing a blank on what is explicitly harder in Return to Carcosa.  Like, yeah, the new Delusions are rough, but that's a single encounter set.
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Oct 24, 2019 19:13
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food court bailiff posted:I am genuinely drawing a blank on what is explicitly harder in Return to Carcosa. So for instance, take Echos of the Past (spoilers for those who don't want to know) Return adds a whole new layer to the building layout. As a lot of the difficulty is in traversing the building to deal with enemies with doom on them, the extra layer for things to appear is just added difficulty. However, the maximum experience for the scenario is only 5, and that really involves gaming one of the rooms/outcomes so you're most likely looking at only 3 xp. Or The Last King where Diane Devine either gets 1000 extra health, or just teleports around and makes you unable to get any clues whatsoever and can't be interacted with-again cutting your xp while adding difficulty. I don't mind the difficulty, but I do know my group has found the missions a grind to where we're at, especially getting such little xp.
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Oct 24, 2019 20:20
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Looking at those XP counts reminds me how spoiling the XP in TFA is, as we're currently on the last scenario and my Leo deck is like 30 or 40 XP heavy so far or something crazy.
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Oct 24, 2019 21:03
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TCU can be pretty generous as well, just finished our campaign and my Preston (with Obol) had earned 53 XP. People were running out of upgrades they even wanted.
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Oct 25, 2019 08:06
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The thing I like about the big xp totals isn't just the raw xp-it's basically a built in difficulty curve. A lot of the times we've gotten in trouble is trying to stretch for that last xp (or Delves). I think this is especially noticeable in Forgotten Age where if you're really focused you can just rush through a lot of the missions, but if you want to hang around there's tons of xp to gain (of course with the risks that come with it of vengeance, poisoning, etc etc etc)
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Oct 25, 2019 08:27
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Oh, definitely. I'm usually the bad influence trying to talk everyone into sticking around for just one more turn for the chance of more VP...
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Oct 25, 2019 08:33
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I'm gonna start playing this with my group over TTS, and I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of options. Is it cool to just use starter decks and the core game investigators and run the core game campaign, or should we include expansion stuff immediatly?
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Oct 26, 2019 22:21
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Core game is only 3 adventures, of which only 2 are winnable. Do the core first but you can probavly do it in one night
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Oct 26, 2019 23:49
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The third one is very winnable, you just need to be very morally flexible.
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Oct 27, 2019 00:30
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The core was made to be basically a taste of the game, with the expansions all being the real meat. Play the first two scenarios, then go into like the Curse of the Rougeru or the new hotel expansion that are standalone a not part of a larger campaign. Just handwave the story that you dealt with the cultists for the second scenario then they all vanished without a trace and without plot closure, which is pretty Lovecraftian already.
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Oct 27, 2019 18:04
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Not playing the third scenario at all seems extreme; I thought it had some interesting mechanics. Sure, you might not win, but if you're anything like our group you probably didn't win the first two scenarios either.
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Oct 27, 2019 18:07
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I dunno, the third scenario pretty much almost turned me off from the game from the instant ramp up of difficulty. I didn't feel the same level of bullshit from a single scenario until like Blood on the Altar-- and that was with me playing Ashcan so of course you know what happened to me :[
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Oct 27, 2019 18:29
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Trip report from our first game! We played Skids, Daisy and Roland, and finished the first scenario. It seemed harsh but fair until the Ghoul priest spawned, who we had no way of dealing with. Is he really supposed to have 15 health and deal 2 damage 2 horror every turn? Even if we had all been there and armed to the teeth, it seems like we would have died from attrition. At least we got a resolution that wasn't all of us dying.
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Oct 31, 2019 21:33
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Elswyyr posted:Trip report from our first game! We played Skids, Daisy and Roland, and finished the first scenario. It seemed harsh but fair until the Ghoul priest spawned, who we had no way of dealing with. Is he really supposed to have 15 health and deal 2 damage 2 horror every turn? Even if we had all been there and armed to the teeth, it seems like we would have died from attrition. At least we got a resolution that wasn't all of us dying. When he spawns he goes into one player's threat area so he only does damage and horror to that one player during the enemy phase. During the investigator phase, whoever he is engaged with can try to evade him. If successful he exhausts and leaves that player's threat area and doesn't attack during the enemy phase. While engaged with one player or none at all any player can attack him. If the engaged player fails an attack the ghoul priest makes one attack because he has retaliate but if the unengaged players fail an attack the damage they would have done goes to the engaged player. Enemies only attack after enemy movement during the enemy phase unless the enemy has retaliate. Ghoul Priest spawns, engages Skids. Mythos phase: everyone draws a mythos card and resolves those. Investigation phase: Skids attempts to evade. Succeeds. Exhaust Ghoul Priest placing him at current location. Skids takes two more actions or more depending on resources. He might attack or whatever. Roland might go next and he might have his .38. First action he attacks and succeeds. He does 2 damage. Second action he attacks and uses Vicious Blow. Succeeds and does 3 damage. Third action he attacks, succeeds does 2 damage. Priest is down to 8 health. Daisy takes her turn doing whatever. Enemy phase: if he's the only enemy on the board he doesn't move since he is exhausted (Skids evaded earlier). He also doesn't attack because Skids evaded earlier. During the upkeep phase the priest un- exhausts and engages whoever is at its location. Rinse and repeat. GrumpyGoesWest fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Oct 31, 2019 |
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Oct 31, 2019 22:11
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Elswyyr posted:Trip report from our first game! We played Skids, Daisy and Roland, and finished the first scenario. It seemed harsh but fair until the Ghoul priest spawned, who we had no way of dealing with. Is he really supposed to have 15 health and deal 2 damage 2 horror every turn? Even if we had all been there and armed to the teeth, it seems like we would have died from attrition. At least we got a resolution that wasn't all of us dying. I had the exact same experience my first game and I’m sure many others did as well. That said, once you have more of a feel for the game, you’ll realize the ghoul priest is no trouble at all. A single successful evade puts him out of commission for an entire round and you can just wale on him.
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Oct 31, 2019 22:24
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One of the things the game tries to do is evoke I guess the Nemesis fights from RE where you're supposed to run for your life, but the game (especially the core campaign) does a terrible job explaining/showing this. The Valusian Guardian in TFA does this much better.
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Nov 1, 2019 19:02
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The opening campaign isn't terrible, after a few tries you should be able to really consistently clear the first scenario without problems*, and at least accomplish something in the second. Devourer Below is pretty much a crapshoot but is usually kind of cool anyway (imo). *unless you forget to include +intellect stuff for 2p and end up with that +2 Shroud Location treachery on the Bedroom from Return that makes you discard a card when you fail an Investigate check. Even then, we got VERY close to killing the Ghoul Priest in time.
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Nov 1, 2019 19:59
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Our Untouchable Trio of Rex, Zoey, and Sefina finished our run of Dunwich with some VP left over and went for a standalone/ Down to the Bayous to boogie with the Rougaroux, and had the 3VP to go to Venice next. Carnevale of Horrors is a challenge and one must not dawdle. We had to plan more action chains than usual to work out our turns. Still, encounter chaos worked in our favor and we got 4VP and that's enough for a ticket to the Abyss. So far these have been all cold runs for us. For Carcosa we'll be looking for a 4th to add in, and up the bag from Easy to Standard. We have 2x Core and all campaigns through TCU. No taboo list. We're coworkers running this on site as a rush hour social alternative with pizza. Current Zoey player wants Jenny. Current Rex player wants Agnes. Current Sefina player (me) might have to run Joe Diamond for the Guardian/Seeker action If we get a fourth that would give me some better options. Love to try playing Rita or Wendy but we do need more blue and yellow to advance with any speed. Xlorp fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Nov 7, 2019 |
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Nov 7, 2019 06:08
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Played Dunwich. Rex is amazing, but especially when he crosses the map for two points and gets 10 clues across two turns, nearly averting a session ending disaster.
Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Dec 19, 2019 |
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Nov 9, 2019 09:20
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Any suggestions for decks for three players for a Dunwich campaign? Two of the players are new to the game (one has played Night of the Zealot and the other has never played). I have all big boxes and normal mythos packs but no Returns. I'm thinking a stabby deck, cloover deck, and a support but not sure. Happy to net deck these too.
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Nov 23, 2019 16:05
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Chaotic Flame posted:Any suggestions for decks for three players for a Dunwich campaign? Two of the players are new to the game (one has played Night of the Zealot and the other has never played). I have all big boxes and normal mythos packs but no Returns. I'm thinking a stabby deck, cloover deck, and a support but not sure. Happy to net deck these too. Have someone play Rex. Rex owns as a cloover.
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Nov 23, 2019 16:45
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Pinwiz11 posted:Have someone play Rex. Rex owns as a cloover. Rex is super OP, be sure to run him with at least drat updated rules. Otherwise he will make you think this game is way easier than it should be. Leo is prob best for Dunwich (if you have access to base TFA), as he can have extra allies and Dunwich definitely features those-- he's like tailor made for Dunwich only released after the fact. I'd say Leo for sure as Guardian/primary killa, with maybe Rex and Pete as clues and support. I think those don't share any cards, unlike Leo+Jenny.
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Nov 23, 2019 19:45
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We ran Dunwich with dedicated guardian Zoey, dedicated seeker Rex, and troubleshooter Sefina. Zoey was our fearless shield and basically burned her cards and charges erasing threats non-stop. Rex neutron-bombed locations to grab bulk clues, and used Strange Solution to assist when we needed an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator. Our Sefina went mystic heavy to do light-to-occasional clutch monster-kills, clues, rescues, or scenario goals. The rogue cards are situationally gonzo good. Always have lead and backup people for handling monsters and clues. Sometimes they will be busy when the game is about to steal your tempo and you have to throw in the next best backstop.
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Nov 23, 2019 20:04
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Cards for the next pack spoiled. The two survivor cards seem great, and I really like Fast Reload for my Leo deck. Been so long since I've played any AH. Got caught up on all the packs for the year recently and I've got some Xmas sessions planned with a couple of friends. Is Murder at the Excelsior Hotel good? Might add that to our TCU playthrough.
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Nov 30, 2019 08:49
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Kalko posted:Cards for the next pack spoiled. The two survivor cards seem great, and I really like Fast Reload for my Leo deck. I just played it with a new player I met in my new city and it was a really good scenario and will be really replayable as well!
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Dec 1, 2019 01:30
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I also recently played Excelsior and enjoyed it alot. They're definitely making an effort to mix up the scenario design and make it more varied than the early sets.
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Dec 1, 2019 04:32
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Excelsior is neat, and I think I’ve already mentioned in this thread that it is very beatable as a true one-hand solo, which is nice for a stand-alone with so many options.
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Dec 1, 2019 15:47
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Slogged through TFA with Leo and my girlfriend playing Ursula. We didn't have too much fun with the campaign. Going to move onto TCU now. She really liked playing Agnes in Carcosa, so I suggested Diana for her to play, which see seems very interested in. What's a better parring for Diana: Preston, Silas, or Joe? Joe seems the most boring pick of the bunch, but I've never played TCU before and I don't want to handicap us too much by having a non-dedicated clue gatherer if she's going to play Diana.
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Dec 2, 2019 05:38
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jeeves posted:Slogged through TFA with Leo and my girlfriend playing Ursula. We didn't have too much fun with the campaign. Diana is straight-up a great character and probably the most consistent mystic (since she's constantly drawing cards off of her ability). Since mystics, once they get set up, are good at both clue-getting and monster-fighting, I'd recommend that you split up both duties; so Preston or Joe, who are both also sort of well-rounded, would be good choices. Good luck making Preston not suck, though.
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Dec 2, 2019 06:23
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DontMockMySmock posted:Diana is straight-up a great character and probably the most consistent mystic (since she's constantly drawing cards off of her ability). Since mystics, once they get set up, are good at both clue-getting and monster-fighting, I'd recommend that you split up both duties; so Preston or Joe, who are both also sort of well-rounded, would be good choices. Good luck making Preston not suck, though. I was able to do a lot with Preston, the trick is managing *your* money vs. *daddy's* money, as quite a few cards become straight-up broken (Fire Axe chief among them) when you have $4 a turn but don't actually have any "money"
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Dec 2, 2019 08:05
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jeeves posted:Slogged through TFA with Leo and my girlfriend playing Ursula. We didn't have too much fun with the campaign. I'd go with a clue-focused Joe. Diana takes a bit of setup (like all mystics) but also can kinda do a bit of everything (like all mystics) . Focusing more on Joe's clue ability will let you get momentum in the missions during Diana's windup period. Also i really like the insight mechanic, although I know someone who played Joe last in our group thought he was a bit boring as well. Very powerful though.
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Dec 2, 2019 12:45
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 https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2019/12/2/barkham-horror/ quote:Earlier this year, Fantasy Flight Games announced a fake product for April Fool's Day called The Dogwich Legacy, a deluxe expansion for Barkham Horror: The Card Game. Our graphic designer, Chelzee, had so much fun morphing classic Arkham Horror: The Card Game art into new zoological horrors, and we were delighted to share the article with all of you. We thought that was all the project was: a fun piece for one day.
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Dec 2, 2019 17:30
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I was keeping it together reading the article but lost five minutes cracking up when I saw "Dog Monocle".
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Dec 2, 2019 18:04
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Preview for Where the Gods Dwell is up. That's certainly a Survivor card.
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Dec 5, 2019 03:22
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Kalko posted:Preview for Where the Gods Dwell is up. holy poo poo
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Dec 5, 2019 03:25
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So I'll be playing 3P TCU (hard) over Xmas and I'm going to be the team's dedicated monster killer. I think I'll try the newest Guardian, Tommy Muldoon, but it's been a while since I've played so I'm looking for ideas on what to put in the deck. Checking Arkhamdb.com it seems like everyone goes all-in on the soaks with multiple allies and items, and I also see a lot of True Grit and Something Worth Fighting For, which I feel are bad cards (and not improved by Tommy's ability). I feel like leaning heavily into soaks is a bad idea since you're not really being proactive (ie. not killing poo poo) and you'll lose out on utility, so I'm thinking I'll make a general Guardian Good Stuff.dec but with a few different choices for Tommy's ability. So I'll have some of the following : Prepared for the Worst Steadfast Take the Initiative (still useful in 3P? It works fine in 2P, mostly in the mythos phase) On the Hunt (minor thinning to help my allies not get ambushed, plus I can search for VP enemies) Scene of the Crime (will probably have a Seeker in the team but I still want some clue tech) 2 x Good Weapons (probably the Enchanted Blade as I've heard only two things about TCU : you want a magic weapon, and there are enemy swarms) Dynamite Blast/I'll see you in hell? (for the swarms) Let Me Handle This? Survivor tech options might be Take Heart (I feel like some card draw will be necessary) and, uh, Lucky? And my soaks will be : Guard Dog Cherished Keepsake (one action for two resources plus the horror soak makes it worth it, I think) Venturer (expensive, but can be refunded and is a reliable way to keep Becky topped up if I don't draw other soaks) Madame Labranche/Leather Coat? (again, good return but I'm not sure it makes up for the opportunity cost of playing bad cards (I saw Labranche in a lot of net decks but I don't see her abilities being used well here)) Early upgrades will be the ever-present Charisma, Ace of Swords, Ever Vigilant, and some more allies. Beat Cop (2) is great, and I'm interested to try Brother Xavier (1) and Jessica Hyde (1). Anyone played Tommy for a full campaign yet? How did you fare, and what, if anything, would you have changed?
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Dec 10, 2019 13:02
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I haven't had the chance to play Mr Muldoon yet, but I'll share my thoughts. I agree that you don't want to go all-in on soaks; killing enemies efficiently is most important and Tommy's ability shuffles soaks back into his deck so you'll see more of the ones you do include anyway. I'm of two minds about Prepared for the Worst. I normally avoid that card if I can because spending a resource, an action and a card for one card is painfully inefficient. But on the other hand Becky looks like it might be good enough to justify the effort of searching for it. Enchanted Blade is, as you say, worth taking in TCU. Machete is obviously the gold standard for level-zero weapons (if you aren't playing with the Taboo List). Meat Cleaver is pretty good and Tommy likes it in particular because by taking and then healing horror you can effectively move horror from your investigator card to an asset. Survival Knife is normally very strong in 3+ players but as an "off-hand" weapon it does conflict with the two-handed Becky; and it's probably not worth faffing about with Bandoleers for this purpose. Take the Initiative is still excellent in 3 players. I always like Scene of the Crime in Guardians, even when you're the dedicated killer in a high player count game. It has synergy with On the Hunt and "Let me handle this!" too. Enemy swarms are only in The Dream Eaters. That said, Dynamite Blast is a pretty good card in any deck that can pay for it. "I'll see you in hell!" is utter trash. "Let me handle this!" is very good to have in TCU in my opinion. Lucky is good enough to throw into any deck that can take it; Live and Learn is almost as good; and you could even consider Resourceful to let you play the aforementioned more times. Take Heart is very good, and Guardians have no good card-draw without spending experience, but it is made a little harder to use by a specific TCU mechanic. I like Overpower and Guts for deck thinning (even on hard) and Daring might be worth a look if you're lucky enough to have the latest Pack. Guard Dog and Keepsake are Tommy cards, I agree wholeheartedly. Venturer is an interesting choice, and I think I like it, but you are very dependent on drawing Becky to get good use out of him. Labranche can be alright even in decks that aren't built around her -- there are usually opportunities to grab a resource here and there when you spend down to zero, and you do get a lot of soak for the price. But we don't want to overload the ally slot -- even using them expendably, four allies (that is two pairs) is probably enough, especially given that they shuffle back into the deck. You will be taking Charisma but you will also be taking more, stronger allies. Leather Coat: I think you are right to be dubious of it. As resource generation it is much worse than Emergency Cache (fewer resources and you have to wait for them) so if you take it, it is at least partially for survivability. But given the number of stronger heath-soak cards you are already running and Tommy's starting value of 8, how often will we really be worried about running out of health? Very rarely I would guess.
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Dec 14, 2019 00:59
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Thanks for the advice! I picked up A Thousand Shapes of Horror yesterday and Tetsuo Mori is pretty interesting as a Prepared for the Worst replacement which can also get Becky back from the discard pile. Worse on turn one for setting up, but it's a pretty good body for Tommy so I'm going to try it. I might try Daring instead of Overpower, too. One thought : is Steadfast much worse in 3/4 player games? With more 'stuff' (enemies/treacheries) in play does it lose value quicker as you take more chip damage? I do like how the card is designed to get worse the later the game gets, as it kind of nudges you towards playing the game well (don't save poo poo for a rainy day; keep your momentum going!) but I wonder if it's worth a slot at higher player counts.
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Dec 14, 2019 06:12
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I think a lot of people going for the soak stuff are also trying to maximize using Becky as Tommy's main weapon. Having the utility to take damage for other people while also being able to keep Becky loaded is big. And I don't think they're quite as bad as you make them out to be. It's sometimes good to be able to take investigate or scenario actions with enemies engaged and not worry about the damage from them. And you're right about Tetsuo Mori-he's basically a cheaper, smaller version of Brother X with an ability made for Tommy. Also I think Tommy is definitely a double-charisma deck. Between guard dogs, Mori, Beat Cops, and possibly Agency Backup you'll be running a ton of allies. I also think they're warranted especially on hard, as with 4 fight and not having the options to contribute in other manners that someone like Roland does you need to make sure when you swing it connects (which I think you can do by leveraging things like Lucky and Live and Learn) as well as having a bunch of testless damage in the form of guard dog/cop/agency.
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Dec 14, 2019 06:24
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Funny you should say that, I just tried a few games of (Return to) Curtain Call with some solo modifications to the deck and the thing that really struck me is just how important it is to keep Becky loaded. I'm still not sold on True Grit/Something Worth Fighting For (maybe they're better in practice) but Venturer is starting to look a lot better. Dogs/Mori/Venturers would normally be overkill on followers for a L0 deck but I think it works here because of their Tommy value. And you make a good point about Tommy doing only one thing, so I'll definitely try Live and Learn. I'm running 1 x Prepared for the Worst alongside the 2 x Moris but I might bump it up to two simply because of how crucial it is to find Becky.
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Dec 14, 2019 07:15
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