Month: June 2021

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Best-Laid Plans: Experience Overviews

This page is just the XP overviews from my Best-Laid Plans series in one convenient place, as something you can use as a reference without having to scroll over all of the other spoilers in the full posts. The XP breakdowns are posted without the commentary, please see the actual article pages for the full details and for the changes from the Return To.

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The Dunwich Legacy

Extracurricular Activity: 3 (locations) + 2 (Yithian Observers) + 1 (Wizard of Yog-Sothoth) + 2 (The Experiment) = 8XP
The House Always Wins: 3 (locations) + 1 (Pit boss) + 1 (Servant of the Lurker) = 5XP
The Miskatonic Museum: 5XP (locations)
The Essex County Express: 2 (locations) + 2 (Emergent Monstrosities) = 4XP
Blood On The Altar: 2 (Silas/Chamber) + 2 (resolution) = 4XP
Undimensioned and Unseen: 5XP (Broods)
Where Doom Awaits: 2 (Sentinel Peak) + 1 (Seth Bishop) + 1 (Crazed Shoggoth) + 1 (Wizard of Yog-Sothoth) + 1 (Servant of the Lurker) = 6XP
Lost in Time and Space: 1 (Servant of the Lurker) + 2 (Yithian Observers) + 5 (resolution) = 8XP

Full article here

The Path to Carcosa

Curtain Call: 5(locations) + 2(Royal Emissary) + 1(Agent of the King) = 8XP
Last King: 3-5XP(clues, scales by player count)
Echoes of the Past: 2(Library)+ 2(Oathspeaker) + 1(Agent of the King) = 5XP
Unspeakable Oath: 3(locations) + 1(Chesterfield) + 1(Beast of Aldebaran) + 2(Screeching Byakhees) = 7XP
Interlude 2: 2(Chesterfield survives) + 1(Heeding the Oath) = 3XP
Phantom of Truth: 4(locations) + 2(Screeching Byakhees) + 2(finding Nigel)= 8XP
Pallid Mask: 5(locations) + 2(Specter of Death) = 7XP
Black Stars Rise: 5(locations) + 1(Beast of Aldebaran) = 6XP
Dim Carcosa: 2(Screeching Byakhees) + 1(Beast of Aldebaran) + 1(Agent of the King) + 5(winning the campaign) = 9XP

Full article here

The Forgotten Age

Untamed Wilds: 8 (locations) + 1 (Ichtaca) + 1 (Serpent from Yoth) = 10XP
Interlude 1: 2XP for one investigator (binoculars)
Doom of Eztli: 5 (locations) + 1 (Serpent from Yoth) = 6XP
Threads of Fate: 4 (locations) + 3 (locations/enemies in the agenda decks) + 3 (resolution, 1 for each first agenda) = 10XP
Boundary Beyond: 2 (Padma) + 1 (Serpent of Tenochtitlan) + 6 (1 for each cleared location) = 9XP
Heart of the Elders#1: 5 (locations) + 2 (Apex Strangleweeds) = 7XP
Heart of the Elders#2: 6 (locations) + 1 (Serpent from Yoth) = 7XP
The City of Archives: 6 (locations) + 2 (Yithian Observers) + 4 (perfected process) = 12XP
Depths of Yoth: 5 (depth levels) + 5 (Yig) + 2 (Eater of Depths) + 1 (Serpent from Yoth) = 13XP
Interlude 5: 2XP (only for investigators carrying a map)
Shattered Aeons: 4 (locations) + 2 (Formless Spawn) + 2 (Ichtaca) + 2(Alejandro) + 1 (Serpent from Yoth) = 11XP

Full article here

The Circle Undone

The Witching Hour: 5 (locations, including errata) + 2 (Anette/Circle) +2 (Piper of Azathoth) + 1 (Dark Young) +1 (resolution) = 11XP
At Death’s Doorstep: 4 (locations) + 2 (defeating Josef Meiger) + 1 (Nether Mist) = 7XP
Interlude 2: 2XP (rescuing Josef Meiger)
The Secret Name: 4 (locations) + 2 (resolution) = 6XP
The Wages of Sin: 2 (locations) + 4 (Unfinished Business) = 6XP
For the Greater Good: 4 (locations) + 1 (Nathan Wick) + 2 (Summoned Beast) = 7XP
Union and Disillusion: 7 (locations) + 1 (Nether Mist) = 8XP
In the Clutches of Chaos: 1 (locations) + 2 (Lodge Enforcer/Witness of Chaos) + 2 (Piper of Azathoth) + 2 (Anette/Carl) = 7XP
Before the Black Throne: 2 (Piper of Azathoth) + 5 (all resolutions) + 5 (resolution, signing the Black Book) = 12XP

Full article here

The Dream-Eaters

The Dream-Quest:
Beyond the Gates of Sleep: 12 (locations/Laboring Gug) +1 (Crawling Mist) = 13XP
The Search for Kadath: 11 (locations) + 1 (Cats of Ulthar) + 1 (Stalking Manticore) + 1 (Horde of the Night) + 1 (Beings of Ib) + 1 (Crawling Mist) + 2 (setup: moon-wine with Atal) = 18XP
Dark Side of the Moon: 6 (locations) + 2 (Moon Lizard) + 2 (Moon Beasts) = 10XP
Where The Gods Dwell: 10 (aspects of Nyarlathotep) + 2 (High Priest) + 1 (Dhole of the Wastes) + 1 (Crawling Mist) + 5 (banishing Nyarlathotep’s final form) = 19XP

The Web of Dreams:
Waking Nightmare: 10 (locations) + 2 (Grey Weavers) = 12XP
A Thousand Shapes of Horror: 7 (locations) = 7XP
Point of No Return: 8 (locations) + 1 (Gug Sentinel) + 1 (Slithering Dhole) +2 (Grey Weavers) = 12XP
Weaver of the Cosmos: 5 (Atlach-Nacha) + 2 (Grey Weavers) + 5 (successful resolution)= 12XP

Full article here

The Innsmouth Conspiracy

Pit of Despair (+Interlude 1): 2 (locations) + 4 (Flashbacks 1-4) = 6XP
The Vanishing of Elina Harper: 6 (locations) + 1 (Winged One) = 7XP
In Too Deep: 5 (locations) + 1 (Innsmouth Shoggoth) + 2 (successful resolution) = 8XP
Devil Reef (+Interlude 3): 4 (locations) + 1 (Terror of Devil Reef) + 1 (Lloigor) + 6 (relics) = 12 XP
Horror in High Gear: 8 (locations) + 1 (Winged One) = 9XP
A Light in the Fog: 5 (locations) + 2 (Oceiros) = 7XP
The Lair of Dagon: 5 (locations) + 1 (Dagon) + 1 (Apostle) = 7XP
Into the Maelstrom: 2 (locations) + 1 (Lloigor) + 4 (act cards) + 3 (resolution, both act cards done) = 10XP

Full article here

Edge of the Earth

Ice and Death, part 1: 8 (shelter) + 1 (Terror in the Stars) = 9XP
Ice and Death, part 2: up to 8, but only if they are missing from part 1
Ice and Death, part 3: 5XP (flat value, for defeating all enemies)
To the Forbidden Peaks: 6 (locations) + 1 (Terror in the Stars) + 7 (supplies) = 14XP
City of the Elder Things: 8 (spent keys) +3 (locations) + 1 (Terror of the Stars) + 1 (Rampaging Shoggoth)= 13XP (only possible in version 1. Version 2 has 11XP, version 3 has 12XP)
Fatal Mirage: 2XP for visiting each location of a dead team member (up to 9 times) = 18XP
Heart of Madness, part 1: 5 (Seals) + 1 (Rampaging Shoggoth) = 6XP
Heart of Madness, part 2: 2 (Unsealed Phantasms) + 10 (Resolution) = 12XP

Full article here

The Scarlet Keys

London: 3 (locations) + 1 (Apocalyptic Presage) + 1 (Red-Gloved Man) = 5XP
Buenos Aires: 3 (Targets) + 2 (Sanguine Watcher) = 5XP
Istanbul: 5 (locations) + 1 (Umbral Harbinger) +1 (Emissary of Yuggoth) = 7XP
Marrakesh: 1 (Amaranth) + 1 (Khalid) +2 (civilians saved) + 2 (more civilians saved) = 6XP
Kuala Lumpur: 4 (locations) + 3 (saved geists) + 1 (Tzu San) +1 (subjugate Tzu) = 9XP
Havana: 4 (locations) + 1 (Desi) = 5XP
Alexandria: 1 (Bourse/Catacombs) + 1 (Beast/Claret Knight) + 4 (Key Loci) = 6XP
Anchorage: 3 (locations) + 1 (Void Chimera) + 1 (Apocalyptic Presage) + 1 (Emissary of Yuggoth) = 6XP
Without a Trace: 5 (locations) + 1 (Protoplasmic Reassembler) + 1 (Apocalyptic Presage) +1 (successful resolution, with Agent Quinn)= 8XP
Tunguska: 4 (locations) + 1 (Apocalyptic Presage) +5 (successful resolution) = 10XP

In addition to these, XP is also awarded for:
San Juan/Quito/Reykjavik/Kabul: retrieving your stolen key: up to 4XP
Nairobi: If Tuwile sees you as a friend: 1XP (locks Bermuda)
Bermuda: If Tuwile sees you as an enemy: 3XP (1XP otherwise)
San Francisco/Moscow: Taking XP in each safehouse: 2XP
London(revisit): Too late to start Without a Trace (or lacking the whistle): 2XP (1XP if able to start WaT instead)
Shanghai: Helping Flint: 1XP
Bombay/Stockholm: After visiting both of these locations: 2XP
Rio De Janeiro/Perth: meeting Dr. Irawan for the first and second time: 2XP
Manokwari: Too late to meet Dr. Irawan for the third time: 2XP
Ybor City: Picking up the Mirroring Blade in Desi’s safehouse: 2XP
Kathmandu: refusing to take Aliki’s offer: 1XP

More than any other campaign, this XP overview is not representative at all for how much you can get within a given campaign. The tl;dr is that you can plan with around 30-35.
Full article here

Standalones

Carnivale of Horrors: 4 (Masked Carnivale-Goers) +2 (Baleful Reveler) = 6XP (Cost to run: 3XP)
Curse of the Rougarou: 3 (locations) + 1 (Dark Young Host) = 4XP in total (Cost to run: 1XP)
Murder at Excelsior: 5 (locations) + 1 (Mr. Trombly) + 2 (“Boss”) = 8XP (Cost to run: 3XP)
The Blob That Ate Everything: 3 (resolution) + 2 (Oozewraithes) + 7 (Incursions) = 12XP (Cost to run: 2XP)
War of the Outer Gods: 3 (locations) + 1 (Servitor) + 2 (Outer God/finish act 3) = 6XP (Cost to run: 3XP)

Surge

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Irregular Evils – #31

LCG News

Ah, finally! There it is, the announcement for the next cycle. And it’s one hell of an announcement. Not only do we know that we are going to Antarctica next, we also get news about Arkham LCG changing its distribution model!

This is just good news all around for everyone involved. To think that the days of having to chase mythos packs are finally over… i am very happy with that. And it’s cheaper in total as well. Glorious. Not to mention that Asmodee/FFG would not bother with such a step if they weren’t in for the long haul with Arkham LCG. So we can take this news as confirmation that the game has still a lot of gas in its tank.

As someone who focuses a lot on encounter design with how i think about the game, i am also looking forward to what the design team can do now. Making it so the campaign no longer has to adhere to a strict system of 1 Deluxe + 6 Mythos packs (each with their own set in stone card counts) is lifting off a huge restriction for the campaign’s design space. Anything from varying the number of scenarios to making some standout scenarios have more cards alotted could be possible now. Like… properly possible, not like that rather mediocre Heart of the Elders split from Forgotten Age.

It also means that the encounter sets can be designed much more freely now. I suspect that they will stick to a system like the existing one (a couple central sets that are repeated plus a few scenario specific ones) but again the amount of variation that can be put on top of that is large.

So yeah, this will be very interesting to see. Looking forward to getting to more info on the campaign, FFG did announce that a second article is coming up with a closer look. Can’t wait!

I am quite happy with the shown player cards as well. The investigators (Norman Withers, Lily Chen, Bob Jenkins, Monterey Jack, Daniela Reyes) are currently believed to all have similar class/sub class transitions to Norman Withers. This is interesting because those are fairly restrictive and allow for more power in the investigator abilities to compensate. I do enjoy playing Norman and what we got to see from Lily in the article is also looking fun. So this looks promising.

Not sure how i feel about the dual class cards. I wasn’t particularly feeling the old ones from TCU, but we’ll see. Could still end up being really good cards, no matter if they are hybrid or not. Something i enjoyed about the previewed cards is how many of them have investigator art on them. I for example really like seeing Sefina in the artwork of the Blur card instead of just another generic rogue (=some white dude in a suit). Having such a huge amount of cards dumped on the card pool is going to be intense. It’s comparable to when the investigator starter decks were released and those shook up the card pool considerably.

So yeah. Huge announcement. Huge anticipation. I like everything about this news so far.

Ancient Evils News

I didn’t post a news thing ever since i stopped putting out the Weekly Evils three months ago, so i figure i can use this opportunity to also give a sort of status on where i stand with the site right now. It’s been going pretty steady, the two article series that i worked on were well received and finishing them has been motivating as a result. Both Resurgent Evils (the series on the Return sets) and Best-Laid Plans (the campaign deep dives) are finished for now, covering all the released content. Well, finished until we get Return to The Circle Undone and Edge of the Earth. I am happy with how they turned out and will continue them in the future.

The individual scenario pages are still missing Lair of Dagon and Into The Maelstrom. Sadly the CardgameDB has not been updated by FFG yet and i sort of depend on them for the card images and names. I could scan my own cards but since they are german, that’d be of questionable value…

Until the CDB updates i don’t really have anything planned for the site, so we’ll see. To tread water, i have been updating some older pages, bringing some of the evaluations there in line with the more recent pages. Turns out that “Threat: Low to Mid” meant something quite different to me when i started doing this site than what it does now. Ajusted some things in response, but nothing that is really going into detail about.

Unless i suddenly get struck with an idea for a new article series, I might not post anything substantial for a while. But of course i will make sure to put up another news post when there’s more to say about either RtTCU or Edge of the Earth (EoE?). And once those are released, i’ll have plenty of content to write about again 🙂

Also, let me just mention real quick that Ancient Evils is having its one year anniversary in a week. It’s been fun, i am far from burned out and am still enjoying the game immensely. And as we just learned, the game is very healthy as well. So i feel confident in saying that for now there’s still no end in sight.

Until then! Cheers,
BK