(replaces Bishop’s Thralls from The Dunwich Legacy)
Goal of this replacement set: The Bishop’s Thralls set doesn’t have any glaring problems in need of fixing. The Thrall card itself is somewhat unexciting, but by and large that is fine. Light of Aforgomon is maybe a bit punishing to some characters, but its effect is still something that i would like to keep around in some form. As a result, this replacement set largely follows the same structure (and weirdness) of the base set: There’s three small and largely harmless enemy creatures, there’s a somewhat dangerous Hunter enemy. Oh, and there is a random treachery related to Aforgomon, who as the god of time apparently doesn’t appreciate you using your assets for soaking?
This replacement set puts a larger focus on the one Hunter enemy, with the smaller Thralls facilitating its arrival and possibly even its rebirth.
This set is designed to replace Bishop’s Thralls in both Extracurricular Activities and Where Doom Awaits, but works especially well in the former. Due to the close mechanical interaction between the Harbinger and the Vassals this set is not well suited to be used with the original set in a mix-and-match style. I suggest doing a full swap of the sets when you want to use these alternate cards.
About this card: An unassuming enemy on its own, taking up any so far empty location on the board. Aside from just being some small enemy, the Thrall can act as a conduit to put Harbinger of Yog-Sothoth into play, should that enemy have been discarded either from play (for example by its own Forced effect after a successful attack) or from the encounter deck (for example by players digging for “Jazz” in Extracurricular Activity).
About this card: While the Harbinger has reduced combat stats when compared to the card it replaces, it’s enough for it to get off one attack to cause a lot of damage and inflicting another treachery. Harbinger is then discarded, possibly causing it to reappear with full health and a new treachery at a Vassal’s location. If the players want to claim the victory point and get rid of this creature for good, they will either have to catch it without a treachery attached or kill it in one turn.
About this card: Like the original card, Gaze stops players from using their assets efficiently for soak. It does however offer a way out of it for players who are punished by it more than others by having them sacrifice two of those assets. It will also not do anything as long as players kill off their assets before act or scene advance. As a final point, this replacement card affects only the person who drew it and not the whole group. While that makes it lower impact in total, this card does not run into situations where it’s just discarded right away either. The player will have to deal with this card in some way, something that often wasn’t the case with Light of Aforgomon.
Update note:
Nothing was changed about the mechanics or the values of the cards, but as it turns out i can’t have an enemy called Vassal in this set. Vassal of the Lurker is already a card and it appears in the same scenario as these ones here. Vassal has therefore been renamed to Thrall of the Harbinger, highlighting its purpose (giving its life for the Harby). The name of the set was changed as well to match this.
Previous version: https://derbk.com/ancientevils/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Vassal-Front-Face.jpg