Dreamer’s Curse

My take on this set: Dreamer’s Curse is a solid set of cards that put pressure on the player’s hand. Deeper Slumber does so directly by reducing the hand size, the other two cards do so more indirectly by presenting the player with a hard skill test that can be offset by commiting cards to the test. This encounter set appears throughout the dreamer’s side of the campaign. While each individual card can be dealt with easily, the pressure on the cards in hand does add up.

What it does: The investigator has to take a willpower test against a difficulty of five, at the threat of taking one point of damage for each point they fail by (capped at three damage). Any icon can be committed to this test, with willpower and wild icons counting twice.

My take: The difficulty on the test is high enough that even high willpower investigators will need to commit a card or two if they don’t want to risk taking the full damage of Dreamer’s Curse. I think it’s easy to overcommit to this test, in many cases it’s better to take some damage than to lose cards. I often found it somewhat difficult to make this call based on the current situation.

Threat level: Low to Mid. Compared to Rotten Remains or Grasping Hands from the Core, the high initial test difficulty means that no investigator can feel completely safe from Dreamer’s Curse. So there will almost always be a price to pay, either in health or in cards.

Dealing with it: Try not to overcommit to this card, chucking multiple random cards with single icons at it. Instead, when playing with the Dreamer’s Curse set, reserve a card or two to deal with these. Useful cards are anything with multiple icons (this is a rare case where having three different icons is better than one wild) or of course with willpower and/or wild icons. A single Guts can go a long way in defusing this card, and so could something like Eureka.

What it does: Somnophobia completely mirrors Dreamer’s Curse, with the only difference being that it deals horror instead of damage for failing the willpower test.

My take: Everything said above also applies here. Instead of repeating myself, let me use this space to point out the fantastic artwork of the card. Somehow both creepy and cheesy at the same time, and the color makes it stand out from the rest of the set (and the rest of the game, really). Huge fan.

Threat level: Low to Mid. See above.

Dealing with it: Again, same as for Dreamer’s Curse.

What it does: Deeper Slumber enters the threat area of a player and stays there until that player spends two actions to discard it. While affected by Deeper Slumber, the investigator’s hand size is reduced by 3 and additionally this restriction is checked after each card drawn.

My take: This is a card that is a lot worse for some investigators than others. Many can get by with just having five cards in hand for the rest of the scenario and will see Deeper Slumber as a freebie. Others, like Patrice, Mandy or investigators with an event heavy deck, will just have to spend the two actions immediately or face the discard.

Threat level: Low to Mid. The double action to discard Deeper Slumber keeps the card from becoming too troublesome.

Dealing with it: When you draw this card, you will immediately know if it’s worth spending the actions to discard it or not. Deeper Slumber can be a bit of a problem if drawn during the investigator phase, after already having spent an action or two. For example this can happen as a result of Mandy Thompson making a Shocking Discovery or because players Delve Too Deep. To avoid this, spend actions that could lead to drawing additional encounter cards right at the beginning of the investigator phase. That is good practice anyways.