Strange Happenings

My take on this set: This is an interesting set that does something similar to the Midnight Masks treacheries in that it goes after the clues the players collected. On the one side this means that efficient clue grabbing can help making these cards much easier to deal with. However, it also means that these can punish you harshly if you are already behind the curve. In Riddles and Rain, the set even teams up with the Midnight Masks treacheries to make for some consistent clue suppression.

What it does: Following a failed willpower test, the investigator has to either take 1 horror or drop a clue per point they failed by.

My take: Nothing earth-shaking, obviously. This is just Rotting Remains with an extra option for the investigator tacked on. Dropping a clue is at least an action lost, so if you can, taking the horror is much preferable. But it’s certainly good to have the option of placing a clue when this would otherwise put you out of sanity or dangerously close.
Aside from that i just have two things to say: One, i love the (not so subtle) reference to one of the best movies ever made. Two, how does heavy rain qualify as a strange happening in London? I’d be more worried when it stops raining and the fog clears up…

Threat level: Mid. The option to spend clues is expensive, but it is an upside compared to Rotting Remains..

Dealing with it: If you are a low sanity investigator, this card can be a reason to hold onto a clue or two just in case you need to. The cost of dropping a clue varies a lot depending on the situation. You might not even need clues anymore, which will just mean that you can ignore Heavy Rain. You might be at a low shroud location, meaning that Heavy Rain simply cost you an action or two. But you might be at a location where picking up the clue is more costly, so taking the horror becomes more attractive then.

What it does: The investigator has to either spend one of their clues or discard half of their hand. The card has Peril, so nobody else gets to interfere, neither with opinions nor with cancels.

My take: Discarding half of your hand is pretty bad. There are times when it doesn’t matter and you will feel lucky about drawing Pinch in Reality, but most of the time this is going to sting. There is always the option to pay a clue instead, but that clue is removed from the game then which can have its own issues.

Threat level: Medium. Both sides of this choice are kind of rough.

Dealing with it: As with any card that gives a player choice, there is some mitigation built into it. That being said, this ends up being a cruel choice decently often. Unlike with Heavy Rain, the clue side does spend it here. So there’s not simple picking it up again. In scenarios with low clue counts this can mean having to backtrack just to be able to meet your act threshold. In those cases, throwing away a couple cards certainly becomes more of an option than otherwise.