The Encounter Set Substitution Table

Intro

The new online rules reference, called the Grimoire, includes a so-called Encounter Set Substitution Table. What this table does is give a rough approximation of which sets in the new Core can be used instead of their chapter 1 counterparts in old campaigns. The intention behind this is allowing players that only own the chapter 2 to play those old campaigns without also having to find an old Core Set. Personally, i will add that this is also an interesting thing to think about for veteran players that might look at this as a way to change up their old campaigns with the new cards, kind of like getting a mini-“Return To” box for every chapter 1 campaign they already own.
Obviously, the subsitutions aren’t going to be perfect, especially the thematics aren’t going to overlap perfectly and lead to some weirdness that you need to handwave.
So let’s check out the suggestions made by the Grimoire and how well i think they work in specific examples.

For reference, here’s the Substitution Table in full.

Also, here’s an earlier article of mine that has images of all the new encounter sets.

The Verdict

Let me start with a summary of my findings when i dug into this chart and the suitability of the replacements. I found it lacking. The idea of using the new encounter sets to stand in for old ones is rock-solid and can definitely be done. But the specific suggestions in the Grimoire leave a lot to be desired. The list is too focused on theme over function and also hobbles itself by the desire not to repeat itself. So since they used Flying Terrors as substitute for Nightgaunts already (a very sensible choice), they didn’t also want to put it as replacement for Agents of Hastur and put the unsuitable Hallucinations instead. That is to the detriment of the functionality of the list however, Nightgaunts and Agents of Hastur aren’t used in the same scenarios so replacing both with Flying Terrors is no problem. And neither is leaving a set in the box and just not using it. The priority for putting this list together should be that it works, not that it looks symmetrical through using every set and only using it once.
There’s something here in concept, this chart could be a great asset both for new players that might find a way here to make an old campaign work for them and for veterans who might find a cool new version of a familar scenario. But the substitution list as provided is leaving a lot of that on the floor and in my opinion needs an overhaul. Nobody expects (in good faith) that the new sets can cover every eventuality or that everything has to match in flavor as well as mechanics. But we’d at least expect the list to not leave us with a replacement that opens up more questions than it answers.

The Replacements

So let’s look at these suggestions one by one.

We are starting into the list with a bit of a head-scratcher. It was sort of an impossible substitution to make in the first place, as Agents of Cthulhu is used in the two campaigns where Deep Ones matter and the new Core simply doesn’t have any Deep Ones. However, Reeking Decay doesn’t have an enemy in it at all and neither of the two treacheries does something close to what Dreams of R’lyeh does. So Reeking Decay ends up introducing more elements of damage and asset hate into scenarios like Pit of Despair and The Western Wall. I don’t think this one works all that well as a substitution, Mad Science seems like a much better fit as it at least has a 3/3/3 enemy in it and a treachery that does deal the horror that the Young Deep One did.

Again, this replaces an encounter set with an enemy and treachery with one that has no enemy in it. While Byakhee is not as much of a big deal as a trait as Deep One is, there is at least one scenario (Unspeakable Oath) which mechanically requires Monster enemies from its encounter sets to set aside for its scenario mechanics and one (Phantom of Truth) where the Byakhee trait does play a role. My suggestion here is to use the Flying Terrors set instead to replace Agents of Hastur. The giant bat monster can be handwaved to count as a Byakhee, it fulfills the Monster requirement and the Aerial Pursuit treachery plays nicely with the other enemies in the Carcosa scenarios.

There’s only one scenario that even uses the Agents of Shub, and Witching Hour requires only enemies, a number equal to the player count to be exact. Which Mad Science only has two of. So this substitution only works for 1 or 2 players. To be fair, the Mutated Experiment is indeed a good and mechanically close replacement for the Goat Spawn. But for 3 and 4 players, you need to look elsewhere. I would suggest adding Hellhounds or Bat Horrors in those cases.

This is a very good fit thematically, but again we are missing an enemy here. This is fine for the two Dunwich scenarios this is used in, but problematic for City of Archives which heavily features the Yith Observers. There is no great solution for this, i suppose you can use the Bat Terrors or Mutated Experiments as similar big monsters and just apply the relevant scenario text to them.

10/10, no notes. This is an excellent replacement, i really like Cosmic Evils. One might even argue that this is not just a replacement but even a direct upgrade.

This is a replacement that seems solid by theme at least. Flash Flood is the new version of Obscuring Fog for sure, so that checks out too. I would however argue that the most iconic feature of Chilling Cold is Crypt Chill and the asset hate it provides. Bad Weather is overall a decent replacement that works well enough, but if you want to go the extra mile you can use Putrid Vapors from the Reeking Decay set instead of Downpour to mimic the old set the closest.

This is a very close match that should mostly work very well. There are at least three cases where the assumption that the enemies spawn in empty locations seems heavily factored into the workings of the scenario (Black Throne, Shattered Aeons, Echoes of the Past). So consider maybe adapting that behavior for the replacement enemies? I don’t think it’s essential however and this can work as suggested as well with minimal loss.

Thematically, this doesn’t work at all of course. Part of the reason why the Ghoul set was only sparingly used was because of its specific flavor, so on the inverse we are bound to get into trouble replacing them cleanly as well. That being said, in terms of mechanics, this seems good. Great, even. You get a bunch of mid-sized enemies and a treachery that tests agility for damage, same as with the original Ghouls. You are going to have to make up your own head canon for why Pickman in the dreamlands hangs out with Arkham gangsters or why there’s Hellhounds in the Paris catacombs, but when we are talking about the Dreamlands and Carcosa, everything is possible, right :)

Sure, it’s a clean replacement with similar flavor at least. That being said, the cards do very different things. Locked Doors is a card that stops Seekers from investigating and can’t be discarded by testing intellect – if you want to replicate that with the new sets then consider Downpour or Unspeakable Truths from the Bad Weather and Eldritch Lore sets.

This is a very good replacement. It loses the whole “Central location” thing of the Nightgaunts set, but that was a weird gimmick in the first place. No notes, this is a very clean swap.

Good on them for giving two options here and i think these are both quite interesting on a case to case basis. Both the Bystanders and the Whippoorwills are much more relevant enemies than the Rats are of course, so this does increase the difficulty of the scenarios slightly, but that doesn’t have to be bad. I am actually quite intrigued by this, Pit of Despair with Whippoorwills sounds like a really neat thing, as does the introduction of Bystanders into One Last Job or the House Always Wins. The elephant in the room is of course Secret Name which is built around rats… but i have to be honest with you, mechanically that scenario should be super interesting with Whippoorwills too. Those birds become a menace once they get buffed by both the agenda and Brown Jenkins. Consider ignoring the Aloof on the Whippies for that scenario. Similarly, if you play the 1000Shapes scenario with Whippoorwills that gain Swarming, those -1 to all stats start to stack up to a point where this becomes a new interesting thing as well.
In terms of flavor, Bystanders can be interpreted a lot of ways, from casino guests to dock workers. And if you pretend the Whippoorwills are Swarm of Bats, they also fit well enough into abandoned houses or the caves under Innsmouth.
I think this substitution is as good as it can be.

Striking Fear is about horror, stalling and taking willpower tests. Stalling and Willpower are well represented in Torment as well, the horror is replaced with discard. Yeah, this works well i think. For scenarios where the Horror dealing element of Striking Fear is the point (like Dim Carcosa) or that otherwise ask for the Rotting Remains card by name, consider using Eager for Death from the Whippoorwill set as the closest approximation for that treachery.

Yes, this works. The MM treacheries were mostly about slowing down investigations and that is what Dead Ends does as well. Raising Suspicions does achieve this through increased pressure from the doom clock, but that’s okay. It’s not an exact match of course, but it’s good enough.

I really like that they made sure that the new locations match the old ones, only updated for Arkham after being flooded by Cthulhu. This even includes having multiple alternate copies of the locations that had alternates in the old Core, so you can exactly follow the setup descriptions of Threads of Fate, etc. Good stuff, very well done. If you are one of those people who keep replaying Midnight Masks over and over again, congratulations on a very exciting way to mix up that scenario now.

Closing thoughts

I want to make very clear that this is not an evaluation of the new encounter sets by themselves. I think those are very very well done. It’s only the replacement chart that seems a bit half-baked in its execution. The potential for the approach to pay off is there, but i don’t think the substitution chart is good enough to provide what it promises and needs work. Whether that’s something that happens on the official side or if it needs to happen as a community resource remains to be seen, i suppose.