Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Chaosium Digest Volume 16 Number 05
Chaosium Digest Volume 16, Number 5
Date: Sunday, September 29, 1996
Number: 2 of 2
Contents:
C&S: Kitab Al-Azif (Shannon Appel) MYTHOS
C&S: Yithian Mental Contact (Shannon Appel) MYTHOS
--------------------
From: appel@erzo.org (Shannon Appel)
Subject: C&S: The Kitab Al-Azif
System: Mythos
** CLARIFICATIONS & STRATEGIES: THE KITAB AL-AZIF **
THE CARD
--------
Name: Kitab Al-Azif
Type: Tome
Value: 4
Language: Arabic
Icons: Cthulhu, Death, Eye, Yellow Sign
San: -4
Unique: Yes
Special Effect Box: While this card is in play, you may choose to play
Monster cards face-up as Allies, or Allies face-down as Monsters,
becoming part of your Threat.
CLARIFICATIONS
--------------
The Kitab Al-Azif does not change how you bring Allies and Monsters
into play. It only lets you choose where to put them after they have
been brought into play by the normal methods.
After bringing a Monster into play, by using a gate (or some other
more esoteric method), you may choose to put it into your Ally area.
This uses the gate, since playing a Monster normally requires one.
After bringing an Ally into play (through the correct subregion, a
train, a surprise meeting, etc), you may choose to put it into your
Threat. This does not require a gate, since playing an Ally does not
regularly.
QUESTIONS
---------
Q: Can I bring Joined Monsters into play as Allies?
A: Yes. Monsters are played just as they normally would be. As you
bring them into play, you simply decide to place them into your Ally
area rather than your Threat.
Q: Can Monsters in play as Allies be moved back to the Threat?
A: Only by means through which Allies could normally join a Threat
(ie, an Enchanted Weapon, The Innsmouth Look, certain Spells, etc).
Q: Do Monsters in play as Allies count as Monsters for an Adventure?
A: No. Any Monster in the Ally area loses the Monster Type and gains
the Ally Type instead. (In general, a card changes Type whenever it
moves from one in-play area to another.) Note that it still posesses
its Subtype. Thus, Father Dagon will still count as a Greater Servitor
(if an adventure calls for that specific subtype), but not as a
Monster (for Knee Deep in Doom). The Monster regains its normal Type
when it rejoins the Threat, or when it is buried (all cards revert to
their natural state when buried).
Q: Can a Monster use its Special Effects as an Ally? How about
Attributes?
A: This has been clarified in the MSGS rules (pg. 10-11): "Monster
abilities provided in the special effects box are not available to
Monsters played as Allies. Attributes in the title bar remain, but
some (such as Invisible) will have no effect when the Monster is an
Ally." The converse is also true (Allies don't get their special
effect boxes when acting as Monsters).
Q: Are Monsters played as Allies Corrupt or Steadfast?
A: This is clarified in the MSGS rules (pg. 10): "Monsters played as
Allies are always considered to be corrupt".
Q: Can GOOs be played as Allies with the Kitab Al-Azif?
A: Yes. However doing so is usually an exercise in futility since they
have no values. The MSGS rules (pg. 8) offer the following
clarification: "Allies that are reduced to a zero Card Value (via
Spells or Events), or that have no listed value, are buried in your
Story Deck immediately." Thus, unless you've managed to somehow give
your GOO a value, it's going to be buried the second it hits the
table.
STRATEGIES
----------
* The Kitab Al-Azif, Knee Deep in Doom and Enchanted Weapons: This one
takes a few different elements, but it's well worth the work (for
Sheer Fun Value at the least). The premise is this: some of the best
decks I've seen stack up all the requirements for several
adventures, and then allow you to play multiple adventues in very
short order. So, what you do is play out your first several
adventures, the whole time using the Kitab to play Monsters as
Allies, and handing them Enchanted Weapons as you are able. (Yes,
your opponents will begin to sweat.) Play through your Adventures
until you reach 15 points. Hopefully, you should have 20 points of
Monsters laid out as Allies by then, all equipped with Enchanted
Weapons. After playing that Adventure that brought you up to 15,
immediately Pass, Pass. Commit all your Enchanted Weapon Monsters to
your Threat during the "Allies Defend" phase. Assuming you don't win
outright by killing your opponents, you should be able to play Knee
Deep in Doom at the start of the next round.
* Using the Kitab Al-Azif for Defense: Bashing people with Monsters
can be quite fun, but it's not always the best way to actually win a
game. The Kitab gives you an alternative. You can bring your big
Monsters out, but use them solely for defense. If no one else is
attacking, they'll hang around, and you'll always be ahead for
defense in following rounds.
* The Kitab Al-Azif and the Brotherhood of the Black Pharoah: A simple
enough combo. One card and you're halfway to the Sanity requirements
for this Adventure. And, it's darned easy to bring out an Arabic
Tome in the Middle East.
* The Kitab Al-Azif and Adventures Requiring Corrupt Allies: Certain
Adventures require Corrupt Allies (eg, Secrets of the Silver
Twilight, Seeking Everlasting Life I). By using the Kitab Al-Azif,
you can temporarily choose to turn your Monsters (a requirement in
nearly any deck) into Corrupt Allies if you are missing that
Adventure requirement.
* The Kitab Al-Azif and Call Power of Nyambe: "I bring this Joined set
of Father Dagon, Mother Hydra and a Shoggoth into play as Allies
using the Kitab Al-Azif" (cost: -4 San). "I cast Call Power of
Nyambe on Father Dagon, Mother Hydra and the Shoggoth" (cost: -2
San; Total Cost: -6 San; Total gain: +13 San, for +7 San sum). Not
bad for two turns of work. You can get not quite as impressive, but
still nice results from summoning smaller critters. Note that Call
Power of Nyambe can also be used to replace Enchanted Weapons in the
first Strategy above (involving Kneep Deep in Doom). It's probably
even more effective, since it doesn't freak opponents out and is a
little faster. It's just not as fun.
* The GOO Factor: Although GOOs usually get buried the second they
come into play as Allies, this may occasionally be a good thing. If,
for example, you wish to play an Adventure card right after playing
the GOO, and still get the Sanity from it. Or, alternatively, if
you're afraid your opponent might make better use of a GOO's special
ability than you. Thus, the Kitab Al-Azif is a good addition to
decks that require GOOs for Adventures, just in case.
* Holding Spells: The Kitab Al-Azif can also be used to hold spells of
a variety of types.
COUNTER STRATEGIES
------------------
Although Kitab Al-Azif has the cool effect of turning Monsters into
Allies, it also has the unfortunate detriment of turning Monsters into
Allies. They now fall prey to all the Spells and other items which
specifically hurt Ally cards. Two Spells in particular stand out for
use against Kitabbed Monsters.
All Monsters turned into Allies automatically are Corrupt. Thus, they
are vulnerable to the Yellow Sign Spell, Devolution. Turning a Color
Out of Space Ally into a Deep One is usually worth the price. Turning
one into a Giant Albino Penguin is even better, since the Penguin has
0 value, and is immediately buried.
The Yellow Sign Spell, Steal Life, can offer an even bigger win.
Players tend to use the Kitab to play big Monsters as Allies.
Typically, Greater Servitors and Independents. That means you might be
able to Steal Life from 4, 5 or 6 point Allies, which is amazingly
high. If an opponent plays his Color Out of Space, you can use Steal
Life to get +4 Sanity ever turn, the equivalent of a Sanitarium.
--------------------
From: appel@erzo.org (Shannon Appel)
Subject: C&S: Yithian Mental Contact
System: Mythos
** CLARIFICATIONS & STRATEGIES: YITHIAN MENTAL CONTACT **
THE CARD
--------
Name: Yithian Mental Contact
Type: Event
Affects: Opponent's Card Play
San: -1
Unique: Yes
Special Effect Box: Your opponent changes his or her mind and Buries
the card(s) that were just played or whose orientations were altered,
except Adventure cards. Ignore any effects those card(s) might
otherwise have had.
CLARIFICATIONS
--------------
Before any thing else, it's useful to note that Yithian Mental Contact
is not an "instant". There are no "instants" in Mythos. Yithian Mental
Contact is played on your next Turn after something bad has happened
(or on your next Turn after something good has happened, if you're
perverse). It then retroactively undoes the effects. More on undoing
effects in a bit, but first an examination (and clarification) of
several of the phrases on the Card.
Yithian Mental Contact starts off by saying "Your opponent changes his
or her mind". This alludes to an important aspect of the card: it can
only be played against a card play or an orientation change that a
player specifically chose to take. If a player plays a card, flips a
spell, rotates an artifact or walks to a location, you can Yithian
Mental Contact that. You can not Yithian Mental Contact someone who
was forced to change the orientation of a card by someone else.
EXAMPLE: Meghan has Dysentery played against her. This MSGS Epidemic
causes her to flip face-down all of her allies. This flipping of
Allies was not an action she chose to do, and thus you can't Yithian
Mental Contact it, and force Meghan to bury her allies. (You can, of
course, Yithian Mental Contact the playing of Dysentery, but that's a
totally different issue.)
The bottom line is: Yithian Mental Contact is intended to stop an
action that someone did on their turn, as long as it involved a card
being played, or a card's orientation being changed.
The phrase "Just Played" is very important, because it has some
specific, legalistic meanings, namely:
JUST PLAYED: A card played since your last Turn in the current Round
that has not been affected by any other Card play.
[Note: This is the official definition of Just Played, acting as
errata on the definition in MSGS and older versions of the Mythos
rules.]
The "has not been affected by any other Card play" phrase is the only
part of "Just Played" that needs any further clarification. If a card
has been buried, flipped or discarded by another Card; taken by
another player; or in some other way directly affected by other Card
play, it is no longer considered Just Played. For example, if someone
casts a spell to Control a Monster that had been Just Played, or if
someone flips an Ally that had been Just Played, you may no longer
Yithian Mental Contact it.
Yithian Mental Contact also affects cards whose "orientations were
altered". This is pretty straight forward, and mainly refers to
spells, artifacts and allies that were flipped or rotated to achive a
special effect. It also may refer to a location which has been rotated
due to walking. It explicitly does not refer to gates which have been
used [MSGS Rules, pg. 10: "As a reminder, rotate your top Location
card so that it faces your opponent to indicate that the Gate has been
used... [this] does not count as the 'orientation change' referred to
in some card special effects"].
EXAMPLE: Austin uses the gate at his Current Location. He rotates that
location, and brings a set of four joined Formless Spawn into his
Threat. Meghan wisely decides to Yithian Mental Contact that action.
Austin is forced to bury his four Spawn. He also returns his gate to
its original unrotated orientation (since rotating the gate was an
effect of card play), but does not bury it because the gate-use
rotation is simply a reminder, not a real orientation change.
In addition, burying is not an orientation change, thus freeing cards
like the Sphere of Nath, which are buried to achieve a special effect,
from being affected by Yithian Mental Contact when they are used.
Finally, Yithian Mental Contact says: "Ignore any effects that those
card(s) might otherwise have had". Anything that resulted directly
from the original card being played is undone. This means, for a
start, that any Sanity gained due to the card play is lost, and any
Sanity lost due to the card play is gained back. If the Yithianed card
buried an ally, it returns. If it caused some Event card to be buried
(Night, Day, Storm), that Event returns. The split-second that a card
hits the table, it may cause one or more things to occur. These are
the things that are undone when Yithian Mental Contact is played.
EXAMPLE: Meghan casts Summon/Control Greater Servitor, and summons a
Star Spawn, which does Austin 5 point of damage. On his turn, Austin
plays Yithian Mental Contact on Meghan. Meghan changed the orientation
of her Summon/Control spell (by flipping it) and Just Played a Star
Spawn. These cards are both buried. These cards had three other
effects: the flipping of the spell cost Meghan one San, the summoning
of the Star Spawn cost Meghan three San, and the attack of the Star
Spawn cost Austin five San. The players each regain their lost Sanity.
Note that Yithian Mental Contact is not a perfect time machine. Other
players might have taken specific actions due to a Card which has been
Yithianed. They have no opportunity to take their actions back. Only
those actions which occurred the split-second the Yithianed card was
played are undone. Such is the power of the Yithians.
EXAMPLE: Brian plays Arkham Sanitarium. He flips the top card of his
story deck, finds it is not a Monster, and gains 6 Sanity, bringing
his total to 10. Austin casts his Summon/Control Greater Independent
spell, summoning a Color Out of Space which does Brian 6 points of
damage, dropping him back to 4. Meghan Yithians Brian's play of Arkham
Sanitarium. He loses the 6 San he gained, and falls to 0 Sanity,
immediately ending the game (he also replaces the card he had to flip
back on top of his Story Deck, but that's pretty irrelevent given that
the game is over). Meghan has the highest Adventure + Sanity total,
and so wins. Austin would in fact have not attacked Brian had he not
played Arkham Sanitarium, since it caused Meghan to win the game.
Also note that Yithian Mental Contact might cause a sudden change in
the Universe due to the reversal of that one card. These changes are
dealt with at the moment Yithian Mental Contact is played, and are not
looked at in any retroactive manner.
EXAMPLE 1: Brian passes. Austin plays a card. Meghan plays In the Nick
of Time, and another card. Brian passes. Austin Yithians Meghan's In
the Nick of Time. She buries both it and the other card she played.
The universe has changed, and there are now two passes in the current
round, which immediately ends. (Why didn't Austin just pass? He wanted
to get rid of the additional card Meghan played, and end the round at
the same time.)
EXAMPLE 2: Austin plays Waning Moon, burying the Direct Sunlight which
had been in play. Meghan plays an Ally, Joe the Vampire Cultist (not a
real card), which has the Special Effect Text: "May not be played if
Direct Sunlight is in play; bury if Direct Sunlight is played". Brian
Yithians the Waning Moon. The Direct Sunlight is returned to play. The
Universe has changed, and poor Joe is immediately buried.
Sometimes the change in the Universe with result in a temporarily
contradictory situation. This is dealt with by looking at all cards in
play, and applying all appropriate results at the exact same time,
right after the Yithian Mental Contact in played.
EXAMPLE: Meghan plays Dawn of a New Day, buring the Waning Moon which
had been in play. Brian plays New Moon, a special Day event which has
no effect on Day events in play. Austin Yithians the play of Dawn of a
New Day, causing Waning Moon to be returned to play. The universe has
changed, and there are now both a Day and Night event in play. Each
says to bury the other. Both cards are simultaneously buried.
The majority of the time, Yithian Mental Contact usage should be
pretty simple, but if there are ever any questions, follow three basic
steps:
1.) Bury any cards that the Yithianed opponent had just played or
changed the orientation of.
2.) Undo any effects which took place the instant the original card
play or orientation change took place.
3.) See if the changed universe has any new effect on cards that are
currently in play. If so, apply all effects simultaneously.
QUESTIONS
---------
Q: If I cast a spell, flipping its orientation, and that spell then
gets Yithianed, do I get the Sanity back that I spent on the spell?
A: Yes. The sanity cost you spend to activate the spell is considered
one of the effects the card had. The same is true for artifacts that
have activation costs.
Q: What happens if I get hit with a Townsfolk Riot, and instead of
playing a new Location, I Yithian Mental Contact the Townsfolk?
A: The Riot is buried, and you do not take the 5 Sanity Loss, because
it was an effect the card had.
Q: Can I Yithian Mental Contact an Unexpected Calamity?
A: No. By the time you could, it is the next Round, and thus the
strict definition of Just Played ("...in the current Round...") is no
longer met.
Q: Can I Yithian Mental Contact a Yithian Mental Contact?
A: Yes. Ad infinitum.
Q: What happens if someone plays Ring of Eibon on me, and forces me to
use my Yithian Mental Contact, and I decide to Yithian their Ring of
Eibon usage?
A: In practice, the Yithian Mental Contact is used, the Ring is
buried, and the former Ring wielder gets the two points he spent to
activate his ring back. Theoretically, you iterate through an infinite
number of alternate realities until you find one where you decide to
Yithian the Ring, even though the Ring didn't force you to.
Alternatively, the Universe may implode.
STRATEGIES
----------
Most strategy involving Yithian Mental Contact is pretty dull. Someone
does something detrimental to you, and you make them take it back.
This strategy section outlines the main uses of Yithian Mental
Contact, with perhaps a few interesting twists.
* Using Yithian Mental Contact Defensively - This is probably the most
common use. Someone does something nasty to you personally, and you
make them take it back. Perhaps they hit you with a spell or used an
artifact against you. Alternatively, maybe they just played some
Monsters to their Threat that are clearly going to be attacking you
during the combat phase. You're watching out for Number One.
* Using Yithian Mental Contact Offensively - With just a little more
work, you can use Yithian Mental Contact in an Offensive manner.
Know someone is trying to get a Tome out to finish an Adventure?
Yithian the next Tome location they play. Suspect someone might win
if they can increase their Sanity? Make their Sanitarium go away.
See someone play a Tome full of useful Spells? Yithian it, and they
all go tumbling to their Story Deck.
* Destroying Spells, Artifacts and Allies - Sometimes your opponent
may have out Spells, Artifacts or Allies which are a real nuisance.
Fortunately, Spells in Tomes are always flipped when used, and
Artifacts and Allies are sometimes flipped to access their special
effects. You can use Yithian Mental Contact to bury these items as
soon as your opponent attempts to use them. Perhaps that special
effect wasn't directed at you at the time, but you've still robbed
him of a valuable resource.
* Using Yithian Mental Contact to Win the Game - This is very tricky,
but by using Yithian Mental Contact carefully, you can make it a
game winner. I gave one example above, where Meghan Yithianed
Brian's Arkham Sanitarium to bring the game to a quick end. I could
give others, but they'll vary immensely from game to game. Overall,
they boil down to two important points. At game's end, remember that
you can: use Yithian Mental Contact to cost your leading opponent
Sanity gains; and also that you can use Yithian Mental Contact to
take advantage of sequences of actions where one player did
something only because of what the player before him did.
COUNTER STRATEGIES
------------------
Yithian Mental Contact is a hard card to counter because it undoes
almost everything else that can be done. There are, however, two
potential defenses.
First, there is Yithian Mental Contact itself. Vitally important card
plays can be protected by your own Yithian Mental Contact. And, if you
Yithian Mental Contact your opponent's Yithian Mental Contact, he
isn't going to play another one, since it's unique.
Second, you can take advantage of the fact that Yithian Mental Contact
only can stop card play and orientation changes. If you fear Yithian
Mental Contact, make use of cards that are buried when used. For
example, give Spells to Allies, rather than putting them in Tomes
(sure, they're buried, but at least you get to use them). Also, make
use of Artifacts or Allies that are buried when their special effects
are used (ie, the Sphere of Nath and Wakalea). A little excessive?
Perhaps. But this is the only way you can absolutely guarantee you
will be proof from time-hopping Yithians.
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's
Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views
or beliefs of Chaosium Inc. To submit an article, subscribe or
unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on
ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be
retrieved via FTP.
