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Chaosium Digest Volume 22 Number 08
Chaosium Digest Volume 22, Number 8
Date: Monday, November 10, 1997
Number: 2 of 3
Contents:
Rating the Adventures, Part 2 (Cedric Chin) MYTHOS
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From: cchin@frk.com (Cedric Chin)
Subject: Rating the Adventures, Part 2
System: Mythos
** DIFFICULT ADVENTURES
IF I RAN THE ZOOG: +13
Dreamlands. Starting-point Adventure. The East, the West, The Underworld.
If I Ran the Zoog is a three-Region multi-Regional deck with a Unique
card. That's hard. At +13 points, it has to be paired with a +7 point
Adventure to qualify as a Two-Adventure deck, and most +7 Adventures
are not easy to complete. That's harder. With no sexy GOOs, spells, or
other cards, If I Ran the Zoog is little more than a difficult
multi-Regional deck.
ASSAULT ON Y'HA-NTHLEI: +12
Limited Edition. Starting-point Adventure. Innsmouth, Y'ha-Nthlei
(Exotic Location).
By itself, Assault on Y'ha-Nthlei is not a bad Adventure. You get to
play the Father Dagon / Mother Hydra / Deep One / Shoggoth combo, and
you get to travel to Y'ha-Nthlei. The problem with this Adventure is
that you must play Stand Against the Order first, and Stand Against
the Order has almost no overlap with Assault on Y'ha-Nthlei. In
addition, Stand Against the Order requires a Soldier, and Lovecraft
Country (where both of these Adventures take place) has no Soldiers.
Because of these irritating requirements, I have not made a deck built
around Assault on Y'ha-Nthlei.
CARTER'S QUEST: +12
Dreamlands. Starting-point Adventure. Miskatonic Valley (Waking
World), The Underworld, Castle of the Great Ones of Kadath (Exotic
Location), any Island Location.
Carter's Quest is a four-Region multi-Regional deck requiring
interdimensional travel, a trip to an Exotic Location, and meeting
Allies who are not found at any of the Locations required for the
Adventure. Ridiculous. You would also want to include Tomes (for the
Gate of Oneirology Spell, which allows interdimensional travel, and
Fly Spell, which allows Walking between any non-Exotic Locations), but
none of the non-Exotic Locations required for the Adventure has the
Tome Attribute. Carter's Quest also requires a Fantastic Dream
Adventure (about +5 points). Since a deck should have 20-points of
Adventures, you also cannot make a Two-Adventure deck with this
Adventure.
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE: +9
Dreamlands. Starting-point Adventure. The West, The Underworld.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice takes place in The West (Oukranos Wilds) and
The Underworld (The Wildlands), in Country Locations. The Adventure
also has a Unique card, The Temple of Loveliness. The Adventure's main
drawback is its Country Locations, which slow play, and that Locations
required for this Adventure aren't terribly useful. Since the
Adventure requires Nightgaunts, you can at least summon Nightgaunts as
Travel by Monster.
Since this adventure requires a multi-Region deck, it benefits from
the Fly Spell, Ship of Clouds, Travel by Monster, and Create Time
Warp. The Fly Spell, a Diamond icon Spell, allows you to play another
non-Exotic Location -- such as a Location in another Region -- as if
Walking. Ship of Clouds is a Dreamlands Travel by Air Event that
allows you to immediately play a Location in another Region. The
Sorcerer's Apprentice requires Nightgaunts, and summoned Nightgaunts
(e.g., by the Angles of Tagh Clatur) may be used as Travel by Air
Events that allow you to play a new Location -- such as one in another
Region. Create Time Warp, an Eye icon Spell, allows you to place a
Location -- such as a Region you wish to return to -- to the top of
your Story Deck. Angles of Tagh Clatur is recommended because it is an
Eye icon spell, like Create Time Warp. Zebras are also recommended in
this deck, because most Locations are Country Locations.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: +8
Dreamlands. The West, Waking World.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a dual-Dimension Adventure, taking place
in the Dreamland's Oukranos Wilds, and almost any Waking World
Region's House and Site. The problem with this Adventure is that the
Adventure's Oukranos Wilds Locations have no Tome attributes, and do
not overlap well with the Locations in other Dreamland Adventures (at
best, the Sorcerer's Apprentice has some Oukranos Locations). The
Adventure also requires the Nightmare Event, a Unique card that has
little real use. (The Nightmare Event allows your and your opponent's
Directed Threat's Monsters' Special Effects boxes to take place even
if the Monster does not survive, but requires the use of a Gate and
does not Join. Thus, you must have two Gates to properly use this
Event. In play, Nightmare often becomes the only card in the Threat.)
ARMED AND CLUELESS: +7
Dreamlands. The East, The West, any Exotic Location.
Armed and Clueless requires Locations in The East, The West, and an
Exotic Location, making this a difficult-to-play multi-Region
Adventure.
ONE OF THE CIRCLE: +7
Limited Edition. Starting-point Adventure. Europe, Providence.
One of the Circle has multiple Allies -- but no Locations -- in Europe
and Lovecraft Country (Providence). As a result, you will need to
travel from one Region to another -- and back -- to play Allies. A
typical problem would be that you have a European Ally and a European
Location, but you will be at a Lovecraft Country Location and not have
a Travel Event or Spell that allows you to travel to Europe. In other
words, this Adventure works well with, if not entirely needs, Surprise
Meeting.
Furthermore, the Allies in this Adventure are specified by Title
(i.e. Edgar Allen Poe instead of Author). As a result, if you use the
Two of a Card rule, you will need to put two of each Titled Ally in
this deck (i.e. you will have two Edgar Allen Poes in this
deck). Thus, once you have played one of the Titled Allies, you will
not be able to play the other, which will simply take up space in your
hand. Compare this to other Adventures that only require an Ally with
a specific Attribute (e.g. a Steadfast Author). You can typically
find two such Allies with different Titles, so you can play both
cards, but still satisfy the Two of a Card rule (e.g., both H.P.
Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe would qualify as a Steadfast Author, but
since their Titles are different, you could have both in play).
THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: +7
Limited Edition. Starting-point Adventure. Europe, Lovecraft Country, Middle
East.
The Royal Geographic Society is a three-Region Adventure requiring
Allies. The Locations do not work well with the required Allies,
unless you concentrate the deck around a single Region, or use
multiple Surprise Meetings.
THE EVEN STRANGER CASE OF CHARLES FORT: +6
Dreamlands. Dreamlands or Waking World (with the Mythos Standard Game
Set).
This Adventure requires two Event cards with timing: Rain of Fish,
which can only be played during a Storm, and Strange Humanoid
Encounter, which can be played only at Night. With four Events and two
Locations (a Country Location, and a Port or Station), it's not an
easy Adventure to complete. In addition, almost none of these Events
are needed in any other Adventure. Still, with three of the more
bizarre Events from Mythos (the third is Swarm of Insects), it's worth
the reaction on other player's faces. Note that in the Waking World,
the Mythos Standard Game Set provides the Gentleman needed for this
Adventure, as the Squire Whately card.
THE GREAT MENAGERIE: +6
Dreamlands. Dreamlands or Waking World.
The Great Menagerie requires three Outside Locations and four Monsters
of different Subtypes. Compared to the Interesting Shop (four City
Locations) at +5 Adventure Points, this is quite a bit to require for
only +6 Adventure Points. Still, if the rest of your deck has
Adventures with Outside Locations, and Monsters of different Subtypes
already, The Great Menagerie isn't impossible to play. For example,
Doomed if You Do has three Mnar Locations (almost all Outside), and
two Monsters (Bokrug and a Being of Ib, which are two different
Monster subtypes). The following cards help out the Great Menagerie:
* Buopoths and Giant Albino Penguins, Lesser Independents, Monsters:
While most Monsters do not Join a Monster from another Sub-Type,
these Lesser Independents Join Any Monster. Thus, while you will
need to play four Subtypes, you need only to play three "groups" of
Monsters who do not Join and cannot be played together. Buopoths are
Dreamlands Monsters who prevent Monsters from Bypassing Threats.
Giant Albino Penguins are Monsters who allow you to spend up to two
Sanity when you play them.
* Create Gate, Eye icon, Spell: For one Sanity, this Spell allows you to
play a Monster to your Threat, even if you do not have an available
Gate at your Location. This helps play the various Monsters you must
play, and you can cast this Spell during the Combat Phase at the end
of the Round.
LOST IN THE CATACOMBS: +6
Limited Edition. Europe, Lovecraft Country.
Lost in the Catacombs is a dual-Region Adventure with four
Monsters. The two Regions are Europe (the Catacombs of Rome or the
Catacombs beneath Paris), and any Sub-Region with the Church Attribute
(certain Cities in Lovecraft Country). The Monsters are Living Dead
(Skeletons, Zombies, Vampires) and Lesser Servitors (Mummies). The
problem about this Adventure is that the Monsters don't overlap well
with any other Monster-requiring Adventure (except perhaps the
Expedition, which requires Three Monsters), and that this is a
dual-Region Adventure for only +6 Adventure Points. Note that Samuel
Winsor, from the Mythos Standard Game Set, can give any Location the
Church Attribute, so can make this a Europe-only Adventure.
SEEKING EVERLASTING LIFE II: +6
Limited Edition.
Poor overlap with a required Adventure (Seeking Everlasting Life I),
summoning a GOO, and Resurrecting a Cultist from the Past aren't worth
the +6 Adventure Points. Seeking Everlasting Life II requires you to
Resurrect a Corrupt Cultist from the Past, and summon a GOO (as well
as complete Seeking Everlasting Life I). For starters, Seeking
Everlasting Life II doesn't overlap much with Seeking Everlasting Life
I (which requires two Steadfast Allies, one Corrupt Ally, a Tome with
the Skull icon, and the Resurrection Spell). Summoning a GOO is a
non-trivial task, and many other higher-point Adventures perform this,
too.
Lastly, no Sub-Region has more than one Corrupt Cultist from the Past
(Europe and the Middle East each only have one Corrupt Cultist from
the Past), so a deck with Seeking Everlasting Life II should be a dual
Sub-Region deck to satisfy the Two of a Card guideline. More
importantly, no other Adventure that can be used with Seeking
Everlasting Life II needs a Corrupt Cultist from the Past. (Save the
World has this requirement, but is a +18 Adventure Point Adventure
that already requires another Adventure worth at least +5 Adventure
Points. So Save the World and Seeking Everlasting Life II do not work
well in the same deck.)
THE CRUISE: +5
Limited Edition. South Pacific Island, Chief (from the South Pacific
Islands), two different Cities.
This Adventure has too many difficult requirements for its point
value, and does not overlap well with other Adventures (this is the
only Adventure that requires a South Pacific Island). South Pacific
Islands, each considered a separate Region, are relatively difficult
to play, since they require a Travel Event, or the Fly Spell to arrive
there. Since it's unlikely that you will spend most of your time on a
South Pacific Island, the Chief faces the same problem as playing an
Ally in another Region: You are typically not at the Region you need
to play the Ally at. The requirement of two different Cities prevents
you from playing a single Sub-Region City deck.
** MODERATE ADVENTURES
THE STRANGE CASE OF CHARLES FORT: +11
Limited Edition. Any two Regions.
The Strange Case of Charles Fort requires two Regions in different
Locations, and a Professor, but otherwise, its requirements are
Events, which can be played anywhere. The Professor restricts the
Adventure to the Waking World (by the way, William Channing Webb is
the only Professor that can be played at Any City), but the second
Region can be anywhere, including another Dimension. Although the
Events in the Strange Case (Day, Night, Storm, etc.) have the
advantage that they can be played anywhere, they are not as useful as
the Events needed for The Expedition (Amnesia, Unexpected
Calamity). See the Appendix about Events for further comments about
Adventures requiring several Events.
THE GREAT EPIDEMIC: +9
Limited Edition. Arkham.
The Great Epidemic requires only one Sanitarium, Herbert West, and two
Doctor Allies, so can be played entirely in Arkham. None of the cards,
except perhaps the Unique Herbert West, are difficult to get into
play. The Adventure requires three Day Events, and a Night Event. See
the Appendix about Events for further comments about Adventures
requiring several Events. The trick of this Adventure is, innocuously
enough, to get the Doctor and a Zombie into your Story Deck! Except
for certain Spells (e.g. Call Power of Nyambe and the various spells
which turn Allies into Monsters), the Doctor cannot be buried except
through Combat (he's immune to Epidemics). So if no one attacks you
with Monsters, you're left to bury him yourself. The Zombie returns to
play (i.e., is not buried) if your opponent loses any Allies in
combat.
STAND AGAINST THE ORDER: +9
Limited Edition. Innsmouth.
Stand Against the Order is an Innsmouth (single Sub-Region City)
Adventure. Normally, single Sub-Region decks are the easiest to play,
but the Adventure requires Dynamite, an Artifact, but no Locations
required for the Adventure has the Artifact Attribute, and Innsmouth
has only two Artifact Locations (Assembly Hall and the Waite
House). Dynamite also has a disadvantage that it cannot be used in
Combat without it and its wielder being Discarded; discarded cards
cannot be applied as a requirement towards an Adventure. Finally,
Allies with Dynamite tend to be targets of anti-Ally and anti-Weapon
cards.
ARKHAM HORROR: +8
Mythos Standard Game Set. Arkham.
Taking place entirely in Arkham, the Arkham Horror uses cards
specifically from the Steadfast Deck in the Mythos Standard Game
Set. It's a little easier than the other Adventures, and its Locations
and Allies are quite useful. Also, it overlaps closely with Searching
for Laban Shrewsbury, and makes a good tuned deck.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY STUDENT: +8
Limited Edition. Arkham, any Country Site.
This Adventure takes place in Arkham (Miskatonic University) and a
Country Site. The requirement of three different Miskatonic University
Locations makes this Adventure somewhat difficult for a single
Sub-Region City Deck: of the Miskatonic University Locations, only the
Orne Library has the Tome Attribute, and only the Science Annex has
the Artifact Attribute. The other three Locations, the Medical School,
the Memorial Hall, and the Miskatonic Commons (from MSGS) have neither
Attribute (and, as a result, cannot be used for the Interesting Shop,
nor to mention playing Tomes or Artifacts).
SEARCHING FOR LABAN SHREWSBURY: +8
Mythos Standard Game Set. Arkham.
Taking place almost entirely in Arkham, the Searching for Laban
Shrewsbury Adventure uses cards specifically from the Steadfast Deck
in the Mythos Standard Game Set. It's a little easier than the other
Adventures, and its Locations and Allies are quite useful. Also, it
overlaps closely with the Arkham Horror, and makes a good tuned
deck.
WHISPERS IN THE DARKNESS: +8
Mythos Standard Game Set. Vermont.
Whispers in the Darkness takes place in the Country and has two Unique
cards (the Speech Machine, a Mi-go Artifact, and N'gah-Kthun, a Mi-go
leader), so it is a little more difficult to play than the
Arkham-based Mythos Standard Game Set Steadfast Adventures, Arkham
Horror and Searching for Laban Shrewsbury. Vermont also has no other
Adventures, and has few Allies. Still, this Adventure can become part
of a fun Mi-go deck.
ALONE IN THE WORLD: +7
Mythos Standard Game Set. Kingsport.
Alone in the World requires the Forgotten Crypt, a Kingsport Location,
so takes place in Kingsport. However, Kingsport has only one Corrupt
Cultist, which is a requirement for this Adventure, and the Adventure
also requires the Servitor of the Outer Gods, a Unique card. On the
brighter side, this Adventure requires two Cemeteries. The second
Forgotten Crypt you put in this deck, and a Kingsport Asylum can both
count toward this requirement.
THE MYSTERY AT MARTIN'S BEACH: +7
Mythos Standard Game Set. Miskatonic Valley, Country.
The second Miskatonic Valley-based Adventure in Mythos, this Adventure
has two Unique cards, the Martin's Beach Monster, and Cthulhu
Rising. However, it only requires one Location, Martin's Beach, in
Miskatonic Valley.
THE OUTSIDER: +7
Limited Edtion.
The Outsider is a fun Adventure, requiring two Locations available in
most single Sub-Region City Locations (a House with a Gate and a
Business), and two useful Events, the Townsfolk Riot and In the Nick
of Time. Townsfolk Riot is an anti-Location card: if your opponent
does not play a Location card during his turn, he suffers an attack of
5 Sanity. In the Nick of Time allows you to cancel a Pass and play a
new card.
THE GATHERING: +7
Dreamlands. The West.
The Gathering's requirements work well together. The Allies and
Artifacts can pretty much be found in the Locations required for this
Adventure, and the Locations can all be found in the same Region, The
West. The disadvantage of this Adventure is that, with Three Locations
in different cities, towns, or villages, you will be doing quite a bit
of Walking from one Sub-Region to another.
THE HERO'S JOURNEY: +7
Dreamlands. Starting-point Adventure. The Underworld.
Of the "Adventures which require an Adventure", this Adventure is the
most reasonable. There's little card overlap between The Gathering and
The Hero's Journey, but The Hero's Journey needs few cards: an
Underworld Location, and summoning a GOO. Since The Gathering takes
place in The West, and The Hero's Journey takes place in the
Underworld, a deck with The Gathering becomes a dual-Region deck. Note
that the Limited Edition GOO, Nyarlathotep, works well with this
Adventure, because only this GOO's requirements (Outside Gate
Location, New Moon) overlap with the requirements of this Adventure
(an Underworld Location and a Day Event). (Specifically, some of the
Underground Locations are Outside Gate Locations, and the New Moon is
a Day Event). You will definitely want to add the Chant of Thoth
(Diamond icon Spell, discard up to four cards and draw an equal number
for one Sanity) to discard cards for an Adventure you are not working
on.
A HEROIC RESCUE: +7
Limited Edition. Providence, Arkham.
The requirements for this Adventure, mostly Allies with different
Attributes, can be found in Providence and Arkham. (The Corrupt
Cultist is from the Mythos Standard Game Set.) Since the Private Eye
Ally is the only Ally that can be found in Arkham and not Providence,
you can make this a Providence-only deck if you add Surprise Meetings
or Trains to this Adventure.
THE MEOW CEREMONY: +7
Dreamlands. Ulthar.
The Meow Ceremony is the only Dreamlands Adventure that takes place in
a single Sub-Region City, namely Ulthar. It only requires three Ulthar
Locations. The only drawback is a timing card, the Cats of Ulthar,
which can only be played if the Cat Chieftain, another required card
for the Adventure, is in play. (Flee to Special Room or Yithian Mental
Contact will rescue the Cat Chieftain if an anti-Ally card is played
against it.)
THE TEMPLE: +7
Limited Edition. City Water Locations, The Lost Temple of Atlantis
(Exotic Location).
The Temple features a Unique Underwater Location, The Lost Temple of
Atlantis, and U-Boats (Travel by Underwater). One problem with this
Adventure is that the Atlantis card is Unique and requires some
timing: you should play a Diving Suit before playing Atlantis (if you
cannot breathe Underwater, you lose Sanity; the Diving Suit allows you
to breathe Underwater), and you need to Travel Underwater to arrive.
In addition, most of the cards for this Adventure cannot be used in
another Adventure.
THE BIRDS AND THE BYAKHEES: +6
Limited Edition. Waking World Country.
This Adventure requires five Locations: two Water, one Press or
Society, and two Forest / Country. The Water and Press / Society
Locations can satisfied by many single Sub-Region City decks, and the
Forest / Country requirement can be satisfied by Sanitariums (!).
Still, these different Locations are not as easy to satisfy as the
Interesting Shop's (+5 Adventure Points), four City Locations with the
Tome and/or Artifact Attribute.
COME SAIL AWAY: +6
Dreamlands. Kingsport, Celephais.
Come Sail Away is an interdimensional Adventure, featuring Kingsport
and Dreamland's Celephais. The Adventure also calls for a Port, which
is only available in the Dreamland's Celephais and Dyath-Leen. Since
Celephais has more Tome and Artifact Locations and interdimensional
Adventures need particular Tomes and Artifacts, Celephais is the
better Sub-Region.
THE CURIOUS PARCEL: +6
Limited Edition. Waking World or Dreamlands.
The Curious Parcel consists of three somewhat specific Locations: A
Library, a Cemetery, and a Gate Location. Although not as easy to get
into play as The Interesting Shop's (+5 Adventure Points) four
different City Locations with the Tome or Artifact Attribute, The
Curious Parcel's Locations aren't impossible to play, and are somewhat
useful. The Library has the Tome Attribute. The Cemetery often allows
you to bury a Phobia. Gate Locations are not difficult to place into
most decks. The Library and Gate Locations can be City Locations with
the Tome or Artifact Attribute, so this Adventure can be played with
The Interesting Shop.
The Adventure also requires a Tome in a language other than
English. Note that French and Latin Tomes are available with the Skull
icon. The Adventure also requires two Allies that are Authors,
Scholars, Professors, or Artists. These Allies tend to be
Steadfast. With the addition of a Corrupt Ally and the Resurrection
Spell, The Curious Parcel satisfies the requirements for Seeking
Everlasting Life I (+5 Adventure Points). In fact, it's difficult not
to have a deck with The Curious Parcel (+6) and Seeking Everlasting
Life (+5) and/or The Interesting Shop (+5).
[Moderate Adventures are continued in V22.9]
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