"Ashcan" Pete: The Drifter

Pete is one of the guys, for whom “occupation” or "a life situation" is a more important part of the thematic design, then the exact nature of his interactions with Mythos (Luke, the Dreamer fits the Dreamlands theme so much better). However both the idea of a drifter being involved in the struggle against Mythos and the strong bond between hound and its master (taken to extreme in AH:TCG) add up to a good playing experience.

Legacy: Pete is one of the most “classic” guys, dealing with the Mythos ever since the base set of Arkham Horror has been released. Duke¹ has been his loyal companion ever since, as well. It seems,  the design has moved towards making the loyal dog more of an important part of Pete’s capabilities. It is more of an all-round useful asset in Eldritch Horror, while he has two clear uses in AH:TCG.

It seems Pete got younger since Arkham Horror times.
But he for sure hasn't quit smoking. He's the Ashcan after all.

Signature Cards/Special ability: Pete is a very unique character, who relies on his signature card like no one else. The Arkham community is already full of jokes describing Duke as the investigator and Pete as his asset – and rather a weak asset, mind you. He is the central point of Pete’s design, hence let’s start with it. Furthermore one cannot perceive Pete’s ability outside of its relationship to his signature card, thus grouping them together.

There are three main tasks, Arkham investigators must deal with to successfully pursue the scenario goals. First one, is dealing with monsters (usually through fight/evade), the other one is picking up the clues, the final one is moving between locations. Duke has the unique quality of allowing his master to accomplish ALL OF THEM in a much more efficient way. He can be used as a weapon, and a strong one, attacking with base Combat of 4 (unfortunately cannot be combined with other weapons and weapon-like assets), dealing an extra damage (key advantage, saving actions). He can also be used to both investigate (with Intellect of 4, unmatchable by any non-Seeker investigator) and potentially move at the same time. It creates an enormous action economy.

Two potential problems, Pete would have to face wile using Duke are solved with his special ability. First one seems to be a rather obvious one – Duke is of absolutely no use nor value if he’s not in play. It is a particularly huge issue in a card game, as the first step of playing card is drawing it in the first place. Many decks make or break on the luck aspect of getting the necessary card (particularly, so called combo decks)². Luckily it is addressed by Pete’s special ability – he already starts with Duke in play. This is a huge advantage. Not only due to the aforementioned resolution to the luck problem. It also makes Pete a formidable threat to the otherworldly beings (and the evidence left by them) from the very first action.³

Question for Savatage fans:
Do you hear Duke? He calls.

The other issue is exhausting Duke to take advantage of his action. While both alternatives are strong, one can use only one of them – and only once per turn (so many ones and we aim for much higher numbers!). Here is where the second part  of Ashcan's ability (yes, Pete has two special abilities!⁴) comes in handy. He can discard a card to ready any asset he controls. While technically speaking it can be used on any of his assets (and you should keep that in mind, just in case) Duke is a very obvious (not to say: evident) choice. A card is not a low cost, obviously, but a double use of Duke is also not a bad gain! 

Please also note, that despite bearing the “ally” trait, Duke does not take the ally (nor any other) slot .

It is rather obvious, that Duke as a signature card has a strength far surpassing any other signature cards. It comes at a cost of being weaker in other areas, though. 

Pete’s Elder Sign effect might easily be the strongest one so far. Reading Duke on top of whooping +2 bonus (yeah, I know it doesn’t matter most of the time, but still better than 0, right?) is a huge boon. To squeeze the full benefit out of it, try to use Duke earlier in the turn.

Too bad Ashcan's guitar does not make an appearance.

Pete’s weakness might be very bad or just a minor annoyance (on par with basic weaknesses requiring player to spend 2 actions to get rid of them). It gets very problematic, if it comes up  - and while you cannot spend the actions, particularly if you are engaged with an enemy (it might be even a more serious issue if you relied on the dog services to deal with the enemy). 

Pete’s cards and special ability are very thematic in two ways. First of all, they indeed reflect the nature of a strong symbiosis between human and his trusted animal companion. Secondly, they all orbit around a central “theme” of the character (just like Roland and clues, Agnes and sanity/horror + spells, Jenny and resources and so on).⁵ They do not bear a good link to the Mythos world, though. The only subnatural link is created in Pete’s weakness, which unfortunately is… not very thematic. I mean, does he have NIGHTMARES in the middle of a scenario? He actually takes a nap? Scenarios are not really portrayed as long journeys; they are quick events, packed within minutes/hours. Not to mention, that one cannot find any connection between nightmares and exhausting assets (even though it does play into the central design idea, as it affect Duke and Pete’s ability). Or is his sleep deprivation suddenly kicking in?⁶

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Theme

Skill values: Let’s start with a very general and important observation – Pete’s skill values do not sum up to 12, they sum up to 11. It’s obviously done for balancing reasons. Moreover, his total Stamina and Sanity are very low, balanced with Stamina and Sanity of Duke, to a degree. Upon reaching 7 damage/horror Pete is forced to discard Duke, effectively making him 7/7 (though obviously he is not defeated at this stage, though his usefulness is HEAVILY limited).

Luckily for Pete his weaker spots of Lore and Combat (both at 2) are mostly covered with Duke’s capabilities. Obviously Lore and Combat are sometimes tested for other purposes than fight or investigation actions. But they make up a bulk of all related test. Whenever he cannot rely on hound’s competences, Pete can manage fairly well with Agility of 3 and Will of 4. It makes him particularly resilient to most of encounter cards, as well as invites to include spells in his arsenal. To sum up, while the sum of his stats is low, they are distributed in a clever way, adding up to a fairly solid set of stats.

While it makes sense from the gameplay and balance point of view, I cannot find a thematic explanation for a vagabond to be overall weaker than any other investigator - including a teenage girl. Even if the choice of his weaker and stronger sides is rather reasonable.

Cards' illustrations have been a hit or miss for me.
This is a clear miss.

 Strength

Theme

Deckbuilding/Class: Survivor cards have a very intangible feel in common. They try to merge few mechanics/concepts – Survivors have circumstantial cards (Fire Axe, Scavenging or newly released Newspaper), some push-your-luck/win-by-failing stuff (absolutely powerful Lucky!, Look What I Found! or Rabbit’s Foot) as well as few evade – related ones (Bait and Switch, Survival Instinct). Obviously there are also some odd cards, not fitting into any of the categories; they make the majority of all red cards, though.

You can very well use the first two categories for when you are forced to rely solely on Pete (up to 2 actions per turn). You are much more prone to fail such tests, thus all the mechanics centred on failing come in very handy. So do the red weapons.  There are not designed to be reliably used on regular basis – Baseball Bat randomly breaks, while Fire Axe costs resources and rarely does extra damage (unless running low resources on purpose, but it’s much more difficult than one might think). Since you are mostly relying on Duke, they support you in case you need to spend more actions fighting. You achieve similar goals in the investigation department with cards like Newspaper. Scavenging comes up useful in completely opposite way - while using Duke you might manage to succeed by 2 every now and than to use the card.

The major flaw when it comes to Survivor cards is their talent - Dig Deep. Since Pete mostly wants to fight or investigate, boosting 2 other stats does not help too much. In fact, you should consider including 1-2 copies of other talents in his deck.

Pete can also take advantage, even more than other characters, of the neutral cards, particularly the double icon skills, to help himself perform some actions on his own.

While Pete can quite effectively evade as a last resort,
whole group of evasion-related cars do not fit him too well.

When it comes to 5 non-red slots, Pete can comfortably wield spells. With Will of 4, using Peter’s services (very useful anyway as a Sanity sink, particularly for our vagabond due to his low resistance) and having access to Dig Deep (I know, I just criticized it a bit), he can use Shrivelling and/or Rite of Seeking very well. Due to his high Will/Agility, Drawn to the Flame constitutes a good way of clue-gathering. He can be customized to a degree (and even more with the recent addition of Newspaper, if you plan to make him more of a clue gatherer), the out of class cards play a significant role here and unfortunately he is heavily affected by the 5 card limit.

It does sound feasible for a tramp to potentially cross-class as he’s been to many places and gathered a very varied set of experiences for sure. Therefore one feels the smallest thematic disconnection (among all the Dunwich characters) when using diverse set of cards with him.

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There are multiple factors, adding up for a huge success of AH:TCG. A very significant one (and a one that plays a particularly big role for me) is the great job done with making each investigator feel unique. Even among these strong individuals, Pete clearly stands out as a very exceptional character. His strong relationship with his animal-friend shapes the entire design of the drifter.

He can fill all kind of roles within a team – with correctly chosen set of cards he can be an amazingly effective fighter (who can manage investigating on a very decent level, when no enemies are around), efficient and mobile clue gatherer (perfectly capable of defending himself against low and medium strength enemies) or an all-round guy. It makes him quite similar to Jim (and they both seem not to get the love they deserve within the community).

On top of that, he is also an enormously exciting character to bring to the gaming table. From the moment you create your deck, using him will force you to make choices. During the gameplay, very often you have to make important calls. How to use Duke? How to ensure you can remain operational once Duke’s exhausted (or – which card to use to ready him)?. Same goes for assets.You will most likely try to use as few as possible, to spend as many actions as possible actually achieving game goals (a strategy well aligned with the capabilities of the Pete-Duke duet). You can reliably accomplish a lot just with Duke - not everything however. You have to make trade-offs, as well as both long and short term plans. You are kept on your toes from the very first action of the game. 

Pete has no surname, just a nickname. Apparently sold it for some smokes.

I also have two important notes, which do not seem to fit anywhere else in this post and that are definitely worth including here.

Firstly, surprisingly enough, despite starting stronger than any other investigator^{3 (yes, 3 again),} Pete does not lose much of the momentum along the game⁶. He might not be able to create some abusively strong setup in the late game, but definitely does not suddenly get inadequately weak and unable to cope with scenario’s challenges.

I have also noticed, I am not capable of playing Pete as well as my wife, who just squeezes full potential out of this dude. It led me to a more general notion - Pete is one of the characters, who require :
1. Adapting to a specific playstyle
2. Fit with the personality in the first place. Not everyone would even want to change the way of playing to accommodate for Pete's/Duke's needs.

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¹ Bit of the irony in the name, huh?

²It’s bit of a general point about card games in general. Whatever we can use some general deck-typology from the general card game lore and successfully apply it to AH:TCG remains an open question – particularly at this stage of its life, before we’ve seen at least a sizable amount of cards. 

³Using Magic: the Gathering terminology every Pete’s deck is an “Aggro deck”.

⁴And so does Jim. One might argue, it is Jim’s Elder Sign effect having 2 benefits. Regardless of the outcome of such debate, he has 3 abilities, where others have 2. 

⁵It seems to be a strong point of focus for AH:TCG designers. Many characters do have a leitmotif or at least a relationship between their design bits (see Wendy’s amulet, used again in Elder Sign effect and it’s interaction with her weakness). I am also planning to write a short note about different aspects of being “thematic”.

⁶I know the feeling, believe me. You wake up sleepy, somehow manage to overcome the otherworldly forces trying to suck you into the dimensional portal known as bed. For an hour or two you manage to be fully operational, just to suddenly succumb to irresistible sleep-curse.

⁷We might call it, again referencing M:tG terminology an aggro-midrange deck.

Jim Culver: The Musician

Jim is a very nice fit in the era Arkham Files are set in. A Jazz musician is a very 1920’s profession and plays on the other side of Arkham Files thematic setting – the feel of the 20’s. Meanwhile you can also see a clever, subtle connection to Erich Zann (playing music as a mean to achieve supernatural results). While Agnes’ is a 100% Mystic, focused purely on spellcasting, Jim shows us a more flexible side of Mystic characters.

Legacy: Jim was one of very few characters I never ever used in Arkham Horror. Highly situational abilities and very unfortunate set of skills made him almost unplayable. An attempt at making him an all-round investigator was much more successful in Eldritch Horror – he can be easily adjusted to be a fighter, gate-closer or a spellcaster. 

AH:TCG builds up on existing legacy. It combines both of his AH abilities to create a new, exceptional and very playable ability. It keeps the theme of sanity-healing trumpet. And most importantly, it delivers the most successful attempt at a customisable, all-round character. 

The graveyard background is so well painted.
I wish the same one was used for the front of his card

 

Skill values: Jim’s skills are completely different than his Mystic friend’s Agnes’. His Will is not so high, while still good enough to deliver a decent spell-casting. He can, however, both fight and investigate without using spells, if needed due to his solid Combat and Intellect. He won’t be able to manage any of this area as brilliantly, as a specialized guy, but can cover any of them. His Achilles’’ heel is Agility – making him both vulnerable to encounter deck and unable to evade enemies. Since Mystics are capable of covering most aspects of the game with magic, a combination of natural and supernatural means can be very effective. Unlike Skidds, Jim does not suffer from lack of specialization.

His skill values are an important part of Jim’s design. He is a versatile character, having no obvious weak spots. He can use spells with decent results to deal with enemies, get clues etc. Unlike Agnes, he can also use more regular means of archiving the game goals. 

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Special Ability: Jim’s special ability is another piece of the puzzle. Jim’s distinct capability of treating modifiers on Skull tokens as “0” has few results. It obviously simply increases chances of passing the tests. Serving as a slight boost to all his skills, thus enabling him to perform better, even if he’s skill value is solid only.

More importantly, however, it encourages playing the odds – one can attempt a skill check being only at “+1” against the difficulty, or even at “0”, and still have decent odds at passing the test. Works very well, when planned, still works solidly when triggered while being confronted with the encounter deck. You should also take the ability heavily into account, when you create the deck. Don’t try to overcommit on any particular skill, try to ensure you can always somehow push your stat 1 above the difficulty and play the odds! This is one of the abilities, that won’t work on its own – no “autocast” there, you must both well design your deck and execute it, else it feels like having no special ability at all!

 

I love how much design space introduction of these tokens creates!

An integral part of Jim’s ability is treating Elder Sign as Skulls. It matters for his signature card, but also opens room for very interesting card design (see: Song of the Dead –and I hope we can expect more of similar cards coming). This pretty much uses his Elder Sign effect (though you can treat Elder Sign token as “+1” if needed).

I very much enjoy the thematic aspect of Jim’s skill. It might not strike you as obvious (just like the ability of Jim’s fellow Mystic – Agnes), but is an ingenious design for sure. It is a mix of thematic aspects of Jim’s original special abilities. First of all, it is a “Strange Luck”, meaning, he is not affected by negatives circumstances, manages to emerge successful despite them, dodge the ill effects through unnatural good fortune. And it is “strange” indeed, as it only affects a very narrow portion of tokens. Furthermore, it is related to his “monster- taming” ability. Skull tokens tend to be mostly tied with Enemies/monsters thematically (though, there are exceptions – I wish there were fewer, to be honest). While it is not directly related to the undead, it is still a very clear thematic link. 

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Theme

Signature Cards: Well, this particular part will be short, because Jim’s Trumpet is seriously underpowered. Really, not only it’s the worst signature card so far – I bet (and hope) we won’t see such a weak signature card ever again. Taking a hand slot to sometimes provide minor sanity heal is very disappointing. Even taking into account you can use it whenever ANYONE draws a Skull token (hence in a big team it should get triggered almost every turn) it still is miles away from other investigators in the signature card department. Sanity healing for no action is not bad, but taking a hand slot definitely is too much of an opportunity cost). 

The card is very thematic, that’s true. It feels incredibly personal – musician’s private weapon instrument of choice It does also a great job, linking all Jim’s designs across Arkham Files (always a nice touch to have a reoccurring design element). But at the same time it’s so terribly weak, I only use it to commit to tests.

Jim learned how to play a trumpet with one hand
and still it's not good enough

Jim’s personal weakness is – on the other hand – not too dangerous. If it gets drawn, it most probably does one damage and one horror (chances of dealing more are very slim, even with 15 tokens in the bag are around 24%. They are lower than chances of getting no harm at all!). And that’s it, weakness is gone! The biggest lost, really, is just getting no useful player card. It is sort of balanced with his signature card, since it is also the least damaging weakness out there.

While the name of the card is nicely connected to Jim’s profession and the Skull tokens are indeed tied thematically to him, in the end its effect has no relation to its name.

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Deckbuilding/Class: Mystic cards allow achieving all sorts of goals (fighting, investigating, evading, protecting against encounter deck, gaining resources, healing sanity, even deck manipulation!¹) so one can create a solid deck based on them and even shape it according to your needs. Jim is very nicely versatile, hence by choosing the right set of cards outside of his class, you can easily make him a good clue collector (choose DrMilan, Magnifying Glass, Look What I Found! etc), fighter (weapons + PhysicalTraining, helping with both regular attacks and spell casting!) or support character (Old Book of Lore, some healing cards). At the same time he should be able to manage his not-strengthened side, due to his special ability. You can also include Leo in his deck (not only because he’s just strong, but also to give him one more attempt to gamble against chaos bag). Regardless of the chosen area of focus, Lucky! can always came in handy if you push your luck too much for an important test.

There are also few Mystic cards, synergizing with his ability – Ritual Candles and Grotesque Statue encourage and/or help living the risky way.  

Can you imagine running around with those burning?
This is what Arkham investigators do.

I could imagine Jim being more inclined to take Rogue or Guardian cards given his thematic character (he’s leaning towards fighting side of things in Eldritch Horror), his current deckbuilding options do not create any unthematic results).  

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Jim seems not to get too much love among AH:TCG players. He was also reviewed quite negatively by The Aficionado (https://delvetoodeep.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/delve-too-deep-file-xi-jim-culver/). I do really like him a lot, though. He can perform strongly in many roles.

He’s not an auto-play character like Roland or Rex, that’s true. However, this is what makes playing him is very exciting from the very start – the deckbuilding, as you can choose multiple viable builds and successfully pair him with basically any other investigator. Once you start facing the unnatural challenges you keep balancing the odds pretty much every test, fine-tuning every action between skill values, Lucky!’s, Grotesque Statue etc. (throw Song of the Dead in the mix and optimizing gets even more of an interesting challenge!). 

I also cannot agree that’s he’s clearly weaker than Agnes. He’s far less draw dependent and has far more options open than just casting the spells. While his ability is not as spectacular, it can be extremely effective in the long run.

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 All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com

¹ They lack a powerful, Leo/Beat Cop (2)/Peter (2) level ally though. Maybe one is to be expected to arrive in the upcoming Mythos Packs?

Jenny Barnes: The Dilletante

Jenny is a character, who has had the smallest personal Mythos related experience (hence her “occupation”). It is limited to learning about a bizarre disappearance of her sister. She’s been presented as a daring, adventurous and self-confident woman. An important part of her image consists also of being both rich and charismatic. 

Legacy: Jenny’s design has always been centered on her wealth – be it seemingly infinite amount of money in Arkham Horror or high influence and an asset acquiring related ability in Eldritch. She was also given fairly fight – leaning stats (which is only slightly kept in AH:TCG through her signature card).

Old Jenny graphic is bit to slutty for my taste¹

Skill values: She has a surprising set of all-average stats. While it makes it hard for her to be very proficient easily at any area, she has quite some ways of adapting (very rogue-ish thing, ain’t it?). You must approach the stats in connection with her deckbuilding options and the special ability – they allow hr to use lots of different, even very expensive assets to boost her stats. She can be designed to fit almost any role in the team, as well as play a wild card, if desired. This is why her skills are on the stronger side, despite (usually detrimental) lack of specialization.  

While I would expect her design to be more consistent with the previous installments of Arkham Files, it provides an interesting and thematic twist to the idea of character. Her adaptability and wealth come stronger into picture, putting more of an individual mark.

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Theme

New graphics - guns and hat are still around
And so classy!

 
Special Ability: Like most of the Dunwich characters, Jenny possesses a strong special ability. An additional resource each turn is pretty much a free action each turn. On one hand, it’s true, that taking a resource is bit of a slightly subpar action. On the other, it is an action, which usefulness might come in handy delayed – a free move action is either useful this turn or not at all and hence completely wasted. Free resource might pay off in 2-3 turns. It also opens new deck-building capabilities (as already mentioned before). You should definitely consider it, when building Jenny’s deck in many ways – you can take more expansive assets, use a lot of “spend resource” talents (Hard Knocks etc.), maybe give up on Emergency Cache’s?

Jenny’s ability is quite a straightforward design choice, once again – like in Rex’ case – nicely tied with her original Arkham Horror ability.

Jenny’s Elder Sign effect is one of many “+ a lot” effects, hardly useful, though due to the link with resources, rather thematic.  

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Signature Cards: Jenny gets a very powerful weapon. +2 paired with her decent Combat and some ways to improve it (Hard Knocks, Physical Training) she can become a formidable fighter. And topped with Double or Nothing! it can easily deal some damage in one action. Unfortunately it’s only one card in a deck and Jenny has a hard time getting all the extra buffs for damage (Vicious Blow) with limited capabilities for Guardian cards. So she still has a hard time being the main fighter.

The pistols have two main drawbacks. Firstly, they have limited uses. This is a minor drawback, as they have one bullet for each resource you spend, when playing the card – and you can expect Jenny to have plenty! If planned right, she can have enough ammo for the remaining of a scenario. The biggest drawback is taking 2 hand slots. It is not a huge issue if despite Jenny’s limitation you design her as the main fighter. However it comes in a way, if you plan to use some other items – Flashlight or Magnifying Glass for investigating, for instance. And in all honestly, I don’t think she’s best suited to be the main fighter, hence her weapon, while having its merits, is also a bit problematic.

Since Arkham Times players around the globe see Jenny with her favorite guns in her hands. I enjoy using them a lot, since it really does feel like being Jenny just as much as the extra resources do. They are neatly tied with her resources ability (having a consistent character design is always a plus in my book).

All The Dunwich Signature cards use the same pattern for the skill icons.

Jenny’s weakness is for me a place where theme unfortunately won with the pure game. Why? Well, the card is incredibly thematic – not only because of the relation with Jenny’s story and relating it to her original personal story mission from Arkham Horror. It is also thematically harsh – you need to go to the farthest location, spend time investigating and do it well enough to convince Jenny her sister is not there. For sure. Nothing was overlooked. Keep going.

I believe the weakness is too harsh, though. It requires spending at least 2-3 actions for running to the location. On the way Jenny¹ might be forced to deal with enemies she would have otherwise skipped. Once there, another 2 actions are spent on an investigation attempt, which might fail (and Jenny is not a master of investigation)… The only silver lining is – Jenny can afford a mental trauma if needed, but it’s hardly a significant comfort.

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Deckbuilding/Class: Out of all Dunwich characters Jenny seems to suffer the most. Rogue deck has some pretty cool cards, increasing the efficiency of actions (Opportunist, Double or Nothing, Elusive) or second choice weapon (.41 Derringer). However they lack any means of investigating and basically any reliable means to consistently perform decently at any area. She can attain some level of competence with the out of class cards, but it usually feels bit subpar. She does still feel bit stronger than Skids due to far higher adaptability, though. I strongly advise to take some talents, depending on the needs to make best use out of her special ability. Biggest strength of her options are many, many directions you can take when designing her deck.

I don’t feel Jenny fitting the shoes of a Dunwich character too strongly. I would expect her to have some wider choice of cards due to her flexibility as well as riches. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

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Jenny is a very thematic character, with perhaps the most interesting design of all of her Arkham Files incarnations. She also seems to personalize the Rogue archetype better than her ex-con colleague, as she can play any required role with solid efficiency or act as a versatile support character. She has a very high replayability, as she offers multiple different builds. I hope expanding card pool will make her even more playable.

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¹ Why do so many female characters be necessarily sexy? I understand most of the gamers are man,but does anyone buy a game because of suggestive graphics of woman? REALLY?

² Or, technically speaking, another investigator. Why does Jenny believe that they did everything they could and looked very carefully for all the possible evidence? I guess the trust in the team is a huge one.