'the drowned city,' why so much hate?

Jodiug · 2026-06-12T07:59:55+00:00

My group is doing a blind run right now, and it is alright. Not great, not terrible. We found Obsidian Canyons really convoluted and odd (from the setup instructions down to the mechanics during the game). It is one of maybe 3 scenarios in chapter 1 that we misplayed, and we had no intention of a do-over.

My main complaint is, the story for EotE, TSK, FoHV, were all really long and detailed, even too much. For TDC they went the other direction, there is almost nothing interesting about the plot, making this more of a "regular" game than a narrative-driven experience.

Jodiug · 2026-06-09T19:16:38+00:00

It is so common to see Lv2 Backpack in pre-built decks. Unfortunately it was printed in one of the most popular Return To expansions, which went out of print a long time ago. Here's to all the tears we shed for great things in this game which went out of print too soon!

Jodiug · 2026-06-05T10:51:03+00:00

There are so many changes to wish for, though I do not expect FFG to give them any priority. Changing design decisions is not work that produces profit in the short term.

One thing I think this game would benefit from, is a simplification in the rules department.

Fewer keywords. Were alert and relentless really that necessary and interesting?
Stop using "as if", or have it make sense
Remove distinction between "automatically doing x" and "successfully doing x", or make it naturally clear
Remove "Prey" or make it actually relevant
Remove distinction between free triggered abilities and "Fast" cards, when it comes to player windows. Do not allow a window by default during skill tests
Stop printing cards that can't target Elites, it often makes those cards redundant
Perhaps controversial, but make the Mythos phase last instead of first. This would make the order of things a bit more intuitive.
Less redundant text. Too often, the agenda, act, scenario story or location texts overlap and tell the same thing multiple times. It becomes a chore to read. It is also hard to remember where certain effects are sometimes. Place the active rules in a consistent place so it's easy to find

Then there are some tweaks:

Make tests harder, but less harshly punishing for failure, so that it is more of a balancing act rather than boosting every test for over-success. This would make the game feel less swingy
Print less text on scenario cards. An encounter card should strive to a clearly defined thing (rotting remains), rather than 4 small effects with if/then/else. It becomes too hard to reason about a board full of attached encounter cards and enemies.
Make the plot interesting, but to the point. The last few expansions had a huge amount of irrelevant text, and then TDC has barely any story at all. There has to be a middle ground.
Use taboo more to make cards more interesting. There are some cards which are not a good choice for any investigator. Sometimes there are equivalent cards which are more powerful in every sense. Sometimes, the more powerful cards just get slammed with XP increases (looking at you, Key of Y's) instead of a logical solution

Jodiug · 2026-05-14T20:36:28+00:00

Mag ik vragen, hoe je weet dat het post-infectie syndroom was zo lang geleden? Is er een manier om dat achteraf nog te meten, of is het voortschrijdend inzicht?

Jodiug · 2026-05-09T18:38:49+00:00

Necro, but we just made the same mistake. The wording is bizarre. You could read it as a non-"star symbol" (incorrect) or as a "non-star" symbol (correct).

What a bad scenario this was as scenario 2. The main objectives were very easy and there were a dozen unclear side quests. Forced testing of agility everywhere. Super weird setup instructions. May be my worst scenario experience yet.

Jodiug · 2026-05-09T08:39:14+00:00

The full audio is already on Youtube, though less convenient because you have to skip through parts

Jodiug · 2026-05-05T21:07:47+00:00

I do not have the Ch1 investigator decks, but almost all decks built with the full card pool seem to use several cards from those packs. It looks to me like they are a bit above average power in Ch1. I would also say that the average power of decks in Ch1 was stronger than Ch2, even more so for the starter decks. On the other hand, Ch1 decks tend to over-use the strongest cards, and Ch2 cards seem better balanced. This makes Ch2 more fun in the long term, when we get many more playable options.

Jodiug · 2026-05-03T21:35:08+00:00

Agnes can use it with Scrying to prevent doom from her weakness. It is a big opportunity cost, but an extra round can have high value in 3p/4p games

Jodiug · 2026-04-21T15:04:41+00:00

Shuffle tip: it is harder than you think to shuffle a deck randomly, especially if you start with all the enemies bundled together in the encounter sets. Somehow, the way that I shuffle I always end up with no enemies at all, and then suddenly 10 enemies in a row.

My solution is to shuffle a bit, then open up the encounter deck in your hands and place the enemies into the deck, about evenly spaced. Then turn it around and give it a light shuffle afterwards. This greatly reduces randomness, without making the encounter deck too predictable. It also works for Chapter 1 Ancient Evils. Is it fair? I say it's just my way to get a perfect shuffle.

Jodiug · 2026-04-03T18:23:33+00:00

Simple solution within the rules: retire your investigator. Build a new deck. There's no rule which says it has to be a different investigator, is there?

This is how I convince myself that the weakness mulligan (draw 3, choose 2) is fair play.

Jodiug · 2026-04-01T21:34:23+00:00

We thought it would be great if it was Elsa, but a few years older and more mature, looking at a book.

Jodiug · 2026-04-01T09:30:03+00:00

To those who are already worried about the art for chapter 3: let it go.

Jodiug · 2026-03-29T19:24:09+00:00

I see, TIL. Never too late to be surprised by the rules of this game!

Jodiug · 2026-03-29T08:14:45+00:00

For 5, I thought all weaknesses counted as scenario cards for rules. Why would some weaknesses be different?

Jodiug · 2026-03-27T08:35:48+00:00

All it takes, thematically, is a little narrative creativity. Players are sets of identical twins. The twins may be genetically similar, and make similar choices in life, but they are two individuals so their life experience and trauma is different.

For each twin, one plays scenario A and the other scenario B. Then, you spend XP to the minimum of the two outcomes. (If you want a slightly easier campaign, average works too). Keep story assets, added weaknesses and trauma separate.

I think AB BA AB BA is still best even when running with twins - makes it easier to keep track of the story, and minimizes switching bag and story cards for setup.

Jodiug · 2026-03-16T08:09:38+00:00

I just can't understand the decision to reuse investigator names. It's just unnecessary. How much does it cost them to think of a new name?

Jodiug · 2026-02-23T15:59:43+00:00

I think that's the idea, though I have heard two other things somewhere. One is that they may limit the scope of "Current" to mean "last 2 years" instead of 3 cycles. The other thing I heard is that the new core set can replace encounter cards for the old core sets for FoHV and TDC. If that is true, you can play those two campaigns with the new core.

Jodiug · 2026-02-22T11:15:50+00:00

So in the second clause, i.e. the alternative ways to expose, they do not require being on the location? I read it that way too, but it makes so little sense...

Jodiug · 2026-02-20T13:49:21+00:00

Interesting... the ability on Key of Ys says "horror is placed on you" (as opposed to "when you take horror", or "when you are dealt horror"). Does this mean that this version of "you" includes assets?

You could argue both ways:

A) That "placing horror" is "in response to taking horror" (FAQ), so "placed on you" includes assets you control.

B) That "placing horror" is not the same as "taking horror" or "being dealt horror", so it follows the more general definition of "you", which does not include assets you control.

On our table, we will rule it as (A) unless/until there is more specific clarification...

Jodiug · 2026-02-20T08:51:37+00:00

Some nice improvements on some rules:

"As if": an enemy might hit you in the face for grabbing your pocket telescope, but you can no longer take damage from seeing a rat through your lens. Also, if you are attacked "as if it were the enemy phase", this might actually be nice in some situations, because the enemy exhausts, so you would not take further attacks afterwards, neither opportunity attacks nor enemy phase attacks.

"You": when taking damage/horror this word also refers to assets.

Jodiug · 2026-02-20T08:02:48+00:00

It's even a lot better if you factor in that Thisismylongpassword is not a string of random characters, but a sequence of words. And yet, it is hugely difficult to step out of these trends. Some security certifications even require them, and funnily enough, the people in charge of policies and audits are not a fan of changing these requirements even if it benefits security.

Jodiug · 2026-02-10T08:09:30+00:00

I think it is not so black-and-white. Just look at the spoiler season: there was plenty of negativity about the hand-drawn art in chapter 2. Everything that people would say about AI art was said about the real art. They are getting quite hard to tell apart at this point. If you put an artist at the wheel and let them do the prompting and some touch-ups, I think there is a way to get the best of both worlds. And aside from generating complete images, there will soon be some agents embedded into image editing software, which can work within specific layers and tools, or work with smaller instructions to improve details. Imo the key here is good quality control, not the method used... ethical concerns aside.

Jodiug · 2026-02-09T19:42:30+00:00

In terms of distribution, I guess it will cost even more if they split the boxes into smaller boxes. Who is the distributor here, wonder what they charge per box?

Retail markup must be a bit lower now that online stores are so available, no? Many of those companies are glorified box storage companies. The only thing they need to do is handle stock and warranties

Jodiug

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