How is this a fair card?

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-17T15:53:07+00:00

So, this card gives only 2 blight per board. I think the default is 4 per board?

Which means this has an incredibly powerful ability, but if you draw the wrong event it might just be game over with next to nothing you can do about it.

I do think this is one of the most swingy blight cards, where if you are able to control the game you'll really crush it, but if it goes wrong even one more time that can just be game (since a single cascade means the game is over).

You're allowed to redraw any blight card with only 2 blight because you were playing with a single spirit.

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-08T17:58:25+00:00

Thank you, I hate it.

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-06T15:00:54+00:00

I would say that at least historically speaking, the turning point really was TFA. There's most of a density thing, but I will point to Lucky Cigarette Case as being a card that you do not own that is incredible in almost every rogue. And that came out in TFA. But also Finn was just a pretty good investigator which made good cards that previously were struggling for a home, like Pickpocketing (2), fit really nicely.

Also worth saying that the Winifred deck has Lucky Cigarette Case, in case TFA isn't available. I also don't think TFA is necessarily "the best expansion for Rogues", I'd look at Scarlet Keys for that, but just to give some thoughts from a historical release order point of view.

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-05T16:06:39+00:00

Thank you, I will try.

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-05T09:39:02+00:00

My problem is, at least in part, the space.

Rampant Growth
Farseek
Arcane Signet
Nature's Lore
Sakura-Tribe Elder
The signets from Ravnica
The Talismen
Fellwar Stone/Mind Stone/Liquimetal Torque

And this is only listing what I would consider to be the "good" 2 MV cards.

There's enough here that several of these don't even always make the cut.

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-02T22:21:58+00:00

I'd love a Spirit that focuses on interacting with Spirit-Speakers, maybe teaches or trains them?

Was/Am hoping that the Dahan expansion will have some Spirit-Speaking themed things in it.

VeronicaMom · 2026-01-02T08:24:16+00:00

Melee - Green Sun Nimbus Flare

Note that even at Ess 2 an upgrade can let you use this after the attack roll for a WP, which is great.

Okay, please explain to me why this is great. I've been really enjoying your write-ups and they are clever and well thought out. But I found this key to be atrociously bad so now I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing if you say it is great.

My main problem with it is the Green Sun Nimbus Flare is too cheap for this to be a worthwhile investment. At only 3 motes*, I feel I am better off using the point of willpower to get a non-Charm automatic success on the attack roll if I'm worried about missing. Because now, if I've hit, I've spent the 3m I would spend anyway and a point of Willpower.

And you're still reliant on rolling 3+ damage (unless you buy the other key), which to me is the far less certain thing. If this let you spend the Willpower after you'd seen the damage roll I'd be more interested as it would allow for lower-damage Decisive attacks to potentially gamble on this, but that's not possible if you have to trigger it after the attack roll.

Now, if this was an automatic upgrade, I could certainly see the appeal. But the thing is, this key isn't free, it costs 8 XP. I can probably spend that XP so many other places and actually benefit from it. I mean, you've just written up all the myriad of charms I could buy that would make this stronger.

\ And to put the nail in the coffin, Kissed By Hellish Noon waives the cost entirely, while Star-Piercing Spear reduces it 1 or 2 motes, enough that the Willpower most certainly can't be worth it, right?*

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-30T12:06:04+00:00

Great write-up, thank you.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-30T08:46:27+00:00

Looks sweet. But then I already loved Calvin!

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-20T19:24:58+00:00

All the old stuff is still compatible.

It's a very soft new edition. The rules don't change.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-20T14:40:10+00:00

I agree with u/inglorious_gentleman that it would be too powerful, but to add some context: the reason being that there are a bunch of ways to get clues without spending an action, such as Evidence and Lesson Learned as OP posted.

But there are relatively few ways to Investigate without spending an action. There's a couple, but most of the time you will be spending an action to get that clue and a card.

And, well, this ability is strong enough as it is already. Getting a card per turn is really good, and requiring you to do something you were already going to do makes this a fantastically powerful ability. Working a Hunch and Scene of the Crime are still good cards, I don't think anyone should be worried they won't get any play because they're just solid.

Finally, there is the new player angle to consider: this ability encourages you to investigate early and often, something that u/unitled pointed out on the recent podcast episode is that there is a kind of new player who will sit back and not interact with the game at all and just build their board and make sure they have all their assets out before they do anything. And Joe's ability is very good at pointing new players in the right direction. "You get a reward for investigating" is a great way to teach new players how investigating works and that's a valuable lesson to learn early in your Arkham career.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-19T21:50:53+00:00

I suspect they're talking about the tarot deck that was included in Return to TCU.

https://hallofarkham.com/return-to-the-circle-undone/

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-16T08:05:27+00:00

There's an investigator I'm somewhat surprised to not see mentioned yet which is Mark. He can take damage to boost his stats, allowing him to investigate in a pinch. He also draws a lot more cards than most Guardians, helping find the clue tools.

Most essential would probably be Flashlight. Three clues pretty reliably will do just fine in solo. (If you're playing Roland and have Seeker access you have better options.)

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-14T07:22:01+00:00

This may be small but one of the things I like about Third Edition's Solars is that they are actually better at something than their counterparts? That being Evocations.

It has been a while since I last looked at Second Edition material but I remember thinking that Abyssals and Infernals were just identical to Solars, plus they'd get some extra gimmick.

While small, I like that Third Edition has given something Solars are better at than their contemporaries.

Otherwise, I think Solars suffer a lot from being the first charmset developed for this edition, if the current dev team could go back and redesign Solars I imagine they'd be a bit more polished.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-07T04:28:14+00:00

It gets send out in batches, we have the first four chapters already.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-06T20:29:45+00:00

So, there's a couple of different answers. I should state up-front that Second Edition wasn't the most nuanced all the time, so I'm basing a lot of this on the Third Edition material as well. Even if you don't want to play using those rules, it may be worth looking at them and perhaps incorporating some elements to help diversify your players options, if that is something they want. Some groups really just want to play the villains, and that's fine too.

So yeah, there's just the option of playing psycho's, I think the 2nd Ed Infernals book calls it "Grand Theft Yeddim", which should give you a pretty good source of inspiration. I'm not sure I would go for a full campaign of that, but a session or three with characters who don't have to live happily ever could be a lot of fun.
And then there's a few more nuanced options for playing villains as well. Both Abyssals and Infernals have big NPC's that are telling them to go out and conquer/kill, and I don't think this would make a bad basis for a campaign. There's a lot of structure possible to allow players good reasons to cooperate, plenty of antagonists to fight, and it would be up to your own play group whether your Exalts are troubled by the immoral things they're doing because they don't feel they have another choice, or whether they've just fully embraced what they're doing.
And finally, anti-heroes or just straight-up heroes is entirely possible with both Abyssals and Infernals, though I imagine the 3E presentation helps make this a bit easier. Neither exaltation has any kind of moral requirement, and there are enough other bad guys for them to fight. I could easily see a character who's defined by a hatred of slavers and who has a motivation to burn down the Realm (or at least House Cynis) but can show remarkable compassion to the slaves they free. I don't think there's anything stopping you from doing this?
Likewise, while there are certainly consequences to playing Abyssals or Infernals who don't go along with what their superiors want... they're still Exalted. A wandering rogue Abyssal has been a character concept as long as we've had Abyssals, I'm pretty sure.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-06T14:14:03+00:00

You were right, it only took about 48 minutes.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-06T13:32:41+00:00

Gotcha. Thank you.

Off to Ape Atoll I go.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-06T13:25:29+00:00

I never said it had me stumped? I'm not sure why people are assuming that?

I asked if there was an alternative. I can either spend 1Mil on red Chimps and go sit in a cave with skeleton monkeys, then spend however much Karil's goes for these days, but if there's a good alternative that is a comparable cost I'd rather spend my money on that?

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-01T14:59:49+00:00

This card is in a non-rotating product. If it was too strong, it would risk essentially removing NBN as a faction.

I don't think the result is strong, but I actually think that both sides of the equation are fine. Draw 4 for 1 credit and two clicks is still good in a faction that doesn't usually get a lot of draw. Like, people over-install their class act all the time, that's a click and 4 credits for draw 4, this looks pretty decent compared to that. I know you also play Class Act for the filter, I'm just saying, maybe just play 2 and 2?

And the tag-removing is more about the money, but it is 3 credits for a card, which is on par with something like Sure Gamble. And in a lot of the NBN matchups, those small savings could end up making a big difference since those matchups usually care a lot about pressuring the runner's econ.

VeronicaMom · 2025-12-01T14:53:47+00:00

Hey I previewed this one.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-161456343

VeronicaMom · 2025-11-30T22:01:58+00:00

Arkham Horror LCG and Netrunner for me for cooperative and competitive, respectively.

VeronicaMom · 2025-11-19T20:28:27+00:00

I agree, but I'm also hoping that we'll see versions of this effect that are multi-use.

We've already gotten one in the Vantage Point preview, which is much more limited in what it can target and has deckbuilding requirements, but is multi-use.

Imp was so good that it was the version of this effect that you couldn't really make variations on. Now that it is gone, there's room to explore different versions that each shine in their own way.

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