http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=516

Even before Kevin mentioned her in the interview, I knew they would choose Jenny's cards to preview. Why? Because out of all thirty-two of the current Investigators, her quest is the most obvious. Now she can finally succeed in finding her sister, but . . . at what cost?

Is it worth it? What do you guys think?

Noir moment #5649

Act1. Scene 4. The Stars are Right

Jenny (aside) : "So there I was, Reuinited at last. ... It was at that moment that I realized that Isabelle had always been a spoiled little brat who never amounted to anything anyway. So I thought to myself... Izzy, you're going to do something nice for someone whether you like it or not.."

Jenny (to Isabelle) : "Let's head over to Rivertown, Darling...."

Heh, although that was the first thing that struck my mind when I read "counts as an ally", I think this sounds cool. Prohibiting cost, but a hell of a reward for Jenny, shoring up two of her major weaknesses at once. I'd attempt it if I was playing Jenny, no question. Cant wait to see the others.

awp832 said:

Speed I'll agree with, but Lore? Never really bothered with Jenny as spell-caster general, so maybe that's the reason I don't find Lore a "major weakness".

Jenny's a better-than-average spellcaster, because she's got decent Sanity, she's got a good balance between her Fight and Will, and when her Lore is maxed, her Luck isn't in the sewer. With the +1 Lore, she's got a couple extra slider options.

I LOVE this. This will drive my cult of nutjob roleplayers wild.

My only concern is the cards' longevity: when will they cease being "new and exciting"? I still enjoy Tasks and Missions, but then they don't come up every game. This card basically requires Jenny to toss away a potential Seal during every earlygame. If every Investigator comes with the same Pass/Fail every game, will it just become part of "playing the character" from now on, or will I get sick of it?

Plus, surely, of 48 cards, 1 of them is going to seriously piss me off; that's just the Law of Averages. Am I going to suddenly start hating an Investigator I once liked, just because they've been shackled to a lousy story?

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Dam said:

Ah, but she starts with at least one spell, doesn't she? I haven't played her in a while. Plus that card counting as an ally is great! It helps against Atlach-Nacha, can help with "Join the Winning Team", and other instances where an ally is required. Plus, this ally can't be removed from the game (until terror reaches 3, that is).

I like the fact that the personal stories (at least this one) offer some kind of penalty if you don't accomplish the goal. This means that they aren't just some benefit to the investigators but can also be a pain to deal with.

If I were playing Jenny, I would do this. Not only does it help even up some of your disabilities, but the penalty for failing is a steep one.

jgt7771 said:

She's still got the "awesome" Focus of 1. Maybe the sis should've given her +1 Speed, +1 Focus? Now that she's found her sis, there is more pep in her step and she is more focused on the task at hand .

@ Acebob: I think you're right (too lazy to check) on the starts with a Spell, but then again, Carolyn Fern kicks Jenny's perky, youthsome rear end as a spell-caster, if/when she can get spells.

Dam said:

She's still got the "awesome" Focus of 1. Maybe the sis should've given her +1 Speed, +1 Focus? Now that she's found her sis, there is more pep in her step and she is more focused on the task at hand .

Perhaps, but...Jenny's a dilettante. And one close enough to her sister to cross an ocean for her. Rich sisters hanging together have the collective attention span of a gnat. I'd say we should consider ourselves lucky she doesn't LOSE Focus.

Jenny starts with 2 Commons, 1 Unique, and 1 Spell. And I said better-than-average; it's a bit unfair to compare her to Carolyn. Try comparing her to Joe or Pete or DEXTER...she's better at spellcasting than them, s'all I'm saying.

(And I won't bring up Daisy, cuz I don't think I'd appreciate the voodoo pins in my back. )

Awesome preview card! I thought the fail option was a little odd: they mail her sister to her in parts? Wouldn't they just feed her to the shoggoths or something? Why waste the flesh? Would have been just as thematic if she arrived at the Unvisited Isle (which a lot of people seem to visit) just in time to see her sister devoured by some cosmic monstrosity.

All in all, I love the concept.

I were playing Jenny, it would be very difficult to sacrifice a gate seal. It seems like a madness card would be worth it. Especially if it's early in the game and I don't know if the clue tokens are suddenly going to dry up.

+1 Speed and +1 Lore is nice, but I don't think I'd pay 5 Clues for it. (Except the first time using Jenny with the new cards, just to try it and see. )

Solan said:

It will make the greatest Join The Winning Team game *ever* ::evil grin::

However, in a normal game, I'd say, lets find out what's in the box, folks!

avec said:

Agreed. And that's why I love it!

I find it interesting that this is the first card I've seen that refers to a card from another expansion . What im saying is since when you fail you have to choose tha bad stuff or draw a madness cards the rules are then assuming that you have the Dunwich Horror expansion as well as the basegame and Innsmouth.

Jenny Barnes = from base Arkham.

Personal Story = from Innsmouth

Madness Cards = only found in Dunwich

Of course I could just be nit picking.

Atheral said:

Well if you don't have madness cards, you have to drop your maximum sanity by two.

I think they gave the option in case you had Dunwich, but if you don't, you still have something you can do!

It don't look like its worth doing but then again it all depends on the game... but on the surface not worth the clues.

This is amazing, and I would definetly try to complete it, as you guys seem to be forgetting something: If you won't spend the clues, you might get Amnesia, and then you can NEVER seal gates. Think about it.

The personal stories seems like it will create a new dynamic where each investigator either gets amped up or crippled. It would be nice if there were a "half-assed pass" condition, where you spend maybe 3 clue tokens and nothing changes - you don't get the ally or the madness card. Maybe Isabelle is in a coma or something. Jenny's really pissed off about it, but not actually insane.

I hope you don't have to discard Isabelle if you have Paranoia. It wouldn't make sense that your sister would leave you just because you're a little paranoid.

I really hope ALL the reward from the personal stories would have a rule in the rulebook "personal story rewards can't be lost or stolen unless you choose to allow it".

Also, you can't tell by the picture if the card is big or small. I REALLY it is small or else there would be no room for it near your items or at all.

Small of course, otherwise without any new items, there will be only set of 22 small cards..

10 Innsmouth Look Cards
12 Small Dust Cards

And it makes sense that if they're supposed to go with an investigator (as an ally/madness), it would make sense for them to be just as big as the other investigator cards, i.e small.

How do you know the Innsmouth Look cards are small?

It makes sense. why would you have a card half the size off the investigator card to let you know yo're on the way to becoming a deep one when deputy, cult/gang memberships, bank loans, etc. are all small so that you can fit everything on your table.

Just a guess on the Innsmouth Look card. They seem to be investigator linked, and i don't think each needs to have as many stuff on it to warrant the use of a big card. I might be wrong though!

Another point for the Personal Story being small, assuming that the Innsmouth tray are just as large as the previous big boxes, that makes 2 tray spaces for big cards and one for small cards.. and the big ones hold about 90-100 at best.. (Kingsport maxed that out).. There are 154 big cards already confirmed (Locations, Mythos, Gate and AO cards), so it's unlikely that we get 250 big cards, so the personal stories are small cards.

kroen said:

You would, mechanically because she counts as an Ally and thematically because Jenny is so paranoid she can no longer trust the very sister she went to find. The mythos'll do that to ya.

I suppose mechanically it would be nice for the rewards to be permanent, but I just don't see that happening, nor do I really see a need as avoiding the 'fail' effect is half the incentive (From what we've seen so far).

Annoying thing is that even if Jenny is devouted to finding her sister since the beginning of the game, she might still fail. If the first mythos card is double terror track and the second one is raises the terror level by 1 (there are several of those) then it'll be too late for her before she even had a chance to collect 5 clues.