Came across this situation while playing Curse of the Dark Pharaoh:

- Playing with the The Dark Pharaoh as herald.

- Cthulhu is the Ancient One.

- One of the investigators is Monterey Jack.

Monterey Jack starts with 3 maximum sanity. He's down to 2 maximum sanity because of Cthulhu's Dreams of Madness. When he acquires his two unique items, he loses 2 sanity due to The Dark Pharaoh's Know, O Thief. That brings him down to 0 before the game even starts. Does that mean he loses half of his items and starts with 1 sanity in the Asylum? Seems unfair. Maybe I'm missing something.

"Sometimes it's hard to be Monterey Jack", reads an FAQ entry (or something similar, I'm quoting at memory)... yeah, you start at the Asylum..

DarkRaven,

You will find that this is, in fact, the case. While I do not play with the Dark Pharaoh Herald, I can tell you it would NOT apply to starting equipment for the very reason stated in your inquiry.

Cheers,

Joe

Seems unfair. Maybe I'm missing something.

Unfair? Possibly. It's certainly harsh. But it is thematic. Monterey Jack is an Archaeologist. In the eyes of the Dark Pharoah that makes him little more than a grave robber. A desecrator of the dead who deserves to be punished.

Once you get past that the Dark Pharaoh is rather benign.

Try playing with the updated Cthulhu : you'll find Jack is at 1 maximum sanity! And with Dunwich Horror's Injury/Madness cards on top of that? As soon as you go insane, you could draw a Madness card. If it's Schizophrenia ... well...

Yeah, I've commented on this before.

If you are playing with Cthulhu as the Ancient One and the Dark Pharoah as the Herald….

and Michael, Marc, Monterey, Skids, Tony, or Zoey pulls Mythos Lore as their Skill…

Not only will they start the game insane (which Monterey and Zoey will regardless of the skill they draw) but if they then draw Schizophrenia as their Madness, they'll be devoured in the first turn of play automatically. Yikes.

Wow, thanks everyone. It seems that things will just get nastier as I explore the expansions!