I'd be interested to hear how or if other players and groups use the Madness and Injury cards. My group members, other than myself, hardly ever take one. They'd rather lose halt their items and clues, sit out the next turn and pay the $2.

Personally I'm a cautious player, usually emphasizing the evading abilities when I can and seldom go unconscious or insane, but usually take a card if I do.

I wish the cards were mandatory, maybe even in addition to the normal penalties. As you can imagine, not everyone (anyone?) agrees. In their current form they make the game easier IMO most of the time.

I *almost* always go madness/injury. My other group mates tend to take them as well, but that requires pressuring

We tend to take them even if we have so few items and clues that the loss would be none or insignificant. In a two Investigator game, which is most of our games, returning to the action immediately with restored stamina/sanity is so much better than leaving on just 1 - which pretty much guarantees being back soon - or wasting a turn paying to heal.

We also haven't yet retired an investigator, even when they have four injuries and three madnesses (my record: it was Rita, and one of the injuries was a duplicate, so it wasn't too bad in practice), for much the same reason. Losing a turn (and all items and clues) is not worth it just to scrap a few injuries.

In a game with more investigators, where the good items and clues are going to be spread out, and it's possible to take a little more time over most things, I might take the item/clue loss sometimes and maybe even retire an Investigator with a particularly bad combination of injuries and madnesses.

I would always take a madness/injury card. I don't like losing a turn, clues, or items, or $2 ;') I might be a bit hesitant against taking a madness card on certain occasions (but if worst comes to worst and I draw an amnesia I can just get that investigator a second madness and retired).

It depends on what I have but I don't like to take them because I always seem to get the worst ones...ok I have shot gun and fetch stick... I don't want to loss one one I'll draw a injury... broken hand!

Awww...man I got like 5 clues and these 2 awesome allys and I just went insane...ok madness...paranoia!

I like to take the cards, but often in the early game if I have little to lose I'll forgo the Madness or Injury. In the late game I almost always take them, as we need all the help we can get, and it's nice to have the free restoration. The last game we played my wife was playing Rita (draw two and pick one). She choose the Sprained Ankle injury (-1 speed) because she already had the +1 Speed skill and the Motorcycle. Sometimes the game works with you.

I almost always take them aswell, but there becomes a point when Joe Diamond losses his appeal. Namely when he becomes a schizophrenic, one armed, amnesiac, broken back, maniac, no legged lunatic. Then I retire him.

I almost always take them so that I can get back to killing monsters / closing gates. Plus it makes the investigators more unique: "Hi I'm <fill in name> and I'm paranoid! No really, I am!"

Even though I have not played with the injury / madness cards yet I know exactly how I plan to use them when I get to that expansion.

I think it was Avid_Reader that suggested they be MANDATORY in ADDITION to the usual procedures. So you lose half your clues / items, free trip to St. Mary's / Asylum + You have to draw an injury / madness card. I think this adds even more sting to getting incapacitated and I might fear that next monster encounter a little more.

Thats how I'm going to roll when I add that expansion.

@Vaxsythrakul

It's actually Avi_dreader :') while I am an avid reader, this name refers to dread ;') and to my real name being Avi

Avi_dreader said:

... OH!

I thought you just didn't like .avi files

Tibs said:

I don't. They teach people to mispronounce my name ;') Btw Tibs, I commented on something you said in the Innsmouth comment section, but for the life of me I can't remember what.

I take madness and injury like they were a delicious meal of pasta. Then I retire the investigator once I have gotten every drop of usefulness out of him/her (usually about one retired every 5 games or so). Retiring people is fun, and I don't know why.

I love injury and madness because you don't lose anything and you don't have to sit there and waste a turn. Plus they can be hilariously delightful.

Avi_dreader said:

Probably something about my vortexes comment. I've forgotten about that anyway, as further research into the "dilution problem" has given some really good results.

Oh, uh... in response to the topic, I ordinarily use Injury and Madness cards. Only when I stand to lose little do I consider not taking one. It's nice not to have to wait around a turn to heal yourself, and most I/M cards aren't too bad.

It really depends on the situation. My group seems really divided on the issue. Personally, I usually end up taking the I/M, unless I have things I am willing to part with (not often).

Then again, Rita is my favorite character to use, so perhaps that influences my choice a bit. (Although I usually take I/M even when not playing Rita)

Our House Rule: The first time any Investigator goes unconscious or insane during any game, the player must take the Madness/Injury option. Any time after that, they can choose either option. Most of us love the M/I deck, although that's hard to say out loud while in the middle of a game.

Oh I'm sorry Avi I saw your name and just assumed it was a tricky way of saying Avid Reader hah !

How do you pronounce Avi anyway Ah-vee ? or Ae-vie? Ah-vie? Ae-vee?

Try to pronounce mine hahaha.

For us, the Madness/Injury cards were hands down the best improvement to the base game. It just speeds up the game so much that you get to have more fun in less real time. There's almost nothing worse than spending time to heal your wounds/sanity (especially if you've run out of money, stupid 1s) instead of doing things that are fun and help the game along. We'd probably still take the cards most of the time if they still made you lose half your stuff and just filled you up again.

Don't force the players to take them, make them see the huge advantage they give in time alone!

We thought they were mandatory in addition to the usual effects of getting assaulted. We tried doing it the way the rules said later but it didn't feel right. If you became amnesiac then how is it you remember your clues? If you're paranoid it's safe to assume you skeddadled and dropped some things. And if you just got the tar beaten out of you chances are some of your stuff was scattered after being smacked around by the Bloody Tounge or a dark young stepped out your gun.

I almost always take madness/injury cards unless an investigator already got two or more. There's only one or two that are _really_ crippling, so unless my equipment sucks and I don't have any clue markers, I prefer them to losing stuff and having to lose a turn (or more!) getting the investigator's health/sanity restored.

Vaxsythrakul said:

Like the first syllable in obvious (American pronounciation i.e. more of an a than an o and the b ignored). It *is* a tricky way of saying Avid Reader ;') but it's trickier than you thought.

Vax-sith-rack-cool is basically how I'm pronouncing your tag.