Daisy (Pizza), Finn (Zebra), Roland and Hank (me) against Nyogtha. For a change of pace (and to introduce Zebra to another town besides Innsmouth), we played Dunwich. I have adopted DJ2.0’s idea of using all Gate Cards by shoving boards under Arkham with just their Other Worlds sticking out, so Underworld and Kadath were in play. And I have scavenged all Black Goat Neighborhood Cards relating to Corruptions and the Cult. (Sadly, this is roughly nine cards, which explains why the Black Goat Expansion barely peeps unless you’re playing with the Herald.)

Finn drew the Fire of Asshurbanipal, two Tasks, and a Mission, and I agree with House Rules that allow players to redraw those as Starting Possessions, but you have to keep at least one if you have more than one random Common/Unique item. So Zebra chose to keep the Mineralogy Report—the reward was an Ally, which we were lacking in our last game against Chaugnar Faugn, and lost us the Final Battle—and redrew a Fetch Stick and Brass Knuckles. These would come in handy for his Personal Story, since it was the only one that required monster trophies.

Daisy kinda gets shackled by her Personal Story if she doesn’t draw another Tome besides her Livre d’Ivon…which is what happened. So Daisy didn’t “break” anything while she hunted for enough Clues because she couldn’t read her book and went spell-less for quite a few turns. (She used her starting Forced Learning to get the highly appropriate Expert Occultist skill.)

Hank got exactly what he should: a Carbine Rifle, a Molotov, and the Alien Device. Ready for brawlin’.

Roland got Geneology Research, Dhol Chants, and John Legrasse, which I think is the one of the most appropriate Allies to fulfill the role of Roland’s Local Backup (his Story so Far). The Dhol Chants would eventually be read for Richard Pickman, making for a somewhat eclectic crime-fighting posse.

It only took a few turns for all of us to accomplish our Personal Stories, since most of us were looking for Clues. Hank went to Dunwich, Daisy stayed south, Roland stayed north.

Roland’s PS is one of the best ever, but it didn’t do Roland any good this game. After he got his five Clues, he went to Lost Carcosa…and got delayed twice. Well, once, after I used my Telescope. When I finally got out…I failed my Gate Check THREE TIMES. I rolled a 1 and a 2 TWICE. The five Clues Roland used to finish his PS were the same five Clues he ended the game with. (So soon? Read on.)

Daisy’s PS is pretty weak, but she did get an Eltdown Shards…for all the good it did us. Pizza finally dug for Daisy’s Anyspell; he went with Storm of Spirits over Shrivelling. Daisy went to Dunwich to kill the party of stupid humans that had collected at Wizard’s Hill: Maniac, Cultist, Child of the Goat. Went to the Abyss, found a way back in one turn, and started collecting a few more Clues to go seal Gardner’s Place…

Hank saved his Pa, which turned out to be not so grand, since he boosts stats Hank hardly uses. Hank spent a few too many turns trying to get enough Clues to hit a Gate…

Finn, on the other hand, was collecting a HUGE pile of stuff, shopping and killing: Kerosine, Feeding the Mind, Sword of Glory. At least twice he had encounters that threatened to steal his stuff if he failed a Skill Check he would have had to have used Clues to even attempt; he didn’t even bother to roll. He never failed a Bank Loan roll. After he passed his PS, he was using his Slippery ability to great effect, gaining at least a space closer to his planned target almost every turn. His three trophies had enough toughness for a Blessing, and Zebra has a serious yen for being Blessed. Zebra declared he would finish his Task on his way to the South Church. Amusingly, his finished Task got him Thomas Olney, who comes with a Blessing. (He never failed a Blessing roll either.) He changed his mind to become Deputy instead…

And then everything went to hell. Nightmare Pool Rumor. Roland was delayed in Carcosa, Daisy was firmly in Dunwich, and Hank had a couple of Physically Immune monsters between him and Uptown. Zebra suggested using Finn’s Feeding the Mind to keep it at bay (which would have only slowed it down while keeping Finn out of play), and I thought Finn could voluntarily knock himself insane (because he wouldn’t lose his stuff), but at the end of the debate, we figured it was worth the gamble to just do three Mythos cards at once, since both Roland and Daisy could seal before it happened.

You can probably see what happened. Failed Rumor took us right up to our Gate Limit, even with Finn’s Fire of Onemoreopengate. I couldn’t get Roland to pass one stupid Gate Check, and despite Daisy and Hank’s best gate-hopping attempts, Nyogtha got his Eighth Gate, and prepared to drag us underground.

I was apparently an emotional mess after I failed the team, so Zebra went into Assistant Coach Overdrive. After explaining mechanically and thematically exactly what Nyogtha was doing to each First Player, Zebra directed numerous trades, and continued to play hot potato with the handless weapons, money, and Kerosine to make sure that any devourings didn’t lose what those items could provide. Under his command, our efforts were efficiently effective, and the Doom Tokens came off. We were VERY lucky with our Nyogtha Attack rolls, and lost only Hank and Daisy before Finn got off a 4-out-of-5 roll to force Nyogtha back into the ground for a long time.

Zebra thoroughly enjoyed Finn, and recalled how much fun he had with Lily, as well as how dull Jenny was. I think Zebra adapts well to micromanaging his Upkeeps, and would thrive with the other Upkeep oddballs (Trish, Wilson) and the highly Focused (Joe, Amanda).

Pizza liked Daisy, and played her well, further reinforcing my belief that Daisy is only “broken” to those who “break with her”. It’s not Daisy; it’s how YOU play Daisy.

Hank is still a hoot, and there was a LOT of “redneck” improv comedy as we all reacted to Hank’s Encounters: some Investigators just bring more to “social gameplay” than others. I only wish I had had more time to fight critters.

Roland…what can I say? Once, I could say I never had a bad game with Roland…that was then, this is now. Roland was a flat-out embarrassment this game, and by extension, had me making a fool of myself. When Zebra demanded all the money be traded to those with the Kerosine, I somehow failed to give away Hank’s two dollars before he was devoured. Oh, the GLARE I did receive! (Thankfully, Zebra has never seen Better Off Dead, so the plethora of “Two dollars!” jokes will not be a blight upon me, however much I deserve them.)

Nyogtha was TOO quiet; only Daisy encountered the Tendril very early on, and snuck away using a Clue. On the other hand, Nyogtha is one of the more delightful Final Battles to fight: it doesn’t feel instantly hopeless, the AO Attack is an adrenalized roll instead of a distressing discard, and it’s very “Hollywood” in theme.