Most custom characters now come with their own personal story attached. That's fun. But what about the characters that already existed? For the most part, their personal stories are cool and fun. But every so often you come across one that's just horrible (Kate) or consigns a poor character to an even worse role (Vincent). Similarly, it would be nice to play without Patrice's extra-bonus clues, or to play, say, Michael to a different avenging objective.

To this end, how about another set of Personal stories for the characters? If the characters could have two stories to pick between going into each game, the options would be wider, and everybody would have more fun.

I don't have anything right now, and I'm sure this has been brought up by somebody before now. Anybody have any contributing thoughts, or balance ideas? Let me know.

One thing you can do is give your Investigators a random personal story. Just shuffle the personal stories and deal one out. It works for most of them that dont tie in directly to the Investigator's special ability. Think about it for a second, replace some names and youve got a whole new story for your favorite investigators.

i523.photobucket.com/albums/w359/mageith/vincentps.png

I've made several, but this is the only one I'm currently using.

Vincent receives 2 extra movement points each turn.
Also, he may use his Physician ability on any investigator in
his current town.

Thanks, Mageith. That's exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of. I'll probably play with that from now on.

I'm working on more. Of course, most stories don't present the same difficulty that Vincent's does (namely, just being stupid). For other characters, it would just be an alternate story, that they might choose/roll randomly. It's harder than it seems, however, as I'm trying to tie them into the investigator story so far. I've built up a spreadsheet about the different kinds of passes, failures, and pass/fail conditions, to get an idea of what I'm working with.

I've also planned to include rewards or penalties from all different expansions - benefits (Jaqueline would be good with Visions or Psychic), detriments (Harried is a nice penalty), corruptions (prime for the Gangster), Deputy (Tommy), Captain of the White Ship (Luke), Sheldon Gang (Skids), Blights. It should be fun!

This sounds like a fantastic idea!

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the final result :-)

I modified a few personal stories:

Vincent's pass condition: Each time Vincent uses his Physician ability to increase the Stamina of another investigator, place a token on this card. If there are three tokens on this card, place "The Doctor Is In" in play.

Changed from: If Vincent discards five Clue tokens in a street area during the Upkeep Phase, place "The Doctor Is In" in play.

Jenny's pass condition: If Jenny is at the Unvisited Isle during the Upkeep Phase, she may spend $5 and a gate trophy to place "Reunited" in play.

Changed from: If Jenny is at the Unvisited Isle during the Upkeep Phase, she may spend five clue tokens to place "Reunited" in play.

Patrice's pass effect: Patrice gains +2 Luck

Changed from: Patrice gains five Clue tokens

avec said:

I really like Vincent's as it seems more to character. But do you really mean "increase"? I'd use the term "restore". However I think it's actually much more difficult to accomplish than sacrificing 5 Clues.

Jenny's is ok, but easier, IMO. especially the $5 part. What's the flavor story behind it? It seems like Clues are more fitting. However I am not entirely sure why they are discarded in the original personal story. I guess Jenny's clues are specifically to help her find Isabelle and not more generic mythos clues.

Patrice's same thing. I see the game reason. I don't see the flavor story.

Thanks, mageith!

I don't see much difference between "increase" and "restore." Maybe "regain" would be best, since that's what is used for St. Mary's ability. I haven't play tested Vincent's story yet, so maybe it's still too hard. On the other hand, I let him start with a Mi-go brain case, which is often quite handy in getting to another investigator's location.

I was trying to make Vincent and Jenny's stories easier, since they aren't particularly powerful investigators. For Jenny, my thinking was that the gate trophy represents some knowledge of the mythos. This tells her, among other things, which cultists are bribable. After a well-placed bribe of $5, the cultist looks the other way while Jenny escapes with Isabelle. I suspect you're right that her official personal story is a side investigation involving Isabelle. It just seems too demanding for an investigator like Jenny.

For Patrice, her Ominous Dreams ability gives her clues when certain bad things happen. It seems odd that she also receives clues when something good happens (becoming free of the Watcher). I gave her a +2 to Luck since, with the Watcher gone, it's like a curse has been lifted. Also, she was following the advice of a gypsy, and you get a +2 to Luck when Anna Kaslow joins you.

Now that I think about it, you could also say that the Watcher has been "harrying" Patrice. In that case, being free of the Watcher would be like losing the Harried card, which would increase her focus.

Increase could be read as "increase maximum stamina" whereas restore or regain could not.

avec said:

I agree with making Vincent's story easier. So easy he should pass it without half trying. Just let him gain five clues instead of having to spend them somewhere. before killing three monsters (though I don't see that killing aliens that want to devour him as breaking his Hippocratic Oath). That gives him 2 movement (very valuable for him, but only equal to a motorcyle) and neighborhood healing (not really much of an improvement). Overall still a below average investigator. I gave him town healing.

Jenny: I'm not sure I agree that cultists are or should be bribable. They are fanatics IMO. Again her goal is to give up a turn (and a dangerous one at the Unvisited Isle) and five clue tokens. For that she gets +1 Speed and +1 Lore (I don't think I've ever used Jenny as a magician.). She needs the Speed but she is giving up a lot to get it. ( Bob only has to have 5 clue tokens anywhere, for example .) I'm not sure getting a gate trophy is easier (though it at least probably adds to the team effort and she can used the saved clue tokens to seal it.) Again, I'd say if she can just collect the clues before the terror level reaches 3 should have been enough. I suppose taking them to the Unvisited Isle is necessary for the story. By then, however, she should have been able to buy herself plenty of protection, though.

Patrice: Denying her five clues and giving +2 luck instead still leaves her the best investigator, IMO, by a lot. I'd probably give a really, really hard personal story and one easy to fail. Her failure penalty (losing a Sanity or Stamina each time she inspires) almost makes her a reasonable character. I failed the personal story last time I played her and even with those detriments she still was far and away the best investigator in the game and was instrumental in the victory. At least she had to work at it harder.

Right now I play Patrice's only power is that she can trade clues to other investigators. She still gains clues with her personal story and on the 9th doomer. Clues don't rain down on her anymore. She's kind of fun that way. But if I were to adjust her via her personal story I might say that if any investigator fails a skill check before she pass her PS, she fails her PS. That way there's a big demand on her clues.

Now I don't really see the reason for passing having to keep unique items is related to her story, though but since it is I can see other players just giving her the money to buy enough unique items and voila! success. I'd put her pass requirement difficulty similar to Mandy's (five elder signs on the board). Since her back story requires her to get something to rid her of her evil spirit: I'd make it hard to get and valuable, like an Elder sign (which she must then return to the box ) to gain her five clue tokens. So other investigators can give her their Elder sign (How likely is that?). All she has to do is get rid of it! I think I like it!

Vincent: his story should be easy to pass, but he shouldn't be unplayable if he fails. Personal stories aren't a great way of fixing investigators that are drastically overpowered or underpowered. It's probably better to fix the investigators themselves. So I don't necessarily agree that Vincent should be given an "auto pass" personal story.

Requiring him to gain five clue tokens is a well-balanced pass condition, but it's not very thematic. It's main advantage is that it closely resembles Vincent's current pass condition. But I don't see why we should even try to stay true to his current pass condition.

Allowing him to heal anyone in the same town makes him more powerful, but I worry that would give the player less to do. If Vincent has to get to the same neighborhood as another investigator, then the person playing Vincent has to be more proactive. If Vincent just needs to be in the same town, then it's almost like having a guardian or equivalent blanket mechanic. Granted, Mandy and Leo can use their abilities anywhere, but those investigators still have lots to do. Vincent exists mainly to heal. If the healing happens automatically (or almost automatically), then the person playing Vincent might lose interest in the game.

Jenny: whether or not cultists are bribable, Jenny's main function is acquiring money. It makes sense that her personal story would be relevant to her abilities as an investigator. I personally doubt that every single cultist is 100% loyal to the cause.

Patrice: Like Vincent, it's going to take more than a new personal story to fix Patrice. I let her give clues to other investigators for skill checks only (not to seal gates), and I only give her one clue when the doom track hits nine. That makes her pretty well balanced - except for her personal story, which is still too powerful. I gave her +2 Luck because it's her only weak stat. I could see all lot of other rewards working just as well. The main thing is to not give her a rain of clues. As for giving her an elder sign, which she must then spend, I don't know. Why would she trade an elder sign for five clue tokens? How would she be able to find an elder sign in the first place? It sounds like you want to give her a personal story that she automatically fails. But Patrice (the official version anyway) is still way too powerful, no matter what her personal story is.

avec said:

No one would trade in an elder sign for 5 clue tokens unless they were going to lose something in addition. I was suggesting that she would lose the ability to freely give away her clues. Her current fail condition is that she loses sanity or stamina. So not only would she gain 5 clue tokens but she would save her sanity, etc.

Her personal story would be close to an auto fail, but not quite. Since she can give clues to other investigators for skill checks, then she can reasonably prevent her failure, at least for a while. Once she obtains her elder sign she no longer can fail and she's back on her normal powerful track, but the team is down one elder sign. The question becomes whether its worth it the them and her to sacrfice and elder sign to allow her continue to freely spread her clues around.

Of course, the main problem with fixing a charater with the personal stories is that personal stories is a variant that doesn't have to be used.

On the other two, we pretty much have major concept differences, though I can count on one hand the number of times the healer ever healed anyone but himself. With a speed of 3 and having to waste a turn in the same space as another investigator its just not worth it very often. If he's healing was widened he could do his reason for existance and other jobs too. Currently, I try to use Vincent as a monster stomper since he can take the hits and still come back. He's not much good for anything else being slow and weak. Everyone once in a while he'll get the heal spell and that's fun though. Otherwise is usually isn't fun. Being needed is fun however IMO.

mageith said:

Okay, I get it now. That's an interesting dilemma for the investigators. I still think the best solution is to nerf Patrice six ways to Sunday. But if you end up trying this variant I'll be curious to hear how it turns out.