So it says on Rolan that he can use guardian levels 0-5 and seeker levels0-2. Is that like a max cap for his deckbuilding, or can he use level 5 guardian at the start?

As far as I got it, you cannot include cards with level higher than 0 when you "create" a character, you can only "upgrade" the cards you already have by spending experience points throghout the campaign, you just can't upgrade it further then your identity tells you.

Is the 0-5 based on level or cost?

Card level:

Little dots under the cost deremine the card level.

As far as I got it, you cannot include cards with level higher than 0 when you "create" a character, you can only "upgrade" the cards you already have by spending experience points throghout the campaign, you just can't upgrade it further then your identity tells you.

Was this confirm on GenCon? I had hopes that every investigator could be able to use level 0 cards for each class....

Deckbuilding is going to be extra light in this one. I guess people complaining on how important deckbuilding was for LotR will be very pleased now...

As far as I got it, you cannot include cards with level higher than 0 when you "create" a character, you can only "upgrade" the cards you already have by spending experience points throghout the campaign, you just can't upgrade it further then your identity tells you.

Was this confirm on GenCon? I had hopes that every investigator could be able to use level 0 cards for each class....

Deckbuilding is going to be extra light in this one. I guess people complaining on how important deckbuilding was for LotR will be very pleased now...

The deckbuilding restrictions on Roland's card states that he can only use level 0-5 Guardian (his Class) and level 0-2 Seeker (something like a sub-class) cards, besides level 0-5 Neutral (available to everyone). Probably, if the part I marked in your comment was true (investigators being able to use any level 0 card from any class), the card would say something like "1-5 Guardian, 1-2 Seeker and any level 0 class card".

"Many of the cards in Arkham LCG feature one to five pips near their costs that indicate their "level." While you won't start your campaign with these cards , you can spend experience to buy them and upgrade your deck between adventures, replacing other cards and "leveling-up" your investigator."

Deckbuilding is going to be extra light in this one. I guess people complaining on how important deckbuilding was for LotR will be very pleased now...

Yep, VERY pleased!

Deckbuilding is going to be extra light in this one. I guess people complaining on how important deckbuilding was for LotR will be very pleased now...

Why do you think that?

Now you have 30 card limit in you deck, which make each and every card more impactful. In most other LCG you could play 1, 2 or 3 copies, so it is less granular now. Also, after you have some "experience" point, you also have to balance the which upgraded cards you going to put in your deck. Experience feel very similar to Influence in netrunner. You have a limited amount and you have to spend it wisely.

The shorter deck probable comes because of the experience mechanic. The packs in the past generally had 60 cards, which means more or less 10 cards, with 3 copies of each. Now we probable have 60, of that +-30 encounter cards and each player card comes with 4 copies (2 level zero, 2 higher level) plus the 3x investigator cards (investigator card, unique asset, unique weakness). Which means 6-7 player cards per pack?

I think that a pack will have less encounter cards then LotR, since this game doesnt have the shadow mechanic, also cos enemies probable will stick longer on the board (in the preview, we saw a lot of 4 health monster, also evading mean monsters dont die). So if they go with the same as lotr lcg 9 player card+hero in the pack, which means 21 encounter cards?

I also m not sure why you feel there is not much deck building. Can you explain what you're basing this on?

Basically because I won't be changing my deck completelly between quests/tournaments do to the nature of them requiring complete different approaches each time. It looks like some minor tweaks will be all that's needed (and most of them would probably come from upgrading cards, which are auto replacements on most of the cases), hence lighter deckbuilding. That's enfazised by the fact the campain is the main mode. It would make no sense to dedicate so much attention into it by designing a whole upgrading and XP system if the intention is to force people to change their decks completelly between acts.

The mechanics of the game also seems to point into that direction. This is not an LCG where you solve the majority of the puzzles during deckbuilding, here you solve them by the choices/actions you make while playing (do I evade now or attack? Do I move to X or Y? Do I investigate now or gather more resources? etc). Totally different approaches IMHO, and makes this LCG closer to a boardgame than any other LCG released so far.

I've been thinking the same thing, actually. I've realized that most of the time I spend "playing" an LCG I'm actually away from my cards. That's because I'm thinking about synergies, planning out a new deck or trying to figure out how to optimize an existing deck. A lot of the most interesting decisions are made away from the table while I'm doing other things.

I get the impression that this game is going to be different. There will certainly be some element of planning your syndergies beforehand, but it looks like most of the interesting deckbuilding decisions are going to be made during gameplay rather than away from it. I think it's going to be a ton of fun, but I'm not sure it's going to scratch the same "mull it over in my head" itch that LotR does.

It's hard to say for sure though, since there's still so much we don't know about the game. Time will tell!

Something else that might be interesting is that the basic weakness included in your deck during "character creation" appears to be random.

So everything else being equal, there would be two (or more, depending on how many basic weaknesses there are) Roland decks (one with the fear of paranoia making all of your resources fall off, or another where you may end up dropping most of your hand due to amnesia).

Perhaps this would be known information during deck building, so that some mitigating cards could be slotted in or maybe the first time you are supposed to know what it is would be when it gets drawn.

Picking the weakness randomly seems weird, but can make for interesting gameplay choices.

Something that I wish someone would have asked during GenCon is if mulligans are going to be allowed, and how does the startting hand (and the premulliganed/mulliganed one) interact with the weaknesses. If I draw multiple weaknesses on my opening hand, do I resolve them (and in what order) or can I mulligan instead/do I mulligan after they resolve? From a balance point of view, it would seem that mulligan could cause bad interactions with them (and with the 30 decks) so they might not be allowed at all. Who knows....

All the other LCGs including the co-op Lord of the Rings include a mulligan, so I'd guess it will exist here too but we won't know for sure until the rules are posted.

They're not trying to force you to make new decks. You can choose to, or you can choose not to. The same thing exists in LotR today, and some people prefer to design a deck and try to use it for many quests instead of (as they say) "designing a deck to beat a specific scenario". This is a rather large false dichotomy itself though, as just because you make a new deck does not imply that it is specifically being done to target that one scenario. Maybe you just wanted to try something different. Maybe your new deck is just another general-purpose deck. etc...

Picking the weakness randomly seems weird, but can make for interesting gameplay choices.

Something that I wish someone would have asked during GenCon is if mulligans are going to be allowed, and how does the startting hand (and the premulliganed/mulliganed one) interact with the weaknesses. If I draw multiple weaknesses on my opening hand, do I resolve them (and in what order) or can I mulligan instead/do I mulligan after they resolve? From a balance point of view, it would seem that mulligan could cause bad interactions with them (and with the 30 decks) so they might not be allowed at all. Who knows....

When I was playing the demo, I drew a weakness in my opening hand and the person running the demo instructed me to shuffle the weakness back into the deck and draw a new card.

Interesting...Do you know if that was per the rules or just them demo-er not wanting you to start out at a disadvantage?

It would make far more sense if it was per rules. Just think of it. You draw the weakness that discards your hand in your opening hand? What's the point to play further?

It is per the rules

Picking the weakness randomly seems weird, but can make for interesting gameplay choices.

How else would we pick weaknesses? If they're supposed to be bad for you, picking them randomly is the only way to go. Otherwise, you're either picking the weakness that you think will not really impact you, or trying to figure out how to turn a weakness into a strength - neither of which is likely to be what they are going for thematically.

or trying to figure out how to turn a weakness into a strength

Job Interview: The Game

Interesting...Do you know if that was per the rules or just them demo-er not wanting you to start out at a disadvantage?

My impression was that it was per the rules.

Picking the weakness randomly seems weird, but can make for interesting gameplay choices.

How else would we pick weaknesses? If they're supposed to be bad for you, picking them randomly is the only way to go. Otherwise, you're either picking the weakness that you think will not really impact you, or trying to figure out how to turn a weakness into a strength - neither of which is likely to be what they are going for thematically.

Picking the weakness randomly seems weird, but can make for interesting gameplay choices.

Something that I wish someone would have asked during GenCon is if mulligans are going to be allowed, and how does the startting hand (and the premulliganed/mulliganed one) interact with the weaknesses. If I draw multiple weaknesses on my opening hand, do I resolve them (and in what order) or can I mulligan instead/do I mulligan after they resolve? From a balance point of view, it would seem that mulligan could cause bad interactions with them (and with the 30 decks) so they might not be allowed at all. Who knows....

When I was playing the demo, I drew a weakness in my opening hand and the person running the demo instructed me to shuffle the weakness back into the deck and draw a new card.

That's good to know, thanks!

Picking the weakness randomly seems weird, but can make for interesting gameplay choices.

How else would we pick weaknesses? If they're supposed to be bad for you, picking them randomly is the only way to go. Otherwise, you're either picking the weakness that you think will not really impact you, or trying to figure out how to turn a weakness into a strength - neither of which is likely to be what they are going for thematically.

Basically because they seem to put extra effort on the campain mode. If feels unthematic that my investigator is amnesic this act and the next one he is paranoic instead. It kinda substract from the inmersion. Unless you keep adding weaknesses randomly after each act.

I think getting a random weakness at the beginning of the campaign and keeping the same one throughout the campaign would be the most logical.