I completely understand the skepticism. All I can say is -- try him. I only did Easy mode because I was skeptical myself. And he was SO good on Easy that it was clear he could easily handle Standard and would hold his own on Hard. I plan to continue his campaign but will bump it up to at least Standard, my usual play mode.
I've never played Minh. I'm wondering now how well they'd pair, with her doing the early clueing and boosting the skill cards he needs to start off.
Edited by CSerpentIt's at least the first investigator since Sephina Rousseau where I immediately wanted to prox him into Tabletop Simulator and start deckbuilding, just because he's so mechanically unique. And I don't even usually like survivors.
(Once I have a free evening, I'll run him through a few stories and report back here.)
2 hours ago, Eldan985 said:It's at least the first investigator since Sephina Rousseau where I immediately wanted to prox him into Tabletop Simulator and start deckbuilding, just because he's so mechanically unique. And I don't even usually like survivors.
(Once I have a free evening, I'll run him through a few stories and report back here.)
Sefina was such a breath of fresh air. I immediately called dibs on Calvin among my play group as soon as I saw him for our first forbidden age campaign. I don't expect him to throttle all challenges, but I do expect to have a lot of fun.
Alright. Probably not an ideal deck. I call it "Utter Desperation".
Decklist:
Never really played a Survivor, no idea if this is good or not. The basic idea is to play cheap automatic successes early, then go for the desperate cards and ward of protection later in order not to be murdered by the encounter deck. I'll tell you how it goes.
49 minutes ago, Eldan985 said:Never really played a Survivor, no idea if this is good or not. The basic idea is to play cheap automatic successes early, then go for the desperate cards and ward of protection later in order not to be murdered by the encounter deck. I'll tell you how it goes.
Ward is a card that works well early and late since it causes a point of horror to you when you play it.
Alright. The Gathering, Standard difficulty.
Starting Hand: Ward of Protection, Fire Axe, Unexpected Courage, Amnesia, Waylay. Mulliganing everything except Unexpected Courage. Final start hand: Unexpected Courage, Ward of Protecvtion, Reckless Assault, I'm Outta here, Lantern. Not the best start, was hoping for a Look what I found to get those clues quickly. With 0 intellect to start with, even a shroud 1 with lantern is very hard.
Turn 1: Draw a card. Fight or Flight. Not helpful. Play the Lantern. Commit Unexpected Courage to an investigate check, which is a shame. Draw a 0, which is 1 clue. Upkeep, back to 4 resources. Draw Waylay. Meh.
Turn 2: Mythos phase. Ancient Evils. Can't have that this early. Ward of Protection. Draw another card: gravedigger's Shovel. Still no good way to get clues, so I play and sacrifice the shovel. Down to 1 resource, but the act advances. Still all stats at 0. Upkeep: second gravedigger's shovel.
Turn 3: Mythos phase. Ghoul Minion. 2 doom on the agenda. Dammit, now I have no weapon. Discarding I'm outta here and Waylay for a desperate evade attempt, 4 vs. 2. Barely make it. Second action, off to the attic. 1 horror, so mental stats are now at 1. The location has shroud 1, so I can use the lantern to investigate it safely. 1 Clue. Upkeep: desperate search.
Turn 4: Mythos phase. Agenda advances, I take 2 horror. Mental stats now at 3. Grasping Hands from the Encounter Deck. Agility 0, nothing to discard. Pull a -2, take 3 damage. Physical stats at 3. Investigate again against shroud 0. 2 clues. Play the shovel. Draw a card, since I don't want to go fight the ghoul with only 1 action left: Lucky. Upkeep: second Fight or Flight.
Turn 5: 1 doom on the agenda. Encounter deck is the flesh eater. Not good. I can easily to the combat checks now, but I have no damage boost. Luckily, it's easy to evade and doesn't hunt. First action, evade. 3 vs. 1, pull a 0. Move back to the Hallway. Try to evade the ghoul there, which is risky. 3 vs. 2, but I pull an elder sign. I decide to neither heal nor take damage, which I think is legit, though I'm not entirely sure. Upkeep: Look what I found, entirely too late. Now I can probably do those checks.
Turn 6: 2 doom on the agenda. Swarm of Rats. Alright, fight time. Fight or Flight. Physical stats are now at 6 for the turn. 8 fight with the shovel. 3 combat checks: tablet, tentacle, -1. Dammit. Okay, that's 1 damage and the ghoul is still alive. 1 damage 1 horror in the enemy phase, and I'm now at five damage, 4 horror. Which is terrible, as 5 damage means I can't go to the cellar, unless I pull something that helps. Upkeep: Survival Instinct.
Turn 7: 3 doom on the agenda. Rotting remains. Nothing to commit, 4 will. Pull a -4. Well, ****. Lucky brings that to a total of 2. Take 1 horror, that's now also at 5. Finish off the ghoul. At a bit of a loss now, because of 5 damage. Draw a card. Dark Horse. Nice to have, doesn't help. Play it anyway, all stats now at 6. Third action, draw again. It's my special weakness. Both damage and horror are at 5, so this one knocks me out either way.
Good show. I think it's doable, but a few bad draws can really, really screw you over. I want to try again now.
Second attempt, modified deck.
Basically, decided that I need those keepsakes and coats in order to not die.
Same scenario. Starting hand:
Survival Instinct, Leather Coat, Run for your Life, Flight or Fight, Reckless Assault. Full Mulligan.
Second hand: Look what I found, Flight of Fight, Ward of Protection, Dark Horse, Lucky. Pretty ideal.
Turn 1: Investigate. 0 intellect vs. 2. Oh no, I failed by 2. Look what I found! And we're in the Hallway. Dark Horse, and we're at 0 resources. Until the upkeep. And right away, I pull my random weakness, Stubborn Detective. Which oh, wow, does this ever suck with Calvin. My text box is now blank. The Text box that includes the text that his stats go up if he takes damage and horror.
Turn 2: Mythos phase: crypt chill. The check is unsalvageable, so there goes Dark Horse. Draw a card: Gravedigger's shovel. Attack of opportunity, I take 1 damage.
And at that point I scooped. Well, actually, I pulled a few more cards to see if I had any solutions, but the detective murdered me before I did.
Another try. Same deck, different random weakness. Hopefully.
Starting hand: Hypochondria, Survival Instinct, Rise to the Occasion, Reckless Assault, RUn for your Life. Mulligan Reckless Assault, Run for your Life, Survival Instinct. Draw Cherished Keepsake, Look what I found, Fire Axe, Dark Horse.
Turn 1: Look what I found again, out of the Study. Play Keepsake and Fireaxe. Upkeep is another Keepsake.
Turn 2: Mythos Phase is Dissonant Voices. That's gonna be a bit tough, no events. Up to the Attic, take a horror. Draw: fight or flight. Twice. Upkeep is a lantern, and the voices are out again.
Turn 3: the Flesh Eater spawns. I have 0 in the physical skills. This will be tough. Time to get creative. Play the Lantern. Take an attack of opportunity, and down to 2 resources. It deals 2 horror and 1 damage. We're up to 1 in the physical skills and 3 in the mental ones. More importantly: fireaxe is close to dealing bonus damage. I spend 2 resources for +4 to fight. 5 vs. 4, no resources left, and I draw an elder sign. Choosing to take a damage. Then, rise to the Occasion. 5 vs. 4 again. Draw a 0. Pheewwww. Flesh eater is dead. Upkeep is Waylay. sa
Turn 4: Agenda advances. I have too much horror, so I lose a random card instead. Waylay. Encounter Deck: Grasping Hands. Nothing to commit, draw a -2. That takes us to 5 damage. And we're back at the problem where I can't walk to the cellar. Great. Draw. Luckily, it's a leather coat, which will help with the cold. Playing it right away ,that damage is dangerous. Third action is a clue, since the attic is easy with a lantern. Upkeep is a Survival Instinct.
Turn 5: Another grasping hands. Luckily, the physical skills are at 5 now, so even with the -2 I pull, I make it. First action is another clue, then two actions to walk to the cellar. Upkeep nets another Look what I found.
Turn Six: of course, now I draw the icy ghoul. Dammit. Ah, well. Physical is at 5. Playing a Flight of Fight to help out, giving me 8 fight. Still 2 resources left, they go into the axe. +12 fight, 2 damage. Skull. Still hits. Second text, a -2. Icy ghoul is dead. For investigation, we're looking at 3 intellect vs. 3 shroud, with lantern. Draw a 0 (was hoping for a minus, so I could play Look what I found), that's a third clue. Upkeep is run for your life, which will come in handy.
Turn seven: Rotting REmains. Draw a -2, which means I fail by 2. Since I'm at 3 horror already, I put one on the keepsake. Since the agenda is at a comfortable 3/7 doom, I decide to try for that victory point from the cellar. 4 vs. 3, I draw an elder sign. Tough decision now, whether I should heal. I decide to heal a damage, down to 4. Second action, back to the hallway and drawing a card. It's Say Your Prayers. Upkeep is a shovel. The Act advances.
Turn eight: Now there's a few interesting choices. I could use survival instinct to just run. I could try and fight the ghoul priest, since 4 fight is actually now quite doable. I get greedy and decide to go for the fight, since I can take one hit from him. Famous last words. First, fight or flight. Physical skills are at 8, down to 1 resource, which goes into the axe. First attack: 0. Second attack: skull. Phew. Third action, bash his brains out with the latern.
Victory. Every XP in sight picked up, too.
So, in summary: he's quite thrilling to play. It all feels immensely nailbiting. Would do it again. Will probably continue this into Midnight Masks tomorrow, see how he does in something a bit tougher. I wouldn't call him strong, though. It always feels one bad bag pull or weakness draw away from disaster.
Edited by Eldan98538 minutes ago, Eldan985 said:Basically, decided that I need those keepsakes and coats in order to not die.
Yeah, you need a decent amount of both damage and horror soak. My deck only had 1 of each, but also included 2 Pete Sylvesters and 2 Madame Labranche who are also good for that sort of thing.
3 minutes ago, Eldan985 said:So, in summary: he's quite thrilling to play. It all feels immensely nailbiting. Would do it again.
I think he's become one of my favorites in a very short time. I did however find out what happens if you can't find your fire axe or fight or flight, and it wasn't good.
There’s no way he’s not an April Fools joke. To have a stat line of all zeroes, he’d have to have no arms and no legs and be in a permanent vegetative state. They’re not gonna waste a release on some nobody character when there are so many good characters still unrealized.
Again, I'd call him tough, but quite playable. A challenge, but not an insurmountable one.
46 minutes ago, Archon879 said:There’s no way he’s not an April Fools joke. To have a stat line of all zeroes, he’d have to have no arms and no legs and be in a permanent vegetative state. They’re not gonna waste a release on some nobody character when there are so many good characters still unrealized.
How many many people have to play him and say, "Hey, he's pretty good" before people believe it?
Edited by CSerpentOh, I wouldn't call him pretty good. I'd say I did better with most other investigators I tried. He's workable and challenging, but not good.
Solo may not be the best place to test Calvin. I think he will shine most in high player count games. Also as campaigns progress, trauma will accumulate on him and he will play very differently than he did in a 1st scenario.
Kind of like how Roland really shines in single player. Hes good in other player counts as well, but he is really good in solo.
2 minutes ago, Jobu said:Solo may not be the best place to test Calvin. I think he will shine most in high player count games. Also as campaigns progress, trauma will accumulate on him and he will play very differently than he did in a 1st scenario.
Kind of like how Roland really shines in single player. Hes good in other player counts as well, but he is really good in solo.
I agree with this. The extra encounter draws will let him use things like "Let me Handle This" and also allow other investigators to fill his weakness while he gains momentum throughout the campaign. I haven't played him, but I imagine he is much more suited to being part of a team than a solo investigator.
The continuing adventures of the world's most desperate man.
So, I let Lita burn down the house. Didn't even remember that that gives a Trauma, but it's a nice start. Also, 8 XP. I got a Bullet Proof Vest and an Elder Sign Amulet for a Leather coat and a Keepsake, and then a upgraded Survival Instinct.
Draw is Waylay, Rise to the Occasion, Until the End of Time, Gravedigger's Shovel and a Keepsake. Mulligan the Waylay for a Survival Instinct.
Turn 1. Mental stats at 1, Physical stats at 0. Play the shovel and sacrifice it for the first clue, then play the Keepsake. Upkeep is a lantern.
Turn 2: Doom 1/6. Encounter is the Haunting Nightgaunt. Four life. Yeah, not fighting that. On the other hand, it's a ***** to evade. So, let's kite him around for some damage. First action, move southside. 1 damage, 1 horror. Play the lantern. 1 more damage and horror. Sadly, it's the historical society, which has shroud 3, so investigate is 4 vs. 2 with the lantern, after I take the third damage and horror from the gaunt. Sadly, it's the tablet, which is -3 and I lose a clue. We're off to a great start. Enemy phase, I decide to take a fourth damage, but put the horror on the keepsake. Upkeep is a reckless assault.
Turn 3: Doom 2/6. Encounter is a locked door. Yeah, let's ignore this place. I could easily fight hte nightgaunt now, but it has 4 life. LEt's try evading for now. With survival instinct, that's 5 v 2 and a free move to the hospital, which is shroud 2. Investigate and we're back to 1 clue. Then, move back to rivertown. Upkeep is another lantern.
Turn 4: 3/6 doom. Encounter is an acoylte, I decide to put it in the graveyard, then move there. Luckily, I decide to play Reckless assault, as I also pull a -4. Still, one dead cultist. Investigate with the lantern yields another clue. Nightgaunt moves to Rivertown, and my upkeep is a leather coat.
Turn 5: 4/6 doom. And now I pull a wizard. This is not going too well. I put him in Easttown. First action, leather coat. It's getting cold. Find a cultist, it's the mortician in the hospital. Third action, pick up the clue. Nightgaunt comes to the graveyard, I lose the keepsake and take one damage on the coat. Upkeep is Run for your Life.
Turn 6: 5/6 doom. Sadly, the wizard generates one too, so the act advances. Masked killer joins us in the graveyard. Should have kept that survival instinct. And another cultist in Rivertown. I'm seriously considering quitting now. Instead, I evade both killer and nightgaunt with the Run for your life and move back to rivertown and kill that cultist there. Upkeep is a ward of protection.
Turn 7: 1/8 doom, 1 doom on the wizard. Move to the hospital. It's a risky action, but then, I have to take them here. I discard ward of protection and until the end of time for a +2 to my evade, which makes this a 6 vs. 5. Luckily, it pays off and I have caught the first cultist. Upkee is a second Rise to the Occasion.
Turn 7: 2/8 doom, plus 2 on the wizard. Encounter is Wings of Darkness, which drops me back at Rivertown. Can't move the horror off, so I take it. Dang, that's at five now. Move to Northside, where five resoures nets me 2 more clues. Upkeep is madame Labranche, plus the Hunter and the Nightgant moving to Rivertown.
Turn 8: 3/8 doom, plus 3 on the wizard. Encounter is False Lead, but luckily I pass it due to 5 intellect. Well, one last chance to take care of that wizard. Move to Easttown, attack. Pull a cultist. Nope. That's it then. Resign.
One cultist found. That's... suboptimal. I keep thinking that there's just too many situations where I can't do anything, even with high stats.
Off to the Arkham Woods
So, I have one XP. If everything goes according to plan, I'm just going to run through that cluster of five cultists and storm the ritual site with minimal combat. (Hahaha. Plan.) So, I take out Reckless Assault and put in a fire extinguisher instead, which should be just the thing.
Starting hand:
Fight or Flight, Survival Instinct, Dark Horse, Fire Axe, Ward.
I don't need to fight much immediately, I hope, but I do need to investigate, so I Mulligan Dark Horse, Fight or Flight and Survival Instinct, getting Leather Coat, Elder Sign Amulet and Lantern. Nice.
Turn 1: too many cultists got away. We're at 3/4 doom. Ah, well. Time to prepare. Play the amulet, coat, fire axe and lantern. Total cost 5 resources. Upkeep is Fight or Flight.
Turn 2: the ritual begins. Aand it's a goat spawn on the main path. Oh, great. Shubby. Don't have the power to fight it yet, even with the axe, so I pull it with me to the Woods, taking one damage. The first woods are the Tangled Thicket, which are investigated with Strength. I try to investigate with the Lantern, which is 1 v 1 and pull a -2. Not enough even with the goat spawn's AoO. Second attempt, 3 v 1. Skull. Clue picked up. Enemy phase, another hit, we're at 4 damage and getting strong physically. Upkeep is a Lucky.
Turn 3: Doom at 1/5, plus one on the goat. Encounter is a Rotting Remains, 1 v 3. Pull the Elder Thing token, so that's 3 horror. Excellent. We're hulking out mentally too. 2 attacks with the axe finishes off the goat and we're back to the main path. Upkeep is a shovel.
Turn 4: DOom at 2/5. Encounter is Dissonant Voices, which means I can't put the shovel into play or use Lucky. First woods location is the abandoned house, investigate with Will. Luckily, that's 4v1 and second action brings that clue. Back to the Main path. Draw: another fight or flight.
Turn 5: Doom at 3/5. Encounter card: grasping hands. And I pull an elder thing, which is -5 here. That brings me to 0, out of range of even Lucky.
There goes the leather coat. The third location is hte twisting path. Shroud 3, my intellect is four, I have a lantern. Risky. I throw the lantern away, play a shovel and use that. That's three clues, so in come the ritual site and the mob of five cultists. Then, the enemy phase and the Hunter comes over. wUPkeep is a close call.
Turn 6: Doom at 4/5. Another grasping hands. I don't trust my luck this time and use ward of protection. Okay. This needs to be planned just right. I can't evade four enemies in one turn. I need one of those "evade everyone" cards. At least I can finish off the Hunter in one turn. Fight or Flight brings all physical stats to 9. Spend all th rest of my resources on teh fire axe. Fight three times, that's one dead hunter. Sadly, I pulled a cultist, which puts one doom into play. Upkeep is Rise to the Occasion, which is very likely pointless now.
Turn 7: Actually, it's not. I forgot the Agenda here calls for a Will (6). Of course, even with that, I pull the Elder Thing again. Calvin is now Psychotic and takes damage if he takes horror. Yaaaay. Means 1 horror kills me now. Encounter is Frozen in Fear.
Okay. Card drawing, not much else to do. Well, I wasn't planning on doing much of that. Draw two cards: Look what I found and Bulletproof Vest. Can't play it yet, so third action is gaing a resource. Frozen in fear goes away and upkeep is the fire extinguisher. Alright, then!
Turn 8: Doom at 2/5. Play extinguisher. Rotting Remains, no problem.r Gain a resource, play bulletproof vest. We're cutting this very close here. UPkeep is a shovel.
Turn 9: Doom at 3/5. Mysterious Chanting. ****. ****. ****. Of course, I have no ward. Umordhoth awakens. **** this, I'm out. Move to the main path, resign.
Bye bye Arkham. Nice to have met you.
Okay, out of interest, what could have happened. Rollign back time and shuffling the encounter deck.
M
Turn 9: Doom at 3/5. Relentless Dark Young. Alright, doable. Move to the Main Path. Take 2 damage (on the vest) and 1 horror. Which means 1 more damage. Second action, evade with the fire extinguisher. Lowest evade is 2, we're at 5+3. Not even playing Fight or Flight. Pull a 0, third action, go to the ritual site. It's guarded by a goat spawn. Luckily, I have close call, so away it goes. Draw Dark Horse.
Turn 10: oh, wait, this is not actually doable, is it. IT's an action to place one clue on the site and one action to find the clue, so four actions to do this. And we're at 4/5 doom. There is actually only one chance: first investigate has to draw an autofail or elder thing, then I can play LOok what I found. I draw a 0, that's a loss. I can get away from Umordoth easily, but that's just another resign.
You should have started tearing through your deck for lita to offer up to the old one.
I finished my NotZ on Hard. Having beat the Priest and burned down the house for what I thought would be some sweet trauma (two total thanks to his weakness card), he failed to get anything done in Midnight Masks. Those sweet traumas prevented him from using Rise to the Occasion. He surrendered himself to taking a physical defeat, having tackled zero cultists. I've gone as low as two before, maybe even one, but never zero. In the woods, he just drew and drew, waiting for the spawning of Umordhoth. He lost a good hand thanks to an unexpected Amnesia, including Lita (I was holding on to Labranche for Fire Axe fuel). He shook off a Frozen in Fear in time for Ummy's rise and actually had him against the wall. But then a Ghoul showed up, followed by a tablet token, which still successfully put hit numbers 7 and 8 on the GOO, but also did Calvin his sixth damage. If not for that draw, I think I'd have had him.
I found I really wanted more damage and card draws in my deck. Fire Axe is great, assuming you can find it. Rabbit's Foot and maybe Waylay need a place.
Edited by CSerpentTrauma doesn't prevent Rise to the Occasion. His base is still 0/0/0/0, even if it's being modified by the trauma.
I can imagine Amnesia being just awful for him. Maybe not Stubborn Detective bad, but still pretty bad. The times I got destroyed were because of no Fire Axe. When he had it, he was unstoppable. I definitely needed to be able to deal more damage. Waylay would have been great, I will have to think about that next time.
2 hours ago, jaqenZann said:Trauma doesn't prevent Rise to the Occasion. His base is still 0/0/0/0, even if it's being modified by the trauma.
Whoa, I suppose that's right. Ah, well, even if Masks had gone better, it wouldn't have changed The Devourer Below. Noted for future plays, though.
QuoteI can imagine Amnesia being just awful for him. Maybe not Stubborn Detective bad, but still pretty bad. The times I got destroyed were because of no Fire Axe. When he had it, he was unstoppable. I definitely needed to be able to deal more damage. Waylay would have been great, I will have to think about that next time.
I love that Labranche lets you deplete your resources once, then gives you another for a second boosted attack.
I thought I'd use the Shovel for clues, but that's an expensive clue. It was nice to have in the other hand, though, once the resources for the Axe were gone.
By the way, good news: he's available to build on ArkhamDB now, if you add The Forgotten Age to your collection.
Edited by CSerpentOn 4/9/2018 at 2:46 PM, CSerpent said:Ah, well, even if Masks had gone better, it wouldn't have changed The Devourer Below. Noted for future plays, though.
Eh, Masks is a brutal scenario anyway. I don't think it makes a particularly good benchmark. My question is whether he can make it to Paris in the Carcosa campaign.
3 hours ago, rsdockery said:Eh, Masks is a brutal scenario anyway. I don't think it makes a particularly good benchmark. My question is whether he can make it to Paris in the Carcosa campaign.
I'm considering having him take up the back half since my Sef is in the happy home. But at this point, I think I've played him more than any other investigator, and he's not even released yet. I still have Carcosa investigators whom I haven't touched.
Edited by CSerpentThematically i dont think a stat line of zeroes makes sense. I Think it should be ones at least
It's important to note, he is amazingly good in 4 player, especially with Carolyn to help keep him not from going off the deep end. second when playing a campaign your first stop should always be the bayou, because if you can get monstrous transformation on Calvin he becomes absurdly good. In solo he definitely suffers due to having one bad luck normally knock him out, where as most investigators it takes two bad pulls, usually, however in two player he is good in four he is fantastic.