So guys just wondering what is the strategical difference between an investigator built for solo vs multiplayer? I know there are some cards that are more effective in solo/multiplayer but apart from that the difference is quite small right?

I've been playing the game 95%of the time in multiplayer and notice that regardless of the higher player count, it doesn't seem "effective" to have an investigator only good at mechanic one type of challenge but fail at all the rest. I identify the 3 mechanics being combat, gathering clues and dealing with encounters. For instance, I run with the philosophy that even as Guardian investigator, who is good with fighting enemies, he should still have some cards at his disposal for investigations as well...

What have your experiences and ideas around building investigators for multiplayer? Building them as a pure specialist in one area or good in one mechanic but with some backups for a secondary tasks?

I mostly play two-player, and I find that overspecialization is as much of a problem there as it would be for solo. The ticking Agenda clock makes it necessary for 'gators to split up in most cases, so everyone needs some ways to find clues and some ways to deal with enemies (evade and/or fight).

So we play 3 player and so far (dunwich complete and 3 scenarios into Carcosa) it seems that you still need some generalists, but specialisation is more of an option...

we have Joe who is main clue guy, but also handy in combat; Diana who deals with encounters and does some clue gathering, and some evade/fighting; and Zoey who basically beats the living (or unliving) £&@“ out of bad things (I’m sure she has a flash light as well somewhere.... probably thinks it’s an improvised weapon 😂😂)....

this means we can afford to split up, and depending how the scenarios pans out have people move around/close to others that may need their specific help more...

hope that helps...

Basically, the higher your player count, the more specialized you can be.

In a full party, there are often so many enemies that one character can be totally dedicated to fighting. Similarly the clue-hound can dump all their combat cards and focus on their job. Even so, Strange Solution is so good the seeker usually has two copies, while the fighter might find room for one or two clue cards, but it isn't necessary.

Conversely, a solo gator must be able to do everything. Can't fight or evade? Monsters will bog you down. Can't investigate? The clock will run out.

That's been my finding of the game, anyhow. That being said, you might find you like specialized decks more, in which case you should look to increase your player count (even if that means playing two-handed, but with four investigators). Or you may enjoy the jack-of-all-trades style, and playing solo/duo is great for that. I personally like the higher player counts, because there are a few investigators who are designed to be very specialized (such as Mark), and their limitations are difficult to play around in lower counts.

If you are playing solo the scale-able elements of the game are much smaller like boss enemy HP and clues on locations. So at higher player count it might be a liability to have a Daisy who has no way to fight or Zoey who has no tricks to get clues, but you still make them more specialized than you would in true solo or even two player. You kind of are required to capitalize the most you can off their strengths to punch through the real high walls a 4 player game can present. So combos that can let you do tons of damage in an action or cards that let you pick up a stacks of clues suddenly have more utility since they are given more of a chance to shine. In contrast stuff that let's you pick up multiple clues per investigation can often times be overkill in solo when the scenario will often have 1 or 2 clues per location. If enemies are coming out one at a time you probably don't need a bunch of heavy crowd control tech (or weapons that deal buckets of damage if your boss monsters have 5 HP). A Machete or .45 most of the time is sufficient.

Characters do need some cross ability even in a multi player but a Seeker does not need to be able to take out enemies as effectively as a Guardian does. They also need to be better at clue gathering than a Guardian does.

In multiplayer, some roles are better at dealing with certain things than others are. It is almost a waste to have a Seeker fight an enemy. Sure they can do it, but since they can gather clues more effectively than other classes, they should be concentrating on getting the clues. This becomes more extreme as the player count increases.

My take is that the player count increases, the amount of specializing can and should increase but you do need some generalization to move things along.

I also think all characters need to be able to deal with encounters no matter the number of players.

I would replace combat with "deal with enemies". That can be combat or evade or some events that neutralizes them (elusive, dynamite blast).

I think enemy management and killing stuff are distinct enough that you need to decide which of the two you’re doing. Essentially I think characters need to be moving the game state forwards, or removing barriers to progress. In lower player count you need a higher proportion of the former, in higher player counts you can afford to have more of the latter.

If your guardian is killing anonymous Ghoul #5, he is removing a barrier to progress. If he is killing the Ghoul Priest in the Gathering, he is progressing the game state. Any solo player needs to be able to do the latter, otherwise they fail that scenario. There are other scenarios like that, so moving the game forward is often about clues, but also about killing key enemies, moving to certain locations or parleying. In order to be successful solo you need to be able to do all those things, but the proportion you focus on will vary, and if you have super limited ways of doing one of them those things (“I’ve got a plan” for example) you can’t be using them to overcome obstacles which aren’t actually progressing the game. So you need other ways of managing non-critical ‘obstacle’ enemies.

I doubt I’m saying anything new here, I just wanted to point out that the divide between clues/combat/mythos cards isn’t actually that helpful to how I approach things.

2 minutes ago, General Zodd said:

I think enemy management and killing stuff are distinct enough that you need to decide which of the two you’re doing. Essentially I think characters need to be moving the game state forwards, or removing barriers to progress. In lower player count you need a higher proportion of the former, in higher player counts you can afford to have more of the latter.

If your guardian is killing anonymous Ghoul #5, he is removing a barrier to progress. If he is killing the Ghoul Priest in the Gathering, he is progressing the game state. Any solo player needs to be able to do the latter, otherwise they fail that scenario. There are other scenarios like that, so moving the game forward is often about clues, but also about killing key enemies, moving to certain locations or parleying. In order to be successful solo you need to be able to do all those things, but the proportion you focus on will vary, and if you have super limited ways of doing one of them those things (“I’ve got a plan” for example) you can’t be using them to overcome obstacles which aren’t actually progressing the game. So you need other ways of managing non-critical ‘obstacle’ enemies.

I doubt I’m saying anything new here, I just wanted to point out that the divide between clues/combat/mythos cards isn’t actually that helpful to how I approach things. 

Well said.

16 minutes ago, Jobu said:

Well said.

Thanks! Also, I forgot to address the mythos/encounter card thing. Basically that’s about avoidance/resilience. Essentially there will always be mythos cards to deal with, but you either plan to avoid/pass as many defensive tests as possible, or you look to soak it as much as possible. Seeing as test/consequence tends (generally) to be evade/damage and will/horror, make sure if you can’t avoid one of those reliably, that you can soak.

Over on Drawn to the Flame we did an entire episode on Solo and the change of gear it requires: https://drawntotheflamepodcast.blogspot.com/2018/07/episode-71-true-solo.html the more I play, the more I agree that overspecialisation, more or less at any level (but particularly at 1 and 2 player counts) is something of a trap!