more one than the other. They talk about a cycle less depresive. And between the two, there is one that is pretty dark ... What I think is that we can see now a sheme : urban/dark/creepy - strange/madening/ brighter - adventure/exploration/natura.

As we can say from now : Dunwich country - carcosa and madeness, gothic and medieval city - forest, old temples and underground - arkham, death and spectral - shinning places, ancient city and mindblowfull - THEORY ... [with the promo, pretty sure we will have it in the next two years] mountains, snow and north city - ...

33 minutes ago, phorcys12 said:

They talk about a cycle less depresive. And between the two, there is one that is pretty dark

True, and I'm sure that's right. But it also only has to be less depressing than TCU -- that's a strangely specific adjective which may tell us a lot about how the rest of the current cycle is going to go.

Yes I noticed the depressing descriptor as well, so I’m curious how tcu will end. I must say that I’m not of the mind that most if the cycles end very cheery even when you do win hahah.

23 hours ago, Soakman said:

Fairly sure we have a good idea what the next cycle is due to some spoiler-related scenario guides (for the remaining TCU scenarios) provided by Asmodee in German... Read at your own peril: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2209756/remaining-circle-undone-scenario-guides-are-online

If we are going to the Dreamlands it would be the perfect opportunity for a more fantastical and less horrible cycle. Don't get me wrong, I love my horror, but I'm really looking forward to the game going completely over the top and esoteric.

One thing that has been like...part of Dreamlands lore in the RPG etc. is that weapons and equipment brought to the Dreamlands slowly transforms into lower tech stuff suitable for a fantasy story. I don't know if that will feature in the LCG, especially since To Fight The Black Wind has Carolyn Fern join the church of the .45 and manifest a .45 automatic (though you could reasonably call that a psychic attack or a form of spell), but we may see some more unusual player cards at the very least.

Anyone remember the Dreamlands cycle of the Call of Cthulhu LCG? I loved the flavour and the mix of tragic mythic fantasy and horror.

I'm not going to get my hopes to far up There are other possible ways to interpret those statements. That would be fantastic though.

2 hours ago, Soakman said:

Yes I noticed the depressing descriptor as well, so I’m curious how tcu will end. I must say that I’m not of the mind that most if the cycles end very cheery even when you do win hahah.

It's possible they're talking more about the relative "pulpiness" of the campaigns. TDL and TFA both leaned more towards the action-adventure side of the genre: Everything can be fought, the story generally lets you feel like you've got the initiative, and winning the campaign gives you a happy ending where you save the world (though you're terribly scarred and probably have to retire from adventuring; this is still HPL, after all). Conversely, TPC leans more towards the horror side: You're trapped in the web of something beyond your comprehension (in particular, if you lose any scenario, it becomes obvious that Hastur is making your moves for you), you're constantly made to doubt your own perceptions, and, while you can "defeat" Hastur, it's strongly implied that you were just playing along with his game, and you might not have actually accomplished anything at all.

Obviously, we don't know for sure where TCU is going to fall, since the campaign isn't done yet, but there are plenty of hints that it's going to be more of a horror campaign. The Inexorable Fate set has been absurdly common and serves as a constant reminder of, well, the inexorability of our fate. You start with an unwinnable prologue, then immediately move on to a highly cramped lost-in-the-woods scenario as your introduction to the campaign proper. Plenty of "good" scenario resolutions are narratively hollow (especially Secret Name and Wages of Sin). There's a certain moral ambivalence throughout the campaign: Perhaps Arkham deserves the witches' wrath, or perhaps the world needs the Silver Twilight Lodge.

The biggest clue is more of a meta one: We know (from both the name and the previews) that the final scenario will involve Azathoth in some way. Arkham Files may tend to be more pulpy as a rule, but Azathoth is always an instant game-over, hopeless to oppose (For those of you who haven't played the other games: Normally, if the Ancient One wakes up, you have some sort of final battle that gives you a slim chance of slavaging the game. Azathoth's final battle rules are always some variant of "The world ends; you lose."). I find it unlikely that a more lore-focused game would break this tradition.

Agreed. A confrontation with Azathoth either doesn't happen or ends very poorly for the protagonists. So I am very curious what exactly is going to happen at the end of TCU. Maybe take some extra time to consider if you want to write your name in any books this cycle. Just saying.

Also I think the idea that factions are beyond good and evil is not that out of place for cosmic horror. I kinda hope the Silver Twilight Lodge turns out to be horrible but necessary. We'll see.

6 minutes ago, phillos said:

Agreed. A confrontation with Azathoth either doesn't happen or ends very poorly for the protagonists. So I am very curious what exactly is going to happen at the end of TCU. Maybe take some extra time to consider if you want to write your name in any books this cycle. Just saying.

Also I think the idea that factions are beyond good and evil is not that out of place for cosmic horror. I kinda hope the Silver Twilight Lodge turns out to be horrible but necessary. We'll see.

Power corrupts absolutely. Until you've played Carolyn Fern with the Black Book, you have not experienced the wonderfully enticing allure of the Mythos.

I will sign my name in that book. Every. Time.

Look at how Lost in Time and Space ends. (SPoiler). You either sacrifice yourself, or close the tear in reality before it gets there. Yog-Sothoth barely notices you, unless you try to fight it. At which point it kills you, even if you succeed, as far as the game is concerned and barely looks affected by whatever you do.

(Spoilers over)

What I mean is, the designers of this game get how the Old Ones are supposed to be treated in this game, more than they ever did in previous Arkham games, which encd with a boss fight.

And look at how Azathoth is treated in Lovecraft's stories: a rumour. Any story where anyone gets close to his throne, like the Dream-Quest, or Nyarlathotep or Dreams in the Witch House? They don't see Azathoth or his throne. They see the outskirts of his court and run like ****. I think something similar will happen here. The investigators aren't going to blow Azathoth's head off with the BAR. They are going to skulk around the void, trying to avoid the attention of the court and the beings nearer the nucleus, doing something to stop mad cultists from waking Azathoth in some way, maybe mistakenly.

16 minutes ago, Soakman said:

Power corrupts absolutely. Until you've played Carolyn Fern with the Black Book, you have not experienced the wonderfully enticing allure of the Mythos.

I will sign my name in that book. Every. Time.

I mean, Amen to that. As per Dreams in the Witchhouse, Keziah Mason was on to a great thing. She invented Quantum Physics 250 years early, and learned teleportation and dimensional travel, to go hang out on alien planets and converse with the greatest minds of the cosmos. I'd like some of that, please.

#keziahdidnothingwrong?

#exceptforsacrificingbabies

#iwilladmitthatwaslessthanideal

On ‎5‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 6:47 PM, Soakman said:

I couldn't tell if Ikiaq was supposed to be Inuit but I looked up some google images and found Jewelry and Inuit tribal markings that look very similar to Ikiaq's (I wonder if this was clarified at the card council)? We also have Aquinnah already, and we're seeing Guiding Spirit coming as well. It could very well be Ithaqua, but maybe we'll get something unexpected? Are there any ancient ones that corrupt plant life or have a tie-in with plants? Both Ikiaq and Dendromorphosis are plant themed.

There doesn't seem to be much plant life in Ikiaq's art either besides snow-covered trees, so it's hard to say.

Ikiaq image below (for those who haven't seen it):

Zushakon might be interesting to see, but we've not yet seen an Ancient One from Henry Kuttner's work since Nyogtha (I think) for Arkham 2nd ed. Interestingly, Kuttner's work includes a story that has a villain who may be descended from the alchemist Ludwig Prinn who was responsible for De Vermis Mysteriis (which is an upcoming card) : https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Zushakon

It is quite a stretch, but this is my favorite part of speculation.

The Mutsun Native American tie-in would be interesting though.

Yes. She her art was supposed to be Inuit or Eskimo (those 2 are not at all the same thing). Matt Newman was looking up Inuit names while we were deliberating on her. Ikiaq is a unisex name meaning "red spruce".

We actually started off down a different path with her. Someone thought it looked like she was taking the life force out of the surrounding area to grow a thing - being more like ash than snow in the background. Consequently, we were focused on location-based abilities. Her power was going to be dependent on the location's shroud level. I still really like that direction.

When we switched to weakness themes, I was one of the two pushing for it to be more brutal. There was an argument made to only have 1 weakness drawn and the rest shuffled back into their owners' decks. Had there been enough room on the card, that's how it would have gone, but "Bwahahaha" no such luck.

We also pushed her to level-2 to be more powerful but could still be added to Daisy's deck.

On 5/8/2019 at 7:58 PM, Soakman said:

I'd like to see a Dreamlands

Your wish and mine came true 😃

12 minutes ago, Shirys said:

Your wish and mine came true 😃

I think we might even get Atlach based on that art!

That is 100% Atlach Nacha. Might even be the same artist as in the Dreamlands expansion for Eldritch.

Alright, how about the NEXT cycle? If it's a pattern of Arkham/Surreal/Expedition, I guess that means Mountains of Madness?

1 hour ago, CSerpent said:

Alright, how about the NEXT cycle? If it's a pattern of Arkham/Surreal/Expedition, I guess that means Mountains of Madness?

We've got to get Monterey from somewhere... in theory he COULD be one of the 'waking' investigators this cycle, but I'd rather see him with Mountains of Madness.

I was wondering when the speculation on the next-next cycle would begin. :P

Mountains of Madness would be fun. Well, except for all the shoggoths.

And the giant albino penguins!

Still hoping for something entirely new. Some country that hasn't been visited by the mythos much before.

I got my last two wishes with a Silver Twilight Lodge cycle and now a Dreamlands cycle. So I am actually pretty content right now. I'm gonna say if I'm looking forward to anything it would be seeing them pull off a Mi-Go human experimentation cycle with ties to Sub-Niggurath possibly. Maybe we can take a trip in a Brain Cylinder by the end. I've seen that requested before and I think that would be a fun cycle.

I wouldn't mind another Legacy treatment. I really enjoyed that aspect of Dunwich.

Call of Cthulhu and Whisperer in the Darkness could be very good stories for a sequel. Call of Cthulhu has a lot of characters in a number of locations so that would probably work the best.

Whisperer in Darkness could be fun. On the other hand, that would be another cycle that ends up in space, they just did that.

the way I see things, I fell pretty sure now we will have mountain soon ^^ and, yes, Allonym, albinos pinguis should be here ^^ And Cthulhu must follow ...

And I am ok with Eldan on the point they would let us see places never seen in mythos games ... They try to keep using old materials for economy, but sometimes I feel like a waste. Like in the Forgotten age, the better would have been to make the investigator prisonners of Kn'yan inhabitants instead of Ythian that out of theme here. A good exemple of how they waste unknow material for use some properties.

A lot of things can be seen in cycles dedicated to unknow old ones : Tsathoggua would let us see the city of Tsath in Kn'yan and the prehistoric land of hyperborée, Glaaki would let us trip in the Severn Valley, in england, when shub-niggurath would let us see yaddith dholes planet and yuggoth.

Some places are not enough near of the lore to be used in full cycle, like china and australia, but as we would see nyarlathotep mask, a series of mini-campaign of three or four scenarios each would let us go in far and exotic places, but always in human world and culture. I would see a recuring model of Human city Visit - Natural places ( cavern, jungle, savana, lake ) hunt - temple of sacred place where mask is summoned. I would love to see anouced some deluxe for that.

The Ythians weren't out of theme, though. They fit quite well. Plus Kn'yan is established material too.