Announced: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/2/17/return-to-the-forgotten-age/

That change to On Your Own is amazing, it's finally a viable and interesting card. Especially alongside Dark Horse.

The new Survival Knife (2) plus Heroic Rescue (2) would be the coolest build to play.

I'm hoping for level 2 Mists of R'lyeh, give the off-class Mystics something good to play with. Also an upgrade to Chthonian Stone might make sealing more viable. And upgraded Truth From Fiction, might be as simple as making it 0-cost, but I hope it's more interesting than that.

Will have to wait and see if the changes to scenarios are good - I hope so, might rocket TFA into the number 1 campaign.

If you buy „On Your Own“ (2) but already have allies in your deck, you can replace them for free (like with exile). Right?

Just noticed: It‘s the first exceptional Survivor card and therefore the first Survivor card that costs more than 3 XP.

Edit: except tabood Scrapper

Awesome, the campaign that got me into the LCG is "Return"-ing...and survival knife indeed looks fabulous.

I've been wondering when we'd see the announcement for this since the 6th Dream-Eaters pack was announced. Next announcement should be the new scenario & deluxe box! (With several articles and "Shipping Nows" mixed in.)

Some more thoughts I've had (crossposted from Reddit):

Upgraded Truth from Fiction seems to have a lot more text in its box compared to the level 0 version, so it's likely not going to just be a cost reduction.

Since On Your Own (e3) still only works on Survivor cards, there's not that many good choices, certainly not that cost 2 or more, not enough to be worth building around. The obvious exception is infinite Eucatastrophe recursion for Silas and Yorick, and the last thing this game needs is more support for that build. It might be great for Wendy Adams if you really want to lean into her Amulet, but then you have the issue that you still need to setup before the deck works, just with your amulet rather than On Your Own itself - she's far more useful as a survivable, adaptable not-rogue than as someone trying for an event-focused build. I'd try On Your Own (e3) on Patrice since she has economy problems, and it might be really flavourful on "Ashcan" Pete for a one man and his dog type deck.

The hidden benefit is that the effect is always online and the cost is the potential to play Allies - i.e. you're stronger right from the start, and the weakness is more theoretical. But the biggest boon is that by preventing you playing allies, it means you need to do less setup - no more finding, paying for and playing allies, allowing your deck to run more smoothly and opening up space for other cards. However, it might end up being a false economy if you need to play other cards (e.g. Leather Coat or Elder Sign Amulet) to give you the soak that you need since you can't soak on allies.

I'm a little concerned by what we can see of the scenarios - Snake Pit seems like an awful, un-fun nightmare of a card, at least if you aren't ready for it. However, I guess it could have the hidden benefit of letting you bunch up all those hateful vipers in one place, evade them all (Cunning Distraction or Impromptu Barrier, maybe), or simply disengage with Ethereal Form or Luke's Gate Box, and then all the horrible snakes are bunched up in one place and can be safely ignored for the rest of the scenario (since they don't Hunter, and the location isn't worth VP). On the other hand, the location it replaces is a 2vp location, so you're effectively down at least 2 max vp from the scenario. That was something utterly atrocious in Return to the Path to Carcosa, replacing VP enemies with non-VP enemies, making the game feel less rewarding and therefore less fun - and yes, I know that Untamed Wilds can be ridiculously generous with experience but that's kind of the only thing getting you through that anti-fun slog of a scenario, so this seems like a big step back. Maybe it will be mitigated elsewhere, or it's a one-off, but I kind of doubt it.

14 minutes ago, Astrophil84 said:

If you buy „On Your Own“ (2) but already have allies in your deck, you can replace them for free (like with exile). Right?

We don't know for certain how it will work since this is the first time deckbuilding can become more restrictive during a campaign, but that definitely seems like the only logical way it goes.

From squinting at the setup cards and by process of elimination it looks like the replacement encounter sets will be for: Expedition, Temporal Flux, Yig's Venom and one of Pnakotic Brotherhood or Dark Cult (hopefully the latter).

It also looks like there is an extra symbol on the Return to the Untamed Wilds setup card, which doesn't appear to replace an encounter set. Additional Rainforest cards?

No joke! Into the Wilds is already super hard. Knowing you can get some decent XP relief for future scenarios is pretty key. I would guess they are adding more jungle cards maybe another ancient location, and possibly different Etzli warriors...more way to be poisoned??? Please no.
I do think they are going to re-tool the supply mechanics. The way they are now, if you’ve played once you know what is most necessary. Having a less set approach may be good. Maybe you will be drawing supplies out of the encounter deck. 😂
I am kind of hoping for an upgraded Backpack. Maybe as a permanent card, since you probably aren’t going to leave your campsite and go exploring without it.
Any thoughts as to possible upgrades to the Winging It/Impromptu Barrier/Improvised weapon group?

I am very curious about the new scenarios....This could be their most interesting Return To so far.

If older "return to" boxes are any indication I'd think we'd get no changes to Campaign guide stuff with regards to resolutions and interludes. So I'd be surprised if the supply mechanic gets changed much from that perspective and/or from it's core concept. Though "Return to" does usually retool setup which can tie into supply choices, and I am hoping we get more hooks for supplies in the new scenario cards potentially making them more impactful.

I am extremely interested in this box. Maybe more than any of the other "return to" boxes.

2 hours ago, Duciris said:

I've been wondering when we'd see the announcement for this since the 6th Dream-Eaters pack was announced. Next announcement should be the new scenario & deluxe box! (With several articles and "Shipping Nows" mixed in

Me too! Let the “Articles” be hotly debated and the “Shipping Now’s” rejoice. I’m guessing a May/June release?

5 minutes ago, phillos said:

If older "return to" boxes are any indication I'd think we'd get no changes to Campaign guide stuff with regards to resolutions and interludes. So I'd be surprised if the supply mechanic gets changed much from that perspective and/or from it's core concept. Though "Return to" does usually retool setup which can tie into supply choices, and I am hoping we get more hooks for supplies in the new scenario cards potentially making them more impactful.

I am extremely interested in this box. Maybe more than any of the other "return to" boxes.

I must be going mad! I thought for sure when I read through the article, that it said something about supplies, but I can’t find it. Maybe just powerful wishful thinking, hoping they’d break new ground to fix that.

I know what you mean though. This does sound like a more thorough and interesting “Return To”.

There is a subsection called "Collecting your Supplies", but it just talks about player cards. I also got excited when I read that because I thought they might do something wacky with the supply mechanic, but it doesn't look like it.

22 minutes ago, phillos said:

There is a subsection called "Collecting your Supplies", but it just talks about player cards. I also got excited when I read that because I thought they might do something wacky with the supply mechanic, but it doesn't look like it.

That must be what I read then. At least I’m not hallucinating! Obviously, Jungle fever never quite goes into remission!

4 hours ago, Allonym said:

I'd try On Your Own (e3) on Patrice since she has economy problems, and it might be really flavourful on "Ashcan" Pete for a one man and his dog type deck.

Pete would lose Duke if you included On Your Own (e3) because it has a deck building restriction. If it just stopped you from playing ally’s that would be a different story.

Interestingly, Flare gains some new value if you do decide to run On Your Own in multiplayer. Not only does it get around the ally restriction, it also become a 0 cost event.

This could be a very fun way to play imo. I haven't wanted to Dark Horse for a long while. I'm also starting to wonder if this is why Duke doesn't take an ally slot while others (looking at you Foolishness) do. I wonder if this upgrade had been planned for a VERY long time, but only slotted into the return to set to make room for more non-upgrade cards in the regular cycles.

3 minutes ago, Hyperjayman said:

Pete would lose Duke if you included On Your Own (e3) because it has a deck building restriction. If it just stopped you from playing ally’s that would be a different story.

You actually do not. Duke does not take up an ally slot. If they meant for you to lose Duke, it would say simply Deckbuilding Restrictions: No allies.

12 minutes ago, Soakman said:

Interestingly, Flare gains some new value if you do decide to run On Your Own in multiplayer. Not only does it get around the ally restriction, it also become a 0 cost event.

This could be a very fun way to play imo. I haven't wanted to Dark Horse for a long while. I'm also starting to wonder if this is why Duke doesn't take an ally slot while others (looking at you Foolishness) do. I wonder if this upgrade had been planned for a VERY long time, but only slotted into the return to set to make room for more non-upgrade cards in the regular cycles.

Indeed, that could work quite well, though you'd want to already have a decent Fight score and have the exp to spare on Exile. A better choice might be A Chance Encounter (2), especially if you are playing alongside another player who is likely to cycle through allies a lot, or who discards a lot of cards, since you're guaranteed to get a hit since it targets discard piles.

11 minutes ago, Soakman said:

You actually do not. Duke does not take up an ally slot. If they meant for you to lose Duke, it would say simply Deckbuilding Restrictions: No allies.

Precisely. This is the same reason that "Ashcan" Pete can run allies in his deck without Charisma.

It might well also be the case that it wouldn't matter even if Duke did take up the Ally slot - it isn't clear whether (for instance) Signature cards and Story assets need to correspond to your Deckbuilding requirements or not (with a thorough look at the rules, it seems entirely ambiguous - the only thing we know for certain about Signature and Story cards is that they don't count towards your deck size). The closest we have are the fact that Signature cards must be included in your deck (which would seem to override everything else), and that "If a required card (such as Duke) is permanently removed from your deck, it also removes the requirement of including that card. If for whatever reason Duke cannot be included in “Ashcan” Pete’s deck, that requirement is considered to be removed" - which might lend some weight to the idea that On Your Own (e3) would remove the theoretical signature ally-slot card since it may be the case that it now "cannot" be included in the deck, but that really just circles us back to the original question - do Signature cards need to conform to other Deckbuilding rules or not?

That's a great point that I would like cleared up too. But either way, in this case Duke doesn't take an ally slot, so he's safe. Whatever game designer who would separate Pete from his loyal hound is a heartless fiend, and Matt's not that guy. 😁

Another question that just occurred to me... I assume that if you had On Your Own (non-exceptional) and you wanted to slot the exceptional version, it would still count as upgrading and you would only pay the difference in XP? I don't know if we have any other cards that 'upgrade' into exceptional, let alone one that stays the same level card.

Weirdly, my comment got replaced with a copy of my previous post above. Forum is a bit messed up, maybe.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that you technically are not allowed to upgrade from On Your Own (3) into On Your Own (e3). This is due to the wording of the rules on Upgrading:

Quote

When purchasing a higher level version of a card with the same title, the investigator may choose to "upgrade" that card by paying only the difference in experience (to a minimum of 1) between the two cards and removing the lower level version of the card from his or her deck.

(emphasis mine)

So you are only allowed to get an upgrade discount if the new card is higher level than the card being replaced, which is not the case here - both are level 3 cards.

I can certainly see the designers clarifying in a response or FAQ that you're allowed to do so, but I can also see them ruling that you're not allowed to. After all, you have a messy situation where you would be replacing a card in your deck of 30 (or whatever) with a Permanent card, leaving you with a hole that needs filling, presumably with a free level 0 card. If you wanted On Your Own (e3) anyway, you could even replace an unwanted card with On Your Own (3) and then immediately upgrade it into On Your Own (e3) to get a new level 0 card in your deck without needing to pay the 1 exp minimum - not exactly a game-breaking trick but unintuitive and presumably unintended all the same.

4 hours ago, Soakman said:

You actually do not. Duke does not take up an ally slot. If they meant for you to lose Duke, it would say simply Deckbuilding Restrictions: No allies.

My bad. Thought Duke had an ally slot on his card.

9 hours ago, Soakman said:

That's a great point that I would like cleared up too. But either way, in this case Duke doesn't take an ally slot, so he's safe. Whatever game designer who would separate Pete from his loyal hound is a heartless fiend, and Matt's not that guy. 😁

Absolutely not. That would be a travesty of the highest order. Borne out by the fact that even in Barkham, Duke and his friendly human, weren’t to be parted.

Another card that could work is Teamwork.

9 hours ago, Allonym said:

9 hours ago, Soakman said:

Indeed, that could work quite well, though you'd want to already have a decent Fight score and have the exp to spare on Exile. A better choice might be A Chance Encounter (2), especially if you are playing alongside another player who is likely to cycle through allies a lot, or who discards a lot of cards, since you're guaranteed to get a hit since it targets discard piles.

Both great options. I have noticed that Survivors sometimes do have “extra” experience to spend as time goes on. Although this card will cost a whopping 6, which is sometimes not even earned in a scenario. If there is a Guardian in your group, how about Teamwork? It could even be put under Stick to the Plan, if you rhapsodized about the glories of Moonstone or Meat Cleaver convincingly enough and then baked some chocolate chip cookies as backup.

2 hours ago, Mimi61 said:

10 hours ago, Soakman said:

That's a great point that I would like cleared up too. But either way, in this case Duke doesn't take an ally slot, so he's safe. Whatever game designer who would separate Pete from his loyal hound is a heartless fiend, and Matt's not that guy. 😁

Absolutely not. That would be a travesty of the highest order. Borne out by the fact that even in Barkham, Duke and his friendly human, weren’t to be parted.

*Checks who designed Blood on the Altar * Are you sure we're talking about the same Matt? 😏

16 hours ago, Mimi61 said:

Any thoughts as to possible upgrades to the Winging It/Impromptu Barrier/Improvised weapon group?

That seems very unlikely; the established pattern so far is 2 new cards per class, plus maybe a new basic weakness. We already see a new On Your Own, so it seems likely that there would only be one other Survivor card. They could add a new version of just one of the cards (after all, there's Oops (2) but no upgrade to "Look What I Found!" or Dumb Luck), and it they do my money would be on a new Improvised Weapon, but that seems unlikely.

I would really like upgraded versions of the Improvised cards, so I'll hold out hope.

4 hours ago, Mimi61 said:

Another card that could work is Teamwork.

Both great options. I have noticed that Survivors sometimes do have “extra” experience to spend as time goes on. Although this card will cost a whopping 6, which is sometimes not even earned in a scenario. If there is a Guardian in your group, how about Teamwork? It could even be put under Stick to the Plan, if you rhapsodized about the glories of Moonstone or Meat Cleaver convincingly enough and then baked some chocolate chip cookies as backup.

Teamwork would indeed work as well. Particularly for Leo Anderson to hand off a spare ally since he's likely to run so many.

However, I think it's a bit more cumbersome, and it wouldn't enjoy the benefit from On Your Own (whereas Flare and A Chance Encounter (2) would). Here, I think it's about finding a way around On Your Own (e3) that is an overall benefit, not merely bypassing it for the sake of getting around it. Of course, if you were going to use Teamwork anyway , it's money for old rope!

Someone has spotted that if you go to pre-order it from the Asmodee webstore you get a preview of the back of the box:

Looks like we're getting a lower level Alter Fate!