As far as I know he's new.

Going to be very interesting to see what's in these "starter decks". If they're full of new and interesting cards I'll happily eat crow and admit I'm wrong If they're full of reprints with maybe one new card, and I have to pay $15 for 5 cards, I'm going to be very annoyed.

Curious what the card count will be in them too. If they take the Marvel route and it's 1 new card per class it's going to be even more annoying.

8 minutes ago, dysartes said:

Got to love those scheduled posts.

Is Nathaniel a new character, or has he appeared in the Arkham Files setting before?

He's new. Looks to be a boxer. Interesting.

The term 'starter deck' has me a bit concerned. Is this going to be 30 cards that already are released? Am I going to want to pay $10 or whatever for an investigator when I already have all of the cards in the deck? Do I really want extra copies of some cards but not others? Having had just 1 core for a long time, the worst part about it is when I had multiple decks constructed, I could never remember if I had 1 or 2 copies of a given card and it became confusing to quickly locate cards (the set icon helps with this, but will each starter have their own set icon?).

Are we going to see new cards that are ONLY released in certain investigator packs, thereby making us buy a specific investigator to gain access to a new card? So many questions.

I would have preferred an investigator with a signature scenario to this (I think...I'll wait until I have more info before committing to this).

On 3/14/2020 at 10:28 PM, Mimi61 said:

I keep wondering why the new Innsmouth cycle hasn’t been officially announced, since they spoiled it weeks ago now. I’m starting to wonder if maybe they are going to start releasing investigators separately instead of with expansions, starting with Innsmouth, which is why it hasn’t been officially announced. So the new productssss could be Investigator packs. Like the Hero packs for Marvel. I think those are 40 cards right? Basically, an Investigator and new player cards specific to that investigator that can enhance or be a starter deck with some upgraded cards for down the road or for solo play. That would mean FFG can release as many expansions as they want without having to worry about running out of investigators, and newer players coming to the game can get investigators without having to worry about wether a base expansion is in stock. Every base expansion is out of stock right now on FFG, except Dream Eaters. That means if they can’t find them elsewhere, new players currently have 20 or so fewer investigators to choose from, which could be a deal breaker for some.

Wow! I nailed it. What are the odds?

1 hour ago, Soakman said:

He's new. Looks to be a boxer. Interesting.

The term 'starter deck' has me a bit concerned. Is this going to be 30 cards that already are released? Am I going to want to pay $10 or whatever for an investigator when I already have all of the cards in the deck? Do I really want extra copies of some cards but not others? Having had just 1 core for a long time, the worst part about it is when I had multiple decks constructed, I could never remember if I had 1 or 2 copies of a given card and it became confusing to quickly locate cards (the set icon helps with this, but will each starter have their own set icon?).

Are we going to see new cards that are ONLY released in certain investigator packs, thereby making us buy a specific investigator to gain access to a new card? So many questions.

I would have preferred an investigator with a signature scenario to this (I think...I'll wait until I have more info before committing to this).

All questions they undoubtedly would’ve answered today. Sigh. Given this is a brand new investigator, do you think we still get investigators we do know in Innsmouth and beyond.

Much of this is going to be wait and see, indeed.

I'm glad to see new investigators, but I actually sort of worry that this might presage a reduction in the overall lifespan of the game - e.g., previously we went on the basis of "there's at least x many investigators still to come from the Arkham Files games, and we will see 5 or 6 in each campaign, so we know we'll get at least this many new campaigns!", but that no longer holds true. Additionally, a cynical part of me wonders if this is essentially a sort of cash-grab - I think it's safe to assume there'll be some new player cards in the pack aside from signatures, and the Dream-Eaters cycle saw a substantial reduction in player cards released than previous cycles, even after accounting for the effects of the Myriad and Bonded mechanics - might it be the case that cards that otherwise would have been released with the cycles have been held back for an additional product? Couple this with the recent increase in the MRSP of the core set and there might be a worrying trend emerging. I certainly could see a certain logic to keeping scenario packs just for the scenarios themselves and releasing player cards separately, but unless that is coupled with cost reductions (highly unlikely), it'll just end up costing us more.

If there are a number of new cards, and the intention is to make Arkham more "accessible" by providing a quick buy-in to an investigator and a pre-built deck, these packs might have the opposite effect instead - adding even more player cards to the pool will ultimately make it harder to build decks by providing even more options to the pool. Even I, with my love of weird deck designs, am starting to find the card pool unwieldy, and some people I play with are completely overwhelmed and put off by the range of options.

I dunno - I'm very much not sold on the idea at its core. If it ends up as an occasional extra (like standalone scenarios) then sure, but if it's a regular occurrence, I'm not pleased.

I like that we have another asian character. I am struck by the realisation that, as a hand-to-hand combatant, he's similar (in theme and presumably role) to Lily Chen.

Also worthy of note is the fact that, in the livestream for Arkham 3e that announced Stella the Letter-Carrier, the designers mentioned that they have a variety of new investigators to add to the Arkham Files universe. I'm impatient to see Stella in the LCG, since I adore her backstory and profession/title, but I didn't care for Arkham Horror 3rd Edition.

24 minutes ago, Allonym said:

e.g., previously we went on the basis of "there's at least x many investigators still to come from the Arkham Files games, and we will see 5 or 6 in each campaign, so we know we'll get at least this many new campaigns!", but that no longer holds true.

To be fair, I don't think it was ever really true. If the game suddenly tanked I don't think they'd keep producing it just because some of the standard investigator pool hadn't made it in, and if it's still going strong at the 50 mark when we run out the book I'm sure we'd either get new ones or new versions of existent ones (such as LOTR or Star Wars does).

Even with this, I don't think we know for sure what the impact will be. The starters could focus on new investigators, which at least this one seems to be. Or they could be printed in both the big boxes and starters, with the starter being an easier access point but not exclusive.

27 minutes ago, Allonym said:

Additionally, a cynical part of me wonders if this is essentially a sort of cash-grab - I think it's safe to assume there'll be some new player cards in the pack aside from signatures

My own cynical side agrees with this. While it would be nice to see starter packs that weren't necessary for existent players, it goes against FFG's nature to do so. The LCG model is built around making sure as many people as possible have to buy every pack that comes out. I don't see a reason for this to be any different.

29 minutes ago, Allonym said:

I certainly could see a certain logic to keeping scenario packs just for the scenarios themselves and releasing player cards separately, but unless that is coupled with cost reductions (highly unlikely), it'll just end up costing us more.

IMHO it's a big leap to go from something that is expressly tagged as a starter deck to an overall change in how player/scenario cards are split and packaged. I think this will be a new set of packs on the side, with the current model continuing as it has been as well.

Yeah, but we already know it's a new character.

And honestly, I'm not sure there's a way to make a pack with a new character that at least some players won't hate. Because if it's just an investigator, plus signatures, plus 30 reprints from older sets, I'd hate to pay 20 bucks or so (no way they'll be much cheaper than mythos packs) for just the investigator and his cards, plus a bunch of paper I'll never use. That's a worse deal than the novels. On the other hand, if they are 30 new cards, plus investigator... that's kind of a huge amount of new player cards and I'm actually not sure I want 15x2 new player cards all at once.

@Buhallin that's fair, I am basically trying to find stuff to speculate about that won't immediately be obselete in a few days' time! I would be surprised to see whole new versions of investigators since they're so complex in design, but I could see revisiting certain...contentious investigators (I really, really like Calvin Wright. But I really, really don't want to play him in the LCG).

I don’t think it says anything about the health of the game. During the AMA it was pretty clear it’s a strong product line. I almost wish this wasn’t “leaked” without having any details but on the plus side maybe we’ll see our fave investigators faster. Like Stella who I’m already considering a favorite haha.

The speculation is driving me mad.

17 minutes ago, Soakman said:

I don’t think it says anything about the health of the game. During the AMA it was pretty clear it’s a strong product line. I almost wish this wasn’t “leaked” without having any details but on the plus side maybe we’ll see our fave investigators faster. Like Stella who I’m already considering a favorite haha.

The speculation is driving me mad.

Ah, but speculation is sauce for the goose! One successful model from FGG we have to go off of are the Marvel Hero packs and I don’t really know much about them, except what Duciris has mentioned.
I think if they were to include a short scenario with the new Investigator, it could be an interesting way to learn their backstories while having a way to test their mettle. Kind of the Novella in play form. I’m all about having more content.

4 hours ago, Soakman said:

He's new. Looks to be a boxer. Interesting.

The term 'starter deck' has me a bit concerned. Is this going to be 30 cards that already are released? Am I going to want to pay $10 or whatever for an investigator when I already have all of the cards in the deck? Do I really want extra copies of some cards but not others? Having had just 1 core for a long time, the worst part about it is when I had multiple decks constructed, I could never remember if I had 1 or 2 copies of a given card and it became confusing to quickly locate cards (the set icon helps with this, but will each starter have their own set icon?).

Are we going to see new cards that are ONLY released in certain investigator packs, thereby making us buy a specific investigator to gain access to a new card? So many questions.

I would have preferred an investigator with a signature scenario to this (I think...I'll wait until I have more info before committing to this).

Maybe it will come with hardly any player cards. My thought: a gator with specific instructions, like the TCU prologue gators. They mostly use a core but come with a few additional cards (maybe doubles from the core, maybe from elsewhere, maybe all-new). With specific instructions, they can mix up the classes in there however they want. They'd still need specific upgrade rules. And then, to make it 30 or so cards, a standalone scenario, centered on the gator.

3 hours ago, Allonym said:

...Additionally, a cynical part of me wonders if this is essentially a sort of cash-grab...

Everything FFG makes is a cash grab.

If you don't think that's true, you aren't cynical enough.

It was advertised as a grab and play of sorts though so i would think it would be play ready out of the pack. My question would be the proportion of new players cards to reprints. I think they might also include some exp cards. It probably wouldn't have off class cards like marvel but not impossible.

Finally another Asian representative to the Arkham Files!
He's probably a Guardian class with boxing gloves (2 hand slot) as a signature card and some card that will cause Physical Trauma as weakness. (me and my imagination)
I hope the term starter deck doesn't ruin the "LCG" theme of this game though. What brought me to this game at first was the concept that "I don't need to waste hundred dollars buying the same booster pack just to gain the ultra rare card that everyone wants"

A full deck of alt-art, existing cards is possible, too.

I just don't see them using 15 new card ideas on something like this, times however many they release. But I also don't think they'd have 30 duplicates.

I know one barrier for me bringing new people into the game is asking them to build decks. It can certainly be an overwhelming proposition at first. And with these decks being pre-made they might be better than the original starter decks.

2 hours ago, CSerpent said:

Maybe it will come with hardly any player cards. My thought: a gator with specific instructions, like the TCU prologue gators. They mostly use a core but come with a few additional cards (maybe doubles from the core, maybe from elsewhere, maybe all-new). With specific instructions, they can mix up the classes in there however they want. They'd still need specific upgrade rules. And then, to make it 30 or so cards, a standalone scenario, centered on the gator.

I'd be willing to bet that they'll incorporate cards from the core set into the deck to allow them to fit more new cards into the pack.

There was a guy who works in translation who dropped a hint about the packs...

He couldn't say more but the idea of it not being against the campaign nature of the game lends me to think that there will be a scenario included with the pre-built deck.

JUST FIVE MORE DAYS UNTIL WE KNOW!

This I think is a great idea. If the decks are built right then it makes it easier for people to jump into later cycles. Lets be honest. The single core set investigator decks are hardly the same experience as playing a well built deck. So this is potentially a much better intro product for someone to buy and sit down and play at an event.

I'd be over the moon if it was 30 new player cards, but depending on the card choices I also wouldn't mind getting a second play set of some staple choices. I suspect it will be mostly reprints.

What class combination do you think will Cho Be?Main Guardian,Survivor or Rogue?How many bew cards you think will be in his deck??What signatures?

9 minutes ago, Zbornou said:

What class combination do you think will Cho Be?Main Guardian,Survivor or Rogue?How many bew cards you think will be in his deck??What signatures?

I would guess Guardian/Rouge as well... Perhaps restricted to No Firearms? I think his signatures will be boxing gloves. And his weakness will be something about taking the fall or failing to take the fall in a fight.

1 hour ago, Antimarkovnikov said:

He couldn't say more but the idea of it not being against the campaign nature of the game lends me to think that there will be a scenario included with the pre-built deck.

That is my hope too. If it really is to help people who don’t have all the expansions get to know the game and simplify the initial deck building process, then adding content to play in the pack would be part of the point.

44 minutes ago, Zbornou said:

What class combination do you think will Cho Be?Main Guardian,Survivor or Rogue?How many bew cards you think will be in his deck??What signatures?

I have a couple thoughts. A boxer is often someone who has fought his way up and out. So some sort of Survivor comes to mind. With hand to hand combat skills obviously. So my big question is, could he be be a spoiler pointing to Lily being released with Innsmouth? Another investigator with hand to hand combat skills albeit of a different type. I’ve always seen her as a Guardian/Survivor. If that were the case, then him having some new player cards involving hand to hand combat could be cards that she could also use and conversely, cards released with her that use hand to hand combat could be used by him. That seems intuitive to me and would give fodder to expand his initial starter deck. It would also be a way to bridge the investigators that are released in campaigns to the ones released separately.

Maybe they will have starter decks that come with its own dedicated standalone scenarios? That would be awesome!! They may even come out with dedicated standalone scenarios for all the previous issued investigators??

6 hours ago, Jobu said:

Everything FFG makes is a cash grab.

If you don't think that's true, you aren't cynical enough.

Or maybe are more particular with word choice than you. Everything Fantasy Flight Games makes is intended to make money, but that doesn't mean it's a "cash grab." That has some pretty specific connotations that don't seem applicable to the majority of their products.

7 hours ago, CSerpent said:

I just don't see them using 15 new card ideas on something like this, times however many they release. But I also don't think they'd have 30 duplicates.

Let's also remember that there will undoubtedly be more than one. 15 new cards in each of these packs (and if we assume at least 5 of them, one for each class) would be almost an entire cycle's worth of player cards for a class. Not impossible, I suppose, but seems pretty unlikely.

Hmm - I wonder if he is meant to be the guy swinging the punch on Brute Force ...