We have about a month left here. I say we make the most of it! With only one more Mythos pack left to announce for Innsmouth, what do you all think the next cycle will be and which investigators will be released?

I will start it off with a vote for a Mountains of Madness theme. It’s been three cycles since we have had an expedition.
Since Leo Anderson was in the Forgotten Age as expedition leader and Monterey Jack was mentioned in set up, it stands to reason that Monterey Jack would be the de facto Expedition Leader for a Mountains of Madness expedition and Leo Anderson would be mentioned in the set up.

If my calculations are correct, and they rarely are so feel free to correct me, we have 13 investigators not released at all, plus two (Gloria and Norman) who have not been released in an expansion.
15 investigators left.. 3 more cycles? We already know Gloria and Norman’s classes and I would assume they will be released in the next three expansions like they released Silas and Dexter in this one. So here is my speculation:

Mountains of Madness Expedition

Investigators:

Seeker: Monterey Jack Archeologist Seeker-Rogue 0-2

Survivor: Darrell Simmons Photographer Survivor-Seeker 0-2

Guardian: George Barnaby Lawyer Guardian-3 class secondary events/skills

Mystic*: Gloria Goldberg Author Mystic -3 class secondary events/skills

Rogue: Bob Jenkins Salesman Rogue-Fortune 0-3

(I really want Lily Chen to be released next, but I can really see her getting her own novella, so I think she will be coming later)

The rest of the Investigators with at least their primary class and a few thoughts on secondaries.

Seeker*: Norman Withers Astronomer Seeker<Mystic

Seeker: Kate Winthrop Scientist Seeker-?

Mystic: Agatha Crane Parapsychologist Mystic-?

Mystic: Charlie Kane Politician Mystic-?

Guardian: Lily Chen Martial Artist Guardian (no hand slot item assets)-Innate and Spirit 0-2.

Guardian: Vincent Lee Doctor Guardian-(same as Carolyn Fern except healing cards instead of horror)

Rogue: Michael McGlen Gangster Rogue-?

Rogue: Carson Sinclair Butler

Survivor: Wilson Richards Handyman Survivor- 3 class event/skill secondary

Survivor: Hank Samson Farmhand Survivor-?

*have novellas with Investigator cards

My quandary is Carson Sinclair who feels like he should be a guardian, but Rogue was the only slot left...

God I hope it's Mountains of Madness. Getting setup in the arctic to start, making your way to the ruins, delving into them and fighting Shoggoths, uncovering maddening mysteries and making your way out, alive... it seems like a pretty low-hanging fruit, honestly.

They could go another way and create a campaign based on Call of Cthulu, looping in tales like Horror at Red Hook and Whisperer in the Darkness to flesh it out some. Or they could go with some other author's tales of madness like they did for Carcosa, like Arthur Machen or even Poe. An adaptation of House on the Borderland would be amazing, but I don't think there's enough there for a campaign.

I'm excited to see what they cook up.

I've heard rumours that the next cycle will be one of Antarctica or Egypt. Of course, Antarctica is a setting that so many people are hoping for, so it always gets mentioned. Kind of like how the next cycle was never Innsmouth, until it was...!

It's been a few cycles since TFA so bringing back the Explore mechanic would make sense. Innsmouth is very much classic Lovecraft Country so I'd expect the next cycle to be somewhere more remote.

For investigator speculation, let's look at some possible extrapolations:

We now have 3 investigators in the "pick one secondary class out of 3, up to 10 level 0-1 events/skills" mould, Tony Morgan who is a Rogue and can't choose Mystic as his secondary, Mandy who is a Seeker and can't choose Guardian, and Gloria who is a Mystic and can't pick Survivor. So that leaves a Guardian and a Survivor, one of whom won't have access to Seeker and one of whom won't have access to Rogue. I'd vaguely posit Lily Chen as Guardian without Seeker, and perhaps Carson Sinclair as a Survivor without Rogue. Or perhaps Hank Samson would make sense as Survivor without access to Seeker, and (as you say) George Barnaby as a Guardian without Rogue.

Darrell Simmons as Survivor 5/Seeker 2 and Monterey Jack as Seeker 5/Rogue 2 seem like very likely suggestions.

Michael McGlen is an odd one because he pretty much necessarily needs to be a combat rogue, but Rogue Fighter is a niche already taken by Tony Morgan and to an extent Skids O'Toole. Maybe he'll end up having a really unique ability to make him distinct, or some very unusual deckbuilding.

I hope to see more investigators in the vein of Carolyn Fern and Norman Withers, since their deckbuilding is very appealing. I'd initially thought maybe Amanda Sharpe could be Survivor 0, Seeker 1-5 but it wasn't to be...

If Lily Chen isn't a choose-your-secondary investigator, I could see her having access to Ritual or maybe Talent cards from any class.

Agatha as a Mystic seems very likely; perhaps she'd be a good fit for Ritual synergy instead.

I feel like Vincent Lee as a Guardian mirroring Carolyn is a bit too obvious - perhaps he'd be a Seeker instead, or even Survivor.

The designers indicated that there's more "fresh" investigator possibilities waiting aside from Wini, Nathaniel and Stella, as well.

13 hours ago, Allonym said:

Michael McGlen is an odd one because he pretty much necessarily needs to be a combat rogue, but Rogue Fighter is a niche already taken by Tony Morgan and to an extent Skids O'Toole.

Agreed. I had thought Michael McGlen could go the way of Norman Withers. Starting out as a Rogue 0 and becoming a Guardian 1-5 as he progresses. His backstory has that life changing trajectory.

I put Wilson Richards as the Survivor with the 3 class secondary event/skills (probably no access to Seeker), because he seems like a Jack of all trades type.

I had also considered Lily Chen in the 3 class secondary vein, but the hand slot thing tripped me up. She could be one of those ‘fresh’ build investigators, since her ability is so different. I almost feel like some of Nathaniel’s cards are precursors for her. And Brute Force seems like an obvious go to. So I thought maybe a ban on hand slot item assets. Although I guess they could write it into her ability by giving her a boost to combat if she has no hand slots used. She could go in so many directions. She may be the one I’m most excited to see unveiled.

3 hours ago, SGPrometheus said:

God I hope it's Mountains of Madness. Getting setup in the arctic to start, making your way to the ruins, delving into them and fighting Shoggoths, uncovering maddening mysteries and making your way out, alive... it seems like a pretty low-hanging fruit, honestly.

They could go another way and create a campaign based on Call of Cthulu, looping in tales like Horror at Red Hook and Whisperer in the Darkness to flesh it out some

I chose the Mountains of Madness because TFA strongly indicates that there will be another expedition for Monterey Jack to head up and it seems like it’s time. Egypt seemed obvious for him, but since we already have The Guardians of the Abyss, which is almost a mini campaign, I figured it wouldn’t be Egypt. Call of Cthulu is definitely another way it could go though. So many options!!

I was going to say Egypt expedition. From the Lair of Dagon preview article we have seen Nephthys as an ally, who seems a bit out of place for Innsmouth. On the other hand, they’ve already either released or announced Voice of Ra and Blessing of Isis which you might have thought they’d hold back for an Egyptian themed cycle.

Mountains of Madness would be great - only hope is that whatever it is, we don't end up in yet another gate/alternate world in the last scenario.

would be really nice if it were MoM to simply end up at a tower in the Antarctic and make it all earth bound.

And curious as to what the comment about month left is about? Is that until the next expansion is announced or is the FFG board going somewhere?

happy holidays all

2 hours ago, Krysmopompas said:

And curious as to what the comment about month left is about? Is that until the next expansion is announced or is the FFG board going somewhere?

See the thread titled "FFG Forum Shutdown". TL;DR: FFG forums are shutting down Feb 1, 2021

For a slightly left-field scenario, maybe a campaign built around The Colour Out of Space?

Not entirely sure if there's enough flesh there for a campaign rather than a one-shot, but I like the idea of cards from the encounter deck warping things as its influence grows...

I'm going to speculate in a different direction, combining a few thoughts from others: the next will be an expedition which can be lead by Monterey Jack, but it won't be to either Egypt or the Mountains of Madness, but instead will be to somewhere deep in Africa. The ultimate baddy will be Shub-Niggurath herself.

Why this guess? Well, as others have noted, we're due to leave the vicinity of Arkham and we know that Monterey is coming at some point. Expedition makes sense. We've yet to see a cycle focused on Shub-Niggurath. So why Africa? Well, in Eldritch Horror when Shub-Niggurath awakens she does so in the Heart of Africa.

20 hours ago, ricedwlit said:

See the thread titled "FFG Forum Shutdown". TL;DR: FFG forums are shutting down Feb 1, 2021

Ha, thanks - although I laugh so I don't cry - there it is pinned right at the top. Oops.

Mountains is the last bucket list setting probably. I think that would be alot of fun. I think it's kinda crime that they never did the Guillermo Del Toro movie that was rumored.

That and we've not really had a proper Mi-Go cycle. When I did my last analysis of the investigator backstories it suggested we might see that. Also the backstories suggest a cycling touching on the Church of Starry Wisdom and/or the shining trapezohedron which would give us another opportunity to see Nyarlathotep. I'd say if you could fit all those elements into a cycle that would be killer. There is a link through Yuggoth.

That said I'd also just be happy to be surprised by Matt and Jeremy. Every cycle has had a strong theme IMO. Some were expected and some were definitely not so that was cool.

Here's my guess on remaining class breakdown:

Seekers: Kate Winthrop, Norman Withers, Agatha Crane (all motivated by academic concerns. Agatha could also be a mystic potentially).

Rogues: Bob Jenkins, Michael McGlen, Monterey Jack (all motivated by self interest or money to an extent. Monterey could also be a potential seeker obviously but feels like seeker is a easy category to fill up. His personal motivation feels similar to Jenny's and I could easily see him using forge documents or bribing people to get into dig sites).

Mystics: Gloria Goldberg, George Barnaby, Lily Chen (Lily being motivated by prophecy, George motivated by Ithaqua and Rhan-Tegoth. Would be cool to see Lily as a real physical fighting focused mystic. She also obviously be a Guardian, but I think Mystic would be a more interesting angle)

Guardians: Vincent Lee, Carson Sinclair, Hank Samson (all motivated to protect people. Vincent as a doctor, Carson as a protector for the children in his story. Hank potentially wants to protect his farm and his people though I could see him as survivor).

Survivors: Wilson Richards, Darrell Simmons, Daniela Reyes (all people who feel like trouble found them.. well except Darrell actually. Darrell probably should be a seeker).

Neutrals: Charlie Kane

Guesses for a Starry Wisdom cycle: Kate, Monterey, Lily, Carson, Wilson (Monterey and Carson have direct references. Kate references Mi-Go which could be related. Wilson seems to reference Carson in his story)

I doubt we won't see any new investigators from here on out. So we definitely have enough to fill out 3 cycles into the future but I doubt that will be as far as the game goes considering it's still doing quite well.

For a truly horiffic and terrifying campaign, they could base one on 2020.

18 hours ago, phillos said:

I doubt we won't see any new investigators from here on out. So we definitely have enough to fill out 3 cycles into the future but I doubt that will be as far as the game goes considering it's still doing quite well.

Yeah, I thought that too. There’s a lot of “supporting cast” they could call on if necessary.

I was going off of 3 investigators in each class, since there were 15 left by my reckoning. Carson was the hardest for me. My first inclination was guardian, but Barnaby, Vincent and Lily just seem like stronger contenders. Lily especially, with all of the hand to hand combat cards that have been released recently. She has Mystic leanings too, but I don’t really see her as the spell casting type. I can also see Survivor in her, but not as her primary class. I could be dead wrong though, which is why speculating is so fun!

I went with straight Seeker/Rogue for Monterey Jack, because we don’t have one yet and with his back story, he seems like the likeliest candidate.

After they released Righteous Hunt, I feel like they might make a Lita Chantler investigator. How wacky would that be? You show up in your own parlor and do the two-spiderman meme.

Guardian cards with blessed cards? Not the type of game where you can have, "+1 combat and damage while fighting ghouls."

I wonder whether FFG have already planned each of the cycles they intend to release for the game so sort of know what they want for the last cycle in terms of a big finish. For the next one, I would certainly be up for a Mountains of Madness-style exploration in Antartica...and I would also be up for a globe-trotting adventure that see the investigators travel to different and diverse locations (e.g. Arkham>Scotland>Egypt>India>Tibet>Polynesia) following clues to some global conspiracy.

During a live stream... earlier this year? The year before? MJ said that they work at least a couple of cycles ahead but that there was no end planned at that point in time.

On 12/30/2020 at 11:31 PM, SGPrometheus said:

After they released Righteous Hunt, I feel like they might make a Lita Chantler investigator. How wacky would that be? You show up in your own parlor and do the two-spiderman meme.

Guardian cards with blessed cards? Not the type of game where you can have, "+1 combat and damage while fighting ghouls."

We have 3 copies of the core set. I know this is totally illegal, but when we first started playing, I put Lita in with the Neutral Investigator player cards. We charged 5XP for her and don’t use her anymore, but back in the bad old days when we had a lot less player cards, she was too good to keep tucked away!

On 12/31/2020 at 5:41 AM, Assussanni said:

During a live stream... earlier this year? The year before? MJ said that they work at least a couple of cycles ahead but that there was no end planned at that point in time.

I seem to remember that. I think it was part of the Q&A last Spring.

I am hoping they will announce the next cycle soon.
It’s been almost a year since they announced Innsmouth and 2020 felt like a decade! I’m ready for something new to look forward to!!

On 12/31/2020 at 12:48 PM, Dr Dee said:

I wonder whether FFG have already planned each of the cycles they intend to release for the game so sort of know what they want for the last cycle in terms of a big finish. For the next one, I would certainly be up for a Mountains of Madness-style exploration in Antartica...and I would also be up for a globe-trotting adventure that see the investigators travel to different and diverse locations (e.g. Arkham>Scotland>Egypt>India>Tibet>Polynesia) following clues to some global conspiracy.

I really want them to do a version of Eldritch Horror's Syzygy. Would work perfectly. You start with an investigation of a cult in Arkham (or New York, or London), then you travel across the world to ancient ruin sites to reactivate the artefacts. One scenario each in Chichen Itza, the Great Wall of China, Easter Island and Stonehenge. And then maybe Atlantis or the city of the great race in Australia.

Ending in a finale where Azathoth's spawn breaks through the gate and has to be beat back.

I want a cycle that takes place in the 'future' and covers the events of LOVECRAFT COUNTRY

that's all

On 1/2/2021 at 6:19 PM, Eldan985 said:

I really want them to do a version of Eldritch Horror's Syzygy. Would work perfectly. You start with an investigation of a cult in Arkham (or New York, or London), then you travel across the world to ancient ruin sites to reactivate the artefacts. One scenario each in Chichen Itza, the Great Wall of China, Easter Island and Stonehenge. And then maybe Atlantis or the city of the great race in Australia.

Ending in a finale where Azathoth's spawn breaks through the gate and has to be beat back.

Nice but Syzygy has just been referenced in Innsmouth's opening chapters...but if they do more Nyarlathotep (which I hope, so it's not just the half-campaign of it in Dream-Eaters) then maybe they'll do more Syzygy.

To clarify, "Syzygy" is not the name of an Ancient One. A syzygy is an astronomical phenomenon in which three or more celestial bodies are in alignment (eg a solar eclipse). The fact that a syzygy occurs in The Innsmouth Conspiracy does not preclude a campaign inspired by the Syzygy scenario from Eldritch.

That said, the Ancient One in the Syzygy scenario was Azathoth, and we've already had an Azathoth campaign. Also, the globetrotting adventure works better in Eldritch; the LCG works best with more focused stories (though they could probably find a way to make it work).

hey out of curiosity, anyone know when the next cycle will get announced? We might get to Return to Circle Undone, or "Circle Re-done", first I forget how it works...but curious to know if the cycle after Innsmouth will get announced anytime.

Yes. I think the pattern is that the Return to...will get announced first and then 1 to 2 months later we get the next cycle announced. It's a crazy time to make predictions but I would think we could get the Return to announced in Feb and next cycle announced in March.