Tibs said:

Next time I use the Bureau (with luck it'll be this weekend) I'll be going with:

First agent on a spot is 2 clues. If an agent is already there, then only one clue. No other rules change.

Since common opinion on the bureau seeems to be similar to mine, aka it´s not worth it, I thought i´d share my take on fixing it.

The trouble imo is that it uses the wrong resource. Clues are far to valuable to waste on monster kills in the necessary amount (without even getting the trophy). My suggestion would be substituting the word "clue" on the bureaus sheet with "$". It even makes thematic sense since government operations usually rely on monetary resources instead of occult lore.

In summary: 2 bucks for an agent token, 5 bucks for an ally in hiding.

Best regards

Enas

Enas said:

That's another good idea! Probably a bit more susceptible to abuse, but only for metagaming barracudas who start to drool when one mentions "Bank Loan Exploit".

As you can exploit it quite easily with Roland or Patrice as it is (I think; don't have MH yet, but if I get the point, you simply have to spend clues to recruit them, right?). Jgt, I'm with you on many of the questions we talked about in the past days. Some combinations are so rare that I don't have any problems with them happening. I do not go hunting for them to break the game, which sounds unfair to me, but if they happen... once in a lifetime, one can be lucky.

As a member of the Bureau, I'm enamored by Enas' approach, and I'll play that way, as well. If you're lucky enough to draw Roland, even better that he should be able to assist his colleagues in this endeavor. As to the "Bank Exploit" ~ I don't concern myself with these issues, as the entire game is a exercise in time and resource management.

I played last night with the Bureau with no changes, but didn't get a chance to use it because the game was Rhan-Tegoth/Dagon (GLARGH!). The only time we got allies in protection was, of course, when the terror level went up—and that meant we lost clues.

I've got to say that, thematically, the Bureau ability should only activate with clues, and not money. It's just a matter of balancing how much should be spent.

Also, thematically, consider that one-toughness monsters can be handled by a single investigator, and many can be handled by unarmed investigators. Therefore, it's reasonable to say that you don't need two agents to tackle a one-toughness monster—so a monster should be removed when the bureau count is greater than or equal to the monster's toughness. Maybe, you could count the monster as +1 toughness if it has physical immunity or elusive .

So now it's just a matter of making a fair cost. For starters, I thought that $1 was a fair cost to receive a Bast token instead of $2. So maybe 1 clue token per Agent isn't unreasonable, especially considering that to plant the tokens on the monsters you need will require evade checks, and to place them near those monsters does not guarantee that the monsters will be dealt with. Not to mention, clues are a valuable resource.

jgt7771 said:

What's that I hear? The Jaws theme song?

When I first read the requirements for the Agency I thought to myself - "there's no way I will EVER use this. The clue costs are much too high for too little benefit."

I'm a bit dissapointed by the institutions in general - Agency (useless), MU (good only if you are running an expansion board), and Crime (best of the lot really).

Perhaps when I graduate to the DH board I'll elevate my thinking of MU which certainly sounds useful.

But Agency? Pah!

I haven't tried the Agency yet... I'll probably play it once or twice as written to give it a chance... but my initial feeling when I first read it was the same as many here. Why the heck would I spend 2 Clue tokens for that??

I like some of the suggestions, but mine would be a combination of the Clues and money... so to place an Agent token would cost 1 Clue token and $1 . I think that's a good compromise, both mechanically and thematically, and would be something that would be useful enough and inexpensive enough to want to use once in a while but still expensive enough (Clues are just too valuable to spend willy-nilly) to not be overpowered.

Nameless1 said:

Certainly better, then. But the Miskatonic Student/Alumnus cards are very powerful in their own right, and don't need any expansion boards in play. Getting Miskatonic Student costs 5 toughness and gives you 2 clues ... but also gives you 1 clue a turn at the Science Building for free. Upgrading it to Alumnus costs 5 toughness and gives you 2 clues a turn at the Science Building for free - as well as a bonus skill which might be useful.

Not quite as good as Hypnos for getting new clues into the game, but still pretty effective.

Re: The Agency

And then there's the last part, where you can spend 5 Clue tokens to get back an Ally. Wha?? Allies are great to have, but again, 5 Clue tokens is a seal , and I just can't imagine wanting to ever spend 5 Clues for an Ally.

I think I'm going to change that to 3 Clue tokens and $3.

I usually don't agree when people suggest that some FFG releases haven't been tested enough, but for the Agency, well, I can't picture it being something that was tested a lot and found to be that useful at all. It's an interesting concept and I like the general idea of it, but the particulars just seem really off in terms of being useful in 99% of games. As someone said earlier, it's fine that in very particular situations this could be helpful, even as is, but it kind of makes the whole thing pointless to include in your games, knowing that it probably won't be effective or even used in most cases.

I agree with both Tibs who posited the idea that Clue Tokens serve as a more thematic approach to the Agency, while Grudunza's approach of combining the two (Money and Clue Tokens) may be more palatable. For the both the Agents on the street and the Ally, I will adopt the blended approach of Clue Tokens and Money, but I would make one alteration based on the value attributed to Money and Clue Tokens which comes from the Strange Eons template. 1 Clue Token= $2 ~ thus, you can use any combination for the Agents: 2 Clue Tokens, $4, or 1 Clue Token and $2; an Ally: 5 Clue Tokens, 4 Clue Tokens and $2, 3 Clue Tokens and $4, etc.

The Professor said:

That's not a bad idea, though for simplicity's sake I would opt for something specific... i.e. 1 Clue and $2 for Agents.

I went ahead and did a mock-up with The Professor's suggestion... Not bad. I like that the "cost" of the things is essentially the same, but you have the different options between the Clues and cash.

Cheers, Grudunza! Thanks for the mock-up ~ looks great.