“Be careful, you–! There are powers against your powers–I didn't go to China for nothing, and there are things in Alhazred’s Azif which weren’t known in Atlantis! We’ve both meddled in dangerous things, but you needn’t think you know all my resources. How about the Nemesis of Flame? I talked in Yemen with an old man who had come back alive from the Crimson Desert–he had seen Irem, the City of Pillars, and had worshipped at the underground shrines of Nug and Yeb–Ia! Shub-Niggurath!”
–H.P. Lovecraft, The Last Test

The Greatest Fear


You'd think that having a plan is a good thing. Covering all the bases covered and accounting for every contingency. Welcome, Dreamer, to the world of Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game , where the unimaginable always lies around the corner. A so-called perfect plan meets an unpleasant surprise? The best recipe for panic, chaos and fear. The Slumbering One will be most pleased.

Take the serpents, like Brood of Yig ( Whispers in the Dark , 4) They added a layer of chaos and unpredictability to their Terror icons. Even while the options almost fall under the category of “perfect information,” meaning you can examine the table and predict most of the possible outcomes, the scenarios can branch out in ways in which it becomes far more difficult to account for every possibility. The chance of making a costly mistake is greatly magnified, and the tension rises.

The Cthulhu faction has many more tricks up its sleeve, though, some of which involve hidden information. Committing characters to a story can result in unforeseen events when cards like Sacrificial Offerings ( Core Set , 59) are played out of nowhere, upsetting the balance. But when Yig and his serpents are involved, things grow even more unpredictable.

A Horrible Choice

A choice offered to your opponent is always a two-edged sword. On one side, you're offering them a choice, where you could have just made the choice for them. On the other hand, you give them a chance to mess up and make the wrong choice, which can be quite satisfying. And you wouldn't have sided with Cthulhu if you weren’t going to offer limited choices between madness or making the ultimate sacrifice. Or a general sacrifice, at least.

Ophidian Blight ( Curse of the Jade Emperor , 32) offers such a deal. Your opponent commits characters, then suddenly has to either face a total of three Terror struggles in a row on one of the stories or has to pick which one of his allies has outlived its usefulness and should take one for the team. Since you’re playing the green side, whatever they choose should work to your advantage. You should always have a way to make their guys take a dirt-nap.

Should they choose the Terror struggles? After all, insanity is often a temporary condition. That's just fine. Cthulhu will be pleased.

…Shall we take a look even further into the future to see what green players can do with more Terror struggles?

Rumble In The Jungle

Later on, our hunt for the Ancient Relics will take us out of China and into The Breathing Jungle . Somewhere deep into the jungle, where few men dare to set foot, hungers the Eater from the Depths ( The Breathing Jungle , 51). And it just so happens that he isn't bad with multiple Terror struggles.

Stories resolve all at a time and, usually, there is no way to interrupt the process until all stories have resolved. Any Response triggers have to wait until all stories are done and the game continues. A Forced Response, however, is different. As soon as the condition is met, the Forced Response is activated.

Add an effect like The Enchanted Wood ( In Memory of Day , 37) to overcome some of the protection characters may have, and the Eater becomes quite a beater. Even if you're somehow outclassed in the Terror department, you wouldn't be a true villain if you didn't send along some disposable minions like Innsmouth Troublemaker ( Core Set , 47) to go insane. The Eater isn't really that picky about which side sends the character off to a padded room.

If somehow your ragtag team of miscreants tips anyone off to your plans, and they prepare a response, you always have the option to use Touched by the Sleeper ( Core Set , 60) to add another element of surprise. Even if you give them a choice, you can always make sure it's the wrong one.

Keep checking our website for updates. Curse of the Jade Emperor and Ophidian Blight are coming soon!