Man must be prepared to accept notions of the cosmos, and of his own place in the seething vortex of time, whose merest mention is paralysing. He must, too, be placed on guard against a specific lurking peril which, though it will never engulf the whole race, may impose monstrous and unguessable horrors upon certain venturesome members of it.
–H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out of Time

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce that The Breathing Jungle is now on sale for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game. Plan an expedition to your local retailer today, or click over to our online webstore to pick up a copy of this exciting third Asylum Pack in the Ancient Relics cycle.

The Breathing Jungle transports students, professors, and criminals from the desolate villages and towns of H.P. Lovecraft's New England into the ancient rituals and traditions of Mesoamerica, where the search for powerful relics leads to new horrors beneath the dense forest canopy. In this sixty-card Asylum Pack (three copies each of 20 different cards), academics and government officials race criminals and sorcerers to find powerful Relics hidden within the flora. Meanwhile, deadly predators catch their scents…

Skills that money can buy

When Curse of the Jade Emperor released last month, it unleashed Mr. David Pan (Curse of the Jade Emperor, 43) upon the game. His contacts throughout the underworld and his manipulation of the black market allow him to resolve each struggle by counting skill instead of comparing the number of icons. His ability powerfully impacts how each story is contested, especially since it overrides the abilities of characters like Chess Prodigy (The Horror Beneath the Surface, 25), who choose which icons are counted during a struggle. Because Mr. David Pan dictates no icons are counted, the type becomes immaterial.

However, few of the Syndicate characters who can support Mr. David Pan have much skill. Many of the Syndicate’s best operatives, such as the Hard Case (Core Set, 69) and Extortionist (Core Set, 71), make their biggest impact when they enter play. While the Clover Club Torch Singer (Core Set, 66) can reduce an opposing character’s skill, you need to have the domain available to drain to activate her ability, and though the Elite Hit Squad (Secrets of Arkham, 13) features an impressive six skill (and the ability to gain one skill per domain drained), it cannot commit to stories during your opponent’s turn, making it good only for an aggressive rush on stories.

With The Breathing Jungle the Syndicate gains the services of the nimble and skillful Border Runners (The Breathing Jungle, 65), each of whom has six skill and is Fast. Even without Mr. David Pan, these Border Runners can help you win stories with their Combat and Investigation icons, but paired with him, they make a formidable defense against forces seeking to trespass your expedition grounds… or an excellent smuggling team to raid your opponent’s stories.

Prepared defenses

Of course, The Breathing Jungle also introduces an Independent scholar in the service of Miskatonic University who provides an interesting counter to Mr. David Pan and his control over story resolution. Vaage Randers (The Breathing Jungle, 55) is a master of tactics, sought by Miskatonic to help them gain an edge in the Combat struggles that so often lead to their undoing. While Miskatonic characters are not traditionally Combat powerhouses, they far outpace the other factions for Investigation icons. While Vaage Randers is committed to a story, he allows Miskatonic University to master Combat struggles through research and preparation. The struggles are resolved by counting Investigation icons. Note that they are not resolved by counting Investigation icons instead of Combat icons; they are simply resolved by counting Investigation icons. This means that Vaage Randers and his passive ability cannot be trumped by Mr. David Pan and his passive ability. Instead, the active player decides in which order the abilities resolve. In other words, if an active Miskatonic player commits Vaage Randers to a story, and a Syndicate player commits Mr. David Pan, the Miskatonic player can decide to have Mr. David Pan’s ability resolve first, converting each struggle to compare skill, and then have Vaage Randers’ ability resolve, converting the Combat skill check to a struggle resolved by counting Investigation icons.

Of course, you can avoid this complication and gain greater control over the ways in which struggles are resolved by forging an alliance between the University and the Syndicate that features both characters.

Look for the Border Runners, Vaage Randers, and other cards to lead you through The Breathing Jungle and on to victory. The Breathing Jungle is now on sale at your local retailer and on our webstore!