I hear a lot of talk about how some of the PS are bad. Well, if we can put together alternate versions for everyone, then I'll put them all together into an Artscow deck. Everything would have to fit on two sides of one card, ideally, so I wouldn't worry about the backstories and stick to the Pass/Fail/Reward/Penalty mechanics in as simple of a form as will work (so the Reward/Penalty will fit together on one side). If it helps, you can assume that the same backstory applies and just make the game effect details different. Or do something completely different. Anyway, if you have thoughts or suggestions, please share...

Agnes Baker

Akachi Onyele

Amanda Sharpe

"Ashcan" Pete

Bob Jenkins

Carolyn Fern

Charlie Kane

Daisy Walker

Darrell Simmons

Dexter Drake

Diana Stanley

Finn Edwards

George Barnaby

Gloria Goldberg

Hank Samson

Harvey Walters

Jacqueline Fine

Jenny Barnes

Jim Culver

Joe Diamond

Kate Winthrop

Leo Anderson

Lily Chen

Lola Hayes

Luke Robinson

Mandy Thompson

Marie Lambeau

Mark Harrigan

Michael McGlen

Minh Thi Phan

Monterey Jack

Norman Withers

Patrice Hathaway

Rex Murphy

Rita Young

Roland Banks

Silas Marsh

Sister Mary

"Skids" O'Toole

Tommy Muldoon

Tony Morgan

Trish Scarborough

Ursula Downs

Vincent Lee

Wendy Adams

William Yorick

Wilson Richards

Zoey Samaras

Problem is that many personal stories are tied in with the Story So Far, so you don't want to update them without taking that into account.

For instance, Jenny's Barnes PS really fits her SSF... I guess you could have an alternative version where a private detective hands her a letter from sis telling her that her sister doesn't want to be found and, upon investigation it turns out her sister has joined the cult, setting up some sister-on-sister conflict, but I'm not sure if anyone would want to play that version.

I've been redoing personal stories for a while now - originally because it was a didn't have Innsmouth and I wanted a way to balance investigators I thought were too strong or weak by giving them appropriately weak or strong stories, but then it started to bug me that some of them were... thematically vague. For example, why does Finn beating up some cultists make him sneakier than usual?

Finn Edwards - Making a killing

Where some folk saw problems, Finn saw opportunities. Some folk had mourned the lack of whiskey, Finn had seen the key to more money than he had ever dreamed of - and Finn had some pretty specific dreams when it came to money.

Now, make no mistake, Mammy Edwards baby boy was gonna crack some cultist skulls, but what was the point saving a world you were only gonna be poor in?

Every time Finn uses the special ability of the River Docks, place a token on this card. If he has two tokens, gain Contraband King .

If Finn is ever driven insane or knocked unconcious, gain Jumpy.

Contraband King

Finn smiled his big, fat, irish smile. He was the man in the know, he had more contacts than the phone book and more cash than Croesus. Heck, maybe he'd even get around to giving some of his new found wealth back to the community.

Gain a retainer. Also, once per upkeep, while in Arkham, Finn may draw the top card of either the common or unique item decks and purchase it at $1 more than list price.

Jumpy

Maybe the whole idea of stealing from brain melting monsters was not as solid an investment as Finn has imagined. Perhaps a little caution was advisable in this area of the market...

Finn gains the Agoraphobia madness. Also, he must always attempt to evade monsters. If he fails an evade check he may chose to fight or evade in subsequent rounds.

Here's an example of the opposite - an investigator I thought kind of... sucked, and needed a boost. Note that even the failure is still kinda handy, although not as good as the pass.

Zoey Samaras - The Crusade

'And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall know no fear..." Beneath Zoey this awful townfestered, seething with murderers, idolators and worse. Zoey knew she was here for a reason - this city was sick with sin, and she would cut it out.

If Zoey is blessed, she gains Fear No Evil.

If Zoey is ever reduced to zero sanity or stamina while in combat with a monster, she gains Shadow of Death

The Lords work

Zoey smiled to herself - she had done His bidding and once more He spoke to her soul. He told her that her work was not finished, that it would never be finished, that there was evil and foulness and depravity in this city.

But there was also her.

Zoey maximum and current sanity are increased by one. Also, Zoey gains a bonus to all combat checks equal to the toughness of the monster she is fighting.

Shadow of Death

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil..." Broken in body but strong in soul, Zoey rose from a pool of her blood, and her enemy turned in astonishment. She could not stop, she could not die, not while evil walked the streets. She could never stop...

Zoey is immediately restored to a minimum of one sanity or stamina. Also, she gains +4 to combat rolls for this combat only.

Jake yet again said:

That's true, but not all of them have a SSF connection, and even if they do, what I'm suggesting is not necessarily to change the connection to that or even change the backstory on the original PS card, but to change the specific Pass/Fail mechanics to some extent. In many cases, there will be some other alternative that will still fit thematically. And in the Jenny Barnes example, I can think of something that would fit her SSF even better... Her SSF specifically mentions her sister writing about "hoofprints in the woods ." But her PS has her going to the Unvisited Isle to pass. Wouldn't the Woods make more sense to match her SSF? So instead of "If Jenny is at the Unvisited Isle with 5 Clue tokens" it could be something like "If Jenny is at the Woods with at least 2 Clue tokens and 2 Weapons." Implying that in addition to tracking her down, she also has to put up a fight to save her sister. Instead of "terror 3" as the fail condition it could be "If the Outskirts ever includes a hexagon monster," implying that her sister has been carried off by the goat cult. Same SSF, same backstory, different mechanic for the Pass/Fail. And there are probably a dozen other ways to redo that so it's still thematically fitting, but different to play. Perhaps she needs to be at the Woods with at least one hexagon monster trophy (implying the goat cult). Anyway, there are many options that would work well. We just need to plow through them all...

Adelphophage, do you have more examples? I'll put those two in for now. And I'll add mine for Jenny Barnes. These are all WIP, of course... once something is in there we can discuss changes or wording improvements.

I was hoping 'Miskatonic' would have alternate Personal Stories (does it? I don't have it yet)

I wish there were several alternates for each character so you wouldn't know what to expect (I think Android works this way?) The best are the ones like Jenny Barnes, Luke Robinson, or Agnes Baker- the ones that flesh out the story. I don't read them ahead of time; most of them are great but the ones that just give you money are always a letdown to me.

FFG should be cheesy and print them so you can't read the 'Pass/Fail' text without a red-tinted 'magnifying glass'. I forget what old toy/game it was that did that back in the day for 'secret messages'...It'd preserve the element of suprise.

This link may prove instructive: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=113&efcid=1&efidt=199101