My Dance of the Damned promo card finally arrived yesterday. Naturally, I haven't gotten a chance to play with it yet, but it looks quite cool. I applaud FFG for finding a way to significantly impact the game with one card, and in a way that hasn't really been done yet.

Jusy eyeballing it, I would imagine that the optimal strategy would go something like this: any ivestigators with a decent amount of money head to the Curiositie Shoppe and (hopefully manage to) buy enough Tomes for everyone. Shopping aside, the game proceeds as normal. Then, once the group has enough trophies, all the trophy-holders converge on the South Church.

Anyway, I was wondering what strategy people had developed for the card based on gameplay. Just how urgent is passing the rumor? Is it best to let it stew for a while and maybe block some other rumors, or is the effective ban on spending clues on skill checks too limiting? Is it worth going to the library in hopes of getting one of the few Tome-granting encounters? (Of course, I suppose the chance of getting one will vary based on which expansions you have.) Should you just throw in the towel and ignore the Rumor when facing Tsathoggua or Y'Golonac?

Well, we do pretty much what you described. In the likely chance we don't have the requisite Tomes at the very start, we try to obtain some during the game. The mass-blessing (lol a pun) can't take place until many gates have been closed, so you kind of have to let it stew.

Failing is annoying, but curses wear off. Missing out on the "free" seal is the biggest blow, though.

Against Tsathoggua and Y'Golonac (even Shudde M'ell who nukes the church)? Pray. Either you'll delay the thing so long that you'll win the game before it fails, or perhaps you'll deliberately fail it as quickly as possible so that you can get the curses to wear off before things get too heavy.

Good luck.

another guy posted about this - are cards in all of the books? What type of cards?

thanks

I can speak only of Dance of the Damned, but I guess it's similar for the other books. In DotD, there is a sort of coupon you have to cut from the book and send to FFG, together with some money to cover the shipment of the card to your country.

thanks much - are the books good?

Like Julia, I can only speak for Dance of the Damned, which is…pretty good. It can be a bit slow at times, but it's a lot of fun. It's a kind of strange mix of Lovecraftian horror, noir, and conspiracy thriller. Speaking as someone who's faily used to horror (but still recoils from the most
"hard-core" works of horror fiction), I wasn't scared by it at all, but then, Lovecraft's fiction isn't itself particularly scary by today's standards (with a few exceptions). There's nothing that marks it out as truly great, but like I said, it's greatest asset lies in just being fun (that is, exciting and slightly campy). It's also great fun (for me at least) to see all the various shout-outs to Lovecraft and Arkham Horror, and, as I think Tibs once said, a number of the characters and creatures clamor to be translated into game components, one individual in particular. Oh, and, like I said, the special-offer card is excellent. Ultimately, I'd give it a thumbs up.

So for those of us without the card, what is the actual text of the Dance of the Damned Rumor?

It'll probably be simpler for me to paraphrase it rather than copy out the text, but I'll be sure to include all the information. First of all, to ensure you get some mileage out of the card, it's not actually part of the Mythos deck; if you're using it, it starts the game in play. Every time a Headline Mythos card is drawn or an investigator spends a Clue to add a die to a Skill check, you place a Clue on the Rumor. When there are ten Clues on it during Upkeep, it fails, and all investigators are Cursed. Anyone already Cursed is devoured. To pass it, all investigators have to have a Tome and a Blessing during Upkeep (so you check for passing and failing every turn during Upkeep; if there are ten clues, you fail it; if everyone is Blessed and has a Tome, you pass it). If you pass it, the First Player can immediately seal any gate for free (no expenditure of clues, no check, and it can be anywhere on the board) and take it as a trophy.