The first taste of NEW cards for THE DROWNED CITY, Arkham's next expansion! (Spoiler Round-Up 1)

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Eric and Justin dive in and check out Drowned City player cards in our first of several Drowned City spoiler round-ups! (We'll do a complete set round-up with Travis and Bryn when the whole box has been revealed!)
Covering all spoiled cards as of September 16th, 2024.
We're using DerBK's visual spoiler for Drowned City, you can find it here: derbk.com/anci...
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[@bradleylangham858]

Can't tell you much I love this video. The way Justin gives Eric, as a new player, to explore their feelings and weigh up the pros and cons of each card. Too often, I see a lot of gatekeeping in this hobby so its lovely to see the opposite

[@barttopo3392]

I really like Eric. I'd really love to see you all play together a 4 man campaign of arkham horror lcg

[@camipco]

Putting them with Brynn / Travis feels like having a cross-the-streams type of danger, I dunno...

[@hammerdall]

I’ve seen Marion’s backside! Got to take a peek at BusterCon. But they haven’t officially shared it yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt, as I don’t have photographic memory: pick a trait among Gambit, Fortune, or Improvised. Guardian/Neutral 0-5, Cards of chosen trait 0-2, up to 5 other lvl 0 Survivor cards

[@zachfisher3364]

"Pick a trait" Deckbuilding is a cool concept!

[@bigulf6712]

wonder if a few of these investigators will have the same trait option idea.

[@hammerdall]

@@bigulf6712 indeed. We already know there’s going to be something similar with Agatha (picking Seeker/Insight vs Mystic/Spell), and Gloria (and others) also already has you choose a secondary class. Lucious is probably the 5/2 Seeker/Rogue, but there could be some room for George or Mike to choose a trait? Or at least choose something at campaign start?

[@ollie67584]

I love that Eric could build his Glimpse the Void deck and then I could come along and shuffle it into my deck.

[@JKadenHarding]

I was really hoping that the flavor text for Library Pass really was "Having fun isn't hard when you've got a ... library pass."

[@lazulin]

I feel like 'nose to the grindstone' is going to be auto-include for Wilson Richards. He is already a tool-heavy drifter and with this card, you're now at a +3 on your tool test.

[@LaboratoryGrey]

Love hearing Eric be excited about cards.

[@rupert7565]

Glimpse the void can be an upside for those "i want multiple bless/curse tokens in a single test" cards, but mostly it will be a negative.

[@lazulin]

Could make it easier to trigger paradoxical covenant.

[@rupert7565]

@@lazulin Yeah and Miracle wish, seal of the elders, broken diadem, and probably others.

[@gulthor]

Eric needs to play Agatha so that they learn to fear Glimpse the Void, lol. Terrifying effect.

[@EnclaveAgent]

I clicked this so hard

[@kylelake5848]

Speaking on Library Pass, the cheapest combo, I believe, is with Ariadne's Twine. - Step 1: Play Scroll of Secrets - Step 2: Play Library Pass - Step 3: Play Ariadne's Twine - Step 4: Find the Necronomicon (Research Assistant, Backpack, Friends in Low Places...) -Step 5: Enjoy a nigh infinite Necronomicon

[@camipco]

I think library pass can also be fun in a tome-heavy deck, Daisy being the obvious choice (who, just checked, is Miskatonic). Let's you play more conditional tomes than you have handslots for and get a cheap use from them.

[@rupert7565]

The ocula obscura sealing a token does not modify that test, because it triggers after you succeed. So really it's a different take on premonition. It does let you know the result of the next test beforehand, so it will work great with the new science succeed by exactly kit. Shame both it and chemistry set take the accessory slot.

[@M-E_123]

Lucius could also lean into the clue dropping archetype - drop clues on a monster location for effects, then gain then back with his evade ability. He has to be Seeker 0-5 & Rogue 0-2, because he's a Seeker that wants to over succeed on Evade tests (which is a heavily Rogue leaning thing to do). I've also seen speculation that George will complete the "pick from 3 subclasses" cycle of deck building, which would be interesting to see assuming Lucius completes the 5-2 deck building cycles.

[@zachfisher3364]

I was thinking clue drop would work really well for Lucious' ability as well!

[@elgirl19]

What sucks about Agatha’s weakness is that it never goes away. Shuffling back into deck can be brutal on your overall card draw.

[@emergency.jergens]

What’s worse is that her discard pile thins through her ability, so you have less cards to reshuffle into the deck

[@rupert7565]

Do you think Forced Learning might be worth it in George? It probably requires in the thick of it and versatile, for 2 trauma and +20 deck, but in return you get a free trigger of your ability (+1draw and the discarded card can still be committed) and an additional card a turn and a bonus xp. So really forced learning would be draw 3, commit a card from hand before next turn.

[@markwilson1258]

Glad to see Eric on the Arkham vids again

[@BalooSJ]

There are quite a few rogue cards that reward you for succeeding by 2+, so it seems very likely that Lucius is Seeker 5/Rogue 2. Notable ones that would work well with Lucius's ability are Lucky Cigarette Case, Opportunist, Pickpocketing, Quick Thinking, and Slip Away.

[@stephenball2108]

Also very important for that archetype with the class blend is that Steady-Handed is a legit great card, it turns your “I have to succeed by 2” cards into having to succeed by 1 once a turn, which is a huge difference. Even gives you really fantastic horror mitigation.

[@josemermoz1143]

It´s interesting how the lawyer gets benefits from effects that discard cards during mithos phase too.

[@robertthurman9866]

Lucius should work well in Forgotten age. Evading enemies is very important there and getting a clue for doing that is really good. He and Ursula should kick ass,

[@Casey093]

Solid card draw on a guardian? Am I dreaming?

[@syafiqmahdi2316]

Archibald is a 0 cost +1 book asset with 2/3 soak. He's definitely worth 5 xp

[@bigulf6712]

RE: "old white bearded dudes"...remember this is a Lovecraft sourced game! All for diversity huzzah, but you can't change who Lovecraft was and he did create some great stories with old white guys, his main protagonists.

[@PlayingBoardGames]

@@bigulf6712 I'm keeping your comment here as a message to everyone who comes to our channel that if you take this sarcastic or sardonic tone, I don't want you here. I'm not going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this, because I see enough of people sneaking their bad takes about it in public places and this channel won't humour it at all.

[@bigulf6712]

@@PlayingBoardGames ok either my comment was phrased incorrectly or it was misinterpreted. Given it's text I'll assume the former, so apologies if that's the case. I am literally all for diversity; as someone who works in the Canadian media environment it's most welcome how policy changes have broadened our creators' ability to tell our stories. My comment above was meant thusly: I'm a fan of your channel and I've heard a few comments about "Why is there another bearded old white guy" coming out. Aside from the fact that AH the boardgame 2.0 edition was built in a different time almost 20 years ago, and we're going through the existing IP of FFG, Lovecraft was also a product of his time. He wrote about old bearded white guys. He was also a racist, which puts him in good company with a number of authors back then. It's good that we're aware of this, learning from it and doing our best to move on. Does that mean that having (literally) 3 old bearded white guys in the Arkham Files Universe is an overdone thing? I guess you could throw Charlie Kane in there although he's sans beard, and he's not really the Lovecraft standard investigator as Harvey-George-Norman are. IMO it's very hard to remove the artist from the art they create. AND we're all here in some way because we liked the stories Lovecraft created and inspired. So it's a balancing act. And the image of an old bearded white guy, deeply engrossed in an old tome or walking down a dark hall with a candle not knowing what's around the corner, is one of the neatest images in classic horror. My 2 cents.

[@PlayingBoardGames]

The reason for my response was the "diversity huzzah", which reads as sarcastic. With your response, I do believe that you did mean for it to come that way, but there's a reason why I can't give those comments the benefit of the doubt. I see a lot of them in our comments and I end up deleting most of them, because they are from people who are trying to slip their current racist views as acceptable. Regarding my comments on "another bearded old white guy", I'm with you that I like the trope, especially in weird horror inspired stuff, but the same way I don't want another person of colour Mystic, I don't want another bearded old white guy in the Seeker class. Here, we're being a bit cheeky about George Barnaby, but honestly I am much happier that he ended up Survivor as opposed to Seeker, where a lot of people predicting him to go.

[@bigulf6712]

@@PlayingBoardGames sometimes fast texting isn't the best time to do shorthand...meant happy face on diversity, as in a good thing. RE: George, I was certainly expecting him to be the Seeker/Rogue. The more this game goes on the simpler I like my deck building, but since Survivor is my favourite class I'll have to learn the complexities of his deck building at some point...

[@AceneDean]

Im really excited for this release. 🎉

[@emergency.jergens]

Would stealth be good for Lucius? Does it count as an evade?

[@fredfredrickson5436]

Likely Marion can play "improvised" traited cards, which would mean she'd be able to Throw The Book At Them. So does this mean we're about to get Tsun Tsu's Art of War (probs butchered spelling), Repair Manual and Statute Book for Guardians? Could be interesting (but please don't think of telling me it'd be eating Seeker's lunch.) Ps- Scroll Of Secrets is surely destined to return to its original format to limit the broken combo.

[@dylanhyatt5705]

So looking forward to the Drowned City. Thanks for another fun preview. I've been wondering, can you play all the Arkham campaign expansions (starting with the core Arkham Horror the Card Game 'The Gathering) as a kind of single story arc (with multiple investigators) - and if so what order would connect the campaigns organically.

[@M-E_123]

@dylanhyatt5705 I don't think you can. Unless you ignore the dates given for when Campaigns are set. The Gathering is in 1926 (I think) - and there are at least 3-4 Campaigns set before then. From memory Scarlet Keys, Dream Eaters, Carcosa & Forgotten Age - and the time mechanics for Scarlet Keys mean that campaign probably runs over a few years - which means it overlaps with the other pre-gathering Campaigns. This is also semi-confirmed when you look at the dates certain standalone scenarios are supposed to take place (because some of those are specifically suggested as being appropriate to include in a Scarlet Keys campaign but are dated to take place after the Gathering). Scarlet Keys starts in 1924, and iv you count the "time units" you tick off between scenarios as months that campaign seems to be written to last around 3 years (or you count them as weeks, and ignore the dates given on the suggested standalone Scenarios) & that messes everything else up for any kind of coherent timeline. But if you ignore the printed & speculated dates for each campaign & it's probably possible, do long as the different Investigator groups keep winning, rather than letting the world end during their particular Campaign.

[@MattCrawley_Music]

a lot (all?) of the campaigns have endings that lead to the world ending, or being changed by eldritch forces. It wont make sense to just keep going.

[@dylanhyatt5705]

@@M-E_123 Thanks for this breakdown - knowing me (I'm still just getting my play-throughs of the Gathering going), at some pint I'll come up with an over-arching thread where maybe like the diary of a lead Investigator falls into the hands of a new Investigator team in a (dubiously-related) campaign.

[@cykeok3525]

You can have Skids Investigate with Lockpicks with an effective skill value of 11 with Nose to the Grindstone and Reliable, but I'm not sure what use that will be XD Just thought getting a high skill value without spending any cards or resources was interesting :D I guess the only way you'd fail is with the red autofail token, in which case Nose to the Grindstone will replenish the lost supply from Lockpicks, but it's still not great.

[@PlayingBoardGames]

I agree it's not amazing, but I think it's quite playable, especially with stuff that cares about how much you succeed by, like Lucky Cigarette Case 3 and Gregory Gry.

[@Fogshaper]

You need to pass the test in order to use her asset. The thing Eric thinks of sadly doesn't really work.

[@MagicMiikka]

My guesses for George Barnaby Setup/Mulligan: A) Draw 5 cards for opening hand, any card you mulligan, goes facedown under Barnaby - draw up to hand size. B) Draw 8 cards, set 4 cards underneath Barnaby, you cannot mulligan.

[@rupert7565]

Yeah I'm guessing something like B. Maybe even 10 cards though.

[@stephenball2108]

I think I’m only excited about Whispers of Doom in parallel Agnes, but I think it’ll be very good there. Maybe a good tech card for Dunwich, knocks out Conglomeration of Spheres, and if I’m not mistaken doesn’t this actually knock out the Brood of Yog-Sotthoths? They aren’t elite and this doesn’t deal damage or attack them, it’s a parley.

[@camipco]

Yeah, it's especially good where you've got several non-elites with 4+ health. Just on Nightgaunts it's solid too. There's also a comboish with String of Curses as a backup in case you fail. And there's a sub-optimal but maybe fun build of Alessandra based around Parley spells this goes in...

[@DrDifra]

I think Eric could have been more excited about one hand lady if you pointed out the interaction with fast events !

[@PlayingBoardGames]

I can't tell Eric about fricking everything, sometimes I forget in the moment too my guy. (But it is a sick interaction!)

[@DrDifra]

@@PlayingBoardGames hahahaha for sure!! I was hoping they'd read this I know they read lot of comments I heard them turn a little sad for the "paying the cost twice" part so I wanted to cheer up.

[@DrDifra]

I was having a big ARKTUALLY moment

[@MtheRat]

Necronomicon and Library pass...holy hell

[@Chiungalla79]

And this on Daisy, searching and shuffling her deck each round with the tome.

[@rupert7565]

The weird thing to me about george is that his front doesn't give a way to discard cards. Almost mikes me wonder if they considered playing an event to count as discarding a card, which it doesn't even if only because it's in the limbo state in between. Of course discarding to handsize might be a real thing with him.

[@marylincherie1806]

handsize and maybe his signature card. I was wondering placing cards upside down beneath him, does that mean the card's text and maybe even the symbols don't apply while committing?

[@EvanSawyer4]

Is there an evade Working a Hunch? I think we might see that this cycle to go with Lucius as opposite Trish. A green 2 cost fast evade that allows Lucius' ability to keep tempo with Trish. Mark my words!

[@QuintiniusVerginix]

Unless they change it, that wouldn't trigger Lucius' ability. Auto-Evade doesn't count for "Succeed by X" stuff because there's no test.

[@EvanSawyer4]

@@QuintiniusVerginix You’re right. Whenever I comment on here, I always get something wrong. Lol. I guess they could do just a fast evade. With agility 5 it could still be good on Lucius. Not succeed by 2 good though.

[@marylincherie1806]

George: what's up with cards being facedown? What does it mean gamewise? Will this negate the card's text and/or icons?

[@WinFedor]

It means that the facedown cards are not actively in play, so, for example, they cannot be discarded by any treachery, you cannot put charges on facedown assets etc. Most notably, you cannot play them, but, as George’s card says, you can still commit them.

[@kenji02481]

One thing I like about Lucius is that if he is the 0-2 Rogue he mirrors Trish very well: Trish is a rogue with a very seeker-y power that doesn't have perfect synergy with a lot of the rogue payoffs like pickpocketing. Lucius would be a seeker with a very rogue-y power that does have great synergy with a lot of the rogue payoffs like pickpocketing. Lucius probably is gunna do the classic rogue strategy of 'adopting' an enemy to get 2 draw and 2 resources a turn off x2 pickpocketing (2) and then use that to fuel a bunch of high level seeker stuff (some of which helps a lot with succeeding by 2 on evading, like Dream Diary), which is gunna be interesting and unique.

[@camipco]

How is Archibald not Miskatonic? Does he lecture at the community college?

[@xenoblad]

He "perished" despite publishing. :(

[@astutedunsparce4036]

If George starts with cards beneath him in addition to having his opening hand I’ll be real bummed out. Let the character reshape my thought process about my mulligan / opening hand, instead of giving me an “additional” opening hand for basically free.

[@camipco]

What makes sense to me is something like Sefina where you start with a bigger opening hand, don't get a mulligan, but pick some of you hand to go under him.

[@halforange1]

After thinking about the potential format change (after Drowned City), here’s my guess: We will get multiple campaign expansions per year but they will contain some player cards. There will be no new investigator expansions. Each year there’d be three new products: campaign 1, standalone, campaign 2. Maybe they do something funky like new class versions of existing investigators or maybe the just do the parallel investigators, though I think they’d rather be paid for designing new/ new-versions of investigators. No new playable characters would be added to Arkham Files after Drowned City.

[@willkramer9717]

We will definitely not be getting 2 campaigns a year. That would be nice but that sounds impossible

[@M-E_123]

I agree - I think we also get at least one campaign per year which is shorter (around 5 scenarios) but includes a couple of pre-constructed Investigator decks (or effectively a pre-constructed deck when you bring in some Core set player cards) - but using parallel versions of Investigators from other existing products. I could also see something like 2 or 3 of these shorter campaign boxes can be combined into a mega campaign of 10-15 scenarios (although all campaigns can also be played standalone).

[@syafiqmahdi2316]

This put an idea in my head. I maybe kind of don't want new investigator expansions after Drowned City

[@halforange1]

I thought that too, but there are 3 fulltime designers right now. MJ did TFA through Dreameaters by herself and did them faster than 1 campaign per year. Given how cost conscious Asmodee (and the larger corporation that owns Asmodee) is, I doubt they would triple the headcount of designers without expecting higher volumes of design output.

[@fredfredrickson5436]

Perhaps they'll be doing four scenario mini-campaigns instead of standalones.

[@MattCrawley_Music]

Georges flavour doesnt make sense, but neither does the new seeker. Why does being a poet make you good at evasion?

[@PlayingBoardGames]

Cause the only way to make money as a poet is pickpocketing.

[@MattCrawley_Music]

@@PlayingBoardGames or maybe you exhaust people with your long poem readings

[@justthedecoy4687]

Who else has seen Agathas hubby in the movie'top secret"?

[@fredfredrickson5436]

@justthedecoy4687 Ahh, the Peter Cushin cameo where the magnifying glass massively magnifies his eye, then his eye stays massive when he puts the magnifying glass down. 🤣 Don't know if you knew, but that gag was actually spoofing a scene from one of the many old Hammer Frankenstein movies (Frankenstein Must Die, I think) where Cushin stars as the titular character. He was also the Death Star commander in the og Star Wars movie, of course, so the art might well be a tenuous FFG Easter egg. 😂

[@Barnetmedbarnet]

Why the mask?