Research Notes

This card is insane. Why? Because you can have two of them out at the same time.

With two of these out, every clue you drop gets you 2 free-ish clues that you can discover off of any location, ignoring shroud values.

All you do is alternate between using one research notes, and then the other, so you're always using the one with the most evidence on it. So having two of these out is sort of like having a permanent The Skeleton Key, that makes shrouds 0 instead of 1, lets you pick up as many clues as you pass by, and doesn't have to be moved from location to location... provided you can generate enough evidence.

The limiting factor here, then, is in how many clues you can drop per turn, to fuel your Research notes. Thankfully, there's a few strong repeatable clue dropping effects you can utilize:

Quick Study is by far the best option. You can have two of them in play, letting you drop 2 clues per turn, and it gives you skill boosts on your research notes, allowing you to hit such high values that you could clear out a location in a single test late in the game, regardless of what token you draw.

Dr. William T. Maleson lets you drop an additional clue each turn, at the cost of taking up your ally slot. Given that the Research Notes action isn't an "Investigate" action, you can't use Dr. Milan anyways, so this isn't a huge deal.

Captivating Discovery lets you "prime the pump", so to speak - just slam it down once you have both research notes in play, drop 3 clues, and you can get a total of 6 evidence in play, which should be enough to keep you going the rest of the scenario. The fact that this card also draws 6 cards for you on top of that is ridiculous, and also lets you dig for key cards to enable your combo if you aren't quite there yet.

Forewarned only lets you drop a single clue one time, but treachery cancellation is an incredible effect, and this deck turns its downside into an upside. At only 1xp a pop, this is an auto-include.

The only question, then, is what investigator to use this combo in. All of the key cards are level 2 or lower, so you have a TON of options you can use. Personally, I like this card in a Geared Up Parallel Daisy Walker deck. You can use Backpack and Schoffner's Catalogue to fully set up your combo on turn 1, and then just... get to discovering clues! Plus, since Research Notes is a tome, one of your actions discovering clues each turn is free!

Honestly, I suspect this card might be get taboo'd, sooner rather than later. Being able to discover almost all your clues by testing 0 instead of a location's shroud is kinda bonkers... at level 0, no less! But I'm definitely looking forward to at least ONE completely broken playthrough with this card...!

Neofalcon · 17
Vincent can also run this alongside Geared Up and Schoffnwr's Catalogue. He has less synergy with tome actions and raw Int tests, and his Bonesaw would like a hand slot, but he has interesting options to consider as well. — Death by Chocolate · 1479
oh, and for even more consistency, yeah it may only be a level 0 tome, but it is an absolute build around, so maybe it's worth running Raven Quill to find your second copy, boost your test for more success, ready other assets (such as Quick Study!) and/or save a hand slot. — Death by Chocolate · 1479
You should probably also consider arcane enlightment for additional tome handslots — Tharzax · 1
There's actually a number of great choices for additional hand slots now. You have Arcane Enlightenment, yes, but you also have The Raven Quill, which can make one of your Research Notes slotless, while also helping you tutor for it, or the new Astral Mirror if you aren't putting anything in your arcane slots. — Neofalcon · 17
Get around Haunted! — MrGoldbee · 1470
With 2 Press Pass, you got a super solid engine… 100% going to try that out — Valentin1331 · 73674
I think this is probably busted with Amanda. Skip all the geared up nonsense. Just drop perception 2 under your card and start hoovering up clues. — DAAAN · 1
I would house rule this card as 'limit 1 per investigator' and limit the trigger to the owners' cards. — Weges · 92
Glimpse the Unthinkable

Glimpse is useful for putting your skills back in the deck for practice makes perfect, and drawing cards again for the dream serum. You can also put your research cards back in, if you threw them during upkeep instead of discovered them during search. If you play this as Harvey, whose deck this came in, it automatically draws you two cards, while letting you put things in your deck that you can’t afford and hopefully getting things that will help you now. Combine with calling in favors to replace your damaged Miskatonic friends. Or try and draw your weakness while someone has Delay the inevitable or dark insight ready.

Plus, even if you have the perfect hand, two book icons will always be useful as seeker.

MrGoldbee · 1470
Also good in Roland. — MrGoldbee · 1470
Ghastly Possession

Just a small review to express how much better this card is compared to the already highly praised Enraptured.

I have used and loved Enraptured in almost every Deck that can use it: Daisy Walker, Luke Robinson, Jacqueline Fine, Sefina Rousseau, Father Mateo, Jim Culver, Marie Lambeau, Carolyn Fern, Gloria Goldberg, Patrice Hathaway and even some Mandy Thompson.

It is hard sometimes to reliably succeed test as a primary , but the boost from St. Hubert's Key and Read the Signs helped tremendously.

Here, for 1xp, I now have a instead of a (which is great for ), I replenish at least 1 use, and I add the crazy versatility of reloading literally anything with uses. The only downside is that you can only replenish the uses of an asset that you use Ghastly Possession on, so it must involve a test of any sort.

You can find here the list of all the assets which would receive at least 2 uses from Ghastly Possession, if they involve a test. The outstanding ones IMO are:

Valentin1331 · 73674
Sadly, we need to commit Ghastly Possession to "a skill test on an asset" to replenish its uses. It means that we can only refill the asset initiating test. At your current review, the following asset is illegal target: Grotesque Statue, The Necronomicon, and Scrying Mirror; for Strange Solution, only Acidic Ichor & Freezing Variant works. Of course, Ghastly Possession is really good skill, I think. — elkeinkrad · 499
Thanks, I did this in between 2 meetings and forgot this aspect half way through. I'll edit :) — Valentin1331 · 73674
a big one is definitely shotcaster. only card that can refill that — Zinjanthropus · 229
My friend ran this in a Norman deck with the good old Astronomical Atlas + Livre d'Ebon loop. After a few rounds of intense fighting his Shrivelling (0) ended up with 10 charges. Just imagine what a monstrous cluever he would be if it was Divination (4) instead. — koaexe · 29
I'm also playing this with Norman and it's pretty busted. Written in the stars and astronical atlas let me keep my divination topped off. It's funny how the best part of the card is probably just the last bit. — SpicyNugy · 2
I'm curious how the term replinish works. My interpretation is that you can't put more charges on the asset then it entered with. This is how replinish works for cards like prophetic. And that means you can't have ten charges on Shrivelling like the above example. Any thoughts on this? — SpicyNugy · 2
On Runic Axe, it is quite clear that "replenish" is capped inside the uses value. In this case I interpret it like this : For example of .45 Automatic, if it has 2, 3 ammo then it doesn't get any ammo. If it has 0, 1 ammo it is increased to 2. — 5argon · 10716
If there is a hard limit on the number of uses it should say (limit X uses on Y asset) or something. Compare Ornate Bow to something like .45 Automatic for example. Similarly I believe Akachi playing Runic Axe means it enters play with 5 charges, even though its replenishment effect should only get it up to 4. Also if your interpretation is valid then The Red Clock is useless because it enters play with 0 charges. — koaexe · 29
At least my interpretation is that replenish and add are just like cancel and ignore - two verbs that do basically the same thing but have very minor differences in where they can be or are used. — koaexe · 29
"Replenish" means to restore something to a former level, or condition, not exceed it. Ghastly Possession, by definition, cannot grant uses beyond an asset's limit. — JosieBean · 1
Akachi playing the runic axe means it enters play with 5 charges, but its replenishment can't take it above 4. Incidentally, 5argon is just objectively wrong on this one; 'replenish half' means it gets (up to) half of it back. You go back to 4 shots if you have 3 ammo (It can only go back up to the original uses), you gain 2 ammo if you're at 0, 1, or 2. Thanks for the Shotcaster S/O btw, I totally missed that. — Lailah · 1
This card makes Norman (with Astronomical Atlas) a good friend of every investigator who loves assets with "uses". — bugiel_marek · 23
The Mastermind

Just for easier reference when viewing this scenario;

The ability on this card, once translated, reads:

Each Distortion location gains: "Spend 1 clue: deal 3 damage to Eixodolon. (Group limit once per game)."

Soul_Turtle · 468
Breaking and Entering

One of the upgrades I've been hoping for the most (bare with me Read the Signs and Spectral Razor, I'm sure you're next).

I was sure they would make it 3xp or something, but no, they followed the Cheap Shot and Slip Away template, and it is fantastic!

It doesn't read that good, so why would it be such a relief to have it, and why did they wait so long?

  • First of all, one of the main frustration for a taking the main cluever role is the fact that Lockpicks exhaust. If you have only 1 in hand, that means that you can effectively only get 1 clue per turn. How inefficient is that to progress the game?! Well, you can now officially call yourself the main clue-getter as you now have another way to get more clues at your location during your turn, even if there are no enemies.

  • Crafty and Chuck Fergus basically make this card free once per turn, making it a slotless Lockpicks (0).

Some good synergies:

With all this being said, it sounds good, but not great yet. Well, what makes the difference to me is that, before Hidden Pocket at least, Hand Slots were incredibly competitive. Being able to investigate twice a turn without using a Hand Slot opens up for some real flex options like having the Beretta M1918 in your hands. Pack some boosts and Sharpshooter and you're ready for any situation! On another hand, were amazing at collecting actions (Leo De Luca, Haste, Ace in the Hole, Borrowed Time, Quick Thinking, The Black Fan, yadi, yada), but no way to actually investigate the crap out of the game with them. No more!

When it comes to Why now?, I believe that it is because we now have the Thieves' Kit as a way to investigate with our without exhaust, making less reliant on the Lockpicks and opening space to use something else instead of them.

Who would benefit from this card?

  • My first thought is, of course, Trish Scarborough as it makes her discover 2 clues if an enemy is there (thanks Gené Beauregard for teleporting one). With her stats, she tests with 8 skill values which still requires a bit of support to make sure that you don't lose it too soon.

  • Winifred Habbamock overcommits, so the succeed by X requirement isn't much of an issue, and testing also with 8 base value makes it an auto-include in her, in my opinion. This opens the door to a real flex Wini with weapons in hands and Breaking and Entering/Pilfer to investigate.

  • Rita Young finally has a reliable way to do some clue support while leaving the rest of her deck free for enemy management.

  • A tool-oriented Bob Jenkins deck could like it to take advantage of Crafty and use his good stats. With The Black Fan, for instance, you're testing at 9 skill value.

  • Finn Edwards will love a side alternative to the Lockpicks to get more clues each round.

  • Kymani Jones will most likely try to maximise their or value for their own ability, making them a potential great user of this card. As they will veeery likely take Crafty anyways, it would be a shame not to look at Breaking and Entering (2)/Cheap Shot (2).

  • Monterey Jack! No wait...

Valentin1331 · 73674
Maybe I'm wrong, but this lets you evade an enemy at your location, right? So you don't have to be engaged with it. No need for Gené Beauregard — RFreitas · 57
Sorry, I hit enter before finishing to write... But no need for Gené to engage the enemy for you so you don't waste the free evade. — RFreitas · 57