Arkham News Round-up: April, 2019
Hello everyone and welcome to this month's Arkham News round up. In this series I highlight news and product releases for Mythos gamers that occurred over the previous month. April was a busy month for without further ado let's hop right into it.
Mike Mason Plays Call of Cthulhu with Penny Arcade:
Co-writer and Editor for the Call of Cthulhu line from Chaosium, Mike Mason plays the role of Keeper for the folks over at Penny Arcade, taking them through the Call of Cthulhu scenario “Paper Chase”, recently published in the “Call of Cthulhu Starter Box Set”. The Scenario, without going into spoiler territory, has the investigators track down some stolen books and determine if the owner of said books is alive. If you weren't able to catch the live stream, you can watch the session on Youtube. Mike does a great job at concisely explaining the core mechanics of game for new players and viewers a like, making it easy to follow along. Mike and the rest of the cast bring a lot of personality to the game making it a enjoyable watch.
Arc Dream Publishing Releases Delta Green: The Complex, a new supplement for The Delta Green RPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/270434
April sees the releases of Delta Green: The Complex.
Check it out on DriveThruRPG!
Originially part of the Delta Green RPG Kickstarter back in 2016, this 80 page supplement is now available to non-backers on Drive Thru RPG in both PDF and printed formats. Heading to the product page we see the description reads as follows:
“Delta Green: The Complex offers 21 new dossiers for federal agencies and important contractors to enhance your Delta Green campaign. Each dossier describes the entity’s budget, operatives, organizational structure and history, mandate, areas of friction with other agencies, suggested professions for Delta Green agents, and what it’s like to work there.
The Complex gives deep and playable details for both the Handler and the Agents. It covers the ATF, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Coast Guard, Consolidated Analysis Center Incorporated, Constellis Group, Customs and Border Protection, DARPA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, FEMA, the IRS, Lockheed Martin, NASA, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the National Counterterrorism Center, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the National Parks Service, the National Reconnaissance Office, the NSA, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the RAND Corporation, and the Secret Service.”
Coinciding with this release Arc Dream Publishing also updated the Delta Green: Agent Dossiers collection to include all the new professions covered in The Complex. This update is great for anyone looking to purchase either product, Though I would recommend that if you're interested in the Complex to pick up the Agent Dossiers as well. This will make character creation a breeze for players and Handlers can use these files to quickly generate NPC's, saving you time at the table.
Delta Green Agent Dossiers: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/234148/Delta-Green-Agent-Dossiers
FFG Updates the FAQ for Arkham LCG:
On the topic of updates, the Arkham Horror LCG received an update to the FAQ. FFG posted an article going over the changes to the document, which include scenario fixes, rules clarifications, and the most contentious update to game thus far, the introduction of the Taboo list. To quote the FAQ:
“The List of Taboos is a list of Arkham Horror: The Card Game cards with optional deckbuilding restrictions or text changes. This list is designed to craft a healthy balance between investigator power and scenario difficulty, and to enforce shifts in deckbuilding environments over time.
Adhering to The List of Taboos is completely optional. Investigators are not forced to adhere to the restrictions on this list, but if an investigator chooses to do so, they must do so in full (an investigator cannot pick and choose which restrictions to use).”
The list has 3 categories, Limited, Mutated, and Forbidden. Limited cards have on extra experience tacked on to them, mutated cards have their text altered in some way, and forbidden cards are just as the name implies but no card is currently forbidden. We discussed this topic in depth on the most recent episode of the Great Old Ones, so I won't go into detail here but by and large I have mixed feelings about the taboo list. While on the one hand I like a lot of the balance changes, aside from slight of hand. Pretty sure you can Slight of hand a Shotgun...See. Case and point. In all seriousness however, these rules may prove troublesome to enforce in multiplayer games, particularly for newer players. If you're a long time veteran of the game these changes are a good encourage you to play with seeker cards you may not of otherwise and some other Rogue card apart from Streetwise. I'm interested to see where FFG takes the taboo list in the future, but for now, I think I'll only try it out in solo games.
Ending the month with a bang FFG revealed “The return to The Path to Carcosa” upgrade expansion. In same the vein as previous “Return to” products, This expansion brings with it the typical affair past boxes had, dividers, new and updated encounter sets, and upgraded versions of player cards released throughout the original campaign cycle. The article shares some minor changes to the scenarios in the original deluxe box “Curtain Call” and “The Last King” along with spoiling a couple of the players cards included in this Return to set.
I plan on making an in depth preview video for this expansion going over the spoilers, covering potential changes we could see to the scenarios, along with providing my opinions and speculations on the matter. I have enjoyed the changes to the scenarios when it comes to these sets, but have felt underwhelmed by the player cards.
April was an exciting month for fans of Delta Green and the Arkham LCG. The release of the Complex is a great tool for fleshing out your agents and the world they investigate, and the update to the Agent Dossiers makes implementing into your games a cinch. Arkham Fans got their hands on another mythos pack, and the most surprising update to the FAQ to date. I'm still eager to get my hands on Delta Green, but for now I guess I'll have to be patient.
That's gonna do it for this month's Arkham News Round-up, I'm curious to know what you guys think about this months news. What are your thoughts on the changes to the FAQ and the Taboo list? Do you like Return to products? Leave your thoughts down in the comments below.