“He was a slender man, and his face was as white as his coat was black.”
āRobert W. Chambers,Ā In the Court of the Dragon
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release ofĀ A Phantom of Truth, the third Mythos Pack inĀ The Path to CarcosaĀ cycle forĀ Arkham Horror: The Card Game!
Months afterĀ The Yellow KingĀ played at the Ward Theatre, your investigation into the strange events surrounding the play has left you with more questions than answers. You’ve encounteredĀ Cultists,Ā Lunatics, andĀ Monsters. You’ve uncovered horrificĀ SchemesĀ of untold scope. And you’ve witnessedĀ TerrorsĀ that may or may not have beenĀ OmensĀ of greater perils.
All these things brought you, recently, to pay a short visit to Arkham’s asylum. And now you’ve walked out, wondering what to make of everything that you’ve seen. So where do you go for answers when your world’s tilting into madness?
The answer: Paris.
InĀ A Phantom of Truth, you and your fellow investigators make your way across the Atlantic. Tormented every night by vivid dreams of an alien worldāwith black stars, twin suns, shattered moons, and twisted spiresāyou decide not to grapple with yourĀ DoubtsĀ andĀ ConvictionsĀ in Arkham, but to pursue whatever truth might lie behind the play.
This is why you head to Paris; you hope to gain some answers from the play’s director, Nigel Engram.
Doubt and Conviction
As we mentioned in our announcement ofĀ The Path to Carcosa, your investigations intoĀ The King in YellowĀ will eventually lead you into the sort of madness and confusion that force you to wonder what’s reality and what’s delusion. You may even find yourself wondering if the definitions of madness and sanity are as clear as you previously thought.
With that in mind,Ā The Path to CarcosaĀ campaign makes use of the new mechanics forĀ DoubtĀ andĀ ConvictionĀ that we previewed inĀ “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Lose,”Ā our look at the new scenarios fromĀ The Path to Carcosa.
But what does yourĀ DoubtĀ orĀ ConvictionĀ do for you? Apart from check marks on yourĀ campaign logĀ (pdf, 1.8 MB), what are they? These questionsāand their answersābegin to emerge more fully throughoutĀ A Phantom of Truth.
The first thing you’ll learn is that it’s still not clear whether it’s better to operate like a skeptic rooted inĀ DoubtĀ or to trust your instincts and move forward withĀ Conviction. Nor is it certain that yourĀ DoubtĀ is always the sign of a curious mind; there may be times yourĀ DoubtĀ is strictly a form of uncertainty rooted in madnessāyour inability to distinguish the real from the unreal, or the truth of things from their illusions.
It’s almost as if there’s some terrible, malevolent force at workāguiding you, beckoning you, pulling you forward. And it’s possible that your search for Nigel Engram may take a backseat to your desperate scramble to hold onto whatever shreds of sanity remain to you. And, here, is yourĀ DoubtĀ your salvation? Or are you better off following yourĀ Conviction?
InĀ A Phantom of Truth, these questions matter immensely, and you’ll need to find the right answers, lest you end up aĀ Lost SoulĀ (A Phantom of Truth, 227) in a very foreign land.
Focus on the Familiar
In addition to its scenario,Ā A Phantom of TruthĀ supplies you with twenty-two player cards (two copies each of eleven different player cards) designed to help you stay grounded and make progress in your campaign. Among these, you’ll find a handful of higher-level cards that recall the familiar, including a couple of fan favorites from theĀ Core Set.
One of these is theĀ .45 AutomaticĀ (A Phantom of Truth, 190)āa wonderfulĀ WeaponĀ to have in hand when you’re beset on all sides by fear and foes.
While this powerful handgun has been a Guardian staple since the game’s debut, the two experience points you’ll pay for the upgraded version inĀ A Phantom of TruthĀ are well rewarded by an extra Combat icon, the ability to ignore the retaliate keyword, and by an invaluable one-point boost to your Combat with every shot you fire. All of which may be handy should you find yourself stalked by strange, wingedĀ MonstersĀ in theĀ Gardens of LuxembourgĀ .
Similarly, fans of the Rogue class will find theirĀ PickpocketingĀ (A Phantom of Truth, 195) more powerful and profitable than ever. Like the .45 Automatic, Pickpocketing reappears as a Level 2 card that gains several advantages over its Level 0 counterpart.
For your experience points, you are rewarded with the Fast keyword, which immediately gives you an action for your troubles. Next, you gain an extra Agility icon. While this Agility icon won’t likely benefit you much the first time you draw your Pickpocketingāsince you’ll most likely want to put theĀ TalentĀ into playāthe extra icon on your second copy of Pickpocketing could easily prove the difference between the success or failure of a critical evade attempt.
That extra icon might even prove the difference between a standard success or a success by two or more that allows you to trigger the full benefits of your upgraded Pickpocketing. Instead of merely granting you an extra card draw when you evade an enemy, Pickpocketing now allows you to choose between a card draw or a resourceāor, if you succeed by two or more, allows you to gain both a card draw and a resource.
Together,Ā these newly upgraded cards represent just one of the many different ways you might spend the experience you gain duringĀ The Path to CarcosaĀ campaign, but it’s one that might appeal to those investigators who are either already meeting with great successāas well as those who have been severely terrified and traumatized by all they have seen.
In this latter case, sticking with the familiar may provide you the opportunity you need to increase your chances of success, without the unnecessary complications associated with the development of all-new tactics.
Draped in Mystery
Is this, at last, the path that will lead you to the truths behindĀ The King in Yellow?
Your trip to Paris is fated to be eventful, but will you find the man for whom you’re looking? Or will someoneāor somethingāfind you instead?
UPC Code:841333104016
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