Path to Carcosa

He mentioned the establishment of the Dynasty in Carcosa, the
lakes which connected Hastur, Aldebaran, and the mystery of
the Hyades. He spoke of Cassilda and Camilla, and sounded the
cloudy depths of Demhe and the Lake of Hali.

– Robert W. Chambers, “The Repairer of Reputations”

The Path to Carcosa begins.

As of writing this, we have just recived Path to Carcosa, the second arch in the amazing Arkham Horror Card Game. I’m here to give a premilinarly look at what you get, without spoiling a thing. 

The Path to Carcosa introduces 6 new investigators to the cast. Lola Hayes: The Actress, Sefina Rousseau: The Painter, Minh Thi Phan: The Secretary, Akachi Onyele: The Shaman, William Yorick: The Gravedigger and finally Mark Harrigan: The Soldier. All of these were introduced in previously in the The Investigators of Arkham Horror book, released earlier this year. Some have made appearances in other FFG Games. The six investigators break down into pairs of three types; Conventional, Situational, and Interesting. The two Conventional investigators are William Yorick and  Mark Harrigan. Booth seem very boring to play and are just there to hit things. Mark Harrigan is so drab and boring he makes Roland Banks from the previous set seem like a Albert Camus protagonist by comparison.

Akachi Onyele and Minh Thi Phan fall under what I would lable Situational.  Minh Thi Phan’s reaction ability is “After an investigator at your location commits a card to a skill test: That card gains a ? icon until the end of the test. (Limit once for each investigator per round.)” It seems amazingly usefull should Carcosa play out like some of the chapters from the Dunwich Legac. Consecutively  Akachi Onyele’s ability is “Your assets with uses  (charges) enter play with 1 additional charge on them. Her Elder Sign effect is ” +1. Add 1 charge to an asset with “uses (charges)” you control”.  Both seem like they may or may not come in handy depending on how the campaign goes.

Finally there are Lola Hayes and Sefina Rousseau who I would categorize as Interesting. Their abilities are the most game changing or challenging to understand which makes them interesting to me. Lola Hayes has the ability “Forced – After you draw your opening hand: Choose a role ([Survivor], [Guardian], [Seeker], [Rogue], [Mystic], or Neutral). You can only play, commit, or trigger abilities on Neutral cards or cards of your role. [Free]: Switch your role. (Limit once per round.)” This ability to change her class at will opens up an endless array of possibilities for deck construction as well as it makes me wonder what the campaign has in store for class specific effects. Sefina Rousseau reads “When you would draw your opening hand: Draw 13 cards, instead. Choose up to 5 events to place beneath this card and keep 8 cards as your opening hand. Discard the rest. (You cannot mulligan.). [Action]: Choose an event beneath this card and draw it. Does not provoke attacks of opportunity. [Elder Sign] effect: +3. You may choose an event beneath this card and draw it.” This again opens the possibility for some extremely powerful cards that with careful planning and excellent timing could me amazing.

The Path to Carcosa arch sets to introduce a new mechanic to the over all campaign in the form of what they are calling Doubt and Conviction. Some story resolutions and interludes in The Path to Carcosa campaign instruct the players to “Mark one Doubt” or “Mark one Conviction” in their Campaign Log. This is done by filling in one of the boxes next to “Doubt” or “Conviction” at the bottom of the Campaign Log.

Later in the campaign, some scenarios may be changed or altered depending on whether the investigators “ have more Doubt than Conviction” or “ have more Conviction than Doubt.” Possibly leading to greater replayability with different outcomes of Conviction and Doubt.

Finally we have to talk about the story if even only briefly. I have played the fist parts of this Deluxe Expansion and so far Carcosa looks like its going to be a very interesting and more personally devastating story. I will leave you with the campaigns opening lines.

…”You turn over the folded program in your hand, reading it for what seems like the hundredth time. “Miskatonic Playhouse presents: The King in Yellow,” it reads. “A special one-night engagement at Arkham’s very own Ward Theatre….”