Pay Day

I'm thinking Tony Morgan should strongly consider this card as an early upgrade. First off, he's already motivated to fight enemies with Bounties on them with an upgraded .41 Derringer. With his native 5 you can already see that, just by doing what Tony already wants to do, you can easily achieve 5+ action turns. Then you factor in all the ways you'd normally try to get big action turns with Rogues: Leo De Luca, Ace in the Hole, Borrowed Time, an easily activated Quick Thinking on, say, a Derringer Fight test, and maybe couple that with Double or Nothing if you're feeling extra cheeky.

Also I think this was overlooked in the other review, but I think it's interesting that Borrowed Time lets you defer actions by spending actions. This means technically if you have 3 charges on Borrowed Time, you can continually defer those actions all game and you'd technically be taking 6 action turns. This means that, if you choose to defer those actions over and over again, you can play Pay Day for 6 resources whenever it comes up. Not bad.

Now it's unrealistic to say you'd be able to achieve the maximum number of potential actions in one turn because it's so heavily dependent on oversuccess and having the right cards all at once, but just for fun let's see what's possible. Start with your default 3. You gain +1 from doing at least one Bounty Fight and +1 from Leo. Use Quick Thinking and Double or Nothing on a Derringer test (without Taboo you could commit 2 Quick Thinking) to net +4 actions (or +6 without Taboo). Gain +3 from Borrowed Time and another +3 from Ace in the Hole. You're looking at 15 or 17 actions depending on Taboo. Will you ever get that many? Probably not, but you can easily get 5 or so between Tony's ability and Leo, and 6 or 7 won't be hard to pull off thanks to Quick Thinking and Derringer. If you have the Borrowed Time loop happening, you can bump all those numbers up by 3 easily.

StyxTBeuford · 13049
Is the Borrowed Time loop worth it though ? Sounds like spending an action for a resource to me. — LeFricC'estChic · 86
It's not one resource, it's 3. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
I know, but Borrowed Time cost 1 card, 1 action, 1 resource to play. So even if you got 3 resources from the DELAYED action (you'll have a starting blank turn - at least 3 "dead" actions over a few turns), you've had spent more or less the "value" of 3 actions (card+action+resource) to earn 3 resources. — LeFricC'estChic · 86
Monterey Jack with Leo, pathfinder, quick thinking and Eon Chart would love to be able to take this card.....oh well. — tasman · 1
This card is trash. It takes a lot of work to make it decent for a 1XP economy card that is overshadowed by the likes of Easy Mark or Faustian Bargain. — CHA · 9
Does it? Easy Mark, by itself, is equal to E Cache, granting +1 tempo. Playing all 3 easy marks at once adds 1 more tempo to the second two, so Easy Mark maxes out at +2. And Faustian Bargain is +3 tempo, at the price of 2 curse tokens. For Pay Day, Finn, Tony, and Bob each have a built in free action, so Pay Day is a reliable +2 tempo minimum, matching Easy Mark. Get a single extra action from any number of Rogue sources- Quick Thinking, .41 Derringer, Leo De Luca, Haste, Blur, Eon Chart- and they've hit +3, same as Faustian, without the curses. Sure, pulling off the absurd 15-action turns is unfeasible, but it's also unnecessary; several Rogues can match Faustian's efficiency just by doing what they were gonna do anyway, and without generating curses, and with the potential to do more if they can eek out more actions within a turn. — HanoverFist · 748
Can someone clarify whether "Call for backup" synergy card in neutral would grant multiple triggers in pay day. As in reading it, and the rules write up above, and it seems should work, as there's a bunch of different actions taken or being performed. Thanks for any and all help to the community. — Quantallar · 8
Harold Walsted

Spoilers for Miskatonic Museum abound, but you probably knew that already!

I've been considering the two different helpers in Miskatonic (Adam Lynch) being the other) as I consider an optimal playthrough type run.

I think that Adam is pretty much inferior across the board, with a couple caveats:

  1. If you're trying to get through the scenario as fast as possible.
  2. If your primary clue gathering mechanic is not based on investigating using .

In either of those cases, Adam will be marginally more useful - he'll allow you to skip over most of the exhibit halls other than doing the bare minimum to get clues, saving you 1 per (using the Security Office as a single rather than , or as compared to just sending your clue-sweeper in to each Exhibit Hall, with the possible consequences of revealing them.

Here's my thoughts:

Both Allies have the same 1/1 statline and the same "Oops, I let an innocent die, take a bad token" penalty. So you're looking at the bonuses they give.

Harold Walsted is a +2 investigate in all Miskatonic locations (which is going to be every location in the scenario). Whoever you're playing, a +2 investigate boost is going to be useful. For Rex Murphy you're significantly more likely to double up on clues. For anyone else, the ability to forgo throwing cards or resources or actions at your investigate checks (The majority of the locations are Shroud 2 or 3, so a +2 on top of the 4 or 5 you're bringing puts you easily at +2 or +3 for your tests), especially in a scenario like MM, that is often timed by the number of cards remaining before you take 10 damage, is huge! And for most seasoned players, clearing clues off all the locations is going to be key, because that's where the sweet XP lives!

On top of that, Harold comes from the Breaking and Entering side of the Act, rather than the Night at the Museum side. For investigators that are trying to maximize clue gathering, breaking down the door is going to be the method of choice anyway, to keep those 2 starting clues for immediate use in the Museum Halls.

The Security Office has two possible options - to search your deck and draw or to look at Exhibit Halls. If you're clearing all the halls, knowing which is which is helpful, but not worth the actions it would take. So if you get the right Security Office, Adam lets you spend 1 less action to search and draw. Which, to be clear, is pretty neat! But he costs you two clues, which are the key resource to discovering what's going on! So 50% of the time he'll save you 1-3 actions, depending on what you're digging for in your deck.

Harold, on the other hand, is going to trigger repeatedly during the game, since you're looking to clear 5-6 clues to open all the halls, and then clear out the Exhibit Hall

The only real upside Adam has is that's the most trope-y of individuals, being the completely new security guard at the haunted museum who is definitely going to get eaten by the monstrous horror at some point in time!

The two things I think you are failing to consider is (1) timing and (2) diminishing returns. 1) While Harold May be mechanically stronger, you don’t get him until the END of Act 2, while you get Adam at the START of Act 2, so while you CAN use Harold on all of the exhibit halls, you’ve likely already cleared many of them. 2) Most teams will be designed to already have sufficient clue gathering. Yes, you can put Harold on your mediocre or flex investigator who was at 3 or 4 to put them afely +2 above most shrouds, your cluevor at 5 or 6 native is going to get very little value from the additional +2. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
My group usually clears all locations of clues for victory X. Harold was mostly useles because the seeker had her int boosts in play already and didn't need anymore. — Django · 5155
Honestly they both kind of suck. They're meant to be liabilities. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
Adam Lynch

Spoilers for Miskatonic Museum abound, but you probably knew that already!

I've been considering the two different helpers in Miskatonic (Harold Walsted being the other) as I consider an optimal playthrough type run.

I think that Adam is pretty much inferior across the board, with a couple caveats:

  1. If you're trying to get through the scenario as fast as possible.
  2. If your primary clue gathering mechanic is not based on investigating using .

In either of those cases, Adam will be marginally more useful - he'll allow you to skip over most of the exhibit halls other than doing the bare minimum to get clues, saving you 1 per (using the Security Office as a single rather than , or as compared to just sending your clue-sweeper in to each Exhibit Hall, with the possible consequences of revealing them.

Here's my thoughts:

Both Allies have the same 1/1 statline and the same "Oops, I let an innocent die, take a bad token" penalty. So you're looking at the bonuses they give.

Harold Walsted is a +2 investigate in all Miskatonic locations (which is going to be every location in the scenario). Whoever you're playing, a +2 investigate boost is going to be useful. For Rex Murphy you're significantly more likely to double up on clues. For anyone else, the ability to forgo throwing cards or resources or actions at your investigate checks (The majority of the locations are Shroud 2 or 3, so a +2 on top of the 4 or 5 you're bringing puts you easily at +2 or +3 for your tests), especially in a scenario like MM, that is often timed by the number of cards remaining before you take 10 damage, is huge! And for most seasoned players, clearing clues off all the locations is going to be key, because that's where the sweet XP lives!

On top of that, Harold comes from the Breaking and Entering side of the Act, rather than the Night at the Museum side. For investigators that are trying to maximize clue gathering, breaking down the door is going to be the method of choice anyway, to keep those 2 starting clues for immediate use in the Museum Halls.

The Security Office has two possible options - to search your deck and draw or to look at Exhibit Halls. If you're clearing all the halls, knowing which is which is helpful, but not worth the actions it would take. So if you get the right Security Office, Adam lets you spend 1 less action to search and draw. Which, to be clear, is pretty neat! But he costs you two clues, which are the key resource to discovering what's going on! So 50% of the time he'll save you 1-3 actions, depending on what you're digging for in your deck.

Harold, on the other hand, is going to trigger repeatedly during the game, since you're looking to clear 5-6 clues to open all the halls, and then clear out the Exhibit Hall

The only real upside Adam has is that's the most trope-y of individuals, being the completely new security guard at the haunted museum who is definitely going to get eaten by the monstrous horror at some point in time!

My group usually clears all locations of clues for victory X and don't use actions to spy on them, before entering. It costs 2-3 actions to move to sec office and look. So he's useless to us as well. — Django · 5155
Armor of Ardennes

This card is essential for one thing, and that's if you're going for an "indestructible" build. Where you're playing a , let's say Mark Harrigan because it works best on him, (though Tommy Muldoon might find himself slightly interested in this as well, possibly Zoey Samaras since she tends to take aggressive cards like Taunt and On the Hunt) and you're near 49 exp: You're just to the nines with Kerosene, Brother Xavier, Enchanted Blade, maybe First Aid, and what have you, alongside all the EXP horror/damage mitigation you took at EXP 0 (Hallowed Mirror, Dodge, Emergency Aid, Second Wind, The Home Front) which you can use to utilize Sophie consistently whenever you need her. Maybe, if you're freaky, you're running cards like Blood Eclipse. It's really unclear to me if that sort of build is optimal, but it doesn't feel bad.

LordHamshire · 861
It seems to me that running all those other expensive tank cards would make Armor of Ardennes rather redundant and less valuable for its XP cost, not better. — CaiusDrewart · 3185
The Red-Gloved Man

I think if you're a survivor you can get The Red-Gloved Man to appear five times, if in your hand you have at least one of him, 2 copies of A Chance Encounter and 2 copies of Resourceful.

Like so:

Play The Red-Gloved Man.

Discard him at the end of the Mythos Phase.

Next turn: Play A Chance Encounter and put The Red-Gloved Man into play.

Commit Resourceful to a skill test, and win. Retrieve A Chance Encounter from your discard pile.

End of round: Discard The Red-Gloved Man

Next turn:

Play A Chance Encounter and put The Red-Gloved Man into play.

Commit Resourceful to a skill test, and win. Retrieve A Chance Encounter from your discard pile.

End of round: Discard The Red-Gloved Man

Next turn:

Play A Chance Encounter and put The Red-Gloved Man into play.

End of round: Discard The Red-Gloved Man

Next turn:

Play A Chance Encounter and put The Red-Gloved Man into play.

End of round: Discard The Red-Gloved Man


I'm sure some other deck techers have stumbled onto this awesome combo. That said, I don't see why it wouldn't work with other allies.

AbsolutZer0 · 20
Okay, but the RGM is a lot less powerful when he takes an action to play and doesn’t buffer your stats during the next Mythos phase. He also doesn’t protect very well against AoO because playing ACE provokes an AoO while he isn’t there to soak. If your goal is just to have multiple turns at a high base stat, Trial by Fire (recursed with Resourceful) may be more effective in many situations and 0xp. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
Agreed, just use Resourceful and Trial by Fire. Using Ace on RGM is a pretty big waste. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
Just play William, talk your seeker friend into giving you the No Stone Unturned LV5 search so you always get this guy, and recur him every time you kill something. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Yorick + RGM is always a solid way to go. The question these days is whether there's enough XP to go around. Yorick really loves Timeworn Brand. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
Ah see, I don't have The Circle Undone cycle yet, so I didn't know of Trial By Fire's existence. Anyway, I thought it was a neat combo. — AbsolutZer0 · 20
Calling in favors to return RGM to you hand after you had A Chance Encounter with him? — Django · 5155
No AOE on Fast. — MrGoldbee · 1491