Chaosium Digest Volume 19, Number 10 Date: Monday, June 2, 1997 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Deckbuilding: A Points System (Cedric Chin) MYTHOS CF: Serpent People (Shannon Appel) MYTHOS Editor's Note: Running a day late this week, but here it is. I've got some other stuff in the queue, but wanted to make sure something went out this week. Send in those submissions, especially for Nephilim and Elric! which have been quiet of late. Shannon RECENT RELEASES Both these products shipped last week and should begin showing up in shops at the end of this week. * Call of Cthulhu - _Arkham Sanitarium_ (Chaosium, $14.95), by Drashi Khendup, contains a bunch of loose-leaf ready to use player aids. From a 25-page prescription pad to a set of inkblots to certificates of death and insanity, it's all in here. * Pendragon - _The Arthurian Companion_ (Chaosium, 576 pg., $14.95), by Phyllis Ann Karr, is the trade paperback second edition of the _King Arthur Companion_. Vastly expanded, this book is a definitive encyclopedia detailing the Legends of the Knights of the Round Table. From Abblasoure to Zelegbres. -------------------- From: cchin@frk.com (Cedric Chin) Subject: Deckbuilding: A Points System System: Mythos INTRODUCTION Few CCGs have perfectly balanced cards, and Mythos is no exception. Mythos also has the not-so-unique CCG syndrome that "only one person in the group is willing to buy it". (Remember the old days when only one person had to buy the game, and it was called a "boardgame"?) Thus, a point system. This point system is designed for someone who wishes to build several "separate but equal" decks for his or her gaming group. I put more of an emphasis on simplicity than accuracy, and also explain the point values at the end of this article. As a rule of thumb, the more likely I'd put the card into a tournament deck, the more points it got. There were a few cards that are still more powerful than others, but weren't included. (For example, The Interesting Shop is easier to fulfill than some Dreamland 5-point Adventures, but nowhere as easy as Seeking Everlasting Life I.) Basically, all you need to do is assign a maximum point value to your decks and work from there. Certain types of decks also have point values, and receive *free* cards as well. POINT VALUES +1 Point * Aldeberan Moves in the Sky * An Unexpected Calamity * Chant of Thoth * Chime of Tezchaptl * In the Nick of Time * Seeking Everlasting Life I * Star Stone of Mnar * Yithian Mental Contact * Any City Deck taking place in one Sub-Region * Any Investigator allowing you to discard and draw two cards as a turn * Any Travels allowing "immediate" movement (Car, Camel, Zebra, Closed-cockpit Monoplane, Ship of Clouds) +0 Points * Deck above 60 cards: Also receives "free" Chant of Thoth or Investigator allowing you to discard and draw * "Travel by Sea" Deck: Also receives "free" Aldeberan Moves in the Sky or Yithian Mental Contact -1 Points * Deck with Unique Cards Required for an Adventure: Also receives "free" Chant of Thoth or Investigator allowing you to discard and draw * Country Deck: Also receives two "free" Cars, Camels, Zebras, etc. * Multi-Region (not Dimension) Deck: Also receives up to four "free" Cockpit Monoplanes, Ship of Clouds, etc. * Multi-Region (not Dimension) Deck w/ Allies in different Regions: Also receives a "free" Surprise Meeting, or Chant of Thoth, or Investigator allowing you to discard and draw THE EXPLANATIONS +1 Points Aldeberan Moves in the Sky: A subtle card, Aldeberan removes Storm events preventing Travel, Phobias requiring a several-turn trip to the Sanitarium, and other miscellaneous turn-costing annoyances. Chant of Thoth: Discarding and drawing in the middle of a round allows you to sometimes draw a card that lets you play several cards you began the round with. For example, if you have a Tome and Spells but no Location with the Tome attribute, drawing such a Location in the middle of the round allows you to play cards you would have otherwise been forced to discard. Chime of Tezchaptl: A "free" play during the combat phase, the Chime prevents others from playing spells, which can make a difference during Combat. The Chime's Sanity Cost is not a disadvantage, since many Adventures require an Artifact with a Sanity Cost. In the Nick of Time: Nick's ability to let you play another card makes this a "free" play, which also causes an opponent (the one who passed) to essentially lose his turn. Seeking Everlasting Life I: The most broken Adventure in Mythos, SELI's lack of location requirements, and broad Ally requirements, make it an easy Adventure to satisfy. Star Stone of Mnar: Also a "free" play, the Stone lessens the damage certain Monsters create. In a multiplayer game, the Stone dissuades attack entirely, since an opponent will sometimes point a Monster where it can do the most damage. Like the Chime, the Stone's Sanity Cost is not a disadvantage. An Unexpected Calamity: Number one on the least-balanced card hit-list, Unexpected Calamity not only denies your opponents the turn they would have if you had passed, but it forces them ALL to discard. Forcing a card into the discard is the best way to set back another player: Not only does he have to spend a Sanity point to reshuffle his discard, he must also wait several rounds until he draws it again. Yithian Mental Contact: Yithian's versatility and minor cost (of one Sanity) make it a card that should be placed in all decks. Any Investigator allowing you to discard and draw two cards in a turn: See Chant of Thoth. Any City Deck taking place in one Sub-Region: A deck that does not need Walking plays much faster than one that does. +0 Points Deck above 60 cards: Such a deck is typically a "fun" deck, rather than a tournament one, and needs all the help it can get! Cycling through the deck quickly will be necessary just to keep up with a smaller deck, so the Investigator allowing you to discard and draw two cards in a turn becomes a "free" card. "Travel by Sea" Deck: Such a deck will be shut down completely by either a Drought or certain Storms. Placing a card in a deck specifically to cancel a card that may not show in play is, in my opinion, a waste of card "slots", so the more useful Aldeberan Moves in the Sky (or Yithian Mental Contact) is a "free" card in this deck. -1 Points Deck with Unique Cards Required for an Adventure: Such a deck will take longer to fulfill its Adventures than a deck with non-Unique cards. It will need to cycle cards faster to keep up with another deck, and thus the Investigator allowing you to discard and draw two cards in a turn becomes a "free" card. Country Deck: Such a deck will play much slower than a City deck. The two "free" Cars, et al. are a sop to this deck. Multi-Region (not Dimension) Deck: Such a deck will play much slower than a single-Region deck. The two "free" Cockpit Monoplanes, et al., are also a sop. Interestingly, since Dimension-travel uses a reusable Artifact, Dimension-travel is easier than inter-Regional travel. Multi-Region (not Dimension) Deck with Allies: This deck plays even slower than a Multi-Region Deck. If you are in Region A, and have an Ally from Region B you must play, you will need two other cards to play the Ally! (One card to arrive at the Ally's Location, and the Ally's Location.) -------------------- From: appel@erzo.org (Shannon Appel) Subject: CF: Serpent People System: Mythos ** THE CARD FILES: SERPENT PEOPLE ** THE CARD -------- Name: Serpent People Set: Mythos Limited Type: Monster Value: 3 Subtype: Lesser Independent San: -1 Special Effect Box: Joins with other Serpent People, and with Weapons. THE SOURCE ---------- "The serpent-men were busying themselves with a multitude of tasks. They walked lithely and sinuously erect on pre-mammmmalian members, their pied, hairless bodies bending with great suppleness. There was a loud and constant hissing of formulaes as they went to and fro. Some were smelting the black nether ores; some were blowing molten obsidian into forms of flask and urn; somee were measuring chemicals; others were decanting strange liquids and curious colloids." -"The Seven Geases", Clark Ashton Smith The serpent people are ubiquitous, perhaps appearing more frequently than any other Mythos creature. Robert E. Howard's heroes, Conan and Kull, both fought them. They dwelled below the ground in Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea. Howard Lovecraft mentioned them peripherally. We met their god, Yig, in "The Mound", and we saw their beastly descendents in "The Nameless City". In more recent years, they have continued to appear, as the dragon kings of Lin Carter's Thongor novels, and elsewhere. What we know of their history is this: sometime after the earliest alien invasions by the mi-go, star spawn, elder things, and others, the serpent people rose to prominance. They ruled much of the world from ancient Valusia for a time. In various periods, they were sorcerers and scientists, but, in the end, their civilization fell. By the times of Hyperborea and Hyboria, they were scattered wanderers. In the present day, they exist in only the tiniest conclaves, hidden from those who would destroy them. Some serpent people have migrated to the Dreamlands, where they hide deep in the Vaults of Zin, but these serpent people are little better off than their Waking World counterparts. CLARIFICATIONS -------------- The three words "Joins... with Weapons" unfortunately cause a lot of confusion, and don't work too well with the Mythos mechanics. Here are a few clarifications for that triad of words. The first thing to note is the definition of Joining. According to page 67 of the Dreamlands rulebook, "Cards that Join can be played together, as one play during one Turn. You must still meet all the normal conditions for playing these cards." This means, that if you want to play Serpent People and a Weapon at the same time, you must meet the conditions for playing Serpent People (ie, be at an unused gate), and you must meet the conditions for playing a Weapon (ie, be at an Artifact Location). The definition of Joining causes another quirk in the way that Serpent People work. Also on page 67, the rules state "Two cards may Join as long as one of them allows this in its Special Effects box. More than two cards may Join as long as every combination of two cards in the group Joins." The first sentence means that you can put down a Serpent People card and a Weapon, even though the Weapon doesn't say it Joins with Serpent People. Which is good. The second sentence causes some problems though. Consider two cases where you put down multiple cards. In the first case, you want to play two Serpent People and a Weapon. This works because every set of two cards in the group Joins. That is, the two Serpent People can Join, and each Serpent People can Join with the Weapon. Thus, this is a legal play. In the second case, you want to play two Serpent People and two Weapons. The two Serpent People can Join. Each Serpent People can Join with a Weapon. Unfortunately, the two Weapons can't Join with each other, because neither of them allows is in its Special Effect box. Thus, this is not a legal play. There's one more quirk in the way that Serpent People work, and that's due to the definition of Weapons. According to page 20 of the Dreamlands rules, "The two cards, Weapon and Ally... function as one card." This means that when you Join a Weapon and a Serpent People to your Threat, you need to declare they're one card, ie "This is one card I'm playing, and it cost me -2 Sanity". This kind of gives away the game, but people need to know the actual number of cards you have in your Threat for Instability in the Mythos and other such cards. In summary: Join Serpent People with Weapons at Artifact/Gate Locations. You may play only one Weapon, no matter how many Serpent People you play. You must declare the combined Serpent People/Weapon as one card when they're played. QUESTIONS Q: Can I play Serpent People Joined with War Horse and some other weapon? A: No. The two weapons don't Join, and thus you can't legally play them together. However, if you played Serpent People as an Ally Joined with a War Horse, you could later add another Weapon, as normal. Q: If I give my Serpent People a Cast-Iron Skillet can I save it at the end of combat? A: Yes. Provided you have at least one Ally in play you can transfer the Skillet to that Ally when the Serpent People card is Buried. Q: If I play a Serpent People card as an Ally using the Kitab Al-Azif, can I Join a Weapon with him? A: As long as you're at an Artifact Location, yes. All the Kitab does is change where you play your cards to, not how you play them. Q: Can I Summon a Serpent People, and Join a Weapon to him as he attacks? A: No, you can only Summon a single non-Joined Monster. Q: What happens when I try to Control a card from a Threat containing a Weapon? A: Remove the Weapon from the randomization. If the Monster wielding the weapon is chosen, the Weapon is automatically chosen as well. STRATEGIES This particular card file was written primarily to document some clarifications. But, here are a few neat Serpent People strategies. * Get Your Weapons Out - Sometimes, it's hard to play Weapons necessary for Adventures because you don't have Allies out. Serpent People can be used as alternatives. Consider this for Adventures like Arkham Horror and The Unspeakable Oath, which both require multiple weapons. Don't do this with Dynamite you need for an Adventure, since it'll go from the Threat to the Discard pile, and can thus never be used for Adventures. * Get Your Weapons Out Fast - Even better, by playing a Weapon with Serpent People, you save a valuble Turn. For Adventures like Arkham Horror and Theron-Marks Society which require Monsters and Weapons, this is a particular boon. You get to meet two requirements with one play. * Keep Your Weapons Out - It's a little trickier to use Serpent People to set up future Adventures, since they typically go from the Threat to the Story Deck. However, if you want to try this strategy, put the Kitab Al-Azif in your Deck. You'll be able to play Serpent People complete with Weapons straight to your Ally area, ready for future adventures. Serpent People work particularly well with certain weapons: * Serpent People + Cast-Iron Skillet - If you've got a Skillet in your hand, you might as well give it to Serpent People. When the combat ends, and the Serpent People card is buried, you get to hand the Skillet off to someone else, meaning you got a totally free point of damage. * Serpent People + Crystal Sword - Usually it's not that great of an idea to give Serpent People Enchanted Weapons (as noted below). The Crystal Sword is a possible exception though. If you think an opponent is going to defend with a Corrupt Ally, you can suprise them and sneak a few extra points of damage through, since they won't see the Sword coming. * Serpent People + Dynamite - 2 Sanity. 9 Damage. Boom! The Serpent People and Dynamite are discarded, but so what. In a 2-play game, this combo can be deadly. With more players, it's a real nice defense. * Serpent People + Lightning Gun - Another exception to the Enchanted Weapon rule for Serpent People. If an opponent is being annoying with his Artifacts, you can sneak the Lightning Gun through with Serpent People gun smugglers. Your opponent never knows it's there until it's revealed. * Serpent People + Shot Gun - The idea here was that you get to play two cards, totalling five damage, and it costs you a sum of zero Sanity. Unfortunately, this doesn't really disguise anything from the opponent since you have to point out the two cards count as one, so it's pretty obvious you put down Serpent People with a weapon. Still, don't discount it totally, as it allows you to offset the Sanity Loss of your Serpent People, and still make them better. Other +1 Sanity Weapons are the Cast-Iron Skillet and the War Horse. See above for the Skillet. The War Horse is a waste because you can't use its power to get another weapon down. And, as has already been noted, Serpent People don't work well with Enchanted Weapons. Here's why: * Serpent People + Enchanted Weapons - Enchanted Weapons are typically more costly than comparable unEnchanted Weapons due to the fact that they have two special abilities: their wielders can be added to the Threat, and their wielders can see Invisible Monsters. Unfortunately, these abilities are totally useless to Serpent People already in the Threat, so all you're doing is giving them a less powerful or more costly weapon, without receiving any benefit. Save Enchanted Weapons for Allies not in the Threat, except maybe for the exceptions noted above. COUNTER STRATEGIES Serpent People are pretty easy to Counter: * Summon/Control Lesser Independent - If your opponent is sitting at an Artifact/Gate Location, plays two (or more cards), and points to two in the set, and says "These count as one card", you know what's going on. If you cast a spell to Control a Lesser Independent, it is guaranteed to work. And, you might get lucky and get the one with the Weapon. -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views or beliefs of Chaosium Inc. To submit an article, subscribe or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.