Chaosium Digest Volume 24, Number 5 Date: Sunday, March 15, 1998 Number: 3 of 3 Contents: Don't Let Them Interfere (Guy Hail) MYTHOS Power Beyond Your Wildest Dreams (Guy Hail) MYTHOS CF: Gate of Deeper Slumber (Robin Wardle) MYTHOS -------------------- From: Subject: Don't Let Them Interfere System: Mythos Don't Let Them Interfere While it was always possible to exploit the advantages of casting Spells and using Artifacts in the Combat phase of a turn, cards in the New AEon edition of Mythos provide the clearest advantages yet. In Combat a player may use any Artifact or Spell capable of being used in the Combat phase (the effects of some spells aren't applicable in combat -- Grasp of Cthulhu, for example; the special effects of others forbid their use in combat). If one's deck holds The Time Machine, Anti-Gravity Harness, or the Sphere of Nath, use the artifact in Combat when opponents are unable to play Yithian Mental Contact or take other measures to mitigate the card's effect. The Spell Use & Artifact Use phase of combat permits rapid play of cards that, were those cards played as a turn, would allow and encourage opponents to interfere with their play. For example, travelling to a Sanitarium or to another region. Instead of using a player-turn to travel to a distant region and back to fulfill an adventure requirement (for example, the two different region requirement of The Strange Case of Charles Fort or the Lair requirement of Carter's Quest), use the non-summoning Song of the Stellar Larvae Spell, which despite its name permits the use of several Monsters as travel Events. With two copies of this Spell it is possible to travel to almost anywhere (the Monsters have different restrictions on their travel abilities) and to return while one's opponents, who aren't prepared to use Artifacts or Spells, sit stunned. Other spells very useful in Spell Use phase of Combat: Chant of Thoth, Create Time Warp, Darkness of the Void, Devolution, Call the Unnamed One, Chronoportation, Fly, Keenness of Two Alike, and Monatomic Translocation (to name a few) can be used to move to a new Location, change day to night, add an Ally, or play a Monster as an Ally, and the only thing one's opponents can do about it is use Chime of Tzechaptl, a rare card found only in the Limited Edition that permits the cancellation of a just cast spell! (Note the similar B-Movie Script can't be used because it is a Tome, and there is no Tome use phase of Combat.) In one game I stayed at Yuggoth for several turns. Yuggoth's special effect is to permit the addition to one's hand of two cards from one's Mythos deck. Everyone had thought I'd gone mad: I'd have to discard those cards at the end of the Round. And I would have discarded those cards, except I drew two Sanitariums, both of which required the loss of a turn, and several Allies that I'd like to have in play. During Combat, I used my Spells in play (including Song of the Stellar Larvae, Monatomic Translocation, and Keeness of Two Alike) to travel via Byakhee to both Sanitariums consecutively, play an Ally at the Sanitarium in Paris, then use Monatomic to move to a third Location. Not only did I rapidly gain Sanity (though I'd lose my first two turns in the next round), but because I aimed to complete the Knee-Deep in Doom adventure, through use of Song of the Stellar Larvae, I put eight points of Monsters into my Story Deck. Don't forget to use the special effects of Artifacts, Allies, or Tomes in Combat, and always, Sanity permitting, cast as many spells as possible. * * * G R Hail grhail@aol.com -------------------- From: Subject: Power Beyond Your Wildest Dream System: Mythos Power Beyond Your Wildest Dream Remortification The Remortification Spell is nearly the most powerful Spell in the Limited Edition Mythos. Trade for this card if you haven't one. Here are its vital statistics: Sanity Cost: -2 Spell Type: Skull (formerly Death) Edition: Legends of the Necronomicon Artist: Michael Kellner Attribute: Affects Target Investigator's Allies Special Effect: Just after Combat is concluded, all Allies lost during this Round's Combat rise against the Investigator whose Threat caused their demise. That Investigator may use his or her Allies in defense. The special effect seems straight forward enough. If I cast Remortification on myself, then in combat if a Monster causes Raymond Legrasse to be buried, before he is buried Raymond Legrasse attacks the Investigator whose threat causes him to be buried. Example: Libby: I aim my threat at you. Guy: I defend with Raymond Legrasse. Guy: I cast Remortification on myself. Libby: It's a Deep One (value 1) Guy: I wasted two points. Ray (value 3) is still buried. But: before he's buried he attack you with a three-point attack. Libby: I lose three Sanity. Now for some clarity. While a player may use Allies to defend against the Remortified Allies, only those Allies selected to defend in the ally commit phase of combat may do so! Furthermore, these allies committed earlier must have survived combat themselves and have been comitted to defend against an attack by the player who owns the Remortified Allies. The commit ally phase of combat occurs before the spell & artifact use phase, thus players who suspect Remortification may be used must commit their allies prior to the use of the spell. For example, if I commit an Ray Stuckey to defend against an attack from John, but Libby's Remortified Allies attack me, Ray Stuckey can't defend against Libby's Remortified Allies. Another surprise: if a Monster is in play as an Ally (for example, a Mi-Go), or if an Artifact is in play as an Ally (for example, Tank), then these unnatural Allies, if scheduled to be buried as part of combat, may be Remortified and attack the Investigator whose threat they defended against! Their natural card type as Monster or Artifact does not return until the card is buried in the Story Deck. Remortification has a side effect. The target is all of an Investigator's Allies, not a particular subset of them committed to defend against a player's directed threats. If I have three allies in defense against three different players, all three players may be attacked by my allies, each ally attacking the Investigator whose threat caused my ally to be buried. Let's You & Him Fight: Remortificaton can target any Investigator, not just yourself. If Libby is using her Deep One-Father Dagon-Mother Hydra combination to attack John, and John is defending with Raymond LeGrasse & Ray Stucky, I may cast Remortification on John. When Libby's Monsters cause Raymond LeGrasse & Ray Stucky to be buried, Remortification causes these two Allies to attack Libby prior to their burial. The trick: if somone defends with a large number of Allies against a Threat, those Allies can be involuntarily used to lower the Sanity of the player owning the Threat, perhaps to the point of Insanity! And it only costs the player casting Remortification two points of Sanity. GRHAIL@AOL.COM -------------------- From: Robin Wardle Subject: CF: Gate of Deeper Slumber System: Mythos ** THE CARD FILES: GATE OF DEEPER SLUMBER ** by Robin Wardle THE CARD ======== Name: Gate of Deeper Slumber Set: Mythos Dreamlands Type: Location Region: The West Subregion: Oukranos Wilds Location Attributes: Gate, Country, Site Public Attributes: Forest, Inside Sanity Gain/Loss: +1 Dimension: Dreamlands Special Effect Box: You may use this Gate more than once but you must Flip a Dreamer Ally face-down for each subsequent use. THE SOURCE ========== "So asking a formal blessing of the priests and thinking shrewdly on his course, he boldly descended the seven hundred steps to the Gate of Deeper Slumber and set out through the Enchanted Wood." -The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, H.P. Lovecraft CLARIFICATIONS ============== The Gate can be used more than once, as long as an Ally with the Dreamer Attribute is flipped face-down for each use after the first. The following Allies have the Dreamer attribute: Howard Lovecraft (Dreamlands), Randolph Carter (Dreamlands and Limited), Captain of the White Ship, Lin Carter, Basil Elton, and Etienne Laurent de Marigny. All the Allies with the Dreamer Attribute *and* the Dreamlands Attribute can easily be played in the West, where the Gate of Deeper Slumber is situated. QUESTIONS ========= Q: Do I need to flip a Dreamer Ally every time I use the gate? A: You can use the Gate once without flipping a Dreamer Ally face-down. You may then re-use the gate any number of times, but must flip a Dreamer Ally face-down each time you re-use it. Q: Do I receive the +1 SAN bonus every time I use the gate, just as I lose one SAN for every use of other reusable Gates, such as 197 E. Pickman St.? A: No. You receive +1 SAN when you arrive at the Location. The cost of reusing the Gate at the Gate of Deeper Slumber is flipping a Dreamer Ally face-down. Q: Does the Gate of Deeper Slumber count as a Gate for certain Adventure requirements? A: Yes, but only because it actually has a Gate swirl, not because it has the word `Gate' in the title. Partial titles don't count for Adventure requirements; this is in the FAQ. If the Location somehow loses the Gate Attribute (as your Current Location) it does not satisfy the Adventure Gate requirement. STRATEGIES ========== * Monster, Monster, Monster! - Because Allies can be flipped face-up as a Turn, having even one Ally with the Dreamer Attribute in play may be enough to allow the play of all Monsters in your hand during that round. Flipping an Ally face-up as a Turn and then re-using the Gate is as efficient as moving to a new Location with an unused Gate if you have no fast Travel Events (such as Zebra). * Card Advantage - Although one Ally with the Dreamer Attribute is enough to allow multiple use of this Gate, being able to flip multiple Allies to reuse the Gate many times is the preferred way of doing it. Being able to achieve this just once in a game might be enough to clear your hand of cards, giving you the edge over your opponents. From a defensive point of view, the Gate of Deeper Slumber is an Inside Country Location which avoids the main Phobia afflicting decks with Country Locations, Agoraphobia. * Knee Deep in Doom - A reusable gate which has a 1 SAN *gain*> to visit is ideal for Knee-Deep in Doom. The 1 SAN gain offsets the cost of one monster played at the gate and the gate re-use penalty does not cost any extra SAN, unlike all Waking World Locations except for Stonehenge. So how easy is it to find Dreamer Allies in order to make free use of the Gate? Howard Lovecraft and Randolph Carter are very easy to play in Oukranos Wilds; The Captain of the White Ship can be played in most of the rest of The West. These three Allies are staple inclusions in many Dreamlands decks which makes the reuse of the Gate almost effortless. Any of the other Allies which can be played in Oukranos Wilds (including Allies playable at Sites and Country Locations) can easily be given the Dreamer Attribute using the Wine of Pnoth, which also provides a +1 SAN bonus, further reducing the cost of playing those expensive Knee-Deep in Doom Monsters. * The Great Menagerie - This Adventure becomes very much easier if The Gate of Deeper Slumber is used as one of the prime sites for playing Monsters. In addition to the Monster requirements, this Adventure also requires an Adventurer or Explorer. In Dreamlands, this requirement is met by Iranon the Explorer (Any Site) and The Hunter (Any Country), both playable at The Gate of Deeper Slumber (a Country Site). Play Joined with Randolph Carter and equip them with Wines of Pnoth, and most of the Monsters for this Adventure could be played in one Round. The only disadvantage to using the Gate of Deeper Slumber in The Great Menagerie is that it is not an Outside Location and as such, it is probably not worth including more than two copies in a deck using this Adventure. * The Hunter - The Special Ability of The Hunter allows him to be buried to eliminate the SAN cost of playing any one Monster to the Threat. The cost of playing all those Monsters for Knee-Deep in Doom or The Great Menagerie is reduced even more! * West is Best - If you're going to base all or part of a deck's strategy around The Gate of Deeper Slumber, it's worth thinking about going the whole way and using other locations in Oukranos Wilds and The West. It's commonly assumed that Country Regions are too slow and should be avoided, but Oukranos Wilds has the much-overlooked Zoog Chieftain to speed up movement, and Zebras can allow you to really fly through the deck. Many of the West Locations give +1 SAN, reducing the need for those dangerous card-discarding Temples, and many also have the Gate Attribute. Lastly, Oukranos wilds is home to the excellent Old Woman of the Enchanted Wood, a superbly annoying discard card. * Chorazin - One of the main problems with GOOs is that you must use a Gate to play them. It's often a dilemma whether to play the GOO or a defensive Monster when faced with large opposing Threats; playing the GOO might leave you open to attack, while playing the monster uses up your Gate (which may be very specific to the GOO) and wastes the opportunity. The Gate of Deeper Slumber allows you to play both, one after the other, as long as you've a Dreamer Ally. Regrettably, the only GOO requiring a specific location playable at the Gate of Deeper Slumber is Chorazin (Dreamlands Site / Lunar Eclipse). Where might playing Chorazin be useful then? That's right, The Great Menagerie; being able to use a GOO as one of the Monster subtypes is very helpful, and can provide quite a surprise. COUNTER STRATEGIES ================== The best strategies to use against (ab)use of The Gate of Deeper Slumber are anti-Location strategies, anti-Ally strategies, and generic anti-Monster strategies. * Anti-Location Strategies - Wave of Oblivion, Green Mist of Doom, Cthulhu Rising (although this latter attack will only bury it). These discard methods may be a bit extreme, as The Gate is not needed for any Dreamlands Adventures and is just an efficient Monster producer, so Burying will be just as effective. Townsfolk Riot will drive them away. Yithian Mental Contact is *not* a good idea, as your opponent may be waiting for that final Monster to enter his or her Story Deck ... playing YMC just as your opponent arrives at the Location is ok though. Two cards from New Aeon which are particularly effective against this multiple-use Gate are Media Hyperbole and Serial Killer, both of which are playable in any Dimension. * Anti-Ally Strategies - If your opponent has no Dreamer Allies, he or she cannot re-use the gate. Use Ally Buriers such as Harney Reginald Opens Fire, or steal the Wines of Pnoth with Mi-Go, Thieves in Your Attic, or similar. Epidemics are an especially efficient method of slowing down this strategy, particularly Dysentery. Television (from New Aeon) will flip face-down all allies and keep them there; the Gate of Deeper Slumber is not a Tome location, so a Day event or the end of the Round is necessary to free them up again. All usual methods such as Black Binding will work too, but beware that decks using The Great Menagerie and Knee-Deep in Doom will usually put out a decent Threat so Defending Allies might never be affected (and Bypassing Monsters might be suicidal); in this instance New Aeon cards such as Fragmentation Grenade and Hitman from Medellin are useful. * Anti-Monster Strategies - Use all those surplus Allies and Monsters to your advantage. The Innsmouth Look might just tip the size of the Threat into Instability in the Mythos territory, a situation fairly likely if Knee-Deep in Doom is being played. Ill Omen is another solution to this problem; discarded Monsters will really slow such a deck down. --