CoC - New Cycle of AP's - "The Rituals of the Order"

[fatolaf]

Happy Days!

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce the next intriguing cycle of Asylum Packs for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, The Rituals of the Order. In this expansion cycle, the newly-introduced Order of the Silver Twilight faction will continue to deepen and spread its insidious influence in the form of new cards, new mechanics, and new opportunities to integrate them into Call of Cthulhu metagame.

The Rituals of the Order also features a number of faction-defining events, characters, and support cards that examine the core of what makes each faction great and then adds some exciting new dimensions. For more on what The Rituals of the Order has to offer, we have invited developer James Hata to talk about what is coming in this expansion:

The Rituals of the Order Cycle will have several mechanical focuses that I want to touch upon today.

The major mechanical focus of the cycle is to establish where each faction's range of abilities lie in a world with 8 factions. A large portion of this set is dedicated to re-establish what each faction is about and to return each faction to its basic "roots."(For example, Syndicate's emphasis on skill manipulation and exhausting opponent's characters). There is also an emphasis placed on card effects that interact with some of the major subtypes associated with each faction - from the well known Investigator subtype to lesser-established Criminals.

The secondary focus of the Rituals of the Order cycle is providing tools for the new Order of the Silver Twilight faction to work well with each of the other existing 7 factions into the game. There are several different types of synergies between this faction and the existing factions in the game and vice versa. This is an important step taken in order to integrate the Silver Twilight Order as a complete faction into the full Call of Cthulhu experience.

The final focus of the cycle is related to the previous point: this cycle is intended to help the Silver Twilight catch up with the existing factions in terms of number of total cards. The distribution in this cycle will be unique in that the neutral slots will be largely taken over by the Silver Twilight Lodge faction. The plan is that by the end of this cycle, the Silver Twilight Lodge will have several different strategies that the players can explore - in combination with other factions or even on their own.

Special thanks to James Hata for illuminating the Rituals of the Order.

Also included in this cycle is a compelling new serial tale by Jeff Tidball. Lucy Jennings, debutante and heiress, has stepped out of a comfortable world of wealth and privilege, past the threshold of a new and deadlier dimension.

Starting this Winter with The Twilight Beckons, The Rituals of the Order will draw you into the real world behind the veil of illusion and ignorance that shrouds ordinary life. Will what you find there bring you face-to-face with your true self, or only drive you beyond madness?

[fatolaf]

And the first AP in the cycle is:

"A library can be a very dangerous place," Dart said with a twinkle.
"I've been told knowledge is the most valuable of all currencies," Lucy responded.
"Knowledge is a two-edged sword," Dart replied flatly. "Certain things can't be unlearned."
- From The Veil of Knowledge, part one of The Rituals of the Order, by Jeff Tidball

A society debutante is invited to a private party featuring the city's most powerful and notorious players, those who can decide the fate of millions in hushed tones in a smoke-filled study. Is the invitation merely a casual welcome to a fellow member of the elite, or is it a subtle test, the failure of which would result in diabolical consequences?

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce the latest Asylum Pack for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, The Twilight Beckons, the first chapter of an exciting new expansion cycle, The Rituals of the Order, beginning this Winter. Following in the footsteps of the forthcoming The Order of the Silver Twilight expansion, which introduces the Order of the Silver Twilight faction to the Call of Cthulhu metagame, the Rituals of the Order cycle will continue expanding the Order while simultaneously deepening and strengthening the game's existing factions.

Among the power brokers, initiates, and servitors of the Order of the Silver Twilight featured in this cycle, players of Call of Cthulhu will also find new synergy among Criminals, Government, Students, and other subtypes, as well as devastating Disaster, debilitating Madness, and destructive Artifacts.

A new serial tale also begins in this Asylum Pack as Lucy Jennings, a high-society heiress, too curious for her own good, is drawn behind the shadowy veil into an entirely new world of power and privilege.

The Twilight Beckons is a fixed 60 card Asylum Pack that contains three copies each of 20 different, never-before-seen cards based on the dark mythos of master horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, designed to augment existing decks and add variety to the Call of Cthulhu metagame.

The veil has been pulled back and the Silver Twilight beckons! Will you join? Or will you die?

[Mike]

I'm disappointed with these new titles.

Im sure the cards are fine.... but the last lot sounded WAY smuttier!!

[fatolaf]

Give it time Mike...

[fatolaf]

Some sneak peeks from the first of the new AP's...

That Crawford Tilinghast should ever have studied science and philosophy was a mistake. These things should be left to the frigid and impersonal investigator for they offer two equally tragic alternatives to the man of feeling and action; despair, if he fails in his quest, and terrors unutterable and unimaginable if he succeeds.
     – H.P. Lovecraft, From Beyond

As card types go, Events are the most fleeting. You play them, they do their thing and most of the time they go to the discard pile. Unlike Character and Support cards they don't keep a physical presence on the table. To make it worth it, events need to achieve some kind of short-term goal, or leave a lasting impression. To make up for this fleetingness they tend to be powerful and destructive. It also helps that in general they can be played at any time, often catching opponents by surprise.

It's the surprise that makes Event cards powerful. It's the last line of defense when you absolutely need to throw a wrench in your opponents' plans. All it takes is a card like In an Unmarked Grave (Sleep of the Dead, F88) to suddenly make you face the abyss alone. Even though they are just temporary effects, most decks will have at least a few events like this just to be sure.

All this tampering with space-time will not go unnoticed, though. Such a concentrated burst of card power, through the magical process of thaumogenesis and the will of Yog-Sothoth could result in unleashing one or more Intruders from Beyond (The Twilight Beckons, F19.) While their stats aren't earth-shattering, they can be played in any deck and they trigger on something that should come up in most games, often at critical moments. And it's free!

One event that has been a staple of its faction for years is Shocking Transformation (Core Set, F140) which allows you to find and put into play almost anything. The only ones out of reach are the Ancient Ones. The next card I'm going to show you does just that. Sure, it has some additional requirements. It needs three sacrifices instead of just one, and they all need to be cultists. And you'll need to have Cthulhu in your hand for it to work; To pull it off early you'll literally need a god-hand.

If you can manage it to work, you'll have a pretty nasty surprise ready, though, as being ambushed by Cthulhu isn't how most investigators hope things would end. How could they have guessed what was lurking Underneath the Surface (The Twilight Beckons, F5)?

While the requirements seem harsh, a lot of cards are already in a deck running ancient ones. The usual suspects in the form of cost reduction already have the Cultist subtype most of the time. Brood of Yig (Whispers in the Dark, F4) is quickly becoming a staple in most Cthulhu based decks, and also shares the Cultist subtype along with his younger brother Degenerate Serpent Cultist (The Wailer Below, F63) so including a lot of cultists isn't much of a stretch.

The triple sacrifice can be used to power up Ritual of the Lance (The Order of the Silver Twilight, F42) acting as insurance should Cthulhu be send back below the waves. And you cultists will start to draw a lot of the fire, now that things could get dangerous once their number reaches three ensuring the Cthulhu's mid-tier of monsters, Deep Ones and Serpents to live a little longer. Cultists will shine a little more in the future, as a theme and subtype so everything will become even more seamless as time goes on.

With Intruders from Beyond and Cthulhu now suddenly appearing when you least expect it, watch your step!

[fatolaf]

A really nice Syndicate card for the pack

The upcoming The Twilight Beckons asylum pack has something that can keep the exhaustion flowing. Small Time Magician (The Twilight Beckons, F17) does for your criminals what the protégé does for victory: Resetting them to your hand so you can use them again.

Your exhaustion team aren't the only criminals that benefit from this avenue of escape: Clover Club Executive (Sleep of the Dead, F85) can be very disruptive, and forcing players to keep their hand size low is a good way to goad them into making mistakes.

There are not a lot of criminals outside of The Syndicate and the few that are don't have much synergy with the Magician. Hired Muscle (Core Set, F8) does, however, due to his toughness keyword. When the muscle takes a wound, Small Time Magician can help erase it. This goes for all your criminals when you apply some Dutch Courage (Core Set, F73).