“I am the chooser of the slain.” – Valkyrie

Appointed as leader of the legendary Valkyrior by Odin, Brunnhilde defied the All-Father’s wishes by leaving Asgard to join the Avengers. Since that day, she has dedicated herself to the defense of Midgard as the valiant Valkyrie!

Fantasy Flight Games is excited to announce the Valkyrie Hero Pack for Marvel Champions: The Card Game!

As a member of the mighty Valkyrior, Valkyrie charges into battle in this expansion pack, which introduces her as a brand-new playable hero along with her sixteen signature cards. With a pre-built Aggression deck ready to go, you can take a stab at Valkyrie’s dueling-focused gameplay from the moment you open the box. With strong attacks and plenty of stat boosts, this is one Asgardian that you won’t want to mess with!

Flight of the Valkyrior

As a “chooser of the slain,” Valkyrie’s playstyle revolves around marking her enemies for death. This is represented with her special signature upgrade,

Death-Glow

(Valkyrie, 2), which starts the game set aside out of play.

While in her hero form,

Valkyrie

 (Valkyrie, 1A) can play Death-Glow as if it’s in her hand. She can attach it to any enemy she wants, marking them as her next foe to vanquish. If you mark a minion, then Valkyrie can ready for free after she defeats that minion. Combine that with the effects of cards like

Valhalla

(Valkyrie, 4), and Valkyrie can build up some serious minion-slaying momentum.

Even if there are no minions to mark, Death-Glow still has plenty of uses. Valkyrie’s signature weapons,

Dragonfang

 (Valkyrie, 6) and

Valkyrie’s Spear

 (Valkyrie, 5), provide significant boosts to her stats against the foe marked with Death-Glow. Meanwhile,

Shieldmaiden

(Valkyrie, 11) can be used to protect an ally (or herself) against the marked enemy’s attack without needing to exhaust Valkyrie in the process. Even without these defense-boosting cards, Valkyrie can take plenty of hits from the villain with her trusty steed

Aragorn

(Valkyrie, 7) at her side. Finally, once some minions enter play, Valkyrie can flip back to

Brunnhilde

(Valkyrie, 1B) to recuperate from her duel and detach Death-Glow from the villain; that way, when she flips to hero form once more, she can use it to help her clean up the riffraff!

Valkyrie’s playstyle lends itself to dueling enemies one at a time, but villains won’t always let you fight entirely on your own terms. Thankfully, Valkyrie comes with plenty of other cards in her pre-built deck to help her keep the enemy on their toes. Scrappy allies like

Thor

(Valkyrie, 13) and

Throg

(Valkyrie, 14) can deal with minions that you don’t have time for, and events like

The Best Defense…

(Valkyrie, 20) and

Smash the Problem

(Valkyrie, 19) can take advantage of Valkyrie’s solid attack stat to slow the villain’s momentum. If Valkyrie is exhausted and Death-Glow is attached to a minion, use

Quick Strike

(Valkyrie, 18) to defeat that minion and trigger Death-Glow’s ability, letting you ready back up and keep fighting!

Chooser of the Slain

Whether you pick off minions one-by-one or hone your attention on the villain itself, Valkyrie’s focused assault makes her a potent hero perfectly at home on the front lines of any team. With the rise of the Mad Titan Thanos and his obsession with death, it’s only fitting that Valkyrie remind him who is the real chooser of the slain!

You can pre-order your own copy of the Valkyrie Hero Pack (MC25en) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

Discuss this article
in our forums!

Back in June, we announced Unfathomable, the latest board game of traitors and terror in the Arkham Horror Files universe. A few weeks ago, we introduced you all to the ten playable characters in this game and gave you a glimpse into their strengths and abilities. Today, we’re providing a brief look at what the actual gameplay of Unfathomable entails, including the various twists and turns that will unfold in any given play session. Read on to discover what depths of terror await in this thrilling game!

Starting the Voyage

At the very beginning of the game, after everyone has chosen their character and received their corresponding item and feat, each player is randomly dealt a loyalty card. This card, as you might expect, determines where your loyalties lie, and ultimately decides what needs to happen in order for you to win the game.

Your loyalties remain a secret from the other players—it’s against the rules to ask someone whether they are a human or hybrid, and you can’t show the others what your loyalty card is unless you become a revealed traitor (more on that later).

For human players to win, the SS Atlantica needs to make it all the way to Boston. For hybrid players to win, they simply need to stop the ship from reaching port. If any one of the Atlantica’s four resources is reduced to zero, the ship becomes too damaged, or the supply of Deep Ones runs out, then the ship is lost at sea and the traitors win!

Against the Odds

Once everyone has their loyalty cards, then the game can begin. At the start of each player’s turn, they receive five skill cards. The types of skill cards they draw correspond to the skill set on their character sheet, and these cards can be used in a number of different ways, some of which we’ll cover below.

William Bowleg draws 3 lore and 2 will cards at the start of his turn.

During their turn, each player can perform two actions. These can be used to do things like attack a Deep One, move around the ship, rescue passengers, use an ability, and more. Players may find themselves using skill cards to aid them in their tasks—for example, if Arjun Singh attacks a Deep One but does not roll high enough on the die to defeat it, he or another player could play

Combat Training

to take another shot. There’s a lot to do on the Atlantica, especially while it’s being overrun by eldritch monsters, so you’ll want to make the most out of what you have!

That said, make sure you conserve some of your skill cards, since you will need them to help with skill checks. While performing certain actions or resolving a crisis, the game may call for a skill check, listing two or more of the five skill types (influence, lore, observation, strength, and will) as the supporting skills for that test. Each player has the opportunity to contribute any number of skill cards to that test, playing them all face-down in a pile. The game also tosses two cards from a chaos deck into the mix, which could be of any skill type and may positively or negatively affect the result of the check.

Once everyone has contributed (or chosen not to), the cards are shuffled and then revealed; any skill card of the same type as one of the supporting skills adds its value to the total result, while any card not of the supporting skills subtracts its value! Once the final total has been determined, players compare it to the target number listed in the skill check—if they meet or exceed that value, then they pass the check! If not, the check fails and the players suffer the consequences.

Skill checks can occasionally provide opportunities for the players to gain some resources or advance the ship on its journey to Boston. However, they also provide opportunities for hidden traitors to sabotage the ship. For example, each player’s turn ends with the mythos step, which unveils a crisis that the players work together to resolve. More often than not, these will force the players to perform a skill check, typically with dire consequences if they fail. If a traitor contributes the wrong type of skills to the check, they could easily reduce the result below the target number, pushing the Atlantica ever closer toward its doom.

Adding to the intensity, once a crisis has been resolved, enemy activations occur. At the bottom of each crisis card, there is an icon representing which type of monster activates because of that card. For example, after resolving

Hull Leak

, the Deep Ones activate, while

Food Stores Raid

will activate Father Dagon. Activating Deep Ones will have them leap aboard the Atlantica, and any that are already on the ship will attack players and passengers in their space or advance inward to damage the ship. Activating Father Dagon spawns additional Deep Ones directly onto the ship, while activating Mother Hydra damages the ship directly. Remember, if the ship takes too much damage, then the human players lose the game!

Thankfully, each crisis also advances one of the game’s two tracks: the travel track or the ritual track. Each track has its own corresponding token to represent the Atlantica’s progress on either its voyage to Boston or its casting of a greater banishment spell.

When the token on the travel track reaches the “Arrive” space, the players have made it one step closer to reaching Boston. The captain looks at the top two cards of the waypoint deck and chooses one to resolve. The resolved waypoint cards stay in play, and the numbers on them represent the distance that the Atlantica has traveled so far. Each waypoint card has a distance value ranging from 2 to 4, and when the combined total distance of all resolved waypoints equals 12 or more, the humans just need to get the travel token to the Arrive space one more time. If they do that, the Atlantica makes it to Boston, and the humans win!

The ritual track

Meanwhile, when the ritual token reaches the “Cast” space at the end of the ritual track, the greater banishment spell commences. This is a massive arcane pulse that instantly clears the Atlantica’s decks and the surrounding ocean of any Deep Ones that may be there, as well as (temporarily) sending both Mother Hydra and Father Dagon back to the Deep. However, the spell is dangerous; any humans, including the passengers you are trying to protect, that are caught outside when the spell is cast are also instantly defeated. Player characters are sent to Sick Bay while passengers are removed from the game, taking some of the ship’s precious resources with them. Only by being in one of the ship’s internal spaces will someone be safe from the spell, which means that casting the spell at the wrong time could end up doing more harm than good!

There is one more twist to consider while struggling to survive on this ship: while you may begin the game as a human, it is entirely possible that you may awaken to your true identity as a Deep One hybrid halfway through. This is fittingly called the awakening phase, and it takes place as soon as the Atlantica has traveled a total distance of 6 or more.

In the awakening phase, everyone is dealt one more loyalty card. Anyone who gains a hybrid loyalty card during this stage must now play as a traitor for the rest of the game, even if they were human up to that point. This phase drives home the point that you can never really trust anyone, because you never know when they may turn against you!

The Traitor Revealed

During their turn, a hybrid player may decide that keeping their identity a secret is no longer beneficial. When that happens, they can use an action to reveal as a traitor. Doing so will shake up the game in a number of ways, with the first (and most obvious) being the character’s reveal ability.

This is the reveal ability for Arjun Singh.

These are single-use abilities that fire off as soon as a traitor reveals themselves, and they can have devastating effects for the humans if used at the right time. For example,

Arjun Singh

can reset the travel track when he reveals, which can be a huge setback to the humans’ progress if triggered right before the token reaches the Arrive space.

After triggering their reveal ability, the revealed traitor passes their extra loyalty card to another player. If they managed to get more than one hybrid loyalty card between setup and the awakening phase, then they can give their extra card (without revealing it to the other players) to someone to transform them into a hybrid as well. As if a traitor revealing wasn’t bad enough, this passing of the loyalty cards adds more tension to the game as human players wonder if a trusted ally was just turned against them.

After revealing as a traitor, the hybrid is then able to use treachery cards in place of normal skill cards, if they wish. These cards can activate monsters, reduce the ship’s resources, or cause other issues for the humans, and they can be contributed to skill checks to sabotage the results.

These are just two examples of the dastardly tricks in the treachery deck.

However, revealing as a traitor does have a cost. Once your identity as a hybrid is known, you no longer draw mythos cards at the end of your turn, which limits the number of crises that can hinder the humans. In addition, revealed traitors can only contribute a single skill card to skill checks, and since the other players know that you will try to sabotage it, they will plan accordingly when contributing their own cards. Finally—and perhaps most importantly—you lose access to your character abilities when you are a revealed traitor, which means you will have to change how you play your turn for the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, the human players may take the opportunity to remove a revealed traitor from the equation, if only temporarily. Humans can attack hybrids just as they would a Deep One, and if the hybrid is defeated then they are sent to the Brig, which limits their options. Knowing the identity of a traitor also means the human players can rally together and push even harder for victory.

However, the humans should be careful. A traitor does not need to reveal themselves to win the game, which means even if one hybrid is revealed, another could still be working to sabotage the humans from the shadows, their plots unnoticed until it’s too late.

A Tide of Terror

This has been a relatively brief look at the deep (no pun intended) gameplay of Unfathomable. If you find yourself hungry for more, keep an eye on FFG’s social media accounts for further upcoming news. And when you’re ready to tackle Deep Ones—or join them—yourself, be sure to pick up your own copy of Unfathomable when it arrives this fall!

You can pre-order your own copy of Unfathomable (UNF01) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

Discuss this article
in our forums!

The Kaiu Wall has been breached, and Akuma-no-Oni’s forces are ravaging the Empire…but not all is lost! The heroes of Rokugan have set aside their differences and banded together against this common foe. During this time of unusual unity between the clans, the Regent has seen fit to issue one final update to the Imperial Law, in an effort to maintain fun and balance should the clans (inevitably) return to their bitter conflicts. You can find an updated Rules Reference, Imperial Law, and Draft Rules documents now available for download under the Support Section here, as well as the complete Under Fu Leng’s Shadow rulebook to support challenge and cooperative play.

Compiled Rules

The most sizable update to the Rules Reference is the addition of the new rules and mechanics from the Temptations Cycle and Under Fu Leng’s Shadow expansions. These include the corrupted and dire keywords, as well as the tainted status token and the rules for conflicts at multiple provinces. Additionally, the card clarifications found in the Temptations Cycle rules inserts have been included in the Rules Reference so that they can easily be found by players.

None of these updates change the game, but hopefully they will make it easier for players to look up rules as they are needed during play.

Functioning As Intended

For a game with as many moving parts as L5R, even simple abilities can often have unintended—and undesirable—side effects. As the game does need to remain technically sound even in extreme corner cases, a handful of cards have received errata to function within the rules as they were intended to.

• The Western Wind

  (The Temptation of the Scorpion, 85) does not clarify whether the cards placed into the chosen province are faceup or facedown. As they were intended to be put into the province faceup (to be played or put into play by card effects), the event now places them faceup.

• A pair of

  Shosuro Deceivers

  (Coils of Power, 96), both of which are dishonored and one of which has a useful ability-granting attachment (such as

  Way With Words

  (In Pursuit of Truth, 69)) can achieve a game state where they have an infinite number of copies of a particular ability. While this is a difficult-to-achieve situation, it is convoluted enough and potentially powerful enough as to require an errata preventing Shosuro Deceiver from gaining the abilities of another Shosuro Deceiver.

• Calling the Storm

  requires you discard your hand as the cost to play the card. As the ruling on

  Chancellor’s Aide

  (Clan War, 30) indicates that Calling the Storm is still considered to be in a player’s hand while paying that card’s cost, this would result in Calling the Storm discarding itself and failing to resolve. It has been fixed to work as intended.

• Akuma no Oni

  (Under Fu Leng’s Shadow, 1A) requires the players choose characters to be bowed during the dynasty phase. Nothing prevents the players from all selecting the same character, however, which breaks the spirit of the cooperative challenge. His ability has been errata’ed to now require each player select a different valid character to be bowed, but also allows the ability to resolve even if insufficient targets exist in play.

• Finally,

  Procedural Interference

  has received a balance errata to prevent its controller from selecting the stronghold province and thus taking away the opponent’s opportunity to prevent the honor-gain. Procedural Interference would not be a fair card if it said, “Pay 0 fate to gain 2 honor” as that would quickly lead to an uninteractive honor victory, and so it can no longer achieve that result by targeting the stronghold province.

Free Cards Are Too Strong

While this header might be obvious, it is the impetus behind a number of additions to the Stronghold and Skirmish ban and restricted lists. A handful of cards from the Dominion and Temptations Cycles, intended to bolster new play styles or support clans that were underrepresented, provide players with an efficient way to gain card advantage over their opponent with no cost. While this can be fine in small volumes (such as

Imperial Storehouse

(Core, 129)) or under strict conditions (as with

Battle Meditation

(Coils of Power, 100)), these five cards represent too-easy access to cards and thus have unbalanced the clan metagame and proliferated problematic playstyles.

Wealth of the Crane

(In Pursuit of Truth, 63),

Ki Alignment

(A Crimson Offering, 60), and

Calling the Storm

(Coils of Power, 106) have all been banned in the Stronghold format, with Calling the Storm also being banned in the Skirmish format.

Logistics

(Spreading Shadows, 45) and

Exposed Courtyard

(Atonement, 122) have both been added to the restricted list.

Wealth of the Crane, while succeeding at its objective of providing more selection in the dynasty cards for a particular style of Crane-based deck, has proven to be too effective in concert with the game’s wide suite of holdings. Holdings are a card type that inherently provides players with free value, but at the theoretical opportunity cost of drawing fewer dynasty cards each round. Wealth of the Crane entirely mitigates that opportunity cost by both searching out the desired holdings and then by refilling the holdings’ provinces with characters once the holdings are in play. In a late game scenario, or in certain deck archetypes, Wealth of the Crane can even be free! To prevent players from building near-unbreakable province formations at near-minimal cost, Wealth of the Crane has been banned.

Ki Alignment was initially designed to be the “glue” for Monk/Kihō decks, allowing them to compete alongside the most powerful competitive archetypes. It turns out that with several other powerful kihō that were recently printed, along with the ever-present

Void Fist

(All and Nothing, 94), it was less necessary than originally anticipated, and has instead turbo-charged that archetype above its competitors by providing free card advantage with minimal-to-no deckbuilding cost. To bring the Monk/Kihō decks back into alignment with the rest of the field, Ki Alignment has been banned.

Calling the Storm, while an ambitious design that challenged players to risk their entire hand of cards for whatever they could draw off the top of their deck, ultimately could not be supported in a game with as many free cards as L5R. The value of getting an immediate flood of free attachments onto one’s characters can be overwhelming at the start of the game, and the possibility of generating an infinite game-winning combo with Logistics and

Divine Ancestry

(As Honor Demands, 110) was the nail in the coffin for the card. Because it has proven to be far more consistent than it was originally intended to be, Calling the Storm has been banned in both Stronghold and Skirmish.

As the Lion clan often found itself fighting an uphill battle, due to its focus—and in many cases reliance—upon gaining honor, they have received a number of ways to draw cards without bidding for them. The clan has now reached a point where there are too many different ways for the Lion clan to generate free card advantage, and some of them need to be broken up. Specifically, Exposed Courtyard and Logistics work in excellent harmony: the Courtyard enables the free card draw from Logistics, and Logistics allows the Lion player to move the Courtyard away from danger to stay in play longer. And when the Lion player’s provinces are not being pressured, Exposed Courtyard can re-play Logistics to draw a card for free. To break up this synergy, both have been added to the Stronghold restricted list.

A Fresh Draft

Finally, with the full cardpool now released, I took an opportunity to update the Draft Pool found in the online draft rules. You can find the final version of the card pool in the new rules document, and the list of specific card exchanges are listed below.

Renewed Seasons

While this is the final rules and balance update for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game, it is not the final word on the game’s future. Members of the online community have been hard at work iterating on a much more expansive ban/restrict list, titled the “Jade Edict,” which looks to create a slightly lower-powered version of the game. 

It is neither better nor worse than the Imperial Law I have been curating, as it wishes to craft a different game experience, so I encourage members of the online community to also give it a try. I think it looks to be quite a fun alternative!

By virtue of being an LCG, Legend of the Five Rings has always been a game where we made the pieces, but where the players made the game their own. I look forward to seeing what creative new ways the players come up with to have fun with the foundations and cards that we have produced over the past few years. Will it be new fan-made cards? A new format? A rotating seasonal cardpool/ban list? You tell me!

Written by Game Desinger: Tyler Parrot

 

To download the updated Rules Reference, Imperial Law, Draft Rules and Under Fu Leng’s Shadow rulebook documents, click here.

Discuss this article
in our forums!

The steamship Atlantica makes way to Boston, but dark shadows trail the ship, staying just out of sight beneath the waves. Your fellow passengers seem unnaturally fixated, staring out to sea with a silent, desperate longing. Your dreams are plagued by eerie underwater nightmares. And now, a passenger has been murdered. This voyage began like any other, but now it seems that the Atlantica may never reach its destination.

Prepare to dive into Unfathomable, the all-new board game full of hidden loyalties, intrigue, and paranoia, by downloading this exclusive wallpaper for your mobile device. Inspired by the art on the card backs in the game, we’ll be releasing additional wallpapers as we get closer to the release of Unfathomable. Make sure to follow us on our social media channels for all the latest updates!

To download on an iPhone/Android phone, first click on the thumbnail. When you see the full image, press the image and hold until you see “Save Image/Download Image”. Once the image has been saved, you’ll need to set it as a wallpaper in your device’s settings.

 

Click Here to Download

 

Click Here to Download

 

Discuss this article
in our forums!

Check out the latest product from Fantasy Flight Games, now available online through our webstore or at your local retailer!

---

Descent: Legends of the Dark 

For years, your journeys have taken you across the fantasy realm of Terrinoth, venturing into dark forests, shadowy cities, ancient crypts, and misty swamps… but your true legend is about to begin.

Forge your own legend together with your friends as you adventure across the vibrant fantasy realm of Terrinoth in Descent: Legends of the Dark, the definitive cooperative dungeon-crawling board game for one to four players! Powered by its fully integrated free companion app, Descent: Legends of the Dark puts you in the role of a budding hero with their own playstyle and abilities. Together with your unlikely companions, you’ll begin an unexpected adventure—an adventure told across the sixteen quests of the Blood and Flame campaign. Throughout your campaign, you’ll face undead lurking in the mists, demonic barbarians stalking the wilds, and even more terrifying threats. With 46 pieces of 3D terrain and 40 stunning hero and monster miniatures to draw you into the game, your greatest adventure is yet before you!

You can download the free companion app on the iOS App Store, Google Play, Steam and Amazon!

Pick up your own copy of Descent: Legends of the Dark (DLE01) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

 

Discuss this article
in our forums!

You stand in the rain, battered and bloodied, gripping your weapon with aching fingers. Before you writhes a snarling mass of Uthuk berserkers and their sinister commanders; behind you, your companions nurse their wounds as they barely cling to consciousness. You might be able to cut a path through the enemy and get your friends to safety, but you might just as well put yourself in the path of a berserker’s blade. It all comes down to a roll of the dice—the question is, will you take the risk?

The release of Descent: Legends of the Dark is fast approaching, and with it comes epic tales, great battles, and intriguing exploration. Between the savage hordes of Uthuk Y’llan and the undead legions of Waiqar the Undying, our ragtag group of heroes certainly have their work cut out for them. As they explore forbidden dungeons, thwart evil schemes, and gather power and experience, our heroes’ path is plagued with difficult choices that, by the end of their tale, may transform the fate of Terrinoth itself.

To help prepare you for this grand adventure, let’s take a condensed look at the gameplay of Descent, in particular at how a typical player’s turn unfolds and how the app enhances the classic, dungeon-crawling tabletop gameplay fans of the franchise know and love.

The Hero Phase

Each scenario in Descent is played over a series of rounds, and each round begins with the hero phase. Players choose the order in which they take their turns, and this can change from round to round.

During their turn, each player’s hero may perform up to three actions in any order: one maneuver action and two additional actions of their choice. A hero can even perform the same action multiple times; for example, Brynn could perform a fight action twice and then maneuver out of harm’s way (or into it).

So what are these actions that a hero can perform? The simplest and most common is maneuver, which is what allows a hero to move around the map. The distance they can move is based on their speed, represented by the green icon above their health on their character card.

Brynn’s speed is 3, so she can move up to 3 spaces with one maneuver action.

The fight action allows a hero to attack an enemy and attempt to defeat it. There is a wide-ranging rogues gallery in Descent: Legends of the Dark, which means you can expect to be performing this action quite a lot over the course of your campaign! We’ll go over an example of an attack later in this article, so stay tuned.

That said, fighting is not all that you do in a dungeon-crawler; you’ll also frequently use the explore action. This action allows a hero to search the environment and interact with the tokens and three-dimensional terrain pieces on the map. Doing this can progress and/or alter a quest’s narrative, provide heroes with unique choices and experiences, and even earn you new items or crafting materials!

We briefly covered the ready action in the announcement article for Descent, but we’ll go over it again here. Simply put, the ready action allows you to flip one of the cards in your play area to its other side. This lets you change your weapon to something more useful for the current circumstances or switch your hero’s ability.

However, there is another aspect to the ready action that adds a whole extra layer of strategy to the gameplay: as you progress through a scenario—triggering abilities and fending off enemy attacks along the way—your hero, weapon, and skill cards will amass fatigue tokens. Fatigue is like your hero’s stamina, and it represents them exerting additional effort during their quest. While that effort can help your hero succeed in a crucial moment, accumulating too much fatigue can hinder them if you do not manage it carefully. That’s where the ready action comes in. Whenever you flip one of your hero, weapon, or skill cards (for any reason), you discard all tokens on that card. This includes both fatigue tokens and tokens representing harmful conditions, which means that readying is a great way to refresh yourself for the next round of combat. However, flipping also discards tokens representing beneficial conditions, so knowing when to use the ready action and when to hold out is crucial to an effective strategy!

Brynn uses the ready action to flip her Taunt skill card to its Field Medicine side, discarding the two fatigue from it in the process.

And finally, the last type of action you can perform is a unique action. Many cards in the game have abilities prefaced with an action icon (see the example image below). These actions have a wide range of effects, and some of them may even cost more than one action. You will get to know these as you play through the adventure as your chosen hero.

This ability uses two of the hero’s actions.

The Darkness Phase

Once each player has taken their turn, the darkness phase begins. This phase represents the passage of time, during which foes and other elements of the quest attempt to thwart the heroes’ goals. The steps of the darkness phase are briefly described below:

First, time passes. Any heroes suffering from the “infected” or “terrified” conditions take damage or fatigue respectively, and then each player can discard one fatigue from one of their cards.

Then, enemy activation occurs. In Descent: Journeys in the Dark, this step would have been performed by the overlord player. Since there is no overlord in Legends of the Dark, this step is handled by the app. Enemies move and attack in this step, and some of them hit hard, making this a tense part of every round. Many enemies have additional abilities tied to their attacks, such as inflicting harmful conditions, which means you can never let your guard down against them.

In the quest step, new events may occur, new enemies may spawn, or the heroes’ objectives may change. All sorts of things can happen in this step depending on the quest being played and at what point during that quest this step occurs. The app helps with this step by providing players with updated information and informing them where to place any new enemies.

Finally, the tactics step closes out the phase (so long as there are enemies on the map). Some enemies may plan to execute a powerful attack or perform a cunning scheme for the next round. If they do, the app will provide players with a warning message that hints at the enemy’s intent. It won’t give much away, though, so it’s up to you and your companions to figure out what the enemy is plotting and, more importantly, how to stop it!

Rules of Engagement

Combat is a frequent occurrence in a dungeon-crawler, and Descent is no different. In this section, we’ll go over a quick look at combat in this game, both from the players’ perspective and the enemies’.

When a player performs a fight action with their hero, they attack an enemy. To determine what enemies they can attack from their current position, the player must first check their equipped weapon’s range.

Syrus’s Glimmering Wand has a range of 4.

Some weapons, such as Syrus’s

Glimmering Wand

, have a range icon with a number indicating how many spaces away the hero can attack an enemy from. Other weapons, such as Brynn’s

Warden’s Blade

, have no range icon, which means they can only target enemies in a space adjacent to the hero.

Once range has been determined, the player must then see what enemies are within line of sight. To do this, simply trace an imaginary line from the center of your hero’s space to the center of the enemy’s space. If the line passes through anything that blocks line of sight, such as the edge of the map or a big tree, then the enemy is not within line of sight. Note: If you’re having a tough time determining line of sight, the app comes with a handy tool that can help determine it for you!

Enemy 3 is not within four spaces of Syrus, so he can’t attack it. Enemy 1 and 2 are both within range, but line of sight to enemy 1 is blocked by the map edge, so Syrus can only attack enemy 2.

When performing an attack, a player rolls the die next to the attack symbol on their hero’s character card. Continuing the example above,

Syrus

 rolls an orange die for his attacks. For each success (star) that a player rolls, they deal their weapon’s damage (in the case of Syrus’s Glimmering Wand, this would be 2 damage). You can also do things like converting advantages (plus signs) into further successes by gaining fatigue or spending any surges (lightning bolts) that you rolled to trigger special abilities on your cards, and gaining fatigue to activate skills tied to your attacks. Every attack you make becomes a series of choices on how hard you want to swing, and you could end up doing triple or even quadruple your weapon’s damage value on a lucky roll!

However, the enemy can also hit you hard back. During their activation, an enemy will move to a position where it can attack one hero or another while following the same rules for range and line of sight as the heroes. Each enemy also has a damage value, which is determined by the enemy’s type and level (in the example from earlier in this article, the zealot had a damage value of 3). Most heroes have less than ten health, which means a single enemy attack could easily reduce your hero by a third or even half their maximum. Each time your hero’s health drops to zero, they gain progressively worse injuries until eventually they are defeated (which causes the players to fail the quest), so you’ll want to mitigate incoming damage as much as possible. Fortunately, when an enemy attacks, you have a chance to defend using your character’s defense die.

On Galaden’s hero sheet, we see that he rolls one black die when defending.

Every success you roll can reduce the incoming damage, and advantages can be converted to successes (at the cost of gaining fatigue) just like when you’re attacking. That said, you may not want to fill up on fatigue before an important next turn, leaving you with a critical choice: are you willing to take more damage now, if it means you can perform stronger actions on your next turn? Or will you play it safe and hope that you do not miss an important opportunity later?

An Epic Tale

The sixteen quests of Descent: Legends of the Dark are strung together in one full-length campaign. Early on in this campaign, you and your fellow heroes will gain access to several features of the companion app that can immerse you in the depths of Terrinoth and show you just how much the heroes grow over the course of their journey.

For example, each hero begins the tale with only two weapons to their name and no other pieces of equipment. However, by collecting treasure and gold during quests, you can find or purchase all sorts of armors, trinkets, and consumable items to bring with you later on your adventure. You can even gather materials during quests that let you craft new gear or upgrade that which you already have! The app does a fantastic job of keeping track of all the materials your party finds, which means you never have to manage more than the cards that represent your equipment and abilities.

It is not just the heroes’ inventories that develop as the campaign unfolds. Their personal character growth will also shape the course of the story, and the choices you make while playing as each hero will in turn alter what choices become available later. This is referred to as the virtue system, and the amount you decide to invest in a particular virtue for any given hero is entirely up to you. This means that each playthrough of the Legends of the Dark campaign will result in a different focus for each hero. How will you like your hero to grow?

You and your companions can do other things while in between quests as well. You can shop, take on side quests, modify your weapons, pursue barony events that expand the narrative, and more. The app helps keep track of the numbers and your inventory, but what you all decide to do is entirely up to you. With a mountain of content and an evolving story, this full-length adventure is one you won’t want to miss!

Into the Dark

What will you do in your quest against the enemies of Terrinoth? What choices will you make to shape the story and your own personal growth? All this and more will be discovered when Descent: Legends of the Dark releases on August 6^th!

You can pre-order your own copy of Descent: Legends of the Dark (DLE01) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

Discuss this article
in our forums!

“If you’re not with me, you’re on your own.” – The Hood

Ever since he witnessed a battle between Electro and Daredevil as a child, the life of a supervillain was enticing to Parker Robbins. Later, while stealing money to pay for his mother’s medical care, a chance encounter with a demon left Robbins with a pair of boots that let him walk on air and an equally-mystical red cloak. Now, as the Hood, Robbins and his budding criminal empire are swiftly becoming a formidable threat to the people of New York City.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce The Hood Scenario Pack for Marvel Champions: The Card Game!

This 78-card scenario pack introduces a new scenario to Marvel Champions showcasing the Hood and his notorious organization of supervillains. Also included are a whopping nine modular encounter sets that can be mixed in with any scenario—including the Hood’s—to add more customization options to your Marvel Champions experience. Are you prepared to take down a dangerous criminal empire?

Crime State

Hello, heroes.

We’ve received intel that the Hood has been busy recruiting lowlifes from every nook and cranny of the city.

The villains he has reached out to aren’t ones to scoff at. Among others, he’s made contact with Mister Hyde, the Sinister Syndicate, and the Wrecking Crew. Additionally, there are reports that he may have raided one of our armories, although that is currently unverified. It’s also likely that the recent string of emergencies—the fire, the shipyard disaster, the prison escape—are all connected to the Hood and his group in one way or another.

If the Hood is able to truly unite all of these criminals under one banner, he’ll have a formidable empire that even the strongest of you will struggle against.

When you first begin

the Hood

’s (The Hood, 1) scenario, he is only just beginning to establish his empire by

Making Connections

(The Hood, 4A). During setup, you will choose seven modular encounter sets from your Marvel Champions collection (including from those included in this scenario pack, if you wish), but you will only shuffle one of these into the encounter deck to begin with.

As the heroes battle the Hood, they will repeatedly be forced to resolve his Foul Play ability through cards like

Establish Dominance

(The Hood, 7) and

Madame Masque

(The Hood, 10). A side-effect of this ability is that it swiftly burns through the Hood’s deck, causing him to gradually build up acceleration tokens on the main scheme. As he completes his schemes, the Hood draws more and more criminals into his organization with

Promised Prosperity

(The Hood, 5A), permanently adding additional encounter sets from the set-aside pool into the game. Add in the chance for some

Field Recruitment

(The Hood, 12), and suddenly the Hood’s budding empire has grown into a threat that even some of Earth’s mightiest heroes might struggle against!

Even when he isn’t building up his criminal organization, the Hood is still a formidable threat in his own right. Armed with his two

Pistols

(The Hood, 9), the Hood can easily dish out enough damage and threat to keep heroes on the defensive, and his

Mantle

(The Hood, 8) can protect him from the heroes’ attempts to slow his momentum. Once he has the

Upper Hand

(The Hood, 13), the Hood will call in his new supervillain friends to make things even more difficult for the heroes—you’ll have to stay on your toes to keep yourselves from being overwhelmed!

A Villainous Empire

As we mentioned before, this expansion comes with nine new modular encounter sets for your Marvel Champions collection. While you can use any seven encounter sets for the Hood’s scenario, the nine that come in his pack are all thematically related to his criminal empire in some way.

For example, as was mentioned in the S.H.I.E.L.D. briefing in the previous section, the Hood has reached out to notable villains like the scheming

Calvin Zabo

(The Hood, 34). While not a very imposing minion on his own, the true terror of Zabo is when his

Self-Experimentation

(The Hood, 33) causes him to transform into the monstrous

Mister Hyde

(The Hood, 35). Hyde is a powerhouse of a minion with a ridiculous amount of health, which means he is a perfect distraction to keep the heroes away from the Hood’s plans.

Other notable villains in the Hood’s organization are

Boomerang

(The Hood, 44) and

Shocker

(The Hood, 45) from the Sinister Syndicate,

Crossfire

(The Hood, 26) and his Crew, and all four members of the Wrecking Crew. Even beyond the members of his organization, the Hood can arm his lackeys with a

Flamethrower

(The Hood, 37) from a ransacked armory, take advantage of a

Citywide Crisis

(The Hood, 59) to keep the heroes busy, and retreat to a

Secret Lair

(The Hood, 61) to accelerate his schemes even further.

Finally, if all that still isn’t enough challenge for you, this scenario pack also comes with more difficult versions of the Standard and Expert encounter sets. The Standard II and Expert II encounter sets can be implemented in any scenario in place of the usual Standard and/or Expert sets, and they pack quite the punch. For example, Standard II makes the villain a more

Formidable Foe

(The Hood, 49A), utilizing

Dark Dealings

(The Hood, 50) to advance the scheme and

Total Annihilation

(The Hood, 54) to tear through heroes and allies. With all this and more, now is the perfect opportunity to revisit some old foes and see if you can rise to the new level of challenge!  

Establishing Dominance

Just because the Hood isn’t a powerful cosmic entity like Thanos doesn’t mean he is any less threatening. Muster your heroes and get ready to challenge his criminal empire when The Hood Scenario Pack arrives this fall!

You can pre-order your own copy of The Hood Scenario Pack (MC24en) at your local retailer or online through our web store today!

Discuss this article
in our forums!

Check out the latest product from Fantasy Flight Games, now available online through our webstore or at your local retailer!

---

Venom Hero Pack

A wartime veteran and an old classmate of Peter Parker, Flash Thompson was fused with the Venom symbiote during Project Rebirth 2.0, the U.S. government’s second super-soldier program. Now, Venom travels the galaxy, using his exceptional abilities to take down the forces of evil wherever they may be.

As another member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Venom swings into action in this expansion pack, which introduces Venom as a brand-new playable hero along with his fifteen signature cards. With a pre-built Justice deck ready to go from the moment you open the box, you’ll be able to try out Venom’s impressive arsenal right away. Rush in guns blazing and tear your way through the villain’s schemes with this high-powered hero!

Not a standalone expansion. Marvel Champions: The Card Game Core Set required to play.

---

Click here to view all Marvel Champions: The Card Game products.

Discuss this article
in our forums!

“Hey, Tony! Let me see your Mark V do this!” – James Rhodes

A proud soldier and a longtime friend of Tony Stark, James Rhodes fought for his country as a United States Marine fighter pilot before Stark outfitted him with his very own advanced armored suit. Now, he fights for all of Earth as War Machine, and the forces of Thanos won’t know what hit them!

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the War Machine Hero Pack for Marvel Champions: The Card Game!

This heavily-armored Avenger flies into battle in this expansion pack, which introduces War Machine as a brand-new playable hero, along with his fifteen signature cards. With a pre-built Leadership deck ready to play from the get-go, you’ll be eager to unload on your enemies with War Machine’s massive arsenal from the moment you open the box. With tons of powerful weapons and upgrades to play with, War Machine is an awesome hero that is perfectly at home on the front lines.

Armed to the Teeth

As a close friend of Tony Stark, it should come as no surprise that War Machine comes to the table packing some serious tech. His playstyle revolves around building up a hefty magazine of ammo counters and then spending them to fuel powerful assaults on the villains and their schemes. Get enough momentum going, and War Machine becomes a truly unstoppable force!

Right when he dons his suit,

War Machine

(War Machine, 1A) automatically gains 5 ammo counters to work with. If you think you’ll need more, you can always draw from any you stockpiled with your

Munitions Bunker

(War Machine, 3). Once you’re all loaded up, you can unleash a rapid-fire assault with the suit’s

Shoulder Cannon

(War Machine, 7), dealing as much damage to the villain as you want, so long as you have enough ammo counters to supply it!

Even if you can’t get your Shoulder Cannon armed, you can still spend ammo counters on some powerful events. Use a

Targeted Strike

(War Machine, 9) to slow down the villain’s schemes, and clear out the villain’s minions with a devastating

Scorched Earth

(War Machine, 10). If you need to land one massive, devastating attack, simply go

Full Auto

(War Machine, 11) to leave your enemy reeling. Then, once you’re out of ammo and need to resupply, switch back to

James Rhodes

(War Machine, 1B) and use his action to shuffle your events back into your deck!

Of course, War Machine is more than just a man in a suit—he’s also a competent leader and skilled tactician, making him a perfect fit for the Leadership aspect. Call on

Iron Man

(War Machine, 2) to help you suit up and use

Black Panther

’s (War Machine, 12) ability to essentially get an extra card in your hand. While an ally like

Captain Marvel

(War Machine, 13) may be expensive to play, War Machine’s pre-built deck comes with a neat trick to help you get the most out of her: simply use

Sneak Attack

(War Machine, 17) to put her into play for a fifth of the cost! This lets you use her ability when she enters play to potentially deal 3 damage and possibly stun an enemy, then you can exhaust her to deal an additional 3 damage from her attack. Finally, have Captain Marvel

Go Down Swinging

(War Machine, 19) to take advantage of her high cost and have her deal another 5 damage on the way out—that’s 11 damage from a single ally, and it only cost you a single resource!

Going Full Auto

War Machine’s arsenal and tactical prowess make him a powerful hero capable of taking down even the agents of Thanos. With the release of The Mad Titan’s Shadow, it will be the perfect opportunity to add War Machine to your team!

You can pre-order your own copy of the War Machine Hero Pack (MC23en) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

Discuss this article
in our forums!

Last month, we announced Unfathomable, the latest game in the Arkham Horror Files universe. This thrilling game of traitors and terror is filled with twists and turns, and it brings a whole new cast of characters into the Arkham franchise.

Each of these characters brings their own strengths and abilities into the fold, and today we’re taking the opportunity to get to know them all! Without further ado, let’s meet the cast of Unfathomable!

The Captain: Keilani Tatupu

We gave a brief introduction to the SS Atlantica’s stalwart captain in the announcement article, but now we can introduce her in full!

Keilani knows how it feels to lose a ship. When a typhoon killed the captain of her previous ship, she stepped up and took charge. Unfortunately, a mutiny soon afterwards left her stranded on a lifeboat with eleven other crewmembers for four weeks. Despite all odds, Keilani kept everyone alive, including a teenage boy from her home island of Samoa that was pulled overboard by a mysterious, hideous creature. Keilani dove after the creature to save the boy, and after locking eyes with it, the creature let the boy go.

The story of Keilani and her crew’s four weeks at sea earned her a glowing reputation and a new ship of her own: the SS Atlantica. But why did that creature let the boy go when it saw her? And why is she seeing its yellow eyes again in her dreams? Maybe there is more to Keilani than even she realizes. 

As the captain of the SS Atlantica, Keilani can take command of any situation, using her wealth of experience to help out during skill checks and wielding her 

Speaking Trumpet

 to guide panicking passengers to safety. During a crisis, Keilani can use her skills as an 

Unconventional Leader

 to cancel any dire consequences of that crisis at the cost of a resource, allowing her to swoop in and save the day when it counts!

However, if Keilani is a traitor, then her position as captain can also make her a formidable foe. Her experience can be used to sabotage a skill check at a crucial moment, such as saving herself from being sent to the Brig. While her ability to cancel a choice on a crisis may seem purely beneficial, all four of the Atlantica’s resources are crucial, meaning Keilani can end the game if any of them get too low.

The First Mate: Arjun Singh

As a soldier in the British Indian Army, all Arjun wanted was for his fellow Sikhs to be treated as equals rather than expendables. So he followed orders, even when they conflicted with his beliefs, and he took on assignments alone to protect his brethren. When his major invited Arjun to dine in the officers’ mess, he accepted, thinking he’d finally earned some respect.

He didn’t expect to find several hooded figures, or for the major to tell him he “will make an excellent servant for the Father.” After their chanting stirred something in Arjun’s mind, he broke free and fled the army. Years later, after becoming first mate of the Atlantica, Arjun caught glimpse of a familiar robed figure ducking through the ship’s corridors, stirring something in his mind once more.

 

As a former soldier used to operating alone, it should come as no surprise that Arjun is a versatile character. His signature ability allows him to quickly move around the ship and then perform an additional action, either rescuing wayward passengers or dispatching Deep Ones with his trusty 

Six-Shooter

. True to his selfless nature, Arjun can use 

Self Sacrifice

 to automatically determine the outcome of a skill check at the cost of sending himself to Sick Bay, allowing him to pull the ship out of a deadly crisis when it matters most.

However, if Arjun is a traitor, then his skills can make him a deadly threat. His mobility and versatility can make it extra hard for the humans on board to pin him down, his six-shooter is just as effective against humans as Deep Ones, and he could just as easily sacrifice himself to doom the ship as he could to save it.

The Surgeon: Svetlana Gedroits

Svetlana’s talents as a physician are unrivaled. Not only is she proficient with modern medicine, she also utilizes the special words her mother taught her to save many lives. She’s so skilled that her peers in Saint Petersburg accused her of witchcraft and banned her from practicing medicine in the city. So she left Russia, using her services as a physician to buy passage aboard ships traveling the world.

Now, years later on the Atlantica, a passenger was found murdered alongside a strange book. Svetlana had never seen the characters written in that book before, but somehow she recognized them as her mother’s words.

As a skilled doctor, Svetlana is a powerful healer who excels at keeping the crew and passengers of the Atlantica on their feet. Her Healing Words can prevent other players from being defeated, while her 

Travel Pharmacy

 can be used to keep passengers alive. In a desperate situation, Svetlana can rush in and perform a 

Medical Intervention

 to save anyone aboard the ship, potentially keeping important figures active during a crucial moment in the voyage.

However, if Svetlana is a traitor, she can withhold her treatments and only use her skills to save herself. With her Travel Pharmacy potentially draining the ship’s food supply, Svetlana could easily put the Atlantica under serious pressure; or, if the ship runs low on people, she can Conduct Malpractice to kill off the passengers she swore to save.

The Engineer: Jeanne Lafarge

Jeanne has always been an activist. Her parents taught her that one must understand their oppressor to fight oppression, so they sent her to be educated in France at the Institute for the Deaf in Bordeaux. Eventually she found her way onto the Atlantica, where she was stationed in the loud confines of the engine room. She earned herself a promotion to chief engineer by teaching her peers to communicate via sign language.

It was on the Atlantica that Jeanne discovered crates of pillaged artifacts from her homeland of Senegal, along with a number of strange, golden idols depicting humanoid figures with fishlike features. Seeing these relics ignited outrage in her heart, so Jeanne sent a secret signal requesting an unsanctioned rendezvous. Now she waits for her associates to take back what is rightfully theirs. Mother and father will be so proud.

As the ship’s engineer, it comes as no surprise that Jeanne is skilled at keeping the Atlantica moving. Her Jury Rigger ability allows her to increase the distance traveled whenever a player moves the ship, and with her 

Tool Kit

 she can repair the damage she caused in an instant. In a dire situation, she can cause the ship to go 

Full Steam Ahead

 and launch ahead on the travel track. Keep in mind that the humans on the ship need only to safely reach Boston to win the game, so using this card at the right moment could potentially win the game!

However, if Jeanne is a traitor, then her mechanical expertise could easily hasten the ship’s doom. Jury Rigger damages the ship and can be used anytime Jeanne isn’t in the Brig, allowing her to punish the humans as they try to get the ship to Boston, and, by holding onto the Tool Kit, she can make it more difficult for other characters to repair the damage she does. Finally, while Full Steam Ahead can provide a burst of speed, it also could potentially use up the last of the ship’s fuel supply, leaving the Atlantica stranded in Deep One-infested waters.

The Master-at-Arms: Jamie Snell

Jamie has never hesitated to follow their heart. From a young age, Jamie liked to wear dresses and hunt along the bayou of the Mississippi Delta. They often listened to stories from their mother, who told Jamie that “Papa heard the call of the sea and he had to answer. One day, you will understand.”

The sea enthralled Jamie, to the point where they eventually signed up to be a sailor, and they have felt at home on the waves ever since. When a body was found in the Atlantica’s chapel, Jamie’s experience in beauty salons helped them identify the face powder laced with arsenic on the victim’s teacup. But why do they feel so at home on the ocean? Could they have been the one who poisoned the woman to begin with?

As the Atlantica’s master-at-arms, Jamie is able to put their lifetime of hunting experience to good use in defense of the ship. Their Quick Draw ability lets Jamie take a free shot once per turn, and with their 

Repeating Rifle

 allowing them to pick off enemies from a distance, there can be no mistake that this sailor is not to be trifled with. By conducting an 

Arrest Order

, Jamie can force somebody into the ship’s Brig, locking them out of many of their abilities and, if that person is a traitor, protecting the rest of the ship from their schemes.

However, if Jamie is a traitor, then their strength and martial skill makes them incredibly dangerous. Jamie’s Repeating Rifle can raise hell for humans trying to fend off the Deep One assault, and if anyone proves too troublesome, Jamie can use their Arrest Order to lock that person up in the Brig, leaving the machinations of Hydra and Dagon unhindered.

The Apprentice: William Bowleg

There are holes in William’s memory. When a foreign woman showed up to his isolated village in the Bahamas looking for a guide, he helped her to explore a nearby island he’d never seen. To this day, William has no idea how long he was down in the island’s underwater cavern or what he found there. He felt compelled to help this woman with her quest to unravel the mysteries of the strange tome she carried.

Another hole in his memory appeared tonight when his companion asked him to fetch something from her cabin. By the time William returned to the chapel, he found her dead. He has no idea who killed her, but he knows they’re still on the Atlantica.

William’s past may be riddled with mystery, but his present capabilities are formidable. His Occult Training allows him to freely look at and manipulate the spell deck once per turn, a valuable skill that can allow players access to the right magic at the right time. His 

Elder Sign Amulet

 gets extra mileage out of his skill cards, and, in a pinch, he can use 

Quick Cast

 to cast a spell without costing him an action. The cards in the spell deck have some powerful effects, so being able to use them quickly makes William a valuable asset to the team.

However, if William is a traitor, then that magical knowledge becomes a huge threat. His Occult Training can be used to prevent the humans from accessing the spells they need when they need them, and his ability to use multiple actions and effects with his amulet and Quick Cast means he can cause a lot of trouble in just one turn. The humans will have to stay on their toes!

The Mathematician: Beatrice Sharpe

Numbers have a way of talking to Beatrice. She’s used them to predict future events since she was a child. While studying at Miskatonic University, she found an unusual almanac filled with esoteric data, and she always seemed to open it to the exact page she needed.

The almanac let her predict larger and more significant events, and when she began having dreams of a vast, underwater city, it helped Beatrice calculate the most probable location for her to find it. She found a passenger ship that would be steaming right past it, so she booked herself passage aboard the Atlantica.

Beatrice’s quick, calculative thinking makes her an expert at predicting the future, and this is reflected in her playstyle. With Predictive Analytics, Beatrice can choose to resolve the milder of two crises at the end of her turn, and with her trusty 

Almanac

 she can boost any die roll at the cost of a skill card from her hand. In a pinch, she can choose the exact result of any die roll with 

Perfect Number

, which means the humans won’t need to leave anything to chance during a crucial roll.

However, if Beatrice is a traitor, she can easily use these skills to sabotage the other players. Predictive Analytics can easily be used to choose the worse of two crises, and the Almanac can boost her own dice rolls as she works to aid the Deep Ones. With Perfect Number, she can guarantee that a die roll lands on an unfavorable result, which could be devastating when used at the right moment. Never underestimate this mathematician!

The Exile: Ishmael Marsh

Born and raised in Innsmouth, Massachussetts, Ishmael was a dutiful child who attended services at the Esoteric Order of Dagon with his family. It was only when he got older that he started feeling uneasy with the teachings and goals of the Order. He grew more and more uncomfortable over time, until eventually he fled Innsmouth in an attempt to escape the reach of the Order.

Ishmael spent several years traveling, trying to stay one step ahead of the Order, which was surely after him. Eventually, he woke up aboard the Atlantica, a copy of the Book of Dagon lying next to him, with no idea how he got there. It seems that Ishmael can’t quite escape his upbringing, no matter how hard he tries.

Even though he’s tried to separate himself from the Order of Dagon, Ishmael is easily the most connected to the Deep Ones out of all the characters in the game. The First Oath of Dagon allows him to move Father Dagon or Mother Hydra away from the ship, and the 

Book of Dagon

 allows him to control the movements of their Deep One spawn. His 

Deep One Ancestry

 allows Ishmael to determine the exact loyalties of any one other player, which helps him keep tabs on any Deep One hybrids that might be lurking about on the ship.

However, if Ishmael is a traitor, then his connection to the Deep Ones makes them even more dangerous. The First Oath of Dagon can easily be used to move Dagon or Hydra to threaten a more vulnerable part of the ship, the Book of Dagon can do the same with their spawn, and Deep One Ancestry lets Ishmael cause havoc by falsely accusing an innocent player of being a traitor or gain himself or a fellow hybrid some trust by declaring another player to be a loyal human (whether they are or not).

The Jinx: Edmund Mallory

 

At first, Edmund didn’t think much of the unremarkable gold ring his mother gave him. It wasn’t until he learned of his parents’ deaths in a steamship accident that he realized it was the last gift he would ever receive from them. Unfortunately, the death of his parents was just the beginning. First his house staff took ill, then his family estate crumbled off the cliff it was built on, then his yacht sank after Edmund heard an eerie, yet melodic sound.

Edmund survived all these misfortunes, and he was convinced that the ring had some sort of curse. Following an instinctual urge to return the ring to whence it came, he contacted a friend whose father was an expert archaeologist in hopes that they could help. Jack agreed to meet Edmund in Boston, so he booked passage aboard the Atlantica, determined to break the curse before misfortune finally catches up to him.

Edmund’s luck (specifically, his bad luck) takes the stage in his playstyle, with lots of opportunities to leave things to chance. His Fortunate Son ability lets him reroll dice as many times as he likes (so long as he has skill cards to discard), and with the 

“Lucky” Ring

 he received from his mother, he can boost the chances of a skill check succeeding at the cost of possibly bringing about future misfortune. If someone draws a particularly nasty mythos card, he can use his 

Uncanny Fortune

 to give them a new one. Just be careful—the new card might be even worse!

However, if Edmund is a traitor, then his string of bad luck is only a boon to him and the Deep Ones. His access to all five skill types lets him easily cast suspicion on other players while sabotaging skill checks. Fortunate Son could potentially turn any successful die roll into a failure, the Ring could fill the chaos deck with treacheries, and Uncanny Fortune could easily force someone to resolve a much worse mythos card than what they were doing originally. Everyone has to be wary of the jinx, especially if that jinx is working with ancient evils!

The Stowaway: Samira Dualeh

 

All Samira wants is to be reunited with her family. Her parents left Somaliland to travel to the United States in search of a better life for the family, but when Samira tried to follow them, she was rejected from Ellis Island as “defective” because of her albinism and was deported back to Morocco. After living on the streets for a while, she followed a Frenchman to a banquet for poor children. During the meal, she witnessed a young boy writhing on the floor, his skin a mottled gray and his eyes bulging out of his head.

Eventually, Samira found a ship bound for Boston and snuck aboard. While hiding in the cargo hold, she overheard a pair of voices talking about a passenger who was impeding their plans. They would have discovered her if not for the loud bark of a giant schnauzer that burst from a nearby crate. Samira fed the dog some of her stolen food, earning herself a trusty companion.

Samira is used to fending for herself and making use of whatever she can get her hands on, and this adaptability is reflected in her playstyle. Her Scavenger ability lets her stockpile useful items and share them with other players (if she chooses to), and 

Well Equipped

 lets her boost the result of a skill check for each item in her possession. She also comes with her newfound companion, 

Starbuck

, who can help fend off enemies or protect her from harm.

However, if Samira is a traitor, then this versatility makes her a massive threat. Each item she takes with Scavenger is an item that the humans can’t use, and they all have features that can give her an edge during her sabotage. Well Equipped can be used to decrease the result of a skill check and ensure its failure, and Starbuck is loyal only to her—she will readily attack any human that dares to challenge her beloved Samira.

A Varied Crew

This colorful cast of intriguing characters helps bring the world of Unfathomable to life. We hope you are excited to meet them when Unfathomable launches this September!

Join us next time for a gameplay preview of this thrilling game of traitors and terror. You can pre-order your own copy of Unfathomable (UNF01) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

Discuss this article
in our forums!