call of cthulhu_ the card game.pdf

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Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game (formerly the Call of Cthulhu Collectible Card Game) is a card game pro- duced and marketed by Fantasy Flight Games. It is based on the fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos, primarily the writ- ings of H. P. Lovecraft and Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. In 2008, Fantasy Flight moved the game over to its Living Card Game (LCG) format, [1] which retains the deck-building aspect of collectible card games, but without the random distribution. [2] It shares art and characters with FFG’s other Cthulhu Mythos products Arkham Horror and Elder Sign. 1 Overview Chaosium had previously been involved in the collectible card game (CCG) business in the mid-1990s, printing Mythos, its Cthulhu mythos CCG. Chaosium discontin- ued the game in 1997 after poor sales. In 2004, Chaosium instead licensed the property to Fantasy Flight Games (FFG), allowing FFG to produce the official Call of Cthulhu Collectible Card Game. It was designed by Eric M. Lang as a more accessible introduction to gaming in the Mythos environment and to provide a fast and lively interplay with the usual elements of the mythos (e.g. ar- cane tomes and secrets, paranormal investigations, the el- der gods and their terrible servants, dark sinister plots, in- human conspiracies, and dangers from beyond the stars). The game is nominally set in 1928. FFG staffer Darrell Hardy developed the background for the game. Most of the storyline text (including card names and flavor text) was written by creative developer Pat Harrigan. In the Living Card Game format, the origi- nal story line was penned by Nate French, with the help of Dan Clark. Since 2010 all story lines have been created by the game’s current developer Damon Stone. 2 The game Players attach resources (taken from the cards in their hand) onto blank placeholder cards known as domains, later “draining” them by putting a drain counter on them to play various cards. Both players compete to complete stories by winning success tokens. Five success tokens wins a story; three stories wins the game. Players typi- cally assign character cards to stories, to win struggles and gain these success tokens. Additionally, the first player to run out of cards to draw from loses the game, making deck destruction another potentially effective strategy. 2.1 The cards Five types of card exist in Call of Cthulhu: Story Cards, Character cards, Event cards, Support cards and Conspir- acy cards. All cards (except story cards) have a cost and belong to a faction (described below). Various cards have subtypes (such as investigator, tome, or location). Story cards come from a shared deck, and are the object of the game. Players compete by placing “success tokens” on these story cards. Once a player has placed 5 success tokens they win the story, earn- ing the option to execute (or ignore) the effect writ- ten on it. Once a player has 3 story cards they win the game. Standard players use the 10 latest story cards, of which 3 randomly chosen are in play at any time. The Nameless City is a special promotional Story card that requires 10 success tokens but allows a player to win the game instantly. Another promo- tional story card is named "The Challenge From Be- yond" (after a story written in collaboration by H.P. Lovecraft and four of his correspondents), and has the opposite effect: it cannot be won like a normal story, but players may draw extra cards by scoring “successes” at it. Character cards are a player’s agents, used to at- tempt to complete stories. They possess a skill rat- ing (used to succeed at stories) and may also have icons, which indicate the card’s abilities during the icon struggle phase of play. Event cards have one-time effects and do not remain in play. Support cards have persistent effects, incurring lasting benefits or hindrances. Conspiracies are introduced in “Conspiracies of Chaos.” These function similar as Story cards but are played from the players’ decks. 2.2 The factions There are eight factions in Call of Cthulhu, as well as “neutral” cards (light grey in color) that are not part of 1

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Page 1: Call of Cthulhu_ The Card Game.pdf

Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game (formerly the Callof Cthulhu Collectible Card Game) is a card game pro-duced and marketed by Fantasy Flight Games. It is basedon the fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos, primarily the writ-ings of H. P. Lovecraft and Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhurole-playing game. In 2008, Fantasy Flight moved thegame over to its Living Card Game (LCG) format,[1]which retains the deck-building aspect of collectible cardgames, but without the random distribution.[2]

It shares art and characters with FFG’s other CthulhuMythos products Arkham Horror and Elder Sign.

1 Overview

Chaosium had previously been involved in the collectiblecard game (CCG) business in the mid-1990s, printingMythos, its Cthulhu mythos CCG. Chaosium discontin-ued the game in 1997 after poor sales. In 2004, Chaosiuminstead licensed the property to Fantasy Flight Games(FFG), allowing FFG to produce the official Call ofCthulhu Collectible Card Game. It was designed by EricM. Lang as a more accessible introduction to gaming inthe Mythos environment and to provide a fast and livelyinterplay with the usual elements of the mythos (e.g. ar-cane tomes and secrets, paranormal investigations, the el-der gods and their terrible servants, dark sinister plots, in-human conspiracies, and dangers from beyond the stars).The game is nominally set in 1928.FFG staffer Darrell Hardy developed the background forthe game. Most of the storyline text (including cardnames and flavor text) was written by creative developerPat Harrigan. In the Living Card Game format, the origi-nal story line was penned by Nate French, with the help ofDan Clark. Since 2010 all story lines have been createdby the game’s current developer Damon Stone.

2 The game

Players attach resources (taken from the cards in theirhand) onto blank placeholder cards known as domains,later “draining” them by putting a drain counter on themto play various cards. Both players compete to completestories by winning success tokens. Five success tokenswins a story; three stories wins the game. Players typi-cally assign character cards to stories, to win struggles andgain these success tokens. Additionally, the first player to

run out of cards to draw from loses the game, makingdeck destruction another potentially effective strategy.

2.1 The cards

Five types of card exist in Call of Cthulhu: Story Cards,Character cards, Event cards, Support cards and Conspir-acy cards. All cards (except story cards) have a cost andbelong to a faction (described below). Various cards havesubtypes (such as investigator, tome, or location).

• Story cards come from a shared deck, and are theobject of the game. Players compete by placing“success tokens” on these story cards. Once a playerhas placed 5 success tokens they win the story, earn-ing the option to execute (or ignore) the effect writ-ten on it. Once a player has 3 story cards they winthe game. Standard players use the 10 latest storycards, of which 3 randomly chosen are in play at anytime. The Nameless City is a special promotionalStory card that requires 10 success tokens but allowsa player to win the game instantly. Another promo-tional story card is named "The Challenge From Be-yond" (after a story written in collaboration by H.P.Lovecraft and four of his correspondents), and hasthe opposite effect: it cannot be won like a normalstory, but players may draw extra cards by scoring“successes” at it.

• Character cards are a player’s agents, used to at-tempt to complete stories. They possess a skill rat-ing (used to succeed at stories) and may also haveicons, which indicate the card’s abilities during theicon struggle phase of play.

• Event cards have one-time effects and do not remainin play.

• Support cards have persistent effects, incurringlasting benefits or hindrances.

• Conspiracies are introduced in “Conspiracies ofChaos.” These function similar as Story cards butare played from the players’ decks.

2.2 The factions

There are eight factions in Call of Cthulhu, as well as“neutral” cards (light grey in color) that are not part of

1

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2 3 AVAILABILITY

any faction. A card may only be played if a domain withthat faction attached is drained (neutral cards can be paidfor using any faction).

• The Agency: This “investigator” faction comprisesthe Blackwood Detective Agency, law enforcementagencies, and others involved in criminal justice. Itssymbol is a badge, and its color is blue.

• Miskatonic University: This “investigator” factionrepresents the academic prowess of Lovecraft’s fic-tional Miskatonic University, as well as other aca-demic groups. Its symbol is a scroll, and its color isgold.

• The Syndicate: This “investigator” faction repre-sents the underworld element of human society, in-cluding mobsters, killers and journalists. It mainlyfocuses on Danny O'Bannion’s gang and its contacts.Its symbol is a dollar sign in a triangle and its coloris dark brown.

• The Order of the Silver Twilight : This “inves-tigator” faction is a later addition to the game andcenters a secret cabal of leading politicians, charis-matic socialites, persuasive civic leaders, and suc-cessful businessmen who must pass through succes-sive ranks of occult initiation and ritual to emergeinto the inner sanctum of the Order, there to pur-sue their quest for ultimate earthly - and unearthly- power. Its symbol is a trident in a cross, and itscolor is silver grey. Their name may be a play onThe Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

• Cthulhu: This “mythos” faction includes Cthulhuhimself, as well as his associated cultists and mon-sters (such as deep ones and shoggoths). Its symbolis a squid, and its color is green.

• Hastur: This “mythos” faction centers on Hastur,especially his King in Yellow aspect, as wellas his worshippers and minions, largely humanpsychopaths and monstrous Byakhees, as well aswerewolves. Its symbol is the Yellow Sign, and itscolor is yellow.

• Yog-Sothoth: This “mythos” faction centers onYog-Sothoth, and the scholars who worship it, aswell as various trans-dimensional beings includingNightgaunts and Star vampires; it also hosts severalundead monsters. Its symbol is a key, and its coloris purple.

• Shub-Niggurath: This “mythos” faction centerson Shub-Niggurath and the many, many monstersshe is responsible for creating (notably Dark Young,ghouls, and Dholes). Its symbol is a goat’s head, andits color is red.

3 Availability

The Call of Cthulhu card game is currently produced inthe form of a core set, featuring cards from 7 factions,neutral cards, story cards, success/wound tokens, a full-colour manual, a game board, and Cthulhu-shaped do-main markers. (The 8th faction, Order of the Silver Twi-light, does not appear in the core set.) The game is readyto play and decks can be made quickly by combiningcards from two of the factions along with several neutralcards.

3.1 Collectible Card Game

Older products may still be available from retailers,though these cards have black borders and differentbacks. Official tournaments so far have been “white bor-der only”, so it is not necessary to chase down the oldercards. The only reasons to do so are for fun or to com-plete a collection, though if intended for play, sleeves arerequired to disguise the different backs.

CCG sets

• Arkham Edition (1st base set)

• Unspeakable Tales (1st expansion)

• Forbidden Relics (2nd expansion)

• Eldritch Edition (2nd base set)

• Masks of Nyarlathotep (3rd expansion)

• Forgotten Cities (4th expansion)

Arkham Edition and Eldritch Edition also included “Pre-mium Starter Sets” that contain two playable decks, pri-marily consisting of reprints from the normal sets, anda series of promo cards given as attendance awards forparticipating in official tournaments.Each booster pack contains 11 cards (including 3 'uncom-mon' and 1 'rare'). In addition, the Arkham and Eldritchbase sets offered starter sets with fixed contents, designedto introduce players to the game.In May 2006, Fantasy Flight Games announced their de-cision to cease releasing cards in a CCG format, and to in-stead begin releasing smaller sets of cards as single deckswith fixed contents in the LCG format. These “Asy-lum Packs” would be released once-a-month, and wereinitially designed to be compatible with the CCG cards.Released approximately once a month, these expansionswere designed to increase the players’ card pool in a bal-anced and affordable way. Three copies of twenty newcards are introduced in each pack, for a total of 60 cards.The initial printings of the sets included varying quanti-ties of each card to echo the rare, uncommon, and com-mon rarities of the original game, and this distribution

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3.2 Asylum Packs 3

may still be found in some out-of-print packs. Casualgamers can play using a single core set and have the op-tion of using supplemental packs if they want to.

Original Asylum Packs

• Spawn of Madness (first pack)

Asylum Pack III - Conspiracies of Chaos cover.

• Kingsport Dreams (second pack)

• Conspiracies of Chaos (third pack)

• Dunwich Denizens (fourth pack)

3.2 Asylum Packs

The Asylum Packs proved to be very popular, encour-aging Fantasy Flight to convert the entire game into theLCG format. On February 5, 2008, Fantasy Flight an-nounced that they would be publishing a new “Core Set”of cards in October 2008, incompatible with the origi-nal CCG cards, and that two additional Asylum Packs,TheMountains ofMadness andAncient Horrors, would bepublished to follow the existing Asylum Packs and com-plete the first cycle, “Forgotten Lore"; all six packs werereprinted in 2011 as pieces of a unified set, with a sin-gle set icon and continuous numbering. Fantasy Flightcontinued printing monthly Asylum Packs, arranged intosix-piece cycles, for several years.

Forgotten Lore

• Spawn of Madness

• Kingsport Dreams

• Conspiracies of Chaos

• Dunwich Denizens

• At the Mountains of Madness

• Ancient Horrors

Summons of the Deep

• The Spawn of the Sleeper

• The Horror Beneath the Surface

• The Antediluvian Dreams

• The Terror of the Tides

• The Thing from the Shore

• The Path to Y'ha-nthlei

The Dreamlands

• Twilight Horror

• In Memory of Day

• In the Dread of Night

• The Search for the Silver Key

• Sleep of the Dead

• Journey to Unknown Kadath

The Yuggoth Contract

• Whispers in the Dark

• Murmurs of Evil

• The Spoken Covenant

• The Wailer Below

• Screams from Within

• The Cacophony

The Rituals of the Order

• The Twilight Beckons

• Perilous Trials

• Initiations of the Favored

• Aspirations of Ascension

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4 4 GAMING MILESTONES

• The Gleaming Spiral

• That Which Consumes

Ancient Relics

• The Shifting Sands

• Curse of the Jade Emperor

• The Breathing Jungle

• Never Night

• Into Tartarus

• Shadow of the Monolith

Revelations

• Written and Bound

• Words of Power

• Ebla Restored

• Lost Rites

• The Unspeakable Pages

• Touched by the Abyss

3.3 Deluxe Expansions

In July 2012, Fantasy Flight announced that they wouldswitch to a new distribution model: instead of the near-monthly Asylum Packs, there would be one 165-carddeluxe expansion every four months, beginning withSeekers of Knowledge.[3]

• Seekers of Knowledge

• Secrets of Arkham (110 cards) Fantasy Flight hasannounced that the reprint will have 3 copies of eachplayer card (i.e. 150 deck cards and 10 story cards),like the other deluxe expansions. It will be releasedearly 2014.[4]

• The Order of the Silver Twilight (165 cards)[5]

• Seekers of Knowledge (165 cards)

• The Key and the Gate (165 cards)

• Terror in Venice (165 cards)[6]

• Denizens of the Underworld (165 cards)[7]

• The Sleeper Below (165 cards)

• For The Greater Good (165 cards)

• The Thousand Young

• The Mark of Madness

4 Gaming Milestones

4.1 Yithian Deck

In May 2006, as a special promotion, copies of theYithian deck were handed out to tournament organis-ers. The Yithian deck was a purposely unbalanced deck,ignoring normal deck-building rules and featuring over-powered cards representing Yithians. Since these cardsare so overpowered, they are illegal in normal tournamentplay. This Yithian Tournament had the following specialrules:

• The first-place finisher challenges the Yithian deck,as played by the tournament organizer.

• If the first-place finisher is defeated, the second-place finisher takes his spot, and so on.

• All challengers must use the same deck they playedin the tourney.

• The first player to defeat the Yithian deck takes acopy of the deck home.

The Yithian Deck consists of the following promo cards:

• Y1 Pnakotic Elder x6

• Y2 Great Race Scientist x6

• Y3 Yithian Soldier x6

• Y4 Master of Time and Space x8

• Y5 Displaced x4

• Y6 Library at Pnakotus x8

• Y7 Traveller of Aeons x2

4.2 Player Designed Cards

The winners of the Call of Cthulhu World Championshipare invited to design a card that is released within theother products. These cards usually have a high powerlevel, and the art features the likeness of the person thatdesigned it.

• At Gen Con Indianapolis 2005, Gregory Gan ofPittsburgh, PA became the first Call of CthulhuCCG World Champion. His card, Assistant toDr. West (bearing his likeness), was printed in theForgotten Cities set in the Eldritch Edition block.The card art bears his likeness as drawn by PatrickMcEvoy.

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5

• At Gen Con Indianapolis 2006, Christopher Longof State College, PA became the second Call ofCthulhu CCG World Champion. Mr. Long hasdesigned his card, and it is featured in the secondAsylum deck that has been released January 2007.The card art bears his likeness as drawn by PatrickMcEvoy. It also features Long’s name in the textbox.

• At Gen Con Indianapolis 2007 James 'Jim' Blackof Pittsburgh, PA became the third Call of CthulhuCCG World Champion. In the winning match hehad bothAssistant to DrWest andMentor to Vaughnin play.

4.3 Game Night Kit

On December 18, 2012, Fantasy Flight announcedretailer-incentive “Game Night Kits”, meant to serve asdemo kits and encourage new players to get into the se-ries. The kits include alternate art versions of existingcards to be used as prizes, as well as a unique deck box,promotional poster, and two sets of specialized woundtokens.[8]

5 Programs

5.1 Servitor Program

Fantasy Flight Games have set up the Servitor programto help tournament organizers by giving tournament sup-port, like promo cards, Sanity Certificates and access tospecial promotional items like the Yithian Deck, to giveaway as prizes.

5.2 Sanity Redemption

Older products in the line come with Sanity Points on thepackaging, which range from 1 Sanity Point on boosters,to 5 on Asylum packs. Servitors are given Sanity Cer-tificates to hand out to tournament winners. These SanityPoints could be redeemed until June 30, 2008[9] for itemslike promo cards or T-shirts.

6 Awards

• In 2005, Flagship magazine awarded the Call ofCthulhu CCG the title “Best Card Game of 2005.”

• In 2008, InQuest Gamer magazine voted the Call ofCthulhu CCG the number 57 ranking Game of AllTime saying that it “broke new ground with domain-based resource mechanics and great integration ofthe requisite horror and madness themes.”

7 See also• Call of Cthulhu role-playing game

• Cthulhu Mythos

• Mythos, a collectible card game based on theCthulhu Mythos universe.

• List of collectible card games

8 References[1] BoardGameGeek. “Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game”.

Boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.

[2] Fantasy Flight Games. “LCG Player’s Guide”. FantasyFlight Games. Retrieved 2012-09-16.

[3] Fantasy Flight Games. “Seekers of Knowledge”. FantasyFlight Games. Retrieved 2012-09-17.

[4] Fantasy Flight Games. “Stories of Terror and Dark Dis-coveries”. Fantasy Flight Games. Retrieved 2014-01-07.

[5] Fantasy Flight Games (2010-09-16). “The Secret Mastersof theWorld Revealed”. Fantasy Flight Games. Retrieved2014-01-07.

[6] Fantasy Flight Games. “Terror in Venice Expansion”.Fantasy Flight Games. Retrieved 2014-01-07.

[7] Fantasy Flight Games (2013-10-24). “A Little Bit of(Manufactured) Luck”. Fantasy Flight Games. Retrieved2014-01-07.

[8] Fantasy Flight Games (2012-12-18). Fantasy FlightGames https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2012/12/18/shattering-old-paradigms/. Retrieved2015-05-12. Missing or empty |title= (help)

[9] Fantasy Flight Games. “Fantasy Flight Games [Call ofCthulhu LCG] - Leading publisher of board, card, androleplaying games”. Cthulhulcg.com. Retrieved 2012-07-22.

9 External links• Official Website

• Call of Cthulhu on BoardGameGeek

Page 6: Call of Cthulhu_ The Card Game.pdf

6 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

10.1 Text• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu%3A_The_Card_Game?oldid=662089524Contributors: Lowellian, Jason Quinn, Neko-chan, Lectonar, Belarius, Alai, Michael Ward, Mindmatrix, Rjwilmsi, Ladislaus~enwiki,FlaBot, Fadeblue, David91, Epolk, Meersan, The Ooze, Covington, Mike Selinker, SmackBot, McGeddon, RlyehRising, Folajimi, Blue-bot, HoodedMan, Jypsy27, Nareek, J 1982, Catapult, JoshuaZ, JHunterJ, JoeBot, CmdrObot, Flaggthecat, Gokudo, Chrislk02, Slordak,TonyTheTiger, BugLaden, MECU, Lfstevens, Mariusjh, Bakilas, STBot, Ridernyc, Wikikarmi, Mariusjh75, ImageRemovalBot, Wprlh,XLinkBot, Kintaro, Dthomsen8, CapnZapp, Czamora194, Addbot, Tassedethe, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Alvin Seville, Mrmatiko,Flax5, Tedcatdu, Jihadcola, PurplePieman and Anonymous: 60

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