Introduction and Themes
This guide is a largely spoiler-free guide that talks about the general mechanics of the Circus Ex Mortis fan-made campaign made by The Beard. If you're interested in learning what the campaign's unique mechanics are, and hearing suggestions for investigators and cards that are particularly well suited to the campaign, read on!
In Circus Ex Mortis, the investigators get drawn into a dastardly plot centering around the New Moon Circus, worshippers of Shub-Niggurath who intend to sacrifice innocents to help awaken their god.
General Mechanics
Big Actions over Many Actions
This campaign uses Moon Tokens in the chaos bag, which have the effect of "+0 and draw another token" when drawn, and seal on your character to provide all sorts of penalties. You can get rid of them if you take a damage or horror at the end of the round - and this can add up. You're going to be more likely to draw them if you take a lot of actions, and there's no way around them beyond just not drawing them - so try to focus on singular, big actions, rather than lots of little ones.
Damage and Horror are High
There's lots of effects that can cause extra damage in the campaign - the most prominent aare the moon tokens - so reward bringing some extra soak or healing. However, there's also lots of enemies who can sneak attacks in, so ways to avoid and mitigate attacks will be a big help, too.
Evasion Helps
There's a lot of times in the campaign you'll want to have good evasion available. Be it tough boss enemies who will take plenty of attacks to kill, or enemies who suffer some penalties when evaded, being able to evade enemies will help a lot.
Good Commits and Generic Stat Boosts
Having good skill cards and other cards that commit well, or can be used to generically boost stats might be a lifesaver. The campaign features several treachery cards and other moments that require some tricky skill tests to past - and being able to have whoever is free to handle them do so will make your life easier.
Hand and Resource Targeting
It's not a major theme, but Circus Ex Mortis isn't afraid to go after your hand and resource pool. Extra draw and resources, especially if you can share them with the team, can help make sure nobody spirals down.
Token Effects
This campaign uses Moon Tokens in the chaos bag, which have the effect of "+0 and draw another token" when drawn, and seal on your character to provide all sorts of penalties. These also change the math on all sorts of player cards - cards that care if you draw any symbol token, like Voice of Ra, become much better. But if you're looking for specific symbols, like with Sixth Sense, they're going to be harder to find if you're using token selection cards like Olive McBride (but not any different if you're not bothering with those cards).
Deckbuilding Advice
The suggestions below aren't by any means required, or even characters I've necessarily played the campaign through. Rather, these are just observations of characters who might be particularly well suited to the campaign, including things that might not be top tier, but have a very strong synergy with the campaign mechanics.
Suggested Investigators
The Circus Ex Mortis Investigator Expansion: Circus Ex Mortis comes with its own investigator expansion. All five investigators are solid with clever designs, and there's tons of fun player cards. The cards also give a lot of new options to other official investigators - they don't feel like they have to be taken as a group or are pushing specific new archetypes, and combo cleverly with preexisting cards.
Mark Harrigan: Mark is going to want to bring some extra healing or soak, but the moon tokens can help draw him a lot of cards, especially as they deal their damage during the Upkeep Phase, where you normally won't take damage to trigger his once per phase ability.
Tommy Muldoon: Tommy can turn the damage and horror from moon tokens into resources or charges for Becky, and he plays well with some of the bless options that can synergize with the moon tokens.
Daisy Walker: Daisy is always a solid investigator, but story assets in the campaign might be of special interest to her. (yes, there's a tome)
Minh Thi Phan: Minh has a strong, balanced soak profile, and her ability to excel at random tests - and help others to do the same - can serve as a major lifesaver for some of the odd treacheries and challenges you need to deal with.
Preston Fairmont: When taking tests are dangerous, preston can just buy his way past that. He's also good at just going a singular big bought test every turn, and not worrying about drawing too much.
Sefina Rousseau:More chosen because of the cards she can use, the upgraded spell events that return to hand on token draw are great here, and some of Sefina's best cards. Big Pilfers and Backstabs will also let you do work without taking too many tests.
Agnes Baker: The moon tokens can be used to deal you horror during the upkeep phase - and taking horror during weird phases is something Agnes loves, to trigger her extra damage.
Luke Robinson: A couple of scenarios have strange maps that can restrict movement in weird ways. There's not a lot of ways to play around it - besides being Luke Robinson and just going wherever you want.
Calvin Wright: Calvin enjoys being able to take whatever damage type he needs, which drawing moon tokens lets him do. This varied stats also are great to handle some of the encounter card challenges.
William Yorick: There will be stuff to kill, and things to soak - Yorick's job is being good at both, and his general tankiness will help with all the incoming damage.
Notable Player Cards
.35 Winchester: The taboo'd Winchester triggers off of the +0 bonus of the moon tokens, making this one of the most reliable campaigns to use it.
Combat Training: Guardians just don't have a lot of good agility options, and if the rest of your group doesn't have great fight, you'll want
Map the Area: This campaign is a strong contender for Map the Area, with a lot of crucial boss fights centered around specific locations. It won't be every scenario, but it'll be a bunch of them.
Medical Student: Not just medical student, but what she represents of disposable allies for seeker soak. But her heal is excellent too, of course, and it's easy to get 1 damage and 1 sanity through moon tokens for her to heal.
Elusive: Sometimes the evasion just has to come gaurenteed - there's lots of chances to just get ahead of enemies and keep them away from you, or back away in tight situations, giving Elusive plenty of use.
The Gold Pocket Watch: It's a late game purchase, and more for fun than power, but some scenarios have timers in such a way that staying a step ahead of enemies or messing with the mythos phase can lead to some fun results.
Hypnotic Gaze: Not normally a very popular attack cancelation, so many moon tokens in the bag help make its damage reversal a reality, and there's enough big hitting enemies that it's worth considering.
Ritual Candles: Ritual Candles turn the +0 of Moon tokens into a +1, making you at least slightly happy to see them (even if they end up hurting).
Precious Momento: Much of the incoming damage and horror can be chosen as to what kind it will be - and it's easy enough to just trigger something on precious momento every turn, letting you put whatever you end up healing on it.
Spirit of Humanity: While it's mostly noteworthy for the healing, a lot of other strategies that synergize well with moon tokens can revolve around bless and curse tokens, making a Spirit of Humanity deck a fun choice.
More on Circus Ex Mortis:
Circus Ex Mortis: Spoiler-Light Review