The Colour Out of Oz: Dissection

Introduction and Spoiler Warning

This is a full, in depth-guide to The Colour Out of Oz, a custom Arkham Horror Card Game campaign by The Beard. This article discusses potential XP, story paths, secrets, and FULL SPOILERS, so be warned!

Experience

Available XP per scenario/interlude:
Scenario 1: The Road to Oz: 6 (locations) +1 (Invisible Bears) +1 (Green Dragon, in the encounter deck) = 8 XP total
Scenario 2: Deep Impact: 5 (locations) +1 (Nemesis) = 6 XP total
Scenario 3: Double Whammy: 5 (locations) + 1 (Nemesis) + 1 (Mombi) = 7 XP total
Scenario 4: Chasing Rainbows: 5 (locations) +1 (Nemesis) = 6 XP total
Scenario 5: Misery Loves Company: 5 (locations) +1 (Nemesis) +1 (General Guph) = 7 XP total
Scenario 6: Hall of the Mountain King: 4 (locations) +1 (Iron Giant) +2 (successful resolution) = 7 XP total
Scenario 7: Defense of the Realm: 4 (locations) +4 (story cards) = 8 XP total
Scenario 8: True Colours: 5 (successful resolution) = 5 XP total

There is a total of 49 XP available before Scenario 8 - Scenario 7 in particular is hard to get all of the XP from, and it's easy to lose an XP here and there from far off locations or a Nemesis you don't have the power to take down. Still, you should easily be able tog et at least 40 XP altogether before the final scenario.

While scenarios 2-5 each use a random county, all of those counties have 4 victory on locations - leaving the total XP the same no matter what county goes in what scenario.

Campaign Breakdown

Preparations

At the beginning of the campaign, there are 8 different Preparations players can choose from. Each give a bonus in one of the first five scenarios, deckbuilding options allowing two additional level 0-2 cards of as specific trait, and some kind of penalty unless you have a specific trait on your investigator. You can choose as many preparations as you want, but those penalties add up! For the lists below, investigators are up to the release of The Feast of Hemlock Vale. The preparations are as follows:

Preparation: Alien Display
Deckbuilding Trait: Insight
Favored Investigator Traits: Miskatonic (Amanda Sharpe, Daisy Walker, Harven Walters, Kate Winthrop, Norman Withers, Rita Young)
Penalty: A random basic Omen, Endtimes, or Mystery weakness
Scenario Benefit: In scenario 4, you need to spend 2 clues at 2i different locations to advance - with 1 less location per investigator who has chosen this preparation.

Most Insights are already Seeker cards, making them not useful for most of the Miskatonic investigators. However, Delve too Deep can be attractive to anyone, Tinker is great for your Magnifying Glasses, and Drawn to the Flame is a good clue option for Rita. Anyone willing to take an extra weakness can benefit from those, or Breach the Door or Crack the Case. The scenario benefit

Preparation: Scientific Curiousity
Deckbuilding Trait: Practiced
Favored Investigator Traits: Assistant, Scholar (Amanda Sharpe, Carson Sinclair, Hank Samson, Kate Winthrop, Kohaku Narukami, Mandy Thompson, Minh Thi Phan)
Penalty: +2 deck size for the remainder of the campaign
Scenario Benefit: In Munchkin Country, reduce the number of the 4i Colour cards you need to discard by 2.

The Practiced skills make odd picks, and are likely not something you'll go out of your way for, but most investigators can find something to like here - some noteworthy ones are Deduction, Promise of Power, Take the Initiative, and Vicious Blow, all of which are great off-class.

Preparation: Facts of the Case
Deckbuilding Trait: Developed
Favored Investigator Traits: Agency, Civic, Detective, Police (Charlie Kane, Joe Diamond, Roland Banks, Stella Clark, Tommy Muldoon, Trish Scarborough)
Penalty: You can only mulligan up to 3 cards each scenario
Scenario Benefit: In Scenario 2, reduce the 5i required clues for Act 2a by 2.

For Joe, Roland, and Trish, upgraded Sharp Vision and Brute Force can be fun choices. There's not a lot of good cards Developed cards to take otherwise, though, especially for the Survivors in this set - although Guts (2) and Manual Dexterity (2) aren't nothing, even if they are underwhelming. Taking this an unlikely pick to take off-trait, especially for fighters who need to mulligan hard for weapons.

Preparation: Grotesque Transformation
Deckbuilding Trait: Spirit
Favored Investigator Traits:Hunter, Medic, Veteran, Warden (Carolyn Fern, Dexter Drake, Father Mateo, Hank Samson, Leo Anderson, Lily Chen, Mark Harrigan, Nathaniel Cho, Tommy Muldoon, Tony Morgan, Vincent Lee, William Yorick, Zoey Samaras)
Penalty: You suffer 1 mental trauma
Scenario Benefit: In Gilikin Country, reduce the 3i clues required for advancing Act 2c by 2.

It's a long list of investigators, many who already have access to the guardian and survivor cards that make up the long list of spirit cards - Ward of Protection is a highlight here for those guardians who can't already take it, and Gang Up ends up being a potentially effective attack event for those who like to run multiclass cards. You're unlikely to take this option at the cost, even though a mental trauma on its own isn't too bad, unless there's an event you're dying for.

Preparation: Lingering Corruption
Deckbuilding Trait: Fortune
Favored Investigator Traits: Believer, Blessed, Chosen, Cursed (Amina Zidane, Calvin Wright, Father Mateo, Jim Culver, Kohaku Narukami, Lily Chen, Patrice Hathaway, Rex Murphy, Sister Mary, Stella Clark, Wendy Adams Parallel , Zoey Samaras)
Penalty: You suffer 1 physical trauma
Scenario Benefit: In Winkie Country, reduce by 1 the 4 locations you need to pass a Willpower or Combat test on.

Fortune cards tend not to be as big and flashy as some other choices, but nobody complains about having "Look What I Found!", Hot Streak, and Lucky as options. There's less of interest here for the investigators who already have access to Survivor Cards - but Diabolic Luck might be of interest to those running Curse decks, and One in the Chamber is a otherwise hard to get firearm reload card.

Preparation: First Person Source
Deckbuilding Trait: Ally
Favored Investigator Traits: Criminal, Enterpreneur, Performer, Reporter, Socialite ("Skids" O'Toole, Alessandra Zorzi, Bob Jenkins, Charlie Kane, Daniela Reyes, Darrell Simmons, Finn Edwards, Jim Culver, Kymani Jones, Lola Hayes, Marie Lambeau, Nathaniel Cho, Patrice Hathaway, Preston Fairmont, Rex Murphy, Tony Morgan, Winifred Habbamock)
Penalty: You begin each scenario with 1 fewer resource
Scenario Benefit: In Scenario 3, when you need to spend 2i clues for each of the three witches you need to find, you reduce the clues you need by 1.

This is maybe the most exciting list, and with a long number of investigators who can take from it for free - and honestly, losing 1 resource isn't that bad of a cost outside of it. It's hard to narrow down all the choices, there are so many good ones - Beat Cop (2), Lonnie Ritter, Guard Dog (2), and Jessica Hyde for the fighters, Dr. Milan Christopher, Alice Luxley, Gabriel Carillo, Guiding Spirit, and Jeremiah Kirby for the clue focused characters, Gregory Gry if you have good stats and just want money and soak, Peter Sylvestre for defense - or to bring into any mystic! - or even just try to do something fun with Leo De Luca, Olive McBride, or Miss Doyle. You're spoiled for choice here, only restricted by every character having great ally choices in-class!

Preparation: Altered Creatures
Deckbuilding Trait: Augury
Favored Investigator Traits: Artist, Dreamer, Drifter, Wayfarer ("Ashcan" Pete, Alessandra Zorzi, Calvin Wright, Jenny Barnes, Leo Anderson, Luke Robinson, Monterey Jack, Sefina Rousseau, Silas Marsh, Ursula Downs, Wendy Adams, Wilson Richards)
Penalty: You begin each scenario with 1 fewer card in your hand
Scenario Benefit: In Scenario 5, each of the Pervasive enemies gets -2 health.

Bad news to Luke and Sefina on this list, who's only new card option here is Heed the Dream. Even still, there's not a lot to really get excited for on this list - Antediluvian Hymn and Parallel Fates are maybe worth a combat focused character taking to use on down turns, and Premonition can be fun - including with some broken things in Wendy. Otherwise, the big catch here is Recall the Future, but there's likely nothing on this list you're willing to suffer the penalty for, especially with the way it hurts your mulligan. The scenario benefit here is especially nice, though, as it saves a lot of fighting.

Preparation: Visions of Space
Deckbuilding Trait: Ritual
Favored Investigator Traits: Clairvoyant, Cultist, Silver Twilight, Sorcerer (Agnes Baker, Akachi Onyele, Dexter Drake, Diana Stanley, Gloria Goldberg, Jacqueline Fine, Marie Lambeau, Preston Fairmont
Penalty: At the start of each scenario, add a curse token to the chaos bag
Scenario Benefit: In Quadling Country, you need to spend cards total 2i skill icons five times - with the number of skill icons you need to spend reduced by 2.

There's a lot of nice build-around cards here that are easily worth adding a clue to the chaos bag for. Arcane Mirror can be really attractive to seekers, rogues, and survivors who want extra hand slots, and Haste can be great to anyone who plans on fighting or investigating multiple times a turn. Spirit of Humanity is a niche choice, but Bless and Curse decks can certainly find it extremely helpful.

Companions

There are 12 Companions that can join you in your investiations starting from Scenario 2. The final scenario allows you to put all still alive companions into play, and scenarios 2-7 let you put up to 4 into play - that is, as long as none of the companions have reached 5 fatigue. There's a base of 1 fatigue per companion you use for scenarios 2-7. On Scenario 3 and 5, entering the final location (required to complete the scenario) either deals everyone a physical or mental trauma or gives all companions in play one fatigue. On both of those scenarios, if you don't complete the "a" act deck, 2 comapnions who are not in play suffer 1 fatigue. You can safely use 4 companions in every scenario, as long as you mix it up - it's worth not bringing your favorite companions to Scenarios 3 and 5, though, unless you'd rather soak up the trauma (which there's no point in doing). This way, you can use whatever your favorite companions are in scenarios 2, 4, 6, and 7, and your "back bench" in scenarios 3 and 5.