Introduction and Spoiler Warning
This is a full, in depth-guide to The Crown of Egil, a custom Arkham Horror Card Game campaign by analyzechris. This article discusses potential XP, story paths, secrets, and FULL SPOILERS, so be warned!
Experience
Available XP per scenario/interlude:
Scenario 1: The Warning: = 5 (locations) +4 (saga tests) = 9 XP
Scenario 2: The Golden Circle: 8 (locations) +1 (Bleeding Fungus? In the encounter deck) +2 (Gryla, summoned from 3 "Eye of the World" encounter cards) +4 (saga tests) =
Scenario 3: The Fallen: 8 (locations) + 1 ravenous polar bear (spawns at the Dritvik Cove location) +4 (saga elite enemies) = 13 XP
Scenario 4: The Crown: 1 (locations) +1 (Thorolf) +2 (Egil) +5 (winning the campaign) = 9 XP
You can go into Scenario 4 with up to 37 XP, although you're unlikely to have that many. You're likely to only be able to beat one saga per investigator tops in each scenario, and many of the VP enemies are hard to hunt down. Overall, I'd expect in the 25ish XP range - lower for lower player counts, and more for higher player counts.
Campaign Breakdown
Saga Tokens
The primary cross-scenario mechanic in The Crown of Egil are the Saga tests. They're difficult tests that add chaos tokens to the bag permanently, and reward you with XP and other benefits for doing so, including the chance at some very powerful assets.
In scenario 1, there are four locations that allow you to modify the tokens in the chaos bag with a difficult skill test.
In scenario 2, there are four locations that require a difficult skill test to put another location into play, all of which have an action that allow you to modify the tokens in the chaos bag.
In scenario 3, if you've completed at least one of the Saga tests for the appropriate tokens, there's a Victory 1 location that you'll get an automatic success on. In addition, there will be a location that spawns an Elite enemy if you go to it - all of which give 1 Victory and a unique powerful asset if you succeed in defeating them, as well another of their chosen token (or a -6, for the non-symbol options!) Not only are these assets especially powerful, if you complete scenario 3, you get to begin with them in play (albeit needing to pay their cost) for Scenario 4. These are the real goal for the Sagas.
Scenario 4 has several effects that trigger off of how many Sagas you've previous completed. Completing one of the numerical token ones gives you a better Explore option off the first location - the cultist and elder thing eac have a location you get a bonus to investigating - and the tablet has one location that penalizes you for investigating it and another that penalizes you for fighting and evading at it unless you have tablet tokens in the bag. In addition, when Agenda 1 flips, you cannot move for a turn unless you've completed 2i sagas - when Agenda 2 flips, you must either lose 2 actions or randomly discard 3 cards from hand unless you've completed 3i sagas.
There's also some bad that happens with these tokens in the last scenario. For starters, there are 3 Wolfskin enemies who deal you 1 horror whenever you reveal one of the tokens added by a saga during a Fight or Evade action. The symbol tokens are also incredibly punishing - on Standard, each is worth a negative of the number of tokens of their kind in the bag +1. So if you've completed all three Sagas to put cultists in the bag, that's adding three additional -4 tokens in the bag. Ouch!
You only need to complete one of the first two saga opportunities to get your hands on the asset - and there's no particular benefit for getting all of one token (in fact, they become worse!). As such, it might be best to try to spread the influence, completing at least one of each saga type in the first two scenarios, rather than doubling up.
The benefits and requirements the specific sagas give you are as follows:
Number Tokens
In scenario 1, you can pass an Agility (6) test to remove a 0 token from the bag.
In scenario 2, you need to pass an Agility (4) test and then an Agility (7) test to add a -5 token to the bag.
In scenario 3, if you've completed either of the previous sagas, you can go to Saxholl and fight Berg-Onund. Agility or Intellect will allow you to evade him for two turns, and then Agility or Combat will deal some extra damage to him. Your reward for killing him is Egil's Hood, a body slot asset that will give enemies engaged with you -3 evade, and double skill icons on cards you commit to evade tests.
Cultist Tokens
In scenario 1, you can pass an Intellect (6) test to add a cultist token to the bag.
In scenario 2, you need to pass an Intellect (4) test and then investigate a shroud 7 location to add a cultist token to the bag.
In scenario 3, if you've completed either of the previous sagas, you can go to Londrangar and fight Atli the Short. He can't be damaged by weapons - but an Intellect test will lower his fight to 1, and allow anyone to make a Fight action against him at +1 damage. Defeating him gives you Runes of protection - an arcane slot item that keeps non-elite enemies from engaging with you, and reduces the difficulty of Parley tests you make by 2.
Tablet Tokens
In scenario 1, you can pass a Combat (6) test to add a tablet token to the bag.
In scenario 2, you need to pass a Combat (4) test and then take either 5 damage during the day, or 7 damage and/or horror on night to add a tablet token to the bag.
In scenario 3, if you've completed either of the previous sagas, you can go to Kirkjufell and fight Ljot the Pale. Every time you fight him, he gets -1 Fight for the rest of your turn, and you can make a Fight or Agility test to finish him off if he's at 3 or less health, which isn't terribly useful. Defeating him gives the impressive Dragvandil, a weapon that refunds the hand slot it takes, and can be used for +3 Combat 4 damage swings against non-Elites, or exhaust for +3 Combat 3 damage swings against Elite enemies.
Elder Thing Tokens
In scenario 1, you can pass a Willpower (7) test to add an elder thing token to the bag.
In scenario 2, you need to pass a Willpower (4) test, and then look at the top 5 cards of the encounter deck, drawing 3 of them to add an elder thing token to the bag.
In scenario 3, if you've completed either of the previous sagas, you can go to Gatklettur to fight Queen Gunnhild, who can be damaged by making Willpower tests against her. Defeating her gives you Thorolf's Bracer - a 3 sanity accessory slot item that gives you +1 Willpower and -1 Combat, and allows you to make Willpower parley tests against humanoids to shuffle them back into the encounter deck or evade them.
Baror's Choices
At the end of scenario 3, you're given a choice on how to deal with Egil - each of which requires a skill (7) test to choose, and gives you a different final encounter. Some of these final encounters require very specific things, so simply stumbling into one you're unprepared for might leave you in trouble. In addition to a different Egil encounter, each also gives you a different Thorolf who you have to defeat ahead of time.
Combat: Prove your strength calls on you to Defeat Egil. First, you'll have to deal with Thorolf, who punishes you for committing wild icons, and then allows you to discard intellect icons and willpower icon cards to weaken him. This leads you to fight Egil the Bloodthirsty, who can be evaded with combat, and who allows you to investigate his location to give him a permanent -1 Fight.
Intellect: Prove your wisdom calls on you to Banish Egil. First, Thorolf will punish you for discovering more than 1 clue at a time, and then when you fight him, you can use an Intellect, then Agility, then Combat test to automatically defeat him. You're then up against Egil the Wicked. If you've got the Runes of Protection, he won't be able to hurt you, which certainly gives you a lot of time. You can investigate with Intellect or Willpower to place a clue onto him, and 2i+1 clues are required to defeat him.
Willpower: Prove your compassion calls on you to Restore Egil. Thorolf here will punish you for revealing Skull tokens, and then when you fight him, you're required to pass a Willpower (7) test, followed by a Combat or Agility test, and discard your entire hand and all weapons you have. This brings out Egil the Broken, who can't be attacked normally - instead, you need to pass a Parley Willpower test to reveal tokens from the chaos bag, opening to reveal Elder Thing tokens. Revealing 2i Elder Thing tokens will win the scenario.
Agility: Prove your cunning calls on you to Deceive Egil. Thorolf increases the cost of any assets or events. Instead of fighting Thorolf, you can choose to make Willpower or Agility tests to seal tokens on him - and then you can reveal 5 tokens, hoping for a total of -14 or less to add him to the victory display. This will bring out Egil the Greedy. If he's exhausted, you can Parley with him using either resources or agility or willpower tests to place clues on him - once 2i clues are on him, you can defeat him automatically.
More on The Crown of Egil
The Crown of Egil: Spoiler-Light Review