The Ghosts of Onigawa Dissection

Introduction and Spoiler Warning

This is a full, in depth-guide to The Ghosts of Onigawa, a fanmade Arkham Horror Card Game campaign by Myriad. This article discusses potential XP, story paths, secrets, and FULL SPOILERS, so be warned!

Experience

Available XP per scenario/interlude:
Scenario 1: The Hidden Village: 6 (locations) +1 (successful resolution) +1 (Vengeful Echo) +1 (The Pale Bride in the encounter deck, up to 3 investigators) = 8 XP total
Scenario 2: The House on the Hill: 4 (locations) +1 (Hitokiri Daimyo, in the encounter deck) +1 (The Pale Bride) +1 (for rescuing Mayu and sending her to the village, or if she dies) = 7 XP total
Scenario 3: The River Delta: 4 (locations) +1 (Shinigami), +1 (Buwaya, in the encounter deck) +1 (Kappa, in the encounter deck) +1 (The Princess's Retinue, in the encounter deck) = 8 XP total
Scenario 4: The War Eternal: 3 (locations) +1 (The New Colossues, in the encounter deck) +1 (The Scarlet Partisan, in the encounter deck) +1 (The Jade Cavalier, in the encounter deck) +1 (The Azure Zealot, in the encounter deck) = 7 XP total
Scenario 5: Half Light: 5 (locations) +1 (Bondage Mannequin, encounter deck after Agenda 3) +1 (Hinnagami, encounter deck in Agenda 3) +1 (Yatsukhaki, encounter deck in agenda 3) +1 (Meticulous Handiwork, encounter deck in agenda 3) +1 ("Madame" Bai, encounter deck in agenda 3) = 10 XP total
Scenario 6: The End of August: 5 (locations) +1 (Jorogumo, in the encounter deck) +1 (Konohana Sayuka, in the encounter deck) +1 (Yuki-onna, or from the interlude if not defeated)= 8 XP total
Interlude IV: 1 XP to Yuki Yagami if she is being played, and +1 XP to all investigators if she reveals her heritage
Scenario 7: The Molten Armory: 3 (locations) +1 (rescuing Mayu or The Tallow Chorus) +1 (Shade of Wukong, in the encounter deck) +1 ("Sensei" Kanuti or Kurama Tengu) +2 (if you choose to sabotage the foundry) = 6 or 8 XP total
Scenario 8: The Black Harvest: 1 (locations) +2 (Moloch) +10 (successful resolutions) = 13 XP total

This gives a potential total of 55 XP before the final scenario (a little more if someone is playing Yuki Yagami), although a large number of that XP is on tough enemies that get shuffled into the encounter deck, sometimes late in a scenario. You can likely expect low to mid 40s for your final scenario, depending on how aggressive you can be with Victory enemies.

Campaign Breakdown

The Forest Guardian Aspects

Before the first scenario, you've given a permnant card that you can use for the first seven scenarios. There are eight aspects in all. In Easy or Standard, you get to choose - and on Hard and Expert, the aspect you're given is random. Scenarios will also give minor bonuses or penalties to characters with different aspects at the start, but they're small enough they're not worth basing a decision of which to pick on.

The Well

In Scenario 2, there's a Wishing Well location where each investigator can make a wish, drawing a card from a random Downwell deck of four cards. Two of the cards do nothing. One card lets someone take the Shishio's Guile asset to their deck, a 3 cost asset that gives +1 to agility and allows you to exile it as an action to discard a non-elite enemy. The fourth card is "The Girl In the Well", which gives Victory 1, deals all investigators 1 horror, and causes her to show up earlier in Scenario 4 - right when the act switches, instead of after a card is drawn from the encounter deck.

The Koi Princess

In Scenario 3, you can run into the Koi Princess - if you approach her, you exhaust the boat you're using for the scenario, preventing everyone from moving for that turn. If you do reach out to her, she appears in the final scenario to help you, adding blesses or removing curses whenever you defeat an enemy. If you don't reach out to her, instead, an elite enemy spawns where she would - and while he doesn't have hunter, he's still a decent roadblock.

Saving Mayu

If you take Mayu with you, she runs away with you at the end of Scenario 6 - and you have to rescue her in Scenario 7. When you go to the Drainage Sluice, you need to make an Agility (4) test to rescue her - failure means she's gone for good, and you have to fight a nasty Elite enemy. Success gives you bonus experience, and has her stick around in the final scenario to help.

The Sacred Foundry and Anvil of Creation

In Scenario 7, you're given a choice to sabotage the sacred foundry, or to use the Anvil of Creation. There's some minor differences to the boss enemy and the location that are triggered by this, but what really matters is the rewards.

If you sabotage the foundry, everyone gets two bonus experience.

If you use the anvil of creation, someone gets to add Tsurugi's Might and Midori's Cunning to their decks. They're one handed weapons that let you add your willpower or agility (respectively) to attacks with them, deal +1 damage if you succeed by two or more, and can exhaust if you miss to instead automatically succeed on an attack. You get to start scenario 8 with one of them in play, and if you get both out, they transform into Kanon's Quill - a tw ohanded weapon that adds your highest non-combat stat to attacks, and deals extra damage equal to the number of investigators!

Yuki Yagami

Yuki Yagami is the guardian investigator for The Ghosts of Onigawa Investigator Expansion, and she gets a few benefits throughout the campaign.

For Scenario 2, she begins with her weakness The Succession (That August Night) in play. This might seem bad, but her weakness is way worse if it comes out late in a scenario with a bag full of blesses - so drawing it to start might be a good thing!

In Scenario 3, you start with 1 additional resource and 1 horror at the start.

In Scenario 4, you start with an additional card in your hand, and gain an extra ability to move towards one of the final locations - helpful, given how branching the map is.

After Scenario 6, if you end the scenario with the Yuki-Onna in the victory display, you've given a choice. If you Accept the Lunar Queen's Request, you gain the Icebound Fetish which heals you when you defeat monsters. Iaf you Decline the Lunar Queen's request, you gain 2 experience. You're then given a choice to conceal a secret from your allies (allowing you to spend 2 experience to heal 1 trauma) or tell the secret to your allies (giving all investigators a bonus experience).

In Scenario 8, you get to start with your signiature card, Apotheosis (Living Sainthood) in play.