Arkham Incidents: Anything Once: Review and Rewards

This is a personal, largely spoiler free (or spoiler-vague) review of the fan-made scenario Anything Once, part of the Arkham Incidents collection by The Beard for Arkham Horror the Card Game.

The Arkham Incidents are a collection of scenarios set around Arkham, each involving an iconic ally of a difference class in their story. Anything Once revolves around the mystic ally Olive McBride who recruits the investigators to stop a group of blood mages performing a ritual in the Black Cove.

Anything Once is a tricky scenario that involves exploring a variety of locations, and spending clues to be able to do so safely - or choosing to suffer additional encounter cards for not doing so. This set-up encourages investigators to get in and out of locations quickly, but is made tricky by many of the enemies in the encounter deck - some of which have staggeringly high stats.

There are multiple mechanical focuses in the campaign - the biggest two being that damage add to a conter on the scenario card, and the other being the low-shroud locations that require an action to be able to temporarily negate their penalties. The first mechanic largely feels underbaked - only a single encounter cards (of which there are 3 copies out of 30 cards total) directly cares how much damage is put on the scenario card. What it primarily does is instead lock you out of one of the two potential endings if it gets too high - although there's no indication that's what's going on until you reach the end. The mechanic largely feels wasted - there's no real interacting with it, just a general fear, and when it comes into play if it's already deemed too high it's likely then completely ignored, and doesn't really feel like a punishment.

The location mechanics are the focus for the first part of the scenario, as revealing location is how you progress the act. It's the penalties on locations that end up causing much of the trouble - it's quite easy to end up stuck on one for multiple turns if too many monsters are drawn in a row, especially as some of them can be difficult to deal with due to high fight or health values. This is also made trickier that the scenario initially seems like it wants you to split up - it's the fastest way to complete it, and provides easier access to the most victory points - but doing so can make it far too easy for one investigator to get cornered and drained. The action on a location can be triggered by anyone and works party-wide, making it easier to deal with if you stick together. Some locations only punish you for investigating - which are largely less harmful if enemies are drawn - while others punish you for ending your turn there, which are more likely to lead to death spirals.

With a 19 XP party, I found Anything Once on the harder end - high fight enemies were difficult to deal with, and the middle portion provided a real struggle. It's worth noting that the toughest enemies both have weaknesses - but they're generally ones you build your deck around, not play around, so they're not much you can do in gameplay.

Anything Once is an awkward scenario who's mechanics don't quite feel like they all come together - it's got an interesting concept and a clever core, but fails to live up to its promise.

Rewards

Scenario Cost: 2 XP, but an investigator with Olive McBride in their deck pays 1 fewer XP.

Potential XP Gain: 4 (locations) + 1 (Crimson Wizard) = 5 XP or 3 XP (4 if you have Olive McBride in your deck) after cost

In addition, if you complete the scenario by defeating the Crimson Wizard, one investigator may gain the Bloodstone Knife asset. If you instead complete the scenario placing clues on the act, one investigator may gain the Phial of Living Blood asset.