allstar64 said:

It's his PS that kills him. Sure, you can use him to clean the streets and whatelse, but the idea that you can't use him to collect clues in the first turns because of the fail condition of his PS is really a big turn-off

So I just played a game with William. Damn, he can be a versatile badass! He starts the game in South Church with three monster trophies. If he's lucky and gets a total of five toughness across the trophies, he can become blessed before the end of round one. If you're playing with personal stories, that also makes him pass his personal story and get one extra focus. His personal story has to be the quickest one. And if he's really lucky, he still has a monster trophy left after doing all this.

He can also spend monster trophies as clue tokens, and if the monsters are bad, he can return them to the box instead of returning them to the cup. Just give William enough equipment to defeat most monsters and he's ready to take care of a few gates. For William, monsters guarding gates can often be a bonus. One extra monster trophy = one extra clue token for that seal. He's not the most mobile investigator with a max speed of 3, but the Patrol Wagon fixes that. And with a max will of 6, he can pass most of the Horror checks, so that he doesn't have to sanity tank all the monsters. With a blessing and some weapons, he can afford not always having a high fight. So a monster whacker and a gate diver at the same time, and the one role benefits the other? I approve!

Julia said:

Yeah to be fair he was a favorite pre Insomouth. I don't think I've had a chance to play him since Insomouth was relesed due mostly to not having many chances after I moved.

eiterorm said:

Not to mention that his ability to clue-spend the monster trophies grants him a certain buffer of clues that a Clue Servant can't touch. William is really a good one :-) Not top-notch, but still, very versatile and fun to play with.

allstar64 said:

Agreed. Pre-Innsmouth he was someone I've always loved playing with :-)

Yeah i was really really excited when I first heard about the Persoanl Stories. Even before they were announce I had wanted them cause I saw them as a great chance to balance out some of the less powerful characters and pump some life into the characters as a whole.

After it was released I was completly disapointed. It seemed like the only old character who had been given any thought whatsoever was Sister Mary whose PS did do a great job of making playing her feel new. There were so many other characters who should have gotten boosts that were much better thought out like Amanda, Mark and Pete not to mention players whose missions were really not boosts at all Like Willson, Darrel or any investigator who has to pay 5 clue tokens.

This is going to sound Sacreligions but they really should have gotten community input on this one. Release a  few Prototypes to the community and we would have instantly been given the feedback rather than waiting till after it was set in stone and now we have to live with it.

AllStar ~ I couldn't agree more…sometimes I wonder why they're reticent to get input from the very individuals who purchase the game, expansions, miniatures (okay, seriously, I'm not buying the miniatures).  Personally, I find quite a few of the Personal Stories quite thematic, but some, like Darrell's make a good Investigator make horrible decisions…all for the case of the PS.  He can't have 5 Clue Tokens…he is a Photographer, isn't he…trying to find clues…

allstar64 said:

You're not sacrilegous at all. Most great games have a huge playtesting work done by the community. Look at Dominion, for instance. Donald is certainly brilliant as game designer, but having hundreds of games played by the on-line community were vital to create a better game. Every forum on the FFG site has some people "taking care of it"; people whose passion and love for the game and knowledge of the cards, encounters, possibilities and stuff are so great they could be really helpful on some points. FFG then clearly can decide not to listen; but throwing in some prototypes and asking "play 10 games each, then post xyz on our server at this address with comments, and so on" could give them a lot of feedback before the game is out. So that we don't need errata, clarifications, FAQ, revised edition, new booklets of the rules (se ES, MoM. SoB for Descent and other apocalyptic nonsense that happened in the past) but we can have a sound game, able to satisfy everyone

The Professor said:

That's right, Joe, you don't buy minis. You produce directly the accessories you need for a better play

(and I'm pretty damn sure that Rob will be able to design - and paint - better minis than those produced by FFG)

The Professor said:

Yeah, that's really a sound point. Not only is he penalized under a strategic point of view, he's also brutalized by logic. "Hey, I'm a reporter! But I'm not reporting anything, because if I gather too much infos, then I'm in trouble". C'me on…

Julia,

     Yes, Rob's impressive ~ I'm glad that you'll enjoy the horror adorning your table.

     As to the PS, I have to admit, I've only just changed Darrell's…and today Wilson failed his and I diodn't know what failing meant…Discard all of his Clue Tokens…that hurt.  I'll explain in my next session report entitled, "From the Jaws of Death."

Cheers, Joe

Had a great time with "Ashcan" Pete. Especially once he had both a .45 and a .38. Made stomping monsters that weren't immune to phycial weapns so much fun.

Dexter needs a shout just for his pimp stick!

Seriously what is wrong with Dexter is he not a good spell caster?  I played with him last night (mainly because of this post) for a 2 player with a mate with two charecters each and he was very good he got that spell from the king in yellow where you add 3 to fight with no sanity cost and use you lore to your fight for that round and he was very very good.  Thoughts? 

Lilikin,

     He shoud be a very good Spell Caster, but his dead-average Sanity of '5' prevents him from casting too many requiring a Sanity cost and compared to Carolyn Fern who has a higher Sanity and can restore her own OR Daisy Walker (Kingsport Horror) who reduces Sanity costs for Spell Casting right out of the gate…Dexter looks a bit thin.  On the otehr hand, once he's passed his Personal Story (Innsmouth Horror), he's quite effective.  On a personal note, I enjoy playing him.

Cheers, Joe