This suite are all interesting puzzles. They all seem pretty innocuous at first; I mean, you do a play action pretty much every turn, right? (If you are Wendy or Nathaniel.) You move every turn, right? (If you are Ursula.) But then you can't one turn, or you forget, and there's that 1 damage and 1 horror tax, which isn't too bad, right? And then you draw a second. And a third. And they are Hidden, so you have to keep your frustration to yourself -- you've drawn three of the damned things in five turns, and your play partner sits, oblivious across the table (or the Zoom connection) complaining about the Swarm of Rats they drew... Then the visions in your mind really start.

Then, to add sauce to your madness sundae, you draw Maddening Delusions a time or two, because of course you do, because this Encounter set has it in for you personally. Yes, it's a Return to... set; it's supposed to take things up a notch, but this is taking things a bit too far....

Oh, now I have a Trauma. That's just great.

“Take a card. Any card. Shuffle it with the other 34… Don’t let me look at it. Was it illicit? Was your card liquid courage(1)? Your card is in play for zero resources, thank you Molly!”

No one else can give you what you need right in time for the exact situation you’re facing. Amaze friends and loved ones! Gather clues and send enemies to the blazing pit! Read on, I pray you, read on!

Dexter knows that magic makes money. Although his rogue 0–2 pool prevents him from getting the truly game-breaking stuff (Lupara, Lola, Delilah), it gives him access to some cool weapons, some events and momentum. Momentum is useful for when you have to pass parley checks; with your tuxedo (and it would be a tragedy to play Dexter without fine clothes), you can pass a magic check with your superior willpower, and auto succeed on a parley up to difficulty five. Or with a flashlight, an investigation at a five shroud Haunted location.

Dexter’s ability makes him one of the most flexible people ever released for this game.

He can mitigate and use expertly some of the double edge swords common to the Mystic deck. Use Gregory Gry early on to make money, and replace him with David Renfield to make even more cash. Use an arcane acolyte, and replace them when their doom would be a problem for the team. When you have the charisma to hold multiple companions, you can add a familiar spirit and Haste, letting you use activate four times in a row. (Activate, activate, sixth sense, sixth sense?) Hopefully you have some recharges and/or Twila to help you out.

Molly is a wonderful, wonderful signature. If you build your deck precisely, once she’s out, you get four different chances to get whatever card you want. If you decide to call in favors, you can play it again later. You never need to be unprepared.

The trap you might run into while building for Dexter is that everything looks good. Leather Jackets and robes of endless night. Shriveling and mysts of Ryleh. In solo, you want a little bit of everything. With others, make sure that you’re not trying to cover every single niche. You need skills and events!

The stage magician will succeed as long as you get your lovely assistant and showmanship out. Always take both signatures, the weaknesses may slow you down but they can’t stop you.

Nothing up your sleeve. Pick a card.

Last time my friend as Calvin Wright with only 1 health left drew this. He kept Perseverance in hand for damage dealing treachery , but Curse of Yig doesn't deal damage, making Perseverance useless against it. Calvin died during his transformation into Serpent, sadly. What a nasty encounter card.

Oh, Yig, you wily monstrosity! The -1 isn't so bad, the -1 health definitely sneaks up on you and makes you more paranoid, and the Serpent trait keeps getting you excited when you draw Encounter cards like Children of Valusia and think you are getting a benefit, then you notice it's "Serpent enemies," and you hear Yig laughing in the distance. Drat you, Yig! That Pit Viper was trying to bite me! We need a card called "Reasonable Explanation" that removes Vengeance.

The issue with this one is that it is exceedingly rare to be dealt around 10 damage and/or horror in a single instance (the poster child being Beyond the Veil).

Perseverance covers real-world cases at a cheaper XP cost.