Even before the next Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game expansion has hit stores, Fantasy Flight announces the next title: The Mark of Madness, giving Hastur’s faction the kind of focused attention that everyone else has enjoyed to date. This time out, the Cultist, Artist and Lunatic subtypes are getting the love, with several featured in the first preview. Cultists were a natural, and everyone hoped Lunatics would get the boost they needed, as a functional Lunatic deck is something I think most Cthulhu players dabble with at least once.
Artist is a surprise to me. It’s a tribe with eleven characters to date, and no cards specifically keying off the subtype. But considering Hastur’s portfolio, Artist makes a lot of sense as an unregarded subtype to build up. The Mark of Madness brings us new Artists and cards that boost the tribe, the same way The Sleeper Below boosted Cultists and Denizens of the Underworld did Criminals. Tru’nembra can be discounted by driving Artists insane, while Patron of the Arts grants them Toughness and skill.
Additionally, there are new incentives to win the terror struggle. Drawing the Sign accumulates success tokens when the opponent loses terror, and can be sacrificed with eight tokens to win a story flat out. The Hastur, He Who Is Not To Be Named, allows the controller to place a success token on a story every time they win terror there. And this Hastur brings an extra terror struggle to the party, to boot!
Intriguingly, the off-factions’ characters are hinted to be themed around entering play insane, and having an effect when they are restored. I hope further previews expand on this theme.
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