Arkham Horror: The Card Game – Red Tide Rising: Challenge Scenario
Arkham Horror: The Card Game – Red Tide Rising: Challenge Scenario Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Parallel Investigators
Parallel investigators are alternate, print-and-play versions of investigators from existing Arkham Horror: The Card Game products. These investigators, along with their advanced signature cards, are fully playable in any scenario or campaign.
- When building a Wendy Adams deck, you may choose whether to use the original version or the parallel version of both her front side and her back side. Each version has its own advantages and disadvantages. You can also mix and match the two versions. This means that you can use both original sides, both parallel sides, the original front side and parallel back side, or the parallel front side and original back side.
- Regardless of which version of Wendy you use, you may also optionally upgrade Wendy's signature cards to her new advanced signature cards (replacing the original versions). These versions are indicated by the Advanced keyword on both signature cards. These are included only as a set—if you choose to upgrade Wendy's Amulet, you must also upgrade Abandoned and Alone. Doing so costs no experience, and may be done at any point during a campaign. However, once this upgrade is made, it cannot be undone unless you are instructed otherwise.
Challenge Scenarios
Challenge scenarios are special print-and-play scenarios that utilize existing products in the Arkham Horror: The Card Game collection, along with additional print-and-play cards, to create new content. These scenarios are designed with certain prerequisites in mind, in order to craft a challenging puzzle-like experience.
The Red Tide Rising challenge scenario centers around the investigator Wendy Adams, and therefore has the following prerequisite:
- Wendy Adams must be chosen as one of the investigators when playing this scenario.
Standalone Mode
When played as a standalone scenario, follow the steps for Standalone Mode in the Rules Reference. Refer to the section below for additional setup instructions. When played as a standalone scenario, Red Tide Rising has four difficulty modes. Construct the chaos bag with the following tokens:
- Easy: +1, +1, 0, 0, 0, –1, –1, –1, –2, –2, skull, skull, cultist, cultist, tablet, elder thing, elder sign, auto-fail.
- Standard: +1, 0, 0, –1, –1, –1, –2, –2, –3, –4, skull, skull, cultist, cultist, tablet, elder thing, elder sign, auto-fail.
- Hard: 0, 0, –1, –1, –2, –2, –3, –4, –5, –6, skull, skull, cultist, cultist, tablet, elder thing, elder sign, auto-fail.
- Expert: 0, –1, –2, –3, –4, –5, –6, –7, –8, skull, skull, cultist, cultist, tablet, elder thing, elder sign, auto-fail.
The insert prints the non-numeric tokens as icons; they are named here in the order shown on the printed line (two skulls, two cultists, then a tablet, an elder thing, an elder sign, and an auto-fail).
Side-story (Campaign Mode)
A side-story is a scenario that may be played between any two scenarios of an Arkham Horror: The Card Game campaign. Playing a side-story costs each investigator in the campaign a certain amount of experience. Weaknesses, trauma, experience, and rewards granted by playing a side-story stay with the investigators for the remainder of the campaign. Each side-story may only be played once per campaign.
When this scenario is played as a side-story during a campaign, play it as if you are setting up the next scenario in the campaign, with the same chaos bag, weaknesses, trauma, and story assets previously earned.
Playing the Red Tide Rising side-story costs Wendy Adams 3 experience, and each other investigator only 1 experience.
Expansion Symbol
The cards in the "parallel investigator" series can be identified by this symbol before each card's collector number. (The symbol is shown as an icon in the printed insert.)
Scenario Setup
- Gather all cards from the following encounter sets: Red Tide Rising, The Vanishing of Elina Harper, Agents of Dagon, Fog over Innsmouth, The Locals, Chilling Cold, Locked Doors, Nightgaunts, and The Midnight Masks. These sets are indicated by the encounter-set icons printed in the insert.
- When gathering The Midnight Masks encounter set, only gather the five treachery cards (2x False Lead and 3x Hunting Shadow). Do not gather any of the other cards from that encounter set.
- Remove the scenario reference card from the The Vanishing of Elina Harper encounter set from the game. Use the new scenario reference card provided in the Red Tide Rising encounter set.
- Remove all of the acts and agendas from The Vanishing of Elina Harper encounter set from the game. Build the act and agenda decks using only the new act and agenda cards provided in the Red Tide Rising encounter set.
- Put the following locations into play: Innsmouth Square, Marsh Refinery, Innsmouth Harbour, Fish Street Bridge, First National Grocery, Gilman House, and The Little Bookshop.
- Prepare the Leads deck. This is done by performing the following steps:
- Find the 6 unique enemies with the Suspect trait and the 6 single-sided locations with the Hideout trait.
- Shuffle these 12 cards together to form a deck. This deck is called the Leads deck. Place it near the scenario reference card.
- Draw the top card of the Leads deck, resolving its revelation ability.
- If it is a location, Wendy Adams begins play at that location.
- If it is an enemy, Wendy Adams begins play at that enemy's location.
- Each other investigator begins play at Innsmouth Square.
- Set each of the following Monster enemies aside, out of play: Winged One and both copies of Hunting Nightgaunt.
DO NOT READ until the end of the scenario
- If no resolution was reached because each investigator resigned: Proceed to Resolution 1.
- If no resolution was reached because each investigator was defeated: Proceed to Resolution 2.
Resolution 1: You didn't find Dad, but you were able to find the next best thing: the man in the brown derby. You approach casually, hoping he'll ignore you like everyone else tends to do, so you can confront him. You follow him into a dark alley and immediately realize he's leading you somewhere hidden away from prying eyes. "Didn't think you'd follow me," he says once you're alone.
The questions come pouring out of you. Does he know your father? Where is he? Why the photo? What is the Red Tide? But he simply holds up a finger to his lips. "Shhh, kid. You're gonna get me killed." He sighs, removes his cap, and runs his trembling fingers through oily hair. "Look, all I can tell you is...your Dad, he fell in with some bad people. Some real scary people. But he wanted out. And the only way out..." he grimaces and shakes his head. "You gotta understand. He can't come home. You'd be in danger. So would he. But...he still wanted you to know that he loves you. So..."
You wipe a stray tear that threatens to crawl down your cheek. The man looks terrified. He's either a world-class actor, or he's telling the truth. You ask him one last question—who are the bad people Dad fell in with?—but the moment you ask, he shakes his head and backs away. "I've already said too much!" is the last thing he says before he flees.
- Ignore the Victory X value of each Suspect and Hideout card in the victory display. Instead…
- …Wendy Adams earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 3rd.
- …Each other investigator earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 5th.
- If Wendy Adams was defeated, she must either upgrade Abandoned and Alone to its advanced version, or downgrade the advanced version of Wendy's Amulet to its original version.
- If Wendy Adams was not defeated, she may either upgrade Wendy's Amulet to its advanced version, or downgrade the advanced version of Abandoned and Alone to its original version.
Resolution 2: You wait for your pursuers to round the corner before making your way stealthily back to the bus stop and getting on the next bus to Arkham. You crumple the sides of Dad's photo in anger. A stray teardrop trails down your cheek. You still have no real leads. Who was the man in the derby and the wool coat that morning? What have you gotten yourself mixed up with? But, glancing once more at the photo, one hope still lingers in your mind: Dad is alive. He has to be.
- Ignore the Victory X value of each Suspect and Hideout card in the victory display. Instead…
- …Wendy Adams earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 3rd.
- …Each other investigator earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 5th.
- Wendy Adams must either upgrade Abandoned and Alone to its advanced version, or downgrade the advanced version of Wendy's Amulet to its original version.