The Necronomicon
John Dee Translation

Asset. Hand. Weakness

Item. Tome.

Cost: –.

Neutral

Revelation - Put The Necronomicon into play in your threat area, with 3 horror on it. It cannot leave play while it has 1 or more horror on it.

Treat each you reveal on a chaos token as a .

: Move 1 horror from The Necronomicon to Daisy Walker. Then, if The Necronomicon has no horror on it, discard it.

Jesse Mead
Core Set #9.
The Necronomicon

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)

  • If you add this to your hand without drawing (e.g. via Research Librarian), the Revelation ability still triggers.

  • Moving damage or horror is different from 'dealing' or 'taking' damage or horror, so does not trigger effects or allow the player controlling Daisy Walker to reassign the horror.
Last updated

Reviews

This is an interesting Weakness to rate. Looking at the two elements, the effect and the discard condition, we get:

The effect: Swapping the for the isn't fun, and it doubles you chance of auto failing, but... it's possible to go an entire scenario without seeing either token, so it's on the lower end of the punishment scale for signature weaknesses. It could even help you, if Daisy is running Voice of Ra, where the grants an extra 2 resources, while the is a miss. If you've had the bad luck to get Nihilism as your Weakness, you might feel differently. Still, not incredibly punishing.

The discard condition: 3 actions and 3 Horror, and the actions can be Daisy's bonus Tome actions. Daisy has a high Sanity, but this still eats a third of it. 2 actions to clear a Weakness is pretty standard, so 3 bonus actions is fairly forgiving, and Daisy can always pack Fearless (2) to recover from her unwise bedtime reading.

All in all, this is a below average signature weakness.

LivefromBenefitSt · 1052
you might be able to move horror off of it with Solemn Vow. If you remove the last horror that way, though, it doesn't get discarded. — Zinjanthropus · 227
Not by default, but it can now be overplayed (or tossed to a failed Crypt Chill). — Yenreb · 15
One question: with this weakness having the same name as another necronomicon("Petrus de Dacia Translation") and "Limit 1 per deck" on that card, can I have these two cards in my deck at the same time?" — newdaylqt · 1

Generally speaking, this is probably one of the most forgiving special weakness cards in the game so far. You don't have to take the horror off of it if you don't want to, and let's be honest, how many times do you actually pull that blue token out of the bag anyway? That particular portion can be quite swingy in its effect, I have lost at least one scenario where I drew the blue and then the red token and we lost. But overall I find the worst part of John Dee's Translation to be how it usurps a hand slot. You didn't need that Magnifying Glass, right? Daisy's Tote Bag is insurance against losing that hand slot to The Necronomicon. On a more positive note, it's a much better translation than the Simonomicon or whichever version was in that cabin in the woods that summons a demon horde AND you can use it's ability as a free action thanks to Daisy Walker's special ability.

cheddargoblin · 87
I usually ignore the Necronomicon. Assuming I have Old Book of Lore or Encyclopedia out in addition to it, forfeiting three free uses of one or the other of those and taking three horror merely to clear the Necronomicon rarely seems worth it. — CaiusDrewart · 3126
It really isn't all that threatening. I never feel pressed to get rid of it either. It's mostly just been a minor nuisance. — cheddargoblin · 87
It's a bit worse if you're playing on easy/standard where you can often boost your checks enough to succeed on "all but tentacles", where this doubles the risk of failure. That can be bad if you're getting ready to play a high-impact single card such as Deciphered Reality, or the Guiding Stones version of the glyph. I'd consider using a turn to clear it before attempting one of those. — Low_Chance · 13
http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/CoC/CoCCards.html/_/revelations/the-unspeakable-pages/the-necronomicon-john-dee-translation-tup — BremenRADS · 13
Is this art by Shane M. Tyree or by Jesse Mead? — BremenRADS · 13
How does this interact with Seal of the Elder Sign? It both says “do not reveal” and “treat the symbol revealed” on the text. — krzhang · 7
krzhang I think year later this respond means nothing to you but I belive elder sign is not effected by it since you are not revealing a chaos token and this card specificly says it triggers when you "reveal" — Makaramus · 5
What happens when I draw this card while bout my hands are already full of other cards? Do I have to discard one to make space for the necronomicon? — Neph · 1
@neph yes please, it is the worst part of this weakness — vulinhchelsea · 1
@vulinhchelsea thx for explanation:) — Neph · 1
I don´t think it occupies a hand slot at all. The instructions tell to have it put on the threat area. — knightcvel · 19
@Neph You would draw it on step 4.4 of the upkeep phase. You don't have to check your hand-size until step 4.5 of upkeep phase, so you should be fine. — tercicatrix · 15
One question, how rules if you have the necronomicon in play and draw dendromorfosis?? — Terrol · 1
The "it cannot leave play while" condition is absolute, so the hand slot limit yields to the "cannot." See the FAQ for Straitjacket. — Signum · 14
It's a tome asset so you can choose it for the raven quill. If you attach the raven quill to it with the Spectral Binding upgrade, you even get your hand slot back! — belphagor · 8
One question: with this weakness having the same name as another necronomicon("Petrus de Dacia Translation") and "Limit 1 per deck" on that card, can I have these two cards in my deck at the same time?" — newdaylqt · 1

An AI-generated ode to Daisy's bane, The Necronomicon:

[Verse]
In a quiet room
Where shadows creep
A librarian's solitude
Forever to keep
She stumbled upon an ancient lore
Bound in leather
A book evermore

[Verse 2]
With trembling hands
She touched its spine
Unaware of the secrets
Within confined
Whispers of darkness
Seducing her soul
A chilling sensation
Starting to unfold

[Chorus]
Whispers of darkness
Calling her name
Lost in the pages of a sinister game
The librarian tainted by the book's cruel touch
A haunting melody
She can't escape its clutch

Hear the song here: suno.com

GeneralXy · 40