The Black Book
Signed in Blood

Asset. Hand

Item. Tome. Relic.

Cost: 3.

Neutral

You get +1 and +1 .

When you play a card, exhaust The Black Book and take X horror: Reduce that card's cost by X.

He must sign in his own blood the book of Azathoth and take a new secret name...
- H. P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House
Stanislav Dikolenko
The Secret Name #150. The Secret Name #38.
The Black Book

FAQs

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Reviews

I haven't seen many reviews for story assets so I figure I'd throw in my two cents here. I'm currently playing through The Circle Undone for the first time in my group using Carolyn Fern. While I can't speak to how good it is on other characters, I would like to point out the following interaction I had in my build:

Stick to the Plan, Ever Vigilant, The Black Book

Y'all. Ever Vigilant tells you to play the cards one at a time, meaning with the nut opener you can drop Black Book first, then just sink a ton of horror into the next asset you play using the ability. And then you get to repeat it each turn.

While playing as Carolyn, the built in resource generation from healing horror - and the fact that, of course, you'll be healing horror - means that the chances you actually die from using the ability is slim to none. And you'll still be able to afford other expensive cards sooner rather than later. And the stats that it gives are great for the campaign. I didn't believe anyone when they said you'd need for TCU, but yes, you absolutely do.

And look at those ICONS! Wow! It seems too good to be true.

TL;DR this is amazing if you're playing Carolyn Fern - definitely pick it up. Addendum: we aren't done yet so if you get massively destroyed for taking it in the campaign I'm sorry, I didn't know...

DanPyre · 56
This can be a great pickup with other characters as well, in general characters that have a large sanity pool and rely on intellect, willpower or both will love it. I recently took it in a TCU run with Luke and Tony and Luke used it to sling lots of events without losing tempo. Jim is also a big fan, because taking it adds another Skull token to the chaos bag. — PowLee · 20
It was fantastic in Calvin as well, for obvious reasons. — Death by Chocolate · 1364
The question is always -- do you want this enough for another Skull? Skull tokens aren't insanely bad in TCU (in the last 2 scenarious they start adding up), but it's a consideration. But, yes, it fuels Carolyn, who really suffers if no one will tell her their woes.... — LivefromBenefitSt · 1021
I would say a Skull is in some ways a net benefit as it dilutes the chance of a bad token slightly, like the autofail or a large negative number. Depends on TCU’s skull effects though. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
I used this with daisy and it was amazing, combine with Ancient stone - Minds in Harmony to heal up. The icons are also great for scavenging! — Django · 4859
I dont want to write review so just drop here:Trading sanity for resource doesnt worth it considering how expensive it is to heal. BUT! This is only if you are gonna die — Makaramus · 5
mmmm I pressed enter again... Well continuing. All you have to do is make sure you will not die from horror and this card is in theory in worst case free. Trouble begins after you start taking trauma wich reduces value a lot and making it a bad draw . Stats are still good I suppose but uses hand slot — Makaramus · 5
Also works great with Diana Stanley + I've Had Worse. Tap the Black Book to play a card, then play I've Had Worse to cancel the horror, then slide card under Diana. Very powerful. — micahwedemeyer · 59

Since nobody's said it yet, I'll be the first to say it:

Peter. Sylvestre.

The Big Man on Campus is now an economy card, netting you an entire resource every turn, that you play a card. Not to mention, the 2 (one from Peter(2), one from TBB) can make anyone resilient to treacheries.

I'm currently playing this combo in an Advanced Wendy deck, and it makes it extraordinarily easy to afford her constant slew of events. Now I just need to find a way to cash in on her whopping 6