1 Core + Dunwich Series: Roland

This deck is part of a series provided for people who have only a single core set & the Dunwich expansions. The rationale is that most of the decks on this site assume 2 core sets. If you have just 1 core set, you don't have much freedom in your deck, so there is not much point in publishing specialty decks. But if you have 1 core + Dunwich, you have some freedom in deck construction but not a lot of guidance.

Roland is reasonably good at playing solo, and you can adapt this deck to meet that use case. If you are playing this deck solo, trade out Taunt and Shortcut for 2 Unexpected Courage.

Otherwise, you should play with someone who has some clue gathering ability. Rex, Daisy, and Pete are all fine options.

A key aspect of playing Roland is protecting him from horror. Dodge and the 2 "If it bleeds..." are clear examples, but another is Art Student, which are fantastic for Roland as they give him a free clue and can soak up 2 horrors. Smoking Pipe is also there as a last resort.

Your basic plan is to have a weapon in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Use Prepared for the Worst to get a Machete or Roland's .38 Special. Only take the .45 Automatic if you absolutely have to. It is much worse than the Machete and costs too much.

Note that using a Flashlight is better than just getting 2 added to your intellect. If all Flashlight did was give you 2 extra intellect, it wouldn't really be worth it. In particular, Flashlights really shine [geddit?] in locations with Shroud = 1 or 2. _If the shroud of a location is 1 or 2 and you use a flashlight, the only way you can fail the skill test if you draw ._

Here's why: say the shroud of a location is 2. Using a flashlight brings it down to 0. Say you investigate with an intellect of 2 and get a -5 chaos token. Your adjusted skill for the test is not -3. It is 0. Your adjusted skill is 0, and the shroud is 0, so you win. Only on an do you lose.

This deck uses Inquiring Mind instead of Unexpected Courage so your partner can take both copies of Unexpected Courage. This is one of the headaches of playing with just 1 Core and 1 Dunwich---only so many skill cards to go around.