Independent Faux Seeker Series: Roland

This deck is part of a new series I'll be publishing: The Independent Faux Seekers Series.

Note there is an alternative version for Roland that does not include Dr. Milan Christopher in case you want to pair Roland with another investigator who needs Milan more than he does. This deck is more for pairing Roland with Agnes or Wendy.

The basic idea is that you might want to give yourself some extra challenge and play a game without any seekers (currently by far the strongest faction). The goal is to provide decks that accomplish two goals:

• Allow a significant amount of clue finding
• Allow the investigator to mostly take care of himself or herself

The second point means that these decks could be played solo or as an efficient part of a pair-play. Typically, it is most efficient for investigators to split up because otherwise you have to invest a lot of moves in each of you visiting all the locations.

This deck is choc-full of cards letting Roland get clues for free: 2x Working a Hunch, 2x Evidence!, 2x Art Student, as well as some tools to help him get clues directly if he has turns.

Note that Art Student is a great include for Roland because it includes 2 horror soaks, and Dr. Milan Christopher can help Roland with his pitiful economy. However, note that Roland may often need help investigating on Hard. Even with a Magnifying Glass and Dr. Milan Christopher out, he is only naturally a 5, so shroud-3 and shroud-4 locations will require him to put in extra icons to give him a solid chance.

Based on the adventure, you can determine whether Beat Cop or Dr. Milan Christopher is a better ally to have. In many cases Roland does not need to search for clues, he can get plenty naturally by killing things and using his free-clue cards. But in others there are fewer enemies to attack.

The Kukri may look like an odd inclusion here. The issue is that Roland is generally too poor to want to play .45 Automatic if he later has to play his Machete anyway after running out of bullets. With that in mind, I have put in 1 Prepared for the Worst to help him get his Roland's .38 Special or at least a Machete. The Kukri is there as a backup. On Hard and Expert difficulty it has the value of letting Roland do two damage on a successful hit, even if it is at the cost of an action. On Hard and Expert you generally want to limit the number of skill tests you have to do.

If you are playing Standard, then Knife makes more sense.

I recommend getting Charisma relatively early so you can play Art Student to get the free clue and horror soak and still play a "real" ally (Beat Cop or Dr. Milan Christopher)