SoSE – Joe "The Book" Diamond

Hi there. Come on in. You don't have to be afraid.

Well, if you're coming to me, you probably have a very good reason to be afraid. Just not of me. But that's my business, so why don't you sit down and tell me about it?

I know, I don't fit the mold of paranormal investigator. You look at me, you think, this guy looks like a bounty hunter or some gutsy P.I. with a trigger finger quicker than his thoughts. He looks gruff and unfriendly. But if you look closer, if you look me in the eyes, I think you'll see the same thing that I see in yours. You've seen some shit, my friend. And trust me, so have I.

And it's all right here. Inside my head, forever. I have a perfect photographic memory. What does that mean? It means that everything I've seen–or read–is permanently visible behind these eyes of mine. Oh, yeah, now you get it.

I didn't always believe in this stuff. In wizards or witches, in monsters from outer space and other dimensions, in ghosts or alien gods. Then this old geezer I knew hired me for a job. A job. Bastard didn't tell me the half of what that meant. Anyway, things started to go real sideways, and I found myself with my hands on a peculiar book. Maybe you've heard of it–stick around in this world and you certainly will before long. But see there were other people who wanted that book, and the things they could've done if they'd gotten it were...bad, to say the least.

So I burned it. But since as a rule I don't hold with the burning of books, before I did so I skimmed through every page. So even if the book was gone, at least what it contained would be preserved in this vault I've got in my head.

Biggest mistake of my life. That book contained horrors like you wouldn't believe, impossible knowledge, secrets no stupid mortal should know. And I knew them all. I couldn't forget them no matter how hard I tried.

So now you know my pedigree. I'm a walking, talking, ward-painting copy of the Necronomicon of the Mad Arab Abdul-Alhazred. The greatest tome of the unseen world lives inside my head.

Ten years now I've been fighting the good fight against unspeakable terror, standing between humanity and the void. So whatever your problem is, believe me. If anyone on this fucked-up planet stands a chance of helping you, it's probably me.

Hey everybody! Welcome to a very special Secrets of Somewhere Else deckbuild!

I actually wrote the first draft of this deck almost a year ago, after I finished my first campaign with Joe "The Book" Diamond, and intended for it to be my first published deck. But...then I misclicked and deleted it. So it is with great pride and after a little bit longer than I expected that I present to you my all-time favorite deck!

Joe "The Book" is a primary cluever for a 4-player party, and in my experience more than capable of serving as the ONLY clue-gatherer. That's right–this deck is capable of picking up clues fast enough to complete an entire 4p scenario's worth of acts without help (although assistance is always welcome, Joe knows not to turn down allies when fighting the mythos).

The central combo of the deck is The Necronomicon, Well Prepared, and Guiding Stones, a combo that currently only Joe is capable of assembling within his own card pool. You have probably noticed The Necronomicon's whopping FIVE intellect icons. With the help of Well Prepared, this can give you +5/+10 to an investigation every single turn, and using the Necronomicon's first mode you can spend secrets to get additional +2s. The payoff for the ability to take tests at 20+ skill value is our version of Archaic Glyphs, the Guiding Stones, which allow you to discover an extra clue for every two points by which you succeed the investigation.

This deck is consistently able to buff its Glyphs tests to the point where Joe clears his location of clues even if he draws the largest negative token in the bag (except the autofail, of course). But unlike most decks with a huge swingy test at the core of their playstyle, most of Joe's resources renew each turn as you ready Well Prepared, so even the autofail is little more than a delay.

The rest of the deck is designed to support and enable this powerful primary strategy. Several of Joe's Hunches (namely his card draw hunch and No Stone Unturned), as well as Eureka! and Research Librarian help you set up. Astounding Revelation, Knowledge is Power, and Truth from Fiction refill or activate your Necronomicon. The Eye of Truth and "Fool me once...", as well as the boost from his cameras and the two Willpower icons on Arcane Enlightenment for Well Prepared, protect Joe and his allies from the threat of the mythos.

Two of my favorite cards in the deck were not in my original plan, but were chosen due to events in the campaigns he ran through. Expose Weakness is the Powder of Ibn Ghazi Joe has learned to make from Dr. Henry Armitage, which he used to phenomenal effect in Undimensioned and Unseen; and Shortcut represents his ability to use Keziah's Formulae, after he drew every copy of Strange Geometry in the deck during The Secret Name.

This deck is full of subtle and wonderful interactions, but I'll leave you to experience as many of them as possible yourselves. Before signing off, however, I'll share a few points of pride this deck has achieved. Skip the next paragraph if you'd like to avoid spoilers for Path to Carcosa and The Circle Undone!

During a run of Black Stars Rise, he used Shortcut to move into the Chapel of St. Aubert and then used Knowledge is Power on his Archaic Glyphs to clear the entire location, TWELVE CLUES, in a single test, all without spending an action. During Before the Black Throne, with his allies falling around him and 9 doom on Azathoth, he managed to cancel the Ancient Evils that would have lost us the campaign and clear the The Black Throne in two actions, taking the hits from the big guy, bringing us through by the very skin of our teeth.

Hunch Deck:

Preposterous Sketches/Cryptic Research

No Stone Unturned

Scene of the Crime/Seeking Answers

Truth from Fiction

Working a Hunch

Finally, some personalization options for the deck! This deck is fully Taboo-compliant, as long as you spend a little more xp on your The Necronomicon and Knowledge is Power, and only activate Milan once per turn. You could also swap out "Fool me once..." for Forewarned, which is generally a better cancel but less of a pet card for me. If you aren't playing Taboo, you can run Mr. "Rook" instead of Research Librarian, or spring for the 4 xp if you are. And Shortcut and Expose Weakness are both references to events in Joe's campaigns, so they can be swapped out for better thematic or mechanical choices for your version. Finally, the deck could absolutely be altered to retain some of the combat potential it had when he was first starting out, or Ariadne's Twine could be added if you want to convert your cash into more Necro charges.

I truly love the games I have played with Joe "The Book" Diamond, not just because of how powerful he is but because of how thematically compelling and mechanically synergistic he is. Watching him grow from a scrappy Practice Makes Perfect hybrid into the mighty cluever he is now, and developing new skills and techniques throughout his campaigns as he buckles down and applies his no-nonsense stubbornness to the most impossible of problems–well, I've played a lot of characters in a lot of RPGs, and Joe is one of my favorites.

If you've made it all the way down to the bottom of this deck tech, thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope that there are players out there who will derive as much joy from this deck as I have.

Go find those clues like your life depends on it–because it probably does–and I'll see you next time!