Jenny Barnes - Don't test me (Dunwich Legacy on Expert)

Warning: Spoilers for The Dunwich Legacy campaign:

This is a deck I've used in a true solo playthrough of the Dunwich cycle on expert difficulty.

In this guide, I'll give an introduction to playing Jenny on expert as well as a basic guide to this deck and the cards in it (including potential upgrades once you get some XP).

After that I'll give a rundown of the different scenarios as well as my recommended changes and upgrades to the deck for each. Since rogue decks can be very fluid things (thanks to Adaptable), this shouldn't be thought of as "the one true way". Rather, this represents my takeaway from going through the campaign - usually replaying each scenario a couple of times to make sure I didn't simply get lucky the first time.

I've included my background notes at the end of the text if you are interested in my underlying reasoning.

I've also made a similar deck for The Path to Carcosa. It can be found here: https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/8066/jenny-barnes-don-t-test-me-carcosa-edition-expert-1.0

---

General play

The overall philosophy behind the deck is to take as few skill checks as possible. Whenever you need to take a skill check anyway, you should look at two things to determine how much you need to boost:

1. At what point do the special tokens penalize you for failing and how much would it hurt you?
2. How much do you need to pass the test? If it's really important, you should aim for 5-6 above, but otherwise 4 above (3 in the first couple of scenarios) will usually give you a better than 50-50 chance.

If you cannot make those numbers, don't commit cards or resources to the test. Accept that you will fail a lot of tests and conserve your strength for the ones you need to pass.

Below is a short generalized guide to playing the deck. See the "Scenario Guide" section for pointers on the individual scenarios.

Mulligan guide:

You are looking for help finding clues. Hard mulligan for Art Student, Drawn to the Flame and Flashlight. If you get two or more of these in your opening hand, you should keep them and mulligan the rest for Sleight of Hand, Calling in Favors and Double or Nothing.

Getting clues:

These are the optimal plays, depending on shroud/clue-number. Naturally, things aren't always perfect, so you'll have to act according to the situation.

• 3+ shroud, single-clue locations: Play Art Student, or Calling in Favors if you already have an ally on board.
• 1-2 shroud, 2+ clue locations: Play Flashlight using Sleight of Hand (with enough actions left to empty the location). Remember that you'll only fail on a .
• 1-2 shroud locations in general: Flashlight. You can add Double or Nothing to get two clues for one action with no added difficulty.
• 3+ shroud, 2+ clue locations: Play Drawn to the Flame. Later on in the campaign you can supplement with a combination of Lockpicks and Streetwise.

Surviving:

The only other thing, besides finding clues and moving, you actually need to do to complete the campaign.

• Your first response to enemies is to evade and avoid. Elusive and Narrow Escape are your first line of defense, but as a rogue, Jenny has a lot of in her deck, so don't be afraid to pitch whatever cards you hold, if it will help you get away.

• .41 Derringer, Knife, Backstab, Guard Dog, Jenny's Twin .45s and Overpower are your ways of killing things you cannot simply avoid. Except for Backstab and Guard Dog, these are mostly useful for killing Swarms of Rats, Whippoorwills and Mobsters. Guard Dog is your most reliable way of dealing damage to tougher enemies (maybe paired with Backstab) and you can play Calling in Favors to get extra uses out of it. You can also fairly reliably kill a Conglomeration of Spheres using Backstab paired with a Double or Nothing.

• Say Your Prayers is there to take the sting of things like Rotting Remains and to (maybe) get rid of something like Frozen in Fear and Unhallowed Country. Accept they you will fail the vast majority of tests. Take it on the chin and move on.

• You also need to accept that you probably won't "win" every scenario. It's ok - you only need to win three of them and "I'm outta here!" is for the rest. Use it when you enter the kill-zone (the point where a single encounter card can defeat you - see the scenario guide) without an immediate way to end the scenario in sight.

What!! No...:

• Lone Wolf/Emergency Cache/"Watch this!": The underlying idea it to keep the cost-curve low so we don't need to run any economy cards. Jenny's passive ability will give you more resources than many investigators can get through cards, and we can then use those slots for something that will help us complete the scenario.
• Leo De Luca. He's too expensive and doesn't synergize with the Art Student/Calling in Favors combo.
• Hard Knocks. +1 skill/resource doesn't cut it when you need +4-5 for each skill check - especially when you need to find and pay for the card first.

  ---

  Upgrades

  This is a general upgrade path. See the Scenario Guide for specific cards you should include for that scenario. Depending you how many XP you have, you may need to push a general upgrade to later in order to get something more immediately needed.

1. Charon's Obol. You won't be able to gather as many optional XP as in standard, so this is the best way to keep up with the curve.

2. Streetwise. Gives you an immediate answer to enemies, helps you investigate when you otherwise don't have the right cards and boosts Backstab. Remember that you have limited resource-generation, so this should be regarded as a supplement, not the main way to accomplish things.

3. Adaptable. Rogue's secret weapon on expert difficulty. Lets you customize your deck to the specific challenge of each scenario. Initially, a single copy should be enough.

4. One Lockpicks. The clue-gathering pressure can get quite intense in some scenarios and this gives you an additional way to (fairly) reliably investigate 1-3 shroud locations without using Streetwise, or 4+ shroud with additional boosting. Replaces a Perception if you buy it after Extracurricular Activity or an Overpower otherwise.

5. Two Sure Gamble. One of the few ways of, almost certainly, passing a test without boosting to 6-8 above. Replaces Overpower or Perception.

6. Two Cat Burglar. Doing things without testing is awesome. Also boosts Backstab and Lockpicks. Replaces Knife, .41 Derringer, Perception or Overpower (whichever seems relevant).

7. Chicago Typewriter. Your best way to kill anything more challenging than a Swarm of Rats, outside of Backstab. Replaces Knife or .41 Derringer and should be played with Sleight of Hand if possible. At this point you should also replace Guard Dog with Fight or Flight to get the most out of the typewriter.

8. Hot Streak. At this point there's no denying that the cost-curve is getting a little high (even accounting for playing Chicago Typewriter with Sleight of Hand and Cat Burglar through Calling in Favors). You can always funnel any excess resources through Streetwise (see also the scenario guide for Where Doom Awaits). Replaces the remaining Perception/Overpower, Unexpected Courage or "I'm outta here!" (if you get it after Undimensioned and Unseen).

9. Whatever you like. At this point you should simply go for the bomb card you like best. Ace in the Hole, Key of Ys, Cheat Death or whatever.

For reference, here's my deck upon entering Lost in Time and Space: https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/160878

---

Scenario guide

This is a general guide to the scenarios. However, each one has several ways to severely mess with your plans, so you'll often have to improvise.

For every scenario I'll go over "upgrades", "play" and the "kill zone" (the point where a single card from the encounter deck can kill you).

Before you set up, go over the locations so you have an idea which of your investigation tools are best suited for each location.

In general, your main objective is to gather XP and not take too much trauma. Before Where Doom Awaits (except for Essex County Express), everything else should be considered optional. Never be afraid to simply resign and live to fight another day.

The House Always Wins:

Upgrades: None - Play this first.

Play: Your goal is to get at least two XP and get out without a trauma. If you manage to rescue Dr. Francis Morgan, that's fine but not really necessary.

Your opening moves depend on which cards you draw. Hard mulligan for an ally (no matter which). If you get one, wait out the first turn on La Bella Luna and get the clue if you can do so easily. Then move to Clover Club Lounge, discard the ally and continue to Clover Club Bar. Third turn you take a drink and you're off to the back rooms.

If you don't get an ally in your opening hand, you still wait out the first turn in La Bella Luna. Head to Clover Club Cardroom to gamble and then to Clover Club Bar for the last two clues. If you don't get two clues on the first couple of tries, you should probably begin preparing for the inevitable show-down with the Clover Club Pit Boss. A Backstab and/or Guard Dog represent your best chance to take him out.

After you advance to the second act, you first priority is to find the Back Alley, which let's you resign quickly through "I'm outta here!" or Elusive. Once that's done you can start clearing locations for victory points.

You'll likely have to deal with a criminal enemy in the Darkened Hall. You can kill it or simply move into a cleared room (while engaged), evade and move out.

If you feel up to it, you can try to save Dr. Francis Morgan. You'll likely need a Say Your Prayers to have any chance of making it work. However, remember that your main objective is to get two XP and not take a trauma.

Kill zone: Once the striking fear set is used, it's at three sanity from Rotting Remains. Before that, you should watch for Hunted Down (depending on enemy placement).

Extracurricular Activity:

Upgrades: Your first buy should always be Charon's Obol. If you manage to get five XP (hard but not impossible), your next buy is Streetwise, which will dramatically increase your chances of completing Extracurricular Activity.

However, it's more likely that you'll only have 1-2 XP after buying Charon's Obol. In that case you buy Adaptable (first) and Lockpicks. Use the Adaptable to switch the Knife for a Fine Clothes and the Guard Dog for a Dynamite Blast (for killing Whippoorwills and the Wizard of Yog-Sothoth).

Play: Your first priority is to get three clues to advance the act. Mulligan for help doing that. Your perfect hand would include Flashlight, Art Student, Drawn to the Flame and Sleight of Hand/Double or Nothing.

The order you search each location depends on which cards you actually get.

Flashlight is for Student Union and Science Building. Try to clear the Student Union first (prefrably using Sleight of Hand or a Double or Nothing to conserve flashlight charges) so you can Elusive back there later in case the Miskatonic Quad becomes occupied by something big and nasty.

Art Student is best for the Orne Library and Drawn to the Flame is for the Humanities Building.

If you don't get any of the needed cards, you can try to investigate the Student Union using your base . The scenario is uncharacteristically kind towards +2 tests until you get 10 cards in your discard pile, so this is probably the only time through the campaign I'd suggest something like that.

Try not to move into a location until you are ready to clear it so you can place any Thralls safely away in the Administration Building where you won't go anyway.

After "Jazz" Mulligan is shuffled into the encounter pile you'll probably need to continue getting clues in order to find him (that card has been scientifically proven to be 20% heavier than other cards, so it has a tendency to drift towards the bottom 1/3 of the deck - true story). Try to clear the Science Building before The Experiment arrives there.

Once you find "Jazz" Mulligan you'll actually have to convince him to join you, which is a lot harder than it sounds. You should save any Perception and Unexpected Courage for this test and Fine Clothes can help you, but there's a real possibility that you won't be able to progress from here. That's too bad, but not the end of the world. Make sure to clear the Orne Library for the XP and resign.

If you succeed the parley test, you should aim to alert the students. Don't mess with The Experiment.

Kill zone: Five cards in the deck through Beyond the Veil + Visions of Futures Past or two sanity from Pushed into the Beyond.

The Miskatonic Museum:

Upgrades: Make sure you have Streetwise at this point. Switch the Dynamite Blast back to Guard Dog and consider replacing a Sleight of Hand with Stealth. Stealth is useful since it reduces the Hunting Horror's evade to 0, so you'll only fail on a . If you have a single XP to spare, and already have a Lockpicks, get a Cat Burglar in stead.

Play: Your first obstacle is to get inside the museum. Since Museum Entrance doesn't allow you to get any resources, there's actually a good chance you might get stuck here. Mulligan for Drawn to the Flame (a sure-fire way to get in). Failing that you'll have to take your chances with whatever you've got.

If you don't get in within the first couple of turns, you should probably resign rather than risk Searching for Izzie turning up (actual rage-quit through table-flip optional). Console yourself with the knowledge that you at least got two XP through Charon's Obol.

Once inside, the scenario plays much as in standard. Whether you should kill the Hunting Horror depends on the situation, but I find that it's usually easier to evade it and take the occasional hit whenever it catches up to you. Don't try to farm XP (you should still get a bunch without trying) - get to the Restricted Hall as soon as possible.

Try to get hold of a Drawn to the Flame so you can simply clear the Restricted Hall once you find it without worrying about removing the Hunting Horror.

Kill zone: Five cards in deck (Beyond the Veil), two health (Crypt Chill) or two sanity (Pushed into the Beyond)

Essex County Express:

Upgrades: Nothing specific needed. A Sure Gamble can be useful. Get rid of the Stealth and replace "I'm outta here!" with something else - maybe a Perception

Play: It's do-or-die time (due to Charon's Obol). Luckily, you are well-placed to handle the scenario by this point. Mulligan for help getting clues and get a move on!

I like keeping a Sure Gamble in hand for the Act 1b test and you should get hold of a Drawn to the Flame, so you can clear the engine car without worrying about high shroud, Grappling Horrors or whatever.

Kill zone: Not that you can really do anything about it, but it's at three sanity from Rotting Remains.

Blood on the Altar:

Upgrades: You want a Chicago Typewriter (along with Fight or Flight) and a Cat Burglar for this scenario. Also get the "I'm outta here!" back.

Play: It would be comparatively easy to simply kill Silas Bishop, but the penalty for doing so is too harsh, so we are going for an investigation victory or nothing. The downside is that the scenario can make that pretty near impossible if it decides to hate you. Finding the Key to the Chamber and The Hidden Chamber in the last two locations or drawing two Hunting Nightgaunts early are just two of the myriad ways you can get screwed over.

As usual you should mulligan for clue-gathering tools, but you should also keep a weapon, Cat Burglar or Backstab if possible.

Figure out the best way to go round the village and try to hit Burned Ruins a turn or two before an agenda flips. If it's the version that turns clues into doom, you should then attempt to fail the three investigation tests, so the tokens go away with the agenda and you don't have to find them again in The Hidden Chamber.

Try to use the Art Students early, as an Unhallowed Country can turn them off for much of the remaining scenario.

Once you find the chamber, you'll need to gather 4-8(+) clues. You'll probably need to move back and forth a couple of times, but it's possible to do.

Kill zone: Three sanity (Rotting Remains) or two health (Kidnapped!).

Undimentioned and Unseen:

Upgrades: Brood of Yog-Sothoth become incredibly unthreatening when you are able to simply walk away from them, no questions asked, so you should get the second Cat Burglar if you haven't already.

Depending on how Blood on the Altar went, you might have the option of including several extra allies in your deck. I usually include everyone I can get (if nothing else, they are great at soaking damage/horror), provided I have XP left over for Charisma. Not strictly necessary, but a useful add-on.

Lastly, you want two copies of Waylay. If you get Charisma, you should rotate a Drawn to the Flame and an Art Student out, otherwise you switch for two Art Students.

Play: Mulligan for a Cat Burglar. Play this and begin gathering clues and looking for a Waylay. You should also gather a pile of resources. Advance the act whenever you get the chance.

If a Brood of Yog-Sothoth enters your location, you simply walk away using the Cat Burglar. Since the broods only move at the end of the enemy phase, you should be quite safe unless you get swarmed by thralls.

You goal is to kill at least two Brood of Yog-Sothoth, but three or even four is entirely achievable. There are two ways of doing this:

1. Evade and use Waylay to defeat them. I like to boost the evade to +6 using Streetwise. If that succeeds, I then boost the Waylay to +8 using a combination of Streetwise and icons from cards (you only get two chances after all). Alternatively you can use a Sure Gamble. Waylay is unaffected by Towering Beasts, so try to pile all of those on a single brood and kill it this way.

2. Use the Esoteric Formula. You normally want 4-5 clues on a brood for this, so you'll realistically only be able to kill one or two this way.

The scenario will usually alternate between 3-5 turns of build-up followed by killing a brood. Rinse and repeat. Expect to spend some actions simply getting resources.

Unhallowed Country once again rears its ugly head, so I like to keep a Say Your Prayers (and something else with a / so I can get to +5) ready to clear it. Alternatively a Sure Gamble.

Kill zone: Three sanity (Rotting Remains) or three health (Ruin and Destruction - probably combined with Attracting Attention).

Where Doom Awaits:

Upgrades: By this point you should have most, if not all, of the recommended upgrades. Get Hot Streak if you haven't already. Replace the "I'm outta here!", as you won't be resigning.

Switch the two Waylay back out for the Art Student(s)/Drawn to the Flame.

Play: The scenario revolves around the 4-5 (3) tests needed to find Divergent/Altered Paths. Your main way of doing that is to boost twice using Streetwise. This puts a lot of pressure on your resources, so you'd like to see a Hot Streak in your opening hand.

Always try to enter the paths with a single action remaining (they punish you for each remaining action or for having no actions).

Actually finding clues shouldn't be too much of a problem, but there are a lot of enemies in the encounter deck that you don't want to deal with, so you'll likely spend some time playing hide-and-seek. Cat Burglar and Elusive are your friends here.

Try to enter Sentinel Peak with a Drawn to the Flame in hand, so you can clear it without worring about Seth Bishop. Seth isn't too hard to kill though, so by all means do so if you have time and the right cards.

Kill Zone: You won't resign, so it doesn't matter all that much, but: Five cards in deck (Beyond the Veil + Visions of Futures Past), three sanity (Rotting Remains) or two health (Vortex of Time).

Lost in Time and Space:

Upgrades: Whatever you are missing from the upgrade list. Consider putting "I'm outta here!" back in.

Play: Congratulations, you've made it to the final scenario. Whatever happens from here on, you should feel good about that. That said, you are in a good position to win the scenario.

Begin looking for locations right away.

You have two goals: Finding seven clues (four of which must be found before you can enter The Edge of the Universe) and discovering a path from Another Dimension to The Edge of the Universe/Tear Through Time.

The path can either be:

• Another Dimension Endless Bridge Dimensional Doorway

or

• Another Dimension Prismatic Cascade Steps of Y'hagharl

There's only one copy of each Steps of Y'hagharl/Dimensional Doorway, so you should be aggressive in looking for them. The Dimensional Doorway is the better path, as the (2) test on the Steps of Y'hagharl can be a problem, but you might not have a choice. Keep any Say Your Prayers or Sure Gamble in hand for this (or to head off an unlucky Vast Expanse).

Getting a few locations out will also give you a bit more room to avoid enemies.

You can farm any Tear Through Space for clues, but don't leave them around. Remember that both The Edge of the Universe and Tear Through Time are two-shroud two-clue locations, so a Flashlight can do some real work there.

As soon as you find the path and finish gathering the four clues needed, go to The Edge of the Universe, find another clue or two and advance. The path should still be open, so you can then head straight for the Tear Through Time and resign.

If you've included "I'm outta here!", you don't even need the final two clues. Tear Through Time might require you to spend two clues to resign, but "I'm outta here!" doesn't. It's a cheap trick, but that's what being a rogue is all about. You still need to actually get to the Tear Through Space in order to flip it though.

The encounter deck puts a lot of horror-pressure on you, so you'll want to get some allies out to take a bit of the heat off.

There are also quite a few 4+ health enemies that you don't want to deal with, if you can avoid it. One trick is to lead them to a location other than Another Dimension or Tear Through Space (maybe using Narrow Escape to avoid damage) and Elusive back. As long as there isn't a Tear Through Space or the Tear Through Time in play, they can't return to Another Dimension, which can buy you a couple of turns.

Other than that, it's mostly a question keeping up a high pace, which you are well-equipped for. I usually complete the scenario well before Yog-Sothoth appears.

Kill Zone: Once again, this isn't terribly important, but: Five cards in deck (Beyond the Veil + Visions of Futures Past, five sanity (Vast Expanse) or two health (Collapsing Reality).

---

Background

Expert difficulty is characterized by two things:

1. Special bad-stuff tokens with fairly high (generally -3 to -5) negative modifiers and (often automatic) negative consequences for even drawing them.
2. A massive increase in negative modifiers in general. Instead of wanting your skill to be two above your target number (as in standard) you now want to be 4-5 above.

These two factors combine to mean one thing: Passing skill checks becomes a massive hurdle.

This hurts every investigator, but Jenny has it worse than most. Let me explain:

Jennys 3-3-3-3 stat-line is generally a boon on standard difficulty as it puts her within easy reach of passing a "normal" test of 3. It is not an accident that many boosts are "+2" (Flashlight, the neutral skills, most weapons).

However, on expert (and to a lesser extent hard) that strength becomes a weakness. Whereas other investigators can potentially focus on the areas they are good at, Jenny will be looking for a +4-5 boost on Every. Single. Skill check. Even with her strong economy, you won't be able to get there by using Physical Training and Streetwise alone, and you'll run out of cards to pitch to tests long before you run out of tests you need to pass.

There are likely other ways to get around this weakness, but my solution is as follows:

1: Finding clues - "The Dunwich Breaker suite"

It's not my original idea, but it is my own name for a collection of 8-9 cards that, combined, allow you to gather as much as 14-16 clues with very little uncertainty (even on expert).

The cards are:

• 2 Art Student
• 2 Calling in Favors (to get extra uses out of Art Students)
• 2 Flashlight (used on 1-2 shroud locations, so you only fail on a )
• 2 Drawn to the Flame
• Usually 1 Working a Hunch or 1 "Look what I found!". I usually leave this out unless it's a very clue-heavy scenario.

They are available to all the investigators from The Dunwich Legacy (hence the name). In addition, seeker/mystic investigators (which seems to be the most common combination) can take this package, but most of those don't really want it as much, owing to high natural or access to things like Rite of Seeking.

As a rogue, Jenny can add in Sleight of Hand to get extra uses out of the Flashlights for a theoretical total of 22 clues.

Since even the most demanding scenarios (like Essex County Express) requires you to find 8-12 clues, this is usually more than enough (but see the entry for Blood on the Altar above for a caveat).

The trick is to be familiar enough with each scenario to know when and where you can play each card to the best effect, and when you can afford to lose a bit of efficiency. I go into a bit more scenario-specific detail above, but ultimately it's a matter of experience.

2: Making money - or not: Since you won't solely be relying on talents to pass tests, the question becomes: What to do with all the money?

One answer might be to get a lot of very expensive tools (Leo De Luca, Lucky Dice, Chicago Typewriter and so on), but I think there's a better way.

Many non-rogue investigators have to get by with two Emergency Cache and, maybe, one other economy card. Jenny gets as many, or more, resources without lifting a finger, so if you don't go overboard on the high-cost assets, you really should be able to make do without any additional economy at all. This frees up card-slots and actions for doing things that actually help you win the game.

3: K.I.S.S - (Killing, Infiltrating, Surviving and Support. What did you think it meant?):

With clue gathering taken care of (and taking up almost half the deck anyway), we now turn to the only other thing you need to do: not dying. Here is my four-step program:

Killing: Probably the thing you'll be doing least, but you might still need to at times. During the first couple of scenarios, .41 Derringer and Knife (boosted by Overpower) can be used to kill smaller enemies, but later on, the only viable tools are Backstab (supplemented by Streetwise) and Chicago Typewriter.

I begin the campaign with a Guard Dog, but after I get Cat Burglar I like to switch to Fight or Flight to get the most out of the Chicago Typewriter and making Jenny's Twin .45s viable.

Infiltrating: Rogue's bread and butter. Elusive, Narrow Escape and later Cat Burglar are excellent tools for this.

You can also straight up evade an enemy, either boosting with Streetwise or by pitching some of your cards for -icons.

Evading an enemy is nearly always easier than killing it with this deck.

Surviving: This becomes a lot more difficulty on expert difficulty where you can expect pretty much every single encounter card to do maximum damage. Draw a Rotting Remains? Take three horror. A Visions of Futures Past? Discard five cards.

You could run a lot of soak and healing but that would be contrary to the philosophy of the deck, so your main defense will instead be to speed through the scenario before it can kill you. You do run a few cards that have additional utility though:

Say Your Prayers: I initially ran Guts, but the two were never really enough. Has some scenario-specific uses, but is otherwise used against things like Rotting Remains and to clear Unhallowed Country.

Narrow Escape: Has a lot of different uses, but I especially like it for getting rid of annoying enemies that spawn on you when you are at some central location - call it "dive and ditch". You move to another, less inconvenient, location (avoiding the attack of opportunity), use the skill boost to help evade the enemy and move back.

Allies: Are your soak. Try to get one down early to take some of the incoming horror and damage. A special mention to Cat Burglar for being one of, if not the, best way not to get swarmed by enemies on expert. Honestly, this card is just bonkers.

Support: The rest of the cards. A few comments on some of them:

Backpack: This is something of an experiment. You don't run all that many items, but on the other hand, this helps you get hold of the ones you've actually got. So far I've been happy with it, but it's probably the first card to go if something amazing gets releases in the future.

Double or Nothing: Mostly useful for taking two clues off a 1-2 shroud location with Flashlight or for killing a Conglomeration of Spheres in one hit using Backstab or Chicago Typewriter. Can also be used to kill bigger things with Backstab if you have the resources to boost high enough.

Streetwise: Last but certainly not least. Even though the deck isn't build around it, Streetwise is still way too good not to include. Whenever I see people complain about some "overpowered, must-include" card (usually Key of Ys), I think "Naa, Streetwise is still better". A permanent, resource-efficient answer to enemies and -booster? Single best card in the game if you ask me.