This is what I like to call "an OK card."

It's not great when compared to the many ways to collect resources these days, but I don't think it's bad. As with most cards, this really only shines in two circumstances.

Quick recap for those of you who haven't scrolled down to CaiusDrewart's excellent review: this card is not as efficient as it seems. While it might seem like 3 resources for 1 action, you gotta do a little more math to break down the cost. The first action of playing actually nets you nothing. Strict loss for 1 action. You lose 1 action, 1 resource, and 1 card. After that, you spend 1 action for what I'd hope is a decent shot at 3 resources.

Scenario 1: Play Burglary: -1 action, -1 resource, -1 card Successfully Burgle: -1 action, +3 resources (if you are lucky enough) Net change: -2 actions, +2 resources, -1 card

Scenario 2: Get a resource: -1 action, +1 resource (guaranteed) Get a resource: -1 action, +1 resource (guaranteed) Net change: -2 actions, +2 resources

Obviously, this is a bad deal. In the first turn you've played it, you've only lost one card IF YOU ARE LUCKY and passed the investigate. However, this does recoup it's investment the more you use it. One more action (and successful investigation) and you've hit the same efficiency as getting two resources and playing emergency cache level 0. After that, it starts improving, but you're always hit with the possibility of failure. It's valuable if you can dedicate many actions to earning resources and you have an efficient outlet for those resources.

So, in most cases, it's bad.

But when is it good?

As has been discussed before, Rex is the gold standard. While in many situations, Rex needs to be a clue hoover spending each action getting as many clues as possible, there are a number of situations where Rex only has 1 clue at a location, whether you're playing solo or not. In these situations, it could be more efficient to burgle, get the resources and the clue in one fell swoop. In addition, with the ability of certain cards to move Rex between locations DURING an investigate (Shortcut level 2 and Pathfinder,) he can burgle a low shroud location with no clues, move to another location, succeed on the investigation, and collect his bonus clue from a new location (one that may be at much high shroud value.) There is math that could be done on the likelihood in each scenario you'll run into location with only 1 clue. The short answer is "it's pretty likely."

The second case is worth considering is the combo of Burglary with Lola Santiago. If the Rex combo is the gold standard, consider this the bronze minimum qualifications.

Lola's first aspect gives you that nice +1 to intellect and agility, which makes us better investigators. But it's the second aspect that really makes things interesting. Lola's fast exhaust allows us to convert resources to clues at a varying levels of efficiency. What this does is improve the value of a resource.

Suddenly, a single resource can become clue on 1 shroud locations. If a Rogue burgles a 1 shroud location and then uses Lola, they can net 1 clue and 2 resources for 1 action. On a 2 shroud location, the efficiency become 1 clue and 1 resource for 1 action, which is as efficient as Dr. Milan Christopher. That's ignoring the possibilities of burgling from a neighboring location and then moving to acquire a clue.

That said, the only aspect about Lola that makes Burglary directly more efficient is that +1 intellect, which can be accomplished otherwise. However, because resources are now slightly more valuable in terms of action economy, having an efficient way to consistently collect more resources throughout a scenario becomes more valuable.

Does that mean that Burglary is now good?

Nope. But it is adequate. The more and more we use Burglary in a given scenario, the closer our efficiency rating reaches 3 resources/action. It never quite reaches it because our first action cost 1 resource and 1 action, also because there is always a chance of failure. Over a single scenario, over 10 turns, we reach an efficiency of about 2.63, which drops to about 2 if we assume you only succeed 3/4 of the time.

Are there more efficient generators of resources? Absolutely, but few that are as beneficial over the length of a game and nothing is as card efficient. If you can pull off a Double or Nothing + Watch This combo, you get 9 resources for 0/1 actions and 2 cards. Hot Streak level 2 nets you 5 resources for 1 action and 1 card.

This card essentially gives you the fuel to repeatedly rely on Lola throughout a scenario. As you level up, you can supplement it or swap it out with Hot Streak or whatever else is more efficient.

So as of the end of the Forgotten Age cycle there are 6 assets that have Uses (Secrets), though strictly speaking this doesn't actually have to put secrets on a card that can use them I cant think of a reason why you would want to. Of those 6 cards, one of them is a Forbidden Knowledge, which Daisy, Rex, Jim or Norman Withers could play, but spending 2 resources and an action to put two secrets on Forbidden Knowledge to let you spend 2 horror to get 2 resources back seems.... bad. Unfortunately this won't let you refuel it for a friendly Agnes as you have to choose an asset you control.

As for the in faction cards, both versions of upgraded Ancient Stone can be restocked with this. Using two resources and an action to heal two horror, divided amongst investigators and assets, makes Truth from Fiction behave kind of like a better Emergency Aid for horror which is definitely not bad, especially in Carolyn Fern. However, I think a much better use is to combine it with the damage variant, letting you bank two testless damage for a later turn. Just dealt with an enemy on your space that was keeping you from investigating, but used up the last of your ancient stone pings while doing so? Fear not, instead of spending an action investigating right now you can hedge against the encounter deck by reading a children's book. I would say that how good a strategy this is largely depends on how high a number you noted for your ancient stone translation, the greater the number of secrets you start with the less useful a 2 secret recharge will be for you. I dont think this is worth running if you're planning to go for some Double or Nothing 14 secret ancient stone shenanigans, but if you get put in a bad spot and have to note down 5 or so secrets you might look at this as an option.

Feed the Mind also uses secrets. Moving on.

Another interesting use is In the Know, if you set up camp on a low shroud location and leave a clue there, you can keep using it to save your movements and recharge it with Truth from Fiction, provided a teammate can run around revealing locations and keeping monsters off you. Combined with Disc of Itzamna, Scavenging, Hiding Spot and Analytical Mind out of Minh Thi Phan and you could have a fun deck concept.

Finally, and possibly the most powerful use of this card is the new 5xp Seeker card from Shattered Aeons, Pnakotic Manuscripts. It enters play with only 3 secrets so one copy of Truth from Fiction can nearly double the number of uses you can get from it. Given that each use of it is somewhere between a Ward of Protection and a Will to Survive, doubling up on that is extremely powerful and I think we may see a lot of Seekers, especially in 3 and 4 player games, look into combining these two cards. I do think this is worse in solo or in two player, as actions are generally more pressured at lower player counts and its harder to justify taking the action off investigating to play this, though I still think it will be worth it more often than not.

The biggest downside of all of these strategies is that all of the powerful assets that use secrets cost experience, which means either you are spending exp on swapping this in later in the game or you are putting a dead card in your deck for the first few scenarios. The double books on this card help to mitigate its uselessness in the latter situation somewhat but there isn't a shortage of double int cards with useful effects anymore.

The text of this card is very missleading. As I encountered this one the first time without a single asset into my play area besides from permanents, it was kind of unclear to me, if I have to discard 3 cards or not. Since i cannot fulfill the "choose" part of the card, what to do next. The word "and" has no entry in the rulebook, so hard to say. In my opinion the cards wording should be: Revelation - Choose a non-story asset you control then shuffle it into your deck. Discard the top 3 cards of your deck. If a copy of that asset is discarded, take 2 horror.

TL;DR: Leo Anderson might use it, particularly in solo, if you have a limited card pool and can't find better non-unique allies.

So the immediate comparison for Treasure Hunter one would make would be to Hired Muscle, an expensive, niche, hard-to-slot ally that is arguably only usable in Jenny Barnes or Leo Anderson.

Hired Muscle does have something going for it, however: it is one of a handful of assets that gives you a static +1 boost. That list, as of The Depths of Yoth, is:

• Beat Cop
• Hired Muscle
• Dark Horse
• Crystalline Elder Sign

Because is tied to Weapons, a static +1 boost is quite rare. So then you can think of situations where you really want that extra , like Shotgun Leo Anderson or Gambling Jenny with .41 Derringer(2), Lucky Cigarette Case, etc.

Treasure Hunter's +1 boost, however, is not rare at all. Dr. Milan Christopher, Magnifying Glass, St. Hubert's Key, Hemispheric Map, Alyssa Graham, Dario El-Amin, Lola Santiago, and sometimes Newspaper are probably the best examples. So if Treasure Hunter lacks the biggest selling point of a mediocre card, that pretty much makes it a bad card, right?

The last comparison to make for TH (and Muscle too) is the talents that give a 1-to-1 pump for that skill. If you had Hyperawareness, you'd spend 2 up front instead of 1, and then you'd spend 1 per check to get the same boost. If you're using more than 1/turn, then Treasure Hunter starts to look decent. That is offset by how it takes up Leo De Luca's ally slot, and how you don't need to spend the money on a Talent until you need to. Overall I don't think Treasure Hunter makes up for those downsides.

You could use it in Charisma Jenny with Dr. Milan Christopher for lolz though.

I've run this card a few times now in a Rex deck, and I have to say that it impresses more often than it disappoints.

I agree with an earlier reviewer that stated this card might as well read "You lose an action, another investigator gains an action" because that's effectively what this card does. But it also gives options.

I tend to play the dedicated clue sniffer on my team, and there are occasional rounds where another investigator (usually the combat monster) is trying to optimise a turn, but just needs one more action to pull it off. Or, for some reason, sniffing clues isn't needed for one particular turn, and Rex Murphy can't contribute what the team needs. This card can be used to shift one of your actions to an investigator who can put it to better use.

There's also the icon on the card, which can come in handy in the worst cases of scenarios... but at that point, you're probably in trouble.

I find that I tend to want five cards sitting in my hand anyway, to enable Higher Education, and the perfect candidates for those five are cards that are fine sitting in my hand until a situation occurs where they're exceptional. This, plus two copies of Delve Too Deep, gets me over half way there!

For a 0xp card, this one fits the bill.

(NOTE: The above review is based on Rex Murphy, in 2 or 3 player games, on Easy/Normal difficulty, YMMV.)