I’ve discovered that it’s now possible to play a number of out of print collectible card games (“CCGs”) online. I’ve decided to do a review of Mythos, a game that I missed out playing when it was in print, but which I’ve now been able to pick up online.
Description
Mythos is a CCG based on the weird fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and other writers. Lovecraft’s writings span the gamut from horror to fantasy, but he is most well known for his stories about the Cthulhu Mythos. Cthulhu Mythos tales are typically about ordinary people slowly discovering that instead of the safe, sane world we appear to live in, the truth is that we are threatened by horrifying entities vastly older and more powerful than we are.
The Limited Edition of Mythos is set in the 1920’s. There is a fantasy themed expansion, the Dreamlands and the New Aeon expansion which is set in the present day. The cards from all the expansions are compatible with each other. A good way to get started with the game is with the Standard Game Set, which contains two playable pre-constructed decks.
The object of the game is for the player, called an “Investigator”, to complete 20 points worth of Adventures. An Adventure is a card with a list of other cards that must be in play before the Adventure is completed. Once the listed cards are in play, the Adventure can be played and points scored. The other cards that may be required by an adventure are various Locations, Artifacts including weapons and arcane devices, eldritch Tomes, Spells, Events, Allies and Monsters. Here’s an example of a simple Adventure. The Seeking Everlasting Life I Adventure requires: two steadfast allies, a corrupt ally, a mystical tome and the Resurrection Spell be in play before the Adventure can be played and scored.
An important part of Mythos play is sanity. Each Investigator starts of with an amount of sanity. Sanity is like the life points in Magic: The Gathering. Visiting horrifying locations, being attacked by monsters, casting spells or reading tomes of forbidden knowledge all cost sanity. If an Investigator’s sanity points reach zero, the Investigator goes insane and the game is over. A possible alternative strategy is to drive your opponent insane rather than scoring Adventures. At the end of the game, the player’s remaining sanity is added to the number of Adventure points scored. A two player game can be completed in about 20 minutes.
Player’s typically play one card per turn although there are certain cards that “join” and allow the play of multiple cards in one turn. Once the players have passed twice, the round ends and the any monsters played in the previous turns are revealed (monsters and certain events are played face down in the regular turns). Each player’s monsters then square off before affecting defending allies and the player. Spells or special abilities of the cards can be used during this “combat” phase as well as during a regular turn. After combat, players draw cards to refill their hand, and play proceeds to the next round.
Gameplay
If I may compare this with a traditional card game, play is similar to Gin Rummy in that players score points for sets of cards in play. Melds (joining cards in Mythos) can be played to get cards into play more quickly. It seems to be a key strategy to quickly play out cards that stay in play such as Allies, Artifacts or Tomes to thin out your deck and quickly cycle cards to get to the cards that you need to complete an Adventure. Unlike Rummy though, the main strategy of this game lies in constructing your deck to optimize it for quickly scoring adventures. It also helps if you can correctly guess which Adventure your opponent is going for so that you can stop or delay them by play of various cards that make it more difficult for them to complete their adventures or just plain reduce their sanity! This hindering play is usually less important than just quickly pushing ahead with your own Adventure requirements though.
Gameplay during a round revolves around players making the best of their hand and setting up a defence and/or an attack for the end of the round. You are not allowed to take actions during another players turn. This is less combat oriented and less interactive than Magic or other CCG’s that revolve around combat on every turn. This makes the game quite suitable for solitaire play and there is an official solitaire variant. Oddly enough, it’s also a good game for multiplayer. More about multiplayer later.
Although there are some very powerful cards in Mythos, the overpowered or “broken” card problem of some CCG’s is reduced by the Mythos Sanity mechanic. Powerful cards cost sanity to play and sanity is a fairly scarce resource! The sanity mechanic and the one card per turn rule also reduce the card combinations that can be pulled off. This means less frustration and joy (when you pull one off) of abusive card combo’s that occur in some other CCG’s.
Mythos does have a play balance issue with Adventures (Seeking Everlasting Life I for example) or decks such as the speedy “Middle East” deck that are easier to score when compared with cards or decks with the same Adventure point value. This problem should be self-balancing though. Other players are more familiar with the “cheesy” Adventures and Decks and can include cards that hose them in their own decks. Another possible strategy is to play lesser known Adventures, so that your opponent may not know which are the Adventure critical cards to target. An alternative solution may be to allow a sideboard in Mythos similar to what is done in Magic.
Gameplay is very effective in evoking the stories of the Cthulhu Mythos. Players go to creepy locations and discover horrors that blast their sanity. It can get tense when you are low on sanity and your opponent has a big unknown threat that’s facedown in their threat pile. What unknown horrors may be coming my way? This storytelling aspect of the game is played up in the rules, where players are encouraged (but not required!) to “briefly and colourfully narrate their Adventures” when they complete one. For those of you who enjoy the storytelling aspect of the game, once you’ve completed the Adventure, you’ve got a beautifully illustrated storyboard for a Cthulhu Mythos story!
Art
In my opinion, the art is one of the strong points of this game although there are a few clunkers as well. The art ranges from traditional painting style to computer created or enhanced pieces that successfully convey the creepy atmosphere of the Cthulhu Mythos. There is a very wide range of artistic styles from more abstract pieces to pieces that are near photo realistic. Be warned that it’s not the usual heroic fantasy art style of the later versions of Magic.
Multiplayer
Because of the normal play of one card per turn, play moves along briskly. This makes Mythos a good game to play multiplayer. I’ve found that about 3 to 4 players is ideal as it give you more time to think about your own play while waiting for your turn without there being too many players to keep track off.
Points are scored for completed adventures, so players who lag behind are encouraged to continue play with the hope that the leaders will be targeted first rather than ending the game by spoiler play. This alleviates the typical “kingmaker” spoiler type play in multiplayer games. Of course, this leaves the usual “gang up on the leader” problem. To work around this problem in Mythos, a possible strategy is to play the more difficult to complete high point adventures which are typically played late in the game. This leaves you looking harmless and not in the lead for most of the game and letting the other players target someone else! I’m not sure this is more effective than using deck with the easier, quick playing adventures, but it’s quite satisfying when you manage to pull off a win using the more challenging adventures.
Conclusion
The gameplay of this game is closer to traditional card games than a typical CCG and is I think quite effective in conveying the theme and flavour of the Cthulhu Mythos. I find that the storytelling aspect of the game is especially interesting. Mythos is playable for free at CCG Workshop, so it definitely gets the thumbs up in terms of value for money! I’m glad to see this game get a chance to be played again online.
