Hello people,

Several apologies if this has already been dealt with. As I understand it, Steve Clarney (from the LCG core set) was meant to be Miskatonic, but was misprinted as Agency and has been FAQ'ed to stay that way. However, I was wondering if FFG ever printed new corrected cards of Clarney as a Miscatonic character, and if it is in any way possible to get hold of such cards. He just seems much better as a Miskanonic man.

Thanks!

oldthrashbarg said:

I wouldn't count on it, though. We play him as a Miskatonic char around here, btw., because we also think he works a lot better for Miskatonic.

What FFG _really_ should have done is to admit the card was in error, reprint the correct version and offer to exchange it for buyers.

I don't share your opinion on this aspect.

The card is well tuned in an Agency deck and, even if it was a design mistake, you have to keep playing it as a Agency character, as the card is now bleu boarded. Of course, miska got lesser characters, but you d'ont need it badly, as a lot more interesting character (dreamers and investigators) are in the miska faction right now.

Twila and Randolph give some power to the faction and, if you add characters like the bounty hunter, you do'nt need extra stuff to play the game ... So, I'll consider him as a miska traitor who decide to join the heavy guys from agency.

PRODIGEE said:

Currently I don't see any other Miskatonic card that would be a satisfying replacement for what Steve Clarney has to offer. None of the alternatives you listed seems to cut it.

Negating toughness is a lot more beneficial for Miskatonic than for Agency, since Agency sports some characters that have toughness themselves. Willpower is also highly sought after in the Miskatonic faction. Ditto the combat icons. I don' think I'd ever build a Miskatonic deck without Steve Clarney.

Steve Clarney is so important for Miskatonic because he's an unusual character for that faction.

He's also clearly an Indiana Jones rip-off. Why would Indiana Jones be part of an Agency faction? That doesn't make any sense story-wise.

Sorry to jump in here, but most of the things that happen in this game don't make much sense...Cthulhu sporting a shotgun, Deep Ones going insane etc.

*Cthulhu walks in to the smoking parlor*

"Say hello to my little Ftagn, Mutha&5$@!"

MechSpike said:

I don't think that's true at all. While I agree that there are loads of examples of incongruity, the game obviously attempts to conform to some sort of pattern that fits the theme. I agree that Clarney makes much more sense as a Miskatonic University character.

Why shouldn't Deep Ones go insane?

I  also agree Steve Clarney should come back to Miskatonic University faction, where is is more useful and well themed.

I just easily figure out how difficult it is for FFG to correct that.

That said, one possible way to do it may be to just create a new Steve Clarney card (with a different sub-title), affiliated to MU, with some difference (icons, gametext,...), like for instance for the forthcoming Richard Upton Pickman which becomes Neutral (and was originaly a Syndicate).

jhaelen said:

as if that would ever happen, haha.

i think steve should be miskatonic not  just cause he seems very powerful as agency but because miskatonic loses so much not having him. how much willpower does miskatonic have, none. and while miskatonic doesnt have much wounding, they are a good support faction and steve would have made that even more evident.

agency and cthulhu have easy ways to wound things, this extra punch shouldnt have been given to agency. its kinda  like the slavering gug. the one thing shub doesnt need is wounding, but it costs a good deal to get it cause the faction is strong without it. i feel the same way about steve. as an agency character removing toughness should be a bit more expensive.

i really feel they should reprint this card as miskatonic, or errata it.

 I just purchased the core set and also noticed the misprint, which is very disappointing.

Previously, I praised FFG for its high production values, but lately, my opinion is changing rapidly. Letting a card be printed with the wrong faction and therefore disrupting the balance of a large portion of the core set indicates an alarming amount of incompetency within FFG. It is such an obvious mistake that it should have caught the eye of any competent tester, if play testing indeed took place...

Mistakes like this (and the latest fiasco with the Mansions of Madness expansion, in which interconnected rooms were printed on opposite sides of the same card, therefore rendering them utterly useless) makes me doubt FFG as a competent producer of quality games.

You're entitled to your opinion of course, but these two events are nearly two years apart.  You might need more evidence to support that conclusion.  I'm not saying FFG is perfect, or that they haven't made other errors, but I do question whether their errors are that much greater than other comparably-sized game companies.

Both seem to be printing errors to me, the games were most likely playtested normally and the problem came in at the printers stage.  So any anger should probably be rightfully directed at that portion of the company and not the playtesters or designers.

I haven't followed the Mansions of Madness issue as I don't own the game, but you're free to house rule Steve Clarney back to a Miskatonic character if you like among your group of friends.  Personally, I wouldn't object to that, although I don't see the error as that big a deal either.  They've had about two years of development for all the factions since then and I think any slight imbalance it may have created can be assumed to have been corrected with new cards or faded into insignificance with the larger card pool.

OK, peeked in on the Mansions of Madness issue.  There's been an announcement here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=2930

Everyone gets free updated pieces for the game to fix the problem and also a free copy of the Arkham Horror "Dance of the Damned" novel.

Sounds like a decent response to me.

Perhaps I was a bit too harsh; you're right. 

Nevertheless, I do see this issue as a sign of incompetence (maybe not as serious as I first thought, but incompetence nonetheless). Mainly because I don't see other companies make the same kind of mistakes as FFG does.  I play Magic the Gathering for four years now, and I have yet to see a single grammatical mistake printed on the hundreds and hundreds of cards they release each year (let alone a real screw up, like Steve Clarney). And Steve Clarney is not the only mistake FFG made; there are other game play and grammatical errors in nearly every expansion block. 

On the other hand, FFG's response for the Mansions of Madness error was more than adequate. However, if they were more careful they could avoid these embarrassing situations and save the, probably substantial, money they need to spend on correcting them. I just hope FFG learns from these mistakes because despite my harsh word, I do like them a lot and wish to buy their products in the future.

And as for the Steve Clarney issue being "faded into insignificance" by the myriad of Asylum Packs. Well, for the messas perhaps, but unfortunately it won't help me. As I mentioned, I play MtG and--for obvious reasons--I do not want to get into another costly card game (in my estimation LCGs can be as much expansive as CCGs if you get into them). So, I began playing CoC as a "side adventure." I bought the core set and will likely buy the Secrets of Arkham expansion, but this is where I draw the line. I do not wish to buy into the endless cycle of Asylum pack. So, unfortunately, my occasional playing partners and I will be affected by this issue.

Sorry, for some reason my message has been sent three times.

Sorry, for some reason my message has been sent three times.

Rince said:

I think WotC has made their fair share of mistakes on MtG cards.  I'm sure as a player you are aware of the frequent Errata that are produced for every Magic release, for one reason or another?  It happens - it's a shame, and I wish it could be prevented, but unfortunately game companies are run by humans who have human flaws, and these things are going to happen.  The more popular the game, the better the play-test sessions, and the fewer the mistakes.  Call of Cthulhu is not nearly as popular as MtG, so doesn't have the same level of support.  However, with the addition of new players (like you!) more resources can be applied to the game.  So thanks for joining our cult!  :-)

I enjoy playing Miskatonic, so I was very unhappy that Steve changed teams.  But, there is enough other cool stuff for Miskatonic that it didn't prevent me from having fun building decks and continuing to support the University in games.

Regarding the financial cost, I moved from CCG to LCG when the current version of CoC released.  I now spend $15 per month and I have a full playset of every card that is legal to play.  That's much less than I used to spend on CCGs.