How do you play Rex Murphy?

Rex Murphy is great once he lost his curse, but until then...

...what do you do with Rex Murphy before he got rid of the "old family curse"? And do you try to collect the trophies necessary to remove his curse with him, or with another investigator?

Usually, he collects clues until someone else has freed him of a curse - then he runs through gates and seals them until he needs to get clues again. We try letting other investigators collect the double-clue piles while he gets the single ones until he is ready to go.

(Actually, we normally just have him seal an easy gate and buy the blessing himself - but if you have 3-4+ Investigators, I'd recommend what I said above instead. HAving him go through a medium-to-easy OW hasn't been problematic so far).

You drag down the team by being such a waste of time. That's how you play Rex Murphy.

How do I play Rex Murphy? Very carefully...no sudden movements, no sharp noises...

...and then as an extremely effective Other World "jack-of-all-trades" once fives start counting.

Last night, I cleared his curse with a gate trophy that was earned with a convenient Elder Sign. If I don't have an Elder Sign, it's pretty easy to get him about 8 clues. With extra clues in hand, I like to send him through an easy gate to get that trophy.

(Last night, shortly after Rex rid himself of his curse, he got whacked by a monster. He picked up an Injury card -- Double Vision! That pretty much ruined Rex's special ability and his purpose for living. Argh.)

Well, in my last game he went to the Independence Square to pick up a clue (and a bonus clue), and then failed an encounter which opened a gate there (I think it was the Abyss / -2). Well, he survived it, failed to close the gate for the first time, then beat a Ghost and succeeded the second time, and sealed the gate. My first thought was going to South Church to remove that cursed curse, but then I decided to restore his sanity at the Asylum first - a wrong decision, as I didn't manage to remove the curse for the rest of the game.

I think a good idea is to give him some money at the start, so he can shop for items until the first investigator is able to bless him. I suppose another good idea is to send him to Kingsport to remove rift progress markers, preferably at the 7th house on the left, which seems to have mainly pleasant encounters. If he's low on stamina / sanity, he can heal at the hospital.

Hmmm... Usually I use him to shop. If he gets an Elder Sign, I toss him into a gate, naked. Sometimes if the game is low player numbers, I just toss him into an easy gate as soon as he has 5-7 clues. I don't mind spending 2 turns trying to seal it, it's worth the extra time. Then I go to South Church. How else do you guys get blessings for him with other players? Besides the blessing spell?

Well the game seems to enjoy screwing him.

My first time playing him:
South Church permanently destroyed turn 2. A rumor removed every clue token from the board and from our possession turn 7ish before I got a chance to seal a gate.

My friends first time playing him.
Got rid of curse turn 1

. Drew double vision injury from an encounter

(he also got Ruby Standish in the process, so not worth it)

The last time playing him. Vs. Yib Sill (I think her name is, the one that limits your clue tokens) nuff said.

However I have used him efficiently in other games (18 clue tokens by turn 4!!!, 7 clue tokens from a single encounter, 11 clue tokens in 1 turn!!!). The best course of action is to get 1 clue token and try to make it through a easy gate while you still have your health. Seal it and remove the curse. Alternatly you can collect massive amounts of clue tokens and have a friend get the trophy necessary. Then go on a sealing spree.

He's also one of my favorite characters since his bad luck reminds me of my own.

With Rex I generally spend the first couple of turns at the Bank with his Luck at Max. Three times I've gotten him a blessing that way, thus neutralizing his ancestral curse.

avi_dreader wrote:Hmmm... Usually I use him to shop. If he gets an Elder Sign, I toss him into a gate, naked. Sometimes if the game is low player numbers, I just toss him into an easy gate as soon as he has 5-7 clues. I don't mind spending 2 turns trying to seal it, it's worth the extra time. Then I go to South Church. How else do you guys get blessings for him with other players? Besides the blessing spell?

Buying a blessing at the church lets you bless any investigator, not just yourself.

Combo him with Daisy, then grab the Blessing spell with her tome. Although you are giving up her sweet spell choice you get a whole lot of clue tokens and don't suck. That just may be worth it.

napkin wrote:Combo him with Daisy, then grab the Blessing spell with her tome. Although you are giving up her sweet spell choice you get a whole lot of clue tokens and don't suck. That just may be worth it.

Nice idea, but I guess I'd rather choose Find Gate to close a gate fast, and spend the gate trophy to bless him; and then I'd give him Find Gate.

You are correct sir!
You know for all those games of Arkham horror I've played I never saw that the church could bless any investigator the player chooses.

I myself was only made aware of this a few weeks ago - we just don't buy blessings often enough, I s'pose

Collect clues, close a gate, go to south church. In the meantime, use clues to offset the curse problems.

Victimizer wrote:Buying a blessing at the church lets you bless any investigator, not just yourself.

Whoa. I did not know that either....

Wow. Very cool ;'D I guess that's what happens when you don't actually read the board text (which is what happens when you're always sideways to the board).

Rex + Wendy, is pretty awesome. That's about three turns of Rex having his curse, which he could spend collecting clue tokens. That or as HÃ«llRÃ†ZÃ˜R pointed out you could just go with Daisy and find gate. Either way its only a couple turns of him sucking then the rest of the game he's the true clue machine.

Okay, I now nominate Rex as one of the top six characters.

How do you play if Tsathoggua (or Gene Simmons as people around here refer to it

) shut down the town with his Malaise?

Dam wrote:How do you play if Tsathoggua (or Gene Simmons as people around here refer to it ) shut down the town with his Malaise?

Malaise. Yuk. Makes me sick.

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

avi_dreader wrote:Wow. Very cool ;'D I guess that's what happens when you don't actually read the board text (which is what happens when you're always sideways to the board).

/me feels smugly ahead of the game for once

My lot play him with Luke, so he has a very decent chance of getting blessed early. Until that point, I play super-conservatively with him (camping the Newspaper, shopping for Curiosities, maybe braving an unstable location for clues) and the rest of my lot tend to go clue-hoovering and failing any number of Skill checks.

Whenever I draw Rex, it seems that I also draw the Dark Pharao Herald, which means Rex doesn't do a lot. It's really like playing with one investigator less, as I have to keep returning to the Hospital until someone can bless him. You can't move him anywhere he's likely to lose Stamina, because he'll go unconscious so fast.
I've yet to draw him together with the Dark Pharao and Tsathoggua but I shudder if I think about that combination.

Well, as some of you pointed out there are some useful investigators when playing with Rex, and I added a few:

- Wendy's ES is perfect to seal the first gate.
- Daisy can grab a useful spell like Find Gate (close the first gate fast) or the one which blesses an investigator (discard after use).
- Luke can close a gate when he returns.
- Tony only has to defeat a 1-toughness and a 2-toughness monster.
- Mandy and Leo can protect Rex while he tries to seal a gate.
- Mark Harrigan - well, you know: grab 2 clues, hope a gate opens in your location (-> not delayed), otherwise enter a gate next turn and seal it.
- Rich investigators could lend him some money, so he can shop for items until someone removes his curse.

napkin wrote:You are correct sir!
You know for all those games of Arkham horror I've played I never saw that the church could bless any investigator the player chooses.

me too! Doh.

Just played with Rex and he spent the whole game cursed. We still won by closing gates though.