Since it feels like this card is somewhat flying under the radar, and I think it's potentially one of the stronger level 0 cards released this set, I guess I'll point out a few moments in each campaign where it shines.
Night of the Zealot
- Avoiding a single damage or horror from slipping into your basement or attic is fairly minor, but does let you try to get those clues from the safety of the location that you need to be on to advance.
- You will likely be leaving clues behind throughout most of Midnight Masks, if only to chase down Acolytes. Leaving clues sprinkled behind you is less of a pain if you can just look backwards and grab them.
- Scanning the various nasty Arkham Woods locations before blundering in is unquestionably valuable. Just look at them.
The Dunwich Legacy
- In the Miskatonic Museum, we have an ability that usually costs one or two actions that can be emulated for free simply by exhausting it. Considering there is a nasty trap location, another, though less nasty, in return, and another that hurts to enter, it might not be worthwhile when it's out of your way and two actions, but is incredible when it's fast and can be done from the connecting location. Not to mention it allows you to send someone else to reveal them while you sit back and get clues from every revealed hall whenever you feel like it. Not a bad counter for if the Infinite Doorway shows up there.
- Seeing whatever horrible demand the next train car will demand of you is incredible, even if it might not end up changing your playstyle all that much.
- Sitting on whatever location The Hidden Chamber spawns next to and just snipe every clue from it without ever having to tangle with Silas Bishop? Yes please.
- Being able to check every diverging path so you can completely minimize the pain or never bother visiting in the first place. And if they shuffle again it's not a problem.
- Just sitting on Another Dimension and grabbing clues from the Tears Through Space every time they show up before immediately discarding them until there's actually a path in play
The Path to Carcosa
- The first level's randomised locations are dead ends, so if you want the clues you have to reveal them anyway. That said, if you want to avoid being ambushed by rats, or avoid going to the two locations without clues, you could do worse. Spirit's Torment is also marginally less painful on more central locations.
- All of Echoes of the Past's locations will get revealed pretty quick, but checking them ahead of time can be useful. It could also be fun to connect a location to the Hidden Library and investigate there without running the (admittedly minor) risk of getting trapped there.
- Figuring out which of the Patient Confinement locations contains the way forward, or which have the easier tests for your team to make, is pretty good when you're strapped for time in the Asylum.
- No matter which way you're playing A Phantom of Truth, you're likely to be moving around a fair bit, and leaving clues behind as you do. It's also pretty fun to investigate the cemetery from outside it and be unable to leave a location you aren't in for the rest of the turn.
- The Pallid Mask might be the best use case for this card full stop. A completely randomised level with randomised locations, several of which can be quite punishing. It also lets you scan for your goal locations. Plus, this is another level that contains the ability to look at unrevealed locations, this time attached to a high test and limited in use.
- Get to the Abbey Church. Check which version of Chapel of St. Aubert you have. Congratulations, you know how to win the level without having to mess around with getting a guide. Though knowing the answer gives you more time to get everything anyway.
- Dim Carcosa has each location begin revealed and with clues on it. The is mostly useless, but the is always useable. Pretty similar to Lost in Time and Space, actually.
The Forgotten Age
- The explore mechanic in general makes this a lot worse than basically every other campaign. Even on levels where locations start in play, Threads of Fate and Boundary Beyond, it doesn't save much movement. Threads is another cultist level where you might leave clues behind to hunt enemies, but other than that there's not an enormous benefit. Boundary still needs a lot of movement to get the locations with clues into play, and then switches around the connections for extra confusion. The City of Archives can at least benefit you checking which Interview Room is which, but that's pretty minor and the rest of the level grants little benefit to leaving clues behind or checking the mostly non-randomised locations. Depths of Yoth and Elders-B basically force you to get every clue before moving off each location, so there's even less benefit. I wouldn't really consider it except in the people it's already good in.
The Circle Undone
- "Locations in front of you are connected to one another. You cannot enter locations in front of other investigators." But you can pretend to be there with a Telescope. Not insane on its own, but there is a window in each investigate where a friend could potentially interact with you in some way. I'm sure there's a broken combo there but everything I can think of is too high level to be relevant.
- Haunted in general is not countered by the Telescope, but the treacheries that interact with it can be. Position yourself on the least annoying haunted location and investigate the more annoying haunted locations without visiting - you can still get hit by the effect by failing, but not by a Realm of Torment you can't shake, or an annoying Shapes in the Mist. It helps that a few of these haunted locations will come into play revealed so you may never have to visit them at all.
- You could immediately move to the locations you put into play by Keziah's Room, or you could wait and check them for victory or clues. There's a location or two that hurt to enter, too, and you might want to prepare for. It's arguably inefficient not to move to them right away, but you could just do a three investigate turn, check the first you put into play on that turn, then check the second as soon as the telescope readies. If even a single one of the three locations is not worth visiting, you've likely saved actions over all, especially in higher player counts where others can just reveal the locations for you and you still don't have to leave the witch's room.
- I haven't played past The Wages of Sin, but I hear there's some annoying randomised locations later in the campaign. This could probably help with those.
The Dream Eaters
- Checking the Enchanted Woods before moving into them is invaluable. There are trap locations, and while they're all worth going to eventually, being able to plan for your approach and dodge the ones you can't handle is very good. It does take six turns to check all six, but if you see a safe one you can immediately move to it and start clearing it out.
- Kadath has a number of small maps that start with clues revealed. In one or two of them, you could get a good chunk of the clues without really having to move.
- Checking the hospital rooms for Randolf might save you an action or two, but across the campaign, spiders and their Sickening Webs can gum up your movement
- In the Waking side finale, any check of the randomised web locations is incredibly valuable, since they can vary from largely harmless to very nasty. And if you're chasing the spider around to hit it with a rolled-up newspaper, you're likely leaving behind a few clues that you might want to hoover up later.
The Innsmouth Conspiracy
- This is pretty much the opposite of The Forgotten Age. It's great on every level, with the sole exception of The Vanishing of Elina Harper. Pit of Despair, Devil Reef, Light in the Fog, Lair of Dagon and Into the Maelstrom all have randomised locations with certain goals - keys - you need to reach and a few locations that are a bit of a waste to move into, though no real outright trap or painful locations. Light in the Fog is another level that has a very useable 'peek at locations' ability - this time, by using the Telescope, you're saving clues, which isn't nothing. Being able to scout a single location for free before starting your movement is exceptional in every single one of these levels. The ability is a little less useful since you need to be at a location to pick up its key - though if you really don't want to move to one you could waste an investigate on an empty location and simply pick up its key in the window in that otherwise worthless investigate. I don't know if that's ever a good play, but it's an option.
- Pocket Telescope can bypass the gimmick of In Too Deep, the barricades that prevent movement but do not stop the locations from actually being connected. You can't leave keys behind very easily, but you can do so with victory, if the enemies are catching up and you feel the need to run.
- Horror in High Gear has very punishing locations that it's nice to see ahead of time, especially if you plan on driving your vehicle forward. On top of that, it completely negates the Forks in the Road that can give you a Long Way Around, and saves clues on the Intersections too.
Well, I'll leave it at that for now, but there's certainly side-scenarios that it's pretty good in too. At best, the Telescope can break levels in half, or completely neuter their threat or gimmick - which makes it an excellent Adaptable target. At worst - well, don't bother taking it in the Forgotten Age. And all this was written with the assumption that it's the worst possible version of itself - that its ability triggers attacks of opportunity from enemies at locations you're pretending to be at. I'd be very surprised if it turns out that it does, but I'd still consider it a very solid pick that can fall off in some levels, and an insane adaptable target for the levels it just breaks.
"as if" on another location does obviously not make the enemies there engage you
—
Adny
· 1
That's what I thought, and then I had a bunch of people argue with me over it.
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SSW
· 217
Such detail, WOW! Perfect review.
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MrGoldbee
· 1486
Whether they engage you or not is irrelevant, you don't take AoOs either way because AoOs would occur before you initiate the action, and by the time you start to investigate, the window for AoOs is over.
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suika
· 9505
This is untrue. Rules of as if are: "The game state is considered to be altered throughout the duration of the indicated ability or action, from its initiation (including the paying of its costs, attacks of opportunity, etc) through the resolution of each aspect of its effect, and up until its completion."
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SSW
· 217
Correct, but in this case you only start investigating "as if" after the initiation of the activate action. This is distinct from Luke's ability, where you are "as if" even before playing the event.
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suika
· 9505
In other words, it's the same reason why invetigating "as if on a connection location" with Sixth Sense doesn't provoke AoOs, or how Duke's Investigate action doesn't provoke AoOs.
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suika
· 9505
* if you move into a connecting location with an enemy
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suika
· 9505
It's a printed investigate action that tells you to investigate as if you're at a connecting location. It isn't like Sixth Sense, where the 'as if' effect happens after a token reveal, or Duke, who can move immediately before starting the test - it's like Luke in that the action is at a different location right from the initiation.
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SSW
· 217
From the rule reference, vebatim: "An attack of opportunity is made immediately after all costs of initiating the action that provoked the attack have been paid, but before the application of that action's effect upon the game state." You cannot be "as if" at another location when you're initiating the activate because investigating at another location is an effect of the activate. Therefore, when the AoO would occur, it would have to occur before you're "as if" at the other location.
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suika
· 9505
"..throughout the duration of the indicated ability or action, from its initiation.." is the important text here.
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Zerogrim
· 295
Even if the timing doesn't work the way it should, that just brings us right back to the fact that enemies don't engage when you do something as if you were at another location, unless you also do that as if you were engaged with each enemy there.
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Thatwasademo
· 58
This got brought up right away at the start of the thread but dismissed as irrelevant so that people could argue about other factors that were actually irrelevant *because of it*, which is kind of annoying
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Thatwasademo
· 58
And, importantly, if enemies *did* engage when you did something as if at their location, that would matter even if they miss the attack of opportunity window (presumably they'd stay engaged). But they don't: "The game state is not physically altered in any way ... enemies at that location do not automatically move to your threat area"
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Thatwasademo
· 58
The game state is not physically altered in any way does not preclude enemies being "as if" engaged on you for the duration of the "as if" effect. It's simply bookkeeping guidance, same as the rule for your investigator mini not being at that location, despite you being "as if" on that location.
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suika
· 9505
"..throughout the duration of the indicated ability or action, from its initiation.." also does not apply to all "as if" effects. The counterexample is Sixth Sense.
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suika
· 9505
There's definitely room for reasonable doubt as to what's the actual correct resolution and reasoning though, so an FAQ/clarification would very much help this sort of thing.
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suika
· 9505
Flavor wise it doesnt make any sense that an enemy on that connecting location could do an AoO against you. You are using your telescope to search for clubes at that location, not moving there.
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Jota
· 7
The downside to this card is that it doesn't combo with other assets or events to get multiple clues—skills are the only way you can snipe multiple clues at a distance. Having said that, there's still a good chance it will end up on the Taboo list.
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Xelto
· 7
So if I use the top free action, do only I (the one with Pocket Telescope) get to look at the location or is it revealed to the rest of my group as well? And to follow up on that, does it stay revealed or does it go back to being unrevealed (assuming that the answer to the first question is "No")?
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Astuté
· 10
Technically only you get to look at the location, but since Arkham Horror has no formal table talk rules (unlike LotR, which has rules even though people follow those rules in that game less often than they port them to Arkham in my experience), you can just say all the information about the card that you want, and this means many groups will just let you reveal it. The location definitely does not become a revealed location for the purposes of game effects (like placing clues on it equal to its clue value), though.
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Thatwasademo
· 58
Does Hiking boots combo with this for moving up to 2 locations away?
—
pestis
· 33
