High Performin', Informin', and 'Stormin' Norman

Norman Withers -

• Performin? Smooth and reliable.
• Informin? His middle name is Hoover, I think.
• Stormin? Thunderbolts and Lightning! Very very frightening! Galileo!

Norman doesn't think anyone should make astronomy jokes...

This the Return to Dunwich investigator I am running with my core team of amazing real life allies! (Our group is Norman, Agnes, and William)

Full disclosure, I am very much learning Norman still. His deck building options are wild and fun to explore; I hope you enjoy what I've put together.

My thought process creating the deck: First things first, I wanted to play Norman because he was the most different compared to any other investigator I've run before.

To be mildly reductive, the idea of taking a Seeker and turning them into a Mystic seemed crazy fascinating to both build, but I was really excited to see how it played at the table.

Also, worth mentioning that his investigator ability was very attractive to me. "Play with the top card of your deck revealed. Once per round, you may play the top card of your deck as if it were in your hand, at -1 resource cost."

Spoilers. He is a lot of fun.

I hadn't considered how limiting his deck building options were until I sat down to create his level 0 deck.

"Seeker Cards level 0" Okay... not amazing. But we can totally work with that.

_"Mystic level 1-5" Welcome to flavor country! A seeker who morphs into Mystic? Cooooool.

"Neutral cards level 0-5" Sure.

"up to 5 Mystic cards level 0" No biggie, right?

Right?

Those five cards were the toughest choice in this deck building for me.

Overall goal of the deck: Primary clue gatherer for my group.

I wanted to utilize his investigator ability as often as possible so I made sure I included:

1. As many fast cards as possible (playing a card off his deck still costs an action, unlike say Leo Anderson.
2. As few 0 cost cards as possible (no discount from his ability)
3. As few skill cards as possible (this wasn't immediately obvious to me at first, but same as above, you don't get a discount on them if they are on the top of your deck. Worse yet, you can't commit from the top... only play.

Oh, also. Two self imposed rules for this deck - No Dr. Milan Christopher and no Charisma. (I'm just fatigued from seeing ONLY Dr. Milan Christopher and always seeing Charisma

The Five Precious Level Zero Mystic Slots

2x Arcane Initiate: She's a bit of a timing challenge with her doom escalation; however, her allows Norman the opportunity to not only look for a spell or two (more to come on that), but also move an unwanted card off the top of his deck (e.g. a skill card) by triggering before using his investigator ability.

2x Storm of Spirits: This card was part of the theme of the deck (gotta love a rhyme scheme). Also, this is the primary defensive / offensive mechanism in the deck. (Truth be told, I think the efficiency of being able to attack every enemy at your location cannot be over valued) Also, also, I just love Dynamite Blast-like cards in multiplayer.

1x Quantum Flux: My first thought was to include this because I could recycle my deck if I hadn't hit a weakness and was 20 or so cards in. Then, after playing the first two scenarios of the campaign I was reminded of the danger of Beyond the Veil. Present and Future me would like to thank Past me for being smart.

The Only Seeker Cards You'll Ever Take

2x Magnifying Glass: Fast, 1 cost, and boosts my ability to perform my role? Sign me up.

2x Tooth of Eztli: I chose these to help shore up my and get some card draw during the Mythos phase (The phase I would like to draw blind during, in case I hit Vengeful Hound).

2x Fieldwork: After seeing the value +2 can bring to any skill test in a previous campain (as long as you moved to trigger the ability), I knew I needed these.

2x Logical Reasoning: Playing with an Agnes at the table contributed to this choice. Worst case, the two pips makes it a sort of Guts stand in as well.

2x Mind over Matter: It is fast and costs 1 ... so that is ideal. Bigger than that, adding two reliable ways to evade or fight if needed seemed responsible. Norman is very responsible.

2x No Stone Unturned: Emergency way to fish for needed cards given the situation in either Norman or another's deck. Not 100% pleased with this card because, if you are in a pinch you probably don't have the actions to burn looking in your draw pile and two resources is a steep price to pay when your back is against the wall.

2x Shortcut: Great card. Fast action cheating for me and/or friends is amazing. Best of all, playing these helps cycle the deck faster so you can draw them/play them again!

2x Working a Hunch: Okay, by now you're thinking... this is all fun and games, but you don't have any clue getting cards. Fine, these two are for you. Better still, they are fast so playing them from the top of the deck is great.

Neutral Cards

1x Fine Clothes: 1 cost health and sanity buffer with the added benefit of helping dazzle everyone at the table with your ability to parley with the best of them? Sold.

1x Painkillers: I was scared of only having 6 health and low health ally/asset buffers.

2x Emergency Cache: I debated including these quite a bit. The -1 resource cost for one card per turn, seemed like a dream scenario to free up these deck slots. In the end, I chickened out and included them. (Spoilers, glad I did. As it turns out, resources good)

Skills? Why Did You Take Skill Cards?

2x Deduction: I didn't want to include these (see above for my concerns about skill cards in Norman's deck) but I did need a way to accelerate clue gathering in multiplayer. So, here we are.

1x Guts: Not 100% sure why this made the cut...

2x Perception: In all seriousness, in regards to neutral skills, it is April 2019 when I am writing this... where the game is at today, I feel that there are so many better cards than neutral skills (especially for an investigator like Norman who doesn't hurt for card draw). Personal take, but I just see these getting less and less use.

My Experience Spending Experience

Like I said above, I am going to avoid stacking Ally cards in this deck (Charisma is utterly ubiquitous and I am just looking for something else. Realize it isn't the ideal or best... just the way I am going about this.

I'll do some updating down the road as our campaign progresses - but for now I have these cards swirling in my head.

Relic Hunter: Our group has never run this (I realize it is similar to Charisma, but this is different for me/our group). Also, it opens up options to augment Tooth of Eztli...

Hemispheric Map: Great booster for clue gathering and defending against most tests from the encounter deck.

Jewel of Aureolus: Playing with an Agnes Baker who is running an Olive McBride or two... this card is going to be a dream at letting me cycle my fast cards.