Chaosium
$8.95 Starters/$2.95 Boosters

The back of the box reads "Mythos is Chaosium's collectable card game of authentic Lovecraftian horror. It features simple rules with complex strategies that allow the players to attempt to narrate a series of adventures before going insane from the growing horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos."

That sums up very well how the game plays. It is quick, simple and filled with Lovecraftania that makes any Cthulhu fan drool. Now, I'm not a big Cthulhu fan, so I sat down with a friend of mine (a short black-haired Welsh guy named Jones) and while we learned the rules, Kevin explained what all the cards meant. He got real excited about getting cards like Asanath Waite, Edward Derby Pickman, Herbert West, and (of course) The Necronomicon. Kevin showed me that it was the Greek translation. The game is filled with references to the Cthulhu Mythos, and Kevin seemed very happy about that.

What I was happy about was how easy it was to learn how to play. You get an "Investigator Card" in each Starter Deck that has a different Investigator on each side. Each Investigator has a beginning Sanity score. The object of the game is pretty much the same as a Call of Cthulhu game: Encounter as much Mythos as possible without going insane. As you encounter the creepy crawly things from other dimensions, you begin to lose Sanity. The objective is to get cards into your Story Deck (a special kind of discard pile) that match up with the Adventure Cards you have in your hand. I'll explain how those work later.

Mythos is much more like a conventional card game than most of the CCGs on the market. You only get to play one card per turn, unless a card says it can Join with another card. For instance, if you have three Deep Ones in your hand, you can play them all as a single card because they join. Otherwise, it's just one card a turn.

You start the game by going to a Location, such as the Arkham Asylum for the Deranged or the Miskatonic University Orne Library or the Marsh Farmhouse. Once you've arrived at the Location, you can find other things there (bring more cards into play). Certain Locations allow you to bring Artifacts into play (like Mist Projectors and Elephant Guns) or if the Location has a Gate, you can use the Gate to bring Monsters into play. All Monsters enter play face down (which presents a small problem I'll talk about later). You can also get Allies, Tomes (like that Necro-what's-it-called) and Spells (Spells join with Tomes when you bring the big books into play).

Once both players "Pass" their actions - or when a single player passes twice - the turn is over and the Monsters wake up. My Monsters attack you, your Monsters attack me, our Allies get in the way (we thought it was very appropriate that you could push your friends in the way of the beasties) and you and I lose Sanity from the Monsters that get through. Run out of Sanity, the game's over. That's the basic mechanics of the game. As I said, its quick and simple. Now, here's the intricate part.

As I said before, the objective is to get Adventure Cards into play. There's a whole bunch of different Adventure Cards and each one of them has a different set of requirements. For instance, if you have The Curious Parcel in your hand and you have a Tome with a Spell, have travelled to one Library, one Cemetery, and a Gate location along with meeting two Allies on the way, you can put The Curious Parcel into play. You get 2 Sanity back (whew!) and score 6 Points.

The game ends on one of two conditions. If I get 25 Points, the game's over. If anyone goes insane, the game's over and we count Lip Points+Sanity. Whoever has the highest total wins. Yes, that means that you can win by going insane (which is how Kevin won, the sneaky bugger).

It's got a neat storytelling feel (something I liked) and a lot of slimy fish guys (something Kevin liked way too much). There may he a problem with the Monsters (Dave W. at the office said he could build a Deep Ones deck that would be brutal), but the game really doesn't have a competitive feel.

Mythos is definitely not for the competitive at heart. It's too easy to make degenerate decks. But it is a great game for friends to play, and for fans of the whole Mythos-thing. I've never read a Lovecraft story or played Cthulhu and I still had a lot of fun trying to drive little Kevin insane. It's quick to learn, filled with horror and humor (like Giant Albino Penguins- where did this come from?) Try it out!