Recently I completed the core Cursed City game. My group never made use of the Carried Item slot on the character card. It was a mystery the whole time.
Spoilers below!
After finishing the game, I read every Crisis in the Quest Book. Read no further if you wish to avoid crisis spoilers.
We wondered what we were missing. Turns out, not too much in terms of game effect. I wish there were more of these/or that the odds were better of hitting them. It’s a fun and mysterious gimmick that we would have enjoyed.
The odds of hitting the first part of these little side quests aren’t super great. We never hit one. Then, you’d have to have a hero carrying the item on the board, which isn’t guaranteed, there are eight heroes in the box + all the expansion characters now. THEN you have to get a lucky roll again. All while making the right choices along the way! Rarity! At least two of the side quests pull in the hero carrying the item, they don’t have to the the active hero in terms of the crisis. But one of them does require the acting hero to be in the crisis. It’s just not going to happen much.
Black Rose
In order to gain the Black Rose token, you must roll an 11-12 in a Deliverance Mission at Night. That directs you to entry 36 – Blossoms of Blood. If you choose to let the roses bloom, you go to entry 79 and gain the Black Rose token.
That token then only comes into play in a Scavenge Mission during the Day if a 12 is rolled on the Crisis table. That directs you to entry 48 – Seeking a Rose. If the rose is carried by ANY hero, they become the acting hero for this crisis. Turn to entry 55. The reward is any treasure or realmstone card in the deck. Pretty nice, but the odds are slim of this happening.
Tapestry of Ages
If during a Scavenge Adventure during the Day a 6 is rolled on the Crisis Table, turn to entry 42 – History Aflame. If you chose to save the tapestries, turn to entry 75 and gain the Tapestry of Ages token.
This will only come into play if the hero carrying the token is the active hero when on a Scavenge Adventure at Night and an 11-12 is rolled on the crisis table. Turn to entry 54 – Escaping Knowledge. The hero must then choose to, and succeed in defeating the zombies in combat (entry 122), or outrun them (entry 102). If and only if all those things happen, proceed to entry 86 and receive the top two realmstone cards in the deck.
It’s sooooooo specific. All those things have to line up. The odds are so slim for this to happen. Especially that the acting hero is the one with the token.
Red Blade of Kingship
If while on a Hunt Journey at Night, and an 11-12 is rolled on the Crisis table, you turn to entry 18 – The Red Blade of Kingship. If you chose to take it, turn to entry 103.
The sword will only come into play if while on a Scavenge Journey at Night and a 9-10 is rolled on the Crisis table. The hero with the sword becomes the acting hero and is directed to entry 53 – On a Pale Horse. You have several chances to fight or walk away, with differing levels of reward/penalty. This is the most in-depth choose-your-own-adventure of the crisis, and is quite mysterious and thematic.
These McGuffins hint at a richer world in Ulfenkarn, I wish there were more of them and they hit more often. These items aren’t mentioned directly in the Ulfenkarn – City at the Edge of Death Soulbound book. I thought they might be, because a lot carries straight over, for example the Haven locations are the same between Nightwars and Soulbound. Regardless, they are fun, atmospheric, and unfortunately infrequent interjections in the storyline.
