(New Player Perspective)

I have played through two campaigns so far using Joe Diamond. I am playing two player with a friend who knows the game much better than me and who is using Diana Stanley. I put this card in my deck and noticed this version does not have a review yet, so I decided to remedy that by sharing my experience and why I chose this particular version.

Dream Diary in general is a really cool card. I am building my deck around Eon Chart, Pathfinder, and lots of cards that give draw or other value when committed to skill tests, so I am all about passive value and action economy. A free +2 (which can potentially be a +4) to any skill check once per round? I'd buy that for a dollar.

It can also be a great support card because you can use this to help another investigator, and it will still get the 4? if the condition is met. If you did not use the Essence of the Dream on your last turn then it can be advantageous to delay your turn so you can pitch it to another investigator, then draw it back again. This particular version has the fun flavor implications of running in to distract the monster while your teammate handles whatever else needs to be done, although obviously that one is subjective.

I don't think I've said anything groundbreaking here, but why pick this one? I chose this because I think it is the most generally applicable and helps to cover my character's weaknesses the best. I can generally bully most investigate checks into the ground by virtue of the rest of my deck, so the 4+ shroud version does not particularly appeal to me. I do not need more help with that. I could see the 8 cards version as having some appeal, but it requires a specific strategy and careful hand management.

This one is very fire and forget. You might not ever be in a location with 4+ shroud, or have 8 cards in your hand, but you will be engaged with enemies. A free +4 can really help to stick the wounds on those bigger threats when going all out, or be the difference between having to use your limited ammo vs just punching lesser threats.

Anyway, thank you for making it this far. I am sure there is a lot more about this game that I have not learned yet, but I hope this proves somewhat useful and entertaining. Have a great day!

I think folks should at least consider this card as Bide Your Time rewards those who know when things are going down next round.

For example of things that "are going down next round" include but are not limited to:

Scary/annoying things: Frozen in Fear, Bloodthirsty Spirits, Lost in the Wilds

Acts that force you to wait till the end of the round(s) to spend clues/advance (often due to it spawning the big bad guy/ or a survival scenario).

I'm a combo rouge about to explode all over assuming I'm not about to die. Borrowed Time, Haste, Quick Thinking, The Red-Gloved Man

I got such amazing cards that I would love a "juiced" turn to let me deal with the pulled encounter cards! Delve Too Deep, Drawn to the Flame

Me a heavy weapons Guardian and me see no enemies :(

Reality: Still a weak card pick in the current era mostly due to the fact that Doom thresholds have been getting tighter and tighter. Additionally another downside is that you will likely be too busy to play this card dealing with tasks that punish you hard for putting them off even by one round.

I think this would have been a bit more interesting if they made it draw a card or gain a resource to give you a small bonus for waiting around. I mean Tempt Fate is a "neutral effect" free cycle card for bless/curse decks....

Edit: Tried to fix links. No idea whats up with it looks fine in the preview but doesn't load when published.

It doesn't seems like much but it can be a horrible weakness capable of wasting dozens of card draw on deck w/ 1 by 1 draw.

PS : can someone say if the weakness is intended to be put in the encounter deck in 'the city of archives' setup ?

Do not leave home without Alyssa Graham. On top of being sanity soak for the stupid amount of horror that Jim's own deck throws at him, her ability works on "any player deck". That is to say, she can look for and discard Vengeful Shade before it even comes out. Even if you can't clear the doom in time, it's probably preferable to spawning the shade.

With the release of Hemlock Vale and the influx of good parley cards, this has been transformed from a hopelessly conditional card to enabler of an entire archetype. Obviously, Alessandra Zorzi plays 2 of this card in every deck, but any rogue can use the parley suite to decent success - Trish in particular loves tools like Existential Riddle. Bianca becomes much more forgiving, Drain Essence can remove a small enemy while healing you, and resolving an entire Vamp for free is always fun. Perhaps most importantly, anyone wanting to run the newly-taboo'd Power Word now needs the proper outfit to command their ghoul army. On top of all that, it will still help you with everything it used to - recruiting Lita, rescuing your friends, trivialising The Last King etc. Expect to see much more silk in investigators' arsenals from now on.