The TableTop Gloom Promo Expansion
Through an exclusive arrangement with Geek & Sundry, Atlas Games released an expansion pack of 10 transparent cards for the Gloom card game as a free promotion for International TableTop Day 2013. Nearly 11,000 of these sets were printed. Its cardlist includes a cover card, 3 Modifiers, 1 Untimely Death, 2 Stories, 1 Event, and 2 Unwelcome Guest Characters.
TableTop Gloom Unwelcome Guests
TableTop Gloom includes the Unwelcome Guests Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day. Unwelcome Guests are the "wandering" characters for the Gloom card game, that made their debut in the Unwelcome Guests expansion. They can attach themselves to any family, and switch loyalties whenever they see an opening somewhere else.
Before starting, deal 1 or more Guests face up on the table. These special Characters "follow" certain card types; no matter where it is, a living Guest immediately joins the family of the Character its "trigger" card is played on. Its Modifiers move with it, and it's a member of that family until it moves again. Its Persistent icon shows its abilities remain in effect even if covered, as long as it's alive.
Designer Keith Baker has this to say about playing with TableTop Gloom's Unwelcome Guests ...
Wil Wheaton
Notable Nerd
Wil Wheaton likes to get the most out of every turn. When Wil is with your family, you have the ability to play an Untimely Death as your second play, allowing you to kill your own Characters before other people can cheer them up. This is a powerful effect that can dramatically speed up the game. However, Wil is a slippery Character and other players can easily steal him and benefit from his effect. As a result, you may find it's best to kill Wil with his own effect; this at least secures you some quick points, and you may be able to build on his score later with The Loser's Couch! Note that Wil only allows you to play an Untimely Death on your second play. If there's an effect that lets you take a third play in a turn, Wil won't let you kill three characters!
Felicia Day
Guild Goddess
Felicia Day is a cheerful Character with a positive effect, and she's also a great help when it comes to claiming the TableTop Trophy of Awesome. Felicia rewards you for having happy Characters in your family, and while she's on the table it can be very tempting to use your positive cards to cheer yourself up so you can lure Felicia and the Trophy. However, this is Gloom ... if you don't work some misery into your story, you're sure to end up on The Loser's Couch!
TableTop Gloom Stories
The two other illustrated cards in the set -- TableTop Trophy of Awesome and The Loser's Couch -- introduce Stories to the core Gloom game. Up until now, Stories have only appeared in Cthulhu Gloom, so this is a big addition to the game!
Before starting, put 2 Story cards face up on the table. As either play, if you meet its requirements, you can take a Story card from the table or another player and gain its benefits; put it near your Characters. Family requirements must be met using at least 2 living or dead Characters. For claimed Stories, you must also control more Characters with the required icon(s) than the current owner of the Story. You keep a Story and its effect if you lose the required icons, but can only have 1 Story. If you claim a second Story, put your old one back on the table.
Designer Keith Baker talks about using the two Stories in the TableTop Gloom expansion ...
Stories add a new competitive element to Gloom, and make story icons considerably more valuable. If you have a cheerful card like Found Love on the Lake, you'd normally play that on your opponent. But now you have to decide if you might want to use it on one of your characters, because it takes a happy character to claim the TableTop Trophy of Awesome!
TableTop Trophy of Awesome
This card is indeed awesome. However, as powerful as its effect is, it's hard to hold onto ... especially if Felicia Day is in play! To claim the TableTop Trophy of Awesome, you need to have characters with the romantic Marriage icon. However, most modifiers that provide this icon are positive, happy cards. So the Trophy can allow you to make your family miserable very quickly ... but if you've got a miserable family, it's going to be very easy for someone to steal the Trophy from you! Meanwhile, happy cards often bring Felicia into a family, which adds another positive icon for purposes of stealing the Trophy. When both the Trophy and Felicia are in play, you can be sure you'll see them moving around a lot!
The Loser's Couch
In Gloom, you want bad things to happen to your family. As a result, the people you find on The Loser's Couch may actually be the winners! When you've got the Couch, death isn't the end of the story for your family. This can be a boon and a curse. It lets you continue to heap misery on characters who died before they had time to really suffer ... but it also allows your opponents to bring a little cheer to your family. So pass the not-bourbon and cheer up!
©2013 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games and Geek & Sundry, LLC. Gloom rules, graphics, and trademarks are the property of Trident, Inc. The names and likenesses of Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day are used with permission. The TableTop and Geek & Sundry logos are trademarks of Geek & Sundry, LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.