Pete the Bard brings the tunes to ArkhamCon

In preparation for Arkham Con 2026 I have taken it upon myself to make a series of pre-made Standalone decks all with different alt-art treatments. What started last year with a goal of 3 decks, a flex, cluever, and goon, blossomed into 7 with a range of wild designs. This year I have made a whopping 12 more decks! Here is a link to some low res files so you can see what they look like: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1J-EYuY12iov-oja2xg88ubVSyOuZRmfr?usp=sharing

Don't forget to check out the other decks, and say hey at Arkham Con if you see me! I might even have a an alt-art surprise for you. ;)

This is the 10th deck I had made alt-art treatments for, but surprisingly the first full support deck in the line-up (though not the last as a future deck will demonstrate). Parallel Ashcan Pete proved a tough nut to crack in making a deck, but eventually taking some inspiration from Justin at Playing Board Games I settled on the deck seen here. Unlike most of my decks which can pivot fairly easily from solo to multiplayer, this is exclusively a multiplayer deck. The goal is to fill the board with traps, use the guitar to Pied Piper monsters around the board, and support the table as needed. Hiding Spot, Makeshift Trap, Map the Area, and Shrine of the Moirai can all get recycled via Parallel Pete's ability or Survival Technique. Scroll of Prophecies, A Test of Will, Pocket Multi-Tool, Hallowed Mirror, Map the Area, Long Shot, Schoffner's Catalogue, and the dilemmas all are there to help your team mates cruise right along. Turns out if you have a player in the team turning the rough trail into a smooth path, the team gets through scenarios really quickly! On Your Own 3 makes one of your events per turn functionally free, which combined with the money from the guitar is all the economy you will likely ever need.

This isn't a deck I go to frequently, but every single time has been memorable and created some entertaining moments. For a very quirky game play loop take it for a spin! The theme of this deck I am particularly proud of. That of a Dungeons and Dragons Bard. All of the art is drawn from Wizards of the Coast Dungeons and Dragons/Magic the Gathering, creating a very consistent visual language. The Random Basic Weaknesses were all chosen to fit the flavor of a down on their luck bard. The Pocket Multi Tool being a Bag of Infinite Holding felt especially on point. The party splitting up for In The Thick of It. Kicking in the door without checking for traps for Overzealous. Nature of the Beast's art also works on multiple layers. Is the adventurer distracting the monster, are they in genuine discussion, is it a philosophy debate, is the monster discussing with itself about the adventurer? All of them are equally valid interpretation of the art/card effect. There was so many great pieces, I honestly had a harder time winnowing it down. For the upgraded cards I opted to print the card with all additional text on it, as opposed to having a secondary card with check boxes. As a standalone deck it is locked in, meaning less cluttered play space. The text box on Makeshift Trap is a bit crowded, but like having all pertinent information in one place. There are also more RBW than are needed, but there simply were too many great ideas that fit to limit it. So before each game pick 3 at random to keep the play throughs fresh.