"Bob's your uncle!"

aka "The death of a salesman".

This is my take on my new favorite salesman, Bob Jenkins. I've played this deck through both a Return to Forgotten Age campaign and a flawless Innsmouth Conspiracy run (with Dexter as his partner in crime) and it worked great. Yes, it's bit slow in the beginning, but ramps up quickly with Xp.

Bob has an intellect of 4 and a Combat of 3, so I believe that he's best suited as a support clue finder. He can certainly buy the whole range of rogue weaponry so I guess you could play him more as a flex investigator. But my version is a gentle salesman, pushing lanters ("comes in packs of three!") rather than guns.

What is Uncle Bob good at?

Bob asks; "Would this rather overlooked item be worthwhile if you could play it as a fast action (and possibly for fewer resources)?" And it turns out that the answer to that is surprisingly often yes.

He's also great at adding tempo to the group. The first rounds (where everyone need their items) is one thing, but he can lend his supports for the entire duration of the scenario. Do your guardian need a flamethrower but she's broke and already in combat with a Dhole? Let Bob take his turn first, and he can both play and pay for that flamethrower. Or something as mundane as the mystic having a Holy Rosary he would like to play, but he's too busy for a play action. Bob's free action play action (for items) makes everyone's items better - and more relevant in the mid- to late part of the game.

Bob is also good at utilizing those expensive rogue cards. He can find them (Backpack), he can afford them and he can play them as a fast action. And he make great use of big money cards as well. Either on himself (Well Connected and Streetwise) and he can spend them his friends. A rich Bob is almost immune to Greed, for... some reason I can't really explain.

What is Uncle Bob bad at?

Willpower tests comes to mind. Having rather mediocre stats is another, so its hard to raise his stats high enough to reliably hit or evade something.

Really hard intellect tests are can be painful too. There's just not many ways to buff intellect in his card pool. Keyring + Scavenge is the best you can hope for, and sometimes you need to just keep trying and failling. Rabbit's Foot will offset the disadvantage a bit, so will Haste when you get it. Yup, Bob doesn't like Haunted locations with a high shroud value...

Bob's weakness either necessitate a specific playstyle (Rich-Bob) or investing in some kind of soak. You really don't wanna risk being hit for 4 Horror (PS: remember, you draw cards before you gain resources in the Upkeep phase).

He have have plenty of great option for horror soaking, but it's all amulets and accessories. Bob need the accessory slot for card draw, so that's why this deck has Peter from the get go. Peter can't really take a full Greed hit, but he can keep Bob sane enough to handle one. In a pinch you can always go Relic Hunter and adopt in Cherished Keepsakes. Or even splurge on more expensive options such as Precious Memento.

Bob also has little movement and clue action compression cards at zero Xp. (just "Look what I found!" and Winging It) This deck will sometimes feel slow and you will sometimes miss seekers and their Deductions and Pathfinders and fancy shoewear. Just be patient, he'll get there. <3

The way of the Bob

Bobs card pool is weird (as are the rest of the Edge of the Earth investigators), as he starts out as an almost pure survivor and then transforms from an ugly red caterpillar into a beautiful emerald butterfly. The downside here is that we're trying to build a dedicated clue finder from someone with zero access to seeker cards. That's why we have Lanterns (and because it's a great way to kill whippoorwills), shovels (great way to find clues that are otherwise hard to find AND in a pinch - kill a cultist or two) and old keyrings (lovely with Scavenging).

About the five level zero rogue cards

I went for "You handle this one!" to redirect evil Willpower tests (such as Frozen in Fear) over to the guardian or mystic in your group. The Faustian Bargains are almost irreplaceable (until late in the campaign); 5 resources for 2 tokens is a great deal, trust me. My last pick is the Pocket Telescope because it works well with Haste and because it can save you quite some time in most campaigns.

Feel free to go another route. And the level 0 cards are also easier to change mid-campaign for Bob than the other EotE investigators, since he can buy Adaptable for measly one Xp.

Upgrade path

Adaptable is a good start for any rogue, but espescially for Bob. Then Charon's Obol if you dare. Bob can be frail (with that personal weakness of his and a Willpower of 2) but the extra Xp is extra useful for him. I wouldn't go for the Obol the very first time I played through a campaign, but you might be a braver man than me.

I feel that Haste is one of the most important upgrades for our Bob. Haste will allow you to either (basic) Investigate an extra time per round or (more likely) activate an item an extra time. Old Keyring, Old Keyring Lockpicks , activate Scavenging to pick that keyring back up from the discard pile, then play it as a fast action, move to the next location. Rinse, repeat. Or, you know, just abuse that Lantern.

From then on, I prefer to go for Gené Beauregard. Go Charisma if you have found any useful story asset allies Dr. Henry Armitage, then Lockpicks then Lucky Cigarette Case.

Then either Well Connected and more resource cards such as Unscrupulous Loan or go straight for Backpack and expensive items such as The Red Clock. Or eventually both. I think Well Connected is the safer path, giving Bob some way to boost his Willpower when needed. But the The Red Clock is such an amazing card, and no one can use it as well as Bob.

Gené Beauregard is also hugely important for Bob. The intellect and agility boost are great, but the best part is how much time she'll save him. Move clues, jump ahead of enemies, use it as a painful type of Evade, et cetera.

There are other options here. Haste and Dario El-Amin isn't a bad combo at all, for example. Some campaigns might hit harder than others (Innsmouth and Forgotten Age) , so you might wanna need some soak allies or wanna dress to impress. Be Adaptable. <3

The first 24 Xp

• 1 Charon's Obol (if you dare)
• 2 Haste (replacing Lucky and one Shovel)
• 2 Gené Beauregard (replacing one Peter, one Scrounge for supplies)
• 2 Lockpicks (replacing one Perception, one Lucky)
• 2 Lucky Cigarette Case (replacing both Rabbit's Feet)
• 2 Backpacks (replacing the old ones)

As mentioned above, the money route is the safest from here on.Unscrupulous Loan, either Pay Day(remember that your free play action counts as an action) or Hot Streak (depending on your preferences); Another Day, Another Dollar is also a great choice.

Personally, I'm bored of playing rich rogues with Streetwise but Streetwise IS a great card for Bob. If he has money, he can brute force any intellect check and even turn into a decent evader. Feel free to ignore it, but damn, it's great backup in a pinch.

Mulligans

Shrewd Dealings is a great card if you can play it early, but it's often useless by mid-scenario. Mind you, I wouldn't mulligan hard for Shrewd Dealings but it's a great card to see in your opening hand.

Then you need some help investigating. Lantern or Keyring+Scavenging. Second most important is cash, so keep any Faustian Bargain or Schoffner's Catalogue.

Closing arguments

Bob is a great investigator and my favorite from the Edge of the Earth cycle. He might not be a A+++ top tier powerhouse who can break the game by himself (such as Mandy was when she was released), but he's fun and he's useful and he's the second investigator to really embrace the power of teamwork (with Carolyn Fern as the first one). I always have a great time playing Bob and I hope you will too. <3