DECIPHER.com > Star Trek > Expansions > Necessary Evil

Tosk and the Stooges Comedy Hour

by Mike Girard
Game Developer

"You sleep a full third of your rotation. You rest and relax while you are awake. The Alpha quadrant has too much ... 'down' time." – Tosk

Maybe it's Tosk that needs a little more rest and relaxation. His need for constant movement is reflected well in his ability to be excluded from random dilemma selections. There are new personnel in Necessary Evil that also take on this ability in their gametext.

Meet the Stooges. Mareth, Taul, Relam, and Setek are all new Romulan personnel in Necessary Evil that have dilemma avoidance text that is similar to Tosk's ability. During development of Necessary Evil, these four Romulans weren't designated with their current names. During development of a set, sections of a card are not always completed. Since the individual cards are referenced by a version number (example – R39E), there isn't an immediate need for proper names, pictures, or lore. Designers and developers are given a chance to have a little fun during this time of creating a set. Usually when there is a group of cards that are all similar and have pretty much the same text, they are designated with names so that they might be easier to remember when discussing them in a work group. Instead of having to remember each individual card ID number, it is much easier to reference them by their playtest names. These particular Romulans had the names Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp. The Stooges they were called.

These four Romulans deal with the game's main level of interaction, dilemmas. The purpose of dilemmas is to provide an obstacle or problem that your opponent must solve in order to gain points and achieve victory. The main reason that this game is not decided by who went first, or who played the most personnel is because dilemmas provide the stopping power that is needed to hinder your opponent long enough for you to achieve victory. Since this is true, players are always looking for ways to get around or overcome dilemmas with relative ease. A few examples that players use are Comfort Women, Tosk, and Adapt. The main strategy behind this deck is to do just that, get around or overcome as many dilemmas as possible without being susceptible to being stopped by your opponent's dilemmas. The Stooges (Mareth, Taul, Relam, and Setek), Tosk and Lore go a long way to accomplishing this. The other main card that helps to get around dilemmas and mission requirements is Power Shift. At the cost of 5 points, each of your Romulan personnel gets +1 to their attributes. The biggest draw back of most of the attribute bonus cards is that they are interrupts so you can only use them a very limited number of times per game, usually only 2-3 times. Power Shift is an event that plays to your core, therefore you can use it as many times as you have 5 points to spend. The problem is this ability needs a bonus point gainer in order to facilitate the use of the attribute gainer. Getting Under Your Skin is perfect for this situation. The deck is already full of events, why not get paid for playing them.

DECK LIST

Missions
Romulus
Iconia Investigation
Investigate Rogue Comet
Investigate Sighting
Sensitive Search

Draw Deck
Mareth x3
Taul x3
Relam x3
Setek x3
Koval, Chairman of the Tal Shiar
Lore, The One
Crosis, Fanatical Lieutenant
Data, Loyal Brother
Cretak
Ruwon
T'Rul
Kamala
Vash
Volnoth x3
Getting Under Your Skin x3
Power Shift x3
At What Cost?
Endangered x2
Forcing Their Hand
Storage Compartment
D'deridex Advanced x2
Romulan Scout Vessel x2

Dilemma Pile
Racial Tension x3
Temptation x2
In Training x3
Trabe Grenade
On Foreign Ground x2
Antedean Assassins
Personal Duty x2
Chula: Echoes x2
Picking Up the Pieces
Maglock
Side by Side x2
Exposed Power Relay
Pinned Down
Tsiolkovsky Infection x2
Whisper in the Dark x2

January 29, 2004