Enlarge (credit: FFG)

Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com.

It’s early during my first play as Calvin Wright, a tormented guardian willing to sacrifice body and soul for the residents of Arkham. Sitting in hushed silence, I hide on a bridge wedged between the Northside and the Merchant District. A bloated half-man/half-fish gives a guttural croak as he patrols the nearby cobblestones.

(credit: FFG)

I draw an encounter card, and a mogul in a top hat and suit struts up the middle of the bridge, flanked by a couple of ruffians. They’re hauling a human-shaped object bound in cloth—which they heave into the river. Top hat stops, finally recognizing me, and reaches into his pocket. “You never saw us here,” he remarks, pressing a wad of cash into my palm. I quietly grab the money and carry on, as that’s all a weary citizen can do.