Honestly, if you have big enough card pool to not rely on skill cards and your name is not Silas Marsh, Amanda Sharpe, Winifred Habbamock, Minh Thi Phan, maybe Patrice Hathaway, or Mark Harrigan (his signature) you can probobly deck-build around this weakness to ignore it. Of course it hurts not to run Fearless in Agnes Baker, but is the absence of is really game-breaking?

With me, often times I struggle finding deck slots for cards to include anyway, because there are so many good options. So instead of planning how to find the resources and action to get this card out of my hand I'd rather thank the old soothsayer for making my deck-building choice clearer and just replace all my skills with similar banger cards.

As a certain magician you can of course still opt to bring The Tower • XVI down for discarding it later with your ability. I know, I know, you really really really wanted to include this one super-duper skill card in your deck, but maybe it's time to change your mindset. Become Adaptable.

This card is generally weak and not worth 5exp, but the combo i see is with Sledgehammer, immidiate 24 damage, so it kills basically any boss immediality. Due to that, the only point of taking those are campaings that require a boss to be killed, like NotZ or PoC.

While this card seems to be intended to eat Pelt Shipment, both flavor-wise and mechanically, some extra ideas I haven't read here so far come to mind:

• Patrice Hathaway can stash situational cards she cannot play on turns she draws them
• Quite edge-casey, but it might save a valuable card from treacheries that make you discard cards at random on a failed skill test (player window)
• Although it has been mentioned that good targets are second copies of cards you only need one of in play, I think the funniest card to stuff into it is just another Hunting Jacket, as you can pop it as soon as the old one runs out of soak
• Any other body-slot-occupying card also makes sense to stuff into the jacket, since you couldn't play them without sacrificing Hunting Jacket anyway
• Since the reaction triggered ability is optional, you can use the jacket to place your Improvised Shield or other discard pile heros (Winging It, etc.) where they belong after they get stuck in your hand

Sadly, but not surprisingly, it won't work with Hidden cards, since they cannot normally leave your hand.

I'm running this in Vincent Lee, 4 player, Forgotten Age run with Guardians of the Abyss as a side scenario. I went in with modest expectations, and Microscope met those expectations.

Microscope promises to let you spend 2 actions for 3 clues, and only 1 test which you will take at +2 or +3. This is quite a lot for one card to do.

In return, there are hoops. You need to collect evidence by dealing with monsters. You want to spend 2 at a time, but can only gain 1 per round. Overall I hope for about 9 clues for 7 actions and 2 resources, with good bonuses. Even 6 clues for 5 actions isn't terrible, and it comes with the upside that if you do somehow fail the boosted investigate, you at least keep the evidence.

My overall rating of this card is... it's fun! It's fun getting evidence when you or a buddy deals with a monster. It's fun getting a big clue turn on your usually more humble investigator. The card is well balanced and serviceable and I recommend trying it.

The obvious comparison would be Fingerprint Kit, which costs 2 more to play, but can net you 8 clues over 5 actions, with a smaller skill boost. Fingerprint Kit also doesn't require you to keep it out for the entirety of the game to get it's max benefit, or find 2 turns during your turn to get extra clues instead of 1.

Notice that you can take this card with Versatile in Daniela Reyes to trigger her investigator ability pretty reliably, since the attacks from the failed Parley are not attacks of opportunity. And who knows, one time you might even discover a clue by accident.

Another interesting synergie presents itself if you take British Bull Dog with another Versatile, which saves you an action and 3 resources after you fail with Fake Credentials. With discard pile shenanigans offered by the Survivor card pool you can even trigger this combo multiple times per game after British Bull Dog runs out of ammo.

Of course, these are not particularly good plays, but we are here to have fun, aren't we?

(Also, this is my least favorite artwork in the game.)