Getting past the Hill Troll is a enormous task, but I was wondering if you played the Gandalf card, can you put 4 damage to the Hill Troll why he is still in the staging area? Or would I have to wait until the Hill Troll comes down from the staging area?

Yes indeed, Gandalf can hit any enemy in play with his direct damage effect.

Yes indeed, Gandalf can hit any enemy in play with his direct damage effect.

I second that.

"In play" refers to cards that have been played or put into play (in a player's play area), to cards that are waiting in the staging area, to the currently revealed quest card, and to encounter cards that are engaged with that player. "Out of play" states are "in a player's hand," "in a deck," or "in a discard pile." Card effects do not interact with cards in an out of play state unless the effect specifically refers to that state.

A reference from the Rules of Play.

"In play" refers to cards that have been played or put into play (in a player's play area), to cards that are waiting in the staging area, to the currently revealed quest card, and to encounter cards that are engaged with that player. "Out of play" states are "in a player's hand," "in a deck," or "in a discard pile." Card effects do not interact with cards in an out of play state unless the effect specifically refers to that state.

A reference from the Rules of Play.

To make it easier I would rather say that Out-of-play is defined as those cards that do not fit the in-play description.

Otherwise you have forgotten victory display, which is also an out-of-play state (which can still be interacted with on rare occasions).

Not at all relating to the thread... But I just noticed that my username is Legolas18, and the OP's username is gimli19.... Hmm...

He's outscoring you.

"In play" refers to cards that have been played or put into play (in a player's play area), to cards that are waiting in the staging area, to the currently revealed quest card, and to encounter cards that are engaged with that player. "Out of play" states are "in a player's hand," "in a deck," or "in a discard pile." Card effects do not interact with cards in an out of play state unless the effect specifically refers to that state.

A reference from the Rules of Play.

To make it easier I would rather say that Out-of-play is defined as those cards that do not fit the in-play description.

Otherwise you have forgotten victory display, which is also an out-of-play state (which can still be interacted with on rare occasions).

That is a good point, the Rules of Play did not specifically state that the victory display is considered "out of play" (when obviously it is). So I dug around a little in the Errata and found this!

"The victory display is a game area where victory points are tracked. Cards in the victory display are considered to be out of play, but are not considered to be a part of the encounter discard pile. Cards in the victory display are not considered 'removed from game,' and some card effects may still interact with them."