Hello,

This is my first post at FFG, so I apologize if I'm doing anything wrong, or if the info I want has already been put up somewhere.

I just bought the game and played it with some friends, none of which had ever played before. (Made for lots of questions). One unresolved question we had was about the NPC's. It seemed like it was very difficult to get favors from them. I played the telepath and I think I saw two cards in the entire deck that allowed her to get a favor from Daniel. Maybe I missed some cards, but it just seemed like they were hard to accrue.

• Are the cards the only way to get NPC favors?

Also, we have the tokens for the NPC's themselves.

• What are we supposed to do with the NPC tokens?

I found nothing in the rules that addresses this. Since all the other bits had a purpose, we were thinking we missed something. i.e. that the NPC tokens went on locations and moved around each time the specific player landed on them to get information. Not unlike Lily and the Snitch. (That sounded like a bad TV show).

• Do the NPC favors run out?

Aside from when the characters die? I know that the favors are in lieu of the Game favors (corp, street, political...etc) but when we turn them in, do they get discarded forever? If so, it seems odd, that we'd run out of favors from our friends, if they are alive.

If it's not already done, how about we start each NPC at a logical location. i.e. Daniel at the University, Mr. Li at Jinteki, etc. Only the player that has them on their character sheet can land on them and get favors for 1 time. i.e. Cerise only can use Daniel or Mr. Li). Players can continue to visit and pick up favors, as long as the character is alive. If the favor is used, it goes back into the general pile. A player cannot visit the same NPC more than once per turn.

In the Thematic style of the game, it seems logical. Spies can report us going to visit which would incite people to take out the NPC's.

Of course, I'm sure y'all have a better idea of how this works and I'd appreciate clarfication.

Thanks!

First of all, make sure you get the FAQ - recently released. I would strongly advise playing with all of the 'variants' listed at the end of the FAQ.

Are the cards the only way to get NPC favors? - Yes, I think so. They are rare but powerful.

What are we supposed to do with the NPC tokens? - Yep - you are missing something. They come into play via various cards in the game. It will say on the card to place a certain NPC at a certain location. Whatever you do, dont use the rule you suggested - this would make the NPC favours very easy to get hold of. Favours have to be earnt by doing something special. Also, you flip over the NPC marker when that NPC is killed.

Do the NPC favors run out? - Anything discarded always goes back to the appropriate pile unless it says "remove from game", so yes, there is a limit of 3 for each NPC. But when spent, they go back in the pool.

If you're interested, I've written a variant that gives more use to the NPCs. You can find the file here (just open and scroll down to the NPC variant - it's quite near the bottom):

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/41377

To answer your questions, NPC favors primarily come from the Twilight decks, however there are also some plots that have favors associated with them. They can be spent just like any other favor and go back into the favor pool, only to be earned again in the future. However, there is the occassional gap--I don't think there's any way to earn a favor from Chairman Hiro, for instance, so I'm not surprised you felt like you had a hard time earning NPC favors.

As for the NPC tokens themselves, these come into play in a couple of ways. Most of the time, they relate to the Event deck, with cards that require an NPC token be placed in a certain location on the board, followed by the first player to visit that location (and usually sacrifice something, such as Time) getting some form of reward. I think certain Twilight cards can bring them into play. Again Clarice gets a bit less love, because I don't think there are any cards refering to her sisters, either.

bcwMD said:

I am looking for any clarification on this. I consider this to be much more than "a gap." It seems to be a Major Flaw in the design. Those NPC favors yield VPs, more than a normal favor. Since Caprice's VPs for plot lines & sanity aren't as beneficial as other detectives, not being able to earn any Cmn Hiro favors is a drawback. The only thing from FFG is in the FAQ, a crypic, "Q; What are the Chairman Hiro tokens used for? A: For now, nothing." No admission of error, the suggestion could mean anything.