My son and I played The Firelands for the first time last night, and got our butts handed to us (partially because a bad shuffle ended up with all the Ifrit clumped together). Still, in the midst of it all, we had a question. Here's the Ifrit Sheikh's text:

"Whenever a character draws an enemy card with 'Ifrit' in its title, he must place one fireland token on the space closest to the Sheikh which does not have a fireland token. If 2 spaces are equally close, that character chooses. The Sheikh will remain here until killed."

My son thought that this meant, even though he'd just drawn the Sheikh that turn, he had to place one fireland token on it (because it has 'Ifrit' in its title) and suffer the effect at the end of his turn. I felt (hoping he wouldn't die too soon) that this effect only occurs starting with the first turn after the Sheikh is already on the table.

Which is it?

Card drawing happens all at once and you deal with cards in the order they were drawn. You can't apply the effect on a card to something that happened before the card was revealed (it was drawn before you could read the text), so the Sheikh won't have you place fireland tokens after you've drawn the Sheikh himselft or any other Ifrit during the same drawing. But if you draw more cards during that turn, and there are cards with 'Ifrit' in their title, you must start placing fireland tokens around the Sheikh. This is possible with cards such as the Grand Bazaar or Caves of Wonder.

Card drawing happens all at once and you deal with cards in the order they were drawn.

Oh certainly, I know that cards are drawn all at once (except that you encounter them in order of encounter number, not in the order they were drawn).

What happened here was that he landed on a Draw 1 space, got the Sheikh, and felt he had to put a fireland token on it immediately.

Card drawing happens all at once and you deal with cards in the order they were drawn.

Oh certainly, I know that cards are drawn all at once (except that you encounter them in order of encounter number, not in the order they were drawn).

What happened here was that he landed on a Draw 1 space, got the Sheikh, and felt he had to put a fireland token on it immediately.

Perhaps that line wasn't needed for the explanation and I also wrote it wrong, but I think that the rest of the post answers to your question, if you care to read it from beginning to the end.

The act of drawing the Ifrit Sheikh has happened before seeing and encountering the card, so placing a fireland token when you draw the Sheikh would mean to retroactively apply the effect, which is not possible.

I said that the logic "apply from the first turn after the Sheikh has been drawn" is not correct as well, as you might draw more cards along with the Ifrit Sheik and some special effects may let you draw additional cards. If some Ifrits are drawn and the Sheikh is still on the board, then you will end up putting fireland tokens during the same turn.

BTW, this is a Rules Question and it should have been asked in the proper forum section (Talisman Rules Questions).

Ah, that clears me up. Thanks!