Some questions that came up on our last Cthulhu card club meeting:

1, Do I have to exhaust characters to commit to a story if I'm the defending/non-active player? This step is a bit fuzzy in the rulebook, and even though I'm fairly confident in the answer, it still doesn't hurt to ask.

2, If an encounter character dies/goes insane/etc.., can you still return the ritual itself (Wish for ...) to your hand by draining a domain? As the action that enables the return of the card has already been resolved, I think it doesn't matter where the card itself is, you can return it. The effect doesn't specify where to return it from. Is this how this works?

3, Does the card "Anthropology advisor" really allow the player to lower the cost of Investigators to 0? Do you still have to drain a domain to play them?

1, Do I have to exhaust characters to commit to a story if I'm the defending/non-active player? This step is a bit fuzzy in the rulebook, and even though I'm fairly confident in the answer, it still doesn't hurt to ask.

Yes. The rulebook states: When a character has been committed to a story, that character’s controller exhausts that character and moves it in front of the specific story card. Although this shows up in the active player step, it is not specific to the active player, simply a statement about characters committed to stories.

2, If an encounter character dies/goes insane/etc.., can you still return the ritual itself (Wish for ...) to your hand by draining a domain? As the action that enables the return of the card has already been resolved, I think it doesn't matter where the card itself is, you can return it. The effect doesn't specify where to return it from. Is this how this works?

I'm not sure what you are asking here. If a character is destroyed, it is immediately destroyed. There is no "chain" like in some other card games - actions resolve immediately unless a Disrupt comes into play.

3, Does the card "Anthropology advisor" really allow the player to lower the cost of Investigators to 0? Do you still have to drain a domain to play them?

Yes. Anthropology Advisor doesn't have any limit like "to a minimum of 1" on it, so it is possible to have an investigator cost zero to play. When something costs zero you don't have to drain a domain (but you still might have to satisfy steadfast requirements).

TheProfessor said:

Thank you for the answers!

With this second question, I'll try to elaborate the situation, but my poor grasp of english is really not helping...

My chain of thought goes like this: I play the event "Wish for ..." . If it is not cancelled in some way, its "Action: put Wish for ... into play as a Summoned character with ... Then, at the end of the phase, either drain a domain to return Wish for ... to its owner's hand or sacrifice it." part is played. This action allows me to drain a domain to return the card itself to my hand. It doesn't state where to return it from, so my assumption is that you can return it from the discard pile also. Note that returning the card isn't a new action, it is still part of the one that is already in play, and which lasts until the end of the respective phase.

I hope it is clearer this way.

"Action: put Wish for ... into play as a Summoned character with ... Then, at the end of the phase, either drain a domain to return Wish for ... to its owner's hand or sacrifice it."

Yes, clearer question, but your English is excellent.

This is an interesting situation, and I feel the correct ruling IS uncertain.

Chick

-- Agency --
Wish for Strength
-----------------
Type : Event
Cost : X
Subtype : Encounter. Ritual.
Game Text: Action: put Wish for Strength into play as a Summoned character with X skill and CC icons. Then, at the end of the phase, either drain a domain to return Wish for Strength to its owner's hand or sacrifice it.
Flavor text:
Illustrator: Tomasz Jedruszek
Collector's Info: FC U13

Wish for strength is an Event that turns into a character, and at the beginning of the resolution it sets up an end of phase trigger. The whole effect will resolve once it starts resolving.

This means that, if it would go insane, the end-of-phase trigger still will go off. Then you have to drain a domain or sacrifice it. Even while he's insane.

You can't drain the domain at any time to return it to owners' hand; It has to happen once the end of phase trigger resolves.

If a Wish goes to the discard pile, it's no longer in play and the effect of the belayed trigger will simply fail.

So, if insane, yes, if dead, no...

Thanks for the answer, now I see a lot clearer.

I'm playing with a couple of other card games, which have a lot of different and curious mechanics, and in some, if an effect resolves it stays that way, no matter where the card goes.

Ashcroftt said:

Yeah, I've played a lot of different ones too. The effect will still resolve, but fail to find the card. Insane feels like a zone change as well, but it's a card state like exhausted.