HI to all, I have some questions about the rules:

1 - We have to fight monsters when we encounter them? in the movement phase?
Example: I have to move through a street with a monster, if I fight the monster in this phase (after I move) and I defeat him, another investigator can pass through that street, otherwhise he must stop in that street with me until the next phase or he must evade to move further.... which of these is correct?

2 - If I come back to Arkham from an other world and I fail the check to close the portal, if in that place there is a monster, I must fight the monster in my next turn befor or after another check to close the portal?

3 - If I draw an ability card that I already have what I must do? The effects double? or I must discard one of them? or I discard one and draw another one?

Thanks to all and sorry for my bad english....
Simone

Simon_86 said:

#1: Movement phase. Your example is correct. One investigator can first try to clear a path for later investigators, failing that, the later investigator(s) can try to Evade to move on. Starting combat ends your movement.

#2: Normally in the movement phase, which comes before the Arkham Encounter phase.

#3: Depends on the card. Skills are cumulative, 2 +1 Will gives +2 Will and 1 Clue get 3 dice for a Will/Horror check. Rulebook lists some cards which you can have only 1 (Retainers, Blessing, etc.). With those, if you have one that requires rolling, like Blessing, and get Blessed again, keep the old Blessing but treat is as new, meaning, don't roll for it in the next Upkeep, you get to keep it for a turn at least.

Thanks...

Then I can have only one retainer (= ally???) in game? if I must draw an ally and I already have one I must choose one of them?

I've had 3 allies in one game once, it's good having friends

Don't know about retainers though, I think like Blessings, Loans and Silver Twilight Lounge, you can only have 1

Knuckles Eki said:

The first section on page 23 in the rulebook says:

In most cases a player may never have more than one copy of each special card at the same time. This rule applies to Retainers, Band Loans, Silver Twilight Memberships and Bless/Curse cards..

The rulebook are not as bad as some people seem to think.

Yeah! Now I've read correctly thx

What you think if each player move and resolve all in the same phase?

For example: I move, fight eventually monster and resolve the encounter phase, then the next player do the same thing... etc...
I don't see any different than respect all the phase (each player move, then each player resolve the Arkham encounter, then each player resolve the Other Worlds encounter).

it's an idea to reduce confusion and slim down the game... what about this?

Hm, I agree that it'd lessen confusion, but it would affect judgment.

For example, suppose player 1 moves to the Newspaper, and receive an encounter that allows him/her to move anywhere in Arkham (and have an encounter there), he could move to the Woods (or wherever), which could have been originally visited by player 2 otherwise (if everyone resolved their movement phase normally).

The idea is, I think the additional information you gleam from resolving an earlier encounter may affect others' movement decision, which I don't think is fair for the game.

On the other hand, you wouldn't have the additional information about where other investigators had moved because they wouldn't necessarily have moved yet, and that could affect a decision in an encounter. So it works both ways. In my experience the most common decision in any encounter is whether or not to spend clue tokens to pass a check, but that can still have immediate consequences for the group.

I think a more compelling reason for taking turns in parallel (instead of in series, if you see what I mean) is that there are some activities whcih you're really not meant to be able to do except before encounters, such as trading. If one player had already had his or her encounter, another player could come and trade with him to take useful items, and then go and have their own encounter and also make use of the items.

Even then, there's no rules reason why you can't do it that way (each person takes their whole turn at once) but it's possible it would unbalance the game in some unexpected ways. A few of us should try it, actually, to see if it creates any real problems.

It seems like it will be a bit less fun because turns will be less simultaneous, so you can't do crazy stunts like jumping on to an open gate in order to hand an Elder Sign to a player who already explored that gate.

Wow, didn't think of that. That's quite a detailed explanation of the original parallel phases idea. Indeed, now that I think about it, it is indeed to prevent exploits. Well said, corinthian.

I thought the most interesting point to note would be how Arkham and OW encounters are in 2 different phases, where the most obvious disadvantage to the investigators is to force one who got sucked through a gate from an encounter to draw an OW encounter. What with the expansion OW cards, it would just be absolutely horrible to get suck to R'yleh from Independence Square, then fighting Cthulhu. Might as well retire the investigator at the end of it all.

I know I shouldn't hijack the topic, but I'd really appreciate if someone could explain how Dark Druid works. If it acts on green-bordered monsters, it could be one of the most devastating monsters in the game.

Jumesyn said:

I think the rules questions from the OP have mostly been answered already so there's not much harm in a bit of a threadjacking.

I think the Dark Druid acts on everything. When a card instructs a monster to move for any reason, I think it's implicit that the monster's movement type is obeyed, even if that movement type would effectively 'replace' the effect being specified. The fact that the external effect (in this case the Druids' ability) specifies a particular movement direction doesn't matter - because a Mythos card also specifies a movement direction, and monster movement types override that. (For example, technically a Stalker monster's ability can obviously result in it moving on the white path even if its movement was triggered by an instruction to move on the black path. The same goes for flying and aquatic).

So yellow-bordered monsters would still stay put, and everything else would move just as if its dimension symbol had come up in the black box on a Mythos card. Flying monsters would go up or come down, Stalkers would stalk, Aquatic monsters would swim, and so on. Chthonians would cause an earthqauke, Lloigors and Werewolves would injure the neighbourhood, etc, etc.

I still don't consider the Dark Druid that much of a pain though. If anything, I think it's a shame there aren't more monsters like it.

thecorinthian said:

Can you explain in details how to do this kind of stuff??? I don't understand how it is possibile....

Thanks for your answers....

You do not enter or close a gate until the encounter phase. Hence, it is possible during the movement phase for investigator 1 to come out of a gate, put an explored marker on it, and wait for his encounter. Investigator 2 then moves to 1's location, trade an elder sign with him, and await his encounter. Interestingly, investigator 2 would only be sucked through the gate ONLY if investigator 1 failed to close the gate (since 1's encounter occur before 2's).

In my opinion, it's an exploit, but there's nothing said against it in the FAQ, so meh.

Jumesyn said:

I think you're probably meant to be able to do it. The designers are probably aware of this consequence of the turn structure and I'd be surprised if they didn't think it was ok. It's only the Elder Sign which eliminates all risk from the feat; if you're just handing over a different item, or helping defeat monsters on the location, you run the risk of being sucked through if your comrade fails the closing check. And that means a lot of time has been wasted.

Generally speaking, I think parallel turns will allow for more of this kind of stuff, whcih I think is fun and makes the game more exciting ... but it is a more complex turn structure and if you want to run serial turns instead I think the game will probably survive it.

thecorinthian said:

I've been a serial turner for the last 200 games so far and there's hardly ever any problems. The game takes less time and in the case of protential weirdness we just work through it has intended with parallel turns. And we still pass off elder signs on occassion. We also pass of Tomes if we really need to get a gate closed.

Jumesyn said:

Uh... and what about the reverse?

Player 1 moves to someplace like the woods, player 2 moves there, too. They trade.

Player 1 has an encounter there... player 2 draws an encounter: A gate and a monster appear.

Player 2 is drawn through the gate - and delayed.

What happens to player 1?

(If player 1 would have had the encounter, player 2 would be drawn through and not delayed, I think?)

noth1ng said:

I didn't think there was an ambiguity with this, but as usual after rummaging in the rulebook, I'm more confused than before.

Under Arkham Encounters (Gate), the rulebook has get this: "If an investigator is drawn through a gate that appears as a result of an encounter (such as “A gate appears!” or “A gate and a monster appear!”), then he is delayed, just as if he had been drawn through a gate in the Mythos Phase."

And then under Mythos Phase 1.C.1., we get this: "Gates Opening On Investigators: If a gate opens at a location that contains an investigator, he is mmediately drawn through the gate to the first area of the corresponding Other World. As a result of the sudden disorientation caused by the gate swallowing him, the investigator is delayed."

If an Arkham Encounter says "a gate and a monster appear", the first of the two rules above seems to take it for granted that the Player would be 'drawn through', although that isn't actually stated anywhere. Which seems to imply that the second rule, about Gates Opening On Investigators, is a general game rule and not just part of the Mythos phase. (Possibly the rulebook writer thought that this was covered by the first paragraph of the 'Gate' section of the Arkham Encounter Phase. But obviously it isn't, because the gate wasn't there at the start of the phase.)

Anyway it seems pretty clear that the intention is that if a gate opens under you - regardless of where you are, what caused the gate to open, or what stage of the turn it is - you're immediately drawn through and delayed in the OW. If a gate opens at your location because of some other bugger's encounter, tough. In noth1ng's example above, Players 1 and 2 would be going on holiday together.

I played a couple of games today, and the point about "drawn through a gate" resulting in delayed came into question.

It's agreed that if a gate appears as a result as an encounter, all investigators on the location, having resolved their encounter or not, are drawn through, delayed, and have to draw an other world encounter. However, we were playing with Noden, so a Nightgaunt was particularly valuable. I ruled that based on the Nightgaunt's wording, "drawn through", the investigator would be delayed upon being sucked through the gate (as they did not, you know, make mental preparation for entering the horrors of R'yleh or something along those line).

What do you think? Some friends were agreeable, but others disputed that ruling.

We've never played that Nightgaunts delay you, but perhaps we've been doing it wrong. I suppose in our understanding, Nightgaunts are always somewhat useful, assuming your fight is low enough that you don't kill them inadvertantly (since you can't choose not to roll your current skill, not counting weapons).

mattherobot said:

They don't delay. Of course, getting into a fight with one is just silly, I mean, you have to do a Horror Check, could lose Sanity. If a NG is on the board and you want a quick and easy ride, just max your Speed, move to the NG and Evade. Unless you got Sneak 3 or more when your Speed is maxed, guaranteed fail.