Hey, I never did get an official ruling on how that search thing is supposed to work. The shuffling issue hasn't mattered while my team has been in the league, since we don't have "Ashcan" Pete on the roster, but I'd still like to re-post my thread here to see if I can get that official answer, or maybe just stimulate some conversation. So, if things work out right, the next post here will be stuff copied from that thread.

Alright, this is going to be harder than I thought. The way that these frame-like objects get pasted makes them hard to take out. So, it will be post-by-post text, I guess.

Fri, 2008 Aug 15, 2:28 PM (CDT)

Arborshate

Fri, 2008 Aug 15, 2:34 PM (CDT)

Kaz Necro
Top down is my preferred method. But I don't know if there's an 'official way' of doing it. I'll certainly check the rules/FAQs for it though.

Fri, 2008 Aug 15, 2:52 PM (CDT)

mageith

I don't think there is anything official. This is one of the first questions I posted.
For the above items I look from the bottom up. We then shuffle the deck [edit] of the cards we've looked thrugh [/edit], but its been pointed out that there is actually no provision for shuffling the deck, but we do anyway.

first Tome in unique items deck, first Weapon in common items deck), what is the method?
Are cards drawn from the top, with incorrect cards discarded to the bottom?

When looking for the first or next [tome] we go from the top and put the next cards on the bottom.

Does one shuffle the deck afterward (mainly relevant when Ashcan Pete is around)?

This is why we asked the question too. At that time, Little Emily insisted on playing Ashcan pete all the time.

I'd appreciate something official, especially to make sure that my friends and I do the league correctly (and thank Nodens that we're not even at scenario 3 yet).

Good luck

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Fri, 2008 Aug 15, 2:54 PM (CDT )

OK, apparantly, there's some kind of bug in the posting mechanism that makes it wrap around to the top after a while. So, I'm going to try something different, but it will require more time, so I won't be posting here until late tonight or sometime tomorrow. I'm just going to throw up a link to the thread on the regular forum until I can get this sorted out.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffgforums/posts/list/12282.page

Here is a thread on BGG that talks about your issue. After reading the thread, I would say you draw from the top until you get your card putting any other cards on the bottom of the deck. I would not suffle after the search.

www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2784386#2784386

Here is another discussion regarding shuffling the decks.

www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2679804#2679804

The only time Item, Spell, Skill, etc. decks are shuffled is during the game set-up between distributing fixed possessions and dealing random possessions. Officially, there is no other mechanism to shuffle these cards during play.

So a search should be made quickly, and leave the rest of the deck alone. If a card tells you to take the first of something, then you should look from top to bottom. That is the only instructions.

But feel free to play how you want. If you feel better shuffling, then do that. If you want to draw off the top and then discard in order, do that. My prefernce is to search from the bottom of the deck (since I can see the face of the cards that way) and take the first item I come across that meets the condition and then place the rest of the pil back down in the order I picked it up. This way i am only distrurbing the least likely cards to be drawn and gain no knowledge of what is exactly coming up next.

I do top bottom and shuffle after wards. Basically if you don't shuffle you have a better idea what going to com up...oh look I passed 3 elder signs looking for a tome best not waste time shopping for one...ya know stuff simliar to this.

i

We do it like Brian, bottom to top, for the same reason: avoid looking at the cards on the top. There was the time, however, that we had to draw a specific unique item, can't remember what it was, but it was the second card from the top. Although I had already had a couple beers, I knew I wasn't going to drink enough to forget elder signs loading the top of the deck. We re-shuffled that time!

thirdpoliceman said:

Because what can happen if you search any of the item decks from top to bottom for a specific card (or type of card) that after discarding everything you've not been looking for you end up finding it at the very bottom and then the cards end up on top that you've already gone through when shopping. And that just plain sucks.

I think it makes more sense to go top to bottom. After all, the cards on the bottom are known once some discards have happened, so that you could potentially have some book loops and the like if you were going from the bottom.

-Frank

In my group we generally start searching from the bottom of the deck if it is a specific item we are told to search after (such as a lantern), and if we get anywhere past half way through in the search we reshuffle once we are done. However if it is a non-specific item we are after (such as the first tome), we go from top to bottom.

I don't think we've ever gotten anywhere near halfway through the common/unique/spell decks by way of gaining or buying such items, so searching through the bottom half really does not affect us, since it is usually me searching and I'm fairly good at forgetting what I have seen within a minute or two.

I only suffle the deck if I'm told to look for a certain card, research materials, holy water, etc I will suffle but if told to look for the first weapon, tome, etc I don't suffle and look from top bottom.

MrsGamura said:

I was going to agree with you but then you said you draw specifics from the bottom... you should draw from the top until you get the desired item type and discard the rest to the bottom of the deck.

kroen said:

No he didn't.

MrsGamura said:

kroen said:

Right. From top to bottom. Beginning with the top , going down to the bottom .

When I search for the "first of a type" such as a weapon, tome, or task, I flip over the top cards until I find one that fits the criteria, and put the rest under the deck in the order I drew them.

If I'm supposed to search for a specific item, or "an item of my choice," then I reshuffle the deck. This gives me no predictive knowledge of the cards on top of the deck, whatsoever. Once in a while I get leverage to know what's not on the top, such as the cards I place on the bottom after locating the first of a type. But a little premonition is a good thing in this game I suppose.