Jacqueline Fine passed her Personal Story. Is she allowed to discard only 1 ally in order to remove a Doom Token? Or can she do this with any # of allies in her entourage? Must she do so immediately or at any time? The 2nd paragraph says immediately for the Stamina gains --- but the 1st paragraph doesn't use the word "immediately" in connection with the Ally discard(s).
Vision of Hope Personal Story
Esto,
I know that I've played games when I've had an Ally and times when I haven't had an Ally when she's passed her Personal Story (PS) . As there's no temporal component to the statement, I play it that one may remove a Doom Token at the time she discards an Ally . My thinking is that I'm not going to penalize an Investigator after passing a PS if the PS requires some other item to activate the benefit.
Cheers,
Joe
Jacq can do this with only one ally (otherwise the wording would be different, with no cardinal number used. Something like "any time Jacq may discard an ally to trigger [effect]) and it's a "you must do it now" condition (the wording "may" is not used, hence, it's a compulsory action, and there's nothing suggesting you can do that at a later time. If this were the case, then the wording on the card would have been "Jacq may discard this card and an ally to trigger [effect]": the game uses the "discard the passed PS card" often, to avoid people resolving the ability twice or more times because "they forgot")
Also, it must be one ally otherwise you could spend the game recruiting allies at Ma's and discarding them to kill doom with gates on a 1:1 basis
Esto,
I know that I've played games when I've had an Ally and times when I haven't had an Ally when she's passed her Personal Story (PS) . As there's no temporal component to the statement, I play it that one may remove a Doom Token at the time she discards an Ally . My thinking is that I'm not going to penalize an Investigator after passing a PS if the PS requires some other item to activate the benefit.
Cheers,
Joe
Thanks for your response. However, I don't understand what you mean when you say: " and times when I haven't had an Ally when she's passed her Personal Story ". Don't you need to have 2 or more Allies in order to activate the "Pass" on her PS?
Indeed, it's impossible that she does not have allies when the pass condition on her PS is triggered. Possibly Joe answered on the wording, and he didn't remember what Jacq had to do to pass the PS.
Jacq can do this with only one ally (otherwise the wording would be different, with no cardinal number used. Something like "any time Jacq may discard an ally to trigger [effect]) and it's a "you must do it now" condition (the wording "may" is not used, hence, it's a compulsory action, and there's nothing suggesting you can do that at a later time. If this were the case, then the wording on the card would have been "Jacq may discard this card and an ally to trigger [effect]": the game uses the "discard the passed PS card" often, to avoid people resolving the ability twice or more times because "they forgot")
Also, it must be one ally otherwise you could spend the game recruiting allies at Ma's and discarding them to kill doom with gates on a 1:1 basis
Julia, thanks for your very logical reply. I do agree with you --- especially when you brought up the excellent point about Ma. Problem is that this month alone, I guessed wrong (trying to be logical & objective) on 2 separate rules interpretations but wound up being incorrect when I posed the questions on this Forum. When Tibs or Professor or yourself respond to my queries, then I always feel that you speak with authority (even if they are not "Official" answers). I must say that the release of the Official FAQ has been tremendously helpful, and is always the 2nd tool I use for a Rules inquiry or a card dilemma (after the Search Engine on this Forum, of course). If I'm still puzzled or confused in any way, only then do I place my question here.
When I looked at Jacqueline's PS, my 1st reaction was that I couldn't possibly pass this. In 32 previous solo adventures (always with 4 Investigators), I've had more than 1 Ally only once or twice. So I thought it would be impossible. But in this game, Jacqueline acquired not 1 or 2 ---- but 3 Allies (thanks to the ruling on Bureau of Investigations.) The other 2 Allies she picked up back to back while picking up clue tokens & doing Encounters in Dunwich. One of them was Professor Rice & now there are clue tokens everywhere (at least on Unstable Locations). That's the beauty of AH; you never know what's going to happen! So you can see that my question was not hypothetical --- I only ask those things that actually arise during my solo play. But I restrict myself to only 1 round before bedtime to build up the suspense & the role-playing aspect as it seeps into my subconscious dreams. It takes me 3-4 weeks to finish each Investigation. That's perfect for me.
Esto,
don't worry about being confused on some Arkham stuff. The game is fantastic (possibly my desert island game, if only LotR LCG had not been invented), but this edition is 10-year old and has some problems of sloppy wording, and bizarre interactions consequence of all the problems of that era (in the last years, FFG invested hugely in recruiting a host of testers and good tech writers / proofreaders that helped improving the quality of the products hugely; but alas AH was prior to this era). Fortunately, some guys here have been through a number of games (and debates on different boards) large enough to help, so, stay with us and ask all the questions you want until all your doubts are hammered down
As for Jacq: her PS is not too difficult to pass. It's true that you need to have two allies (and gaining both of them through encounters could be messy), but it's also true that you can shop for those. During gameplay, it's not that impossible to gain at least one ally (just hunt down Sir William Brinton at the Science Building, for instance), then you can shop for the second one at Ma's and it's done. You'll be in need to have 2 allies near the end of the game, when the doom track is rather high, so you have quite some time to find the resources.
Lola's PS (gain 1 ally before doom reaches 4) or Ashcan's (gain 1 Dreamlands gate before doom reaches 5) are a lot more improbable to be passed (too short the time window) than Jacqueline's; other PSs are in general extremely easy to pass (Marie's, for instance).
One round of Arkham / day keeps the doctor away, it's good and healthy what you do
Happy gaming, and keep on asking questions anytime you need
Esto,
don't worry about being confused on some Arkham stuff. The game is fantastic (possibly my desert island game, if only LotR LCG had not been invented), but this edition is 10-year old and has some problems of sloppy wording, and bizarre interactions consequence of all the problems of that era (in the last years, FFG invested hugely in recruiting a host of testers and good tech writers / proofreaders that helped improving the quality of the products hugely; but alas AH was prior to this era). Fortunately, some guys here have been through a number of games (and debates on different boards) large enough to help, so, stay with us and ask all the questions you want until all your doubts are hammered down
As for Jacq: her PS is not too difficult to pass. It's true that you need to have two allies (and gaining both of them through encounters could be messy), but it's also true that you can shop for those. During gameplay, it's not that impossible to gain at least one ally (just hunt down Sir William Brinton at the Science Building, for instance), then you can shop for the second one at Ma's and it's done. You'll be in need to have 2 allies near the end of the game, when the doom track is rather high, so you have quite some time to find the resources.
Lola's PS (gain 1 ally before doom reaches 4) or Ashcan's (gain 1 Dreamlands gate before doom reaches 5) are a lot more improbable to be passed (too short the time window) than Jacqueline's; other PSs are in general extremely easy to pass (Marie's, for instance).
One round of Arkham / day keeps the doctor away, it's good and healthy what you do
Happy gaming, and keep on asking questions anytime you need
Thanks for your inspirational message. I've never tried LotR LCG (but it sounds great). In 40+ years of gaming (starting with Avalon Hill), my #1 game of all time is Duel of Ages 2. Arkham Horror is a distant second --- but that's still a lofty position considering the hundreds of games I've played over the years. I don't believe I'll ever stop playing AH, even with its Rules deficiencies. Actually, in my opinion, the Rulebooks are not all that bad. It's the interaction & interpretation of the cards & character abilities that are occasionally ambiguous & frustrating.
Julia,
You're spot-on...I didn't have the card with me, but responded from a position of logical conclusions. You're absolutely right, given the PS requirement that you would need to discard immediately.
Esto,
We're here to assist and even after 500+ games among the three of us, there are still a few FAQ items which make us scratch our heads.
Cheers,
Joe