Hey guys. I'm playing through the Murder at the Prancing Pony and I'm stuck on some wording for Stage 2B. The second forced effect - is that when I place progress on the quest card itself, or whenever I place progress anywhere (active location)?

"Forced: After the players place progress on this stage..."

So yeah, I think it applies only if you place progress on the stage, not if you only place on the active location. At least that's how we did it today on our fellowship event.

Yeah, that's the way me and my friends have all interpreted it, that the card is referring to progress being placed on itself. I'm just worried that I'm on that stage, have quested successfully, and am placing progress as a result of that. Sounds like what the card is talking about as well.

Side quests rocked that stage.

By the way, the first effect that removes cards from investigation deck was meant to help players? When you make the accusation you onl search investigation deck for this cards, so if they are removed you just get lucky and have less Hideout/Suspect cards to deal with.

Yeah-- you have to deal with the card that got put into the staging area, obviously, but it won't come up again when you do your investigations.

Agree with bobby whiskey - side quests are fantastic in "Murder at the Prancing a Pony". Certainly Stage 2, but also Stage 1 to help avoid the terrible threat raise/extra encounter card effect of the quest card.

Agree with bobby whiskey - side quests are fantastic in "Murder at the Prancing a Pony". Certainly Stage 2, but also Stage 1 to help avoid the terrible threat raise/extra encounter card effect of the quest card.

Side quests will not prevent the negative effects of quest card 1. It says: "Forced: At the beginning of the quest phase, each player must choose: either raise his threat by 2, or reveal an additional encounter card this phase." That text is active whether or not it is the current quest.

On stage 2, the first Forced effect ("if you quest unsuccessfully, ..." will trigger whether or not you are aiming for a side quest. The second forced effect, which forces you to reveal an additional encounter card or advance to stage 3, can be avoided with side quests.

Interesting. I need a refresher on this material. I just re-read the Lost Realm insert on player side quests and I don't see much in that section that addresses this issue.

It's just that as long as the card is in play, its text is active, like any other card, whether or not it's the current quest. Think of The Battle of Five Armies... it has multiple quest cards in play and each of them do something nasty regardless of being the current quest.

Thanks for the input!

I think had forgotten that while a player side quest can be made the "current quest" that does not negate effects from the main quest cards from triggering. I've re-read the player side quest section of the Lost Realm several times recently and it doesn't make that point explicitly clear, which is what got me off the rails.

Oddly enough I've never played Battle of Five Armies (or the Lonely Mountain). I didn't really like Flies and Spiders all that much (I found turning my cards upside down to be annoying and something that just kind of broke the mood for me), so I never progressed on to the last two quests of "On the Doorstep". I'll have to find some time to play those.

I strongly recommend it! The community seems to have mixed feelings about The Lonely Mountain, but the last quest in that box, The Battle of Five Armies, is widely loved. It's easily my favorite of the "large battle" type quests (and also it's one of the least challenging with that theme, which makes it easier to break out at community meet-ups).