Why do Investigators have to wait outside the Museum, in the freezing cold?

By Ogniomurek, in Elder Sign

Posted at

Elder Sign is a fast-paced, cooperative dice game ...

... so how is it possible they can't help each other, and have to wait 3 (or more) hours for their turn to enter the Museum?

Why can't they enter together , and solve mysteries faster?

Is the Museum to small for more than 1 investigator at the same time?

Let's assume, I play solo with 3 Investigators;

  • the 1st one enters right away - at midnight,
  • the 2nd Investigator enters after 3 hours, so what is he doing in the meantime ? Why is he wasting time and doesn't enter together with the 1st investigator?
  • the 3rd Investigator enters after 6 hours, so starting with the 1st investigator at midnight, the 3rd would enter the Museum at 6:00 am - does this mean he slept the whole time at the door of the Museum??

Time is running away, but nooooo, let the Investigators wait. But why?! :o Cthulhu's coming, rescue the Earth!!

I don't get it :wacko:

Posted at

"cooperative" is a tech word meaning that the players play together against the game, there is no direct competition among the players. You win together, or you lose together.

And investigators can certainly help each other (by assisting, or by playing items having an effect on the other investigators, but this happens more in Gates of Arkham)

Posted at

They wait inside the museum, in some sort of hall or something... so they can buy items or get medical assistance, and, if they fail to succeed an adventure, they stay the same room or place the adventure is, so they can assist.

I get the idea OP, but I think "entrance of the museum" can also mean inside the museum in the entrance hall.

Posted at

... so how is it possible they can't help each other, and have to wait 3 (or more) hours for their turn to enter the Museum?

Why can't they enter together , and solve mysteries faster?

Is the Museum to small for more than 1 investigator at the same time?

(...)

I don't get it :wacko:

Board games inevitably carry some level of abstraction. Dice, task symbols, and turn-based game structure are just tools that help you to run the game smoothly.

Thematically, Investigators have their adventures at more or less the same time. (That's also the main reason why it's hard to help somebody. You're occupied somewhere else.)

But having players to actually have their turns and roll the dice at the same time would:

a) Require the game to be shipped with 8 times as much dice.

b) Be a mess.

Turns are just a simplification and abstraction, just like in any other turn-based game.

And the adventures don't necessarily take 3 hours each. Also, nobody's waiting for these hours.
The "clock" does measure passage of time to some extent, but it also measures the attention investigators draw to themselves.

That's just another abstraction that allows the game difficulty to scale with a different player numbers.

It doesn't mean that the passage of time changes with the number of players.

Edited by tsuma534