Does sealing a gate make the location stable?

When you can move a portal from one place to another (encounter cards mostly) can you move it to a sealed location thus closing the gate?

thanks!

No, sealing the gate does not make the location "stable." Although short of a gate burst you probably won't notice a difference mechanically.

I do not believe that moving a gate to a stable location will force it to close. At least I'm not familiar with any rule that says gates at stable locations automatically close. Being a stable location simply means that there are no cards in the Mythos deck that will open a gate there, which in turn means that most games will not see a gate appear there. If a gate does somehow find its way there, though, it will continue to behave as it normally would at an unstable location because there are no rules that say it would behave differently. This means monsters will continue to pour out on monster surges, any encounters found there will be unavailable while the gate remains, etc, etc.

Thus we can move a gate to a sealed unstable location and close it then?

That's great!

grouik said:

I don't believe I said that at any point in my previous post.

I said a sealed unstable location would behave very much like a stable location as long as a gate burst did not appear there. I then said that moving a gate to a stable location would not force it to close automatically. The logical conclusion one draws from this is that moving a gate to a sealed unstable location will also not force it to close automatically, which is the exact opposite of the conclusion you seem to have drawn.

It sounds like you're going to a lot of effort to find a way around actually going into the gate and closing/sealing it the normal way. Arkham Horror is a cooperative game where everyone plays against the automated enemy. If you aren't prepared to give the game the benefit of the doubt, then what's the point in playing? You can all cheat as much as you like since you're all on the same side. Just declare yourselves the winners and go do something else.

I don't know exactly what is unfolding here, but I do know this:

• "Stable" locations are just ones where gates do not open on their own.
• Locations marked "unstable" begin with clues on them. Their encounters tend to be more harmful, and that is where you can find allies.
• A "stable" location can never change to "unstable" or vice-versa. Even if it did, it would not change a thing game-wise. It's more of a heads-up to players. If you're one gate away from the gate max (and the AO awakening), and you want to know how likely it is that a new gate will open next turn, you can count all the unstable locations without elder sign tokens.
• The Naacal Key from the Black Goat expansion allows you to open a gate in any location, including stable ones.
• I don't recall any encounters where you can "move" a gate but I'm sure it's worded so that you can't automatically close or seal it.

i believe he is referring to this encounter: IH expansion, Science Building:

A professor with wild, bushy hair invites you to do the honors! He hurries out of the room and yells for you to pull the lever on the enormous, whirring machine. You may move any open gate to the unstable location of your choice.

awp832 said:

I see, I see. Haven't gotten that one yet. Well, I would assume that you can't move it to an unstable location with a gate or a seal.

awp832 said:

Yes you are right sorry! But unless I am mistaken at least 2 encounters do this. And why couldn't we move the open gate to a sealed location? Or one with a gate?

grouik said:

I'll take a shot. I'd say you can move the open gate to a sealed location if you wish. However, you would just end up with an open gate there. You would still have to close it, and since there is already a seal there, you couldn't seal it to move closer to a win. I can see good reasons for moving gates, though. Move a gate from a rare opening location to one of the common ones which increases chances of monster surges, but reduces the advance of the dom track. I've used this encounter to move gates from Devil's Reef or Yghthapsdhfak (still can't spell it) to somewhere easier to access.

You can't move the gate to a location with another gate, because the rules state that the open gate replaces the location for game purposes until it is sealed. So that is not an option.

grouik said:

I don't know if you can't, but I figure you probably can't because there's no precedence anywhere in the rules or in any of the other 5 expansions. A gate opening on a gate causes a monster surge, and a gate opening on a seal causes a DOR token. But "moving to" another location? I don't kow.

The idea of an elder sign on a location, thematically and mechanically, means that gates shouldn't open there anymore. So it's probably off-limits to move the gate to that spot because the elder sign is "guarding" that location. And a location that already has a gate speaks for itself: it already has one. Like Nightflame said, maybe it doesn't work because a location with a gate isn't an unstable location anymore. But I think that stacking two gates on each other would just cause confusion, especially since the circular locations are really just designed to hold one gate, and no more.

Tibs said:

Another great example of card design. They might have add a word or two on those card to explain how to deal with. Another entry for the soooo wanted FAQ now...

Dietch said:

Actually it's answered in the rules...Page 8, last paragraph:

"Monsters and gates cannot appear in sealed locations,
even if this is directed by the text of a card."

Or not. I guess we can say "appear" and "move to" are different instructions. But to me, this rule, pretty clearly says No New Gates.

mageith said:

Even if I agree with you (as I would not agree to move a gate to a sealed location), the question is legitimate as there is no "move portal" entrry in the rules. Unfortunetaly, common sense is sometimes not used ans that's the purpose of FAQ...

I say the "unstable location of your choice" needs to be something of a "legal" target, that is, if that location came up on a Mythos card, "Would a gate open there?". If it wouldn't, due to an open gate or an elder seal, it's not a "legal" choice.

Whether or not the words on the card say that, I would bet money that that is what a FAQ would say. Other crazy plans smell of loopholing.

When I got this card, I moved a gate out from under a Color Out of Space and a Dark Young who weren't moving, and put it next door to Gloria. Sometimes it isn't about where you're PUTTING the gate, it's about from where you're REMOVING it.

jgt7771 said:

I played it like this already but I wanted your advice as my players pointed out that unstable location meant any unstable location...

thanks to you all!!!

To make things a little worse, I know there is at least one other 'gate mover' encounter which is from the DH expansion, from the Inner Sanctum. However, that card specifically says you may move the gate to "any other unstable location without an elder sign token" , but it seems the IH card has no such restriction. Oversight? Perhaps. Still, by the RAW, I think it's possible, though I have no idea how to handle it.