I've just finished a couple of solo games to learn the game before getting friends together to play 'properly'. I went with two investigators since the rules suggests this when playing solo. One of my investigators went insane and got the Obsessive-card (which is marked for 1 or more players). The card reads:

"You do not win the game as normal. Instead, you win only if the investigation is complete and there are no Search tokens on the board. Otherwise, you lose the game." So if I would manage to finish the investigation (which I didn't by the way ) with Search tokens on the board one of my investigators will win and the other will lose? This seems a bit weird to me and this looks like a Insane-card which should have been for two or more players. Or is it that one investigator going insane changes the victory condition for all investigators when playing solo?

(Sorry about the topic title that makes little sense (since it's actually not thematically weird). I had one post in mind when starting to write and ended up with a completely different one and can't edit the title )

I've just finished a couple of solo games to learn the game before getting friends together to play 'properly'. I went with two investigators since the rules suggests this when playing solo. One of my investigators went insane and got the Obsessive-card (which is marked for 1 or more players). The card reads:

"You do not win the game as normal. Instead, you win only if the investigation is complete and there are no Search tokens on the board. Otherwise, you lose the game." So if I would manage to finish the investigation (which I didn't by the way ) with Search tokens on the board one of my investigators will win and the other will lose? This seems a bit weird to me and this looks like a Insane-card which should have been for two or more players. Or is it that one investigator going insane changes the victory condition for all investigators when playing solo?

(Sorry about the topic title that makes little sense (since it's actually not thematically weird). I had one post in mind when starting to write and ended up with a completely different one and can't edit the title )

You are correct in thinking one investigator would win, and the other would not. The insane win conditions are specific to the insane investigator only. It's just that when playing solo you have to kind of pretend that the non-insane investigator doesn't know what the insane investigator's objectives are. That's one of the effects that gets lost during solo play unfortunately.

Well actually. The cards are not based on number of investigators. But number of players. Hence if you are playing solo u would not receive this card in the first place.

Well actually. The cards are not based on number of investigators. But number of players. Hence if you are playing solo u would not receive this card in the first place.

I reread the rules now, and I see now that I read the rules wrong. I thought it was the number of players (as you write as well), but it's in fact the number of investigators. So yes, I can get this card by playing solo, but should not with two investigators.

I had a similar question yesterday on bgg but it wasn't answered and neither is it here unfortunately. First of all, the number on insane conditions is for players. See Rules Reference page 7 under Damage and Horror Cont. then Insane:

"Each Insane Condition has a required number of players which is indicated on the bottom-right corner on the back of the card. When an investigator gains an Insane Condition, if the number of players is less than the required number of players, he discards that card and gains a different copy of the insane condition."

There are only 4 Insane Conditions marked 1+ so you may want to remove all others if you play solo like me.

As for if that condition affects everyone, I'd say it does. Those 4 insane conditions are specifically marked as solo-able cards and if you could just win and ignore them it would defeat their point. Halfway winning and losing doesn't really mean anything, at least not to me. I drew Obsessive in my game and spent quite a few turns searching, but pulled a win off easy enough. It was pretty satisfying to see the whole board revealed, actually.

I also didn't pretend my other investigator didn't know. In a multiplayer game you hide it from other players, but I am a sole player. I don't like pretending in games that one person doesn't know something. It's like playing the Pokemon TCG by yourself, it's not fun. FFG specifically marked these cards as 1+ so we shouldn't be playing in some weird, multiplayer simulation.

I also didn't pretend my other investigator didn't know. In a multiplayer game you hide it from other players, but I am a sole player. I don't like pretending in games that one person doesn't know something. It's like playing the Pokemon TCG by yourself, it's not fun. FFG specifically marked these cards as 1+ so we shouldn't be playing in some weird, multiplayer simulation.

That's how I played it as well, But the scenario didn't sit right with me. For the sane investigator to stand one dice roll away from victory and then go "fine, we'll get that screwdriver in the basement first" makes little sense. I think he would have called the other investigator insane So I decided to reread the Learn to Play and Rules Reference, and I think see where my confusion comes from. Learn to Play (pg.12) uses the term Investigator for the number on the Insane Card, Rules Reference uses the term Player. My brainfart was to forget that per the rules, these two terms are the same (LtP, pg.4 under Choose Investigators: "Hereafter, players will be referred to as investigators", RR, pg.2 under The Golden Rules: "During the game, players control and are referred to as investigators"). So the number on the Insane-cards means both. The number of players and investigators are the same if you follow the rules. It's just that in a single player-game they can't be the same, since the rules states that "if playing with only a single player, that player chooses two investigators and controls both of them" (Under Setup-> Choose Investigators, RR pg. 3, LtP pg. 4). So are you now one or two players? So going back to Obsessive, it doesn't work as a single player-card, unless you only play with one character. But per the rules, you cannot play with a single character. And playing as a single player with two characters kinda ruins Obsessive (at least for me). So perhaps Obsessive should be a 2+ actual-players-not-actual-investigators-card?

It's easy enough to house rule this, fortunately (in the future, we will play this as a 2+ actual player-card). This is just me trying to make sense of things. Which I can't. Which is the theme of the game. Which is good. I think.