Completing a secret room

By HavocDreams, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

What happens if a hero completes a secret room.

The English version of the LotW rulebook states:

"Then, players remove all hero figures from the secret room tile and place them in empty spaces nearest to the secret room entrance token (if there are multiple spaces equidistant from the secret room entrance space, the hero player chooses the space in which to place his figure). Then, the secret room tile and the secret room entrance token are discarded."

The German version of the LotW rulebook states:

"Then, players remove all hero figures from the secret room tile and place them in the space with the secret room entrance token (if it is empty) or in nearest spaces of their choice. Then, the secret room tile and the secret room entrance token are discarded."

I think, if there is a single hero in the room, he has to be placed on the secret room entrance token as it has a distance of 0 to itself and is considered as empty according to RAW. The German translation seems to support this. However, you could also argue that the hero is placed on a space adjacent to the token. What is the correct play here?

English is the original wording by the designers, and "adjacent" as you know does not include the space itself. That's what I would do.

EDIT: See my next post

Edited by Zaltyre

You would do what exactly?

English is the original wording by the designers, and "adjacent" as you know does not include the space itself. That's what I would do.

There is no "adjacent", it is "nearest" in this case. You think that "nearest" does not include a distance of 0? I think that the designers chose "nearest" instead of "on the token" because this sentence deals with more than 1 hero in the secret room. Still, they could have simply written "on the secret room token or closest adjacent space" as Atom4geVampire pointed out in the PBF we are playing atm.

Thematically it also does not make much sense ... heroes have to be on the token to enter, why should they be adjacent to the token (if it is empty) when they exit?

Edited by HavocDreams
I would say that the first hero is placed on the entrance token because it doesn't really affect gameplay and is the most 'logical'. Unless you would argue that the room collapses and the entrance token becomes a pile of rubble or something like that.

You would do what exactly?

I was clearly not awake when I made this response, sorry.

"nearest the secret room token" means minimum range, hero chooses in case of a tie. So, 0 if possible (on it) then 1 if possible (adjacent), then 2 if possible, etc. The german text says the same thing, just more verbose.

Edited by Zaltyre

Why cant they just use the same wording everywhere. Why not just actually write "on the secret room or else adjacent spaces" or whatever they write in 99% of the quest rules (if applicable). But I guess that would make things too easy.

Why cant they just use the same wording everywhere. Why not just actually write "on the secret room or else adjacent spaces" or whatever they write in 99% of the quest rules (if applicable). But I guess that would make things too easy.

Writing concise rules that don't leave a lot up to interpretation is hard. The English and German rules probably weren't even written by the same group of people. Coordinating every single language version of your game to say the exact same thing is an impossible nightmare. You're asking for a lot more than you think you are.

I am talking about the english version only...

Read the quest rules, if they ever talk about being placed on a token, it's just 'place it on the token and when a figure is already on it, place it adjacent. I don't see why they suddenly felt the need to write something completely different if it meant the same

I have said for a very long time that it would be very nice if FFG would create a database of key phrases for all of their games, and then use the exact same language (where applicable) on each and every card, quest, etc.

It would eliminate the constant "rules lawyer" bickering that happens with some groups.