Hey all, I've never played RtL but I recently bought SoB and while we were trying it out, some questions arose. Hopefully you guys/gals can help.

1.) Are island encouters considered "outdoors". It seems like they should be, but it's not clear. So I'm wondering if the Overlord gets cards or the special abilities to use threat to move monsters and add power dice. If the Overlord does get cards, how does that work on the island map? Can I spawn behind trees and stuff and can I play trap cards? Could I play a pit card or crushing block on the boat? Seems weird which is why I'm not sure if they're supposed to be outdoor encounters. Also, why does the boat start with anchor and sails down? Shouldn't the heroes be able to choose how their boat starts? Seems weird because the first island encounter we had the heroes immedieatly had to raise the anchor and the sails so they could get closer to shore. Just seemed strange and awkward.

2.) When heroes recieve conqest tokens, like say from exploring a dungeon they've never been to or killing a named monster in a dungeon, does each hero get the listed number of conquest tokens, or is the listed amount just added to their pool? What about gold gained from stuff like that? Is it per hero, or one lump sum?

3.) I'm trying to get an idea of when the Wind Pact card can be used (and similar cards). Since dungeon levels are set up as soon as the heroes enter them, is the Overlord considered to be "revealing a new area"? Is setting up the island map "revealing a new area" or when setting up the first level of a dungeon level (although I don't think the Overlord has a hand yet after "revealing the first level" of a dungeon or island encounter if you follow the step by step instructions for setting up the first level or an island)? I assume that opening doors in dungeons is "revealing a new area" even if they have already been placed on the table, but what about the portal space? Is opening the red door after killing the level leader so you can get to the portal considered to be "revealing a new area".

4.) I noticed that after you modifiy the skill deck for SoB (taking out the cards indicated and replacing them with the new ones), at least one of the skills does not have a town associated with it to go and train it. I can't remember which skill it was, but it's not on the list, and their might be others that we haven't looked for yet. Are things like that intentional so that you have to go to a secret master to train those skills, or is it an oversight?

Thanks for any answers.

1) the island levels are effectively dungeon levels for playing cards and using threat. So yes to spawns and pits, no to using threat like fatigue. Page 21: "Islands are similar in all ways to dungeons, except for their first level, which is a special island level found in the Quest Guide later in this rulebook (on pages 46–97)."

2) Each hero gets the XP, but it only counts once for determining if the tier changes. For instance, if the heroes complete the "We get lots of XP" rumor and gain 50 conquest, the party total is increased by 50, and each hero now has 50 xp to spend on upgrades.

Coin piles are worth 400 gold (100 per hero as per normal). Other earnings (like killing masters or opening chests) are one-shot unless they say "each hero."

3) Each dungeon level is a new area, whether it's a dungeon card or an island map. The portal space is not a new area.

4) You may be thinking of counterattack. It's called Riposte in the list of skills in the rulebook, and is trainable at Dagger's Isle.

Ok, thanks for the answers. Does that mean though that the Overlord could play trap cards on the boat? That seems... weird and not just a little silly. I guess we could make a house rule, but still, very strange. Almost seems better to treat island encounters as outdoor encounters since they're... you know... outdoors.

Also, based on what you said above, does that mean that a character with Wind Pact can only discard one card per level, right when it's set up? What does that mean for the first level? According to the set up rules for dungeons the map is set up, then the players place their characters, then the Overlord places monsters, then he draws a hand. Does the character still get to use Wind Pact? I'm guessing yes, but it's not real clear based on the order of how the set up goes (i.e. when you reveal the area the Overlord has no cards to discard).

Koz

Correct, the Overlord gets 3 cards before anything happens, then Wind Pact is used and one of those 3 cards can be discarded. Same with Wind Pact in a "vanilla" mission on the first area. It's not incredibly useful until the later areas (in SoB, that would be the second and third dungeon levels).

Wind Pact was *extremely* useful in RtL when the Overlord could use cards in the Lieutenant Encounters. Since the OL could cherry pick the cards he wanted to use, Wind Pact was needed to nuke that Crushing Blow card. In dungeons, sometimes it comes up, sometimes it doesn't...

-shnar