On page 14 of the rules book (base game) it says "Sometimes monsters appear as the result of a location or gate encounter . ................However, these monsters never remain on the board after the encounter is resolved. Return to cup."

So, I get the part about location monster encounters but I have no idea what a monster gate encounter is. I hope I haven't been missing anything with this. I know you have Other World encounters and monsters can appear there but what is a gate encounter?

It's just an encounter with a monster in one of the Other World locations that are accessed via the gates.

Example: Investigator X has entered a gate to R'lyeh. During the Other World encounter phase a card is drawn that says Monster Y appears. If the investigator evades the monster it is immediately returned to the cup. Likewise if the investigator fights the monster and is defeated by it, then monster is returned to the cup. Of course if the investigator defeats the monster, then the monster can be claimed as a trophy.

So are streets considered locations in which once the encounter is resolved the monster is removed?

Nope. Areas are both streets and locations, but locations are locations, and streets are streets. There are no encounters to be resolved in the streets, unless you're resolving a gate in the streets (only possible case: moving gates coming with the Lurker expansion).

So, in the game there are no effects asking you to resolve an encounter in a street area that could result in a monster appearing (and then being removed)

Thanks for the reply!

What's interesting is that in the rulebook, there appears to be a discrepancy about encountering monsters when they suddenly appear. One part said to return it to the cup whether it's defeated or evaded, and then a couple sentences later it says that you can take it as a trophy when defeated. So they're contradicting themselves.

What I do is that whenever a monster appears on the spot, either in an Other World or Arkham location, I either evade it and return it to the cup, or I defeat it and take it as a trophy.

When in a location and it says "gate and monster appear", I put the gate down first and then go through the gate to be delayed in an Other World. I don't fight the monster. It stays where the gate is. And a doom token is added to the track.

15 hours ago, gpd924 said:

What I do is that whenever a monster appears on the spot, either in an Other World or Arkham location, I either evade it and return it to the cup, or I defeat it and take it as a trophy.

When in a location and it says "gate and monster appear", I put the gate down first and then go through the gate to be delayed in an Other World. I don't fight the monster. It stays where the gate is. And a doom token is added to the track.

Both are correct

I have come across Mythos cards that say, "add 2 monsters to street area X". Do these monsters stay or are they returned to the cup after the Mythos phase? I have been leaving them in play.

All monsters spawned during the Mythos phase stay on the board

Thanks.

Related to my previous post, do these monsters add to the monster limit on the board? I suspect not. I have been playing single investigator scenarios (and been slaughtered every time) which has a monster limit of 4. So, if I have 4 monsters already in Arkham/the Sky then the 2 monsters would go into the Outskirts. At least that is what I have been doing.

Plus I have another question about the monster limit in the Outskirts. The monster limit in the Outskirts for my single investigator game is 7. So if I have 6 in the Outskirts and 4 monsters in Arkham/the Sky and 2 monsters are added to x street area. I have reached my monster limit for Arkham/the Sky which means they have to go into the Outskirts. These two monsters give me 8 in the Outskirts, the limit is exceeded, so the terror level goes up 1, I remove 1 ally. Now this is where I am uncertain. Do I put all 8 monsters back in the monster cup or do I put 7 monsters in the monster cup and the 8th one remains in the Outskirts?

What if in the same scenario I have 4 monsters in Arkham/the Sky and 5 gates in Arkham and a monster surge occurs; that would mean I have 5 more monsters to add but they all have to go into the Outskirts with the other 6, this gives me 11 monsters in the Outskirts. Do they all get returned to the monster cup or only 7 of them and the remaining 4 in the Outskirts or all 11 go back into the monster cup?

The monster limit is absolute, and it's equal to the number of investigators plus three. So, if you play 1 investigator, it's 4, and unless a specific card says to ignore that limit, you don't ignore that limit. In your example, if you already have 4 monsters in Arkham (thus, city board + Sky), then the additional 2 monsters spawned must go to the Outskirts (so, you played it right)

As for your second question: monsters are added one at a time. So, you add the 7th one and nothing happens (Outskirts can hold up to 7 in your case). Then you add the 8th one. At that point the limit is exceeded, thus Outskirts are emptied. Thus all 8 are removed.

As for your third question: see above, monsters are resolved one at a time. So, in the end, you'll have 3 in the Outskirts, and a +1 terror

Soloing with one investigator is extremely hard. I'd suggest you to run three investigators in stead (it's also a lot more fun because you can play good strategy and have great interactions among characters)

Thanks again, and thanks for the suggestion of using 3 investigators.