Hey

I got some questions I can't find searching so I ask them instead. New to the forum and I don't write perfect english but hope you understand me. It's quite usual in my group that we have disagreements how to interpret some rules and items. My friends prefer to understand the rules so they give them as many benefits as possible while I prefer to give the game the benifits and make it harder. I think like that because I want the game to be as hard as possible and defeating an Ancient One should not be easy. Some of my questions are thereby questions of interpret and because we can't settle, I ask you.

1. Does the "Fight-check" in the Dunwich skill "Grapple" also mean combat checks? In that case it's far the best skill, if not the best card, in the entire game. Picture Grapple with a shotgun. 5-6 two hits!

2. Can the mythos cards Envoirments (urban), Envoirments (weather) and Envoirments (mystic) be in use at the same time. Or does an Envoirment (urban) replaces an Envoirment (weather).

3. How is the Researchers special ability being in use? Can she give an entire reroll in any check, even combatchecks to any investigator?

4. If you got 10 monster trophys, can you buy two blesses in one turn or do you have to spend 5 trophys the first turn and then wait until the next.

5. Why is always six seal gates required to win the game? I mean with a lot of investigators it's not that difficult. Perhaps not a question about how to understand the rule, but what do you think?

I know I got more questions but can't remember them now:)

Thank you for answering

Gubbtjyven said:

#1: The new, fabled FAQ IIRC will state the Shotgun only works on natural 6s, so no Grapple Shotty combo. But yes, Grapple (or +1 Fight Skill from base game) will affect Combat checks as well.

#2: Any Environment replaces any Environment.

#3: Yes.

#4: Those are used instead of an encounter and since you only get one encounter per turn, you can only use the instead of option once per turn as well. Note that it does not require 5 monster trophies, just 5 toughness in monster trophies to get a Blessing. So 5 toughness turn one for a Blessing, 5 toughness on turn two for another Blessing on another investigator.

#5: Since there is no trading of Clues (bar special circumstances), you still need the same amount of Clues collected to seal the gates, regardless of the number of investigators (30 Clues, -5 for each Elder Sign). More investigators means more monsters, lower gate limit, not necessarily easier time sealing gates (since Clues on the board are still a limited quantity most of the time).

3: to clarify: Mandy's ability allows you to re-roll failed dice, not the entire check (unless the entire check was failed dice). This is actually great during a combat check against a tough monster, since you can leave the successes and try to roll more using only the failed dice.

4: Just in case you don't already know, you can buy a blessing for any investigator using the Church's ability, not just for yourself!

Gubbtjyven said:

Personally, I think the game is much easier with more investigators, but it's also a matter of playstyle. I find it very easy to gather and generate extra resources with additional players. People who are used to playing the game with more of a sneak/speed style (and less emphasis on shopping for resources, and building one of the characters into a powerful warrior— that can kill and trade even difficult monsters for additional resources i.e. cash for the purchase elder signs, or other useful items) find it harder. It's true, the gate limit can trip up a larger team, but I think if you're used to playing larger teams you can deal with the gate limit problem as well.

I would advise throwing in some difficult heralds while playing a larger team if you find that the difficulty doesn't scale properly. Or rigging your investigator draws so you only get weak characters. But I'm guessing you're only playing the base game right now :') you'll soon find it gets much harder.

Dam said:

Does this apply to negative modifiers as well? Say, if the Taint of Evil Epic Battle card (which gives the investigators a -1 penalty to each die rolled) is played and I roll a natural 6 using a Shotgun - how many successes do I get, one or two?

-Villain

Well in rpg a 'natural Dx' usually means: regardless what modifiers apply during the situation. So i hope here it will be the same?

Villain said:

It hasn't been specified. Heh... Although I think you could make a case that you rolled a natural six so you get a double hit (that's the argument I'd make anyways— but it's quite possible FFG just didn't think it through, it should be asked).

Thanks for all the answers so far.

Avi_dreader said:

Actually we already play with Dunwich, Kingsport and Curse of the Dark Pharaoh and I prefer Dunwich and Dark Pharaoh because they make the game a lot more challenging. We usually random the AO and last time we were five investigators against easypiecy Yig. My friends also chose to play among others Expedition Leader, Researcher and Handyman and that was a little to cowardly facing such an easy AO. That was really boring. Our fault of course but I took the time finding stuff to frustrate over, perhaps because I played the Nun who is not such a great investigator in compare with their choice, but more fun IMO. In that game things like, Grapple with Shotgun come in question, along with Researcher's far to good ability. I'm a little machosist when it comes to games:)

By the way! Have never played with two big expansionpacks together. Is that something you would recommend? Have heard that Kingsport almost has to be used together with another expansion to be likable.

Gubbtjyven said:

I don't really like Kingsport's board, it's too inactive to my taste, and I consider the rifts as a game mechanic that just keep an extra player busy, but then again, I never played it with Basatan (you can find him in the custom heralds thread).

And seriously, you played five vs. Yig with Mandy and Leo? ;') At the very least you should have given him my custom herald Set— that would have given you somewhat of a challenge.

You can find it here for future reference. Unfortunately you'll have to look for Basatan (I recommend you do— it's a wonderful aquatic enhancing herald).

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/

I'm one of the few players who vocally supports Kingsport. One trait that it has that no other expansion shares is that its threat mechanic is not diluted by adding expansions. However, with no gates opening in Kingsport there isn't much to stress over about. That's why I recommend playing with at least one other expansion board.

Kingsport alone will bring the rift threat, but you won't really feel the pressure to close gates, because the same exact 11 unstable locations in Arkham will be available in the game. The AO awakening by too many open gates isn't really an issue as it is with adding Dunwich or Innsmouth. That said, if you're comfortable with the gate frequency in just Arkham, you might enjoy games with only Kingsport as the additional board.

Tibs said:

It's true that the threat doesn't dilute; however, the threat also doesn't scale. It is as much a threat in 1 player games as it is in six player games. Rifts aren't a problem if you just toss one of your investigators in Kingsport for most of the game.

The same could be said about the Dunwich Horror. The number of investigators in the game doesn't affect at all how frequently monsters are spilled into Dunwich. In fact, more investigators means more opportunities to kill the monsters before they're vortexed. Additionally, more investigators means a higher chance that you'll have the resources to kill the Dunwich Horror. Likewise, more investigators actually means that you could close an open rift quicker.

Same is true for Innsmouth: more investigators means more spare clues to stop the Deep Ones. None of the board mechanics truly scale.

Tibs said:

Wellllll... Yes. To some extent. Except Kingsport is dealt with with one investigator (really more like 3/4th of an investigator). Always. Innsmouth and Dunwich aren't dealt with as easily (if they're active).

Gubbtjyven said:

You random the GOO, take the next step (which IMO should've been the original step to begin with) and do random investigators as well. By random I mean, single random, none of that deal 2 or 3, pick from those "crap" either (shuffle investigator deck while each player picks a number for example). Allow mulligan if said player used said investigator in the previous game if need be (I do that because it's boring playing the same investigator two games in a row, even if said investigator is one of my favourites, go Sister Mary and Trish Scarborough ).

Dam said:

::Laughter:: good call. I didn't even realize they *picked* Mandy, Leo, and Wilson ::laughter:: I read it but it just didn't register. Picking Mandy. Inconceivable!

;') oh man... Well, by making the game easy, you're only punishing yourself with the absense of a challenge.

Avi_dreader said:

Kingsport encounters can be quite dangerous. Unless I'm sending the photographer, the investigator is quite likely to eventually pass out. In my games, Kingsport encounters have also been the only reason so far, investigators were devoured because of going insane and unconscious at the same time (IIRC).

However, I generally ignore the Kingsport board for most of the game until one of the rift tracks has three markers and then send two investigators to clean up.

Avi_dreader said:

In our defense we randomized the AO after we picked investigators. We take three investigator sheets at random and pick from them. But yet really bad idea:)

Think I prefer to just pick one investigator you have to play. My friends often choice the best ones they find instead of the funniest, but perhaps they think those are the funniest. But i like to random the AO and show it after everyone chose their investigator. In that case it can become a unpleasant surprise, like that time we faced Cthulhu:P

jhaelen said:

Why would you send two investigators? You don't need to clear off rows of rifts entirely, just keep a bottom or a top row clean for each of the three rifts. That way 50% of the movements won't have any effect (a bit more really, since the everything move mythos cards won't have effects either).

I do think Innsmouth is more dangerous than Dunwich, but Dunwich can be a major pain if you're playing it with Innsmouth and you have gates open in both towns (you need to go to Innsmouth to keep the Ancient One from awakening, and because you divert your investigators there, the chances of The Dunwich Horror awakening rise by quite a bit).

Gubbtjyven said:

Try to talk your friends into random investigators. There's no reason why people who play the game semi-regularly should choose investigators ;') unless they're playing against Atlach. Maybe.

In keeping with the title of the thread, I'd like to post a simple question that's cropped up recently in my games:

When spending monster trophies at the science building to gain clue tokens, is it possible, if you have them, to spend double the monster trophies in toughness to gain double the amount of clue tokens received? The way I see it is that investigators could go to the science building with multiple trophies, slap them down on the slab and say, 'here, disect these' in order to gain multiple clues within the encounter. But, should investigators adhere to the strict phrase printed on the board that dictates the set amount of toughness expenditure in relation to the clues gained for that single encounter?

Recently, my investigator drew the injury card 'double vision' that meant he was restricted in the way he gained clue tokens, although he had a huge bag of heads ready for disection. It was critical he gained these clues quickly in order to seal the last gate and therefore win the game as the AO was about to wake up. The game was won on a seal. Just.

The integrety of the outcome of the game's 'win' depends on the rule clarification. There're doubts regarding the way the 'disection' was done and that the game should've ran to a final battle and not won by a seal.

Thoughts on the rule clarification? I'm still learning...

You only get to activate the location once per Arkham Encounter phase. So only 2 clue tokens per turn.

AsylumSeeker said:

No. You can make an exchange "instead" of having an encounter. You only get one encounter per turn. Also, the text does not say "for each 5 toughness or gate trophy you spend..."

"Instead of having an encounter here, you may spend 5 toughness worth of monster trophies or 1 gate trophy to gain 2 Clue tokens."

AsylumSeeker said:

Researchers need time to work, you know...

Thanks for the replies. This means that game's win was void and as suspected should have ran to a final battle. Looks like a re-match is due! Cheers for clearing it up!