Hello, Dear game veterans,

this weekend, we played our first 4 games of Call of Cthulhu LCG . We only own the Core Pack yet because wanted to try out the various factions first, so we had some very interesting Agency/Hastur vs. Syndicate/Shub and Yoth/MU vs. Cthulhu/Agency games. We will check out the other teams and combinations next weekend before we decide how to continue and which APs we will buy.

Despite the fact that the rules are quite clear and that we used the official FAQ, we were unsure how to deal with some card effects. We had the impression that the card texts were to be handled in a very strict and true-to-the-text fashion, but we wanted to be sure that we understood everything correctly.

Our questions:

1) Concerning Sheriff / Visiting Author ability (Pay 1 to return to your hand from discard pile): If I use one of these cards as a transient resource and have to discard it, can I apply the ability and take the card back (provided I pay for the card, of course)? Or does the text only apply if I loose the card when played as a character because a resource card is defined as having "no text, no abilities and no icons"?

2) Guardian Elder Thing: If I use the Guardian Elder Thing's Ability (wound all characters committed to the story), does Guardian Elder Thing wound itself with this action or does it only wound all other characters committed to the story?

3) Servant from Out of Time: If a player is forced to sacrifice a resource, can he take the resource a) from a domain already drained, or b) can he empty a domain, leaving it without any cards, or does a domain require at least 1 card?

Thank you very much for your help!

For the most part, you can read the card and get the basic idea. There are some funny exceptions of course, but they are addressed in the FAQ or under dispute in these forums :-)

Sheriff - yes, you can pay 1 to get the card back on the same phase that you drained the domain and sent him to the discard pile.

Guardian Elder Thing: Yes, it does not say "all OTHER..." so it applies to all.

Servant from Out of Time: The card has no restrictions on whether a domain is drained or not. Also, you can have domains with no resources - that is not a problem.

Great, thank you very much for your help! Since its our first CCG/LCG game, we were somewhat unsure of how to handle some card texts, but sticking as close to the text as possible seems to be a good rule of thumb.

Another question came up last evening: how do you place cards in the discard pile, face up or face down? And am I allowed to look at both my discard pile and my opponent's discard pile or is the information confidental?

face up. Discard pile and ressources are considered to be public information and can be viewed freely by either player during the course of the game (faq 1.0 rsource and dicard pile, page 12 or page 6 in the friendly printer form).

Thank you, that's good to know.

One more question, though. We had a debate concerning Richard U. Pickman (Syndicate). His character ability allows to "blank" the textbox of another character and to copy their "triggered actions".

We know the official definition of "triggered actions" from the rulebook, but we were confused nevertheless. Can Pickman simply copy all actions on a given card and use them for himself, of can he copy the action only once it was "triggered", i.e. used or activated by the character's owner? Druing the game I got the impression that a "triggered action" has to be triggered first, but now I'm unsure about that. I now think that a "triggered action" is a general synonyme for "action which has to be triggered in order to take effect" and doesn't refer to a triggered / not-yet-triggered state.

A clarification for "triggered abilty" would be highly appreciated!

Thanks again!

Pickman copy the keywords (such as willpower, toughness,etc) and the triggered abilities of a choosen caracter, (and blank it after). But it is a little bit more complicated than that. If you copy the game text of a slavering gug :

"action : pay 4 to choose and wound a caracter"

You can use it as an action during the phase, if you have a free domain to use.

But, if you copy the triggerd ability of a performance artist:

"disrupt : sacrifice performance artist to cancel a triggered ability juste used"

You can't pay the additionnal cost (because you don't control the performance artist, but pickman, not the same).

In other words , you copy the capacity to use the triggered ability.

A triggered ability is a game text on a caracter or support card (in the rules page 13 core set, they say a card already in play)with the words action, disrupt, forced response or response. (It excludes event cards, in fact). You don't copy passive effects like the antrhopology advisor

"Lower the cost for you to play Investigator characters by 1. Investigator characters you control gain Investigation"

because it is not a triggered ability. It is not preceded by action response, forced response or disrupt.

A triggered action does'nt exist in this game. You can take actions that can be the activation of a triggered ability, or an event card, and in the operation phase, play supports and caracters cards.

Did I answer you?

They probably could have called it "triggerable action" to make it more clear (even if that's not a real word in English).

Yes, B_P, you answered my question!

I agree, despite the fact that "triggerable ability" sounds somewhat strange, it would be less confusing than "triggered ability".

I hope I don't have any more questions (a lot were answered by browsing the forums here and on BGG), at least not until our AP deckbuilding experiments begin

I, too, had the same questions about Guardian Elder Thing and Servant from Out of Time. Thanks for the help!

Exian