When "In the Know" came out Matt Newman explained how "as if you were at that location" works.
Luke's ability makes that ruling important again, but I can't find it.
Does anyone have a copy of his full answer?
Help me find a ruling
@Skeptical Gamer it's in the top review of In the Know on arkhamdb: https://arkhamdb.com/card/03027
In addition, if the bearer can squeeze out additional clues, they are all taken from the distant location, as approved by Matthew Newman: (start of quote) In the Know works a little differently from some other investigation cards (like Seeking Answers for example). Instead of just saying that you discover clues at a different location, it reads "Investigate any revealed location in play as if you were at that location” (emphasis mine). That means any clues you would discover “at your location” as part of this investigation are discovered at the location you are investigating with In the Know. So Rex’s bonus clue or any other additional clues from Deduction, etc, would all be taken from the location you chose when you used In the Know. (end of quote)
Of course, that's not necessarily proof that it's his words, but broadly speaking it seems folk in this game don't invent quotations from the lead designer! We could reach out to the reviewer and ask to see the email should someone be unsure.
Edited by zooeyglassclarification
The "as if you were at that location" cards raise so many questions for me. If there's an enemy at the location, do you take an AoO, as you would if you were at that location? Or similarly, do you not take one if there's an enemy at your current location? What about Haunted abilities, at your location or the investigated one? Token effects that are affected by what's at your location? Locations with additional costs to investigate?
36 minutes ago, CSerpent said:The "as if you were at that location" cards raise so many questions for me. If there's an enemy at the location, do you take an AoO, as you would if you were at that location? Or similarly, do you not take one if there's an enemy at your current location? What about Haunted abilities, at your location or the investigated one? Token effects that are affected by what's at your location? Locations with additional costs to investigate?
it's a really tricky one, absolutely. Luke Robinson seems to categorically answer some of those questions (his text specifies 'as if you were engaged with each enemy at that location' <- or along those lines!), but other cards with 'as if you were' effects don't... I know the discussions around it are ongoing!
With regard to enemies and AoO, it's not the case in the rules that your location matters for taking attacks of opportunity. What matters is whether enemies are engaged with you. In addition, attacks of opportunity happen after paying costs but before the ability begins to resolve, so at the time at which you would be provoking attacks of opportunity for activating an ability, you are not yet treated as "at that location" in any regard - therefore you will only be taking AoO from enemies that were engaged before the ability was activated (this bit at least does not need any clarification, it's pretty unambiguous in the rules, but a FAQ entry would be helpful for those who aren't rules lawyers).
Following this to its conclusion, the most logical answer (the one I expect to be borne out by developer clarifications, which we sorely need on this subject) is that performing an effect "as if you were at that location" does not cause enemies at that location to engage you, since that would necessarily teleport them to your current location (as a consequence of being in your threat area), unless the enemy in question is Massive, which is just weird.
Haunted specifies that you trigger the haunted effect of "that location" - i.e. whatever location you were actually investigating, regardless of how you were investigating it, where you actually are or if you are or are not "as if you were at" at given location, so this aspect again doesn't require any clarification - any time you fail to investigate a location, you trigger its Haunted effect. It's theoretically possible for "resolve the Haunted effect of your current location" effects to be triggered during a test performed "as if you were at a location", so I guess that particular edge case will need clarification.
Similar to Haunted, locations with an additional cost to investigate must be paid regardless of where you are, since the cost is tied to the act of investigating the location rather than the location you are considered to be occupying.
There are a lot of thorny issues, however. I think the idea is that it only affects the Investigation test itself (you are "investigating as if you are" there, not "investigating, and also you are considered to be there"), but there's a lot of edge cases - what location can Alice Luxley target, where does Rex Murphy pick up his extra clue from, who can you target with Ancient Stone if an effect lets you draw, etc.? If this wording instead treats it as if you were at that location for all intents and purposes, for the duration of the skill test, you'd be able to move from that location with Shortcut, heal and grant resources with Carolyn Fern at range, and so forth.
I'm hoping for something like this:
When investigating a location "as if you were at that location", the difficulty of the skill test is determined by the shroud of the target location (unless otherwise specified), any additional costs for investigating that location must be paid, you are considered to be investigating that location for the purposes of any effects that specifically modify investigation of that location, and the results of the investigation test (discovering clues at the location if successful) are resolved at the target location. Resolve any effects that are specifically triggered due to succeeding or failing a skill test while investigating that location. You are not considered to be at the target location for any other purposes, including enemy attacks and engagement, any effects that target "your location" or investigators or cards at your location, effects for entering the target location, or any effects targeting investigators at the target location.
This means that Deduction will discover additional clues at the target location, you will resolve Haunted effects for the targeted location if the test fails, you will place a doom on Perilous Gulch if it was the target location and the investigation fails, you will discard Obscuring Fog attached to the target location, and you must investigate Crypt of the Sepulchral Lamp with Willpower. However, the response abilities on Rex Murphy and Alice Luxley will affect your current location rather than the target location, the forced effect of Chapultepec Park is only triggered if it is your current location rather than the target location, the effects of any cards drawn by effects such as Perception or triggered as a result of doing so will affect your current location rather than the target location, and you are not affected by the constant ability of Whippoorwill if it is at the target location rather than your current location.
I'm hoping that "as if engaged" doesn't provoke AoO. I was hoping Matt's full quote would offer some clarity. I seem to remember it does, but without the original response I can't say if that's just wishful thinking or not...