Hi,

we ran our first island encounter in our Sea of Blood campaign yesterday. It raised a lot of unanswered questions. Searching the rulebook(s), FAQ and Forums proved quite unsuccessful, to a point where we came close to ending the game...

Maybe some of you can help, or at least share their thoughts on the calls we made.

1.) Ship movement - The ships starts with sails and anchor down, and we assumed that the heroes start on or adjacent to the town glyph on the ship. There is nothing to prevent the players from starting to move the ship.

a) What happens if the ship sails off the map by forward movement? We assumed that we would consider this as having fled the dungeon, even if monsters boarded the ship and sailed it off-map intentionally.

b) For the printed island parts, we assumed that the ship would sink and all heroes would die. This would make it a very viable tactic for the overlord to try and crash the ship

c) Will the ship sink if it is moved onto an island space by sideways (helm) movement? We ruled yes.

2.) The ship - The campaign starts with a sloop equipped with one coldsteel cannon. Are the available cannons limited by the number of available item cards, as for all other items? We ruled no, because there are so many cannons available as tokens...

3.) The whirlpool - What exactly is considered a non-swimming figure? Characters that are "swimming" in the water according to the paragraph on page 30 of the rulebook seem to be "non-simming" characters when looking at th movement of the red scorpion in the example on page 28. We assumed that anything that does not have the "swim" ability is considered non-swimming and that the ship is non-swimming *gg* but not a figure, so it is not moved by the whirlpool. It also is not destroyed when moving onto the center square, but suffers damage as described on page 29

4.) Printed trees - Are these handled as normal terrain features or are they just "background" graphics? We handled them as trees, just like in the rulebook

5.) Spawning monsters.

a) there is nothing to explicitedly prevent the Overlord from setting up the starting monsters on the ship - we ruled anyway the ship is considered equal to the red-shaded area in the normal dungeon levels, so no starting monsters.

b) Since mast spaces block line of sight, and there are no rules to stop spawning on the revenge, it is pretty easy to spawn a few monsters on he revenge and quickly crash the revenge. To completely prevent spawning on a sloop, you need two heroes. Is this intentional? We ruled yes, but think it is very silly...

6.) Misc.

a) soaring monsters and manning stations: Is monster have to swoop down to man a station (making it vulnerable to guard attacks)? Does it have to pay movement for this? Can it even do this? The Soar ability just states that it may swoop before an attack.

b) Gust of Wind: Do we suppose that all island maps are in utter darkness, so gust of wind will extinquish torches and reduce LOS just as in a dungeon? I assume so...

c) When manning a rope, what happens if you roll an "X" on the red die? Wie ruled it would just contribute 0 Range, but not cause the swing to fail completely.

d) An unrelated question - do Overlord lieutenants get to act in the round the are pruchased? Specifically, can Soriss start to siege the shackles marker at cerridor sea the round it is purchased?

Thanks a lot, and have fun!

...and right after I hit the "publish" button:

add.): what happens when the ship is sunk and at least 1 hero has alread exited the level through the cave entrance? We ruled that this would still cause the remaining heroes to be killed (as per page 26) but that the next level would still be set up, as opposed to when the ship sinks with all heroes still in the island level, which would kill them and end the dungeon.

MiB1975 said:

1. SoB pg21
The heroes begin anywhere on their ship that they wish,

1a. SoB pg21
To flee an island level, the heroes must board their ship and flee the board with it, just as in an encounter. Any hero without Swim or Soar left behind when the party’s ship flees the map is instantly killed, regardless of armor or remaining wounds
SoB pg18
Party Flight
If at any point during the encounter any part of the Revenge moves off the map, then the party escapes.
If any part of the ship moves off the map then the party has 'fled', which means the level is immediately over. Heroes without swim or soar die.
FAQ pg18
Q: If monsters steer the ship off the map, do the heroes flee as well, just like if they'd have steered it off themselves?
A: Monsters may not operate the Revenge during island levels.
So the monsters can't sail the ship off by manning sails or wheel, or lifting anchor, though if the heroes left it moving it may keep moving on its own.

1b. not possible as above

1c. absolutely - though a monster can't do this as above.

2. No, the cards are just a stat card - it's the tokens themselves that are the cannons (a bit like the shark card or even monster cards).

3. Exactly right. Non-swimming means does not have swim ability (fly and soar can of course avoid the effects anyway).

4. Exactly right. There is no reason to suppose they are not real trees. Island maps would be stupidly open and virtually impossible to spawn without them

5a. SoB pg21
while the monsters begin anywhere on the island that the overlord desires (same sentence as 1. actually).

5b. FAQ pg19
Q: In Island levels, spawning works similar to inside dungeons, monsters can spawn anywhere out of line of sight of the heroes. Since masts block line of sight, it is quite possible for monsters to spawn on the Revenge unless one hero stays behind on the ship, essentially out of action. Is this intentional? Monsters spawned on the Revenge can easily man its stations and crash it or sail it off the map to result in the party being forced to flee, and the easy solution leaves the heroes a man down when
facing the perils onshore.
A: Monsters may not spawn on the Revenge during island levels. They may only spawn on the island itself.

6a. FAQ pg15
Q: Do Soaring creatures benefit from terrain?
A: While a creature is Soaring, it ignores the terrain in its current space. A Soaring creature may choose to “land” and disable its Soar power until its next turn; if it does this it is affected by terrain just like any other figure.
Stations are terrain, so in order to man them the soarer must choose to 'land'. It does not cost MP to 'land' but it can't 'take off' again untiol it's next turn.
Top be honest, the question is moot really.
SoB pg27
Note: Not all monsters may man stations and fire cannons.
Those that can are listed below by monster type.
Humanoid: All
Eldritch: Dark Priest, Shade, Skeleton, Sorcerer
Beast: Naga
...not a soarer among them.

6b. Yes. Not everything 'translates' but the mechanics of the card still work the same.

6c. You are correct.

6d. Yes they do. SoB pg 14
When the overlord acts during the game week, he may do two different types of actions: issues order to his lieutenants, and purchase an upgrade. He may do these in any order, even purchasing an upgrade between issuing orders to different lieutenants

7. The requiremnt for moving to the next level is to have 1 or more heroes in the portal and the rest in town. I think if the heroes are forced to flee before they fulfill the requirements for moving on, then they are forced to flee!
Note that this is a lot less likely (though not impossible) when monsters can't man the Revenge.

PS Islands are not 'encounters' they are dungeon levels.