Long time board lurker, first real question. I apologize because I feel both of these have already been addressed but I can't find it right now.

1. If an encounter gives you the ability to pick and close a gate at some remote location on the board, do I have the option of sealing said gate as well?

2. Is the number of gate trophies needed for a gate *close* victory also reduced when playing with more than one expansion?

The answer to #1 doesn't really matter, but if #2 is a yes, then I pulled off a freak gate close victory against Nyar in the fourth round. Four player solo game and the mythos were:

0: Blackest Night (Black Cave --- 1 gate open)

1: Copse Garden (Unvisited Isle --- 2 gates open)

2: Murderer's at Large; Brains still missing (+2 DT; no gate)

(Skids closes and seals Black Cave --- 1 gate open, 1 gate trophy)

3: Lodge Members Held for Questioning (would be Black Cave but its sealed; still 1 gate open, 1 gate trophy

(Patrice, trapped at the Silver Twilight Lodge by the monsters unleashed by the last mythos draws the Inner Sanctum encounter that lets her close a gate anywhere in Arkham.) By closing the gate at Unvisited Isle, no gates are left open and I have two gate trophies. Is this a win?

1. I don't remember if there was a 100% official ruling, but from specific situations where this has been asked, the answer has been "no." The way I think of it is that you have to physically close the gate yourself in order to draw the elder sign on a surface somewhere.

2. Yes it is, but remember that is is more than one expansion board. Playing with a non-board expansion or playing with a large expansion but not using the board will not offer this handicap. EVERYTHING is reduced though, except successes to remove a doom token in final combat.

2 ann. Two trophies and no open gates, with four investigators? It is a win by closed gates if and only if you're playing with all three board expansions (so that the four investigators count as two fewer). Also, are you sure that the Inner Sanctum encounter allowed Patrice to keep the gate?

Thanks for the quick response Tibs. I dunno about the Inner Sanctum encounter specifically. I came to the board tonight originally because I was under the impression there was a FAQ answer on whether or not you got to keep the gate as a trophy. IIRC, I thought there was some kind of ruling that if the text of an Arkham Encounter or OW Encounter said an investigator got to 'close' a gate, that the use of the word close implied taking it as a trophy. But I'm at a loss to find that anywhere now, conveniently.

And yeah, I'm playing with all the expansions, except Lurker obviously. Thanks for the heads-up though.

If it helps anyone answer this, here is the exact text of the Inner Sanctum encounter:

• You're invited to take part in a Gating ceremony. If you agree, spend 2 Clue tokens and 1 Sanity to make a Lore (-2) check. If you pass, close one gate of your choice. If you fail, nothing happens.

Patrice paid the cost and passed the check. Am I right to assume this means she claims the closed gate as a trophy?

Tibs said:

There is an OW encounter asking basically to pass a check in order to return to Arkham. In case of failure, you are LiTaS. In both cases, you close the gate you entered. Does this mean that in case I pass the check and thus return to Arkham, I'm able to seal it just by spending 5 clues (while, if I go LiTaS, the gate is closed but no seal)? I remember something was said more than once at this regard, but I cannot find the threads anymore and I do not remember the answer ::sigh::

Julia, that very specific encounter was ruled that you cannot seal the gate. This is what I'm talking about... I don't remember if there was a universal rule to handle these myriad situations.

Personally, I'm cool with the whole "no remote seals" idea. Clean, simple, rules against the investigators (as I am wont to do.)

Yeah, come to think of it, everything you guys have said makes sense in every way WRT 'sealing by remote'. Thanks for the help. Either way, that was my first gate closure win, was so unexpected I figured I had to be doing something wrong.

Tibs said:

Thank you Tibs for explaining it again :-) there are too many things to remember and, unless you are in the specific situation, something slips through your mind (more or less one month ago, I had Norman drawing that encounter... it was my firts victory by closing ever, but as I drew that encounter I thought: "Dam(n), Tibs said something at this regard... but WHAT?)

So thanks, I feel relieved :-)

We just got done with a game tonight and we got that very specific encounter. The poor sap had clues to seal too... ha!