I recently picked up a copy of Runebound and a couple of expansions. After reading through the rules and playing a game, I came up with a few (what I thought) were simple questions, but I've had trouble tracking down answers. Feel free to point me elsewhere if any of these topics have been hashed out thoroughly in the past.

1) The base RB game includes two more adventure counters of each color than are needed to set up the board. Are these extra tokens meant to be replacements if others are lost, or are they meant begin an adventure counter pool in the central counter pile before any tokens have been spent? The component list acknowledges these extra tokens, but the rules make no further reference to them.

2) There are a number of cards with effects that read "use before moving"." Do these effects apply before or after movement dice are determined for the turn? For example, if my hero has a single wound, could I play a "use before moving" card that removes a wound then roll all 5 movement dice?

3) There are a number of cards that allow you to discard them in order to automatically succeed at a given type of challenge. Are such cards discarded prior to resolving Before Combat actions? My assumption is that they are since any Before Combat action a challenge takes is still a part of that challenge. (If an example is needed for clarity, try Mistress of the Ferrox's Reward ability vs. Ferrox on the Prowl.)

4) If a character is carrying 2 weapons, can both be applied to the same attack (assuming both don't have to activated)? For example, if I had the Lightning Mace (always active, +4 to melee attack rolls) and the Mace of Kellos (activate-to-use, +2 wounds to successful melee attack), could both bonuses be used for a single melee attack? The rules don't imply that they can't (as far as I can see), but certain combinations of weapons seem like they might have the potential to be a little too effective.

5) In the standard RB rules, Encounter cards are removed from play after being resolved. In the Doom Track variant, however, resolved Encounter cards are used like all other discarded Adventure cards to help track the progress of the Doom Track. As a result, they end up back in the Adventure decks when a Doom token is added to the board and Adventure cards on the Doom Track are placed at the bottom of their respective decks. Should this be the case? Should Encounter cards be removed from the game if they are on the Doom Track when it resets?

6) When playing adventure expansions like Crown of the Elder Kings, if an Event or Encounter from the base game's Adventure decks is drawn, it is not resolved and is instead discarded, and an expansion Adventure card of matching color is drawn to replace it. When playing the Doom Track variant, do Events and Encounters discarded unresolved in that way apply to the Doom Track? If so, isn't the Doom Track variant exponentially more difficult when using adventure expansions?

7) Random Observation: If my first game taught me anything, it was that Varakas the Dead with the Dragon Rune of Abarax is a monster.

1. The extra tokens are just that, extras...in case one gets lost or you need to "make change" when spending experience points.

2. I don't think it necessarily matters whether you use such cards before or after rolling the dice. Just as long as you use it before starting movement. If you want my guess on a hard and fast rule I'd say they SHOULD be used before you roll, but I dont think it matters too much either way.

3. I think you are correct about discarding to pass the challenge before Before Combat since you aren't even entering into combat with the challenge at all, you are just automatically succeeding at it.

4. You can't Activate two items during an attack, but Passive bonus should still apply. The example you cite could be used in the first round of melee combat. In the send round of melee combat the Mace of Kellos would be exhausted, but the Lightning Mace would still be giving you a passive bonus. You couldn't activate 2 Mace of Kellos during the same attack round.

5/6. I don't play with the doom track variant (I use a home brew doom track variant based on the Midnight expansion) so I can't help you with that.

7. Varakas is a great character overall.

I hope I was accurate and of some help. I'm sure others can chime in with the doom track advice or to correct any errors I made.

Torn said:

The extras are there to help you make change on the XP you're spending and also to ensure there are enough tokens around when an event refreshes the starburst gems. Every time you draw an event (the sideways ones) you also put new tokens on any starburst gems that have been cleared at that point, it's a rule I frequently forget as well. =)

If the game provided exactly as many tokens as there are gems, then if an event popped up while people were still holding on to XP counters, there wouldn't be any left over to refresh with. Even as it is its possible to run out if people are hoarding XP tokens, but at least it doesn't happen all the time.

Torn said:

I would say you could discard it after rolling but before actually moving. If they really wanted the effect to happen before rolling dice, they would either say that explicitly or have it trigger in the upkeep phase.

Torn said:

I would be inclined to agree that such cards must be discarded before any Before Combat effects are resolved. I'm not 100% sure on that one, though.

Torn said:

Yes, you can use two weapons at once, with the exception as Miles noted that you cannot activate more than one "Activate-to-use" item per combat round. There may be a similar limitation on "Discard-to-use" items but I'm not sure.

Torn said:

I've never used the Doom Track myself, but if that's what it says then I would say they do go back into the deck. This is a variant, after all, things will be different.

Torn said:

Well, first off I wouldn't personally recommend playing with both the Doom Track and an Adventure Variant like Crown. Each is pretty difficult by itself. But if you insist on doing that, I would "discard" the base game card to the doom track and deal with the Crown card separately from the Doom Track. That way, at least in theory, the same number of cards (and all with the same back) are going into the Doom Track each turn.

Torn said:

Verikas is pretty cool in all the Terrinoth games, IMHO.