I'm still relatively New to Arkham Horror. (I love the game but have difficulty getting enough people together to play on a regular basis.) I recently got Dunwich & Innsmouth, and I have a couple quick, unrelated questions that came up in the last game I played:

1. When an investigator becomes the Deputy of Arkham and gets the patrol wagon, can he use it to instantly travel to locations on another board like Dunwich, or can it only be used in Arkham itself? Does he still have to pay $1 for the train or is that bypassed?

2. If you're playing using personal quest cards from Innsmouth and an investigator is Devoured/Retired halfway through, do you begin a new personal quest for the replacement character? What if, for example, you get one who fails when the Terror Track reaches 3, but only comes in after it's at 4? Do they automatically fail?

3. What if a character completes their quest before the Retire/get Devoured? Is it still in play? For example: Say Norman Withers completes his quest, allowing him to remove X number of doom tokens from the Ancient One when it wakes up. If he retires or gets devoured, does this still take effect? Or do we lose all his hard work if anything happens to him? I suppose one possible interpretation would be that you keep it if he retires, but lose it if he's Devoured. Gives you more incentive to keep him around just long enough to get the job done, then retire to let someone else take over.

Am I way off the mark? Help me out here people!

1. With the patrol wagon you're allowed to reach almost any location of the main board or on expansion boards. Since some locations on expansion boards require a special movement to be reached (locations of the Kingsport Head on the Kingsport board & Devil Reef on the Innsmouth board), you probably cannot use the Patrol Wagon to reach them. I don't think there is any official rule for this, it's just the common way of intending them of many people on this forum. Hopefully the forthcoming FAQ will clarify this. And nope, whenever you travel between boards with the Patrol wagon, you're not asked to pay a penny.

2. Investigators entering play as substitutes of retired / devoured investigators enter play with their Personal Story. And yes, in some cases this implies an automatic failure of the PS

3. I'd say you lose all benefits from a personal story passed, in case that investigator retires or is devoured.

Hope this helps!

I've been kind of confused about ongoing PS cards. Some cards are activated after an investigator is devoured and have effects that occur down the line. They don't explicitly state that they're exceptions to a general rule.

If Rex blows the lid off of a story and causes the 1st player to get a clue token each turn, then his death shouldn't stop that from occurring. I tend to leave effects like that in play for the duration of the game (except of course for that example in final combat: investigators should not be able to gain clues during final combat!)

Julia said:

So the Patrol Wagon is partially an amphibious vehicle, as there is no rule preventing it from going to Devil Reef? O_o Hm...

mi-go hunter said:

More or less about one year ago, there was a huge debate on this point. The thesis that a car is not an amphibious vehicle seemed to be the most accepted, and this is the way I usually play. Anyway, I'm afraid we should wait for the FAQ to have an official rule on this.

I say there's no FAQ needed, and you can reach Devil Reef. The rules allow it, and I don't see it as ridiculous at all. You drive to falcon point, show them your deputy badge (or...someone else's if you're borrowing the car), and they bring you there for free. That's both a thematic reason and a rules-related reason! Yay! Y'ha-nthlei, however, cannot be accessed. Again, the rules forbid this.

For me, "one shot" PS cards are still okay, so money, blessings, items, etc. stick around. Ongoing ones MUST stick around too. My case in point being Tommy Muldoon. His PS MUST stick around for it to be of any use. His PS, to me, proves both the ongoing and "instant" parts, because he gives 5 clues to an investigaor (as a 1 time bonus), removes a doom token, and the card sticks around so you can discard it to prevent the terror level from going up. For Norman's PS (who was mentioned) it depends on if you see the "Immediately roll 4 dice" as HIM rolling the dice (which he can't, 'cause he dead!) or if just 4 dice are rolled in general (in which case, it's fine).

That being said, the negative ones stick around, too, but most of those are "personal" and I can't think of one that effects other investigators....

At least, that's how I feel on the subject! Continue to talk about it if you wish!

EcnoTheNeato said:

becoming a deep one which stays on the board effects other investigators. maybe.

seeing that however, how should a deep one lost in time and space be treated?

EcnoTheNeato said:

And the PW remains at Falcon point? Or is it moved on the boat with you? If it remains on Falcon point, do you have to roll to check whether it's still there when you return? If you show'em your badge and your car stays there, then you have to spend movement points to reach Devil reef. And money. I'm with you saying that rules do not stop you from patrol-wagoning to Devil reef, but logic does. I never saw a deputy's amphibious car in the 20's, and you have to cross some water to reach that location. This point was discussed for something like 2 weeks in the past, and many people were convinced they were right. And they were not on the same side. Thus it was said it'd have been FAQed ;-)

Julia said:

Logic doesn't stop you. Only a lack of imagination. It can remain "there," but still in your "possession." It's not like it's the ONLY patrol car in the entire world, right? So you just use "another" one upon returning if you don't return the same way you came in. Though it could also be used with one of those boats that takes cars, too. They had those in the '20's, so why not here? I know Innsmouth is old-timey, but it's not a stretch. Especially in a fictional location to begin with...Oh, and showing your badge IS the money. Obviously. Otherwise why mention it

That's really just justifying going across water "using" your car. It's fluff for rules. Rules that people inSIST there's no thematic justification to said rule. I like to blow those peoples' minds by giving them theme to those rules (though it's still funny for the way some rules work, like a Tempest allowing you to read 2 books in a turn instead of one...because it blows your pages faster...?).

i thought they used boats to carry cars ... so it can be explained - you drive car to boat and boat bring you to island location

EcnoTheNeato said:

You know that whenever you fight a monster / return from an OW, you have to roll whether the PW is still there, waiting for you, right? This is what I was asking. If you leave your car in Falcon Point, when you return there, do you have to roll?

Anyway, feel free to play the way you prefer. I was just highlighting this was already debated (a very long debate indeed) and everyone was convinced of his own reasons, as strongly as you're convinced of yours. Thus it was FAQed.

Julia said:

Ah! So that's what you were getting at. So yes, of course you still roll for facing monsters and returning from other worlds. The rules say to. And if you get a 1 you still discard it, even if, story-wise, it's "at" Falcon Point. If you want to explain it, then the car is either stolen, or they take the car away because you're "misusing" it's priveleges. Or there are cutbacks in the department and they take your car. Or Cthulhu eats it...

But to me it's already in the rules, so I wouldn't need an FAQ, but if others won't be convinced until otherwise, that's fine (though I'm sure half of them will officially houserule it otherwise). I just think they could better use their space You know, to make it come out faster...RIght Avi?

Ah, what the heck. I'll just pretend that the deputy wagon can also transform to an underwater vehicle at will. It's thematic AND very cool.

Oh, and happy birthday Jayhotep!

If you play as Bob Jenkins or Finn Edwards, just pretend you're James Bond :-D

mi-go hunter said:

It is a patrol wagon, not the Mach 5 ;')

As a response to the patty wagon conundrum:

According to the Innsmouth rulebook, Devils Reef can only be reached through aquatic movement, so that's either from chartering a boat at Falcon Point or if you're Silas the Sailor. And since an amphibious patty wagon never made much sense to me, I've always played by that rule.

EcnoTheNeato said:

..or James Bob? ::laughter::

luckycharms94 said:

Sounds definitive to me. Movement to Devil Reef requires aquatic movement. The patrol wagon does not have aquatic movement. Therefore, the patrol wagon cannot move to Devil Reef. Any objections?

When in doubt, prohibitive effects override allowances. Patrol Wagon can't go to Devil's Reef. Of course, there are no rules saying it can't drive away without issue. Play it how you feel is right.