Hello all!

First this is a great game and I await impatiently for the expansion expansion : Miskatonic.

I read hundreds (thousands?) of posts in French, English even a little Spanish, I read various FAQ but sometimes I just don't remember if the manner in which I play is normal, read somewhere, FAQ related, etc...

So back to this stupid basic question...

Trading items between players... When can you do it? (I know not during combat) Only during the movement phase? Whenever you are together?(all phases except during combat)

When exactly does a combat begin ?

Investigator A has a monster on his location, B moves first and arrives on the same location. Can A and B make exchanges before any dice are rolled? What if two investigators are on a location and one makes an encounter saying "a monster appears", is there time for a trade before taking a monster token from the cup? After taking the token but before any dice rolls?

And in the Outer Worlds, i thought they were too big, but on this forum I read that you could do trading. Is that true? (if you are on the same space, let's not exagerate!)

Even if trading only happens during combat normaly do not forget that sometimes you have the Carcosan Page
Carcosan Page Any: Exhaust to either give 1 item to another willing investigator or receive 1 item from another willing investigator, regardless of whether or not you are in the same location. You may use this card in any location, street area, or Other World.

and if you can trade during any phase, what happens during encounters? If you can trade during buying items it would be awesome but too powerful no?

Hope my questions is clear...

Hi Grouik!

It's nice to read you even on the English forum :-)

Basically, you can trade whenever you want during the Movement Phase, but you have to meet the following two conditions: a) no combat is running while you're trading b) you have to share the same area / location the investigator you want to trade with is. Combat starts in the moment you have to face the monster (thus you have to answer to the "evade or enter combat" question). Investigator A shares the spot with a monster, but it's not his turn. Investigator B arrives, exchange stuff with Investigator A and then enters fight with the monster. I'd say it's legitimate.

As for the Encounter thing, no, you cannot trade on that occasion, nor during the OW encounters, they belong to phases different to Movement, so trading is not allowed.

Not so sure I got the point about the Carcosan Page. It's a Unique item allowing you to receive or give an item to another investigator. It's a different mechanic, you don't need to share the location with your buddy and yes, you can do this in any Phase

Julia said:

That should be "...so trading is NOT allowed"

Welcome Grouik!

Tox said:

Yep, thanks for noticing it, I corrected my post

Julia said:

though you can trade at the movement phase on the OW... I think.

I always found the "trading only in the movement" rule kind of annoying. What is the purpose of it anyway ? Why can't you trade anytime you are in the same location ? (besides "that is the rule" :-)

amikezor said:

I think it's part of a general policy that nothing can interrupt an encounter once it starts. So, if you have Duke as an Ally, and an encounter lowers your Sanity to zero, you can't use Duke to avoid going insane. I also remember reading that if Yog-Sothoth is the Ancient One, and an encounter sends you to LITAS, technically Yog doesn't get to eat you until the encounter is fully resolved.

But yeah, you'd think that two investigators in the Curiosity Shop would be able to pool their money if one of them finds an Elder Sign.

First of all, you may trade during OW movement, so long as the investigators at some point are in the same space.

Second, the reason you can't trade anytime probably has to do with the fact that your investigators aren't always in trading distance. The Science Building, for example, is pretty large. The investigators could be expected to run into each other just once per turn, so why not make it a set time like "movement."

Third, a good reason not to have all-the-time trading is that you could just go to the Curiosity Shoppe with a ton of cash, and after purchasing, give all the leftover money to another investigator who would then make a purchase on the same turn. It's better when you divide the money first, as it adds an element of the unknown.

Thank you all!

Nice to read from you again Julia!

amikezor said:

Yep! I was highlighting the "trade possible in which phase" thing. But yes, no probs in trading in the movement phase while in an OW!

amikezor said:

As for this one... I'm with you, totally. Or, at least, in most of the occasions. No reason not to go shopping with friends (Hell, we do this in real life!). I take Tibs point about the phisical dimensions of certain places, but OWs - in example - are pretty huge and it's quite odd you share the same space during Upkeep and Movement (so you can trade) while you don't during AE Phase in the Old Magick Shoppe (which cannot be that huge) (I'm speaking thematically, not rules-related. Let's say you have 2 investigators in the Dreamlands, even if they share the same spot after entering the gate, what about the chance of being in the same spot when they upkeep in the 2nd area?). It's something I've never been enthusiastic about. I stick to this rule only for League games, otherwise I let my investigators shopping together

Thank you amigos for your enlighting answers. I understand the arguments ... though my feeling goes for a house-rule stating that you can exchange anytime if you do not interrupt an action once it is started. The turn is already too rigid for my taste (I found the turn flow in MoM much nicer ).