Recent experience had an investigator return from OW to the gate; he didn't have enough tokens to seal the gate. He closed the gate as usual on his Arkham Encounter phase. He did not leave the location. The Mythos card for that phase changed the environment, allowing for sealing gates in arkham with 2 less clue tokens. Could he remain there until the next AE phase and seal the gate with the clue tokens he has, since he has not left. I cannot find a specific rule that requires that sealing must immediately follow closing the gate, but we have always played it that way. If he had failed to close the gate, the changed environment would allow him to seal it. Since a failed gate closure can be rerolled ad infinitum until successful, we saw no reason that he could not remain there and seal the gate. Unusual, but then AH is unusual, isn't it? What say you?

In the rulebook from Arkham Horro, page 18, left column : "If an investigator successfully closes a gate, he may immediately spend five Clue tokens to permanently seal it."

So, you can't seal one or more turn after you closed.

I believe if you are playing by the book (i.e., no custom rule changes) then what you propose would not be allowed. womp womp.

The issue is that in order to seal a gate, as Hugues points out, it must be immediately after closing (unless you have an Elder sign, in which case this situation would never even come up!). Immediate in this sense implies same-phase - which would be the Arkham Encounters phase. Since the Mythos card would be two phases later, the seal you propose would not be immediate. Additionally, you would have to wait until your next encounter phase, making it even less-immediate.

That being said, I think you could make an acceptable custom rule to incorporate your strategy. It doesn't seem to break the "spirit" of the game - if the investigator simply waits on the location, of course, why should it matter how long they wait until sealing? Like you point out, there is no limit on the number of turns an investigator can wait before CLOSING the gate after they have EXITED the gate, given that they do not leave the location.

As far as gameplay goes I do not think such a custom change presents any significant advantage to the players. If anything, it has greater potential for disadvantage. Without being able to leave the location, is a player going to wait and hope clue tokens land on them / make a Lurker pact / hope for the Mythos card? Interesting situation.

Humchuckaninny said:

Not so sure I can take your point here: there are significatn advantages for the player. If you squat on an open gate, there is a chance the gate surges under your feet. If it's a moving gate, there is a chance it moves, and you lose your explorer marker and what else. If it's still open and one of your pal enters the location to drop you some clue generating item for the seal but has no movement points left, he's sucked through the gate. Besides, if you close the gate and wait for the seal, you allow clues to appear at your location. The same clues would not appear if the gate were still open. And waiting to seal with the gate open requires the same number of turns (probably, more) than waiting in the location with the gate already closed. So no cons, only pros.

I'd say, go for this if you really think the game is too difficult. Otherwise, it'd be a lot better to stick at what rules say