I bought Arkham - it's the first board game of this type that I have bought. I am an old "dungeon crawl" (computer) gamer.

I am confused about one of the rules - nobody else seems to be confused about this, so maybe I am misreading the rules.

In the Mythos phase, suppose I draw a card that opens a new gat. If the card says "2 Monsters appear in Northside", does that mean that one monster appears at the random gate, and two more appear the Nothside - for a total of three new monsters on the board? Or does it mean that only 2 monsters appear at Northside, and no monster appears on the newly opened gate?

If there are no monsters specified on the Mythos card, does one automatically appear at the newly opened gate? Or do none appear unless specified on the Mythos card?

Thanks,

Mike

Look closely at the rules section for the Mythos phase (see pg 9 illustration in the rules of the Mythos card with numbers).

1) After a new gate is placed, which is a precondition in your question, a monster is spawned at that new gate location (if you have 5+ players, you place 2 monsters at the gate, remember). (Subject to the monster limit, so you need to do a simple check to make sure the monster will not exceed the on-board limit per the rules. If it does you need to run the outskirts "algorithm" which involves checking if the outskirts limit is exceeded.)

2) Then you place the clue indicated by the card.

3) Then, you do monster movement of all monsters on the board & in the sky (but not outskirts) that match the symbols on the Mythos card, including the new monster(s) you just placed if they went onto the board and not the outskirts.

4) Finally, the 4th step is to resolve the flavor text on the card. In this case, the card has a Headline stating two monsters get released into a particular street. So *now* you place the monsters onto the streets, again subject to the monster limit--one or both monsters might have to go to the outskirts & trigger that algorithm for checking to see if the outskirt limit is exceeded. So note that the 2 monsters in this 4th step do *not* move by the symbol mechanic in step 3 above (because the flavor text is always done after the first 3 steps above). And likewise, the 2 monsters are *in addition* to the standard monster (or monsters if 5+ players) placed at step 1.

Yes, always progress through every stage of the game in the proscribed sequence and you'll avoid confusion. One thing you'll learn while learning AH is to assume nothing - unless something is explicitly and unambiguously stated in the rulebooks and/or on the drawn card, you shouldn't do it.

Thanks for your help. I guess that the "assume nothing" was really true - I need to be more careful with the details of the rules.

I do have another question. Can you let me know if I am reading the rules correctly.

Here's what happened:

I was in the Other World, and had won my challenge, and moved to the other side.

On the Mythos turn, I got a monster surge, and a monster appeared at the gate through which I had come.

So here's what I think I can do:

1) In the movement phase, move back to Arkham from the Other World.

2) In the Arkham Encounter phase - I can try to close and seal the gate, without fighting the monster at that point.

3) In other words, I am not required to fight the monster right when I come back from the Other World - due to the "Monsters Guarding Gates Rule". If I leave the gate (in the next Movement phase) and he's still there, then I will need to Evade him, and if I leave and come back, I will need to fight him,

Mike

You do not fight monsters in the turn you return,but on the next turn you must fight or evade them as normal

So having a "Return to Arkham" encounter when you are in the second OW area is worse than coming back the regular way during the next Movement Phase, since you have to fight the monsters before you can close the gate. Right?

ninniach said:

Exactly. Imagine how the seemingly benign "Return to Arkham" can be a double-edged sword!

At least if it occurs in the first space, you get to skip a turn in the OW. Still have to deal with the beasties though.

lishai said:

If you exit a gate during the movement phase, as nomally happens, I believe you may fight the monsters if you wish, allowing you to freely move away the following turn.

I usually allow a choice to engage the monsters when you're allowed a freebie.

The question is, if you choose to forfeit your freebie against one of the monsters on the gate, do you forfeit for all?

Tibs said:

I play that if you choose to face any monsters, you must deal with them all, but I'm not sure the rules are clear on that.

I don't think they are clear. But you're probably getting the freebie because you just emerged from the gate and the monster hasn't noticed you yet. If you do epic combat with one, of course the others will notice you then.

Tibs said:

Leave a time bomb with no clue tokens on a square with a gate and evade the really tough monsters on the square. Then get a return to arkham encounter and see how you feel.