Master Fwiffo said:

Yes.

Master Fwiffo said:

No.

Rules book - page 9
After completing the Advancing the Clock step, the active player’s turn is concluded and the player to his left begins his turn.

Jaroy said:

YourBestFriend said:

Reading the last few comments, I though is was important to quote this part of the original topic.

Well, to be fair, the "we" referenced by that referred to FFG. There's no moratorium on answers and, if people can actually cite the criteria behind their answers, there's no reason to have one.

Walk said:

Sure, but to me the "questions only" part referred to anyone.

It's nice to see people trying to help each other, quoting rules, etc... But the board is already full of rule topics with how Average Joe (including me) read the rules. Setting aside this topic would have been a good idea. Not to mention that if a question is answered here, will it make it to the FAQ document ?

Plus, when a player gets to a "FAQ questions" topic, created by a member of FFG, and reads answers to questions in it, he will understand them as official... when they may be actually wrong (just imagine the rulebook receives some clarifications/errata in the FAQ).

BTW, I have a question myself that isn't referenced above : does the constant effect of Shub-Niggurath add a Terror icon to the task of each monster ? or does it add an additional task consisting of a single Terror icon to each monster ?

Two questions based upon some hearsay from Arkham Nights.

1) If I focused earlier in the turn and then decide to use the focused die on a task, can I focus again later with the same investigator later in the turn (who now no longer has a die). The hearsay on BGG from Kevin Wilson said, "no"; even if you use up the focused die you can't focus again for the rest of the turn.

2) How are die holding spells handled? According to the rulebook they are played before rolling the dice. According to hearsay from Arkham Nights this is in error and they are played AFTER rolling dice. Either way, can you use a clue to re-roll before placing dice on a spell? In the rulebook there's a note that you can't change the face, but that note is also on the focusing/assisting dice placement, where clues could have definitely been used prior to failing and focusing.

Lee

Taken from BGG, from a post from another user. Being posted for peer review by FFG for FAQ, not looking for a posted answer.

"While two others and I were in a game at Arkham Nights, Kevin Wilson was watching us play and said that once you focus a die and complete a task, you can't use the same investigator again to focus a different die on a different task that same adventure (though you could use a different investigator to assist of course).

If I understand correctly, for practical terms, its like you don't remove the die from the investigator who is focusing/assisting even after they complete a task (though of course you do after you finish your turn).

Unrelated note: He also mentioned you cast spells (the ones with blank spots to 'hold' dice) *after* you roll the dice (the rulebook being in error)"

Questions:

Is the info on focusing correct, once per your investigator, per adventure card, basically the die and the investigator are locked out once used to complete a task, until the next new start or restart of an adventure card?

Is the info about casting spell cards after the roll and placing a die correct?

Oops, same to have posted the same questions as the user above my post. Didn't see it. Guess we were reading the same BGG post.

Spending Trophies

If you buy a souvenir at the Entrance, what happens to the Adventure card / Monster trophies?

Are they discarded from the game?
Are Monsters returned to the Monster cup and Adventure cards returned to the bottom of the appropriate decks?

If an Investigator is devoured then it is clear what happens to trophies (page 11, Being Devoured) but the rules do not appear to make any mention of what you do with trophies when they are spent.

Arkhamites,

In addition to playing several games of AH while attending Arkham Nights 2011 last week, I did have a chance to also play a half-dozen games of Elder Sign...one of which we asked Richard Launius to moderate for us. One of the things that keeps showing-up in these threads, as well as the 300+ over on BGG's site has to do with the Vincent Lee"s and Carolyn Fern's abilities vs. Ithaqua and Hastur. Speaking to Richard during the game and playing a fairly long game at that gave us some insights to the "rules."

Understand, first and foremost that Richard is "all about having fun with the gamr" and doesn't stand on ceremony regarding the rules, especially those deemed ambiguous, at least by the way we played. Also, he indicated to us in the Q&A that Kevin is quite adept at balancing games...thus, the clock. In the original game, Richard would have all of the players each have their respective Investigator perfom some function (Entrance-related purchase/treatment or Resolve an Adventure Card) and then have a Mythos Phase or the GOO would attack. By introducing the clock mechanism, there's an increase in the tension, as not all of the investigators (with five or more in play) will have the opportunity to reolve an adventure or perform some Entrance-related function.

Why is this important...the game is not intended for Vincent and Carolyn to heal themselves, potentially 4 times when battling the GOO. If you're playing this game solo (or any other number of Investigators up to 4), each Investigator performs a function, and then the GOO attacks. With 5 or more Investigators, each of the first four may attack...then the GOO, then 5, 6 etc. That completely resolves the issue governing Vincent/Carolyn, especially for one investigator games.

I'll answer some of the more frequently asked questions from my time at the Event last week, as we had several very good playtesters, incluing the individual who was attempting to "break" the computer version.

Battling an Ancient One:

1. Can clues be used during the final battle? Yes (it was our saving grace once or twice)

2. Unless otherwise stated on the card, can allies be used in the final battle? Yes

3. Does each success lock the dice for that task just like a normal resolve adventure step? Yes (which means you re-roll the remaining dice, attempting to get another successful "task" to remove a Doom Token)

4. Do dice locked on adventure cards, mythos cards, and monster cards remain locked when the final battle starts? Yes

Spells

1. If a spell is played, is it mandatory that a die be placed on the card or could you discard the spell? Yes (According to the way we played when moderated by Richard, you had to place a die and not simply discard it) If a spell has two dice icons, do you have to place two dice? Yes Could the two dice be placed one at a time on different task completion rolls? No (When you cast it you add the dice) Can clues be used to reroll dice are placed? Hmmm? (If I understand you correctly, you may use a Clue token, reroll those dice (or die), and then decide what's added to the Spell)

2. How is a monster defeated when using a spell? It is turned-over and the Investigator need not lose Sanity or Stamina (no costs) nor advance the clock, if necessary according to the "tasks." Can you immmediately claim the monster token? N o (You must wait until you succeed or fail the Adventure card) If it is a partial or total monster task, would you then have to complete the task as depicted on the card? Yes/No (You can defeat the monster and claim it if you fail the Adventure card, but you must complete the entire task on a partial task. Remember a spell that defeats a mnster doesn't satisfy the entire requirement for a partial task.)

3. Are Spells cast before or after rolling the dice? Hmmm? (Thanks Hudarklord, I believe I heard the same thing. The intention ois to casrt it after you roll to make the selection)

Monsters

1. If all monster tasks are currently filled, can you keep placing all other monsters on one non monster task card making that card in effect a giant holding pen? No (This was one Richard was quite vocal about ~ it's not the designers' intention to have an impossible task)

2. On an adventure card with an arrow, if a monster is added to the bottom of the card, does it become the last task? No (It is separate and distinct from the rest of the Adventure card) Could the monster task be completed first or in any order the player chooses like an adventure card without an arrow? Yes

3. If a spell says that it can defeat 1 monster, can it only defeat a monster on the adventure card that my investigator is on? Yes

4. If I complete an adventure and get a monster as a "reward", does this monster have to go onto one of the other 5 cards or can it go onto the adventure that will replace the one that I have just completed? Yes (This one actually had two competing interpretations one of the five remaining OR one of the six, to include the recently placed Adventure Card)

Locked Dice

1. If a red die for example is already locked on an adventure card and a second red locked die icon comes into play, does the red die immediately move to the second card when the the first card is resolved? Yes (The one playtester had an evil grin when he told us about that one)

2. If the red and yellow dice are locked, can Gloria Goldberg use her Special Ability to resolve Other World Adventure Cards? No

3. If the red and yellow dice are locked, can Jenny Barnes use her Special Ability to resolve adventures? No

4. When the Great Old One wakes up do locked dice on adventure cards/monsters unlock? No

Investigators

1. Some special abilities seem overpowered when playing with less than three or four investigators (Kate Winthrop, Carolyn Fern, Mandy Thompson and Vincent Lee). Is there some alternate definition of what constitutes a turn when playing with just one or two investigators when considering how often the special abilities can be used? (See first few paragraphs of this post)

2. Does Kate's ability work on the Mythos Cards? No (Monsters do appear, as part of the Mythos Card)

"At Midnight" Effects

1. Do "at midnight" effects on adventure cards take effect at midnight even if no investigator is on a given Adventure card? Yes

2. Do "at midnight" effects on Adventure cards continue to impact players after the Great Old One awakes? No

3. What happens if the clock moves to Midnight because of an effect on a monster task while you are in the middle of an adventure? (See full answer after the next question) Do you interrupt the adventure and deal with Midnight effects, lingering effects, and new Mythos Card? No (According to Richard, you DO NOT interrupt the flow of the turn. Simply resolve all of the effects after the turn is over)

Unresolved

1. Is Mandy's ability really usable once on every turn, even when it's not her turn? Or is it just once per day?

2. What happens when the last Doom Token and the final Elder Sign needed to defeat Azathoth are gained at the same time? Does Azathoth awake and we lose, or do we win? Consensus: Benefits are derived on the card from left-to-right, with the Elder Sign (almost) always appearing before the Doom Token.

3..Can investigators use their Special Abilities during other players' turns? Consensus: Generally, No...exception might be Mandy If only some can which ones and under which circumstances?

Hope that helps.

The Professor

That bit about battling the Ancient One is...interesting. Certainly, I can see that how the two different visions of the game interact, but the question is which vision should be used. As is, having all the investigators go once before the AO attacks, whether you have 1, 2, 3, or 4 players, is...not really balanced. I guess the idea is that Vincent and Carolyn's abilities were holdovers from the old design system, but that still doesn't indicate how they should be handled. Was the general indication that having all of the investigators attack and then the AO attack should be the general standard, or that it was just something that happened to be the standard partway through the design process?

As was mentioned in the Q&A, Richard provided an outstanding product (as always), and Kevin is quite adept at balancing, thus, the clock. Otherwise, ever Investigator 6,7, even 8 Investigators would have a go at the GOO before it could react. The clock mechanism works well in that scenario, but with 4 or less, I would simply exhaust each of the Investigator's turns as there's no Mythos to resolve.

I have many questions, but only one burning one:

Have you (FFG) thought about hiring an editor that understands board game rules and can use the questions/issues brought up in play testing to rewrite the rulebook into something that isn't the butt of jokes on BGG?

tssfulk said:

I was thinking the same thing.

RE: Unresolved

1. Is Mandy's ability really usable once on every turn, even when it's not her turn? Or is it just once per day?

Well, having played several more games with Mandy Thompson, I haven't found her ability to be all that strong...it's completely consistent with the other Investigators' abilities such as Joe Diamond's use of Clues. Does she help...yes, about 1 in three Investigators receive a positive result by re-rolling two dice. As a special ability, she may certainly use it per round vice per day.

bioball said:

I personally play it as one item only, buying allies is always more useful in long run than anything else, so I want to limit their availability. And with a stock of 8 allies they'd run out very early with their low cost of 5, that's about 3 adventures with or without monsters.

Buying a single souvenir just sounds more logical to me, and it (kinda) solves the 'buying the last elder sign' issue thing too. Unfortunately it makes buying anything less than ally/elder sign pointless waste.

But you might be right too, maybe i'm overthinking it, maybe it's because english isn't my native language, but that "the player purchases 1 (and only 1) of the listed objects" on page 8 of the manual confuses me. I don't think there would've been room for misinterpretation if the "(and only 1)" wasn't there.

I just want some kind of official answer, is buying a souvenir limited to only once per game/investigator?

Weird that i'm the only one who've had this question, it has been bothering me ever since the rules were posted online. Maybe it was too obvious to others?

I have a question for the FAQ regarding what was intended when the player uses more than one clue token to re-roll dice. Please can you confirm which one of the below scenarios was the intention.

Scenario 1

- After rolling the 6 green dice, I decide to use a clue token and re-roll 4 dice, setting aside the 2 dice I want to keep.

- I then decide to use another clue token to re-roll 2 of the 4 dice I just rerolled, setting aside again the 2 I want to keep. I now have 4 dice set aside.

- Re-roll the last 2 dice and add the result to the 4 set aside dice.

Scenario 2

- You roll 6 dice. The first clue token you use lets you re-roll any part of this roll. Let's say I re-roll 4 dice.

- The second clue token I use however only lets me re-roll the same 4 dice again - i.e a clue token only ever lets you re-roll part or all of your original roll . It is not possible to take 2 of the dice out from your first re-roll and create a sub-set of 2 dice which you can then re-roll.

What I am basically suggesting in this second scenario is that by "roll" the designer meant your first dice roll of 6 dice, and not the subsequent rolls you make for a clue token. This scenario would make clue tokens considerably less powerful than scenario one.

I agree with you here and this is how I read this / have been playing it. To me it's clear that you can only buy one souvenir in total on a given turn.

Jaroy said:

Elder Signs Omens on iPad / iPhone agrees with us - you can only buy 1 item per turn in total.

I think we can consider this question closed - in any case it was pretty clear in the beginning what was meant - no offense but it's the English language.

Ohnomycocoa said:

Yes, but I never meant you could buy more than one item per turn. I meant that you could buy one item. rest of the game you may not buy any more items.

Oh I see...well that would be crazily difficult..but a good variant if you want a harder game.

I would suggest FFG look over the below thread for questions for the FAQ. It is basically some of the differences between the boardgame and the Omens app. The problem now seems we are playing wrong based on Omens rules or there were more changings made to the Omen rules than FFG stated. Not posting all the changes to the game seems to be the guessing favorite over on BGG on why things are not the same. What is that saying about a man with two watches never knows what time it is? I feel his pain.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=245&efcid=43&efidt=57284

Oops, looks like the link above changed. Should point to "Scrolls (is Omens different than board game)" topic under the forum.

Questions concerning Flute of the Outer Gods and Bind Monster.

(A) For Flute of the Outer Gods , the rules concerning Unique Items state that they are spent before rolling the dice, which of the following is correct?
(i) Flute of the Outer Gods states that it is "Discard after rolling..." but does this mean that it must be committed to be used before rolling?
(ii) "Discard after rolling..." supersedes the usual rules so it means that you only have to decide to use it or not after the dice have been rolled.

(B) For Bind Monster , the rules concerning Spells state that they are spent before rolling the dice, is this correct? Must Bind Monster be committed before rolling the dice or can you decide to use it or not after the dice have been rolled?

© If I play Flute of the Outer Gods or Bind Monster to defeat a monster, does it count as completing a task? Which of the following is correct?
(i) It counts as completing a task, therefore no other task can be completed using the dice just rolled.
(ii) It doesn't counts as completing a task, it is a "bonus" to the dice just rolled, which means another task can be completed at the same time as defeating a monster.

(D) How does a partial monster task interact with the use of Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster ?
(i) Can I use Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster to defeat the monster on a partial monster task without having to complete the requirements not covered by the monster? If I end the turn without resolving the Adventure card, do I still gain the defeated monster.
(ii) Can I use Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster to defeat the monster on a partial monster task without completing the requirements not covered by the monster and use the dice roll to complete a different task? This question only applies if © (ii) is true.

(E) How does Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster interact with Terror effects?
(i) If I fail to complete a task using the dice just rolled and in addition the dice produced a Terror effect, can I still use Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster ?
(ii) If I fail to complete a task using the dice just rolled and in addition the dice produced a Terror effect, can I still use Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster even if the Terror effect was "You immediately fail this adventure"?
(iii) If I use Flute of the Outer Gods / Bind Monster then Terror effects are ignored because in doing so I completed a task (Terror effects only apply if I fail to complete a task). Is this correct?

(F) If I play Flute of the Outer Gods or Bind Monster to defeat a monster, does the monster have to be in the same location as my Investigator?

(G) If I play Flute of the Outer Gods or Bind Monster to defeat a monster (such as a Chthonian ), do I still apply any "Advance the Clock", Sanity loss, or Stamina loss symbols?

(H) If I play Flute of the Outer Gods or Bind Monster to defeat a monster (such as a Hound of Tindalos ), when do I get the locked dice back? Immediately or at the end of my turn.

(I) If I play Flute of the Outer Gods or Bind Monster to defeat a Mi-go / Warlock , do I still gain the Unique Item / Clue token?

(J) If I play Flute of the Outer Gods or Bind Monster to defeat a monster, what do I do with the monster marker until the Adventure has been resolved? I have heard that it remains on the Adventure card but turned face-down, is this correct?

I would like some clarification on the following points:

- How can I influence the game? To me it feels like I just randomly tap a location on the map, and then I have to hope that I get the correct green icons.

- Can I choose to use special skills? Even when the skill or inventory icons are glowing, it's not clear when and how to use them.

- When my party is almost dead, (because I don't know how to get the correct green icons) I can to to the entrance... only to lose more life. This seems slightly unfair doesn't it?

- Adventures have titles, and then an icon surrounded by more icons. It looks nice but it doesn't make much sense if you haven't played the boardgame.

- The map screen is very small on the iPhone, you can hardly see the locations. The same goes for the menu on the left. It's so tiny that it's hard to make out what the status of the game is.

- The tutorial text is very long, but still a lot of questions remain unanswered. Maybe you can include a help screen on every game screen?

- It's not very clear how you are progressing in the game, where you can find these elder signs, and how you can improve your chances. I really hope you can improve these issues in an update.

All in all, I found the game both too complex and too simple. The interface is very complex and there are many rules. Yet, as a player you don't have much control over what's happening. Tapping and hoping all will go well.. there's no strategy. I really hope you can improve this!