I just got the game for Christmas and played my first game yesterday. However I have a question to ask about combat.

Whenever a monster attacks an investigator, if it succeeds, it deals its damage but I don't recall reading any provision about the investigator "fighting back/retaliating"...it seems odd to let a monster attack "you" without doing anything in return, doesn't it?

I think you could also say the same about an investigator attacking a monster and the monster not fighting back either...

So, how do you use the combat rules in your games?

You attack only during your turn.

So combat is a one-way thing then?

Wilbur Whateley said:

Yes, in a sense. On the combat cards, there's a little flavor describing the action (Pass: you clip it in the side for X damage. Fail: you swing and leave yourself open. Take X damage). The die roll usually determines who got the upper hand in that engagement, even if it's just a miss.