I've only just started playing and have a few questions - apologies if these have been answered before.

Neutral Cards - in the core rules it states that each player adds one of the nutral packs F141-F147 and F148-F154. Does this mean that these cards are always kept in these sets and never mixed. And how does this apply to neutral cards in the Asylum packs? I have bought 2 packs and whilst blending the faction cards in is obvious, how to blend in the neutral cards isn't.

Conspiracy Cards - One of these comes with the core rules, and others are added from the Asylum packs I have, but nowhere does it tell how to get these into the player's hands.

Unchallenged stories - These are when one player commits characters to a story whilst player 2 doesn't. I'm aware that if the character cards do not have the specified symbol (such as Arcane), then that phase isn't resolved. However am I correct in my assumption of the play as follows? I am presuming that a character has committed that only has Combat and Investigation icons with a total skill value of 3.

• Terror - nothing happens, the character does not have the icon and so doesn't go insane. The same would have happened if the player did have the terror icon.
• Combat - Although the player has the combat icon, because it is unchalleged no wounds are made. In fact the same would have happened if the player did not have the combat icon.
• Arcane - Because the character has no arcane icon he will be released at the end of the story exhausted. If he had the icon then he would have been refreshed.
• Investigation - Because the character has an investigation icon then he will automatically gain a success token. If the icon had been absent then this award would not have been made.
• Determine Success - Because the character has a skill value of 3, then a second success token is awarded; and finally because it is unchallenged, a third success token is awarded.

So at the end of the round, the character is returned exhausted but sane, with no wounds and three success tokens are awarded against the story.

I've tried to be as clear as possible, but please ask anything you want. I look forward to your comments.

Neutral Cards - in the core rules it states that each player adds one of the nutral packs F141-F147 and F148-F154. Does this mean that these cards are always kept in these sets and never mixed. And how does this apply to neutral cards in the Asylum packs? I have bought 2 packs and whilst blending the faction cards in is obvious, how to blend in the neutral cards isn't.

Conspiracy Cards - One of these comes with the core rules, and others are added from the Asylum packs I have, but nowhere does it tell how to get these into the player's hands.

Unchallenged stories - These are when one player commits characters to a story whilst player 2 doesn't. I'm aware that if the character cards do not have the specified symbol (such as Arcane), then that phase isn't resolved. However am I correct in my assumption of the play as follows? I am presuming that a character has committed that only has Combat and Investigation icons with a total skill value of 3.

• Terror - nothing happens, the character does not have the icon and so doesn't go insane. The same would have happened if the player did have the terror icon.
• Combat - Although the player has the combat icon, because it is unchalleged no wounds are made. In fact the same would have happened if the player did not have the combat icon.
• Arcane - Because the character has no arcane icon he will be released at the end of the story exhausted. If he had the icon then he would have been refreshed.
• Investigation - Because the character has an investigation icon then he will automatically gain a success token. If the icon had been absent then this award would not have been made.
• Determine Success - Because the character has a skill value of 3, then a second success token is awarded; and finally because it is unchallenged, a third success token is awarded.

So at the end of the round, the character is returned exhausted but sane, with no wounds and three success tokens are awarded against the story.

I've tried to be as clear as possible, but please ask anything you want. I look forward to your comments.

As far as the neutral cards go, the information in the rule book is just a suggestion to get you started. There is no requirement for use of neutral cards at all. As you acquire more cards, build them as you feel, subject to the no more than 3 copies of a given name requirement.

Conspiracy cards can be included in your deck, and as such get drawn just like any other card. That's how they get in your hand.

You have the process of story resolution correct. Note that this is only the case if you were the active player. A story only resolves if the active player has a character at the story. Also note that unopposed means the opponent has no skill at the story. There could be a character (or more) there, but if the total skill of the opponent is zero, and yours is more than zero, then you will be unopposed.

I thought that was the case, but many thanks for taking the time to confirm.

Note that a story is considered unchallenged if after making the skill comparison there are no opposing characters (or their total combined skill is zero). This means that a story can become unchallenged because defending characters were removed during resolution, e.g. by being made insane in the terror struggle or being destroyed in the combat struggle.

I'd also like to clarify that all of the icon struggles take place, even if no committed characters have any relevant icons. They just don't have any effect since the icon count is 0 : 0. However, story resolution ends immediately if a story is won before coming to the skill comparison, e.g. in the investigation struggle.

Finally, only the active player can ever be considered to have succeeded at a story.