My friend and I played Anima: Shadow of Omega for the first time today, and an issue came up regarding the the party marker that you place on locations while exploring them. While it's quite clear that that they are removed when you lose a combat/get a negative event prior to successfully recieving a reward, a question came up as to when or even if they are removed after successfully receiving a reward at the end of the Exploration phase. Are they removed immediately after receiving the reward, as part of the Reset phase, or does it remain on a location successfully explored until the next Movement phase?

If the party marker does remain on successfully explored location until the next Movement phase, that would create a couple of ambiguous rules issues not covered in the rulebook. First, does that mean that if a player with a lower Speed (who goes later in the turn order) has a marker on a location that he recieved a reward from the previous round, that a player with a higher Speed cannot replace that location if it is necessary to replace a location while Seeking New Horizons? Additionally, if a player sucessfully recieved a reward the previous round, and is allowed to remain at the location, can the character both Rest during the Movement phase, recieving the bonuses the next turn, and participate in the Interaction and Exploration phases normally (since the party marker is still at a location), or are resting and staying at a location mutually exclusive, requiring a resting player to remove their player marker in order to Rest (thus, precluding the player from being able to do anything more during that turn, since his party is no longer at a location)?

szv202 said:

Party markers are NOT removed after successfully receiving a reward at the end of the Exploration phase. The Party marker remains in the Area until the next Movement phase.

Yes. This means that a player with a lower Speed may impede the efforts of a player with a higher Speed's choice to seek new horizons. Resting and staying at a location are, indeed, mutually exclusive. If the Party is in an Area when a player chooses to Rest, his Party is immediately expelled from that Area. Then, during the NEXT turn, the Party receives +2 to Combat and Speed. Essentially, the player that chooses to Rest cannot participate in the rest of the phases for that turn (No Interaction, no Exploration).

A player may choose to merely remain in a location (no Resting). This means that if a player successfully explores Paradise and claims the Advantage (x3) reward, during the next Movement phase, he may remain in Paradise, explore again, and claim any of the other rewards if successful. The only restriction to this rule is that a player may not Recruit in the same area two turns in a row.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much, this was extremely helpful in resolving the question.

Well, up to now I've followed this logic - the party comes in the Area, explore it and then leave it. I am on this opinion, because in the rulebook on page 10, I quote "Reward:...Naturally, there is no reason the party cannot return in subsequent turns and obtain a different reward". So, this means the party leaves the area and then it can return. If I am wrong, I will be glad to be corrected

Beyond Good and Evil clears this up.

Moving out of an area is now declared during the Reset phase (page 9 of the BGaE rules).

However, you leave can leave your marker in the area but then you are not allowed to move during the movement phase.

Also, the revised rules state the same thing too; check them out here