Today was somehow the first game with both him and Diana, which prompted the question of whether or not Inner Sanctum is a special ability of a location. We decided that yes, it was, but that that was lame so ignored it. What say you? The text itself is somewhat ambiguous, as it says nothing about 'instead of an encounter'.

No. The location must have "instead of an encounter" to be affected by tsa-what's-his-name. Otherwise, if he simply affects all locations with a text box, then you can climb the Kingsport head in one movement, which is preposterous.

Kroen makes a good point. I personally reasoned that the same text is on the card for the Silver Twilight Membership. So, even if the "location ability" is cancelled, you have something else that tells you to have inner sanctum encounters.

No it is not the special ability of a location. Silver Twilight Membership just means you follow the Inner Sanctum encounter on the encounter card. It is not something special you can do at the location (like buying Blessings or whatever).

Ok, glad to see we handled that right. I actually used the rationale of the kingsport head when the issue came up, hehe.

The Message said:

Citing Kingsport Head as a clear example of "special text" not equaling "special ability" is a great idea. So is saying that you can still be arrested; Jail Cell is not a "special ability" of the Police Station.

Unless, of course, you enjoy that sort of thing.