I am quite sure that the answer to the OP question is C, on the other hand. Once you have the cultist in the room, you place the Cthonian. That action is interrupted by the Flux special ability, so the Cthonian goes to adjacent room. Since the goal of the Keeper is to make it survive 4 turns, this would actually be a bad move on the players, since the Keeper can just move away the Cthonian and be 3 spaces away from the Investigators.

I believe you are treating Locked Cabinet as a Lock card, when it is an Obstacle card. You can get in rooms with those, just cannot get the exploration cards below them ntil you solve the obstacle There is free passage from the Chapel to the Secret Passage through the Study/Library.

Sagremor said: Kazi said: I really don't have any other issues with them that I can think of right now Unfortunatelly, I do. You can play Trauma card when the investigator's sanity or health has to or below the number depicted on the card, but some Trauma cards don't have numbers. Does it mean that I can play them any time the investigator takes damage or horror? Or should I treat it as a card with number 1 (There are no Trauma cards with number 1 and there is one health or sanity symbol depicted on the card)? If they have no number, you can play them anytime the investigator takes damage or horror

Some guy asked this question in BGG and claimed to have answer from Designer : - If the Last Event card is drawn Investigators win if they have Clue 1 (even if Cthonian has been summoned) So that means you summoned the Cthonian just one turn too late. Your only hope at winning the scenario at that time (not bad, considering you had a Cthonian at your disposal) was to kill ALL investigators, which is always a Keeper victory after Objective is revealed.

Well, I just did, just in case. Anyway, I expect them to at least read their own Forums, and take note of all this discussion for future FAQs. I don´t think this debate is by any mean, sterile. I understand the policy of not giving official answers here, but would seem very unwise not to listen to the gaming community, specially nowadays, when internet is such a precious tool to get the gamers connected to their favorite game designers and companies. Cheers Mariano

Sagremor said: Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that the Keeper can use a specific Keeper Action card only once per turn unless specifically stated, like in the case of "Command Minion" which the Keeper can use multiple times during the turn but only once per monster. That's how I understood this fragment: "p.10: During this step, the keeper may resolve any number of these Keeper Action cards that he wishes (threat permitting)". Any number of cards (for example 3 cards out of 5 that the Keeper has in Story # 1), and not "any number of times of any card". That limit (as well a the one per game round found in other cards) actually implies that you can use the same Action card many times per round (threat permitting) except if this limitation is stated.

Monsters can move from the Basement Storage to the Ceremony room at any time. The sealed door (forbidden to monsters as well) is the one leading to the kitchen. The game is very well designed to be replayable even if you know all three objectives from the story. The Keeper Actions always provide bonuses (Take Sample for example) so you never know what the Keeper is using them for. In the end, you will need to hurry to discover the Clues (and there a re a few different combinations here) so you know which Objective is being played. The game evolves into more of a misleading game for the Keeper, and the Investigators can prepare a bit better for the endings, but since they don´t know exactly which one is coming, is no easy task anyway. Besides, Investigator team chosen makes for very different combination of abilities every game played.

JerusalemJones said: The forums are meant as a gathering place for the fans, to discuss their games and how we rule certain situations. Some rules questions are straight forward, but a person may miss part of the rules, or misunderstand them. And when we get official answers, we often post them here. Occasionally FFG will reply to something ont he forums, but this is not the place for that discussion to take place. They want all questions directed to FFG to go through the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page. About a month or so back when I logged intot he forums, a page came up reminding me that this was the procedure to take when asking FFG rules questions. I assumed that it was happening to everybody. Often rules questions are asked in these forums, and sometimes they are cleared up by discussions and reading the rules. But at the same time people post about fan scenarios, issues dealing with succeeding at scenarios, which cards are broken (and I did bring this up in the forums myself about Witchcraft, and also wrote FFG, and also posted the replies) and so forth. FFG make a concerted effort to not make official ruling via the forums, because if a change is then made someone could miss it and think the first ruling is the only ruling. While they encourage us to share the rulings with the commuity via the forums, they would rather this info is only "officially" presented via the FAQs. Ok, understood. Thanks for the info. I must have missed that page you are talking about. I will wait for someone to bring the official answer then, once they got it. Or go ask it myself if not.

If you prefer to throw in more type of monsters and have them around the table longer, I would suggest 2C or 2B. If you want to go fro a more subtle Mythos card oriented scenario, increasing the tension through poltergesit effects and such, with very little monsters on the table, go for 4C. Story 5 seems like a lot of fun but I would leave it for expereinced players (Have not played it yet myself) I would not pick a "Kill x investigators" Objective story for a first run since you need to be quite aggresive on your players and that might discourage them a bit at the begining. But depends on your group, I guess.

Well, that is definitely some strange question. I have gone through the Forum Use rules and have not found anything prohibiting to ask questions to FFG here. Actually, if not for asking questions and discussing, what is a Forum good for? And does not make much sense to me that answers are given in other popular forum pages but not in the official one. Or is FFG just communicating with the game community through offical FAQs and/or template emails? Just asking, in any case. A bit new to this as said.

Elbi said: Yeah, I guess some of the stuff just worked because they were totally new to this, but some of the... err... guidelines I enforce on myself should work later on too. As they get better (or at least more experienced), I guess I can kick them around much more, because they'll kick ME around too, of course. I just hope I can create a steady learning curve. I'll keep watching their and my progress and posting should I fail miserably anywhere Even if I am a bit more pesimistic than you about the game response to this approach, I definitely hope you succeed! As said, I can tell you are a great DM. I salute you for that!

Dan said: Good points. Anyone ask FFG? Aren´t we all doing precisely that in here? ;-) Not a very common user of this forums, but does FFG usually makes some official statement around here?

I would say the answer to both questions is yes.

Elbi said: Sooo, I played Story #1 (1C, 2B, 3A). 3 investigators (Joe, Harvey and Pete) against me. Result: "All players lose." and a LOT of fun. Warning, potential spoilers for Story #1! While I don't tell a lot, some events and locations are named. Also: Wall of text. Scroll to the last paragraph if you're only interested in the "Is the Keeper just a player or is s/he more than that?" discussion. Spoiler starts here What happened? I explained the game to them, they know board games and at least 2 of them played Arkham with me more than once. I explained my possible actions in this story to them, elaborating on the fact that I gain 3 thread per round and have to spend X to do Y. So they all know what I can and can't do. Turn 1, they run off to the Kitchen, spreading across 3 different spaces. I collect some cards (Evil Presence), use a joke someone just made to play a minor "you want to eat some nasty stuff" Mythos (because he WAS being greedy!), both to show them the possible effects, skill checks in general and what I usually do when there are no monsters around. Next turn: They spread even more. Joe runs back to the Foyer, Harvey stays in the Kitchen, Pete checks out the Storage. Aaaand the Maniac comes out, onto Pete in the Storage (because that's their rear end). They quickly learn that spreading out means damage and/or death -> lesson learned, they stayed MUCH closer for the rest of the game. The burning zombie approaches them, again using a joke to "urge" Joe one step closer so the zombie can attack. (you don't scream CHAAARGE! to a player who can move your units! ) It dies in the Foyer, setting fire there. Later on they get stuck next to the Lab, fighting a Maniac and a zombie in the dark, when Harvey decides to try and enter the garden. By that time their Main Objective was already clear (Escape!), as well as mine (Kill 2 investigators). ALL of them were down to 2-3 Hitpoints, so everyone was a potential victim of a single attack phase. Harvey manages to get to the Garden, finding clue #3, triggering some zombies which, since they should've been running instead of fighting anyway, attack the investigators during my following turn. So, those 2 guys with 2 HP fight against a Maniac and 4 Zombies... when suddenly my whole army of minions decides to beat thin air. Without being able to improve their stats and even fighting in the dark in Joe's case, the investigators manage to dodge all my attacks or have the one zombie, which gives you a free movement if you dodge it's special attack, attack first. They pass the dodge roll, move away, one or two other zombies just stand there, groaning. Well, anyway, the last two turns I didn't manage to land a single blow, had Pete panic and running to the front door (into the burning Foyer), forcing him to get out of there by running, which, since he had a broken leg, caused him to down to ONE hitpoint... and he made it. Well, no, he didn't, since at the end of the turn the whole house was dragged down into some other dimension, but still, I didn't manage to kill him. What did I do? 1. I tried to keep them on the edge - when they were first attacked by a maniac they learned how HARD these things are to kill and how much damage they can do. Afterwards they changed their behavior to reflect that experience. I gradually added the different cards into play, not flooding them with Mythos, Trauma, Urges here and there, instead just a Mythos once, a minor Trauma later, followed by the possible combination. They were curious what COULD happen, discussing stuff BEFORE it happened, anticipating something big on each turn. Just the Cthulhu-Feeling I wanted! 2. The burning Foyer was primarily a way to a.) set fire on something big, so they'd learn to fear or NOT to fear fire and b.) offering them another puzzle, because I knew that it would create an obstacle they will be able to bypass later on, since they'd eventually find the Fire Extinguisher. They thought about it and discussed how they'd manage to get through there if they were forced to, not knowing that the necessary item was just a few rooms away. They were genuinely HAPPY when they found it, because it solved their problem, which, in turn, made me happy too. 3. Monsters primarily appeared to keep them on the right path. When Pete lagged behind, he was attacked by a Maniac. When Pete (poor Pete...) entered a room that wasn't necessary "just to check out what's inside", I sent a Maniac and a combination of Mythos + Trauma at him. Not necessarily because he entered the wrong room, but because the player seperated himself from the group without much thought, knowing they had to go the other way. 4. I really wanted to get the Slasher-Movie Feeling going, even breaking the leg of that guy who always ran away from the monsters. (Not because he ran away and I didn't , but because they always break their leg in the movies!) 5. I knew the story demanded them to be fast, so I tried to keep them on the right track. I didn't try to lure them the wrong way mainly because I don't like to "not have a clue what I'm expected to do" at any given time either. Sure, given the small amount of minions and their nature (Hullo Maniac and scripted Zombies!) keeping them on the right track by using monsters was really not a major aspect. 6. After they KNEW my objective (and I knew that it'd be hard to reach), I really jumped on them. Pete panicing into the burning Foyer was a potential way of killing the player, I thought.The broken leg forced the player to lose half his health only to not burn to death, REALLY breaking his sweat. When he shouted "HAH!" when he made his dodge roll against my Maniac later, I knew I made the right choice. 7. If they don't know the special attack of the monster, I don't too. While I know that I'm allowed to read the description at all time, I didn't. So it happened that the "free move" zombie attacked first. Well, lucky investigator, I say! 8. Showing them that the Keeper, too, can lose and even might lose if the investigators fail their objective made them rather cheerful, since that was a major point of criticism in Descent. Spoiler ends here All in all the four of us had a fun experience, we all learned some new stuff, they quickly learned the rules on the fly, I didn't try to crush them from turn #1 on (instead really starting at the 2nd to last turn, after 2 hours of nibbling on their health and sanity), only failed my objective VERY closely (you failed me, Zombies!) while still keeping an "easy win" from their grasp. They were afraid, desperate or happy when I wanted them too, so... yeah. Basically like I'd want from a real RPG Nice AAR, thanks for sharing! Well, I guess you do have a group of friends in which playing more RPG oriented actually works. I think being the first time you play it, probably easier to approach it this way, and once you have played it several times you might change a bit your playing style. Or maybe not. ;-) And of course, if you as the Keeper have more fun relegating your game objectives to the back and putting storytelling on front, then your players will be happier indeed. But let us know if in this path, in future adventures, you do find any bump or not. Curious about it.

The answer is not so clear to me and I smell possible errata in the card by including Trauma by mistake. Official clarification would be welcomed.

Ithaqua is the only one mentioned as far as I know. The stories seem to be more "local" plots than overall world dominance ones, so Old Ones don´t seem to participate directly. Maybe in the near future?

From what I have seen of the game so far (3 Stories played at least twice each) I am afraid you just picked the one with less monsters on the table. This one is more about Darkness hamperong and scooby do traps as you point out, than combat, for sure. If you want to fight, go for Story 2. You will have plenty of Cultist there to shoot at, and combat with them is quite fun. They can even summon a Shoggoth on top of you! (one more way to summon monsters, some Cultists Special attack) Story 3, although I haven´t played it yet, seems full of monsters as well.

Pigeonbane said: Perhaps I misread the card or something, but it really seems like uncontrollable urges might be better if it could only affect each investigator once per round. I am playing it this way also, since it solves the problem you mention amongst some other I am ecountering with this card. Seems quite unfair to me to limit movement in Investigators turn to two spaces and then, Thread permitting, being able to move him 4 or 5 in the Keepers turn. The infinite thread possibility with the Skull combination is a great example of why this card should have this limit indeed.

Elbi said: Yeah, I see what you mean. This definitely got interesting Well, Story 1 is scheduled for sunday, full group with 5 players with a broad background of RPGs and board games, so I guess I'll see how much effort they demand from me. If I have to go "all in" all the time, then yeah, there's no need to try to balance the game on the fly, really! I always get thrown out of the loop when I think about the fact that one sides knows how to win while keeping the others from winning, while the other side doesn't know anything at all. I imagine the Keeper pulling some really evil (and boring) tricks like stacking hordes of minions at [That Place] so nobody can go there anymore without being devoured... but then, maybe the game doesn't allow that anyway. I'll see soon! MoM is absolutely no RPG, that's for sure. It borrows heavily FROM RPGs and that's what might make it much more awesome, but "answer some questions, read the stuff we printed on cards"? No, that's no real roleplaying. I just like the distinction between - "Keeper = Power Player out to win ASAP" and - "Keeper = Player who tries to win while keeping the others challenged" I'd better stop posting now and wait for sunday night, after gathering some first hand experience! Oh, but the game will keep you honest being a Keeper as well, no worries. Keeper is by no means a Power Player. He has his good collection of nasty tricks (and those are not boring at all, believe me) which also change from story to story (awesome design idea) so you need to adapt to the story as well as to what your players are doing. But you are quite limited in what you can and cannnot do, or when to do it Investigators are powerful (more powerful if they are together, tip, tip!) characters with their own bag of nasty tricks. If you anticipate their moves (fun!) or manage to mislead them (hard if they are a smart bunch, but even more fun!) then you will prevail. And there is room for atmosphere creation. The introductory text of each story, the flavor text in all cards, specially the combat cards or clues and even the Investigators Bios. Put it all in your DM (I can tell you are a good old school one) cocktail mixer and serve some dry horror atmosphere martini to your group. You will increase the fun for the whole group for sure. Looking forward to your first comments after Sunday night then! Good luck and good gaming and don´t forget to drive then mad! ;-)

Except for Story 5, I don´t see any issues by playing two or more Investigators by one player. Is more a matter of tastes than anything else I think. I love the one on one sessions (coming from the Cthulhu RPG myself) because the horror atmosphere is greatly enhanced. The investigator feels alone, defenseless, and gets in the scary mood much more easily, which helps enhance the overall game experience in my opinion. Playing just one investigator makes you feel much more attached to it, and scared to get hurt or lose your sanity. But then, there are som Objectives dependant on Event Timer that might get almost imposible for one side or the other with just one investigator. Although the Keeper always has the victory at hand : kill him after Objective revealed....mwahahaha

This is getting interesting :-) I believe there can be a tendency to consider this game as an RPG when it is not. It is a good try at designing something in between, I would say. And I love that as an avid RPGer myself. But if you forget that this is a boardgame, and that differs from RPGs tremendously, you might get frustrated but what you will find in your game sessions. Or mabybe not, who knows. If you start house ruling and your group loves to play this as an RPG, and it works for you, then hooray for you! The Keeper of this game is not like the Keeper of an RPG anyway. And the starting discussion motto proposed it defined it as so. I don´t agree to it. The Keeper in this game is not the moderator, and if you pretend to be, then you will find problems difficult to solve, because the rest of players know you have your own agenda, your own objectives to win the game, and they can fell cheated. Keeper is not here to be the director of the game, he is one more player, but with different objectives and tools to win the game than Investigators. Don´t forget you have a great advantage over the other players : you know how to win from the very begining and how to prevent that from happening for your opponents. On the other had, the Investigators need to find out how to win. The game is a race, and the Keeper needs to hamper Investigators so they don´t find the way to win until is just a bit too late. There is a story involved, but more like a setting than as the main conductor of the game. In the end, the deduction process is almost non existent : you go from A to B, then to C, then to D. You find the key to open door B in A, and for door C in B. It´s the most basic structure of the most basic RPG game on earth. Like the old D&D adventures. And I find that great but trying not to forget what this is : a boardgame. If you pretend this to be what it is not, you might either get frustrated yourself as a player, or end up annoying the rest of your group by considering you want to have more power over the game than you should.

Elbi said: dj2.0 said: should that take priority over having a good (i,e fun) game for everyone? Never, ever, in any game. If you ask me, that is. I don't play tabletop games to win, but to have fun. If winning is included in the fun, hell yeah. If not, well, who cares, as long as there were enough explosions or heroic actions. The same with RPGs, of course, and board games, no matter which ones.* If I want to WIN, I'd be at a casino. * I still win, at any game, occasionally. Even some results where the enemy is seriously crushed. But this doesn't happen because I crush him without remorse. Well, I actually agree with you completely and in my personal case, having fun is always above winning when playing with friends, boardgames or whatever. But there is an undoubtly difference between a boardgame that is competitive (as MoM) and an RPG, which most of the times and with rare exceptions (good old Paranoia...)is a cooperative experience where the Keeper (or DM) plays just the role of moderator, storyteller and conductor of a story that everyone is helping to build. I would love for MoM to be the latest, and although to a certain extent, everyone can also put in something to build the atmosphere, it is not the case. In this game you play to win, with your own objectives and strategies and tools to achieve them. You have a specific goal. Of course, you can always forget about it if you prefer to do so and enjoy more the storytelling part, but then I would suggest to just go ahead and pick up any RPG which in the end, will have far less constraints than any boardgame in the world to build a good story.

A FAQ, and with such important mistakes corrections and rule changes, just one week after game publication is not something to rejoyce about in my opinion. Some more care should have been taken in providing clearer rules and tested game mechanics. Welcomed it is, nonetheless. Expect more coming.

Well, your statement sounds more appropiate for the Call of Cthulhu RPG than for this game. I wish it was like that, but in the end this is just a boardgame, with all the goods and bads of being so. There is some room for Keeper building some atmosphere though, and all the flavor text in clues and combat cards helps to do so. It can be more enjoyable experience and take the game a step further, specially if you are a RPGer. But in the end, this is a game about winning, and the Keeper has to hammer investigators (mainly) to do so. Anticipate them, and mislead them. So he is playig against them. But a little atmosphere creation is possible and welcomed indeed, and gives this game a unique touch hard to find in others. I am quite satisfied so far in that regard

Mine have. Not all of them, not as bad as other well known games out there, but some warping is noticeable nonetheless.