Had a look through the topics but could not locate any that addressed this question: if these objectives are added to the staging area in quest stage 1 (1st Hobbit quest) before any trolls appear, does this mean they can never be claimed? That they are simply placed in the staging area unguarded and thus are never attached to a troll? Which means ultimately heroes cannot have Sacks removed by Bilbo (hence, at all)?

Maybe I am missing something but if not it seems overly harsh that you can practically lose the game at the turn of the first card.

if there are no trolls in play they get discarded when revealed

rich

That was what I figured but the cards themselves do not give that indication and the the rulebook on objectives does not clarify. Thanks.

So the objective is discarded but a new encounter is not drawn in its place? (this is how we played).

I thought you could attach them to the trolls out of play anyway as the cards do not specify 'in play'.  That's how I interpreted it anyway I've never questioned it :-s

im sure someone sent a clarification request to caleb- ill try and find it

EDIT - here you are - from james at bgg

If there are no Troll enemies in play when Troll Purse or Troll Key are revealed, then they are placed in the discard pile.
Cheers,
Caleb

Bugger, then I've been playing wrong and I've still not found the bloody teasure lol.  Thanks for your help rich

bollywongaloid said:

no worries- me neither haha

richsabre said:

It makes that location that returns cards from the discard pile to the encounter deck useful to leave on the table instead of exploring it.  I think that's what I like about the challenge of this quest, the various locations that you actully feel the need to leave out in play to use their game text.

Alternatively, if you are running a deck with dwarves, The End Comes ("After a Dwarf character leaves play, shuffle the encounter discard pile back into the encounter deck.") becomes an actual useable card for this encounter on site two.

1. Any effects in general don't interact with cards that are not in play, unless it's explicitely stated. In this case, when there are no trolls in play, you can't attach the objectives and discard them.

2. Quest card 2B tells you to shuffle the discard pile back into the encounter deck. That way the objectives will always be available in the encounter deck when you meet up with the troll trio.

leptokurt said:

Good catch on #2.  Forgot that bit…

Another possible solution is to use Denethor's ability to speed up the discarding of the encounter deck.  I have never used him in any deck so far, so perhaps I'll try and give him a little playing  time to see how effective he is for this quest…

leptokurt said:

That's why we figured they are discarded, after a frustrating debate about whether to attach them to an out of play troll (obviously wrong) or leave them in the staging area (obviously crippling to us but the closest thing to the printed rules we have).

Many thanks for the official clarification and all the help offered. Still no official word on whether the discarded card counts as a card draw? (we figured yes).

dj2.0 said:

Not sure if that is what you means, but of you draw an objective card during quest stage 1B, it will be discarded with no effects. Only if it had the guarded or surge keywords you would have to draw another card. So basically you want to draw these objectives in stage 1B, simply because they don't harm you.

I am referring to the following situation:

Quest stage 1A, or 1B: Objective is drawn and discarded. It is a 2 player game. How many cards are now drawn from the encounter deck - 1, or 2?

 I believe that you have to draw 1 more card ffrom the encounter deck.

It's the same situation than if you drew a treachery and cancel its effect.

CJMatos said:

What leads you to that conclusion?

richsabre said:

I was beginning to think it was just me and my apalling luck!