hmm good question.  I have been playing those as it beats the monster marker and you get the mark, but now i see how you can interpret the wording this way and it is interesting.  This is an interesting dilema.

Replies:

Mine:
3a.  Although clues are not EASY to get, they aren't hard to get either.  Most tasks are beatable with a little luck and prudent behavior, as well as the fatalism to allow yourself to lose.  I promote that idea because I've won almost every game I've played, which is unfortunate. 


Daverman:
1. I believe you need more context.  Where is a monster "removed"?  Do you mean when you spend them as a trophy?  Like all trophies, they get recycled into the game.

2. My cards say defeat, which means they defeat the monster instantaneously, which acts as if you beat the monster out of turn.  However, if the monster lies upon a monster-slot that has a task within it, the player has to continue to beat the task, at least in my opinion.

Thank you for your input guys. 

Me and my group of friends are working on clarifying rules and creating more difficult variants, as well as clarifying rules on monsters, so maybe I'll be able to post a clarified "house-rule" set.

Good questions and replies everyone!

Hopefully they will get a 'rule errata' out sometime soon.

My question (so far) has to do with how monsters affect adventures. For instance, if you draw a tough to beat 3 requirement monster and place it on a card that only has 1 box or 2 box space (a partial I believe this is called), do you have to do all 3 requirements on the monster, or just the 1 or 2 that are now highlighted? For instance, look at the 'There's something in the basement' adventure card and the Elder Thing monster. If you place that monster marker on that adventure card, which requirements do you have to do to defeat the monster? All of them or just the first?

Thanks!

All of them, length is irrelevant.  Also, random bit of somewhat relevant tactical advice: monsters tend to be very annoying to defeat, and you have to add them as an extra task to an adventure if there are no monster tasks in play.  When this happens, choose the adventure you're least likely to attempt and stick all of the monsters on it.  At one point, I think I had four or five on one adventure.

About spells... apparently you can use them on other player's turns while in the museum. You cannot use spells while at the entrance.

"A player may spend 1 or more Common Items, Unique Items, or Spells before any roll while his Investigator marker is on an Adventure card."

"Most Spells allow a player to place the spell card next to the play area immediately before any roll of the dice."

That makes spells more handy than we've played them.

The spell rules are appallingly written.

Replies:

Dr. Jay:  A task is a single row on a card.  To complete an adventure, you must complete all the tasks.  Therefore, when a monster is put on a partial, it replaces parts of a row, and then adds it's own set to the task. 

Walk: I have another piece of tactical advice.  Throw all the monsters onto a low-penalty and out-of-order card.  This allows you to throw all the monsters into a single task that would not hurt you if you lost, but still allow you to beat the monsters.  This means if you have a turn with practically no advantage, you can go "monster hunting", which would let you keep a dump area for your monsters, while also allowing you to kill them with little-to-no penalty. 

Jenkins: This is part of the terrible and vague rules on assisting.  Can you influence other investigator's rolls?  If so, does that count as assisting?  Can you use your items for other people, when it isn't your turn?  I right now minimize the amount of assisting, except for focus slots, because I win more than lose.  When I finally add a house rule that makes the game too hard, I'll decide if I make a house rule that allows assisting in other fashions to balance that out.

The rules really are quite confusing, even by FFG standards.  Personally, I take all of the mechanics that are unclear as when they can be used(i.e. the bit Jenkins mentioned about spells, Mandy's ability, etc.)  to mean that they can only be used on your turn.  The dice from spells can be used on other people's turns, though.

 What happens to a die on an active spell card if the mythos effect "Spells and Unique items cannot be used today" comes up?

There's 3 possible answers that I can come up with:  A) The spell's already been cast (used), so the die can be used as normal.  B) The spell gets cancelled and the die goes back to its pool.  C) The die is locked on the card for the day.

I would go with A.  The spell has already been used.

I agree with Gamemaster, "use" would seem to refer to the inital act of playing the spell.

can a spell hold a die that long?  maybe i'm confused here, but I thought if you used spell to hold a die it would go away when that players turn was over.  most of the time you would use that saved die on the adventure you were trying.

if it doesn't, well this kinda sucks in that the next player is short that die.

SexyMike44 said:

Yes, spells hold a die (or dice for one spell) until they are used to complete a task, which could be longer than the caster's turn.  You definitely have to plan a bit when placing a die on a spell, but it could easily be a benefit for the next player.

I don't think players can use most items that add a die (or dice) to the dice pool to help other players. "Most Common Items allow a player to spend the
item in order to add the yellow die to *his* dice pool..." Bold *his* for point of reference. That is rules laywering, but it is different than using *the* dice pool. That same wording applies to unique items.

What is not clear is when an investigator's special ability can be used to manipulate the dice rolls. We play that when investigator's are in the same adventure, they can assist and apply their ability.

Jenkins said: