MikMik's page

We are looking into #1. At first blush, it looks like we just forgot about this scenario when we assigned the Enemy Ships to B and C. But we'll get back to you after the holiday on this.

Are you still on holiday?

Would putting more words on the card make it a belt-and-suspenders surety? Yep. But we don't have room for that.

You may have not room on the card itself, but you do have room in the FAQ, which currently reads:

Resolution: On the scenario Press Ganged!, change the sentence "Each character’s hand size is equal to the number of cards in the bane pile" to "Each character's hand size cannot be greater than the number of cards in the bane pile."

It's very confusing that a FAQ isn't enough in itself, you also have to read this read in order to understand what the FAQ *ought* to say.

I will take whatever character matches the best, after the other players in my group have selected the character they want to play...

I have just finished the final adventure with Lem, the Charlatan.
I have loved him, and he has only failed me once, in the penultimate scenario, where he was forced to banish his Snakeskin Tunic.

Not certain whether I should retire him or not for Skull & Shackles, but he has served me well through the entire "Rise of the Runelords" campaign.

We started out with four characters, but a player left before we reached adventure 1. The remaining three characters survived the final countdown:

Character Name: Kyra
Role card: Exorcist
Skill Feats: Strength +3, Wisdom +3
Power Feats: Hand size 7, Proficient w/ Heavy Armor and Weapons. Healing: 1d4+2, +1 vs Undead or Outsider. May recharge Blessing of Sarenae
Card Feats: Weapon: 4, Spell: 4, Armor: 4, Blessing: 8
Weapons: Flaming Icy Axe +1, Impaler of Thorns, Karzoug's Burning, Glaive, Mokmurian's Club
Spells: Invoke, Major Cure, Scrying, Swipe
Armors: Breastplate of Fire Resistance, Chainmail of Cold Resistance, Demon Armor, Magic Full Plate
Items: Revelation Quill, Ring of Energy Resistance
Allies: Eagle
Blessings: Abadar, Gorum, Nethys, 5 Sarenrae

Character Name: Lem
Role card: Charlatan
Skill Feats: Dexterity +3, Intelligence +1, Wisdom +1, Charisma +1
Power Feats: Hand size 7, Proficient w/ Weapons, 1d4+1 to another characters check. +2 to acquire Ally or defeat Henchman. Blessing of Shelyn gives d12 instead.
Card Feats: Weapon: 3, Spell: 5, Armor: 1, Item: 4, Ally 4, Blessing: 6
Weapons: Giantbane Dagger+1, Light Crossbow+1, Returning Frost Spear+2
Spells: Bewilder, Cure, Dominate, Major Cure, Scrying
Armors: (I lost my belowed Snakeskin Tunic in the penultimate scenario, so I had to pick up Breastplate of Fire resistance.
Items: Holy Candle, Magic Spyglass, Ordikon's Staff, Sihedron Tome
Allies: Morgiv, Mountaineer, Pyromaniac Mage, Saber-Toothed Tiger
Blessings: Abadar, 2 Erastil, Nethys, 2 Shelyn

Character Name: Seoni
Role card: Celestial Sorcerer
Skill Feats: Dex +1, Wisdom +1, Charisma +4
Power Feats: 1d6+2 Arcane combat. Aut. recharge Spell. +2 to Reduce Fire, Pharasma : add 1d12 instead.
Card Feats: Spell: 6, Item: 6, Ally: 5, Blessing: 6
Weapons: none
Spells: Blizzard, Disintegrate, Lightning Bolt, Poison Blast, Swipe, Teleport
Armors: none
Items: Boots of Teleportation, Headband of Alluring Charisma, Robes of Xin-Shalast, Sihedron Ring, Staff of Hungry Shadows, Wand of Enervation
Allies: Aldern Foxglove, Charmed Red Dragon, Pyromaniac Mage, Shaman, Vale Temros
Blessings: Abadar, Lamashtu, 2 Norgorber, 2 Pharasma

Philosophically:

If I had it to do over again (and in some ways, I do), I might look closely at the difficulty of set 1. What I predicted was that people would play the basic scenarios once and then dive into Burnt Offerings. A lot of players instead pounded the basic scenarios many times over, loading up on awesome stuff, and then blitzed adventure 1. We're going to look hard at that behavior in Skull & Shackles playtests.

Some of us have only played each scenario once (except for two, where we lost) and only played fan-made scenarios while waiting for Adventure pack 2. Still found the difficulty far too easy.

Might they have any copies of the Fire Sneeze promo? I'd hate to make a nuisance of myself at their stand for no reason :)

Good to know that you will be making it after all.

If Peril of the Lost Coast is difficulty 0, then Adventure Pack 1 is also 0. We found it much easier than the intro.
Maybe because we now know what to do.

Seoni absolutely insisted upon seeing the card yesterday.
She had the "pleasure" of a real encounter only a few minutes later :-/

Given that it isn't a secret what you need in order to close a location - why didn't you receive a Blessing from a friend in time?

MikMik, I could understand that strategy if this game were all inclusive and a one shot. But I assume most people go into this game expecting it to carry on into the next adventure and are probably interested in improving their characters decks (both an intrinsic part of deck builders and of PF RPG not that Im necessarily calling this either but it has roots in both).

That is certainly how we play!

However, you're not allowed to keep more than 15 cards of very specific types, and the chance of finding anything better than your starting deck is not good. We have looked at the cards cards we have banished, and we didn't miss much. As for the stuff we do bring home, most is banished because we don't have the space, so only a few select cards are improving our hands.

So, I can just discard the cards to the bottom of the pack and select the next four etc. until I get a favoured card.

The rules (page 7) says: "Discard that hand and draw again", so I believe the cards goes to your discard pile. Then, when you have at least 1 card of the specified type, you shuffle the discards back into the character deck.

I don't want a mat.
It takes up space and I have no problem playing the game without one.

As for the special perk, I don't really need that one either.
But if I really found it necessary to replace a card before the game, I think I would do so, whether "allowed" or not.

This method definitely seems counter intuitive to the theme, and less fun.

Maybe we have a different view upon the theme?

First we need to catch a racketeer, then we need to crack down upon a drug dealer and finally we need to deal with a poor dragon, just because it eats a sheep or a cow once in a while. The dragon hasn't killed a human ever, but people are still scared of it.

No wonder wild animals have a hard time surviving...

I see our party as State Troopers being sent out to help those communities that isn't able to deal with their problems themselves.

While we want to improve ourselves, our first priority is to get the job done.

You have two type sections: the type section in the top right corner is the main type category, and this is the type referred to when you need to summon other cards.

The one above the "check to defeat"-number is just a subtype, which is used to indicate which type of combat you are going to use.

Unlike computers, the human brain is able to discern between seemingly illocical statements like this with ease.

That's what gifts are for!

You can only give a card away in your own turn.
If that would force that player to discard down to his hand size, the ability would be next to useless.

Using logic - yes!

If you can shoot a non-magic light crossbow and hit a target at any location, the distances can't be that far. So why not a spell?

But as it has been mentioned, it depends upon the spell.

ACID ARROW says: for your combat check...
That would have to be your own combat against a target in your own location.

GUIDANCE says: Discard to add 1 to a check.
That sould be cast on any check in any location.

FIND TRAPS says: Discard to add 2 dice to any check to detect a barrier.
That could be played on any barrier being checked by any character anywhere.

If you have a perfect deck to start with, you have nothing to improve!

The reason you have a "Give a Card" action, is to be able to give a card to someone else.

Some of my favorite games ever cannot get onto the table, because my fellow gamers doesn't have the same taste as me. So maybe your friends will not like this game.

We enjoy the game very much, and we don't see the larger number of players as a problem. Yes, there are more locations, but each player also have a starting hand of 15 Cards, which means there are more Blessings at any given turn to ensure that ANY encounter is bound to succeed.

The biggest problem with the game is that players are so focused on finding cards, that they forget the main objective: to catch the villain.

Our strategy is to take any boons with a minimum chance. If you don't get the card, then at least the Villain/Henchman is closer the top. But when the Henchman/Villain comes around then everybody will chip in with Light Crossbows, Spells and Blessings to ensure a win.

The idea to use the spells, is to discover what lies ahead and then decide to go on forward or stop in your track to avoid a potential danger.

If you had to explore that particular card, the spell would have no meaning.

We have been 4 players in our 3 scenarios, so far.

In our first attempt at Brigadoom! we were Harsk, Kyra, Lem and Seoni.
We have discovered Vhiski very early (Harsk had looked, and we decided to leave that location until we had closed all the others.

Unfortunately we didn't make it time. But just for fun, I (as Lem) took my turn (#31), revealed Vhiski and caught him! So close, and yet so far!

A couple of days later, Seoni was absent, but her place was taken by Valeros.
We had a little more trouble finding Vhiski this time, but still managed to catch him within the last few turns. Then we immediately went after the drugdealer and he was no match for us, as we caught him halfway through the game.

We are now ready to go after the dragon on Tuesday!

You are right!
I was assuming that the Ally would give Valeros that skill, but that isn't the case.

(You may use a skill that isn't listed on your character card only if another card gives your character that skill)

KYRA: It doers not matter whether you move or not. You always have one free Exploration, even without moving. Kyra may decide to heal someone instead of exploring. Then she may explore anyway by playing cards (like bessings or Allies). It is only the free exploration she is missing.

LEM: Type is any "Weapon", any "Spell" etc. So you cannot xchange a "Spell" for an "Item".

SAJAN: Yes, the Blessings are placed at the bottom of your deck instead of being discarded.

1. When can you do things that aren't related to exploring or the other specific steps listed for things to do on every turn? ie Casting Cure, Detect Magic, Detect Evil, etc. Do those happen during your "explore phase", or can they happen at other times? I'm assuming they have to happen on your turn.

Apart from beginning your turn by "Advancing the Blessing Deck" and ending your turn by "Resetting Your hand", you may play cards from your hand before, between or after the other optional steps. So you may CURE yourself or any other character at your location, before moving to different location to explore there.

Same with DECTECT EVIL/MAGIC. You can play these before or after you move, before or after you explore the location.
Page 10: Playing Cards say that "If a card in your hand does not specify when it can be played, you can generally play it at any time." (with exceptions during a check).

2. Ezren's power to check the top of his deck for another spell after casting an arcane spell - when does that kick in? After everything related to the spell he cast resolves, or sooner than that? I'm thinking of a situation like if he plays Force Missile and loses the fight. Can he check the top of his deck to see if there's an Arcane Armor there before taking the damage?

I believe you may use the power immediately (ie. as soon as you have played an arcane spell). But remember that you will not be able to play another spell during that particular check, but you may have an additional spell card to discard for damage.

You need to follow the text on the card.

So you may RECHARGE the card to reduce combat damage by 1.
If you want to reduce all damage, then the card is BANISHED (or burried).

If you could recharge a banished card, you would never use the -1 option, would you?

- May - draw 2 Cards.
No need to draw two cards, if that would kill you

The other is most likely a pre-production illustration

Yes, as raven614 says: you always have a minimum of d4 in any skill.
Valeros may not have that much Wisdom, but he isn't completely ignorant!

Even though Valeros only have a hand of four cards, he may have received cards from other players since his last turn.
Also, Valeros doesn't really need more than his trusted Longsword and maybe a Blessing of God (= 2 Cards). Add to this that everybody else in the game also may add a Blessing of God (or other cards) to his aid, it would be almost impossible for Valeros to lose:

Valeros need to roll 12 on a d10 + 1 d8 + 1 d6 (discarding the sword) + 1d10 for his own BotG + even more d10s from the other players...

Yes. After all, it shouldn't bee too easy for us to win the scenarios!

But in addition to the few ranged Weapons, you also have lots of Spells and Blessings that aren't limited by distance.

I just don't really get why some characters' suggested starting decks include Shortbows instead of Light Crossbows!

That's only ONE character, and I am sure Harsk would have preferred to carry 4 crossbows with him (in fact he would have wanted them bigger and better!), but he had to accept what the quartermaster could supply him with from the local armoury at this particular time.

The brilliance of the this game is that you always use exactly the same timer no matter how many players you have. So each game take 30 turns. That is 10 rounds with 3 players or 5 rounds with 6.

This should be more than enough to win the scenario, unless your party is fooling around instead of focusing on the objective.

The game is pretty easy to win, as the designer want's the players to have fun. But that doesn't mean the game should be so easy that you lose interest.

Remember that you can use Blessing of God to make additional explorations, so it shouldn't take too long locate the Villain and the Henchmen. Close two locations as soon as possible. Then spread out so that each hero can (temporarily) close their location when you have found the Villain. That should ensure his early demise!

1. You may play cards to assist other players unless the cards tell you otherwise (please notice the errata in the FAQ for errors on cards).
So Harsk may use the [b]Light Crossbow[/] to add 1d4 to a combat check at another location, because the card says so.

Generally you can play 1 card of each type to aid another player anywhere, unless the card says otherwise.

2. You don't play those cards yourself, it is the other players who may play one card each to aid you (out of turn). The may be weapons (as the example with the Light Crossbow) or they may be other types (like Blessing of God).

At BGG you have already received info about the relevant sections of the rules, you didn't read.
They are repeated here, for the benefit of others who may struggle with the rules:
Page 11: Play Cards That Affect the Check (Optionally)
Page 16: Blessings
Page 20: Example of Play