If I read this right, EACH CHARACTER RANDOMLY CHOOSES ANOTHER CHARACTER TO FIGHT THE SCENARIOS summoned demon type
In a two player game, or any player game...there is only ONE demonling Henchmen card. It says to summon the demoling and each character must fight one. how can I do that with only one card and there are two people playing?
So how is this accomplished?
Also what happens to the barrier if you fail? Does it just sit there and resummon more demons next turn?
Players don't fight the summoned henchman at the same time. So you pass the Demonling card around to fight. So 1 player fights the Demonling, then the Demonling gets returned to the box, then the next player fights the Demonling, etc.
If any character fails to defeat the summoned Demon, the barrier is undefeated. It gets reshuffled back into the deck it came from.
Demonlings breed like rabbits.... evil red eyed fanged horned rabbits....
We play the second way for the suspense and the risk. If you play it the first way (simultaneous determination), everyone knows whether or not they'll face the demonling (and how many times, for the unlucky ones). Players that know they are not going to face the demonling have no qualms about providing assistance to others who do (usually, there are always exceptions). Using the second method (sequential determination), nobody facing the demonling knows if this is the only time they'll face the demonling during that encounter - balancing using cards to ensure a victory with saving some in case a subsequent character nails them with another demonling as part of the horde. And it's always interesting to save up some good cards "just in case," fail the test, and then not face the demonling again (aaaaaargh!). Or to graciously discard your last blessing so that your fellow player will have a better chance of success, and then have that player's character select you to face the demonling next (thanks, buddy). Likewise, a player that isn't facing the demonling doesn't know if someone else will randomly select them later. It's just more nasty that way, and is all the more satisfying when the next character, who magically faced the demonling three times in a four-character game, encounters the Arboreal Blight. Oopsie!
But maybe we're not normal. Or maybe we just never considered everybody randomly selecting encounters at the same time. ;) Hmmm...I'm going to have to float that idea by the group.
To add something of value to the discussion ... oh, never mind: the question was already answered by zeroth_hour.
We play the second way for the suspense and the risk. ... Players that know they are not going to face the demonling have no qualms about providing assistance to others who do (usually, there are always exceptions).
My group used to play it that way (funny enough, the alternative never occurred to us either). However, I believe I read somewhere on these forums a sorta quasi-official confirmation that the other way was the intended one (everyone rolls for demons, then everyone encounters). I can't locate the post anymore, unfortunately...
Hehe we do the second way too... always fun watching it resolve. Those with weapons and prepared are going "bring it bitc***!" while those vulnerable/cannot pass check/etc. are busy praying to iomedae....
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We play the second way for the suspense and the risk. ... Players that know they are not going to face the demonling have no qualms about providing assistance to others who do (usually, there are always exceptions).My group used to play it that way (funny enough, the alternative never occurred to us either). However, I believe I read somewhere on these forums a sorta quasi-official confirmation that the other way was the intended one (everyone rolls for demons, then everyone encounters). I can't locate the post anymore, unfortunately...
Actually either way is valid. It depends how your group wants to play it.
Definitely don't roll up who gets how many, then do all of the servitor's "before you acts" at once. I saw a table try to do that with Sloth Demons, where they'd all lose a bunch of cards before anyone could do the actual killing.
Also, man is Demonic Horde in AD6 vicious. Thankfully, there are a lot of other barriers to run into by then.
Out of curiosity, why is either valid? My group confronted this issue and determined that the "each player selects a character" clause is an action itself (because it tells you to do a separate and distinct thing) and therefore subject to the "once you start something, complete it" rule.
I'm wondering what the opposite point of view is there.
My take on the other point of view is that once the first person rolls, the chosen character has a summoned encounter in front of them. By that same rule, this becomes something that needs to resolve before the rest of the card can continue.
I compare it to a henchman that summons a monster. You are still fighting the henchman overall, but you can't continue with the text on the henchman card until you first take care of that monster.
For reference, the actual text of the card is as follows:
Each character randomly chooses a character to summon and encounter this adventure's servitor demon. To defeat this barrier, all of the summoned demons must be defeated.
I can see it either way and I don't really think it has all that large of an impact on things depending on which way you choose, so I think leaving it as a per-table decision is likely the right way to go forward here.
The first reading is that you read the instruction as every character randomly choosing another character. This implies everyone determines the random character simultaneously, and then only after everyone is finished choosing can you move on with the actual encounters (due to finish one thing before you start another).
The second reading is that you read the random determination and subsequent encounter as a single instruction even though it requires two actions. Then, you'd need to wait for the first encounter to finish before the second player can randomly choose who goes next (due to finish one thing before you start another). This is the interpretation I would go with because it is consistent with other similar things, such as each character being able to temporarily close their location when a villain is encountered. It's established in that instance that a character chooses to temp close and then fully resolves that before the next character chooses whether or not to temp close.
Isn't it fun when you can quote the exact same rule to argue for two diametrically opposed readings of something? :P
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As skizzerz stated, the wording on the card can be interpreted either way. It does not specifically say one way or another. The "officials" on this board didn't say one way or another which I find refreshing because the more rules and FAQs on non-essential itmes (like this) the less fun a game is overall. As has been stated so many times, play the game the way you want to. You don't need a rule about Demonic Hordes being played one way or the other. Either works just fine. But since the original question is about having only one Demonling (or any servitor demon) card, how do I do this? That's the important matter.