Call of Cthulhu LCG - FAQ

Errated Cards

Core Set

Hound of Tindalos (F110)
Should read: “Attach Hound of Tindalos to a character (counts as an Attachment support card)…”

Frozen in Time (F163)
Should read: “Each player must discard 2 cards from his deck for each resource attached to each of his domains, or destroy that resource.” This means that each player selects every resource attached to all of his domains and applies the effect to each of them. Each resource is also dealt with individually. For example, if a player has six total resources, he can choose to destroy two of them, and then discard eight cards from his deck to keep the other four.

Pulled Under (F57)
Should read: “Exhaust a character with at least 2 icons…”

Serpent from Yoth (F149)
Should read: “Forced Response: After Serpent from Yoth...”

Secrets of Arkham

Poltergeist (F37)
Should read: “…Insane characters you control do not restore during the Refresh Phase…”

The Mountain of Madness

White Out (F10)
Should read: “… does not count its icons and does not count its skill…”

Alaskan Sledge Dog (F16)
No longer has the text: “You may play with up to 8 copies of Alaskan Sledge Dog in your deck.”

Ancient Horrors

Aspiring Artist (F12)
Aspiring Artist should have a skill of 0, no icons, and read: “Response: After playing Aspiring Artist, draw1 card…”

Forgotten Lore

Spawn of Madness

Ghost of Perdition (F16)
Should read: “counts as a Curse Attachment support card…”

Conspiracies of Chaos

The Underground Conspiracy (F46)
The Underground Conspiracy should have a Syndicate resource symbol.

The R’lyeh Conspiracy (F48)
The R’lyeh Conspiracy should have a Cthulhu resource symbol.

Summons of the Deep

The Spawn of the Sleeper

Trent Dixon (F6)
Should read: “…If Trent Dixon is the only character you control that is committed to a story, count his skill and icons to all other story cards as well.”
When he is committed alone on his controller’s turn, the application of Trent Dixon’s skill and icons to the other stories does not cause those stories to resolve. While he is committed alone on his opponent’s turn, the application of Trent Dixon’s skill and icons will only take place on stories where there are attackers. Trent Dixon is only committed to one story, and can only go insane or take wounds from lost struggles at the story to which he is actually committed.

Erich Zann (F10)
Should read: “…in which Erich Zann is participating”

Bringer of Fire (F14)
Should read: “Exhaust all copies of Bringer of Fire you control…”

The Black Goat’s Rage (F16)
Should read: “Play only if every card you control has the faction…”

Julia Brown (F17)
Julia’s disrupt ability is an example of a replacement effect. The word instead indicates that a replacement effect is being triggered. Replacement effects completely replace one effect with another. (See Replacement Effects under Official Rules clarifications.) This means when Julia Brown sacrifices and replaces herself with a new copy from your deck, you have effectively gotten around the consequences of losing a Terror struggle.

The Horror Beneath the Surface

Arkham Advertiser Archives (F28)
Should read: “…exhaust Arkham Advertiser Archives to refresh 1 of your domains with 2 or fewer resources attached.”

Book of Eibon (F34)
Book of Eibon does not prevent a player from drawing above 5 cards in hand (for example during the draw phase). The card does, however, force a the player affected by its card effect to immediately discard cards from his hand until he has 5 cards remaining anytime he has more than 5 cards in hand.

The Antediluvian Dreams

Dynamite (F42)
Should have the Attachment subtype.

Across Dimensions (F53)
Should read: “Play only if every character you control has the faction...”

The Terror of the Tides

Summoning Circle (F74)
Should read: “…(X is the number of icons on the characters exhausted for the cost.)”

Descendant of Eibon (F75)
Descendant of Eibon should be Unique, and should read: “Action: Discard 2 of your success tokens from a story to put Descendant of Eibon into play from your hand or into your hand from your discard pile. At the end of the phase, if Descendant of Eibon is still in play, return him to your hand.”

The Thing from the Shore

Literature Professor (F83)
Should read: “While every card you control has the faction…”

Obsessive Inmate (F97)
Obsessive Inmate does stay committed to the story during the opponent’s turn. However, the story he is committed to will not resolve during his opponent’s turn, unless the opponent commits at least one character to the story. Obsessive Inmate can be uncommited from a story by means of card effects.

The Spawn of Madness (F99)
Should read: “…refresh all domains in play.”

The Path to Y’ha-nthlei

Military Bike (F102)
Characters can only be re-committed by Military Bike to a unresolved story where there are already characters.

Eye of the Deep (F108)
Should read: “…Those characters are considered 1 skill characters with no keywords or abilities and until the end of the phase.” Abilities include passive abilities, and triggered abilities in the text box of the card.

Scalethorn Asylum (F109)
Should read: “…gains the Deep One subtype”

Dreamlands

In the Dread of Night

Secretive Zoog (F36)
Should read: “Attach that card to any of your domains (counts as a resource).”

Zoog Burrow (F56)
Should not have the Zoog icon. It should be a neutral resource.

The Night (F57)
Should read: “If it is Night, treat all exhausted non-unique, non-Night, characters as if their printed text boxes were blank.”

Dream Dagger (F58)
Should read: “Attach to a character you control.”

Search for the Silver Key

Halflings of D’haz (F75)
The additional wound tokens are assigned one at a time by the losing player.

Journey to the Unknown Kadath

Moon-Beast Galley (F99)
Should read: “… ready all Dreamer characters at the beginning of each player’s turn.”

Scalethorn Asylum (F109)
Brain Transplant (F111)
Unspeakable Transformation (F115)
Strange Delusions (F118)
All should read: “Action:” instead of “Any Phase:”

The Yuggoth Contract

The Wailer Below

Doppelgänger (F79)
Should read: “When you play Doppelgänger from your hand, choose a non-unique character in play with printed cost X or lower. Doppelgänger becomes a printed copy of that character. If that character leaves play return Doppelganger to your hand.”

The Order of the Silver Twilight

Lord Jeffrey Farrington (F18)
Should read: “Forced Response: After Lord Jeffrey Farrington enters play...

The Silver Twilight Lodge (F36)
Should read: “Lower the cost of the first character you play each round by 1 (to a minimum of 1).”

Rituals of Order

Perilous Trials

Flux Stabilizer (F30)
Should read: “Characters cannot enter play through triggered effects.”

Rich Widow (F33)
Should read: “…put Rich Widow into play from your hand.”

Ancient Relics

Shifting Sands

Khopesh of the Abyss (F16)
Should read “Action: Wound attached chracter to choose a character. That character takes 1 wound.”

The Large Man (F28)
The second ability should read: “Action: Exhaust The Large Man to put the topmost event card in your discard pile into your hand. Limit once per phase.”

Canopic Jar (F28)
The second ability should be a passive not a Response, and should read: “You may Exhaust Canopic Jar and discard a card attached to it to trigger that card’s ability without paying any cost.”

Curse of the Jade Emperor

Forms of the Ether (F39)
Should read: “Action: Choose a card attached to a domain as a resource. Put that card into its owner’s hand and attach Forms of the Ether to that domain (counts as a resource).”

Never Night

Apeirophobia (F39)
Should read: “Play during your operations phase.”

The Breathing Jungle

The Doorway (F3)
Should read: “Disrupt: Before an effect would resolve, exhaust The Doorway to choose a character you control that is committed to a story and return it to its owner’s hand.”

Shadow of the Monolith

Magnus Stiles (F122)
Should read: “Limit once per turn.”

Revelations

Written and Bound

Uroborus, Fang of Yig (F3)
Should be unique.

Lost Rites

Jenica Capra (F61)
Should read: “Limit once per turn.”

The Unspeakable Pages

Padma Amrita (F61)
Should read: “Response” not Forced Response.

Eryn Cochwyn (F89)
Should read: “Action: Drive Eryn Cochwyn insane to choose a Tome card and trigger its effect without paying any costs, as if you controlled the Tome…”

Touched by the Abyss

The Necronomicon (F112)
Should read: “Action: Sacrifice attached character and shuffle the Necronomicon into your deck to put into play all characters from your discard pile with less printed skill than the attached character.”

Restricted List

The following cards are restricted for LCG tournament play. A player may select 1 card from this restricted list for any given deck, and cannot then play with any other restricted cards in the same deck. A player may run as many copies of his chosen restricted card in a deck as the regular game rules allow.

Itinerant Scholar (Core F30)
Things in the Ground (Secrets of Arkham F31)
Diseased Sewer Rats (Secrets of Arkham F44)
Negotium Perambulans in Tenebris (Forgotten Lore F80)
Descendant of Eibon (Summons of the Deep F75)
Nyarlathotep (Dreamlands F117)
Guardian Pillar (Dreamlands F78)
Doppelgänger (The Yuggoth Contract F79)
Khopesh of the Abyss (Ancient Relics F16)
Initiate of Huang Hun (Ancient Relics F40)

Banned List

The following cards are banned from official tournament play for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

Endless Interrogation (Summons of the Deep F82)
Magah Bird (Dreamlands F110)
Glimpse of the Void (Forgotten Lore F14)

Most Recent Printing

In the case where an LCG card is reprinted with updated errata text in a later printing, the most recent printing is the legal version of the card. All older LCG printings are assumed to be updated with the errata text. When in doubt over two versions of a card, the most recent printing can be identified by the copyright dates on the cards in question. FFG will ensure that all LCG reprints with updated errata text are also recorded in the FAQ.

Players Handbook Errata

On p.6 of the Core Rule Book, under For the First Game, it should read:
“... by adding one of the two neutral card packets (F141-147 and F148-154).”
Under Draw Setup Hand, it should read:
“Before each game begins, and before any setup cards are resourced, a player may, for any reason, shuffle his or her setup hand into his or her deck and draw a new setup hand from the same deck. This may only be performed once per game. This is known as taking a mulligan.”

On p.11 of the Core Rule Book, under Conspiracy Cards, it should read:
“... No more than three conspiracy cards with the same title may be in a player’s deck.”
Under Invulnerability, it should read.
“Characters with Invulnerability cannot be wounded or chosen to be wounded, or have wound tokens moved or placed on them, regardless of card effects.”

On p.12 of the Core Rule Book, under Steadfast, the example should read:
“... (one of which is Agency)”

On p.14 of the Core Rule Book, under Insanity, it should read:
“... have the following statistics: 0-cost, 0-skill, no faction, no icons, no subtypes, and no text...”

Card Effects

(1.1) Card Effect vs. Game Effect

All effects are either card effects or game effects. Card effects are produced by cards, game effects are produced by the rules of the game.

(1.2) Working Effects

In general, Support and Character card effects can only be triggered (or affect the game) when the card is in play. Event cards can be triggered from a player’s hand using an action. However, card effects on non-event cards in a player’s hand or discard pile are not considered to be actionable unless the card specifically states that it can be triggered while in its out-of-play state.

For example: Darrin has The Thing Behind You (Summons of the Deep F110) in his hand. Normally he could not trigger the text on the card unless it was already in play. However, since the text on the card specifically states that a player may trigger its effect from your hand, Darrin may choose to use its ability.

Additionally, cards that are in play (or event cards that are played) do not interact with cards that are out of play unless they specifically refer to an out of play state they will interact with.

For example: The Thing Behind You (Summons of the Deep F110) has the ability: “Action: Pay 2 and return a character to your hand to put The Thing Behind You into play from your hand.” This ability could not bring a character from a player’s discard pile to his hand, because the card does not specifically state that the player can take cards from their discard pile.

A card that is self-referential (that is, has card text that refers to itself by Title) refers only to itself, and not to any other copies of that card. Any self-referential effect on a card concerning the act of playing that card, or putting that card into play, is active as the card is being played or put into play.

For example, Darrin has a copy of Thing from Nightmare in his hand (Yuggoth Contract F87), which reads, “Lower the cost to play Thing from Nightmare by 1 (to a minimum of 1) for each insane character in play.” There are 3 insane characters in play. Darrin only needs to drain a domain with 1 resource on it to play it.

(1.3) Multiple Effects

If a card has multiple effects, all effects on the card are resolved, if possible, independently of whether any other effects of the card are successful (following targeting restrictions as normal), with the following important exception: If a card uses the word “then,” then the preceding effect must have been resolved successfully before the subsequent dependent effect can be resolved.

For example, Darrin controls Forest Sister (Core Set F125) which reads, “Disrupt: Pay 1 to cancel a wound to Forest Sister.” His opponent, Tommy, plays Sacrificial Offerings (Core Set F59) which reads, “Action: Choose and wound a character controlled by an opponent. Then, that character’s controller may choose and wound a character.” choosing Forest Sister to be wounded.

Darrin chooses to use Forest Sister’s disrupt action to prevent the wound. Since the wound was canceled, Darrin may not choose and wound a character.

(1.4) Duration of Effects

If a triggered effect has no specified duration, then the effects of that ability expire at the end of the current phase. “Put into play,” “Remove from play,” and “Take Control” effects are all an exceptions to this rule, and unless specified by a specific duration are considered to be permanent effects.

With “take control” effects, control of the card in question is granted to the most recent “take control” effect.

(1.5) Multiple Lasting Effects

Even if not triggered at the same time, multiple lasting effects may affect the same card at the same time. The order in which the lasting effects take place is irrelevant – the net sum result of all lasting effects is applied to the card.

For example, a Young Deep One (Core Set F52) (with 0 skill) is affected by two Clover Club Bouncers (Core Set F65), lowering that character’s skill by 2. The Young Deep One’s controller then attaches Notebook Sketches (Mountains of Madness F4) to it, increasing the Young Deep One’s skill by 1. The net sum of these three lasting effects is that the Young Deep One has a skill of -1.

Note, however, that a character’s skill is never considered to be below zero for purposes of resolving effects. Thus in the example above, the Young Deep One’s skill would count as though it were zero. However, if another lasting effect would give the Deep One +1 skill, the net skill would remain at zero.

Lasting effects that affect other character attributes (such as icons) work in the same fashion.

(1.6) Passive Effects

Passive effects are ongoing effects that are not optional, unless otherwise stated. Passive effects and abilities do not have a trigger such as Action:, Forced Response:, Response:, or Disrupt:. Some passive effects have a specific time that their effect will initiate, this should NOT be confused with them being triggered effects.

For example, Darrin controls .45 Pistols. (Core Set F143). The icon it provides is not optional.

(1.7) Simultaneous Effects

When card effects, passive abilities, or forced responses would resolve simultaneously, all cards that are affected resolve in the order determined by the active player, one at a time. The player must fully resolve each effect before the next effect takes place.

Whenever character or support cards enter or leave play at the same time, the controlling player chooses the order in which they enter or leave play.

(1.8) Replacement Effects

The word “instead” lies at the heart of the replacement effect, as it allows the new effect to executed in place of the effect it is replacing.

For example, Julia Brown (Summons of the Deep F17) which reads, “...Disrupt: If Julia would go insane as a result of a struggle, sacrifice her instead. Then, search your deck for a card titled “Julia Brown” or “The Sleepwalker,” put it into play committed to the same story, and then shuffle your deck” sacrifices and “replaces” herself with a new copy from the controlling player’s deck, the sacrifice replaces a Terror struggle and the controlling player has effectively gotten around the consequences of losing a Terror struggle (making one of his characters go insane).

(1.9) Choosing Targets

The word target is used to indicate that an effect is directing a player to choose 1 or more cards for an effect to resolve on. Not every effect that resolves on a card is targeted. An effect that resolves on 1 or more cards without specifically using the word “choose” is not a targeted effect.

A player cannot trigger a card effect that requires him to choose a character, support card, or story card if there is no card of that type that he is able to choose.

For example, a player could not play Opening the Limbo Gate (Core Set F116) unless every player’s discard pile contained at least one character card.

In addition, a player cannot trigger a card effect that requires him to choose a certain number of targets if there are not enough valid targets available.

Also note that if a card is targeted, but becomes an illegal target (e.g., via a Disrupt: action), the targeting effect is then ignored.

For example, if Darrin plays the triggered ability on Slavering Gug (Core Set F124) on Tommy’s Jack “Brass” Brady (Core Set F61), Tommy may choose to use Jack “Brass” Brady’s Disrupt: action, which would return him to Tommy’s hand. Assuming both players subsequently pass, the Slavering Gug’s ability now resolves. However, since Jack “Brass” Brady is no longer in play and is thus an illegal target, the Slavering Gug’ s effect is ignored.

(1.10) Eligible Targets

In order to target a card with an effect, that card must meet the targeting requirements. Any part of the effect for which that character is ineligible is simply ignored.

For example, with Brain Transplant (Summons of the Deep F111) you may target one insane character and one ready character who are both controlled by the same player, as per the targeting requirement. If the ready character has Willpower or a icon, it is ineligible for the second part of the card’s effect (“The ready character goes insane, if able”), so that part of the effect is ignored.

(1.11) Forced Responses

A Forced Response must trigger, if able, and is not considered a player triggered effect, but is instead a game triggered effect that is resolved by the player who controls the card.

For example: Darrin has Bokrug (Ancient Horrors F10) in play. During a story, Darrin’s characters lose a combat struggle and Bokrug is chosen to be wounded. Even during the story resolution phase when normal actions and responses cannot be used, Bokrug’s Forced Response which reads, “After Bokrug is wounded as the result of a struggle, choose and wound another character committed to that story, if able.” must trigger.

(1.12) Card States

If a card has an ability that triggers in response to said card entering the discard pile, that effect does not resolve or trigger if that card had blank text due to a card effect, was attached to a domain as a resource, or was insane before it entered the discard pile, unless that card specifically states otherwise.

For example, Darrin controls Living Mummy (Core Set F104). His opponent Tommy has blanked its text with Called By Azathoth (Summons of the Deep F9). Then, Tommy plays Shotgun Blast (Core Set F16). Living Mummy takes 1 wound and is destroyed.

Once Living Mummy is placed in the discard pile, both players would have the option to trigger responses from Living Mummy being placed in the discard pile, starting with the active player. However, since Living Mummy’s text was blanked, Darrin cannot trigger the response listed on its card. He would have to play a different response, or none at all. Once both players pass, play proceeds and the window to respond to the card being placed in the discard pile is now closed.

Similarly, after a card is placed in the discard pile, returned to a player’s hand, or leaves play for any reason, any effects and/or wounds are removed after all responses have resolved. Any attachments attached to a card that left play are destroyed, unless otherwise stated in game text.

Note that some cards, like Local Sheriff (Core Set F3), are not triggered in response to entering your discard pile, but have “Action:” effects that can be triggered from your discard pile. These effects can be triggered from your discard pile even if the card was blank, insane, discarded from hand, or attached to a domain as a resource before it entered the discard pile.

(1.13) Gaining Control

If a card effect allows you to take control of a non-attachment card, move that card into your playing area. If that card is an attachment, you gain control of it but it remains attached to the original character unless the card effect says otherwise.

When you have taken control of a card, you are considered to be that card’s controller, but not its owner. When that card leaves play for any reason, or at the end of the game, you must return it to its owner. If it leaves play as the result of a game or card effect, it is returned to its owner’s control, but still is placed out of play. So, for example, if the card would be sent to a discard pile, it is placed in its owner’s discard pile.

Note that if you already control a Heroic character, you cannot take control of a Villainous character, and vice versa.

When you gain control of a card, that card’s status does not change. Thus, if you gain control of an insane or exhausted character, they remain insane or exhausted.

Any time a player gains control of a committed character during a story, that character stays committed to the story but switches to its new controller’s side.

The limit on unique cards still applies. You cannot gain control of or play a unique card if you already control or own a copy of that card in play.

When an effect causes control of a card to change, control of any attachments on that card does not change. The attachments remain attached to that card and will continue to affect that card as described in their card text. They also remain under control of the player who originally played them.

If you gain control of a card attached to a story card, you may attach it to another story, if able.

If an attached card gives you control of another player’s card, you retain control of the attached card only as long as the attached card is in play.

(1.14) Adding and Removing Subtypes

Players can only add existing subtypes (i.e., a subtype that exists on any tournament-legal card) to a card through card effects.

For example, a player cannot add the subtype “Direwolf” to a card using False Papers (Summons of the Deep F106).

(1.15) Attaching Cards Through Card Effects

When a card becomes attached to another card due to a card effect, that card is now considered a support card (regardless of its normal type) with the Attachment subtype. For the purpose of all other card interactions (excluding interaction with the card that initially caused the attached condition), the card loses all of its original characteristics (such as skill value, icons, and type). The card retains its faction identity and printed cost.

(1.16) Infinite Loops

It is possible, with certain card combinations, to create an “infinite loop” (such has having two cards exhaust to refresh each other indefinitely). When executing an infinite loop, the resolving player must follow these two steps:

1. Clearly display the infinite loop to the opponent (and tournament judge, if the opponent requires it). Thus, the player must display, using all cards involved, one full cycle of the infinite loop.

2. State how many times he or she wishes to execute this loop. For example, the player could say “I will now execute this loop seventeen million times.” Then resolve the loop that many times instantly. If the execution of this loop causes the player to win the game, the game is over and the executing player wins.

When both players have access to infinite loops that are in direct conflict with one another (for example, the players can alternate taking actions to add an icon to one of their characters, and they can each do this repeatedly), each player can be assumed to instantly do this an infinite number of times. The two loops immediately and completely negate each other, and the game should proceed under this assumption.

Infinite loops should never be abused to cause the game to stall.

The exception to this rule is when the loop creates changes in the game state such as drawing or shuffling cards. Each instance must be executed.

Definitions and Terms

(2.1) The Letter “X”

Unless specified by a preceding card, card effect, or granted player choice, the letter “X” is always equal to zero.

For example, Darrin controls Shadow Company (Summons of the Deep F89), which has an “X” for the card’s skill value. His opponent, Tommy, targets it with Called By Azathoth (Summons of the Deep F9). Since the Shadow Company has a blank text box, it does not have a value assigned to X. Thus, its skill is now zero.

(2.2) “Cannot”

If an effect has the word “cannot” in its description, then it is an absolute: Effects that attempt the described action will not affect any card that “cannot” be affected by such an effect. It is an illegal target and any card effect that designates that card for an effect cannot be triggered.

(2.3) “If Able”

If the card designates multiple cards or players, the effect seeks to resolve on each individual card or player. Most of the time, these affects also include the words “if able,” which means if the effect cannot resolve on an individual card or player, that does not prevent the effect from resolving on other cards or players.

For example: Initiate of Huang Hun (CotJE F40) reads: “Response: After Initiate of Huang Hun enters play, each player returns a character he controls to its owner’s hand, if able.” This response seeks to resolve on each player; if one player has no characters in play (and is therefore not affected by the response) each of his opponents can still be affected.

If a “Then” effect follows the “if able” effect, all designated cards and players must have had the effect successfully resolve in order for the “Then” effect to resolve.

For example, Darrin’s opponent Tommy has Feral Elder Thing (Revelations F78) in play with the text, “At the beginning of your turn, each player chooses and discards 2 cards from his hand, if able. Then, each player draws 1 card.” When Tommy’s turn begins Darrin has 3 cards in hand and Tommy has 1. Darrin choose and discard 2 cards, but Tommy is unable to choose 2 cards to discard. Since both players were unable to discard 2 cards, neither player is able to draw a card.

If a player must choose between multiple “if able” effects, he may not choose an option that has no eligible targets unless no alternative with an eligible target is available.

(2.4) “Reveal”

When a card effect directs a player to reveal a card that player must show that card to all players. A card that is revealed does not leave the location or position it is currently at without an additional effect.

For example, if Tommy uses Sight for Sore Eyes (The Yuggoth Contract F97) and names a card, Darrin must reveal his hand. These cards do not leave Darrin’s hand. When Sight for Sore Eyes is resolved those cards are no longer revealed.

(2.5) “Redistribute”

When a card effect directs you to redistribute tokens you cannot switch tokens between players. You cannot redistribute tokens from story cards to non-story card or from non-story cards to story cards unless the card effect specifically says otherwise.

For example, Darrin wins the story card A New Challenge (Ancient Relics F10) and chooses to trigger its ability to redistribute all the tokens of each player. Darrin forms 2 pools of tokens, one for himself and one for his opponent and then distributes those tokens among the revealed story cards with each pool of tokens staying on that player’s side.

(2.6) The Words “Up To”

Any card effect that involves choosing multiple targets (including choosing multiple cards to draw or discard, or choosing multiple tokens) can only resolve if the exact number of targets, cards, or tokens can be chosen.

For example: The event Byakhee Attack (Core Set F95) reads: “Action: Each opponent chooses and discards 2 cards from his hand, if able.” If an opponent has exactly 1 card in his hand, he is not affected by Byakhee Attack because he cannot choose 2 cards to discard.

Some cards have effects that include the words “up to,” such as “choose up to 2 characters” or “discard up to 2 cards.” The inclusion of this phrase allows an effect to resolve even if there fewer than the specified number of targets, cards, or tokens available.

For example, the event Dr. Carson’s Treatment (Core Set F39) reads: “Action: Choose up to 2 insane characters. Restore and ready those characters.” The player playing this event can choose 1 or 2 insane characters as targets. If this event did not include the words “up to” the player could not choose only 1 insane character, he could only choose exactly 2 insane characters.

(2.7) Sacrifice, Destroy, Discard from Play

“Sacrifice”, “Destroy” and “Discard from Play” are not interchangeable terms. Thus, a card that is “destroyed” is not considered to be “sacrificed,” and vice versa.

(2.8) Attacking vs Defending

Some effects are specifically dependent on whether a player is attacking or defending. The active player is always considered the attacker, and the opponent is always considered the defender.

(2.9) Limit 1/Once

“Limit 1 per…” is a limitation carried by cards whose effects are triggered from out of play. A card of that name can only be triggered 1 time per stated time frame. “Limit once per…” is a limitation carried by cards whose effect are triggered from in play. That card’s effect can only be triggered once per stated time frame. If the effect of the card with either limitation is canceled the limit has still been met for that time frame.

(2.10) Ready/Exhausted vs Committed/Uncommitted

There is an important distinction between Ready and Exhausted versus Committed and Uncommitted.

Characters are Ready when they are upright and have not been exhausted.

Characters are Exhausted as costs for card effects, by card effects, and to commit to a story (unless a card effect states otherwise).

Characters are Committed to a story when they are going to participate in the struggles for that story and either attack or defend there.

Characters are Uncommitted from a story when they are removed from the story due to a card effect, or after the story has resolved.

(2.11) Searching the Deck

If a card effect allows a player to search his deck, he must shuffle his deck afterwards. If a card effect allows you to search your deck for a specific type of card and add it to your hand you must first reveal that card.

(2.12) Exchange Control or Game Position

An exchange must involve two entities that are changing their status or position. If one of the entities is absent or cannot be changed, the exchange attempt fails.

(2.13) Paying Costs

Costs are any resources paid in order to play a card, as well as anything before the “to” part of a card ability. For example, Slavering Gug (Core Set F124) reads “Action: Pay 4 to choose and wound a character.” Draining a domain with at least 4 resources is the cost for that ability.

You may only pay costs with cards you control. You may never exhaust a card, drain a domain, drive insane, sacrifice, or otherwise use or alter the game state of any card you do not control, as the means of a paying the cost of an effect.

Note that sacrificing a card to pay for an effect is also considered paying a cost. For example, if a player wishes to activate Predatory Byakhee (Core Set F89), he must sacrifice the Byakhee. If the effect were canceled, the Byakhee would still be sacrificed.

If an effect is canceled, any costs that were paid to trigger that effect are still lost. For example, if Player A drains a domain to play Shotgun Blast, but Player B plays Power Drain (which cancels the Shotgun Blast). Player A’s domain remains drained, even though the Shotgun Blast effects were canceled.

When any player has a sacrifice effect, that cost must be paid, if able. If said sacrifice does not happen, then the cost has not been paid and the effect does not resolve.

Similarly, if the effect is a Forced Response, that sacrifice must take place, if able.

For example: Darrin has Cthulhu, The Great Old One (Core Set F41) in play. During his draw phase, Darrin chooses Jack “Brass” Brady (Core Set F61) to be sacrificed. He then triggers the disrupt ability of Jack “Brass” Brady, which reads, “Disrupt: Before a triggered ability resolves, return Jack “Brass” Brady to his owner’s hand.” Jack “Brass” Brady is returned to its owner’s hand, preventing the sacrifice. Thus, the cost has not been paid. However, since Cthulhu’s ability is a forced response, the cost must be paid, if able.

Thus, Darrin must choose another character to be sacrificed. If Cthulhu, The Great Old One was the only legal target, then he must sacrifice Cthulhu, The Great Old One.

(2.14) Paid, Overpaid, and Cost

The printed cost of a card is the cost that is printed on that card. The actual cost of a card or effect is the printed cost after any cost modifiers have been applied. The actual cost of a card is also the amount that is paid to play the card from a player’s hand, or to trigger an effect.

Overpay is the difference between the number of resources on the domain that was drained to play the card or trigger the effect minus the value that was paid for the card or effect, if that difference is one or higher. In order to “overpay” for a card or triggered effect, that card must have an actual cost of one or greater.

(2.15) Resource Match

Card effects that grant a resource match do not affect other costs, such as Steadfast. Resource match effects do, however, affect Loyal cards unless otherwise stated in game text.

(2.16) “Minimum of 1”

If an effect allows a player to reduce a card’s cost, it cannot be lowered below one if the reducing effect has stipulation “to a minimum of 1.” If a players uses a combination of effects to reduce the cost of a card where one of the effects has the “minimum of 1” stipulation, and the other reducing effect does not, the “minimum of 1” takes precedence.

(2.17) Cost of 0

A card with a cost of 0 (including X=0) cannot be reduced.

(2.18) Steadfast

If a Steadfast card has a printed cost of zero, the player must still control at least a number of resources of the correct faction equal to the amount of steadfast necessary to play the card, although that player does not need to drain a domain in order to play the card.

(2.19) Transient and Steadfast

The play restriction on whether or not a player can play a Steadfast card is checked before he drains a domain to pay for that card. When checking faction resources to see if a player is able to play a Steadfast card, Transient cards count as a single resource of their faction. Transient cards only count as two resources when the domain is actually drained to pay for a card.

(2.20) Mulligan

Players are allowed to mulligan their starting hand once. A mulligan allows for each player to shuffle his starting hand into his deck and draw a new starting hand. The player must keep his second hand if he chooses to take a mulligan.

(2.21) Player Hand

A player only has a “hand” if said player has at least one drawn card not currently in play. Thus, if a player does not possess at least one unplayed drawn card, he does not have a “hand” for the purposes of triggering effects, paying costs, or being targeted by card effects that require having a “hand.”

(2.22) Resources and Discard Pile

These zones of play are considered to be public information and can be viewed freely by either player during the course of the game.

(2.23) Zones of Play

A zone of play is an area where cards can be during a game.

In Play
In play is the Play Area.

Out of Play
Out of play is the Draw Deck, Hand, Domains (and resources), and Discard Pile.

If a card would go to an out of play zone, it goes to its owner’s out of play zone.

A card that moves from an in play zone to an out of play zone to an in play zone is treated as though it were a new card. Any effects connected to the card will no longer affect it. The only exception to this rule is any abilities that trigger when a card moves from an in play zone to an out of play zone.

(2.24) “Put into Play” vs “Play” vs “Enters Play”

“Put into Play” is a game mechanic that bypasses all costs (including resource matches) and play restrictions, with the exception of uniqueness.

For example: The Terror of the Tides (Summons of the Deep F67) reads “Action: Pay 3 to put The Terror of Tides into play from your hand. Then, give The Terror of the Tides 4 wounds.” By paying 3 resources, the controlling player is able to bring The Terror of the Tides into play any time he is able to play an Action. Note that by using this ability to bring The Terror of the Tides into play, the controlling player bypasses the need for a Cthulhu resource match.

To “Play” a card is to pay all costs and follow all play restrictions in order to bring the card into play from a player’s hand. Card effects that take place when a card is played do not work if the card entered play through any alternate way.

For example: Aspiring Artist (Forgotten Lore F12) reads “Response: After you play Aspiring Artist, draw 1 card...” This card effect only works when the card is played from a player’s hand, and all costs associated with playing the card are paid. However, if Aspiring Artist was to be put into play due to some other means, such as the effect of a Hungry Dark Young (Core Set F131), then the player would not have “played” Aspiring Artist (as he did not pay the costs associated with playing the card), and he would not be able to use the card’s response.

“Enters Play” is an all-encompassing term that covers both “Put into Play” and “Play.” All cards that are “Put into Play” or “Play” are considered to “Enter Play.”

For example: Victoria Glasser (Core Set F 82) reads: “Forced Response: After Victoria Glasser enters play, choose a character. That character goes insane.” This effect would activate regardless of if the card was brought into play due to a card effect, or if Victoria Glasser was brought into play by paying the card’s costs.

(2.25) Text Box

A card’s text box consists of subtypes and game text relevant to game play, including keywords such as Willpower and Fast.

A card’s cost, title, descriptors, faction symbol, skill, printed card type (i.e., character, support), collector information, and flavor text are not considered to be part of the text box.

A card attached to a domain as a resource cannot trigger any effects while attached, nor trigger “enter the discard pile” response effects, unless the card has a Zoog resource symbol, or the effect specifically states it can be triggered while attached to a domain as a resource or enters the discard pile from a domain.

(2.26) Printed

Any reference made to “printed” be it icons, skill, cost, title, subtype etc, only refers to the referenced item physically printed on the card itself. When a card is in play all references to printed refer only to what is printed on the face up side of the card.

(2.27) Icon Boosters

Icon boosters are large struggle icons that add an additional struggle of the same type. Story cards with booster icons (either added by characters or support cards) are treated as having extra icons of that struggle.

Thus, if one icon was removed from the story card by a card effect, there would be one fewer struggle.

For example, if a player commits to a story that has Sleep of Reason (Core Set F53) attached (which adds three Terror struggles) and his opponent plays Inside Information (Core Set F151) to remove a Terror struggle, there would still be three Terror struggles to be resolved.

Icon boosters are always resolved immediately following the first struggle of the matching type (i.e., if the booster icon was Terror, there would be two Terror struggles before moving on to the Combat struggle) or if there is no struggle of the appropriate type it is resolved in the following order .

(2.28) Icon Removal

If, after all modifiers have been applied, a character has a negative number of a specific icon, that character is considered to have 0 icons of that kind.

If a new modifier is added into the mix, all icon modifiers must be re-applied to the printed number of icons in order to re-determine how many icons of that type that character has.

A player can “remove” an icon from a character who does not have that icon, but the modified number of icons that character possesses will still be 0.

(2.29) Lowest Skill

A character is considered to be the character with the lowest skill if it is the only character in play.

At any time a card effect targets a character with the lowest skill and there is a tie, the card effect’s controller may choose which character is affected.

(2.30) Counting Skill

Some effects reference counting skill or not counting skill. These effects do not change the actual numbers on the card. They only mean that the skill is counted or not counted during the skill comparison at the story.

(2.31) Moving Wounds

Moving a wound to a character is not considered wounding that character, or choosing that character to be wounded, for the purposes of triggering card effects. A character still suffers from a wound that has been moved onto it.

A player cannot move a wound onto a character with Invulnerability.

(2.32) Playing Events

When a player plays an event (from his hand), it doesn’t immediately go into his discard pile. It is placed in his discard pile after the action is complete.

When a player plays an event from his discard pile, it does not remain in his discard pile, but rather is placed back in his discard pile after the action is complete.

(2.33) Attachments

Cards with the Attachment subtype are followed by the term in the card text box “Attach to X.” (For example, attach to a character you control). This term is not a card effect, but rather an additional requirement to play the card. The requirement must be met, regardless of if the Attachment enters play from hand or through a card effect.

These attachment cards are attached directly to the card when they enter play (instead of entering play, and then attaching to the card).

An attachment only checks the requirements for attaching it when the card enters play. For example, if an attachment had the requirement “Attach to a Servitor character,” and if the Servitor character it was attached to later on loses the Servitor subtype, the attachment would still remain.

(2.34) Insanity

If you control an insane character, that character cannot be made insane again by either player until it has been restored.

One insane character must be restored during your refresh phase if you are able to do so.

An insane character’s skill, text box, cost, and icons cannot be modified. Although it still counts as a character under your control, it is always treated as having 0 skill, 0 cost, no icons, no subtypes, no text box, and no faction, regardless of any effects in play. Insane characters may be targeted by any effect that targets a character, but any part of the effect that would modify the card’s basic statistics is ignored.

If a non-character card goes insane, it is treated as a character while it remains insane. Once restored, by any means, that card immediately returns to its printed card type. This does not count as restoring a character for the purposes of card effects. If the restored card is an event card, it is immediately discarded.

(2.35) Day and Night

If at any time cards causing it to be both Day and Night are simultaneously in play, it is considered to be both Day and Night for the purposes of triggering effects and choosing targets.

(2.36) Immune

Some cards have the card text “Immune to X” in their text boxes. This means that they cannot be targeted by cards with that subtype and/or card type. This also means that if a card with that subtype and card type does not target a specific character, but affects all characters or a group of characters, these cards ignores that effect. A character can never be immune to its own effects.

For example: Alaskan Sledge Dog (Mountains of Madness F16) reads “Immune to Polar events.” This means that the card cannot be targeted by any event cards with the Polar subtype. In addition, if there was a card effect with the Polar subtype that affects all characters, Alaskan Sledge Dog would not be affected.

(2.37) Invulnerability

If a character with Invulnerability ever has a wound on it that would destroy that character, that character is still destroyed. (For example, if a character with Toughness is wounded, gains Invulnerability, and then loses the Toughness, that character is destroyed.)

A character with Invulnerability is an illegal target and any card effect that specifically designates that card for a wounding effect cannot be triggered.

For example, Darrin has a Carl Stanford (Secrets of Arkham F28) in play with Invulnerability and a Khopesh of the Abyss (Ancient Relics F16) in his hand. Darrin could not trigger the effect of Khopesh of the Abyss if he attached it to Carl since the Khopesh specifically designates the attached card to be wounded as part of the same triggered effect that wounds a targeted character. Tommy however could play Catastrophic Explosion (The Rituals of the Order F82) which wounds each character because it does not target nor specifically designate Carl Stanford, but generically wounds “all characters in play.”

Stories and Struggles

(3.1) Committing to Stories

Once the active player has committed one or more characters to a story, opponents are able to commit their own characters. Opponents are able to commit characters only to stories where the active player has characters.

Stories will resolve only if the active player has characters at that story.

(3.2) Resolving Stories

Resolving struggles and determining success at all three story cards happens all within the same “gray box” on the timing flowchart. Thus, no actions or responses can be triggered between one story’s resolution and the beginning of the next story’s resolution. The only effects players can choose to trigger are Disrupts, however Forced Response effects that apply to the situation must trigger automatically.

Additionally, if a story card is won by any player before it is resolved (i.e., at any point during the story resolution sequence), all success tokens are removed from the story, and all characters are no longer committed to that story. Any remaining steps of the sequence are not resolved.

(3.3) Winning an Icon Struggle

It is possible for a player to win an icon struggle even when his opponent has committed no characters, or characters with that icon, to the struggle. For example, a player would win a Terror struggle if he had committed any characters with one or more Terror icons and his opponent had committed no characters.

(3.4) Story Totals

A player has achieved victory if he has won three or more story cards in his “won” story card pile.

If any card effect shuffles a won story card back into the story deck, that player no longer has that story for the purposes of counting his victory total.

For example, Darrin has won two story cards and needs only one more to win the game. But his opponent then wins the story card Dreamwalkers (Core Set F164), and chooses to activate its effect that allows the opponent to remove one of Darrin’s won story cards and shuffle it back into the story deck. Now Darrin needs two stories to win the game.

Non-story card effects cannot move or cause to be moved a non-won story or conspiracy card into any players won story card pile.

(3.5) Story Resolution

Once stories start resolving, the resolution of all stories is considered a single game effect, and all responses to anything that occurs during story resolution will be played in the same window of opportunity. Disrupts will still interrupt story resolution and take place immediately, as they precede the occurrence being disrupted.

Timing Structure

End of Turn vs. End of Story Phase

If the active player commits no characters to a story, the Story Phase ends immediately.

The End of the Turn is a separate phase that occurs after the Story Phase. The End of the Turn should have its own grey (non-interrupt) box in the timing flowchart.

Action, Disrupt, and Response Effects

Throughout the course of the game’s action windows, players alternate taking player actions. Player actions consist of playing a card from hand, or of triggering a triggered effect on a card already in play.

Disrupt and Response effects are player triggered effects played as a result of the actions that the players take, or as a result of something that occurs because of a game effect. (Such as a character being wounded as the result of a combat struggle, or a player drawing cards during the draw phase.)

Disrupt effects can be played immediately, whenever their play requirement is met, and their resolution precedes the resolution of the occurrence that allowed the disrupt to be triggered.

Response effects are played after the resolution of the action or framework game event that meets their play requirement, but before the next player action is taken, or before the next game event resolves. Any number of responses can be played in response to any occurrence that allows them to trigger, with response opportunities passing back and forth between players, starting with the active player. Once both players consecutively pass a response opportunity, play proceeds to the next action or game effect.

Forced Response effects should always trigger immediately, whenever the circumstances of their text would indicate. These are not player effects, but game effects resolved by the controlling player.

Passive abilities are “always on,” and active whenever the circumstances of their text would indicate. When any action, regardless if it is a player action or a framework action seeks to initiate, any passives that would alter the ability will do so. That altered ability now follows the standard timing of that type of action. At every instance of a new effect initiating or having executed, each relevant passive ability must be resolved. Passive effect cannot be canceled.

The order of precedence of when an effect takes place, assuming all conditions are met simultaneously, is as follows:

1. Disrupt effects
2. Passive effects
3. Forced Response effects
4. Response effects

Disrupt effects can interrupt the resolution of any of the above effects if their conditions have been met, and will resolve completely before the effect they have interrupted does.

NOTE: If a passive ability would alter an action as it is being initiated, the passive is first resolved on the action, which now altered, is initiated. A Disrupt triggered, disrupts the altered action not the action before the passive is applied.

Responses on Cards Leaving Play

Some cards respond to themselves leaving play, self-referentially, or to effects that may cause that card to leave play. Such responses can be triggered as if the card were still in play. Note that only Response or Forced Response effects can be triggered in this manner, and they must respond to leaving play or the effect that causes them to leave play. Cards may not take “one last Action” before they leave play.

For example: The “Response:” effect on Professor Nathaniel Peaslee (Core Set F24) can be triggered in response to Professor Nathaniel Peaslee entering the discard pile from play.

Actions and Responses in Detail

When a player takes an action it is always fully resolved before the next action can be taken. The actual resolution of an action, however, and the state of cards during this process, can be complex. When an action is triggered, it opens an action window governed by the following rules:

1. Action is initiated
2. Disrupts
3. Action is executed
4. Passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated
   I. Passive ability is initiated
   II. Disrupts
   III. Passive ability is executed. (Follow steps I through V, etc.)
   IV. Other passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated.
   V. Forced Responses are initiated.
5. Forced Responses (requirements now met) are initiated
   I. Forced Response ability is triggered.
   II. Disrupts
   III. Forced Response is executed. (Follow steps I through V, etc.)
   IV. Passive abilities are initiated.
   V. Other forced responses (requirements now met) are initiated.
6. Responses
   I. Response is initiated.
   II. Disrupts
   III. Response is executed. (Follow steps I through V, etc.)
   IV. Passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated.
   V. Forced Responses (requirements now met) are initiated.
7. End of Action

Responses

Responses are not normal actions, but are effects that may be triggered by players when a specific opportunity arises within an action window. Each specific response will dictate when and under what circumstances it may be triggered.

Response “Opportunities”

When the requirements (or “play restrictions”) for playing a response are met, the response is said to have an “opportunity.” The first possible opportunity may arise with the very action that started the action window itself, but other opportunities within an action window may arise when other responses, forced responses, and/or passive abilities (executed within the same action window), are resolved.

You can think of opportunities as “gates” that open up, allowing you to play specific responses during an action window. These opportunities (or “gates”) can be acted on during Step 6 and stay open until Step 7, when the action finally ends and the action window closes.

After the action window is entirely resolved (Step 7), the game moves on to the next player action or framework action. Any unused response opportunities (or “open gates”) are now lost, and players holding unused responses must wait for another opportunity during a later action window.

NOTE: There can be no Response actions triggered to “end of phase” effects resolving.

The Action Window in Detail

1) Action is initiated

After a player initiates an action, the timing window starts.
For the initiation stage of any player action, a player must go through the following sub steps, in order. The first step is always revealing the card or declaring the intent to use an ability. Then:
a) Determine the cost (to either play the card or pay for the card’s effect) or costs (if multiple costs are necessary for the intended action).
b) Check play restrictions, including verification and designation of applicable targets or cards to be effected.
c) Apply any penalties to the cost(s). (Any effects that modify a penalty are applied to that penalty before it becomes a part of the cost.)
d) Apply any other active modifiers (including reducers) to the cost(s).
e) Pay the cost(s).
f) Play the card, or trigger the effect, and proceed to step two.

2) Disrupts

In clockwise order, players now have the opportunity to disrupt the action. If all players pass, then the action will be executed, and can no longer be disrupted.

3) Action is executed

The active player now executes the effects of the action. If this action discards or destroys one or more cards, returns one or more cards to a player’s hand or deck, these cards immediately leave play.

4) Passive abilities are initiated

Any passive abilities whose timing requirement has been met as a result of the action (or a disrupt, forced response, or response), are now initiated. As with the action itself, before a passive ability is executed, all players have the option to disrupt the passive ability. If all players pass on the disrupt option, the ability is executed. Remember that if two passive abilities are triggered at the same time, their order of resolution is determined by the active player.

Any cards that are killed, discarded, or returned to hand as a result of the passive ability immediately leave play.

5) Forced Responses

After any passive abilities triggered as a result of the action or disrupt are resolved, forced responses that trigger off the action, the disrupt or passive ability resolved previously during the Action Window now trigger in the order determined by the active player.

For every forced response, players must go through these steps before the response is fully executed:
1) Initiate forced response
2) Disrupt (only for the preceding forced response)
3) Execute forced response
4) Resolve passive abilities whose requirements are now met by the forced response, etc. (following the same steps as Step 4 (I through V of the action window))
5) Resolve forced responses triggered by the force response, etc. (following the same steps as Step 4 (I through V of the action window))
Any cards that are killed, discarded, or returned to a player’s hand as a result of a response are immediately removed.

6) Responses

After all disrupts, passive abilities, and/or forced responses to an action are resolved, players may now play normal responses in clockwise order (starting with the player to the left of the player who initiated the action). As described above, a player may trigger normal responses for any opportunity that has occurred at any time during this Action Window - either spurred from the action itself, disrupts, passive abilities, forced responses, or spurred from other responses, resolved previously during the Action Window.

For every response, players must go through these steps before the response is fully executed:
1) Initiate response
2) Disrupts (only for the preceding response)
3) Execute response
4) Resolve passive abilities whose requirements have been met by the response, etc. (following the same steps as Step 4 (I through V of the action window))
5) Resolve forced responses triggered by the response, etc. (following the same steps as Step 4 (I through V of the action window))
Any cards that are killed, discarded, or returned to a player’s hand as a result of a response immediately leave play.

Step 6 is not over until all players have consecutively passed on taking additional responses.

7) Action is resolved (end of action)

The action is now complete. All response opportunities are now closed.

Framework Actions

All framework actions, including the “start” of every phase, work very similarly to the way that player actions work. Here is the timing resolution for framework actions.

The biggest difference between framework actions and player actions is that the framework action initiates several events dictated by the rules of the game, rather than player choice.

1. Framework Action is initiated
2. Disrupts
3. Framework Action is executed
4. Passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated
   I. Passive ability is initiated
   II. Disrupts
   III. Passive ability is executed. (Follow steps I through V, etc.)
   IV. Other passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated.
   V. Forced Responses (requirements now met) are initiated.
5. Forced Responses (requirements now met) are initiated
   I. Forced Response ability is initiated.
   II. Disrupts
   III. Forced Response is executed. (Follow steps I through V, etc.)
   IV. Passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated.
   V. Other (now triggered) forced responses are initiated.
6. Responses
   I. Response is initiated.
   II. Disrupts
   III. Response is executed. (Follow steps I through V, etc.)
   IV. Passive abilities (requirements now met) are initiated.
   V. Forced Responses (requirements now met) are initiated.
7. End of Framework Action.

Frequently Asked Questions

If Conspiracy Theorist (Summons of the Deep F117) which reads, “Players cannot win the game by winning story cards unless at least one of their won story cards is also a conspiracy card, or unless there are no story cards left in the story deck.” is in play, and is destroyed by a card effect. What happens if both players have 3 story cards in their won piles?

>> The active player is considered to be the winner.

If Samantha Grace (Summons of the Deep F96) which reads, “Each player needs an additional story card in order to win the game.” is in play, and the opposing player runs out of cards in his deck, does her effect prevent the controlling player from winning the game?

>> No. Once the opponent runs out of cards in his deck, he is considered to be removed from the game, and all game effects are ended. Therefore, she does not prevent the controlling player from winning.

If Y’Golonac (Core Set F122) which reads: “... Action: Pay 1 to choose and ready a character. That character must commit to the same story as Y’Golonac, if able.” uses his ability during the Story Phase after both attackers and defenders have committed their characters to stories, does the effect force the targeted character to commit to the same story as Y’Golonac?

>> No. Y’Golonac’s ability does not create an additional window through which characters can be committed to stories. If anything (including game effects) prevents a player from fulfilling the entire effect of an “if able” clause, that effect is ignored.

Also, it is important to note that Y’Golonac’s ability to ready a character exists independently of his ability to force characters to commit to the same story as himself. Therefore, he is able to target a ready character with this ability, and even though the first part (ready a character) does not resolve, the second part of the effect does resolve as long as there is nothing preventing them from committing to the same story.

If I have a Military Bike (Summons of the Deep F102) which reads: “... Disrupt: After a story to which attached character is committed resolves, exhaust Military Bike to immediately re-commit attached character to another unresolved story” and am the defending player, am I able to commit the attached character to an unresolved story where the attacker has not committed characters?

>> No, the defending player may not commit characters to stories where the attacking player has not committed characters to.

Can I ready Insane characters during my Refresh Phase?

>> No, Insane is a state like Ready and Exhausted. Insane characters that are not restored cannot be Ready or Exhausted.

If I take control of a character which has an attachment on it, do I take control of the attachment as well?

>> No, the attachment is not under your control.

Does the game end the instant a player places a fifth token on his third won story (unless there are some game extending conditions) or is there an opportunity to respond with something like Field Researcher (Summons of the Deep F103) after an opponent wins his/her third story?

>> The game ends immediately and the player who placed his fifth success token on the story is the winner.

When does the player who controls Chess Prodigy (Summons of the Deep F25) name what struggle is being replaced?

>> The player who controls Chess Prodigy names the struggle after Chess Prodigy is committed to a story. After the struggle type is named, the replacement effect (counting Investigation icons instead of that struggle’s normal icons) will resolve even if Chess Prodigy has been uncommitted from the story or leaves play. Once an effect has been initiated it must be resolved (unless it is a triggered effect that has been canceled by a disrupt).

What happens if Chess Prodigy (Summons of the Deep F25) is committed to a story that has a Parallel Universe (Summons of the Deep F98) attached?

>> In this scenario, Parallel Universe’s effect will take precedence. This is because Chess Prodigy will change the icon that the struggle will use, but Parallel Universe decides that the struggle will use skill instead of any icons.

If there is a Book of Eibon (Summons of the Deep F34)in play, and a player wins and triggers the Obsessive Research story, what happens?

>> Each player will draw until he has 8 cards in hand, then each player will discard down to 5 cards.

Does Guardian Pillar’s (Dreamlands F78) ability allow it to be committed outside of the normal phase when characters can be committed to stories?

>> No, Guardian Pillar’s ability allows it to be committed as a character to a story. This is during the normal timing window when characters are committed to stories. Also, it is important to note that Guardian Pillar is no longer a support card while it is a character, and that it does retain its name and uniqueness.

Can Horrid Dreams (Dreamlands F84) force my opponent to sacrifice resources if he has no characters or support cards in play?

>> No. This is because resources are considered out of play.

Can I use Twilight Gate (Dreamlands F12) to put an Ancient One character into play from my resources because cards are considered to have a blank text box while resourced?

>> No. This is because Twilight Gate specifically names a non-Ancient One character resourced to one of your domains.

Some cards use the term “when” and others use the term “after” for their timing (ie. When this character commits versus After this character commits). Is this a timing distinction?

>> No. For all timing purposes, these cards should operate in the same timing window.

Can I trigger The Captain’s (Dreamlands F21)Action at a story he is committed to in order to double count his icons and skill at that story?

>> No. You cannot trigger The Captain’s ability to have his icons and skill count twice at a story, whether if its used at a story he’s already committed to, or if the action is triggered twice at the same story.

If I use Hound of Tindalos’s (Core F110) triggered effect to attach it to a character (which makes it into an Attachment support card), and it is destroyed, does it count as a character or support card leaving play?

>> The Hound of Tindalos will count as a support card leaving play. However, it will revert to a character once it is in the discard pile.

How does Yog-Sothoth, Lord of Time and Space’s (The Yuggoth Contract F99) triggered ability which reads, “Action: Pay 2 to choose and play a Spell event card from your discard pile without paying its cost. Then, place that card on the bottom of your deck” interact with X cost Spell event cards in the owner’s discard pile ? Would Yog-Sothoth be able to pay 2 to choose a copy of Unspeakable Resurrection in the discard pile to bring a character of any cost into play from the discard pile?

>> Yog-Sothoth interacts with X cost spell event cards in the discard pile by circumventing the cost of X being paid entirely. However, because the cost of X is not paid, X is defined as 0 for the purposes of card effects that reference it.

For example, if I use Yog-Sothoth’s triggered ability and pay 2 in order to play from my discard pile Unspeakable Resurrection (which costs X), which reads “Action: Choose a character in your discard pile with cost X or lower. Put that character into play.” I can only put into play a character that costs 0 because I circumvented paying the cost of the card.

If I pay 2 to trigger Yog Sothoth’s (The Yuggoth Contract F99) ability and target a spell event card in my discard pile that then says: “attach to a character,” does it still return to the bottom of my deck (as stated on Yog Sothoth) or does it stay in play?

>> The card is returned to the bottom of the deck, per Yog Sothoth’s ability which reads, “Action: Pay 2 to choose and play a Spell event card from your discard pile without paying its cost. Then, place that card on the bottom of your deck.” The subtype or card type do not prevent the rest of Yog Sothoth’s effect from resolving.

When I play Things in the Ground’s triggered ability to bring characters into play insane, does willpower or terror icons protect them from being insane?

>> No. These characters enter play in an insane state before Willpower or Terror Icons can prevent them from going insane.

Expendable Muscle (Summons of the Deep F105)reads, “If Expendable Muscle would be wounded or go insane, instead attach it to a character you control…” If Expendable Muscle attaches to a character you control due to its own ability, is this considered to be a character leaving play for the purposes of Dreamlands Fanatic (Dreamlands F47), which reads “Response: After an opponent’s character leaves play, put Dreamlands Fanatic into play from your hand.”?

>> No. Expendable Muscle is never considered to have left play. It has become an attachment support card. Therefore, Dreamlands Fanatic will not trigger.

What happens when Expendable Muscle (Summons of the Deep F105)and another friendly character are committed to a story where all characters are wounded simultaneously by Dynamite (Summons of the Deep F42)?

>> Expendable Muscle’s ability is a passive replacement effect. Expendable Muscle’s ability replaces Dynamite’s wounding effect with an “attach to a character you control” effect for Expendable Muscle. So when Dynamite finishes resolving Expendable Muscle becomes an Attachment support card that grants Toughness +1, and attaches it to a character you control. You could not however attach it to any other character that was wounded by Dynamite since they have all received their wounds at the same time that Expendable muscle becomes an Attachment support card.

Can you Power Drain (Core F100) an opponent’s Power Drain?

>> No. Power Drain is a Disrupt, and the card effect only cancels Actions or Responses just played.

How does Doppelgänger (The Yuggoth Contract F79) work when copying a character with an ability that triggers when it enters play, like Focused Art Student (The Yuggoth Contract F8)?

>> Doppelgänger reads, “When you play Doppelgänger from your hand, choose a non-unique character in play with printed cost X or lower. Doppelgänger becomes a printed copy of that character.”

So, in this example, if there was a Focused Art Student in play and I wanted to play Doppelgänger and copy the Focused Art Student (which has a printed cost of 2), I would drain a domain with 2 resources (1 of which was Yog-Sothoth because it is still a Yog-Sothoth card at this point), and choose the Focused Art Student to copy. The card then enters play as the Focused Art Student, and the triggered ability, “Response: After Focused Art Student enters play, draw 1 card.” will trigger. Note that Doppelgänger ignores loyalty and steadfast of the character it copies because its copying effect takes place after costs are paid and those restrictions are checked. Once the Doppelganger has copied a character, it remains as a copy of that character (including cost, faction, icons, skill, triggered abilities and subtypes) until it leaves play. If Doppelgänger goes insane, it is treated as though it was the card it copied gone insane. This means that it still retains the card title of the copied card, even though the rest of the card is still treated the same as a normal insane character.

Can Doppelganger copy an insane character?

>> No. Doppelgänger reads, “When you play Doppelganger from your hand choose a non-unique character in play. X is equal to the printed cost of that character.” and insane characters have no printed cost there is no way to determine the cost to play Doppelganger. Thus, Doppelganger cannot copy a an insane character.

When playing Bloodbath (The Yuggoth Contract F102), which reads: “Action: During all struggles this turn, the player who wins this struggle may wound an additional character committed to that story for each struggle he won the struggle by.” which player chooses characters to wound? Can I divide up the extra wounds between characters however I want?

>> The player who wins the combat struggle chooses which characters get wounded. That player may choose to distribute the wounds however he wants among characters committed to that story, as long as it is legal. This does mean that a player can, for instance, put two wounds on the same character with no toughness (because the wounds are dealt simultaneously), if he wants to. However, he cannot choose to wound a character with Invulnerability.

If my opponent wins the story The Well (Secrets of Arkham F60), but both of us have no other already won stories in our won piles does the second effect still trigger and destroy all the Day and Night cards in play?

>> No. The Well has an If/Then statement, which requires the first part (each player shuffling 1 won story, other than The Well, back into the story deck) before the second effect will trigger (destroying all Day and Night cards in play).

What happens to success tokens that are on Silver Twilight Collector when this character goes insane? Do they get discarded or do they stay on the card?

>> After a character goes insane it loses any tokens placed on it or any cards attached to it. When a character with 1 or more wound tokens goes insane it is immediately destroyed.

Can Neutral Ground (The Order of the Silver Twilight F15) blank the text box of Guardian Pillar (Dreamlands F78)?

>> Yes, but it will have no practical effect. When Guardian Pillar’s controller uses the Support’s passive effect in its printed text box to exhaust it to a story as a character with 4 skill, , and Invulnerability, Neutral Ground would then blank the printed text box but that would not alter the lasting effect on Guardian Pillar that makes it a character, grants it skill, icons, or keywords.

If a character card is attached to Twisted Choreographer (Rituals of Order F26) in another way than the its response, does it gain the icons of theses character’s cards.

>> Yes. If an opponent were to attach Hound of Tindalos (Core F110) to Twisted Choreographer to give it -4 skill Twisted Choreographer would gain the icons of the Hound of Tindalos.

What is an effect?

>> The word effect refers to different things depending on the context. Game effects are when the game rules cause something to happen. Card effects are when the text on a card causes something to happen. Generically, when a card text, refers to an effect it is referring to a card effect unless otherwise stated in the card text. For example, Underground Asylum (F7) reads, “Disrupt: Exhaust Underground Asylum and pay 1 to cancel an effect that would cause a character to go insane.” It specifies an effect that would make a character go insane so any non-passive effect that would make a character go insane could be canceled, including the game effect of losing a struggle. (see Card Effect vs. Game Effect, FAQ)

Are stories triggered effects?

>> No. All triggered effects begin with a bold word denoting what kind of triggered effect they are, when and how they may be triggered. Stories without this bold trigger word are passive effects. Passive effects will state if there are a particular timing restriction to when they initiate and how to resolve that effect. This can be referred to as a trigger for the cards passive effect, but it does not make the story effect (or any passive effect on any other type of card) a triggered effect (see Passive Effects, FAQ. see Triggered Effects, Rulebook.)

If Julia Brown, Oddly Amphibious (Summons of the Deep F107) is put into play by Julia Brown, Insomniac (Summons of the Deep F17) ability, must I discard 2 cards and draw 2 others?

>> No. Julie Brown, Oddly Amphibious forced response is responding to the action of being committed from a non-committed state. In this case she went from out of play into a committed state.

Julia Brown, Oddly Amphibious (Summons of the Deep F107), reads, “Forced Response: After Julia Brown commits to a story, discard 2 cards at random from your hand, then draw 2 cards.” If I have only 1 card in hand when I commit her, must I discard this card or not ? Can I draw 2 cards ?

>> Yes you must discard your 1 card. You must seek to fulfill as much of a card’s effect as possible. Since cards are drawn or discarded singularly you must discard cards in your hand until you have reached the maximum of 2 for this effect. However, since the next part of Julia’s effect is a “Then” statement, because you were unable to successfully discard 2 cards you may not draw any cards.

When Cats of Ulthar (Dreamlands F116) come into play committed to a story have to be put into play exhausted or readied?

>> Cats of Ulthar, and any card that comes into play committed, or otherwise commits to a story outside of the commit characters window of the Story Phase does so without having to exhaust unless another effect forces it to do so.

What happens if I use Repo Man (Summons of the Deep F41) to take control of Infernal Obsession (Summons of the Deep F51) which was attached to a character I own?

>> Repo Man takes control of Infernal Obsession, which causes that original character to revert to your control. Infernal Obsession is now discarded.

Can I use Whateley’s Diary (Forgotten Lore F77)to move 5 success tokens on Ritual of Summoning and 5 more success tokens on Ritual of the Lance, to automatically win 2 stories?

>> No. Whateley’s Diary asks for you to redistribute your success tokens onto story cards in play. Redistribute means to take from one set of sources and place them in new amounts amongst that same set of sources.

If there are two attachments in play, can Soothsayer (Secrets of Arkham F10) gain two different icons, say a terror and a combat, or does she only gain the same icon regardless of the number of attachments in play?

>> Soothsayer reads, “Response: After Soothsayer commits to a story, Soothsayer gains an icon of your choice until the end of the phase for each Attachment card in play.” It allows you to choose a single icon and then it gains one instance of that icon for each Attachment card in play.

If there are two attachments in play, can the Soothsayer (Secrets of Arkham F10) gain two different icons, for example a terror and a combat, or does she only gain the same icon regardless of the number of attachments in play?

>> With Soothsayer when you commit it to a story you choose a struggle icon. It gains that icon once for each attachment in play. If you choose Combat and there are five attachments in play it gains .

What happens if Museum Curator (The Yuggoth Contract F70) reveals an Attachment support card but there is no legal target for the card?

>> If there are no legal targets for the Attachment the card cannot be put into play.

When my opponent plays Painful Reflection (The Rituals of Order F106) and chooses me, do I discard at random or do I get to choose the cards?

>> You get to choose which cards you discard.

If I have Basilisk (Dreamlands F96) in play and it is the end of my turn, if I have no characters in play that can be wounded do I have to sacrifice Basilisk?

>> Yes. The Forced Response makes you choose one of the two choices presented but if you cannot legally attempt to fulfill one of the choices, you must choose the other.

What happens if I use the Action of Twila Katherine Price, Lost in a Dream (Dreamlands F3) when she is committed to The Seventh Gate (Ancient Relics F12)?

>> Twila Katherine Price cannot trigger her ability at The Seventh Gate because it would cause an un-won story card to be moved into the won pile of her controller.

Can I sacrifice Aziz Chatuluka (Ancient Relics F15) to put Cthulhu (Core F41) into play if all my domains are already drained?

>> Yes. Aziz directs you to drain all undrained domains, so if all domains are already drained then you have satisfied this requirement.

Can put Khopesh of the Abyss on a character with Invulnerability for unlimited wounding?

>> No. The ability of Khopesh of the Abyss cannot be triggered on a character with Invulnerability. Invulnerability states, “Characters with Invulnerability cannot be wounded or chosen to be wounded, or have wound tokens moved or placed on them, regardless of card effects.” Cannot is an absolute in game terms. Any card effect that seeks to specifically wound a character with Invulnerability cannot be triggered. Since the attached character cannot legally be wounded and it is a single effect that seeks to wound both characters, the entire effect fails.

If I use Rabbit’s Foot (Summons of the Deep F4) does my Hapless Graduate Student (Summons of the Deep F23) go insane?

>> No. Draw from a game effect standpoint is taking the top card of your deck and putting it in your hand, and uses the specific word “draw.” Revealing the top card of your deck and then putting it into your hand is not considered drawing a card.

If I have Catastrophic Explosion (The Rituals of the Order F82) in my hand and only one undrained domain, with 4 Agency cards attached can I choose the value of X to be 3 or any other value below 4?

>> Yes. If X for the cost of playing a card is not defined by the card text or by some other card’s effect, X is set/defined by the player, when the card is being played. Over paying for it is no different than overpaying for any card cost.

If a card requires something like “destroy all Day cards, then...” is it possible to satisfy this requirement if there were no Day cards in play at the time? In other words, can you destroy 0 cards?

>> Yes. The requirement is to destroy all, whatever number that is, including 0, as long as you have done that the “then” effect will trigger. If a card gave a set number, you would have to meet that number.

What happens if I play a Neutral card with Professor Lake (Forgotten Lore F3) out?

>> Professor Lake reads, “Forced Response: After a player plays a card, until the end of the phase that player can only play cards that belong to a different faction than that card.” Neutral cards belong to no faction so any card with a faction would qualify as a card of a different faction. You could not play another neutral card however since the result returned by the check would be identical, of no faction, and hence could not be of a different faction. The neutral card must be played first for the same reason, if I played a Miskatonic card first, a neutral card would not be able to return a check of a different faction (as no faction is not a faction, and therefore not a different faction), so would be illegal to play.

Can I use a card effect to uncommit Obsessive Inmate from a story?

>> Yes. “Does not uncommit” in this case is preventing Obsessive Inmate from uncommitting by normal game effects, but card effects will be able to uncommit it.

If my opponent’s Stygian Eye (Ancient Relics F96) leaves play and I have a Snow Graves (Forgotten Lore F15) attached to his discard pile does this prevent Stygian Eye from being shuffled back into his deck?

>> Yes it does. Stygian Eye reads, “After Stygian Eye leaves play, shuffle it into its owner’s deck.” Since the passive effect does not initiate until after it has left play it must be placed in the discard pile. Snow Graves reads, “Cards cannot be moved out of attached discard pile for any reason.” This prevents Stygian Eye’s passive from being able to resolve.

If I trigger Dreamlands Fanatic’s (Dreamlands F47) response to put it into play what happens if my opponent cancels the effect with Power Drain (Core Set F100)?

>> Because Power Drain is a Disrupt it resolves before the effect that puts Dreamlands Fanatic into play, so the effect is canceled and the card remains in your hand. Note: this does not prevent you from triggering Dreamlands Fanatic a second time.

I know Story card’s effects are able to be initiated by the player who won that story but are all Conspiracy cards worded like Story cards?

>> Conspiracy cards effects indicate if the effect is initiated upon winning the conspiracy. If they do not indicate the effect is optionally triggered upon winning, then the effect is a passive effect that is always active and resolves as indicated on the card. NOTE: Conspiracy cards are not considered to have a controller, and any instance of the word “you” or “your” refers to all players.

Can I lose an icon struggle if I have no characters committed to that story?

>> Yes. The story icons still resolve and if you did not win the icon struggle but your opponent did, you are considered the loser of that struggle.

Can I use Forms of the Ether (Ancient Relics F39) to choose my opponent’s resource and put it to my hand? Does my Forms of the Ether attach to his domain or my domain?

>> Forms of the Ether “Action: Choose a card attached to a domain as a resource. Put that card into its owner’s hand and attach Forms of the Ether to that domain (counts as a resource).” will allow you to choose a card attached to an opponent’s domain. However, that card will go to its owners hand since the card is not explicit that it targets an opponent’s card and brings it your hand (which is how it would need to be phrased to invoke the Golden Rule). Because the card does explicitly state that Forms of the Ether attaches to the same domain as the previous card it will attach itself to that domain, the same way a card that says “attach to an opponent’s discard pile” would allow a card you own to attach itself to their discard pile.

If my opponent returns my Uroborus, Fang of Yig (Revelations F3) to my hand can I trigger his response effect to put him back into play?

>> Yes, if Uroborus is sent back to hand, you could trigger his response effect to put him back into play since the first opportunity to play the response would be after the return to hand effect has completely resolved and Uroborus is now in your hand.

Can I trigger Corrupted Midwife (Revelations F51) to play a character from my discard pile outside of the operations phase?

>> No. Corrupted Midwife reads, “Action: Exhaust Corrupted Midwife to choose 1 character in your discard pile. Play that character as if it were in your hand as your next action.” Because you cannot play characters from your hand at anytime other than your operations phase, her ability does not get around this rule.

If I control Library of Pergamum (Revelations F39) and a character I control would be wounded and destroyed by Shotgun (Core F14)could I use the Library’s ability to cancel Shotgun?

>> No. The Library of Pergamum, can only cancel an effect that would directly destroy a Tome card, not an effect which destroys the character that your Tome card was attached to which would afterwards then cause your Tome card to be destroyed by a game rule.

If I use Alyssa Graham’s ability during the draw phase on my opponent to discard a card does my opponent get to draw another card? What if I use it on my turn to disrupt my draw to put a card on the top of my discard pile, do I get to draw that card?

>> A draw effect works in two parts, first is the initiation of the effect and then the execution which adds the top card to that player’s hand. Alyssa Graham’s ability triggers after a the card draw effect has been initiated but disrupts the act of adding the top card of a player’s hand. If the card that is supposed to be added to that player’s hand is discarded the draw effect has not been canceled or replaced so they would still add the “new” top card of the deck to his hand. The same goes for you disrupting your own draw and placing the top card of your discard pile on top of your draw deck. When the draw effect executes, the top card of your deck (the card that had been the top card in your discard pile) is now added to your hand.

Can Hamu XX 15:14 return itself to its owner’s hand using it response ability?

>> Hamu XX 15:14 will not be able to return itself given the order of framework actions. Targets for Hamu XX 15:14 are choosen in step b of its resolution. However Hamu XX 15:14 isn’t in the discard (from the payment for the effect) until step e.

How does Living Mummy interact with the Necronomicon (Olaus Wormius Translation)?

>> A Forced Response is resolved as soon as the entire effect it is responding to resolves. So Living Mummy’s effect will resolve after the Necronomicon’s ability resolves, completely.

In the Detailed Turn Sequence chart on P.13 of the core set rulebook, there is no mention of step “5. Determine Success”. Is this step also in the same green box with the icon struggles in the Turn Sequence chart?

>> The chart on page 13 is intended to show the breaking up of game and player actions while the written section starting with page 8 is the turn sequence which seeks to give the information on how to play/resolve each phase and subsections of a phase. On page nine there is a detailed breakdown for Story Card.
On page 10 that section reads, “Determine Success.” This shows that determining success is part of resolving the story card, so would be included within that green box as resolving the struggles.

If Master of Myth’s enters play via its ability, then is driven insane (e.g. by Hanyatl’s 7:13), does it go back to the hand at the end of the turn?

>> Yes. The effect on Master of Myth’s creates a lasting effect that will resolve regardless of whether it is sane or insane, as long as the card is in play.

Is it possible for the defending player to succeed at a story?

>> No. The skill check is to determine whether or not the active player is successful. If the inactive player has equal or greater skill than the active player he has kept the active player from succeeding at the stroy, but has not himself been successful.

If a card copies another card’s text or effect and the text includes self-references (i.e. the card’s title) is it replaced by the card’s title that is copying the effect?

>> Copying a character’s text box does just that. All examples of a card’s name remain unaltered, and as such refers to cards of that name only.