CUTTHROAT CAVERNS: FAQ
Even though the game is cutthroat, a discussion of the finer points of the rules shouldn't be. Hope these answers put an end to the brawling...

Cutthroat Caverns & Deeper and Darker FAQ: Updated 2/2/08

GENERAL RULES CLARIFICATIONS:

Can you post a flow chart for all the steps in the game?

Begin a New Encounter:

Discard (optional) and Draw up to "max hand"

Flip Encounter

Draw Initiative for 1st round

Players wishing to take Potions must do so.

Round Begins:

Set Attack Cards

Player Turn Begins:

Attack Card revealed/resolved

Succesful Attack(s) added to damage stack

Check if Encounter is dead

Player turn ends

Repeat until all players complete a Turn

Party's turn ends

Resolve 'Specific' Creature Attacks

Draw initiative for next round

Resolve 'Initiative-Based' Creature Attacks

Draw one card (not to exceed "max hand")

Round Ends

Repeat until Encounter is defeated

Prestige awarded

Advance 'Round Marker' bead

Encounter Ends

Table Talk:
I didn't see anything in the rules that allowed, forbade, suggested, or otherwise opined in any way whether or not players should discuss what attack cards they are going to play. The closest I could find is "This card remains hidden (and secret) until your Turn." which implies that you shouldn't discuss it. Can you confirm this? (Some of my players wanted to negotiate and probably lie about the cards being played.)

It is not 'officially' called out anywhere, only implied that you shouldn't as you pointed out. Most of the time, people will not wish to openly discuss what card they are playing - or not without lying anyway. And I think most players would be extremely wary that they were being lied to... but that has implications for their ongoing relationship in the game as well.

In any case, when we run events at conventions, we do not allow discussions about having or not having specific cards, nor do we allow people to flash their hands to others to start a negotiation. We do allow table talk negotiations in more general terms. So if you are facing the Arc Mages, you can say that (as Player #1) you are doing the best possible as a good party member (we assume a 0 attack). The next player may say something like "I wish I could do better, but it isn't horrible" (we assume a 20-30). We do this to avoid the harsher feelings of having a player really feel ganged up upon, which is the inevitable conclusion to most negotiations of this sort and we do frown on that.

That said, you may house rule it anyway that your group feels makes the experience better.

Regarding Encounters who trigger on players 'who did
the least amount of damage' and related erratta...

Feint, Slip Behind and Focus Strength are all Attacks that do not 'Hit' nor do damage.

Poke with a Stick is an Attack that 'Hits' and counts as doing actual damage to a creature (ie more than 0) even if the damage done is 0.

Therefore, as it relates to The Lurker, for example, who 'strikes the player who HIT it for the least amount of damage', only Poke with a Stick would cause it to attack that player out of the four cards mentioned above.

NOTE: the RALLY Action Card states that it can be played on any Attack Card. This includes all of the 0 damage cards mentioned above. If a Feint, Slip Behind or Focus Strength is Rallied, it adds 20 damage to that Attack Card - which now counts as both a 'Hit' and damage for 20 this turn. The 'Next Turn' effects would go off as normal next turn.

NOTE: Successful vs Unsuccessful Attacks. A successful attack occurs when a player reveals his attack and plays it normally. An unsuccessful attack is one that is either prevented from being played by Edge Out or
cancelled (a miss) by Critical Miss. The Attack Cards effected by these two Action Cards are discarded immediately.
The attacks are effectively ignored by creatures. They neither 'Hit' nor do damage and are not considered '0' damage attacks.

So, in a case like ARC MAGES, if you wanted to stop a player from successfully attacking the Mages by throwing a Critical Miss on their attack, Arc Mages would ignore that player in the chain. So if they couldn't play a card with more damage than the last, you could save the party by cancelling the attack.
This is also true if they played a card that was higher than the last attack - but was too high for your tastes (ie. player 2 throwing a 100 damage card,
which would doom everyone else). The 100 could be Critical Missed and ignored by the creature, effectively skipping onto the next player.
*** THE ARC MAGES card text has been erratted to read
"If a player's successful attack does not do more damage than the last..." to make this more clear.

Poke with a Stick vs Feint: Or when is 0 greater than 0?
Consider it 'emotional damage' that hurts - but not physically. While they both have 0 values, Poke with Stick does 'more' damage because it 'counts' as inflicting ACTUAL damage. So, yeah, against the Arc Mages you could play Poke with Stick after someone played Feint without causing the Mages to attack.

ENCOUNTER CARDS: Creature Attacks: Specific Player: In determining which player the creature will attack, all damage comparisons (who did the most damage, least, first, last, etc.) refer to damage done THIS ROUND rather than any previous rounds. For example, 'The first character to damage it' means 'The first character to damage the monster this round'.

ENCOUNTER CARDS: Creature Attacks with Effects: Some creature attacks have additional effects tied to the damage they inflict. Ripper, for example, removes a card from the damaged player's hand at random. These are not two seperate events but aspects of one event. The effect is always connected to the damage. This means if you avoid the damage and send it to someone else, they take the damage and the effect. It also means that there is no 'timing' or 'stacking' of effects. So if you are hit with Ripper and hold a Counter Strike, you take damage and lose a card - then you may respond with Counter Strike (if you still have it).

ATTACK CARDS: Halving and Doubling Damage: Some cards and effects in the game cause a player's attacks to become halved or doubled. Though not explicitly stated in the rules, the numbers on the sides of the cards are intended for this purpose. Turning an Attack Card clockwise will show 'half damage' and turning an Attack Card upside down will show 'double damage'. It should be noted that some Attack Values do not divide in half easily (5, 25). You don't have to keep fractions in your head. The damage in the 'half damage' side of the card has been rounded for you (0, 15)

POTION CARDS: Tipping a potion means rotating it clockwise 90 degrees as a sign that it is being used. Once a potion has been tipped it may not be stolen, discarded, or affected by any other game effect until the potion has run its course. Potions come in two varieties. Instantaneous duration potions which are used up immediately after they are tipped. Lasting potions have a continuous effect with a duration listed on their card. Lasting potions get tipped 90 degrees when first used and another 90 degrees at the start of each subsequent Round until their duration expires and they are removed from play. Potion effects do not carry over to the next Encounter.

TIMING: PLAYER TIES: If two players ever attempt to act at the EXACT same time (Special Abilities or Action Cards for example), the player with the lowest Initiative has priority (Player 1 goes before Player 2).

So, if a Monster has a RANDOM attack, why do we wait til the next Initiative Draw? Wouldn't striking the current Player #2 (or whatever) be simpler? More simple, yes. But knowing who is about to get hit during the Round is an unfair advantage. To keep it random, it must remain unknown until the end of the Round. Yeah, we could have added a random draw just for the monster's attack - but why do it twice in a row? So instead the attack is postponed until the Next Initiative Draw.

If a round ends before all attack cards are revealed, what happens to face down cards?
Yeah, sorry... This was not particularly clear in the rules. Set attack cards that have not been used are discarded at the end of a round. The same is true of an attack that is Edged Out.

Once players are dead - do Initiative cards get discarded down to the appropriate number of players? Yes. It is not stated in the rules, but that is the case.

What happens if a creature with a Random Attack no longer has a target because the Initiative Card is no longer in play? If a creature is due Random attacks on the party, but the Initiative cards which would have determined the targets of those attacks have been removed due to players dying, the attacks will still occur on the remaining living characters. Substitute 'first player(s) in the initiative' or 'last player(s) in the inititative' as appropriate.
Example: In a 5 player game, only one player is alive - facing a creature with two Random attacks, Player #1 for 10pts and Player #2 for 10pts. The last man standing will take both attacks, being both the first and last in the initiative.
Example: In a 3 player game, when one player has died and the other two are facing Medusa... Medusa should be hitting Player #3, but that Initiative card is no longer being used. Medusa will hit "the last player in Initiative" (player #2) consistent with the fact that it normally would hit Player #3 (the last player in a three player game).

Some encounters have counters representing multiple targets - like Wolf Pack, The Boogens and Hydra. If a player does 80 points of damage to a token, does the remainder spill over to other tokens?
No. There is no spill over damage for whacking one creature really hard. However, 'Double Strike' and 'Counter Strike' are particularly effective in these types of encounters because they do allow for two separate attacks, which can have different targets.

In the case of the Boogens, if I Double Strike or Counter Strike and the first hit removes my last Boogen token. Can I use the second strike to hit the Chieftan?
You bet.

I play a Double Strike, draw a card and then play two attack cards – one of which is another Double Strike. How many attacks do I get?
That would be a total of three that could land and do damage this turn. Note that if one of the attack cards is Focus Strength or Slip Behind, the attack bonus resolves on your next turn, not on one of your two remaining attacks.

Slip Behind + Double Strike Combo Question
Someone plays Slip Behind during his turn and the next turn plays Double Strike. Does Slip Behind double the 0 value of the Double Strike card or does it double the value of the first of the two drawn cards (or both)? Slip behind doubles the attack value of your next Attack Card. Double Strike replaces itself with two separate Attack Cards. Slip Behind doubles the first of the two.

Edge Out + Mixed Signals Combo Question:
Player A plays an Edge Out card on Player B. Player B mmediately plays a Mixed Signals card. Which of the following sequences of events (if any) are correct?
1) Player B must discard his attack card immediately and cannot play the Mixed Signals card because he no longer has an attack card.
2) Player B must discard his attack card immediately and then play his Mixed Signals card. Player A now gives his card to Player B. Neither can attack this round because Player A has no card and Player B forfeits his turn this round.
3) Player B swaps cards with Player A and then discards the attack card. Player A now uses Player B's attack card that he received in the swap. Scenario 2 is correct.

In token-based encounters, how does Alchemist’s Fire work?
Thirty points of damage is immediately assessed on all tokens, removing them if that meets or exceeds their total LP. You will simply have to remember to add 30 to each token in your head as your try to kill the remaining tokens. (Note: In the Boogens encounter, the Chieftan does not get hit. He is as far back from the effect as the person who threw the card in the first place.) Also note that the card must be played on the owner’s turn. It does not count as their attack so they may still strike normally before or after using Alchemist’s Fire.

Is 'Alchemist's Fire' an "Attack"? ie, if a player has been 'Tripped' or 'Critically Missed' can 'Alchemist's Fire' still be used?
Good question. Thematically, I see what you are driving at - but no, Alchemist Fire is not an 'attack' and therefore can be used regardless, before or after the Action cards mentioned above.

Are item cards considered to be part of your "hand"? Do you count them when drawing back up to 7 cards? If so, can you discard them? Do you shuffle them in with the rest of your hand on encounters like Trap Room? Can you loose them to the Ripper encounter?

Items are not a part of your hand and are not counted when drawing cards. In fact, because you must play them immediately, they are never part of your hand. They can not be discarded. They are not shuffled in an encounter like Trap Room and the Ripper can't get them.

Please clarify when I can use items.
With only a two exceptions, Item Cards/Potions can only be used between encounters, not during one. Once a creature is dead and before the first attack card is revealed in the next encounter, there is a window of opportunity to use Items and Potions. So yes, you can die while holding a Healing Potion. And yes, you should wait to see what the next encounter is before deciding. The two exceptions are the aforementioned Alchemist's Fire which can be used on your turn during an encounter and Amulet of Mentalism which has a continuous effect.

What happens to Items a player holds when he dies?
Well, the official rule is that they are removed from the game. That said, if all players are in agreement beforehand, Items can either be shuffled back into the draw deck after their owner dies – or loot the body, doing an initiative draw and choosing from the Items in Initiative order.

BONUS POINT ROUNDS: We're realizing that the game often comes down to the last encounter, in that whoever wins it generally wins the game. When play testing, was it a problem making the bonus prestige smaller? I was considering going +1, +2, +3 instead of 3,3,5. It just seems like it's too much. I can rock the beginning then lose in a heartbeat. This makes the rest of the game seem to matter much less. First off, I encourage the idea of 'house rules' in any game you own. In the end, it is your game and tailoring it or experimenting with it for your particular play group can only extend the enjoyment of the game. So long as everyone agrees with the house rule at the outset. ----- That said, we experimented with a lot of scenarios as it related to the 'end game'. Far worse than the situation you outlined was having a runaway leader that no one could hope to catch. In terms of pure enjoyment, having people know that there was still hope for them throughout the game was extremely important, which is why you see the types of bonus points that you do. -------- In terms of the rest of the game 'not mattering as much' because many games come down to the last two or three encounters, I would say only this... there are two conditions to winning. You have to have the most critters - and you have to LIVE. What matters about the first Encounters is not only how many of them you score, but how much of a beating you took and what enemies you've made. I've seen just as many games go to the second or third player in the prestige race - simply because the leaders died before the end of the game (many times at the hands of the other players). Plus, you may see some balancing factors come in

Can you clarify Opportunity Fire?
Sure. Essentially, you get two attacks – one now and one later as you step in front of someone else to attack again. So you draw a card and immediately play an attack on the monster. Then you take a second attack card and place it face down in front of another player. Your second attack will resolve before that player reveals their attack card.

If I played Focus Strength last turn and then this turn attack for 40, and then someone plays Tougher Than He Looks, how much damage do I do. In other words, does Focus Strength's +30 also get rotated down? Yes. Technically, the way it works is this... the 30 points of damage done by Focus Strength is added to your next attack (which is 40). So when Tougher Than He Looks goes off on that 70 point attack, both cards rotate down to show the diminished impact.

PLAN 'B': Can I use PLAN B to switch Initiative Cards with someone - so that they get hit by the Monster's Initiative-based attack instead of me? Nope. You can switch Initiative Cards only after any random attacks are assigned and before the first Attack Card is revealed that Round. This is an 'offensive' card meant to aid you in positioning your attack, not a 'defensive' card to keep you from being hit.

After the encounter deck is done, if there is a tie and the tie-breaking encounter is the Blood Mage, Necromancer, or Bugaboo, can that encounter extend the match beyond ten rounds by adding more monsters to the encounter deck (even if the tie is broken after the tie-breaking encounter)?
They would have to battle their way through all of the remaining encounters produced by these creatures - and survive.

Not so tough: I'm assuming you choose which end to play when you play the card, right? I don't think the rules say, but this seems to be what is intended. You are correct.

Amulet of Mentalism: this implies that there is a maximum hand size in the game (since it gives you a maximum hand size of 8). The rules just note that you draw up to 7 at the start of an encounter and draw one each round thereafter. They don't imply a maximum hand size (that I remember) except when drawing up for an encounter. Since effects can make you lose your turn or skip an attack, it seems to be possible to end up with more than the normal 7 card allotment (by being forced to skip an attack while continuing to draw). Do you have to discard when you get more than 7 cards normally? Good question. It is perhaps not as well defined because in two years of playtesting, it just didn't happen alot. Players normally will not end up with more than seven cards, especially when people tend to play more than one card a round - but it can happen. We have not forced discards when those intances occur - even if someone suddenly loses the Amulet of Mentalism. In the rare cases it happens, we simply don't have that player draw if they have 7 or more cards.

CRITICAL MISS & TRIP: If I play one of these cards against Double Strike or Opportunity Fire, must it be played immediately or can I wait until after the two attack cards have been played? This is a good question and does point out one fiddley aspect of the rules. Hopefully, common sense will guide most players who encounter it. But here is the official answer:

Let's start with Double Strike. It may be played immediately or after the attacks have been revealed. (Normally, these cards would play AFTER revealing a standard attack) Because the wording on both Trip and Critical Miss states "Their attacks all miss this Round", the timing matters far less. So no matter when you play it, all the Attacks fail this Round. (Including a Counterstrike if they tried to play it before Round's end)

Now the fiddely part comes with Opportunity Fire and here I hope common sense guides people. Critical Miss and Trip can be played at three times here - when Opp Fire is revealed, when attack one is played and when attack two is played later in the Round. If played when Opp Fire or attack one is played, it is the same as with Double Strike - every attack will fail this round. If however, it is played later in a round to affect the second attack, we assume that the interfering player has allowed the first hit to land and it is not cancelled retroactively. The second attack and any other (as with Counter Strike) would be ruined.

TRIP & CRITICAL MISS: Similarly, how would it interact with the action card Counter Strike. Presumably here it cannot be played immediately counter strike is played, since this is not an attack card. But can it be used against the two attack cards which follow it? Correct. You can't 'cancel' an action card with Trip, but you can spoil both attacks that result from it and can play it in response to either two. Both will fail either way. But like above, it does not cancel a hit that has already scored by that player far earlier in the Round.

COUNTER STRIKE TIMING: Whilst fighting the creature "Axe" we had reached the part of the encounter where Axe would attack player 2 ( thus damaging the players either side for half the damage of player 2). The damage was carried out. Then, I (player 2) proceeded to play a "Counter Strike" card in which I would draw a card and play down two attack cards (counted as different attacks). I played down a 50 and a 30 attack card, reducing the creatures health to 25. The player on my right (player 3) who had also been damaged, decided then to play the same card (counter strike) therefore putting her in a position to easily defeat the creaure and collect the Prestige points. *What we would like to know is; in such an occasion as this, who should have the right to play "Counter Strike" first? This is a pretty good question - and there is a 'grey' area in contention. I will answer in two ways to highlight a difference in ruling. First, let's talk about the specific scenario you outlined above. In the above scenario, two players were hit - but only you attempted to play Counter Strike (at first). You then had time to draw, play your two attack cards and strike. Now, if you had done enough damage to kill the creature given this timing of events, the creature would be dead and credited to you. Only by Critical Missing or otherwise spoiling your attacks, would the player who waited to see the resolution be able to get their Counter Strike off and swoop in for the kill. But yeah, if you don't kill it, it is there for the taking by Player 3 in the above example.

This is in contrast to a scenario when two players attempt to play Counter Strike at the same time. Here, timing is indeed more critical as both may have equal right to a kill. In these types of scenarios, the player with the 'lower' initiative number strikes first. If for some reason, the first player does not kill the creature, the second player may strike.

I THINK HE CALLED YOU UGLY TOO!: I think it's pretty clear for random damage monsters that 'replaced' means replaced. So, if a monster would have attacked player #1 and #2, it instead attacked the 'named player' and #2. This can lead to the same player getting hit twice if he happens to be player #2. Is this correct? Yes. But how about for specific targeted players? If a monster would have attacked the 2 players that damaged it most, who would it attack instead?
Treat the top damager as the first player since the creature would target the highest damage first. So it would be the named player and the player who did the second most damage. The first of it's targets is replaced. If players are tied for the most damage done, one may be chosen by the player who played "I think he called you ugly".

Creature Questions:

THE BOOGENS: During the Boogens encounter: "The Chieftan attacks all players who have engaged him." Has a player "engaged" the Boogens chieftain only when he has played
an attack card impacting the chieftain? When he has dealt damaget to him? Or simply when he has killed all his tokens? Engaged means that you have at least attempted to attack the Chieftan. Clearing the tokens in front of you only opens the pathway to him. But even if someone played an Edge Out on you as you tried to strike the
big guy, you are engaged.

MINOTAUR: If you become 'lost' and can not attack the creature this Round, can you still play Action Cards on other people? Nope. You have become seperated from the group and can not effect play in any way.

SPITE: (or other similar cards) I think I understand this but... If there are 5 players, SPITE will strike the 2 players that damaged her the most. Then that damage is removed. But say the highest attacks were 40 and 30 - and two people tied on both those attack values. Do all four players get hit - and do all four Attack Cards get removed? Misread this one the first time asked. The two players that damaged her the most are the two players who damaged her for 40 points. Both 40 attacks are removed and those players are attacked by Spite. The players who played 30s are in the clear.

SPITE: Does she attack the player who played the most damaging attack, or the player whose attack(s) totaled the most damage? For example: In a 6 player game, I play double strike and play 20 and 30 pt attacks. 2 other players do 40 and 60 with single attack cards. All others chicken out. Which player are damaged and which attack cards ignored? Spite waits until the end of the Round to determine which player or players did the most damage to her. That is total damage. So in your example, she would attack the two players who did the most damage, you with your double strike 20+30 and the player who did 60. All of those cards are removed and do no damage to her.

Does Spite attack anyone if no one does damage? More broadly, what is the default for encounters for which the target is based on damage done, does everyone get attacked or no one when no damage is done? If no one damages her, no one is attacked. None is never 'Most'.

Does Alchemists Fire count as damage towards 'Spite'? How? Yes, it DOES count towards damage, but it doesn't get discarded (Spite only removes Attack Cards). So, if Player A played an Attack of 40 and used Alchemists Fire for an extra 30, and if Player B played an attack value of 50 - in this case Player A would have done the most damage (70) - meaning that his attack card (40) is discarded - but the Alchemist's Fire for 30 and Player B's attack of 50 still stand.

SPITE: If Spite strikes you because you are the one that did the most damage – and you play Counter Strike, what happens?
Spite only uses her ‘remove the most damaging attacks’ ability in response to attacks played in the combat round. The Counter Strike attacks happen after the combat round has ended and are not influenced by her ability. They are 'free' hits.

FEAR: One of the players has taken the Iron Skin Potion before an encounter with FEAR. The encounter kills all remaining players other than the player who took Iron Skin. This player cannot be damaged by the encounter and Fear cannot be killed by the one player because FEAR keeps outpacing the damage done to it. What happens?
This is an awesome question and one that we didn’t see coming. Happily, it is thematically perfect. In order to win, all 9 encounters must be cleared. Without killing Fear, the player cannot progress to a win. Nor can he lose by dying. It is an endless loop with that player fighting Fear for all eternity. After all, if one cannot overcome one’s own fear, they will forevermore be doomed by it. Quite fitting. He has lost the game as his fallen comrades did.

Fear: When do I add a token to FEAR? The token is intended to be added after its attack. So the first attack, as stated on the card, is 10 points. Next turn it will be 15 and so on.

HATE: says which becomes player #1 for the first round. A) Is initiative card #1 set aside and the others doled out randomly? B) what if there's a tie for the top card discarded to hate? Do people tied for #1 randomly determine who is #1 to figure out which order they play out attacks in? A: Yes. B: Yes.

Battle Troll: Says it strikes the first player to damage it for 20 and the last player to strike it for 10. Can you clarify? Is it attacking a player for 20 points or attacking the player who has done 20 points? Bad phrasing on my part. The first person to damage the creature this round is struck for 20 and the last person to damage the creature this round is struck for 10. Sorry for the confusion.

ARC MAGES: When a player breaks the chain by playing a card that does not increase in attack value, does their attack still damage the creature before they get fried?
No. That attack is cancelled as are all the others that would have come after it.

If an attack against the Arc Mages misses (via a Trip or Critical Miss card) does the next card played have to beat the attack value of the attack that missed.
Good clarification point. No, this is in fact a good way of dealing with the Arc Mages. A Trip or Critical Miss Card means that a player doesn't actually get to play their card. It is an unsuccessful attack (see successful vs unsuccessful attacks at the top of this list) The Attack Cards never reach the damage stack. Therefore it is ignored by the Mages. The next card only has to beat the last successful hit.

RIDDLE ROOM: In a 3 and 4 player game, the discards from our hands don't leave enough cards for a 5x5 grid of cards. What do we do? Draw the rest from the draw pile to complete the grid.

RIDDLE ROOM: Is a "Match" a "Match" for damage or card name or do both have to match to count as a Match (i.e., do level 0 damage special attack cards match if they have different names)? I'm assuming that they have to be an exact match. THIS IS A FAQ CHANGE (because I goofed when I answered it last.) The card needs to be an exact match.

WOLF PACK: I know that creature stats scale up with the number of players and don't go down if players die during play - but what about tokens? If we start with 6 players and three are dead by the time WOLF PACK is revealed, how many tokens do we put out? You probably guessed correctly. The same number of tokens as you would set out for 6 players. They do not scale down. (This is true of HYDRA tokens in the expansion game as well.)

How exactly does OGRE'S CHALLENGE work? We aren't sure if you can 'hit' just once... or many times until everyone passes or busts? Also... if two people tie for closest do they both win?... or do they flip a coin?
Well, this is one of those cases where there wasn't enough room on the card for everything. So here's everything we can think of... Essentially, this encounter is a meta-game of Black Jack where you are playing against the house. The house (the Ogre) is dealt three face up cards. The players must try to have their final hand match or be closest to the Ogre's point total based on the following point values: Attack Cards are worth full face value. Action Cards and Item Cards are worth 5 points each. Each player is dealt one card. Players, after looking at their card may choose to FOLD immediately, STICK with their one card or HIT. FOLDed players will take no damage from the encounter, but are not eligible to win any prestige. Players who STICK will not get any more cards. Players who HIT, continue in Initiative sequence to HIT AGAIN or STICK until all players have passed on the opportunity to HIT. Then, in Initiative order, players who have not folded reveal their hands. Any player who has exceeded the Ogre's total loses 40 life points. The player with the highest total, without going over, wins the prestige and all other players lose 15 life points. Now, if two or more players tie for the highest hand, those players play another hand. In that hand, if everyone FOLDs, play yet another hand. Otherwise, play as normal until there is an uncontested winner.

TRAP ROOM: Please take me step by step through this Encounter. Sure. All players pitch their hands in the center of the table face down and stir the newly formed pile around. Then, in initiative order, players draw from this common pile - trying to avoid the listed cards.

Think of the listed cards as actual traps. If you are the first to pull the 10, you get hit for 10. Then that particular '10' is sprung and will not hit again. If a value is listed twice, treat each as a seperate trap. Do this for every damage value listed, given the number of players per the chart at the bottom of the card.

If there are some listed damage values that have not been pulled after three Rounds, the encounter ends without further incident.

Having discarded your hand to form the trap pile, your hands are irretrievable. So, draw new hands at the end of this encounter, discarding all the cards in the 'Trap' pile.

SOULBINDER: Does Soul Binder count creature tokens when calculating its size?
Man, if we did count the tokens, she could be swinging for 135 points of damage, be worth 18 Prestige (plus any bonus) and bump up 340 life points to 550 total LP - if she was Encounter 9 in a 6 player game and if the Boogens were encountered - and far higher if you also encountered the Wolves too (The Hydra and Mirror Mage would always be just one creature even though they have many tokens).

Nope, that is just way too far out there. It would be an automatic death sentence for the party.

The card should probably be amended to say, "For each Creature-based Encounter that has been successfully killed..."
The current wording was meant to exclude Encounters like Trap Room, Riddle Room, Ogre's Challenge etc where no combat or killing of a creature actually occurs.

And while that is the official ruling - it seems like a heckuva fun House Rule to play it the other way.

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