• Q: I would like to know how the automatic failure and the Lab Coat interact. We have some doubts about what happens if the test's difficulty is 1 or 0. Example: - I have Lab Coat and Alchemical Distillation in play. - I activate the Alchemical Distillation and make an Intellect test with difficulty 1. - I draw the automatic failure. What would happen in this case, can I activate the Lab Coat and succeed by 0? Or since I drew the automatic failure, would I fail anyway? A: If you failed the Alchemical Distillation test by pulling the Autofail token, you could exhaust Lab Coat to instead succeed by 0. (Rules Form, December 2023)

• Q: I have a question regarding the interaction between Breaking and Entering and Pickpocketing. If I succeed on the Breaking and Entering investigation test by 2 or more and automatically evade an enemy, can I trigger the reaction on Pickpocketing from this evasion? And extending that question to Pickpocketing (2), would I also be able to trigger the "succeed by 2 or more" effect on its reaction from this evasion, as I over-succeeded on the preceding test? A: For your first question, yes, the auto-evade effect from Breaking and Entering can trigger the reaction on Pickpocketing (0). For your second question, no, the auto-evade effect from Breaking and Entering isn’t the same as “succeeding the evade by 2 or more”; you only succeed by 2 or more if you make an evade test and succeed that test. (You can still draw 1 card or gain 1 resource from Pickpocketing (2) if you auto-evade, though.) (Rules Form, December 2023)

Q: I'm trying to understand what Self-Centered does or doesn't affect. For instance does it prevent the usage of events or abilities that (1) target an asset of another player (2) modify the deck, hand, or discard of another player in some way (3) target drawn encounter cards, (4) target treacheries (5) constant abilities (6) Cards that may be assigned damage/horror from other investigators? Are the following still playable: Medical Texts, Stand Together, Crack the Case?

A: Self-Centered prevents you from “affecting” other investigators with player card effects, except for aspects that cause damage/horror. In general, when resolving player card effects, you can think of yourself as the only surviving investigator in the game; any other investigators are essentially immune to your player card effects, unless they would take damage/horror from those effects.

More specifically, if you have Self-Centered in your threat area, you can’t use player card effects to:

• heal damage/horror on another investigator
• redirect damage/horror that would be dealt to another investigator
• cancel, discard, or otherwise affect an encounter card another player draws
• manipulate cards in a player’s hand, deck, discard pile, play area, or threat area
• manipulate chaos tokens another investigator reveals
• “choose another investigator” or “choose an investigator” other than yourself

These general rules should cover most cases where Self-Centered’s ability would be relevant. This does change our last ruling on Self-Centered, but we are much happier with this direction, as it should be a lot easier to resolve most player cards.

Also:

• No, you can’t use the ability on Medical Texts to choose another investigator.
• No, you can’t play Stand Together to give just yourself the benefits.
• Yes, you can play Crack the Case after any investigator discovers the last clue, but you must take all of the resources it provides. You would not be able to play Crack the Case when another investigator discovers the last clue on a location; you could only do so if you are the one to discover the last clue.
• Other investigators would be able to use your Pocket Multi Tool, since that’s an ability they resolve themselves.
• If you use Cunning Distraction, then all enemies at the location would be evaded (exhausted and disengaged) because the card ability directly targets enemies, not other investigators. Also, you can fight an enemy engaged with a different investigator, so long as they aren’t using an ability that specifically targets “another investigator.”

(November 2023 / April 2024)

• Q: Hello, got a few lingering questions/bug reports for Dealings in the Dark! 1) The ability on The Unveiling which lets you take control of The Twisted Antiprism when you evade/defeat an enemy is a reaction-triggered ability, making it optional. What happens if an investigator declines to activate it? There are no instructions for what happens to the Twisted Antiprism if it is attached to neither an enemy nor an investigator. 2) Similarly, what happens if the enemy with the Twisted Antiprism is removed from play by means other than defeat? Such as Kymani's ability, Dumb Luck, Otherworldly Codex, etc. 3) What happens to Ece when she leaves play? She has an encounter card back, which suggests she should go to the encounter discard pile like Jazz Mulligan. However, she doesn't have a Relevation effect, so it's unclear what to do if she is drawn in that case. The more intuitive result would be to remove her from the game, returning attached carsd to their owners' discard piles, but we're not sure if there's any RAW text leading to that result. 4) When Act 2 advances by the Cult winning the clue race, we are instructed to "attach The Twisted Antiprism key to the Cultist enemy with the most clues". However, it's possible to advance the act with zero Cultists in play or in the Shadows, by placing clues on Clues Unveiled when the Agenda advances. In this case, where should The Twisted Antiprism go? 5) How should random basic weaknesses with the Cultist trait be handled in this scenario, generally? All sorts of weird things can happen with them, including that evading them sends them to The Shadows where they aren't intended to end up, and they may end up with The Twisted Antiprism attached to them.-

• A (1) Although it is optional, if you don’t use the reaction ability on The Unsealing, the Twisted Antiprism must be removed from the game. The only way to complete the scenario at that point is through defeat. (2) Same as before; the Antiprism is removed from the game. (3) If Ece Sahin leaves play, remove her from the game. (4) In that situation, you should search the encounter deck and discard pile for a Cultist enemy and spawn it at the East Gate, then attach The Twisted Antiprism key to that enemy. Then you’d keep resolving the rest of Act 2b, potentially moving the Cultist toward Galata Docks. (5) Enemies without concealed can’t be placed in the shadows, so ignore that part of the instruction on “Agents of the Dark.” And it’s not an issue of a weakness Cultist enemy has The Twisted Antiprism attached to it; keep playing the scenario as normal. (October 2023)

• Q: In the scenario guide, it says that Roland's XP is based on enemies in the victory display, and other investigators get XP from locations. What happens to other XP in the display from things like Delve Too Deep and Bury Them Deep? Is this lost? Or should XP Bonuses from player cards still be added to all players' XP? A: Those cards are ignored when awarding XP. The resolution text of a rulebook must state if and how the investigators earn XP when completing a scenario. In most scenarios, investigators earn XP based on each card in the victory display (e.g. “Each investigator earns experience equal to the Victory X value of each card in the victory display.”) By The Book instead awards XP specifically based on the enemies in the victory display and the locations in the victory display. So, the Victory X keyword on Delve Too Deep and Bury Them Deep is ignored while awarding XP at the end of the scenario. (October 2023)