new Act cards

[amikezor 11]

simple curiosity, what differs in the new ones ?

[Solan 14]

The First Act is triggered by the drawing of a Mystic Environement, the Second Act by an Urban Environment, and the Third Act by a weather environment (and of course all of them by the Next Act Begins! cards).  To stop the First Act you have to place one Doom token on the Ancient One's Doom Track, and to stop the Second Act you have to remove one seal. 

Though I haven't used them yet, I'm pretty impressed by the changes they made.  Like the Kingsport rifts, the Act cards are now immune to dilution and the price for forestalling them is much more reasonable than it used to be.  So has anyone tried these new Acts yet? 

[amikezor 11]

 thank you. great !

[Avi_dreader 64]

amikezor said:

simple curiosity, what differs in the new ones ?

They're nasty and you have a significant chance of losing to them if you don't pay to prevent them at least once.

[Tibs 184]

Solan said:

The First Act is triggered by the drawing of a Mystic Environement, the Second Act by an Urban Environment, and the Third Act by a weather environment (and of course all of them by the Next Act Begins! cards).  To stop the First Act you have to place one Doom token on the Ancient One's Doom Track, and to stop the Second Act you have to remove one seal.

I'm not sure if I voted Urban to be second or third, but this is more or less EXACTLY what I thought they'd do: one doom and one seal to counter the effectively doubled act frequency. I drew the Clairvoyant skill it seems!

 

So now, what happens when Cthugha is the Ancient One? Can Weather cards still trigger Act III?

[Avi_dreader 64]

Tibs said:

 

So now, what happens when Cthugha is the Ancient One? Can Weather cards still trigger Act III?

 

Oh...  Hell :'/

 

I'm going to guess yes?  (I'm definitely going to play yes unless told otherwise).

[Tibs 184]

Me too. If the third Act card is still diluted, the whole thing is effectively diluted.

But consider the implications: since Weather cards are immediately discarded upon being drawn, Mystic and Urban cards will be more frequently drawn than in any other game. Cthugha actually speeds up the King in Yellow's accursed play now!

[Acebob 0]

 Hmm, I wonder how Ithaqua, Tshatoggua, and Atlach-Nacha's abilities work with the new Acts?

[Avi_dreader 64]

Acebob said:

 Hmm, I wonder how Ithaqua, Tshatoggua, and Atlach-Nacha's abilities work with the new Acts?

Tibs and I will both bet that environments drawn will trigger the act cards before being discarded.  I'll play that way until it's made official one way or the other.

[Tibs 184]

Those three AOs will experience no difference. The cards still enter play and take effect, except for their special texts. They're still Mystic/Urban/Weather cards though.

The precedent for this is set with Atlach-Nacha and Ghroth: Ghroth's ability still takes effect even though Atlach cancels Mystic texts. The fact of the matter is that the drawn Mythos card to be used for that turn was a Mystic.

[Dam the Man 84]

Meh, must learn to read the whole thread first.

[Veet 3]

The new act cards (or at least the prelude, I haven't seen the others) say when drawn. You still drew the card despite it not being used.

[Cim2 1]

Veet said:

The new act cards (or at least the prelude, I haven't seen the others) say when drawn. You still drew the card despite it not being used.

That interpretation would make some usually-positive encounters very risky. (e.g. the science building encounter that lets you draw the top three mythos cards, and seal an open gate at one of the gate locations on the cards)

It would discourage overuse of Arcane Insight, though!

[amikezor 11]

cim said:

It would discourage overuse of Arcane Insight, though!

well, I would have thought that the main point of this KiY spell is to avoid the Acts ??

[Tibs 184]

Veet said:

The new act cards (or at least the prelude, I haven't seen the others) say when drawn. You still drew the card despite it not being used.

That's not quite good enough though. In a Glaaki game, you have to draw a card to determine where a Servant appears. That is the only purpose for that Mythos card—to get a location. But the Ghroth herald, which activates upon drawing a Mystic card, does not activate.

The precedent is that the Mythos card drawn has to be the new Mythos card for the turn. The problem, of course, is that when Cthugha is in play, Weather cards are not kept, which seems to imply that Act III does not activate in this way.

[Veet 3]

cim said:

 

That interpretation would make some usually-positive encounters very risky. (e.g. the science building encounter that lets you draw the top three mythos cards, and seal an open gate at one of the gate locations on the cards)

It would discourage overuse of Arcane Insight, though!

Technically neither of those say to draw the cards but that may be nit picking. The Glaaki thing I hadn't considered. I think a little common sense mixed with the spirit of the Act cards could lead to an interpretation of something like "When a XX:environment is drawn during the mythos phase as a mythos card".

[Tibs 184]

Again, veet, I have to intervene:

The first mythos card of the game may not be a non-gate-opener. You have to continue drawing until you get one that is. Certainly, the invalid ones you draw should not affect the Acts or Ghroth (because they are invalid). Likewise, when The Great Ritual is failed, you draw two Mythos cards per round, ignoring everything on the second except for the gate. Is ignoring the Mythos card type inherently different than ignoring the effects (caused by Ithaqua/Tsathoggua/Atlach)?

I realize that the conclusion I'm meandering towards would imply that Act III is stunted against Cthugha, but maybe that's not so bad. Perhaps it's so hot outside that the actors are having difficulty carrying the play along. Perhaps the investigators, knowing that Act III is much less likely, will let their guard down and be burned by it (pun not intended). In the end, it is only one Ancient One in 25, afterall.

[AVEC2 2]

Jacqueline's ability is also an issue. 

[Tibs 184]

Right. Exactly. I now think that "draws" in this case specifically means "drawn and selected" in the same way that Personal Stories use "draws." Take note how Y'Golonac's special ability has to specify that it activates when Tomes are drawn, irrespective of if they're then taken or discarded.

[Veet 3]

Tibs said:

Again, veet, I have to intervene:

The first mythos card of the game may not be a non-gate-opener. You have to continue drawing until you get one that is. Certainly, the invalid ones you draw should not affect the Acts or Ghroth (because they are invalid). Likewise, when The Great Ritual is failed, you draw two Mythos cards per round, ignoring everything on the second except for the gate. Is ignoring the Mythos card type inherently different than ignoring the effects (caused by Ithaqua/Tsathoggua/Atlach)?

I realize that the conclusion I'm meandering towards would imply that Act III is stunted against Cthugha, but maybe that's not so bad. Perhaps it's so hot outside that the actors are having difficulty carrying the play along. Perhaps the investigators, knowing that Act III is much less likely, will let their guard down and be burned by it (pun not intended). In the end, it is only one Ancient One in 25, afterall.

Plague of Insects is the only non-gate environment and its weather. So this scenario can never happen.

[jgt7771 28]

Tibs said:

I realize that the conclusion I'm meandering towards would imply that Act III is stunted against Cthugha, but maybe that's not so bad. Perhaps it's so hot outside that the actors are having difficulty carrying the play along. Perhaps the investigators, knowing that Act III is much less likely, will let their guard down and be burned by it (pun not intended). In the end, it is only one Ancient One in 25, afterall.

Heh.  I love that.  "The show must go on!"  "But it's too hawwwwwt..."

I think you guys fight SO HARD to make sure that EVERYTHING works ALL THE TIME.  "No!  I must be threatened from all sides at every moment...or...or...oh GOD, IT WILL BE TOO EASY TO WIN!!!"  Yikes.

Try to enjoy the nuances of each Ancient One as they not only break our rules, but THEIR rules as well.  Cthugha as written defies Act III, and you're going to need a Next Act to get that done.  And Jacqueline should DEFINITELY be able to shut the whole play down.  So I say it isn't merely "drawn", it has to be a fully "activated" Mythos card.

[Avi_dreader 64]

jgt7771 said:

Heh.  I love that.  "The show must go on!"  "But it's too hawwwwwt..."

"The show must go on!"  "Meeeeltiiiing!  Meeeeeeeltiiiiiiing!"