Greetings.

I am new to this game so I would like some help from you, kind people :) To avoid spamming the place I shall put all of my questions into this thread.

My question is: If I commit a card to a story and my opponent chooses NOT to defend that story do I still get to refresh my card if I have arcane icon(s) and do I get one bonus succes token if i have investigation icon(s)? I suppose battle and terror are useless since I don't have an opponent?

Thanks for your help :)

Baron Vortis said:

Welcome!  You know this is where the horror begins right?

1)  Yes.  When you commit to a story and have no opposition, you technically still go through each struggle, but don't terror anyone, don't kill anyone, but you would refresh a character cause you won the arcane struggle, and get a token if you win the investigation struggle.

2)  Yes.  If at the end of the struggles, when you look at your skills if you don't have 0 and your opponent does, you get an extra token for him being uncommitted.  Even if your opponent did commit characters and they were removed over the course of the struggles, you still would get an extra token if hes at 0, and your not at 0 skill (I say this because you may have only 0 skill guys and not be eligible for the extra token).

3)  Terror and Battle struggles are technically useless, cause you have noone to terror or kill, but you still need to walk through the struggles.  Who knows, they may be an action/response thing that could go off as a result of one of those struggles.  For example, theres one Yog character who makes opponents discard if you win a struggle by 4 or more (Gatekeeper?).

The best advice is keep playing, because the game at first seems like a game where you simply compare icons in storys to win.  As you play more, you begin to discover the subtle mechanics in the game that make it great.

Thanks for reminding me Ephraim, I can't get rid of the chills since I started playing it. You have been most helpful :)

Now, onto my other questions:

1) When I spawn Cthulhu I get his forced response that says: "After a player draws cards during his draw phase, he must sacrifice a character, if able."

So, after I play Cthulhu and finish with my turn my opponent gets to his draw phase and he MUST draw two cards and then sacrifice HIS character? After he is done with his turn and I get to my draw phase I TOO MUST draw two cards and sarcifice MY character? And so it continues to run like this, am I getting this right? And in the end if I don't have any more characters must I sacrifice Cthulhu himself?

2) Sacrifice. If I have to sacrifice a character does that character have to be in play (on the table) or can I sacrifice a character in my hand?

Thanks for your help :)

 Yes, you have to sacrifice a character if you draw cards.  Of course if you don't draw cards, then that is different (Hapless Graduate Student, for example).

You get to choose which of your own characters gets sacrificed though, assuming you have more than one in play.  And yes, you can only sacrifice a character you control that is in play.