So, in the rulebook for the base game on page 16, under the topic of escaping, it says, "Any investigators that are killed before the finale are not required to escape."  What exactly is the finale?  Is it simply the end of the game?  Or is it the revealing of the objective?  This changes things a lot for a lose/win scenario for the investigators.  I played a 2-player game with my friend tonight where I controlled 2 investigators while she was the Keeper.  When I revealed the final clue, the objective was revealed, stating that for me to win all of my investigators had to escape, so they immediately made a beeline for the exit.  One made it out, but the other was killed.  Did I still win even though not all investigators made it all out?  The answer to this question depends on what the definition of "finale" is in the above quote from the rulebook.

Musha Shukou said:

This, once the Objective has been revealed, investigator deaths are permanent, no replacing them.

 So, are you saying that once the objective has been revealed, if an investigator dies, they can no longer win?

Musha Shukou said:

Not via escaping, no. If that is their Objective, then the best they can get is a draw with at least one of them escaping. I had a close game back in Inner Sanctum with the investigators needing to escape. Harvey, who had only appeared as a replacement a turn before the Objective was revealed, was already in the Chapel and only needed one move to get out, but Kate had to choose between evading a Cultist or shooting it, hoping to kill it and escaping. Down to 1 hit point, Kate drew a combat card that saw her miss the roll and deal 1 dmg to herself, killing her, ending the game in a draw.

 Awesome, I understand now.  So, another question.  The rulebook says "only 1 investigator per player is required to escape."  What exactly does this mean?  If I'm playing 2 investigators by myself, does only 1 need to escape?

Musha Shukou said:

There is no provision RAW for playing multiple investigators, so you just have to treat them as if there were 2 investigator players for victory conditions, hence running 2 investigators by yourself, both must escape.

"1 investigator per player" means that if a player's investigator was killed before the Objective was revealed and he got a replacement, only his replacement needs to escape. The investigators aren't prevented from winning just because of an earlier death.

Dam said:

Is that from the rulebook?  I must have overlooked that.  I played a game today and the player's goal was to have all of them escape before the final event card was revealed.  One of my player's was killed after the goal was revealed.  According to that, the game is immediately over because now all of the players cannot escape, right?

Rodzilla68 said:

Yes it is in the rule book. Also in the rule book, it is stated that if the keeper kills all investigators after the objective is revealed, he wins the game (an extra objective for the keeper that applies to all scenarios). In your case, once an investigator is killed, the game is lost for the investigators but they should go for a tie : at least one investigator escapes.