Last night I played MoM for the first time with my friends, and I played as Keeper.

But one of players, playing Kate Winthrop, said just after (at the first turn!) we started the game,

"I'll use Test Theories."
"With no clue?"
"Hell yeah."

…and he rolled 1, he read the objective, he spoiled the objective, and everything screwed up.

After that game, all (even Kate player) agreed that we should ban Kate Winthrop, or at least Test Theory ability.

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So, my question is, 

Is the ability Test Theories on the Trait card is described correctly?
Or is there any restriction I could not find? (for example, do not spoil the objective, keep it secret, etc)

I still can't understand why there should be an spoiling ability for a one-way story game.

Test Theories is an odd ability. I wouldn't ban her though.

I've been playing with a house rule (apparently: I thought it was official) that she can't use Test Theories until at least two clues have been found. Then she makes a Lore -X check, where X is the lowest-numbered clue. If she passes, she reveals the objective (not just reads it).

Tibs said:

Isn't it dangerous to reveal the objective? Reading the object can screw up the whole game, but the revealing the objective enables the investigators to win, especially for the escaping case. If Kate rolls 1 at the first turn and the escape objective is revealed, they all move outside and the game ends….

 I think there was some thing about having all clues to escape, not when objectives are revealed. Otherwise it would be fleeing not escaping to spread the word about evil-house-wich-spawns-monsters. And it wont be thematicly right.

But still i recall about having clue 1 to escape. (dont have rulebox or anything about game withing range)

P.s
 

With diffrent time zones it seems that i never sleep. :D (posted this on 01:35 in the night, even tho it is almoust 9:45 at my place) 

The rulebook says, (page 16, Escaping)

Sometimes, after finding “Clue 1,” the investigators discover they need to escape with the knowledge they uncovered in order to win. In such circumstances, investigators are allowed to escape off of the game board. Investigators may only escape if the Objective card has been revealed and it specifically instructs them to escape.

I read this with "the Clue 1 is not necessary for all escaping cases", considering the notation about Clue 1 as a kind of flavor text. I think the objective card will instruct us to "ESCAPE WITH CLUE 1", as some GEB objective cards instruct.

Kate's ability can not reveal the objective, the person playing can read the objective but that does not "Reveal" it. The investigators still need to obtain the clue card necessary for the objective to be revealed. IMO her ability isnt terribly good unless the keeper has an objective that the investigators can actively prevent such as the keeper needing monsters in certain areas.

This is why, in a way, I prefer "reveal" to "read." The Keeper would then have the ability to eliminate the investigators. Knowing this, the investigators would be reluctant to use Test Theories unless they thought they were hopelessly stuck/doomed.

Kate's ability has a minimum clue card limition to trigger, did u guys just missed that ?

Ksdas said:

No it doesn't.

Ops~ Sorry, tried too much house rule & variants, somehow forgot the orginal one….

I don't like this, too. But I have totlally different situation with you….

My group did not like to choose this trait is beacuse it's very weak  and boring.

If you have played this game many times, then you must have realized that some objects has fundamental problem.

Some scenario & objects are desgined as 'Sudden-Death' match, and for most scenario eventually you will need to reveal Clue #1.

And in COTW,every scenario has single object with differenct details. It's a compeltey useless trait for second game.

Knowing object ahead do brother Keeper in some particular scenarios (like kill or driver certain character mad), investigator player might response  some extreme tactics, which ultimately make Keeper has no option other than kill every one during final.

But my biggest concern is this trait will make this game unfun…..So I totally support you if you want to houserule this trait…

I agree I think this is one of those instances where you just need to house rule the ability.

For the first time I had some of the investigators roll Test Theories succesfully last night so here is what I did and what I find as the possible solution. In my case I chose to reveal the objective card only due to players being stuck on the board with two clues while playing "The Fall of the House Lynch" and time being well on my side so I decided to spice the things up but .. *SPOILERS* Their objective was to kill Lynch which cannot be summoned unles they find Clue #1 *END SPOILERS* so in their case Test Theories didnt do much. Yes in the end I even reveled the Clue #1 for them as well and we had a such a great finale where I survived the final shotgun attack which was a bust on the last turn by the last investigator in the line to play. Pure sudden death! That is what this game is all about, its up to keeper to bend the rules to make things more interesting and keep it fun and Test Theories is perfect example how a game can become bust or fun. On the other hand If I've had somebody early in the game roll the Test Theories I would have had them take a look at investigators objective but not at keepers objective (cover it with the finger or something) and would not let them read it loud but instead had him/her tell everybody how they remember it and interprate it. It's really up to you how you want to play it!