A few Castle Ravenloft (boardgame) questions...

[MrMyth]

We are thinking of only allowing monsters controlled by the player whose turn it is to be able to activate. Not all monsters.

I'm pretty sure that is how it is supposed to be. Villains activate on every player's turn. Monsters only activate on the turn of the player who controls them. The only exception I know of is that if you have multiple monsters in play of the same type, all of them activate together.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

The most brutal thing we find is that the monsters activate on each players turn, so they get an attack for each of our turns, while only one player gets an attack for the turn.

We are thinking of only allowing monsters controlled by the player whose turn it is to be able to activate. Not all monsters.

I'm pretty sure you only activate the monsters that you drew, not all of the monsters that are out there. The rules tell the player to "Activate each Monster and Trap Card, in turn, in the order you drew them." I think that means if you drew the zombie and I drew the gargoyle, I only activate the gargoyle since I didn't draw the zombie.

And but there is a specific rule if you have a monster card that someone else has. "So, if you have a Kobold Monster Card and another player has a Kobold Monster Card, you activate both Kobolds during your Villain Phase. If both Monsters survive until the other player’s Villian Phase, that player will activate both Kobolds again!"

I imagine always activating all monsters would make it really tough. But if you're enjoying that power level, have at it!​

 

[Treebore]

I'm pretty sure you only activate the monsters that you drew, not all of the monsters that are out there. The rules tell the player to "Activate each Monster and Trap Card, in turn, in the order you drew them." I think that means if you drew the zombie and I drew the gargoyle, I only activate the gargoyle since I didn't draw the zombie.

And but there is a specific rule if you have a monster card that someone else has. "So, if you have a Kobold Monster Card and another player has a Kobold Monster Card, you activate both Kobolds during your Villain Phase. If both Monsters survive until the other player’s Villian Phase, that player will activate both Kobolds again!"

I imagine always activating all monsters would make it really tough. But if you're enjoying that power level, have at it!​

That would definitely have prevented a couple of TPK's we had, or at least allowed us to last longer.

 

[Marius Delphus]

I'm pretty sure you only activate the monsters that you drew, not all of the monsters that are out there.

Oh, heavens yes. TTBOMK, by the RAW, only Villains activate on every player's turn, with the caveat (as amply stated above) that Monsters also activate whenever a duplicate Monster is activated.

Many's the time we made win-or-lose tactical decisions based on the fact that a trap, or a flaming skeleton, or what have you, was "asleep at the switch" on a given turn. And many's the time we quailed in fear when we realized both the flaming skeletons were going again this turn....

 

[Wednesday Boy]

When you activate monsters and villains if they qualify for more than one of the actions, do they do them all? I noticed this when fighting the villains more than the monsters because the villains have multiple "If" statements, whereas the monsters typically only have one.

I don't remember the exact villain activation list for the young vampire but it was something like:

===========
If the young vampire is adjacent to a hero, attack it with Fangs.
If the young vampire is within 1 tile of two or more heroes, attack them with Gaze.
If the young vampire is in the Start Tile the active hero loses one HP.
Otherwise, move the young vampire one tile in the direction the arrow points.
===========

At one point I was both adjacent to the young vampire and it was in the Start Tile. Does that mean I get attacked with Fangs AND take 1 damage? Or do you stop after the first action of the list that can be completed? I was playing with the second option but I think it's probably the first, which makes villains really challenging!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

No, there's an understood "Else" at the end of each line, AFAIK. They work just like regular monsters, and once you execute a statement, that creature's turn is done.

 

[OnlineDM]

Interesting. I had interpreted the villains' multi-if statements literally. You read the first one - if the condition is met, you do that thing. Then, whether you did that thing or not, you read second one. If THAT condition is met, you do THAT thing. You would only do the "otherwise" line if none of the earlier conditions were met. In this way, a villain could have a whole crapload of attacks each turn.

I wonder how this is actually SUPPOSED to be run?

Edit: After seeing the rules quote from Patryn of Elvenshae, I agree that the villain should stop after making one attack rather than continuing to do all of them. Whew, much less scary!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Interesting. I had interpreted the villains' multi-if statements literally

[...]
I wonder how this is actually SUPPOSED to be run?

The reason I think the way I do is that (again, AFAIK! ), they work just like regular monsters in terms of how they activate.

From the rulebook example, the skeleton has:

• If the Skeleton is adjacent to a Hero, it attacks that hero with a scimitar.
• If the Skeleton us within 1 tile of a Hero, it moves adjacent to the closest Hero and attacks that Hero with a charging slice.
• Otherwise, the Skeleton moves 1 tile toward the closest Hero.

The monster instructions say:

• Once a Monster has selected and followed one set of tactics, the Monster's turn ends. Do not continue to check its remaining tactics that turn.

So, the monsters' tactics have an implicit "... Else" as part of them: "If X, Then Y, Else If Z, Then AA, Else AB," and only one gets executed.

I don't see anything that says Villains are treated any differently - but, stressing this, my experience with the game is really limited*, so I could have missed it.

* As in, I've taken the pieces apart, looked at them, read the rulebooks, played a round or two to see how it works, and am awaiting the next non-D&D-playing get-together weekend to really play in a group.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

The monster instructions say:

• Once a Monster has selected and followed one set of tactics, the Monster's turn ends. Do not continue to check its remaining tactics that turn.

Ah, there it is. I think that explains it perfectly. Thanks!!

 

[MrMyth]

Also, just for general reference, WotC does have a copy of the rules available online. Edit: As, I notice, has already been posted up-thread - doh!

It does tend to address many of these questions, though often not directly. And there are definitely some areas that remain ambiguous.

For a long time, we struggled with if a Villain counted as a Monster for all purposes (since that can produce some weird effects with treasure or event cards) - but it seemed like we had to do so or otherwise he couldn't be attacked at all! (As attacks refer to 'Monsters' as the target...)