Questions for the FAQ

[Bruce Glassco]

It looks like I'll be working on the FAQ for the game. This will be the main place I'll check for questions. Two things to bear in mind about this thread:

1) any answers I give here won't necessarily be "official." The AH people should be putting out an official FAQ soon, probably based on what I've sent them so far.

2) I expect that there may be problems with specific scenarios, so if you're going to ask about one, be sure to put SPOILER at the top.

With that said, bring them on!

[Bruce Glassco]

I've already had a few questions at About.com.boardgames, but I'll put the answers up here as I assume they'll be more accessible to players:

"When making a Haunt Roll, the rules say the roll must be less than the number of Omens drawn, while the following example says less than or equal. Which is correct?"

Both are. The example says that you had four Omens on the table when you drew a new one, so with the one you just drew you now have five. So saying you need to roll four or less is correct, but still confusing, I agree.

[Kit Darkholm]

For the "Mystic Slide" card, it says that on a Might roll of 5+ the explorer can end up in any explored room on a level below the slide. What I would like to know is if the slide is discovered in an upper level room, can the explorer end up in a basement room, or if "a level below the slide" means just that -- a (meaning one) level.

Thank you!

[tmarozas]

Another clarification on the mystic slide. If it is discovered in the attic, the attic states "when exiting, you must attemp a speed roll of 3+. If you fail, lose one might". Does the player roll for the attic when getting dumped down the slide ? I'm guessing not.

[twonkbot]

I've got a question about a couple of scenarios. They are about "The Phantom's Embrace" scenario (#16), and a different question about the "Small Change" Scenario (#35).

If you don't want to be spoiled about these two scenarios, SKIP THIS POST!!!


SPOILER SPACE NOW PROVIDED:















In The Phantom Embrace, the Survival book says that "the phantom... will appear in the next basement room you discover with an EVENT symbol." HOWEVER, the symbol that appears in the rulebook next to that sentence is the OMEN (raven) symbol. This same pattern is found in the Traitor's Tome as well. The next paragraph in the Survival book mentions "events" specifically, so I'm assuming that the wrong symbol just got printed, but I'd like confirmation of this, and likely an entry in an FAQ if it's a misprint.

Secondly, in "Small Change", a couple of questions. First, does the traitor have to get in the plane for the Explorers to win? (We realized, after the game, that this would actually give the traitor character something to do, by making the rest of the explorers actually fly TOWARDS the cats, in order to pick him up. Initially, it seemed that character was essentially worthless once the haunt started, unless he has to be picked up as well.) Secondly, if you're in the airplane, the plane has a Speed of 5... does this mean that ALL the players (except the traitor) in the plane move the plane at a speed of 5 on EACH of their turn(s)? (That plane can cover a LOT of ground if it has LOTS of people in it that way). Or is it just the player with the highest speed that gets to move the plane on their turn (suggested by the "picking up passengers" section) and the other players in the plane are just along for the ride and no longer do anything on their turns?

Thanks for the help! I'm having a blast with the game (six games on one day, and my gang wanted to keep playing more!!).

--Timothy Rose, Mayhem Minion

[minscfan]

We had a situation last night that was unclear to us...

A player explored and found the vault tile. She entered and drew an event card, which had the ceiling collapse on her (she failed her roll). Once that happened, she wanted to try to open the vault.

Should she have been able to attempt the roll to open the vault, even though the event had occurred? We ruled no, since the ceiling fell on her and "trapped" her. But, the rules say (and I am doing this from memory) that a player can attempt one roll per turn.

Thanks.

[Anarchy]

I have a question regarding a possible typo. On Page 7 of the manual, it gives an example:

"Some items, like the Armor, can't be traded, but they can be dropped or picked up."

The Armor card says:

"This item can't be stolen."

But doesn't mention anything about can't be traded. Is the manual in error or the card?

Thanks!

[Bruce Glassco]

Keep the questions coming. Rather than answering them all here, I'm working on a FAQ and errata document that we can post up on the website somewhere that will hopefully handle as many questions as possible in one fell swoop. In the meantime, I beg your patience for another week or so.

[Aash]

Bruce,

Can a hero visit the same room multiple times over different turns, to receive repeated stat bonuses?

Thanks, Aash

[VeggieBoy]

Could a monster (or I suppose even one of the players) intentionally choose to fall through the floor of the collapsed room to get to the basement?

[VID-IOT]

Here are a few questions concerning some situations that came up.

1) When entering the collapsed room for the first time, the player flipped over the first basement card available and got the Mystic elevator. So now if someone uses the collapsed room to access the basement, what room does he descend into if the mystic elevator has since then moved to a new location within the house (which could likely be on another floor).

2) What would happen if you were to use an item that stuns monsters (such as the druidic bracelet) on creatures that are destroyed when defeated (such as nightmares). I ask this because the nightmare's do not have the "S" stun symbol on the back of their tokens.

[Ratling Raider]

I apologize if these have been questioned before or elsewhere, saw advertisements for the game at Gencon and was really curious and my FLGS just received it yesterday and was holding it for me to pick up, which I did today and my friends and I played twice tonight. Questions that came up: (Some may seem common sense but there were varying opinions with every one of them that seemed logical, so since I bought the game, I figured I would raise them all)

1)The spear. It is an omen card and not an item card. The rule for item cards states that you may use it once immediately and once on each of your turns, unless it says otherwise. The omen cards do not have this restriction, so if you have the spear, do you roll 2 additional dice whenever you make a Might combat roll, or just your one attack on your turn? Addendum, I just re-read the rule book and saw that some omens are items and act the same way, so possibly the spear can only be used for specifically attacking....

2)Do the Girl, Madman, and Dog have any stats since their tokens have stunned on the opposite side, can they be attacked by traitor and monsters, etc? Do they become stunned if they fall through the collapsed room for instance when it is first revealed with the explorer.....

3)Armor. The Armor says anytime you take physical damage, reduce it by one. Is this only once on your turn, like the description under item, or is it "always on". If something specifically says lose 1 speed (such as a room roll failure or an item side effect), is the armor able to prevent the damage since it prevents 1 point of physical damage?

The next couple are more comments/questions regarding the specific scenarios so possible spoilers:
....
....
....
....


Arg here there be possible spoilers....








4) Scenario 21: House of the Living Dead:
If the heroes are killed and become a Zombie, the traitor (now the zombie lord) entirely controls us, we assumed. The traitor gets zombies equal to the number of players, we assume this included the traitor as well. Another spoiler (and a bit of common sense): with the goal for the heroes being wipe out the zombie lord or all the zombies, its much easier to take out zombies..

5) Scenario 48: Stacked Like Cordwood
This was a great little scenario that we had a whole lot of fun with. The one question that came up with this was that a member of the group was killed early in the Haunt by two cards, bite and puppets and was gone from the game, we still counted her as a player even thought she was now out and off the board as far as the studying of the cursed weapon went, was this correct?


Well, that seems to cover all I can remember right now, I saw a previous post about the Underground lake being labeled on the back incorrectly, so that was known before we played and did not hamper us any. The game was really fun, horror games tend to be my favorite especially ones like this that love paying homage to the great horror films, so I would like to thank all involved. Once again, I apologize for asking questions that might seem like common sense....

[Presto]

Some questions about movement:

Question:
Do the secret stairs and/or secret passageways count as an extra tile for movement purposes? The text on them seems to indicate that you can't end your turn in the secret area but so this implies that they kinda exist as a seperate area.

For example, if a secret passage token is in the lab and another is in the basement landing, which of the following is the correct sequence of movement for a character starting just outside the room.
1 move - enter the laboratory
1 move - use the secret passage and place yourself in the basement landing.

OR

1 move - enter the laboratory
1 move - enter the secret passageway*
1 move - enter the basement landing.
* you can't end your movement in the secret passage when you end your turn.

Question:
Can Spirits who move through walls use secret passageways/stairs? According to the rules, they are allowed unless the phrase "only explorers" is present. In the secret passageway card, it says that "explorers may" use the effect - it doesn't say "only explorers may".

Question:
Can Spirits move between the floors using the special room tiles both ways? For example, since the coal shute is one way, can a spirit use it to get back out of the basement since they can't explore the other rooms in the basement for an exit? We had a spirit trapped down there when the heroes fled using the mystic elevator and the traitor had died.

[VID-IOT]

I think there also needs to be more clarification when it comes to monsters, traitors, and room effects.
Such as what room effects do monsters and traitors ignore or must role. It says that they can ignore room effects with non-damaging rolls, however it includes the junk room (which requires a roll to avoid taking speed damage)as an example of one of the rooms they can ignore.

But what makes a traitor a monster? Does a traitor always go by the rules for a traitor, even if he turns into something else that should instead make him a monster (such as becoming a vampire or a werewolf)? Such as does he still have the ability to explore rooms (Which traitors can do but monsters can't). It's never very clear here and it becomes confusing.

Also, just exactly what can you do on your turn? It gives a list, but it doesn't clarify that you can do all of that only once per turn or not. Could you make multiple ability rolls? Etc.

[Bruce Glassco]

For the "Mystic Slide" card, it says that on a Might roll of 5+ the explorer can end up in any explored room on a level below the slide. What I would like to know is if the slide is discovered in an upper level room, can the explorer end up in a basement room, or if "a level below the slide" means just that -- a (meaning one) level.

Thank you!

"A level below the slide" means any level. So if you found this card on the top floor and controlled your slide, you could go to any room of either floor below you.

[Bruce Glassco]

Could a monster (or I suppose even one of the players) intentionally choose to fall through the floor of the collapsed room to get to the basement?

Yes. Sometimes it's the only way.

[Bruce Glassco]

Bruce,

Can a hero visit the same room multiple times over different turns, to receive repeated stat bonuses?

Thanks, Aash

You're talking about the Larder, Chapel, Gymnasium, and Library here, I presume. I agree that these rooms are somewhat imbalancing for a number of scenarios. We're considering an official errata change, but unofficially you might see how it works to just let each player get the bonus once.

[Bruce Glassco]

Here are a few questions concerning some situations that came up.

1) When entering the collapsed room for the first time, the player flipped over the first basement card available and got the Mystic elevator. So now if someone uses the collapsed room to access the basement, what room does he descend into if the mystic elevator has since then moved to a new location within the house (which could likely be on another floor).

I'd say the collapsed room still leads to the elevator, even if the elevator has moved to the upper floor. It's Mystic, after all.

2) What would happen if you were to use an item that stuns monsters (such as the druidic bracelet) on creatures that are destroyed when defeated (such as nightmares). I ask this because the nightmares do not have the "S" stun symbol on the back of their tokens.

The creatures would still be stunned, even though they don't have an S. Just remember to flip them back up on their turn.

[SMartin]

I agree that there could be some more clarification on the rules of what a character can do in a turn. I'll ask a few specific questions:

1. Can a character split up their move among other actions? For example, can a character with a speed of 4 move through 2 previously explored rooms, then attack/pick up an item/make a die roll, and then move through 2 more previously explored rooms?

2. Can a character make a number of different die rolls in a single turn? For example, can a character roll to get through the Wall Switch (putting the character in the Vault) and then roll to try and open the Vault? Also, several hanuts require a character to make a roll to search a room for an item an then to make more rolls to "activate" or "figure out" the item. Can a character who successfully searches for an item immediately make a roll to try to "activate" it?

3. Can a character activate any number of items in their possession in a single turn?

4. Are there any rules constraining the traitor from picking up items? In one haunt, a couple of items are placed in certain rooms at the beginning. Can the traitor go pick these up before the heroes? In another haunt, a magical weapon was needed. Our traitor killed the hero with the weapon and then picked it up making it very difficult for anyone else to get ahold of it.

Thanks for the help,
-Scot

[VID-IOT]

4. Are there any rules constraining the traitor from picking up items? In one haunt, a couple of items are placed in certain rooms at the beginning. Can the traitor go pick these up before the heroes? In another haunt, a magical weapon was needed. Our traitor killed the hero with the weapon and then picked it up making it very difficult for anyone else to get ahold of it.


All those questions are great and ones that I'm looking forward to knowing the answers to.
Number 4 I think I can answer though. I would say it should be more than fair for the traitor to pick up items (so long as he follows any restrictions to using and picking up items based on the questions you asked above). We did the "Bodies stacked like Cordwood" scenario and had just managed to figure out how to make the cursed spear work on Chrimson Jack. But before we could use it on him, the traitor came in and attacked (despite being outnumbered in might dice by the player with the spear) and killed the spear holder. Then with our own cursed weapon, he helped Jack kill the survivors one by one.
Sounds straight out of a horror movie to me. Which is what this game wants to be like.
Hopelessness can be fun.

[Ratling Raider]

Wow, we did the "Stacked" scenario too but it worked out much better than that, but I would have enjoyed it working that way as well )
I kinda like that idea....

[holywolfman]

You're talking about the Larder, Chapel, Gymnasium, and Library here, I presume. I agree that these rooms are somewhat imbalancing for a number of scenarios. We're considering an official errata change, but unofficially you might see how it works to just let each player get the bonus once.


What we do....we use a color "counter" pieces (from other games) corresponding to your color character and put it that room when you collect the "one-time-trait" BONUS...this way it is easy to track who collected what bonus where! This way people are not "double dipping" on the bonuses because like you said within many scenarios, that wouldn't be "fair"!- ;)

[WORKS PRETTY GOOD!]

[VID-IOT]

We double dip quite a lot when it comes to rooms giving stat bonuses. It really hasn't made too much difference either way for us. We figure if you are willing to increase a particular stat and not explore, then you should get the stat. The less you explore the more likely it will be difficult for you to accomplish defeating the monsters after the haunt occurs. You can't run from something if every time you move, you have to stop because you draw a card for entering that room for the first time.
And you won't be as better prepared as all your friends, who are recieving omen cards and item cards that will likely turn the tide for them in the end game (You have no idea how lucky I was that I found the dynamite before a group of cultists came chasing after me. I'd like to see a might of 8 take out 3 cultists with one blow)
Plus, you may have found the larder and increased your might to max, but that won't help you much when the monsters turn out to be ghosts who use sanity as an attack anyway.

[holywolfman]

We double dip quite a lot when it comes to rooms giving stat bonuses. It really hasn't made too much difference either way for us. We figure if you are willing to increase a particular stat and not explore, then you should get the stat. The less you explore the more likely it will be difficult for you to accomplish defeating the monsters after the haunt occurs. You can't run from something if every time you move, you have to stop because you draw a card for entering that room for the first time.
And you won't be as better prepared as all your friends, who are recieving omen cards and item cards that will likely turn the tide for them in the end game (You have no idea how lucky I was that I found the dynamite before a group of cultists came chasing after me. I'd like to see a might of 8 take out 3 cultists with one blow)
Plus, you may have found the larder and increased your might to max, but that won't help you much when the monsters turn out to be ghosts who use sanity as an attack anyway.


True..true..but when you "Gain" (1) knowledge every time you are in the library and if "certain" scenarios you can "kill" a monster by using knowledge rolls and you are in the library all the time...well- you know what I mean! This forces you to seek elsewhere instead of being a "camper" in certain scenarios!

[drewchap]

Here's another issue, with the mystic slide.

I had a situation where the slide went to the next player because the player who drew it had a character in the basement. The new player, who actually was affected by the slide, added a room with an omen symbol, but was unable to draw an omen card due to the card text, which says not to draw a card if you're affecte dby the slide on someone else's turn. Potentially, this could have hurt that player as there would now be 12 omen cards available instead of 13, one of which could be the omen/item that she needed to complete the heroes' task.

How should this situation be handled?

[VID-IOT]

While we have used the mystic slide and the revolving wall (another event card that also tells you not to draw a card in this manner)many times, we've never found ourselves at a dead end due to lack of omen card rooms.

But although the odds are against it ever happening, its true that there is a chance. I suggest that either you ignore that rule and draw the card anyway, or only ignore it if asks you to draw an omen card.

While it is small, there is a chance that the haunt might not occur at all if you do not draw an omen card in the new room. There are 13 omen cards, and a maximum of 12 rolled on the haunt roll. So if you miss more than one omen room, and somehow manage to roll higher than the number of previous omens each time a new one is drawn...what then when you run out of omens?

[VeggieBoy]

If the Secret Stairs are in a room in which one would normally have to roll when leaving, such as the attic, is the roll necessary when leaving via the Secret Stairs?

Do Omen Cards such as the Book, for example, count as 'items' for purposes of the Mirror Image cards?

[MPringles]

We played another 2 games tonight that seemed fairly easy for the good guys (it was a 6 player game). I think having a greater number of players (more than 4) strongly places the odds of winning in the heroes, as the the traitor did not have much chance with 5 people working against him. There should probably be more bonuses added for the traitor if there are 5 or 6 players to make the game more challenging.

On to the Scenario questions:


1) Scenario 3 - After casting the spell on the Witch, you can attack her, but how do you kill her. Monsters are normally just stunned, but we assumed that either 2 hits would kill her (one to stun and one to kill) or to use her physical stats as her life like a regular player. The scenario did not describe what to do for this and should have errata.

2) Scenario Werewolves (forgot number) - Is it one shot with a silver bullet to kill the Werewolf? Again, we assumed this was the case since the book said we must defeat the wolf, which is too win an opposing roll.

3) On a side note, do monsters or the traitor have to spend extra movement to move past opposing players? We could not find this in the rules, so we assumed that they did to make things even.

Hopefully we get a full FAQ and official errata soon!

[WotC_Mark]

I'm not sure if its been pointed out however in Haunt 25 the damage track is mentioned as increasing the effects of the voodoo in the player book. But in the traitor book it is several dolls do not benefit from this. This can cause a stalemate of stet loss vs stat gain for some dolls.

This would be resolved if either

1) Stat bump rooms become a one shot deal as previously mentioned.

or

2) All stat loss dolls are changed to work like the rag doll.

MJ
:)

[VID-IOT]

I'm not sure if its been pointed out however in Haunt 25 the damage track is mentioned as increasing the effects of the voodoo in the player book. But in the traitor book it is several dolls do not benefit from this. This can cause a stalemate of stet loss vs stat gain for some dolls.


Yes we did have to stalemate on this one as well. Badguy was stuck in a room that would kill him if he left, and goodguys were stuck in stat gaining rooms cause of the dolls. Eventually we decided the bad guy won because eventually everyone would starve to death and the badguy was the only one who didn't have to be alive to finish his goal.

[WotC_Doog]

This one came up for us yesterday. The Blood Dagger item says it adds 3 additional dice "when making a Might attack with this weapon." Does that mean it can add 3 dice when an explorer is attacked by something else? I.e. does it work on defense? It seems clear that it can't add to Might for a generic Might trait roll, but we weren't sure if it worked during any kind of combat or only when the Dagger-possessor was initiating the attack.

Also, you lose 1 permanent notch of Speed every time you add the 3-dice bonus, am I reading that correctly?

[VID-IOT]

This one came up for us yesterday. The Blood Dagger item says it adds 3 additional dice "when making a Might attack with this weapon." Does that mean it can add 3 dice when an explorer is attacked by something else? I.e. does it work on defense? It seems clear that it can't add to Might for a generic Might trait roll, but we weren't sure if it worked during any kind of combat or only when the Dagger-possessor was initiating the attack.

Also, you lose 1 permanent notch of Speed every time you add the 3-dice bonus, am I reading that correctly?

I think if you go word for word on the card, the dagger can only be used when you are attacking someone. Not when defending.
The drop in speed must occur every time it is used.
And it can not be used for any other might roll.

[Ratling Raider]

Thats the way I have reasoned it out, it says that an item may only be used once on your turn, and the same applies for omens that are items/weapons too, such as the spear I believe but I could be wrong...

[holywolfman]

This one came up for us yesterday. The Blood Dagger item says it adds 3 additional dice "when making a Might attack with this weapon." Does that mean it can add 3 dice when an explorer is attacked by something else? I.e. does it work on defense? It seems clear that it can't add to Might for a generic Might trait roll, but we weren't sure if it worked during any kind of combat or only when the Dagger-possessor was initiating the attack.

Also, you lose 1 permanent notch of Speed every time you add the 3-dice bonus, am I reading that correctly?

...We play you can use the dagger with any Might attack/defend rolls (I mean it is in your hand right...why wouldn't you use it for defense, right?)

We also take (1) point/ notch of "permanent" damage for speed every time it is used! (You can choose to use it or not- you decide BEFORE any dice are rolled!)- ;)

[Dmart]

Question re: Haunt 33 (Creature from the Lake)






We were somewhat confused by the instructed placement of the new lake tiles. First, can such lake tiles be placed abutting both sides of the Underground Lake tile that do not have doors? Second, must such lake tiles be placed linearly? With regard to the second question, the heroes found it advantageous that when pushed back toward the actual Underground Lake tile, they could simply branch off in a new direction to achieve additional "placed upon current turn" bonuses rather than moving through tiles which had been previously placed. Nothing in the haunt indicated that such non-linear movement was prohibited, but forcing the heroes back didn't seem to have the penalty-effect that such backward movement would seem to imply.

[drasher25]

I think one aspect that's very confusing are the rules for room effects on the traitor and the monsters. They ignore "Non-damaging room effects". So monsters take damage in damaging rooms? And what is this damage - are they stunned for a turn? Do monsters walk through secret doors? I think a list of every room effect and how it affects traitors and monsters would be great to have.

Also, I really think a partial FAQ needs to be posted ASAP. I'd rather see something incomplete posted now and updated later rather than play any more games that come to a screeching halt because of scenario confusions. Horror is a genre that is extremely sensitive to having to mood killed!

[Rufferto]

Also, I really think a partial FAQ needs to be posted ASAP. I'd rather see something incomplete posted now and updated later rather than play any more games that come to a screeching halt because of scenario confusions. Horror is a genre that is extremely sensitive to having to mood killed!

I agree! I was thinking along the same lines. A partial FAQ is better than nothing. You're loosing potential fans of this game everyday that it's not up.

[WotC_Mark]

I have seen a faq that is going around here at WotC... I believe that several people are checking for accuracy and you should see it very soon.

MJ

[holywolfman]

Cool!- :cool:

[VID-IOT]

I have seen a faq that is going around here at WotC... I believe that several people are checking for accuracy and you should see it very soon.

MJ

Hurrah! That willl bring some smiles to the game table.

[revnk]

Yes, please, thank you on the FAQ! I've been checking AH every day for it: I'm saving the game for a Halloween surprise for my gaming group, and I'm scared that after all the buildup we're going to accidentally end up with some mood-killing issue that blows the game. Or -- I've been trying to avoid threads with spoilers, but even vague references are hard to miss -- Murphy's Law gives us one of those "slightly broken" Haunts.

So thank you, AH/WotC guys, if you can get that FAQ up by 10/30!

[Zundman7301]

First of all, great game, Bruce.

But more to the point I have three very serious questions.

1. I am a little fuzzy on the room discovery action (and the actions in general, it says you can only do each one time, but there seem to be some inconsistancies about what exactly "once" means). Can I discover as many rooms as I want until I run into a card symbol, thus ending my turn, or is it only one room discovery per turn period?


SPOILERS ON THE NEXT TWO QUESTIONS






2. On the demon scenario (I can't remeber the number and I don't want to go looking for it for fear of ruining my other experiences) there seems to be no stats whatsoever for the main demon lord. Am I missing something?

3. On the madman secenario (the one where sombody thinks they are Julius Ceaser) do the baddies and the traitor have to be unconcious for them to be locked in the vault, or, in order to be captured, do they just have to be in the vault with the heroes for the one turn no matter what their status? If it turns out they don't have to be knocked unconcious, it is nearly impossible for them to win as the heroes could just hang out in the vault, waiting for the traitor and his henchmen to come in. When they do, the will cause some damage, but it will be almost impossible for them to kill all the heroes--as such, at the end of the turn they will become captured, and then GAME OVER.

Thanks for your time.

[Rufferto]

In the scenario with the voodoo dolls, can the heroes find other people's dolls, or just their own? If they can find other people's dolls, can they also destroy them for other people, or can a hero destroy only his own doll?

[timbur666]

We had a situation come up in a certain scenario that was very difficult for us to resolve. In one of the haunts, it takes you 2 spaces to move to another room. Yet one of the players had lost his flashlight, which means you "only move 1 space". I thought the player should have been able to move to the next room, but the other players did not. Which is correct? I think the scenario was #34.

[Bruce Glassco]

Question re: Haunt 33 (Creature from the Lake)






We were somewhat confused by the instructed placement of the new lake tiles. First, can such lake tiles be placed abutting both sides of the Underground Lake tile that do not have doors?
Yes.
Second, must such lake tiles be placed linearly? With regard to the second question, the heroes found it advantageous that when pushed back toward the actual Underground Lake tile, they could simply branch off in a new direction to achieve additional "placed upon current turn" bonuses rather than moving through tiles which had been previously placed. Nothing in the haunt indicated that such non-linear movement was prohibited, but forcing the heroes back didn't seem to have the penalty-effect that such backward movement would seem to imply.
There is still a penalty in being pushed backwards in that you aren't as far from the starting space. But yes, you can branch off from a linear path to keep exploring new territory.

[Bruce Glassco]

We had a situation come up in a certain scenario that was very difficult for us to resolve. In one of the haunts, it takes you 2 spaces to move to another room. Yet one of the players had lost his flashlight, which means you "only move 1 space". I thought the player should have been able to move to the next room, but the other players did not. Which is correct? I think the scenario was #34.

On page 12 of the rulebook it says "No matter how many penalties you have on a turn, you can always move at least one space." This is true no matter what the nature of the penalties is. Nothing can stop you from moving one space per turn.

[chad56s]

1) Scenario 3 - After casting the spell on the Witch, you can attack her, but how do you kill her. Monsters are normally just stunned, but we assumed that either 2 hits would kill her (one to stun and one to kill) or to use her physical stats as her life like a regular player. The scenario did not describe what to do for this and should have errata.


Agreed. We had the exact same problems with this scenario.

Another question, and I seem to recall this being discussed elsewhere but I can't track down the answer. How many actions can you take on your turn? Can you move to the vault, attempt to open it, fail, continue moving and attempt to use the medical kit and then attack the traitor all in the same turn?

As an example, in the same scenario #3,

!BEWARE THE SPOILERS!








The hero with the book and the root successfully performed the spell that turned the witch mortal. He then made an attack on the same turn. Is this type of thing allowed? We have been extremely unclear on the limits of ones turn.







!END OF SPOILERS!



Another question: does moving from the foyer to the grand staircase to the upper landing count as two moves or only one? That is, are the grand staircase and upper landing essentially the same tile that just happens to be a member of two floors?

Another question: Moving past obstacles (catacombs, chasm, etc.). Rulebook says that moving past them doesn't cost any movement. So, if you succeed at the required trait roll, you can essentially move through this room for free? Is that correct? If you fail and are forced to end your turn at the chasm, do you have to roll at the beginning of your turn to move past it until you succeed? Or can you just move on from there? If you end your turn at the catacombs, can you move through them automatically on your next turn? Or do you have to keep rolling until you're successful?

Sorry. This turned into a long one.

[SpaceCowboy]

I'm a little confused on moving and discovering a new room. I played a mock-game by myself last night so that I could learn the rules when me and my friends get together tonight.

At your turn the rules say you can do as many of the following as you want: 1) move 2) discover a room

Question: Do you have to move to discover a room? Do you have to move into an unopened door to discover a room? If so, what if the tile you draw doesn't fit into the door you are moving into?

Last night I drew a hallway that wasn't going to fit into the space I was moving into. It looked something like this


--D-- -----
|...| |...|
|.H.| D...D
|...| |...|
--D-- --D--
|.........|
|.P.......|
|.........|
--D-- -----

P - where character was at start of the turn (entryway)
H - Hallway added when player entered middle left door in diagram

When I drew the hallway, it would not fit into the room. I chose to discard it and choose another that would fit. But it made me wonder if discovering a new room really means just drawing a tile and placing it anywhere you choose that fits?

SpaceCowboy

[deltabob]

Do you have to move to discover a room? Yes

Do you have to move into an unopened door to discover a room? Yes

If so, what if the tile you draw doesn't fit into the door you are moving into?
I'm not clear on what you mean by the tile not fitting into the door.

Dscovering a room means that your character has chosen to move through a doorway where there is no tile on the other side of the door. You draw a tile, corresponding to the floor on which your character is placed (ground, upper, or basement), discarding tiles as needed to find one that corresponds to the floor on which your character is placed. You match up the doorways as logically as possible (meaning, try to connect doorways to doorways as much as you can).

If it is necessary to cut off the doorway from another room that will be adjacent to the tile you are placing, so be it.

[SpaceCowboy]

"If it is necessary to cut off the doorway from another room that will be adjacent to the tile you are placing, so be it."

That was what I was asking. In my diagram, you will see that the hallway does not have a right side door to match the left side door of the tile to the right of it. (confusing).

Thanks for clearing that up.

SpaceCowboy

[Dejio]

Question:
How do monsters get out of the basement, if the "Stairs from the basement" tile isn't found yet and the heroes or traitor doesn't even need to look for it?

We played scenario 13 last night. Basically the Nightmare monsters starts in the basement because the traitor is in the basement. The nightmares eventually needs to go to the other floors. The traitor starts the haunt asleep so she can't find the stairs and the heroes went down through the Coal chute. But since monsters can't explore new rooms, how will they ever get out of the basement?! This scenario seems to be unbalanced under these circumstances.

What we eventually did was, we decided that nightmares can go up the Coal chute since they're like 'spirits' anyway. But what if there was a scenario like this and the monsters were not spirits?.. say..zombies for instance? What do we do then?

[mscjec]

I love the mechanics, the spirit, and the production values...but it is like software that has too many bugs in it. Until a patch is released, it is almost un-playable without last minute on-the-spot work-a-rounds....a definate fun-killer, since it usually leads to some debate amoungst the players. We played but ONE scenario (#3) and had a lot of questions:

If the players run into a situation where they run out of doors in the basement (it happened...what with the Pentagram, Crypt and Vault rooms being dead-ends) and they have not 'found' the steps, then they are stuck in the basement. The haunt revealer (in this case) was the only one in the upper floors, and was doomed to fail.

When you draw a card that has an item, it is that the player has the item? Some items give the player bonuses only to remove the bonuses when the item is lost. The player did not want to take the item (Amulet of the Ages)as soon as he read the card, as the loss of the item would signify the character's death. What happens?

The huge amount of counters with-out any clue as to how to organize them (as the game-play remains a secret, obviously) slowed things considerably.....(Our first room: which one is the 'Skeletons' counter?) Do we need a counter for the Event that has the secret alcove or the item Holy Symbol? A counter list is found a gamegeek.com that should have been included.

The monster was revealed, but there was questions about exactly how to defeat it (as most creatures are merely 'stunned'). Common sense dictated that the monsters statistics must be reduced to zero, but that was not stated.

On a turn a player "can do as many of the following actions as you want, in any order." Move, Discover a new room, Attempt a die roll, use item or omen cards, attack. But can he do one of those actions twice? We figured not....but we ran into a situation where a Haunt specific action may or may not be considered an attack and the player wanted to do the action and then immediatly attack. Was it possible? The game's outcome hinged upon it, and there was a little debate...at precisly the wrong time.

We assumed that a reading of text in the traitor's book that said 'does 2 dice of physical damage' did NOT mean it was an attack roll and it just did the damage automatically. Again, we took a common sense guess. Luckily, we didn't argue.

Now I know the use of 'Common Sense' is highly required in a game that keeps half of it's play secret, but the rest of these posts suggest that little glitches appear in a lot (if not ALL) of the haunts (the Underground Lake, the Demon's statistics, etc.). Because of the unique design, these glitches appear mostly AFTER the haunt is reveled, and then you have one sole player trying to interpert rules that he can't reveal and the other group deciding their rules that can reveal......catastrophic failure in all but the most polite group of players.

That is why I can't reccomend it, yet. It is completely up to Avalon Hill. This game, I fear, is about to start getting a reputation of a 'buggy' un-playable game with a great concept......

Fix these errors poste haste....please! I'd love to play this again, but we fear it'll 'crash' if we do!!!!!

Mike

[Dejio]

I agree with the "debate among players" thing. Although you could use common sense to solve some problems, it's still better to see it in black and white to avoid petty quarrels.

[CaptainGen]

The FAQ is great, but I think there are a few things missing:
1) The FAQ says: ‘ Monsters are also able to climb up the Coal Chute and Collapsed Room and down from the Gallery without making a roll, so they can't be trapped on a floor. ‘
So they can climb up the coal chute and the collapsed room, but not the gallery? What about the traitor? Can he climb up these tiles?
2)Library, Gymnasium, Larder, Chapel: can monsters use these rooms? (they can use positive effects)
3) General question: Combat doesnt stop me (?), so I can move to a room, battle there and leave it after the battle (using 2 ‘speedpoints’ if the opponent’s still alive.)?
4)General: The rule says I can trade AN item, but drop or collect any number of items. So does that mean I can only trade ONE item? And trading doesn’t stop me? So I can move , trade one item, drop more in the floor, continue moving and so on?
Thanks for answers!

[CaptainGen]

There is another one:

The FAQ says:
"When monsters enter the Mystic Elevator, can they move it to any floor they wish without rolling the way traitors do?

Yes. They can still only use it once per turn, though"

So can i really use it once per monster or once per monsterturn?

[Dejio]

What's your ruling on when the Traitor and Heroes Tome contradict in whether to immediately look for the room on the tile stack now or wait for the heroes to discover it before you place the key item? This has happened twice for me now.

[Xerik]

Can one use an item during a turn and then ditch it or pass it off to a teammate to use on thier next turn as well? So say turn order is ABC. Player A uses a spear, passes to player B who uses the spear and passes it back.

Aslo, must traitors decide to take the effect of an event card before reading it // before rolling dice// or even after?

Does Traitor still have to roll for vault?

[Xerik]

Sorry if some of above seem rediculous, but the group I was playing with was having disputes over these.

[Gil_Winters]

SPOILER - Haunt #24

For this haunt to work, there must be windows for the bats to come from. What do you do if you have no windows? When we played this haunt, the only windows on the board were on the Grand Staricase tile, and those were "false windows" because another tile was behind them [The official FAQ states "False windows between rooms do not count as windows for the purposes of any scenario or card".].

Question #1: What tiles "officially" have windows?
Question #2: In addition to tiles with windows, what are all the other tiles that bats can enter into?
Question #3: The rules say to roll a number of dice equal to the number of players to determine how many new bats are available each turn. Is this the total number of players who started the game, or the number of heroes, or the number of current (living) heroes?

Thanks Bruce and Hasbro for a fun, innovative game that can be played with the whole family (even my 7 year old girl and non-gaming wife enjoy it). I was afraid that the Avalon Hill brand was going to become the Axis & Allies brand - thanks for a new, great game in the spirit of the original AH!

Final Question: The rule glitches in the game are more than I would expect from a Hasbro/WOTC/AH effort - any plans to do a 2nd edition rulebook (with FAQ) that we could download as a .pdf? :rolleyes:

[deltabob]

When an explorer enters the Coal Chute room, does the explorer have the option of not going down the coal chute? My guess is no, the fall is automatic, but the question came up in a game this weekend.

[VID-IOT]

When an explorer enters the Coal Chute room, does the explorer have the option of not going down the coal chute? My guess is no, the fall is automatic, but the question came up in a game this weekend.

The fall is automatic and there is no save to resist falling.

[deltabob]

SPOILER ALERT

















In scenario 43, I have a question about the ritual that must be completed for the heroes. I am assuming that only a single ritual for a given train can be comleted in each of the listed rooms (or maybe only a single ritual period in each of the listed rooms). Is this accurate, or can multiple rituals be performed in the ame room?

[holywolfman]

You can only do (1) successful exorcist (either trait) per room specified. Once that room has been successfully completed, you put that "trait" counter in that room showing it has been done in that room and with what "trait" roll. (Otherwise you would be "camping" out in that room)

[makes sense?]- :D

[deltabob]

Yep, that's what I thought, I just couldn't remember seeing it spelled out anywhere.

[Apsalar]

I don't know if this has been answered elsewhere and if it has sorry and can you direct me to the answer, but we played scenario 12 where there is no traitor and you fight your evil twin. It says in the booklet that if it is not your evil twin you can only stun the monster if you defeat it, unless the twin's counterpart is dead and you have the crystal ball, then you can destroy it.
We had the case where 2 characters were dead and 2 were alive but the 2 evil twins of the dead characters were still alive. One of the heroes defeated one of the twins and stunned it, then on her round the other hero entered the room with the crystal ball and we weren't sure if she could destroy a stunned monster. It says in the rules that you can hit a stunned monster but it's pointless because it is already stunned, but in this case we did have a chance to destroy the monster. Can someone help?

[SpaceCowboy]

Q: I know a monster or traitor can intentionally use the collapsed room to go to the basement. Do they take damage from doing so? The rules say that the traitor and monsters ignore all room effects, so I would think they don't take damage from the fall.

SpaceCowboy

[holywolfman]

Monsters and traitors DO NOT take any damage from any room tiles, or cards, etc. (It is thier house and they "control" everything in it!")- :D

[deltabob]

Hmmm. I thought that monters and traitors had the option of ignoring room effects, but if they did use them that they had to take the damage. This is a question that has come up in our group, and we haven't come to a solid decision on it yet.

I'd welcome any points on either side of the issue.

[holywolfman]

...I think you are correct about them "taking damage" but ONLY with a failed roll on a card text/effect...which they DO NOT have to do if they choose not to do it! I believe anything in the house (tiles, collapsed room, etc.)-they would ignore for they know every "square inch" of thier house! (At least that is how I interpret it from the rules/FAQs)- ;)

[mullaert]

Hi,
it would be great if the FAQ's for the scenarios would be divided into a traitor part and a survivors part. Now everything is on one spot with the risk spoiling a surprise:(

Cheers
Arnold

[holywolfman]

just go to boardgamegeek. com.....they have it seperated there! (under "File Name")- ;)

LINK THIS (with NO SPACES)>>>>>http ://www.boardgamegeek .com/game/10547<<<<<

Enjoy!

[mullaert]

Thanks! Tomorrow is gaming day. Really looking forward to se how well the game being played in our gaming group.

cheers
Arnold

[willpell]

We double dip quite a lot when it comes to rooms giving stat bonuses. It really hasn't made too much difference either way for us.

I kind of felt annoyed by the once-each rule at first, but then I realized that without this rule, if the players are at all motivated by the desire to win the game as opposed to just being atmosphere feebs, the moment the Larder or what-not shows up, if the haunt hasn't started yet, everyone can stop exploring new rooms and just run over to the Larder and click their Might up to maximum. Not only un-atmospheric, but downright unfair. Yes, this means the eventual traitor gets strong too, but he's still outnumbered 2-5 to 1. And yes, the haunt might use Sanity, but the Might still comes in handy for staving the traitor's skull in, not to mention walking back and forth across the Tower, strolling in and out of the Junk Room, etc. It never occurred to me when originally playing to use the Larder more than 2 or 3 times in a row, but that's because I was new to the game and still desperate to explore; now that I know how the basic game works and have seen the Events and such, I'm no longer compelled to explore and possibly get myself killed, so the temptation to abuse a bottomless Larder (or Chapel or Library or Gymnasium) is too much to resist. Keep in mind that out of nine games to date, even without anyone using a boost room more than twice or so, we've yet to have a traitor victory (although in hindsight, our first bout, "Carnivorous Ivy", should have been a traitor victory if not for two glaringly huge rules oopses and the fact that the traitor didn't really know the strategy for the game any more than we did.)

[willpell]

We played another 2 games tonight that seemed fairly easy for the good guys (it was a 6 player game). I think having a greater number of players (more than 4) strongly places the odds of winning in the heroes, as the the traitor did not have much chance with 5 people working against him.

This depends greatly on the scenario. For instance:
invisitext spoiler for haunt 1: In "The Mummy Walks", more players definitely makes it hard for the traitor to win. With two non-traitor players in the game, the mummy hardly needs to bother chasing the Girl, he just has to bushwhack the two heroes and strangle them (maybe with the traitor helping against the one further from the Mummy). But with five heroes against one Mummy and one traitor, the odds for Imhotep don't look too good.
On the other hand,
invisitext spoiler for haunt 23: In "Tentacled Horror", the traitor dies at the outset, so the players are just dealing with the tentacles, and the number of tentacles is the same as the number of players. So here, the advantages of a larger party are a lot more dubious.

[Dean Rogers]

I've been searching for days for an answer to a question that is not in the rules, the FAQs, the forums, or they were answered but not by a game designer. Since I haven't played every scenario, this may be the only case but (spoiler alert) in scenario 48, there is a monster with stats, I'm assuming not stunnable since the counter does not have an S on the back like all of the large ones. The rules never specify whether large monsters keep track of stats, or are killed if defeated (in this case, important, because IF DEFEATED, this monster reappears in the doorway and is stronger). If he is stunned if not killed, this makes a big difference to the outcome. Because if stats are not kept track of, if the monster becomes too strong, he is unbeatable(because when he gets to say, 8 might, he's pretty much invulnerable) UNLESS stats are kept track of, in which case he can be whittled down, which was the case with us, since that is how the traitor interpreted the rules. It does not specify to keep track of this monster's stats with the turn/damage track. Somebody (hopefully a game designer) pleas help!!!!
:eek:

[Manxome]

To be "defeated" means to participate in a combat where your opponent rolls a higher number than yours.

The standard monster rules do not have damage for monsters; they are stunned when defeated in combat, but their stats never change. Those rules, of course, can be superseded by the rules in a particular Haunt, but any time something isn't specified otherwise, those are the rules you use.

Scenario 48 has very specific rules in the Traitor's Tome indicating what happens when the monster is defeated:

(invisitext)
"If Crimson Jack is defeated, he is temporarily removed from the house instead of being stunned or taking damage. At the beginning of your next turn, Crimson Jack returns; put his token in the Entrance Hall again.
Each time Crimson Jack returns, add 1 to each of his traits (write this down on a piece of paper)."

(Emphasis added.) Note that it specifically says that Crimson Jack does not take damage from attacks.
(end)

Yes, this means that his stats can grow without limit and he can eventually become nigh-invincible (never totally invincible, though, given the way stat rolls work in Betrayal). You cannot "whittle down" his stats. The heroes' job is to figure out what's going on and take steps to limit his stat gains while simultaneously trying to complete their victory condition as quickly as possible, before it becomes too hard. This is far from impossible.


On a related note, the fact that there's no "stunned" icon on the back of the monster token means that the designers didn't think the monster could be stunned when the game was printed, but in almost all cases they were wrong (they forgot about the Druidic Charm, which stuns all monsters in the room when dropped). Also, many monsters that weren't stunned when defeated in the original versions of the Haunts are stunned in the revised rules.

This is particularly annoying, because they didn't put anything else on the back of the tokens, so they might as well have put "stunned" indicators there, even if they thought they would never be used, and it would have covered them in case of a mistake (as actually happened) as well as making it easier to play custom Haunts in which the tokens might be reused for stunnable monsters. I guess that's yet another item to put on the list of things that go wrong when you rush the game out before it's done.

[Dean Rogers]

Thanks:cool:

[willpell]

just go to boardgamegeek. com.....they have it seperated there! (under "File Name")- ;)

LINK THIS (with NO SPACES)>>>>>http ://www.boardgamegeek .com/game/10547<<<<<

Enjoy!

I'm sorry, there are FAQs for the actual scenarios? I've been to the BGG page but I didn't see them; where are they exactly? Do they go into depth about how to handle things like being shrunk or being a soul? (Those haunts need about 10 pages of rules clarifications on them dangit.)

[willpell]

I don't know if this has been answered elsewhere and if it has sorry and can you direct me to the answer, but we played scenario 12 where there is no traitor and you fight your evil twin. It says in the booklet that if it is not your evil twin you can only stun the monster if you defeat it, unless the twin's counterpart is dead and you have the crystal ball, then you can destroy it.
We had the case where 2 characters were dead and 2 were alive but the 2 evil twins of the dead characters were still alive. One of the heroes defeated one of the twins and stunned it, then on her round the other hero entered the room with the crystal ball and we weren't sure if she could destroy a stunned monster. It says in the rules that you can hit a stunned monster but it's pointless because it is already stunned, but in this case we did have a chance to destroy the monster. Can someone help?

The Crystal Ball player can attack the killable twin even if it's stunned. In this case, the twin rolls its Might to defend, but deals no damage if it gets more successes than the attacker. Similar rules apply anytime you attack a stunned monster, for instance if a monster has an item, you can attack it to steal the item (if you get more than 1 "damage"), and if the monster is stunned then it can't thwack you for trying, it only rolls to see if it can hold on to the item.

[willpell]

SPOILER - Haunt #24

For this haunt to work, there must be windows for the bats to come from. What do you do if you have no windows?
Question #1: What tiles "officially" have windows?
Question #2: In addition to tiles with windows, what are all the other tiles that bats can enter into?
Question #3: The rules say to roll a number of dice equal to the number of players to determine how many new bats are available each turn. Is this the total number of players who started the game, or the number of heroes, or the number of current (living) heroes?


There doesn't seem to have been a terribly official answer. The rulebook indicates that "false" windows are available for the bats to enter, probably specifically to avoid this problem (so they'll always at least be able to get in the Grand Staircase). My question about the haunt was with the placement of the starting bats; since only one of the four rooms that might have bats is even an Omen room, it seems like a lot of the time you won't have any of these rooms and will start with no bats anywhere in the house, which combined with the fact that the players get to place the Organ room could potentially enable the players to win before the traitor has had a turn.
As to your questions:
1. The tiles with windows are the Grand Staircase, the Bedroom, the Master Bedroom, the Dining Room, the Chapel and the Conservatory (I'm pretty sure that's all of them; some would argue that the Chapel windows don't work since stained glass windows aren't generally designed to open, but as far as I know the bats can smash through them without any trouble). If the haunt doesn't say so, i would also say that logically the bats ought to be able to enter through the outdoor tiles (Balcony, Gardens, Patio, and so forth), unless we want to take the false-windows allowance as proof that the bats are actually being extruded out of the glass or something rather than actually coming from outside.
2. I don't recall how this haunt works, but if it says they can enter from any outside tile, then the full list is Balcony, Gardens, Patio, Graveyard, and Tower (and any room with an outside-facing window). I really wonder if this haunt ought to have some text letting the traitor put a bat room in the house added to it, for both balance and sense reasons.
3. Anything that says "the number of players" or "the number of heroes" counts players that have been killed; if it uses only survivors, it would say "the number of surviving heroes". Granted, they occasionally say "the number of heroes left in the game" as a clarifier, but the errata/FAQ do indicate that the default is to count dead players).

[Lokomo Joe]

There are a couple omen items (dog, madman, etc.) that add to your stats, but you lose these additions if you lose the omen card.

The medical kit from the items deck can restore wounded characters to starting values... do you still get an additional plus for your omen bonuses that you can be healed to (so, effectively you can be healed to one above your starting value)?

Also, if you are wounded to the bottom and lose your omen card, can the points lost at that point kill you?

Thank you.

[Nadare]

The medical kit from the items deck can restore wounded characters to starting values... do you still get an additional plus for your omen bonuses that you can be healed to (so, effectively you can be healed to one above your starting value)?

I'm not an official voice on the matter, but I've played the game enough times and read the FAQ to be pretty sure of this answer.

No. Whether they come from items, events, stat boosting rooms, or so on, any bonuses or penalties to your stats are immediate. You simply make the adjustment to your stats when told to, and then keep playing. There is no "continuous" effect that is remembered-- all adjustments are made to whatever your character has at the moment and are immediately forgotten.

Example: Lets assume you are playing Ox Bellows, who starts with a 4 speed. Then you acquire the Amulet of the Ages which gives you +1 to all four traits when acquired. Now all your stats move up one space (which makes your Speed now a 5). Then you get pasted in combat by a monster who hits you for four damage, which you assign all to Speed. You move down 4 spaces (your Speed is now 2, which is two spaces above the skull). If you use the Medical Kit, your Speed returns to its original value 4. Thus, your bonus from the Amulet has been lost in the resulting combat, but you can still increase your score above its original value through other items or effects.

Of course, if you lose or drop the Amulet, you still take the -3 to all stats, which can be lethal if the haunt has started. If you survive, then you will get the bonus again if you pick it back up. It may be advantageous in some rare situations (where the haunt has not started yet and several of your stats are just above the skull) to drop the amulet, heal yourself with the med kit, then pick the amulet back up.

The only thing like a "continuous" bonus in the game are the ones that add dice when making a trait roll (the Spear gives you a two dice bonus to Might rolls when you initiate an attack). These bonuses do not actually add to your stats, but simply give you additional dice to roll (in addition to what you are allowed to roll from your Trait score).


Also, if you are wounded to the bottom and lose your omen card, can the points lost at that point kill you?

If the haunt has not started yet, no. You cannot die before the haunt starts. Any damage that would put you at the skull instead puts you at the lowest number for that skill. If the damage is done to you by an Omen (like The Bite) which then starts the haunt, you are still safe because the haunt roll is not made until after the omen card is resolved (at that point, the haunt has not started yet, so you cannot die).

Once the haunt starts, all bets are off. If any source of damage brings any of your scores to the skull, you are dead. Losing the amulet after the haunt starts is a possible way to die. In fact, if you have the amulet after the haunt starts, don't let the traitor or a monster steal it -- it could easily kill you!

[Nadare]

I wanted to give my take on these questions also, because they were interesting:

Can one use an item during a turn and then ditch it or pass it off to a teammate to use on thier next turn as well? So say turn order is ABC. Player A uses a spear, passes to player B who uses the spear and passes it back.

The FAQ says that "For each item, during a turn an explorer or monster that can carry items may only perform one of the following actions: use the item, give the item to another explorer, drop the item, steal the item, or pick up the item. Using the item means making any attack or roll or other action in which the item is involved in any way." I believe the key to this is that when the item is initially discovered (such as by an event card, defeating the skeletons, or opening the safe, vault, or closet), it does not count as an action. This is why you can discover and use an item in the same turn. If an item is already in the game and has been dropped, picking it up is your action with that item for your turn. If someone uses an item during their turn, they cannot give it to someone else or drop it until their next turn. Giving an item to another explorer essentially allows you sacrifice your chance to use the item so that another player can use it instead. This seems to fit the intent of the rule: an item can be used by at most one hero in each set of hero turns.

Aslo, must traitors decide to take the effect of an event card before reading it // before rolling dice// or even after?

I believe this is answered indirectly in the rules and FAQ. The traitor can decide to ignore any event card s/he wants (any such choice is kind of useless if the traitor cannot at least read the card first). It also states that the traitor is stuck with the outcome if s/he has declined to ignore the card. So the answer should be, the traitor decides whether or not to ignore the card AFTER reading it, but BEFORE rolling dice or making any decisions on the card.

Does Traitor still have to roll for vault?

This is now in the FAQ. The answer is Yes.