The Case Files is a place for diving deeply into specific rules questions. In each case file, I will look at different interpretations for a single question - including any precedence before them, any arguments supporting them, and any ramifications that follow them.
This has its limitations. While I endeavour to find and understand all of the different interpretations and represent them fairly, this is not always possible. Similarly, though I try to be unbiased, I often have one or more interpretations I personally favour, so take any endorsements of interpretations with a grain of salt. Finally, the interpretations presented here are not the official rules of the game, nor is this blog intended to supersede the official rules. It is simply a reference point for discussions before an official ruling is established.
With that out of the way, let us delve into our first case.
Of Trains and Tracks
Joe Diamond takes a swig from his trusty flask - he'll need the rest of it before the night is done. The case is laid out before him in a mess of notes, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other evidences. "The answer is in here somewhere", he thinks to himself, but nothing seems to make sense. He takes another swig. "Maybe I should start from the beginning, see what I've missed".
It all began when a man walked into a train car, wearing steel studded shoes.
The Question
Does Track Shoes' [react] ability resolve before an ability with "Forced - After you enter a location", such as the one on Passenger Car?
Discussions
This question was discussed on the Arkham Horror LCG subreddit, the MythosBuster discord server, and the Arkham Horror: The Card Game Facebook group.
Interpretations
- Yes, Track Shoes' ability resolves before abilities with "Forced - After you enter..."
- No, Track Shoes' ability resolve after abilities with "Forced - After you enter..."
Investigation
On the surface, this interaction appears clear enough. Thanks to the following rule:
For any given timing point, all forced abilities initiated in reference to that timing point must resolve before any [react] abilities (see below) referencing the same timing point in the same manner may be initiated. - Rules Reference
It seems clear that since Track Shoes' ability must trigger after Passenger Car's, since Passenger Car's ability is Forced.
But are the two abilities initiated in reference to same timing point? Passenger Car refers to "After you enter..." whereas Track Shoes refer to "After you move...". Are these the same timing point, or is one before the other?
To that end, the most relevant rules entry seems to be:
Any time an entity moves, it is considered to leave the previous location, and to enter the new location, simultaneously. - Rules Reference
This does not conclusively answer our question, but seems to hint that a "move" is composed of leaving and entering at the same time, so after the move is the same time as after you enter.
However, even if "After you enter..." and "After you move..." are the same timing point, Track Shoes actually refers "After you move, but before enemies at your new location engages you..", which is either a different timing point entirely or at least a different manner of referring to the same timing point. So we still need to determine which one happens first.
Since Track Shoes' ability resolve before enemies engage, we can use this as a reference point. If we can find when Passenger Car's ability trigger in relation to enemy engagement, we may be able to use it to determine when that ability trigger in relation to Track Shoes'.
For this, we turn to Graveyard. While there are no Rules Reference or FAQ entries on this, a question submitted by a community member yielded the following answer:
If there are any ready enemies in the Graveyard when you move there, they will engage you even before the Forced ability resolves. So if you fail the test and choose to move to Rivertown, they will move with you. - ArkhamDB FAQ
Extrapolating from this, it seems that "Forced - After you enter" abilities do resolve after enemy engagement. Since Track Shoes' ability resolve before enemy engagement, I conclude that Yes, Track Shoes' ability resolves before abilities with "Forced - After you enter...".
Limitations
It bears repeating that my conclusion is one of two (or more) interpretations that I personally favour. It is not an official ruling. It is not a community consensus. It is the conclusion of one investigator who spent too much time reading into the question and the discussions surrounding it.
In particular, my conclusion hinges on "After you enter" and "After you move" being the same timing point. It could very well be that since entering a location is a part of moving, a player enters a location before they finish moving. If this is the case, any abilities with the timing point "After you enter" may resolve before any abilities with "After you move".
Ramifications
Track Shoes' ability resolving before abilities with "Forced - After you enter" has a few interesting implications on some card interactions. Namely:
- With the original example of Passenger Car, it means an investigator with Track Shoes may enter Passenger Car, activate Track Shoes, then use some effects (perhaps Drawing Thin) to find relevant icons before having to discard or take horror from Passenger Car's ability.
- Fieldwork would not be able to provide a bonus to Track Shoes' skill test.
- Track Shoes would allow an investigator to enter Le Marais and leave it before its Forced ability resolves.
Follow Up
The question is put to a vote in the MythosBuster discord server, which at the time of writing had:
- 11 votes for Yes, Track Shoes' ability resolves before abilities with "Forced - After you enter..."
- 3 votes for No, Track Shoes' ability resolves after abilities with "Forced - After you enter..."
The same vote was conducted in the Arkham Horror: The Card Game facebook group, which at the time of writing had:
- 8 votes for Yes, Track Shoes' ability resolves before abilities with "Forced - After you enter..."
- 34 votes for No, Track Shoes' ability resolves after abilities with "Forced - After you enter..."
The question was submitted via the Fantasy Flight Rules Questions form by the Discord user dr00 on the 25th of August, 2019.
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