Ye Olde Inn

During playtesting a few days ago, the following situation occured. The barbarian sets off a pit trap, and thus have to stop. To attack a monster some squares away, on the other side of the pit trap, the Elf tries to jump over the pit trap.

The question is, what happens if he fails? According to the rules, two heroes cannot be on the same square. But if you fail the jump, you must fall into the pit. Mutually exclusive rules.

I have thought about three possible variations for when someone fails to jump over an occupied pit trap.
A) The player falls into the pit, looses a body point and his turn ends. He is allowed to be on the same square as the other player, since it is unavoidable.
B) The player tumbles onto the other side of the pit trap, looses a body point and his turn ends.
C) The player hesitates just before jumping, and looses momentum. His turn ends, but he does not loose a body point.

Rule-wise, I'd say A, but I think I would rather play it like B, since I dont imagine the pit trap being sufficiently large for two players.

Which option do you think is best? Or do you play it in a totally different way?

Thanks in advance

I'm leaning towards A. As you say... Rule-wise it's seems most appropriate. Yes... That's the rule I would use.

C however is the most hilarious!

Not really familiar with the European rules, but the American rules state more than one hero can be in a pit trap.

I like option 1 the best, because I play the North American rules. They specifically clarify your question on p.13 of the Instruction Booklet under the Hero Movement section:

                                     ...You may
not share a square with another Hero
or monster. Exceptions: When
on the stairs or in pit traps, sharing a
square is permitted.

Of course, the European rules don't have this clarification, so play it another way if you like. Consider, however, the European rules text:

"When moving, characters and monsters may not:
move onto an occupied square. Characters and monsters may, however,
pass through an occupied square, provided that the player controlling
the obstructing miniature allows you to pass; otherwise you must take
another route or stop. Only one minature can occupy a square.

I feel the keyword is move. If a character jumps a pit trap, he must have enough movement to get across, then jumps. I don't think jumping is actually moving onto a square, though it is a special kind of movement. The unintended consequence of falling onto an occupied pit trap square isn't exactly moving onto an occupied square either, because the character never actually moved onto the square, he instead fell. Since the Elf in your example fell (rather than moved) onto the occupied pit trap square, he should be allowed to share the square with the Barbarian.

I know this is interpretive, but to bolster the point consider the restriction that a character may only pass (read move) through an occupied square provided that the player controlling the obstructing miniature allows it. That restriction shouldn't hold if the 'obstructing' miniature is now below the level of the character that wants to pass. Therefore passing through (jumping) a pit trap sqaure is again a special case of movement, not bounded by the rule of moving onto an occupied square. Illustrating again using your case above, it isn't feasible that the Barbarian, who fell into the pit trap, could prevent the Elf from attempting to jump across the same pit. Nor could he prevent the Elf from falling in with him.

If you still feel a pit trap must be too small for two or more characters and should take precedence, I'd say go with choice of B). That way a failure still results in a Body Point of damage, and his turn ends anyway. As he just unsuccesfully jumped and tumbled, he should also defend with the -1 penalty until his next turn, just as if he was fighting from a pit trap. The rules are satisfied, you have only one character in the pit trap, and you merely moved the Elf adjacent, which still allows the monster to close and attack.

The European rules are more like... guidelines!

As an a previous English rules player, I have had to interpret the rules on this one and have always gone with rule A.

Seems like I was playing by the US rules on this one, bosh!

I would go with option B for that ruling.

I don't have the questbook in front of me, so I'll be vague here. Remember the quest where the
heroes jump from room to room through magical doors. In this quest, it specifically stated that,
if a hero jumps to room and a previous hero has not yet moved away from the door, the currently
moving hero is bumped back to his previous position and loses a body point.
Through the notes in quest, they provided for similar situations should the need for a rule arise.

Enjoy.

In the Castle of Mystery quest, the hero standing in front of the door who is landed-on then loses 1BP and must teleport if still alive.

I hate that quest!

Me too! There is no teamwork or strategy! The wizard keeps meeting new monsters while the barbarian keeps switching between the same 2 empty rooms. Gaah! Worst quest ever!
Especially if you've played it before. You just know Ollar's and his goldmine is full of s***! Why even bother?
The other quests are still fun even if you know them, but this... sigh...

The rare occasion when you tele-kill a monster is priceless though!