Pass through rock - furniture and monsters

[Bareheaded Warrior]

The Wizard cast Pass Through Rock so the Dwarf could run through a full room of stone and get the jump on whatever monsters are in that room while the other heroes would come in through the door.

Another difference in how we play as I don't allow movement through solid rock only through walls, but that may be down to the versions that we are used to, as the additional text added to the card in the NA remake version which may have been intended to explain why you can't move through solid rock, actually caused confusion by implying that you could move through solid rock...

So to me, the exception is in the spell's name "Pass Through Rock"

As far as I'm concerned the spell could be called "Henderson's Spell of Pastafarianification" the description text on the card explaining how it works is the bit that is relevant.

Plus I have an extended Treasure Deck and don't feel the need to return cards to the deck and reshuffle every time.

Great debate around this point is currently going on here

As far as the thread goes, I would reveal the room as soon as the hero passed into it

Subtle but important difference, I'm not suggesting that the room should be revealed as soon as the hero moves into it, I'm suggesting that it should be revealed as soon as the hero is in an adjacent square and their player states that they want to move through the wall. This way it is exactly aligned with how the rules state you should handle a player opening a door into a room (hero in an adjacent square, player states want to open door, room revealed, then hero MAY but doesn't have to move into the room). Keeping it aligned with the standard rules is important because it means that the scenarios that arise from this action are then covered by the existing rules (and it is the way in which the principle of "card text has precedence over rule book text" is supposed to work, in that you make the minimum number of exceptions to the rule text as necessary in order to achieve the effect stated on the card)

So perhaps this is the best approach...

It allows you to pass through walls as per the spell description, walls being the white lines between the squares on the board, it doesn’t allow you to pass through solid rock, the shaded areas on the board because they are not walls (some of the confusion here arises from later versions of the game that added text in an attempt to explain why you can’t pass through solid rock, but instead ended up confusing players into thinking that you could do exactly that but there were risks).

Blocked squares are an interesting case as they are essentially solid rock, shaded squares surrounded by a line representing a wall, so these also cannot be passed through as an effect of this spell, the wall part could be, but the solid rock core cannot, closed doors can be passed through as they are in a wall.

One way of cutting through some of the confusion here is to imagine that when a character under the effects of this spell decides that he wants to move through a wall then handle it exactly as if he had just opened a personal and private temporary door in the wall that exists only for him and only for a moment. He opens this virtual door, the contents of the room or passage are laid out exactly as if he had opened a normal door, and play continues as per the usual rules, but the moment he moves through the virtual door into the room or passage, the door closes and ceases to exist.

The only other point to note here is around monsters that are revealed using this spell but once the character under the influence has passed through their room, they are left isolated with no escape. The rulebook includes a rule that monsters cannot (check the wording) open doors, but this more of a general principle, monsters generally don’t open doors, because they have no reason to, no reason to suspect that their lair is being infiltrated by a bunch of blood-thirsty heroes .seeking fame and fortune. Obviously monsters can and do open doors, how else do they get into the rooms in the first place (and they can move treasure for that matter and furniture – they don’t hire removal men!) but in general this activity takes place “off camera” out of sight of our heroes much like the wanderings of wandering monsters and we don’t have to be concerned with it, the monsters are revealed in the positions according to the quest map when they become visible to our heroes because that is where they happened to be at the moment that our heroes encounter them but the use of this spell I would suggest makes a valid exception to the general rule. If a bunch of monsters in a room, see a character move through a wall into their room, and then through another wall and out of their room, then they are now aware of the presence of intruders (or at least an intruder), due to this the EWP is perfectly entitled to allow the monsters to open whatever doors are needed to order to pursue the intruder and ensure that he ends up on their dinner table as the dark gods intended.

[Daedalus]

The way I choose to play the Pass Through Rock spell is dependent on how I explain line of sight and revealing explored areas (NA rules) in this post. My rationalization isn't likely to solve the issue for everyone, but the crux of it that applies here is an adjustment to A Good Rule Of Thumb on p. 15: During movement, a Hero's line of sight may be drawn from anywhere within the square he is on to the center of the square the target is on.

As I use this modification of the square-to-square limit for drawing line of sight, there is no line of sight between the Hero and any squares ahead of him when the stone of his square or an adjacent wall is involved. A Hero isn't permitted to lean outside of his square into a room or corridor beyond as he can only occupy the square he is on at that moment of his move. He reveals an open room or corridor and the contents within after he moves "carefully along the corridors and into rooms square by square," (p. 12, Hero Movement) not square to square. Square to square is used when a player draws line of sight, but the origination point can only include the square he is on, per A Good Rule Of Thumb; the limitation of discreet movement is still in force.

[Parzival]

I just wish they would add a feature to get the Heros back to the finish door after the Quest is finished without having to manually move each one all the way back to the start. Very tiresome.
About to start quest 9 and 10 in FH in a few days, can't wait!!!!

I just back out of the quest, get the reward from the rulebook and mark it as complete. Haven't used the app in a while but this always worked for me.

You can also just move each hero in full 12s (or even more), rather than rolling dice. The app won’t stop you.

[Parzival]

How the app handles the spell:

1) You can pass through walls and unopened doors without opening the latter.
2) A room is revealed when you enter it through a wall, same as if you opened a door.
3.) You cannot move through furniture or creatures, at least ones that have been revealed to the party.
4.) If you enter any space that is solid rock (not a chamber or corridor used in the quest), you are trapped in solid rock instantly— there is no actual ability to move through this aspect of solid rock.
5.) In “New Beginnings” (my test quest for the above) you can’t pass through the walls until the hidden lever for the door is found. This is probably a “necessary” quirk of the quest (or even the app), but an interesting limitation.

Untested:
— Whether you can pass through a wall and a creature or piece of furniture on the other side which have not yet been revealed.
— Whether you can pass through a “fallen rock” blockage. (Probably not.)
— Whether you can pass through a corridor blocking token/wall. (Probably not.)

So the implication is that every square entered is monitored by Zargon, and if at any point you pass through a wall into an square which is solid stone, the hero is instantly killed and his equipment lost. The simple act of entering is fatal. So there’s no possibility of trying to do a blind run through solid rock areas to reach even a known open area.

I’m gonna look for a quest where I can attempt to pass through an unrevealed bit of furniture or monster, and see what happens. My guess is the movement would be simply denied, but it might be instant death, too.

[Parzival]

Okay, using the original Quest Book, the Trial and Melar’s Maze I have the following answers for how the App treats all circumstances for Pass Through Rock.

— Furniture or monster that has not yet been revealed on the other side of a wall: Prevents movement, does not reveal the chamber. This applies only to squares the furniture or monster are on.
— Solid stone wall block between two open areas: Allows movement through the block to the open square beyond it as if the block were just another wall.
— Collapsed Ceiling block: Allows movement through the block to an open square beyond it, in either direction, as if the block were just a wall.

So far, the only restrictions on Pass Through Rock are areas not used in a quest (“solid rock”), and it does not grant the ability to pass through furniture or monsters; you simply cannot pass through the wall at that point. At best it’s a signal that “something” is on the other side of the wall at that point (and also that a chamber does exist there). But you don’t die for trying. Enter a “solid stone area,” however, and you’re dead and all your stuff is lost. So don’t do that!

I’ll give the App credit: The above is both sensible, in keeping with the card’s text, and doesn’t force any bizarre decisions on the player or Zargon. It’s also pretty simple and understandable. It’s either go, no go, or dead. And that’s all it is.

[The Admiral]

Enter a “solid stone area,” however, and you’re dead and all your stuff is lost. So don’t do that!

I shall not be playing that way. My spell is quite clear that you are only dead if you END movement in solid rock. It does not say your move is ended when you enter solid rock. The spell could quite easily have said:
There are shaded areas on each Quest Map which indicate solid rock. If a Hero moves into one of these areas his movement ends and he is trapped forever.
But it doesn't.

Also the picture looks like rock to me rather than a wall.

Obviously you will have to play that way with the app, and can choose to play that way on a board.

[Parzival]

Enter a “solid stone area,” however, and you’re dead and all your stuff is lost. So don’t do that!

I shall not be playing that way. My spell is quite clear that you are only dead if you END movement in solid rock. It does not say your move is ended when you enter solid rock. The spell could quite easily have said:
There are shaded areas on each Quest Map which indicate solid rock. If a Hero moves into one of these areas his movement ends and he is trapped forever.
But it doesn't.

Also the picture looks like rock to me rather than a wall.

Obviously you will have to play that way with the app, and can choose to play that way on a board.

Thanks for the redirection— I actually hadn’t tested a continuous move through “solid rock” areas into an open area. Instead, I had lifted my finger and the App ended the movement. This time around I decided to try “cutting through a corner” travelling through known solid rock (as depicted in the Quest Book) and a known open area. As long as I did not lift my finger when tracing the movement, the App let the hero “pass through” any amount of rock, so long as the final point was a clear area.

So the App does treat it as you state— it’s the ending point of the movement that matters.
However, you still can’t go through a wall section that has furniture or a monster on the other side of it; that’s just blocked, but with no nasty consequences.

So it turns out the App is pretty much as you play it; I had just failed to fully test the movement.