text:
What is the difference between an artifact and a creature?
My opponent (we're both beginner players) casts a Renegade Freighter, which is an Artifact — Vehicle. Can he attack me with it on his next turn? They are attacking me with it like it is a creature, but this doesn't seem right to me.
Also, it says "Crew 2", which, when enabled, turns it into an artifact creature. What is an artifact creature?

You're talking about Renegade Freighter, right?

@murgatroid99 Fixed.

I'd suggest downloading Magic Duels. It's free and provides an excellent tutorial for those just starting magic.

Cards that are not creatures can't attack or block. That includes artifacts.
So even if a card has a power and toughness and an effect when it attacks, it can't attack or block if it isn't a creature.
An artifact creature is a creature that is also an artifact. These things can attack and block, because they are creatures. By default, the Renegade Freighter isn't an artifact creature. But once you activate the crew ability, it becomes an artifact creature instead of just an artifact until the end of turn. Then, if you controlled the card since the beginning of your upkeep (summoning sickness), you can attack with it.

Keep in mind that any card that refers to a creature can affect a Vehicle that has been crewed this turn (Murder, Unsummon, etc.). Once the turn is over and the Vehicle is no longer a creature, then those cards have no effect (see George Oscar Bluth's answer below). Conversely, any card that refers to an artifact will ALWAYS be able to apply to an artifact creature (unless it specifically says noncreature artifact). Finally, and this gets a little weird to imagine, a crewed Vehicle can, in fact, crew a second Vehicle.

An artifact is simply a card type, like "land", "creature", "instant" etc. After you cast an artifact card, it just sits there on the battlefield and only does whatever its own text says it does.
A creature is also a type of card, but creatures are different than other card types in that they can attack and block.
An "artifact creature" is just an object that is both an artifact and a creature. So Renegade Freighter, as an artifact, cannot attack or block. But because it is also a vehicle, it has a "crew" ability that lets it become an artifact creature, so that you can attack and block with it.

A Vehicle is a kind of object that becomes a creature when it is crewed: a number of creatures with total power not less than the crew cost are tapped, and the artifact vehicle is now an artifact creature until end of turn.
An artifact creature is just an object that is both an artifact and a creature. See the definitions of these objects for information on the implications.
If it has not been crewed, it is not a creature, and by rule 506.3, it cannot be used to attack.

Where can I find "the definition of these objects"? Any chance you can add them to your answer?

@splatteredbits In the comprehensive rules, but there aren't really concise definitions, just sets of rules that apply to each. Artifacts have a set of subtypes they can have (like equipment and vehicles), and there's not much else specific to artifacts (though there are detailed rules for specific subtypes of artifacts like equipment). Creatures also have subtypes (the zillions of creature types), and have power and toughness, can attack and block, are affected by "summoning sickness", and can have damage marked on them.

The upshot is, you already know how creatures work, and an artifact creature works the same way, it's just also an artifact.

My opponent (we're both beginner players) casts a Renegade Freighter,
  which is an Artifact — Vehicle. Can he attack me with it on his next
  turn?

Yes, if it's a creature. A creature can attack when it has been in play, under the same players control since the beginning of the turn (or if it has haste), even if it wasn't a creature previously.

Also, it says "Crew 2", which, when enabled, turns it into an artifact
  creature. What is an artifact creature?

Crew X is an ability, when activated adds creature to its types.
So the card by default reads:

Card Name:
  Renegade Freighter
Types:
  Artifact — Vehicle
Card Text:
  Whenever Renegade Freighter attacks, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.
  Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
P/T:
  4 / 3

After a player activates Crew 2 the card reads:

Card Name:
  Renegade Freighter
Types:
  Artifact — Vehicle Creature
Card Text:
  Whenever Renegade Freighter attacks, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.
  Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
P/T:
  4 / 3

This makes the card a creature, so if you have a card that says Kill Target Creature, you are now able to target Renegade Freighter.


text:
Rules for a "short to medium length" game?
The standard rules for Trivial Pursuit say that in order to win, the player must collect all six wedges from the special category spaces, then proceed to the center and answer a final question in a category selected by the other players.
In my experience, however (and especially if more than 3 players/teams are participating) it takes way to long for the game to end with a winner this way.
Are there any other set of "universally accepted" (or not) rules for Trivial Pursuit to ensure shorter games? I've seen (for example) proceeding to the center with less that 6 wedges, or specifying an ending time (with a "penalty shootout" if there is a tie) but none of them seem all that satisfactory.

I have no idea if any of these are "universally accepted", as I haven't consulted with the rest of the universe, but I have seen a few variations on ending the game.

A large number of people I've played with don't like getting back to the center for the final question, because you're basically holding out for a lucky roll to get back to the middle.  Instead, once you have your sixth pie wedge, you immediately are asked the final question; if you don't answer correctly, on successive turns you get another final question, no moving required.
If we want a shorter game, we've altered the number of pieces required to win, anywhere from 4-6.  It's been pretty satisfactory for us.

If you want to make things a little more interesting to prevent people from avoiding their least-favorite category, we'll sometimes randomly select one of the six color wedges from a pile -- you must have this piece in your collection to win.
I'm not a fan of a time limit, because slower players can make the game end prematurely by (intentionally or not) dragging out the clock.

One thing that we've tried with some success in my family is this:

As soon as any team gets its sixth wedge, the regular part of the game ends and the final round begins
In the final round, draw one card randomly and each team writes down its answers to the six questions on the card. When everyone is done, add the number of correct answers in the final round to the number of wedges acquired during the regular game. A perfect score is 12; whoever has the most points out of 12 wins.

This way, you completely eliminate the mechanic of waiting for a lucky roll to land exactly on the middle spot, give teams that are behind a little bit of hope (but still a significant disadvantage), and prevent the game state from dragging on unchanged for any length of time.

The great book New Rules for Classic Games by R. Wayne Schmittberger has some suggestions for different ways to play Trivial Pursuit. I think the best one is to add challenges. If you think another player has answered incorrectly, you challenge them and give your own answer. If you're right, you get a pie for the category you answered. Already have that pie? choose your colour. If you already have six pies, he suggests removing a pie from the opponent, but I think you might rather call that a winning condition. If your challenge is incorrect, he suggests losing a pie, but that will slow down the game. I suggest you just skip your next turn.
Another option you might like is to play without the board. One suggestion in the book is called Going Out. Each player takes a stack of cards, maybe 24 high. On your turn, choose a category to start with, read the question aloud and answer it. Flip the card to check and discard it. If you were correct, answer the next category of the next card. If you were incorrect, it's the next player's turn. First player to discard their last card wins. If you want to be extra fair, give remaining players one more turn until you get back to the first player. You may need to have some kind of trivia shoot out to break ties.
There are a bunch more options in the book, including Trivia Tic-Tac-Toe. It looks like it's out of print, but the Amazon page includes the "look inside" feature, and I just searched for "Trivial Pursuit" to find all these rules. I had to sign in first, your mileage may vary.

My family started with the house rule of allowing kids to earn pie pieces anytime they answered a question.  There was no need to be on the special category spaces.
Later on, that turned into a general use house rule if a shorter game was needed.  Or, most commonly, after playing for a while we'd declare "everything counts" just to finish up the game quicker.

A Trivial videogame does just that, and when you finish collecting your wedges you have to answer a question for each category.

Another possibility is to eliminate the element of chance.
Each player can move up to the number of empty spots (6 at game start) in any direction. Each time you got a piece this reduces the movement. If the movement is 0 you have won.

Another set of rules I have seen is to count three correct answers (with no more than one wrong in the sequence) on the same color as counting for a pie piece.
So, you could answer correctly blue, pink, green, blue; incorrectly blue; correctly orange, blue and get the blue piece.
Requires a bit of accounting overhead, however.

Another alternative is to set a number of total correct and total per category correct - perhaps 30 total, and at least 4 in each category.

Another idea is to get rid of the board altogether and just try to answer a question of every category correctly.

Free rolls for colors you've already earned wedges for
One variant I've considered several times but never had the opportunity to try is letting someone roll again when they land on a space that matches the color of a wedge they've already won. It would definitely speed up the game but I've been worried about two downsides: first, there would be a lot of rolling near the end of the game, which could get boring to watch; second, it would give a big advantage to anyone who was in the lead.

I have a Trivial Pursuit set that comes with a set of special dice, instead of just one with pips. One die has the colors on it, and the other has a pie symbol on half the faces. Instead of moving around the board, you just roll the dice to get a question color and whether it's worth a pie piece or not. An even faster version lets you re-roll the color if it's for a pie piece you already have. Once you have all the pieces, the next question is for the win. This removes a lot of the tedium of moving around the board trying to specifically land on the pie spots. No more endless chains of hitting "roll again", and no more trying to get across the board to get that last slice. Every roll, you've got a 50% chance of earning a pie piece.

Eliminate Roll Again squares. This shortens the distance between wedges. Once you land on a wedge square, you can stay on it til you get it. Eliminate the final hub question: once you have six wedges, you win.

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text:
Does a fortress count as a unit when defending a city?
If I have a city with a fortress but no units inside it, and my opponent moves armies into that city, does my opponent have to defeat the fortress to win?  In other words, do fortresses behave like a unit during battle?  Can they take a hit and be removed?
Does having a settler in the city (but still no army units) change the situation at all?

No, your Fortress does not act as a unit, and the foriegn unit does not need to defeat the Fortress. They only must survive the first round combat. The rules for Fortress (page 6) tell you, "During the first combat roll of a battle: +1 die for combat and Cancel one hit." So, your Fortress allows you to roll a single die, and if that defeats the foreign Army unit, combat ends with no winner or loser. If not, the city is conquered and any Settlers are defeated. (remaining rules page 12)

Land Combat - Battles typically occur during a "Move" action when an Army moves into a space with one or more foreign umits or a foreign city [...]
Combat Roll and Combat Value - Battles are resolved through combat rounds. [...] If one side loses all his units, he has lost the battle. If both sides lose all their units, combat ends with no winner or loser. [...]
Settlers in Combat - [...] If Settlers end up in a space alone with a foreign Army unit, a battle occurs in which any Settlers are defeated automatically (no cards are played or dice rolled). [...]

I would argue that +1 die means increase the number of damage dies, but still if there's no one defending the city the victory is automatic for the attacker. Think about it thematically - a fortress makes the defenders a lot more powerful in battle, but if it's empty it's meaningless - an empty fortress doesn't stop anyone from doing anything...

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text:
What is considered suprise
Assume the following situation:
Italy at war with France but not CW. Italian navy is in port in La Spezia, along with one German SUB and a German AA. CW DOWs Italy.
In the port strike:

Are the Italian units considered surprised if the German SUB is not included in the combat?
Can the German AA fire if the German SUB is not included?

Surprise rules on naval combat and port strikes say surprise occurs if only units of the surprised major or minor is involved in the combat.
Obviously, the Italians are surprised, and the Germans aren't - and the Germans decide whether to include the SUB or not.
Is a non-included SUB "involved"?

I got this answer anecdotally at my gaming club (sorry about the facebook link, I'll post the discussion here when it halts or reaches a conclusion):

In a port-strike your subs are automatic involved in a minor port. You cannot choose to be non-included in port.

No reference, but at least it's a ruling of some sort.


text:
Ideas for handicapping strong players?
My family enjoys playing Boggle. Usually it's all adults that play, but come the holidays it's not uncommon to have elementary and junior high aged cousins, nieces, and nephews interested in playing but lack the vocabulary (and practice time!) the adults enjoy.
Any suggestions on how to handicap the adults to make the game more balanced when younger players join?

Group the players according to skill level. Each of your words are eliminated if anybody in your group or below has a duplicate word. Players in groups higher than yours cannot eliminate your words, but you can eliminate theirs. I think there should be at least two players in the lowest group, but maybe you want to be really kind to the most junior player.
I haven't tested this, it might be too unbalanced. Try experimenting with the group sizes. I suspect fewer groups would be better.

I like this idea. And, I agree that limiting the number of groups in the game is probably better - makes keeping track of the game easier.

You could use different scoring for the kids and the adults. The normal scoring is
Word length 3 4 5 6 7 8+
Points      1 1 2 3 5 11

For the less skilled players, you could try something more like
Word length 3 4 5 6 7  8+
Points      2 3 4 6 10 15

which increases the reward for finding any words not found by the veteran players, and gives huge bonuses for large words (which are even more unlikely for them). You can adjust the values up or down depending on the relative skill levels of the junior players.
Another idea, related to Don Kirkby's interesting answer, is to automatically score words over a certain size for the juniors (instead of discounting them if others have them) - for example, any word over 5 letters. This encourages the children to put the effort in for the larger words, which for them is likely a much more challenging task than for the grown-ups.

I like your idea, thanks. I was torn between marking your response and Don Kirby's as "the answer." I wish I could mark multiple responses as "the answer."

You could require the more experienced players to find words with a minimum number of letters. Like, they need at least 5 letters in the word to count? Or, the younger players could be given additional time.

I really like the idea of raising the minimum length of words for stronger players. Leave the 3-letter words to the kids and force the better players to find longer words.

My wife kicks serious butt at Boggle, so much so that I don't like playing with her anymore.  I asked her this question, and without hesitating, she said "Either give the kids double the time, or the adults half the time".
I may have to try this with her at some point (with me receiving the handicap) :D

This works, but its sometimes less fun.

As a dyslexic my mother thought Boggle would help me become a better speller.  She was wrong.  She only succeeded in cementing my hatred for all things word game related.

Whenever I play Boggle with my SO and brother (both way better than me) I always score the number of total words I get against myself in previous rounds to try and beat that number as well.  "Best game yet today!"
I'm not sure if that'd work for kids, but it's another number more within their control.
It does require some patience and acknowledgement that some boards are harder than others.  Makes me try harder though.

We've successfully used adding more time for less experienced players, allowing one and two letter words in addition to normal words for the younger players, and eliminating words on the experienced player's lists while not eliminating them from the younger player's lists.
It's way more fun when everyone has an actual chance.


text:
Effect of nope card mid attack
Playing exploding kittens and the game is unclear about the effect of nope cards mid attack. If a player has already drawn one of their attack and it's a nope, can they play it? What happens?

While not explicity stated in the rules, my understanding is that Nope reacts to a card (or pair, or triple) just played, in which case once you've drawn the Attack has already resolved and you can't "Nope" it.

Awesome. This sounds accurate.

more nuanced follow up for @ConMan, what is your take on when a nope card can be played to stop the 'steal a card' from a player move. Like if im playing advanced version and a player plays 3 of the same cards and says I want your difuse card, I can nope it, but what if the player plays 2 of the same cards, reaches out to steal a card, and has their fingers near where my difuse card is. can i nope then? what about once they have their fingers on my difuse card but havent pulled it. can i nope then?

nevermind just read the rules it states you can play a nope card "You can play a NOPE CARD at any time before an action has begun" so if a player has already reached out to take a card, their reaching out is the 'begining of the action'


text:
How does one define what a rule is in the game Hex-Hex?
In the card game Hex-Hex, there is a specific rule that says that the winner of a game can introduce a new rule in the next game. Long ago, while playing this game, I once performed an example of a Loki's Wager fallacy by saying that, unless one of the other players can formally define what a "rule" is, I do not agree to play by the new rule. However, that does raise the question, is there a definition of what a valid "rule" is in the game Hex-Hex? Or is this one of those things where there is no formal definition of the thing? I am genuinely interested in this, because I am someone who is obsessed with formal and rigorous definitions for everything. But if there is no such definition, then I would like to know that too.

What counts as "introducing"? What counts as "next"? What counts as "game"?
Everything in the rules that are already written down relies on some level of implication, some level of un-define-ability, and requiring a perfectly logical definition of this word and no others is unreasonable.
If you can accept any other word commonly used without forcing others to define a rule in general, you can accept what is probably meant by the use of the word rule in this rule itself, and seek clarification of any rule that is specifically created as a result.
Anything more than that is being obnoxious to others, merely to avoid the consequence of losing the previous game, and you should expect to quickly find yourself with bigger issues than what rules the next game has - like not having a next game to play at all.

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text:
Can you kill a Blessed Spirits with a Fiery Impulse in response to an enchantment being cast?
Here's the situation: my opponent has a Blessed Spirits in play, and he he casts a Grasp of the Hieromancer targeting it.  I respond by casting Fiery Impulse, targeting the same card.  Is the Blessed Spirits destroyed?
I think that the answer is no, but I'm confused about the timing.  Does Blessed Spirits' ability use the stack?

Not an exact duplicate, but the answer can be found in this similar question: http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/18175/when-does-heroic-trigger

Short answer: is yes it dies.  Both the enchantment and the triggered ability use the stack to resolve, and your spell would resolve before either of them do.  So it would take lethal damage and die.

It depends on exactly what you are responding to (and if you have Spell Mastery, I'm assuming you don't for purposes of this answer). The Spirits' ability does indeed use the stack, so if you respond to that you will destroy them, if you wait for the ability to resolve but before the enchantment spell resolves it will not destroy them.
The ability of the Blessed Spirits is what is called a triggered ability, and whenever their condition occurs they trigger and go on the stack.
What happens when they cast the Grasp is the Blessed Spirits ability triggers and goes on the stack. The stack then looks like  this:

Blessed Spirits ability
Grasp of the Hieromancer targeting Blessed Spirits

At this point you have to opportunity to respond with Fiery Impulse, if you do it will go on the stack on top of the Blessed Spirits ability. Since it is above the Blessed Spirits ability it will resolve first, dealing 2 damage to the Spirits. Since 2 damage is enough to destroy the Spirits they get sent to the graveyard as soon as State Based Actions are checked after the Impulse resolves. At this point the Blessed Spirits ability resolves, but does nothing since the Spirits are already in the graveyard, the the Grasp gets countered due to a lack of legal targets.

Given the explicit "does it use the stack?", probably helpful to mention that triggered abilities always look like "when/whenever/at {condition}, {effect}."


text:
Can Unity play a golem after playing Inspired Repair
Unity's card Inspired Repair's text says she can play a card. If inspired repair is played during her Play Phase, can she play a golem, which of course reads "cannot be played during the Play Phase."?
I would guess no, golems can't be played. But then I thought maybe golem's restriction means AS her Play Phase card. Perhaps the Play Phase ends as soon as the card is played, then it's between phases while the card effects play out?

It is still her play phase so she can't play a mechanical golem no matter how many extra cards she is allowed to play.  During any other phase or other players turn she may play a mechanical golem if she gets to play a card.

This interpretation matches the way that the iPad works, so I believe it is correct.


text:
Which hand wins
The community has King, King, Queen, Queen, 2.
Bob has 10, 7 in the hole.
Charlie has 3, 3 in the hole.
Does Bob win because he has high card, or does Charlie win because he pocket 3 pair?

Hint: what are the best five-card hands each player can make?

So the pair of 3s doesn't matter?

I thought that the original wording was confusing, so I made it simple. If you liked your wording better, you can roll back my edit (I won't mess it up again).

No, the pair of 3s doesn't matter.  You can't make 3 pairs with 5 cards.
Bob makes K,K,Q,Q,10.
Charlie makes K,K,Q,Q,3.
Bob takes the hand.


text:
Double Agenda card
In Fluxx, if you play the "Double Agenda" rule this allows for two goals in play. If the Double Agenda card is removed by an action how do you deal with the two goals in play? Does the person who played the action to remove Double Agenda decide which "extra" goal to remove or do both goals stay in play?

When you play a card that removes the double agenda rule you then get to choose which of the goals to remove and which one to keep.

Thank you for the response Joe. Turns out I have the original version that does not explain that. The newer versions changed the wording on the card which makes it clear what to do.


text:
Is this a win or loss?
Does a player need to complete a full turn (i.e. 4 actions, pickup, infect) if during the action portion the final disease was cured? I only ask because there was only 1 player card left in the deck and I wouldn't have been able to complete a full turn, which in the rules, signifies that players have lost. However, I knew that I could cure the final disease in one action.

You won. The rules state that in order to win, you must discover the cure to all 4 diseases. The moment you discover the 4th cure, the game ends and you win.
From the rules:

The players win as soon as cures to all 4 diseases are discovered.

And:

The players do not have to eradicate all 4 diseases to win;
  just cure them. Once all diseases are cured, the game ends and players
  win immediately, no matter how many cubes are on the board.

(Emphasis mine)

You can look at it another way.  If you did not lose, then you must have won.  What is one way to lose? You lose if you cannot take two cards at the end of your turn, so you have four actions to win.  From 2013 edition:

The game ends...if a player cannot draw 2 Player cards after doing his
  action

I'm unclear at what you're saying here; are you contradicting the other answer?

not trying to contradict at all!  Trying to provide another view of the rules.  Gendlkari answered by confirming in the affirmative "did I win?" (yes, you did) and I tried to answer the answer by confirming in the negative "did I lose?" (no, you did not).

Ah I understand now! Makes sense.


text:
Poltergeist haunt (#17) - do item tokens count for the poltergeist's damage track?
In the poltergeist haunt, heroes are collecting item tokens (candles) to defeat the poltergeist. The Poltergeist wants to accumulate items to get stronger (move the damage track).
In our game, a hero died who was carrying two candles. I was the traitor. I had my poltergeist pick up the dropped candles and thought I should move the track forward but there was some disagreement since the candle item tokens weren't item cards.
In the rulebook it pretty clearly says that item tokens should be treated as any other item. Should I have moved the damage track forward for each item I picked up from dead heroes?

Can you confirm which edition and which haunt number this is for?  The links [1][2] to the rules on the wizards website do not match your description.  Searching the document for "candles" or "poltergeist" don't reveal anything either.  Often times such situations are explicitly stated in the haunting scenario itself as being allowed or not such as "the poltergeist cannot pick up candles" etc but without access to the rules I cannot confirm either way.

Yes, the candles should be treated as items.
At no point does the haunt specify item cards. Item tokens and item cards are all items, as are most omens. As you pointed out, the rulebook clarifies that item tokens are just like other items, except when the haunt specifies otherwise.


text:
A Problem with Hidden Move Go
I have just learned about Hidden Move Go and I have a problem.
Let us assume that one of our opponent’s hidden stones has only one liberty, i.e. it is in atari. But they don’t know that, because one of our three surrounding stones is hidden. So they play somewhere else and we play a stone filling the last liberty of their hidden stone. In this position we have no idea that we have captured a stone and our opponent has no idea that their stone is captured. Because of this, the table is wrong and it mustn’t be. How can we avoid that situation without the help of a third person? Any ideas or experiences?

You write “the table is wrong and it mustn’t”: do you mean “the position on the board is incorrect”?

As I read the description in Sensei’s Library (your own link), hidden moves are not considered to be played on the board until they are revealed; you may like to think of the stone as still in a special pot with a label on it. So a not yet revealed stone cannot be captured or in atari. It can, however, be used to prevent a move your opponent tries to make.
In your example, if my interpretation is correct, the hidden stone is therefore not in atari: neither it nor your hidden stone are even on the board. You next move does not capture the hidden stone. The board (which I suppose you mean by ‘table’) is not wrong. No third person is required.
The rules are, however, not rigorously formulated, and other interpretations are conceivable.

The hidden stones are more like ghosts, then, which "possess" any stone that would be placed there by the opponent.

From Sensei's page: "During the game, when a hidden move would affect play, the player reveals the hidden move and places it on the board." and "Examples: White uses his own hidden stone to capture enemy stones. He reveals his hidden move, and makes his own move to complete the capture.".

It seems to me that the situation is a lot more ambiguous than your answer suggests, and that in fact, the rules as described on this Sensei's page do not cover this situation at all. The implementation at go.kahv.io probably cover this situation, and probably differ from what's described on Sensei's page, and I wouldn't be surprised if your answer is in agreement with the go.kahv.io rules, although I haven't tested.

I agree that the formulation there is unclear. I have edited my answer to clarify that I am merely stating how I understand the rules. It would be a service if someone could tighten this description up, perhaps with reference to go.kahv.io.

Well, of course an online implementation won't run into problems, because there is always an external entity - the server - which knows where both players' hidden stones are.


text:
I need some good mechanics for how the player's character can enhance their tool kit
So I am blanking on the word for this, but the goal is for the character to get stronger over time (power curve), where the character gains levels/items. What I am looking for is different ways a player can add new spells to their kit (imagine every one is a wizard, and they need to create a spell book and add to it through the game). I don't want to have a level up system. for example, things like every few turns, they draw a new spell card and add it to their inventory, killing an enemy and it drops loot. What other way can the player add to their kit to handle more difficult enemies?

Can you clarify what you're asking about exactly? What is wrong with drawing cards and adding them, as you have described? What is different about dealing with more difficult enemies?

I think he's not saying there's nothing wrong with the drawin cards system but he's looking for other possible ways of upgrading the skillset of a player so he has more freedom when designing his game.

I just can't find the right timing. We are debating if players should start with a list of spells, or gain more as they go. There is also completing events where you gain a reward on completion. I want a power curve so players can handle more challenge as you go, and everyone is working towards an and game "battle". I want some form of tension when getting new spells, and even if you gain a spell you are not looking for there is still value (that comes with making the spells). I don't mind getting more detailed with specifics about my game, I just want to focus on this one aspect.

More information about your game is needed as the basics of how the game works can greatly impact suggestions that you are looking for.

You are a team of witches, you gather resources, bring them back to your culdren. While you out our searching and preparing, the town is trying to hunt you. If you kill enemies it brings more awareness (almost like a wanted meter). You can kill and focus on battle tactics if you would like or go stealth. Thats the basics of what I'm looking for. Let me know if you want more details

I'm commenting your examples first and then adding a couple more:

Drawing from a deck:

It's a way of randomizing how the character evolves, but it needs to be balanced as players expect to learn more powerful spells when they advance in their adventure. So it could be done this way if you arranged the deck previously or separated the cards in more decks. In addition, forcing players to learn the spell they draw could make them feel they're not free when choosing their way to play, so you could make them draw two or more cards and choose between them.

Looting

Being another random system of learning spells, can be felt odd as a monster could carry equipment, gold and other treasures with it but not a spell which is not something physical. It could be solved by making all enemies wizards who carry spellbooks with them, but I'm not sure that's the game your looking for. So I'm not sure about how this system would work. Anyway, it would be too random again, and needs some kind of arrangement like the previous one.

Buying

Essentially a experience system, where instead of earning experience you earn gold (or other sort of money) and you spend it on spells. The main difference with the experience system is that you can save the money to buy spellbooks more powerful than other, or choosing to split it between less powerful spells which give you a more dynami way of playing.

"Copying" or learning from the enemy

Make spells only available for a player after they've seen it used by another character or enemy. Not every spell they see, of course, but make them remember the spells they've seen and after a few turns making them stop and meditate/concentrate/etc to replicate one of the spells they've seen.

Some kind of "enlightment"

The wizard performs a very difficult move and they are successfull, then he discovers new ways of magic. Players would need to accomplish an achievement in order to unlock a more powerful or different spell. Achievements could be hidden or shown, and in case of being hidden even keep hidding them after someone gets the spell, so other players need to figure out how the player did it. But again, I'm not sure which kind of game you are trying to create, so maybe the achievements won't fit in it.

This was more so what I was looking for in an answer. Are there any more you can think of or readings I can find on this?

After playing for a few years these are some of the ideas that came up to my mind. There must be something where different playstyles are written, but I can't find to think of any of it.
I've read what you've said about your game and the prerequisite/exchange system could ift, as your witches need to gather resources, they could use them to create new spells. The players could start with a list of the spells and need to gather the exact ingredients to create them, and as they complete one list, win a new one (random or not).
If something more comes to my mind I'll edit my post

Note: there are many details about the pacing of the game that would really clear things up. For instance, when/how do you encounter "more difficult enemies"? Do you just work through a deck of increasingly difficult challenges (enemies)? If so, you can regularly schedule upgrades (say, every 4 or 5 encounters).
Now when you say that you want to avoid a "level[ing] up system", that's also unclear. Are you opposed to tracking XP? To having multiple stats that depend on the character's level?

As for specific mechanisms, the first one that comes to mind is the way that technology works in Twilight Imperium 4ed. If you look at the bottom right card in this image, you can see two blue icons on that card. That is a prerequisite for researching that technology (you need to have two technologies that provide that blue icon before researching "CARRIER II").
In your game, you would have several weak/simple spells with no prerequisites. Then tier 2 spells would have 1 or 2 prerequisites (maybe as flexible as "any two spells"). You can make the better and better spells require more icons, so a super Fireball would require 3 fire icons, and a Firestorm would require one each of fire, water, and wind.

Ok so I like the prerequisite idea, dark souls board game did a really good job with that. We are planning on playing twilight imperium in a few weeks so it will be a good refresh. For pacing it will be a matter of, as time goes more town's folk will be moving around searching. It might be increasing difficulty, but it would be more adding quantity. Every 2 turns or so, each area would draw an event card. Oh and I like the idea of having "3 fire icons".


text:
Is there a list of the cards included in Scuttle! and its expansions?
So I have the card game Scuttle! and two of its expansion sets: Scurvy and Curse of the Black Jack.
Stupidly, I shuffled all the cards together and now I want to separate them out again.
Luckily, 'the Scurvy' cards are pretty easy to find as they're very distinct. Now I'm just trying to separate the cards from the base Scuttle! deck and the Curse of the Black Jack cards.
Is there a list of the cards anywhere? I checked the jellybeans games website and there's nothing there. Help me please! Thanks!

Hi. Welcome. I edited your question with paragraphs so it can be read easily. Hope you find a good answer !

You would expect a game inventory on the Jelly Bean website.
Took a little search, but here’s a YouTube that reviews the Black Jack game expansion, showing all of those cards. They are:
Black Jack rule card, Voodoo Queen, Governor, Dagger, Powder Keg, Sea Serpent, Black Jack, Ghost Pirate, Grappling Hook, Black Spot, Crow’s Nest, Grog, Buried Treasure, Sirens, The Plank, Poison, and Parrot.
That should allow you to finish splitting up your decks.

That's exactly what I needed. I should've looked to YouTube first!

@fiend Glad that helped.  =)


text:
Can you collect resources from a roll if you move the robber after rolling?
If we are playing catan and the robber is on an 8 and an 8 is rolled, but someone plays a knight card and the robber is moved..... Can that player then collect resources because the 8 was opened on the same turn and is no longer blocked?

Worth noting that the only person who can play the Knight is the person whose turn it is. They should have played it before they rolled.

By the time you roll, it's too late. You can play the card before rolling, in order to move the robber and hope for the best. But when you roll the die, you immediately dole out the appropriate resources, so if the robber is still there, you don't get anything.


text:
Bang! replacement parts
I recently got Bang The Bullet special edition. Unfortunately I did not realise that this edition does not have the bullets that represent life for each character and I really like that specific mechanic. Other than using some other kind of thing to represent the life. Does anyone know of a place that I can get some spare parts?)

Your best bet is to contact the manufacturer and see what they have to offer but since that item did not come with your game you are probably out of luck. You can just use the back of another character card and track your life with the bullets that are printed on it. Considering it would be a very small market to make replacement parts like that I would highly doubt that you will find anyone that makes them.

If you are looking for bullets to represent life, look into purchasing snap caps or plastic dummy rounds. These products are normally used for safe handgun dry fire training.
If there is a gun show near you, you can likely get a pack of 20 for 15 dollars. Or try e-commerce.

The back of the character cards have bullets printed on them for this purpose. Take some unused character cards and tuck them under the used ones so players can track their health.


text:
Is Argothian Elder a Druid?
Argothian Elder is listed on a lot of websites with the Druid creature type, but the card only lists "Elf".
Is Argothian Elder a Druid too?

Rule 108.1 states:

108.1. Use the Oracle™ card reference when determining a card’s wording. A card’s Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card database at Gatherer.Wizards.com

This means that the text on Gatherer is correct regardless of what is printed on the card.  This is because older cards have been changed, usually to maintain their functionality while the rules have continued to evolve.
Gatherer lists Argothian Elder's type as "Creature — Elf Druid", so it is a druid. Older cards only had a single creature type, in the Grand Creature Type Update most older cards got updated to the newer   structure used today.

The reason for the change was probably the Grand Creature Type Update

Mana-producing elves (including ones that untap lands) are generally druids, so this change was certainly consistent.

@Jefromi: interesting, I never realized. And indeed it seems that almost all mana-producing elfs are Druids. There's a handful of "Elf Shamans" and one "Zombie Elf" and one "Warrier Elf", but the overwhelming majority is Druids. TIL.

@Cascabel or shamans, but the massive majority were typed druid.


text:
What does Opener's rebid here mean?
Dealer opens 1D and Partner responds 1H.  Dealer then rebids 2NT.
What does Dealer's 2NT rebid mean? Opponents have passed throughout.

I corrected your terminology based on assumptions of your intended circumstance. If I have misstated the problem please correct or respond.

Playing a system such as Standard American this shows a balanced or semi-balanced hand with 18-19 HCP. It would usually deny holding 4 Hearts unless with a 4333 distribution, though partnerships playing some form of Check-Back Stayman may relax this. One might look for an alternative sequence with a holding worse than Qxx in an unbid (Clubs and Spades here) suit.
The rationale is that it is covering the range too weak for an initial 2NT opening bid, now usually played as 20-21 HCP, and too strong for either a !NT opening (12-14 if weak and 15-17 if strong) or a 1NT rebid (the ranges just mentioned reversed).


text:
Free Cell dichotomy
Is it possible to solve the free cell game
3267279
I would appreciate it if anyone can let me know if it is possible as it  is driving me nuts
MC

Yes, it is possible. You can enter the game number into this online solver, and it will show you the full solution.
Here are the first several moves:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Foundations: H-0 C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D AC 3S
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC AH JD 5C
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 7 to freecell 1

Foundations: H-0 C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:  5C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D AC 3S
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC AH JD
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 7 to freecell 2

Foundations: H-0 C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:  5C  JD
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D AC 3S
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC AH
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 7 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:  5C  JD
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D AC 3S
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 3 to freecell 3

Foundations: H-A C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:  5C  JD  3S
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D AC
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 3 to freecell 4

Foundations: H-A C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:  5C  JD  3S  AC
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 1 to stack 3

Foundations: H-A C-0 D-0 S-0
Freecells:      JD  3S  AC
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 4 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:      JD  3S
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 3 to stack 5

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:      JD
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C 4C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 2 to freecell 1

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:  4C  JD
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC 3C
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 2 to freecell 4

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:  4C  JD      3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 2 to stack 2

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:  4C          3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS 6C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 4 to freecell 3

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:  4C      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD TS
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 4 to freecell 2

Foundations: H-A C-A D-0 S-0
Freecells:  4C  TS  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D AD
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 4 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-A D-A S-0
Freecells:  4C  TS  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 1 to stack 4

Foundations: H-A C-A D-A S-0
Freecells:      TS  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 2 to stack 2

Foundations: H-A C-A D-A S-0
Freecells:          6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S JC
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 7 to freecell 1

Foundations: H-A C-A D-A S-0
Freecells:  JC      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D 5S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 7 to freecell 2

Foundations: H-A C-A D-A S-0
Freecells:  JC  5S  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 2D
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 7 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  5S  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
:
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from freecell 2 to stack 7

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 4H 3S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 5S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move 2 cards from stack 5 to stack 7

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S 5D 4C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move 2 cards from stack 4 to stack 5

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C 8S
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 4 to stack 8

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH 6D 5C
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 2 cards from stack 3 to stack 6

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC      6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D 5C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 1 to freecell 2

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C 9D
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D 5C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 1 to stack 2

Foundations: H-A C-A D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS 2C
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D 5C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 1 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-2 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6C  3C
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D 5C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 4 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-3 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6C
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D 4C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D 5C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 5 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-4 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6C
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D 5C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 6 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-5 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6C
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 3 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S 5D
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 5 to freecell 4

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H      5D
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 6S
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 5 to freecell 3

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  8H  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 2 to stack 5

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC      6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH KS
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 1 to freecell 2

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  JC  KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 1 to stack 1

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:      KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C 6D
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 6 to freecell 1

Foundations: H-A C-6 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC 7C
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 6 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-7 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H 8C
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 4 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-8 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S TH
: 5H
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 3 to stack 1

Foundations: H-A C-8 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 9S
: 5H
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 3 to stack 1

Foundations: H-A C-8 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  6S  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H
: 5H
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 3 to stack 3

Foundations: H-A C-8 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS      5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S
: 5H
: 3H QD KH 9C 8H
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 5 to freecell 3

Foundations: H-A C-8 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  8H  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S
: 5H
: 3H QD KH 9C
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 5 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS  8H  5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S
: 5H
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 3 to stack 1

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS      5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S
: 5H
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 4 to stack 3

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  6D  KS      5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
:
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 1 to stack 4

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:      KS      5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5S 4H 3S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 3 cards from stack 7 to stack 4

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:      KS      5D
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
:
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from freecell 4 to stack 7

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:      KS
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S KC
: 5D
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 6 to freecell 3

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:      KS  KC
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS 4S
: 5D
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 6 to stack 7

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:      KS  KC
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H 8S

====================

Move a card from stack 8 to freecell 1

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  8S  KS  KC
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 8 to freecell 4

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-2 S-0
Freecells:  8S  KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC JH 3D

====================

Move a card from stack 8 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-3 S-0
Freecells:  8S  KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC JH

====================

Move a card from freecell 1 to stack 2

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-3 S-0
Freecells:      KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D 8S
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC JH

====================

Move a card from stack 8 to freecell 1

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-3 S-0
Freecells:  JH  KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D 8S
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC

====================

Move a card from freecell 4 to stack 8

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-3 S-0
Freecells:  JH  KS  KC
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D 8S
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC 9H

====================

Move a card from stack 8 to freecell 4

Foundations: H-A C-9 D-3 S-0
Freecells:  JH  KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D 8S
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD TC

====================

Move a card from stack 8 to the foundations

Foundations: H-A C-T D-3 S-0
Freecells:  JH  KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D 8S
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS
: 5D 4S
: 7S TD

====================

Move 1 cards from stack 8 to stack 6

Foundations: H-A C-T D-3 S-0
Freecells:  JH  KS  KC  9H
: 8D 4D QH JC TH 9S 8H
: QS AS 2S KD QC JD TS 9D 8S
: 7D 7H 6S 5H
: 6D 5S 4H 3S
: 3H QD KH
: 6H 2H JS TD
: 5D 4S
: 7S

You forgot two colons in the [1] https// part. Should be [1]: https://

Thanks, accidentally broke it while messing with the quoted bit from the solver.


text:
Helicopter Lift
If I'm playing Forbidden island with a friend and we have all 4 treasures do we have to have the "Helicopter Lift " card still to leave the island from the launch pad if they are the pilot?

Yes. "Fly to a tile" is not the same thing as "discard a Helicopter Lift card". Furthermore, the Pilot's ability specifically limits the flight to another island tile.

The win condition:

Get to Fools’ Landing! Once you have collected all four treasures, everyone must move their pawns to the Fools’ Landing tile. Then, one player must discard a Helicopter Lift card to lift your team off of Forbidden Island for the win!

The Pilot's ability:

Once per turn, fly to any tile on the island for 1 action.

(Emphasis mine)

Yes, even if you have a Pilot, you must still play Helicopter Lift with everyone on the launch pad in order to win the game.


text:
Navigator Role ability
If I am a Navigator and I decide to move my partner can I also assume an action through them also? For example if I move a partner 2 spaces beside a flooded tile can I shore up the piece for an action through them?

The rules list four actions that a player can take on their turn:

Move
Shore Up
Give a Treasure Card
Capture a Treasure

Note that Move is an action and Shore Up is a different action.
The Navigator's card text says the following:

Move another player up to 2 adjacent tiles for 1 action.

Since shoring up (or giving a treasure card, or capturing a treasure, or using a special ability that requires an action) is distinct from movement, the Navigator is only permitted to make them do the Move action. I imagine it would say something like "Have another player take 1 action for 1 of your actions" or something if it were allowed.
On the plus side, Navigators are useful for helping other players get in position, and they can move a character 2 tiles instead of the usual 1 that they would be doing on their turn.


text:
What counts as an interior square in the Witch House tile?
The rules for Cthulhu!!! Hastur La Vista Baby! cover named buildings:

If the tile is any other “named building” (e.g. the “Pharmacy” or “Burial Hill”), place one cultist in each interior square (each square inside the building). Then place one bullet or one heart (your choice) in each interior square. For this purpose, “Burial Hill” is a named building.

This is easy enough for buildings that have a street running through the tile, but what qualifies as an interior square for named tiles like the Witch House tile?
Is it just the farthest row from the entrance? Or does it include the doorway, possibly the square to the right of the door, or even the entire farthest two rows?


text:
Skat tool to determine the probability for a win
Does anyone know a skat tool with the following feature ?
You can enter the three hands and the contract of the solo-player (grand,spades,hearts,diamonds,clubs,null). The program determines the
winning chances assuming open cards and best play of both sides. (double-dummy-analysis)
This program would be very useful to estimate how good specific hands are to play specific contracts.

Isn't an open game with best play either a loss or a win, without any chances?

To determine the odds for a contract, only information available to the bidder should be considered: his cards, position from lead, and contract.
The main challenge for determining the odds is considering the possible distribution of the unseen cards.  For a given distribution and the assumption of perfect play, the contract is either always won or lost.


text:
Are there any restrictions on which houses can be combined in a deck in Keyforge?
I keep finding myself speculating which house combos are cool and would be optimal to play with. But at the same time both my decks and my friends decks are extremely similar in house compositions (for example it appears that Mars combos are more common than Brobnar)
I know enough statistics to grasp that my sample pool is way too small to draw any conclusions but still I am wondering whether or not there are any restrictions on which house combos are generated by the deck generator.

No. Not only is no combination blocked, each combination is equally likely.
Here are the number of decks registered on the Keyforge Compendium for each combination of houses:
: 23,360 (3.1%)
: 23,363 (3.1%)
: 23,435 (2.8%)
: 23,454 (2.7%)
: 23,606 (2.1%)
: 23,607 (2.1%)
: 23,636 (2.0%)
: 23,639 (2.0%)
: 23,723 (1.6%)
: 23,729 (1.6%)
: 23,810 (1.2%)
: 23,818 (1.2%)
: 23,857 (1.0%)
: 23,876 (1.0%)
: 24,053 (0.2%)
: 24,230 (0.5%)
: 24,265 (0.6%)
: 24,280 (0.7%)
: 24,294 (0.8%)
: 24,318 (0.9%)
: 24,330 (0.9%)
: 24,350 (1.0%)
: 24,359 (1.0%)
: 24,386 (1.1%)
: 24,397 (1.2%)
: 24,408 (1.2%)
: 24,420 (1.3%)
: 24,455 (1.4%)
: 24,488 (1.6%)
: 24,512 (1.7%)
: 24,583 (2.0%)
: 24,625 (2.1%)
: 24,700 (2.4%)
: 24,733 (2.6%)
: 24,759 (2.7%)
(The percentage is the difference from the average, as a percentage of the average.)

While not statistically significant, I do find it interesting all the Untamed decks are in the bottom 15 combinations.

@SocioMatt, There is a potential bias from self-reporting. (People with Untamed decks could be less likely to register them.)

Thanks for the figures.. That certainly answers the question. Could there be a geographical bias then?

No.
Keyforge Compendium has a search feature that ties into decks registered in the app. Here is a breakdown by house combination of registered decks of all combinations including Mars (as of today):

Mars/Shadows/Untamed: 23636
Mars/Shadows/Borbnar: 24488
Mars/Shadows/Logos: 24330
Mars/Shadows/Dis: 24350
Mars/Shadows/Sanctum: 24407
Mars/Untamed/Brobnar: 24053
Mars/Untamed/Logos: 23639
Mars/Untamed/Dis: 23729
Mars/Untamed/Sanctum: 23857
Mars/Borbnar/Logos: 24420
Mars/Borbnar/Dis: 24230
Mars/Borbnar/Sanctum: 24759
Mars/Logos/Dis: 24699
Mars/Logos/Sanctum: 24625
Mars/Dis/Sanctum: 24512

The high in this set is 24,759 and the low is 23,636, a difference of 1,123 decks. I spot checked some other house combinations that didn't include Mars and they were all in the same range:

Shadows/Untamed/Brobnar: 23363
Brobnar/Dis/Sanctum: 24359
Untamed/Logos/Sanctum: 23360

This is probably enough to show that house combinations are fairly even distributed across the print run and there aren't house restrictions. Having said that, it appears there are restrictions on the number of cards that can appear in a deck, and possibly the combination of those cards:

There are 0 decks with more than 1 copy of Bait and Switch
There are 0 decks with both Chota Hazri and Key Charge


text:
What happens if I can't make a legal move?
If I am moving as Dracula it is possible for me to get into a position where I have literally no legal moves left.
For example: I could go to the Mediterranean Sea, go to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and then go to Cagliari. From that point, I do not have the cards to go to either Sea anymore, and there is no land location I can go to.
What happens?

Could you please clarify which edition you are playing?

The rules cover this on page 13 and 25 when covering Dracula's movement rules
Crossing His Own Trail

Dracula may only move to a location if its
  card is available to him. Thus, he cannot normally
  move back into a location while its card
  remains in his Trail or Catacombs. The only
  exception to this rule is when he uses his
  Double Back Power card (see “Dracula’s
  Powers,” page 20). In the unlikely event that
  Dracula maneuvers himself into a position
  where he has no legal move, he is punished as
  though he were caught cheating (see
  “Cheating,” on page 25) and then takes his
  turn as normal (assuming he didn’t lose the
  game).

Cheating

Hopefully, the Dracula player will never cheat
  on purpose. But if he makes a move and later
  finds out that he accidentally moved along a
  rail route or made a similarly illegal move, it’s
  important to undo the damage and get the
  game underway again. However, Dracula also
  needs to suffer a penalty to make up for the
  Hunters’ lost time. We suggest the following
  penalty for a Dracula player who catches himself
  (or is caught) cheating. Although it may
  seem severe, the hope is that the Dracula player
  will quickly learn to be more careful in the
  future.
• Dracula immediately clears his Trail down
  to one card and reveals his current location.
  • Additionally, Dracula loses Blood as
  though he had just suffered a “Killed”
  result in combat. However, if this would
  reduce him to 0 Blood, it only reduces
  him to 1 Blood instead.

I had completely missed this. I've spent looking through the rulebook for like half an hour, but did not read that part =/ Thanks!


text:
Count Theft card as card in front on the player
In the rules of the first Saboteur is specified that each player can have in front of them a maximum of 3 cards ( doesn't specify if blocking cards or other ).
In case I use a Theft card and I put it in front of me, does it occupy a slot for the number cards in front of me ? If the answer is yes, means that I can be blocked with maximum of 2 blocking cards.

You appear to be referring to this passage from the rules:

At any given time, a maximum of three such broken tool cards may be in front of a particular player, but only one card of each type.

Given that each player has three tools, that is a meandering way of saying

At any given time, only one broken tool card of each type may be in front of a particular player.

The point of the rule is that it's useless to break a tool twice. This has nothing to do with the Theft card.


text:
Can I use more than one Theft card
Can I use more than one Theft card in Saboteur 2?

No, you can't, because

no player can have 2 action cards of the same type affecting them at the same time.

This is part of the passage that introduces cards like Theft, so while you're technically not "affected" by a Theft in front of you, it would seem that a loose interpretation is in order.
Hands Off uses wording that implies a player could have multiple Theft cards ("remove one Theft card from in front of any player"), but that's probably just more imprecise wording.

The following are the other restrictions on on playing actions:

You cannot break a player's tool when that player's tool is already broken.
You cannot fix a tool that's not broken.
You cannot play a Theft card while trapped.

Based on the above, it's conceivable one might be forbidden from taking following useless actions, but they aren't actually forbidden by the rules:

Playing a Hands Off card on someone who doesn't have a Theft card.
Playing a Free At Last card on someone who isn't trapped.
Playing a Trapped card on someone who is trapped.

Deleted unconstructive comment thread.

No.
Unless the previous Theft card is removed by a Hands off -card.
The Z-Man games rules for Saboteur 2 states

As in the base game, in this expansion no player can have 2 action
  cards of the same type  affecting them at the same time.

(Same rule can be found also in the Nordic edition rulebook)


text:
Most important buildings in 3 player version
In Machi Koro (base game), finding an optimal strategy depends on the number of players involved, since you take turns rolling the dice. Green and purple buildings are only activated when you roll the dice, red buildings only by your opponents and blue by every player.
In a two player game, most of the strategies I've come up with hinge on using green buildings. In a four player game, blue and red are dominant. But what about 3 players? Is there an optimal strategy, or are all options considered equal?
I guess I'm looking for a list of buildings with the highest expected return rate in a 3 player game (unless you think expected return is not the primary metric for choosing your buildings).

thinking about it, the question is too broad, it would take too much time to answer because it would tend to "create a machi koro guide"

I think the expected return rate has too many unknowns.  The return rate on reds depends on whether other players have money when they roll that number.  You also have to take into account the potential of building stealing, synergies such as the shopping mall, roll diversity, etc.

This is an interesting question in part because I think it will depend on what your opponents have. Blue buildings trigger on every roll, but don't tend to generate as much income as the green buildings. If your opponents have a lot of red buildings, I'd guess it would be more helpful to have green buildings so that you can earn a lot in one go (and red buildings trigger first). Blue buildings can have income trickle in more regularly, but the income will trickle out for your rolls that trigger red buildings and for their rolls that trigger purple buildings.
Red buildings will probably still be useful, though not as useful as in 4 player games.
I have not played a lot of three player games of Machi Koro, but I would guess that it provides the best balance between the power of the differently colored buildings.

As usual, I think it depends on what your opponent have.
Some guidelines I usually follow:

Most of the players are still rolling with one dice? Then try to buy the Sushi Bar: it is cheap and you receive a lot of income if your opponents roll a 1.
Is there a Mine available and you can purchase it? Do it. The number 9 is likely to be rolled with a huge amount of chances.
Are your opponents builidng a lot of red buildings? Build the IRS if available.

2 of the three buildings you mention are expansion buildings, which the question doesn't seem to be including.


text:
Replacing popped cards in play
After popping cards in play, the 2nd to last thing in your turn is to replace the cards you popped on the board.
When replacing them, are they required to be in the same orientation as the ones you popped originally?  We have been playing that you do, but I was not able to find (maybe just blind) a rule expressly stating that one way or the other.

I checked the rules for both the new and the 2001 versions, as well as the rules and a strategy guide for XXXenophile.
None of them said anything about the orientation of the replacement cards. They do keep mentioning how it's a good idea to leave your opponent with bad moves, but don't mention if you can use the orientation in addition to the card choice to do so.
How ever, I would argue that you are allowed choose the orientation of the replacement cards for two reasons:

Nothing in the rules says that you'd need to honor the original orientation.
Especially when popping multiple cards, keeping a track of the original orientations can get tricky. I find that game designers tend to avoid requiring players to remember hard-to-track information, which would make keeping track of all the orientations "poor design".

I'd say you freely choose how to play the cards from here on out. It does effectively double your choises on each replacement.


text:
Bob win conditions with Machine Gun
So if bob uses his ability of hitting 2 damage with machine gun equipped, would it be counted as his win if he rolled a 2 damage to 2 people holding equipment with 3 on his own and dying from the machine gun?

Could someone who understands the situation better improve the title of this question to better capture what's being asked?

A more accurate title would be "Bob win conditions with Machine Gun" and I have suggested it but not sure if it will get approved.

Yes, assuming he chose to use his ability to steal the other players equipment instead of doing damage to them as he would then meet his win condition of having 5 peices of equipment.
He would also win if the damage to the other players was enough to kill them as you gain a piece of equipment from a player when you kill them so in either case Bob would immediately  win the game
From the rule book
Bob Neutral Robbery: If you inflict 2 or more points of damage to another character, you can take an Equipment Card of your choice from that character instead of giving him/her the damage.
As a player takes damage during the game, they move the HP piece onto the number on the board corresponding to how much damage they currently have. HP pieces are used to show the damage levels of all players. A player's character dies when they have accumulated damage equal or more to the HP listed on their character card. When a character dies, the player must flip their character card face up if they have not already and remove their HP piece and Player piece from the board. If a player has killed another player, they are allowed to take one Equipment card from the dead player and discard the rest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Hunters


text:
What is better than fire and brimstone?
One of the worst cards in the game is Fire and Brimstone: for 5 mana, you can deal 4 damage to yourself and target player. Except that this would clearly have been too powerful, so it’s restricted to only a target player who has attacked this turn.
But I’m having a hard time finding a card which is strictly better. Pierce Strider is close, but that’s only 3 life rather than 4.
And yes, strictly better means no other mana costs besides white. I’d be ok with {W}{W}{W}{W}{W} if needed.

Even given the damage difference, Pierce Strider is not strictly better than Fire and Brimstone as it is sorcery speed.

A card that is identical to Fire and Brimstone except that it costs {W}{W}{W}{W}{W} would generally be considered strictly worse, because the mana cost is more restrictive.

@murgatroid99 I get the feeling Charles is looking to add burn to a mono white commander deck, so amount of colored symbols isn't particularly going to matter there. Amount of colored symbols isn't exactly considered strictly worse since it can situationally better in something like mono devotion.

The only coherent way to evaluate strictly better/strictly worse is to consider the general case in isolation, and not special cases that might change the evaluation. Losing life is strictly worse than not losing life, even though Death's Shadow exists. A lower mana cost is strictly better than a higher mana cost, even though [mtg:Torrent of Fire] exists. Generic mana costs are strictly better than specific mana costs, even though the devotion mechanic exists.

@Andrew Treat it as a puzzle problem, not a deckbuilding problem.

@murgatroid99 Exactly. I'm willing to flex on colored mana cost (up to {W}{W}{W}{W}{W} rather than just {3}{W}{W}) but otherwise I'd like to follow precisely that definition.

Whether you use your definition or the more standard definition, Andrew's answer is correct: there is no card that is strictly better.

Knight Paladin, from Warhammer 40,000 Commander is probably as close as you're going to get.
Knight Paladin can only be cast at sorcery speed, rather than instant speed, but in all other respects it is equal to or better than Fire and Brimstone.
Both cost 5 mana
Knight Paladin is colorless rather than requiring white mana
Knight Paladin damages every opponent, not just one who attacked you this turn
Knight Paladin doesn't damage yourself
Knight Paladin comes with a spiffy 6/6 trample crew-1 vehicle once you're done dealing damage.

Amazing, you found one!

There really are no strictly better versions of "Fire and Brimstone" using the definition of strictly better as (with at least being an improvement):

More powerful or equal effect
Faster or equal speed
Lower or equal mana cost (including less colors and colored pips)

The closest card to following these rules is Chalice of Life, the back half of the transforming artifact, Chalice of Death, taps to cause target player to lose 5 life, (loss of life being considered slightly better than damage as it's harder to prevent), but needing you to have gained significant life and needing to be on the field as a sorcery speed artifact makes it slower.
White isn't the color for direct damage or life loss, that's the job done by Red and Black in the color pie, so cards that deal direct damage that are playable in white are very narrow and niche.

Assuming "strictly better" does not include "must be mono white", a trivial Scryfall search finds many options:

Chandra's Fury
Consuming Sinkhole
Flame Javelin
Flame Lash
Flames of the Blood Hand
Jeskai Charm
Lightning Blast
Prophetic Bolt
Pulse of the Forge
Slaying Fire (if cast with RRR)
Stoke the Flames
Unfriendly Fire
Violent Eruption
Warleader's Helix

and then a ton of spells which deal more then 4 damage. If you do want mono white, that's sort of the point: white does not do direct damage.

Exactly: I’m looking for mono-white or colorless. (Yes, stepping out of that color gives lots of options, especially in red.)

Please edit that into the question, but again the answer is: white doesn't do that. You should find a different strategy for your deck.

A slightly easier variant: Suppose you have four white mana. What one card could cause your opponent to lose 4 or more life (through damage or direct loss of life) this turn? Creatures won’t help unless they’re unblockable and hasted.

Definitely more of a puzzle question rather than deckbuilding.

Comments are not for new questions - but you can ask that as an entirely new question (don't edit this one) if you want to. But still - don't expect to find a good one; MtG very deliberately defines the strengths and weaknesses of each colour.

"Strictly better" is a common term among magic players when analyzing cards, it means: The same or lower mana value, the same or fewer colors, the same or stronger effect (ie more damage, more power). Adding as color makes the card situationally better, but not strictly better

@Andrew is Consuming Sinkhole strictly better than Fire and Brimstone? It has lower mana value (4), fewer colors (0. Yes it does. It says so on the card) and better effect. Things are not as simple as you would like to make out.

@PhilipKendall being the same fewer colors and costing the same or fewer colors are two very different things, it is not strictly better because the cost adds a color making it unplayable in many decks that could (but wouldn't) play Fire and Brimstone, my comment wasn't clear I should have said same or lower mana cost not mana value which does include color

This Scryfall search should reveal any strictly better cards. (with false positives)
They are all orthogonal (neither strictly better nor worse) to Fire and Brimstone, all involving preventing damage and dealing that much to a player.
mv<=5 # costs at most 5 mana
-m:www -m:u -m:b -m:r -m:g # does not include 3 white, or any other color
(t:instant or o:flash) # can be cast at instant speed
(
  o:/deals.*([4-9]|\d\d+|X|that much) damage/ # could deal at least 4 damage
  or
  o:/loses? ([4-9]|\d\d+|X|that much) life/ # or drain at least 4 life
)
o:/(target|each) (opponent|player)|any target/ # can affect an opponent

Removing the requirement to deal at least 5 damage reveals Springjaw Trap. Which, for mere 5 generic mana can deal 3 damage at instant speed.

id:w probably isn't the right check here. That is a color identity search, not a color search. The point here is to search for cards with costs that are no more restrictive, and the most accurate way to do that is directly: mana<=3ww or mana<=4w or mana<=5

You are right, I'll update it. It won't include any hybrid costs, but I can't see any that match.

I didn't even think of hybrid costs. I don't think there's a concise way to include them in the search. But the color identity search wouldn't include them either.

There are also X costs to consider, for Divine Deflection. Luckily that can easily be included

As powerful as Scryfall is, it would be great if it could recognise 1 < R/W < W

Negating each other color appears to work pretty well. It would include hybrids if any existed.


text:
Is there a reference sheet I can print for the characters?
I think Citadels is an awesome game, but playing our first game last night, I found many of us frequently wanted to refer to the character sheet in the rules to get an overview of all of the abilities.
I wish they'd included this information as a reference card.
Is there a PDF I can print with this info? Ideally it will be a nice small size.

When in a situation like this one thing that is having someone read the abilities out loud when someone has a question which should help people understand and remember them.

Good rule of thumb: when looking for a reference for a board or card game, always check BoardGameGeek. Here's the most popular Citadels reference available there:
https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/18772/universal-head-citadels-reference
And you can find a ton more in the Files section of the Citadels detail page.
(I believe you have to sign up for an account to download files off BGG, but if you're into board games it's totally worth it.)

You can always make a reference sheet from an online copy of the rules or print off the pages of rules that you need to reference to for you games. Here is an online source for the rules that can help you with what you need.

There is one! It actually comes with the version of Citadels that I own.
The example pictures I found are in French and Italian though:
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/279467/citadels?size=original
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/51653/citadels?size=original


text:
What if there are two paths connecting to the gold in Saboteur 2?
Let's say a blue dwarf makes the final connection to the gold. However, there are two paths that one could take to get from the ladder to the gold. One of these paths has a blue door, one of them has no doors. Obviously the blue dwarf would prefer to use the path with the door, so does the player who makes the final connection get to choose what path to use? Or does it go by shortest path to the gold? Basically, what are the rules to determine what path counts as the "final path"?

There's no such concept. The following are the win conditions for the red and blue teams from the rules:

A team wins if a dwarf from that team creates the connection to the treasure and the way there
isn't blocked by a door of the other color.
A team wins if a dwarf from the other team creates the connection to the treasure, but the way there for his or her own team is blocked by a door of the wrong color.
Both teams win if The Boss, The Geologist or The Profiteer creates the connection to the gold and the way there isn't blocked by a door of the other color.

A dwarf from the blue team created the connection, and there is a path that's not blocked by a red door, so the blue team wins, and the red team does not. That's it.
The only way the red team can win if a dwarf from the blue team creates the connection is if the blue team can't win (i.e. every path is blocked by red doors).

OK so if there are >1 possible paths at end game, and at least one of them gives the winning player a victory, then his team wins. Your last bullet brings up a follow question though: If the boss or profiteer makes the connection, and there are two connecting paths: one with a door, and one without a door, which path gets used? It seems to me the best path for the boss/profiteer would be the one with the door, because it gives them a better chance of splitting the gold with less people...but that is a little counter intuitive.

You're still assuming everyone uses a single path. As I already mentioned, there's no such concept. Blue team wins because the Boss or the Profiteer created the connection, and the way there isn't blocked by a red door. Red team wins because the Boss or the Profiteer created the connection, and the way there isn't blocked by a blue door. Nothing says they have to be the same way (path).

The Boss is better off if a Green or Blue dwarf creates the connection than if he creates it himself, as it cuts down on the number of winners. Same goes for the Profiteer and the Geologist.

I'm going to leave open for a few days just in case someone has a rebuttal, then I will pick an answer.

What rebuttal? For any dwarf who cares about reaching the treasure, they join in the win if there is a path they can take from the start point to the treasure, and that path was created by someone on their team (or the Boss/Geologist/Profiteer).

@ConMan, or if the path was created by someone on the opposing team and the opposing team can't win. (Second bullet in my answer.)

Ah yes, good point. But I completely agree with your ruling.


text:
Does a Geologist get their gold if they're locked up?
At the end of a game I just played, there were 5 crystals on the table, and the geologist was locked up.
Everyone else in the group said the geologist didn't get the gold, but nowhere in the rules did it say they didn't get their gold when locked up at the end of the game.
What is the real rule? Does the geologist get their gold?

I believe the answer lies in the description of the Trapped card (which is used to lock someone up). This comes from the official rules of Saboteur2:

Play this card face-up in front of another player of your choice. This
  player is trapped and cannot play any more path cards. If a player is
  trapped when the round ends, they don‘t get counted as one of the
  winners and don‘t get a cut of the treasure

The Trapped card does not specify this status only applying to certain roles. So if a Geologist is trapped, that player would not get their gold.
I also found a post on a BGG forum for Saboteur 2 from Frederic Moyersoen, the game designer who states that a Trapped Geologist gets no treasure.

But a geologist cannot be a winner. Their goal is only to get crystals and get the gold from the crystals. I figured that the rules on the trapped card were talking about people who actually get treasure by getting to the end or the sabotuer winning at the end. Both would be winners but the geologist is not a winner or a loser ever.

Added a link to forum post from the game designer.

@madelinemoore " When the treasure is split, a Geologist gets as many Gold Pieces as there are crystals visible in the maze of tunnels.". They're not winners or losers, but their gold is treated as part of the split.


text:
If too many players wins the game, can the Boss and Profiteer win no gold?
If 5 players wins the game (2 green dwarfs, 1 blue dwarf, a Boss and a Profiteer), they only get 1 gold piece each. But the Boss gets 1 less, and the Profiteer gets 2 less. That means that they get no gold piece at all?

Yes. Part of the game is knowing when not to end the game. In the scenario you described, the Boss or the Profiteer must have ended the game (because it's the only way a Green and a Blue can both win with those characters). But that might not have been their best option.
The following is the scoring possibilities for the party you presented:
           There's   There's |         |
  Game     a Blue    a Green | Winners | Nuggets    Green     Blue      Boss    Profiteer
  Ender     Path      Path   |         |
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Green         Y         Y    |    4    |    2         2         0         1         0
Blue          Y         Y    |    3    |    3         0         3         2         1
Boss          Y         Y    |    5    |    1         1         1         0         0
Profiteer     Y         Y    |    5    |    1         1         1         0         0
Anyone        Y         N    |    3    |    3         0         3         2         1
Anyone        N         Y    |    4    |    2         2         0         1         0
Noone         N         N    |    1    |    5         0         0         0         3

For the most points, the Boss should have joined the Blue team (by blocking green or by enabling Blue to end) rather than ending the game. Joining Green would also grant some points.
For the most points, the Profiteer should have sabotaged the miners rather than end the game. Helping Blue would also net some rewards.


text:
No leader at end of round 1
In the game Two Rooms and a Boom, the leader of a room is the first person to be nominated by another player.  What happens if no one has done this in a room by the end of round one and the room has no leader?

I would assume from the tone of the rooms that this should be just avoided by the players. Since all that needs to happen is for one person to nominate someone it ought to happen within 3 minutes.

@Guvante It is certainly very easy to nominate a leader, but with smaller number of highly suspicious players, it is possible for it to not happen.  The rules don't have a good answer as to what you do in that case.  I'm wondering if anyone has a solution to this.

I think it is just one of the things your group will need to decide upon. Maybe if a minute has gone by without a leader someone can speak up and ask for people to volunteer. Hopefully someone will want to stay or go and can nominate someone to perform that task in their stead.

If three minutes can pass with not even a joking nomination or somebody to step up to a not-a-big-deal responsibility, you may not have a group that will fully enjoy that game....

The direct answer to your question is there isn't a rule that covers this eventuality. The rules state however:

In Two Rooms and a Boom, part of the fun is the lack of rules. Players can say
  whatever they want, do whatever they want, and come up with whatever strategy they
  want.

I think it would be a fairly easy to say a leader must be chosen before people swap between rooms. Otherwise you could ask the question what if someone hasn't been chosen by a leader before rooms must swap? The answer is the game doesn't work. You have to send someone across and so you also have to have a leader by that point.
If your group is struggling in particular with this then maybe you need to appoint a Games Master for the game for a few playthroughs until people get into the swing of it?
We play this game almost every week for multiple rounds at the University game society. We have never had this problem. (In fact it is rare that leader isn't decided within a few seconds of a round starting as nearly always the first question asked is "Who should be leader?")


text:
Talents after being overcome
Can talents of the samurai be used after the attack overcame the samurai?
The rulebook doesn't specify anything about this at the talents and the only effects the overcome seems to have is that

Case 3: If the total is GREATER THAN your Kiai value, you are overcome by raiders: Immediately remove one village Barricade.

and in the next round

Important: If your Samurai meeple is already past your Kiai value (i.e. on the flame), then you MUST PASS.

For some talents it would make sense that it can still be used as they are passive looking (at least to me). For example if Gorobei is overcome, he should(?) still be able to ignore the penalty on a Raider with an even value.
The real, specific question is: after Kikuchiyo becomes overcome by an attack, can he still use his talent and choose to fight another opponent even though he is already overcome?

What game is this so we can properly tag it?

@JoeW: Samurai Spirit https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158900/samurai-spirit

Antoine Bauza answered a question very similar to this one on BoardGame Geek:

[Question]1) After you have exceeded your Kiai value, but before you are obliged to pass on your next turn, can other players still pass on cards to you?
[Response]1) Sure ! (it's important )
When you exceeded your Kiaia Value, you have to brun immediately a barricade / farm. But you are force to tak ethe pass action on your next turn. So, a lot can happen before you're next turn (passing card, removing a card from your combat line). {Sic}

The direct implication to this is that:

Just because you've exceeded your Kiai value, your turn does not immediately pass.
Adding additional raider cards to a character who has exceeded his kiai value will not cause additional barricades to burn.
The character is still "in play" until the beginning of his next turn.

So, Kikuchiyo specifically, can take another raider, and either add it to his defense pile or his confrontation pile.


text:
Can a Djinn Illuminatus make me draw my whole deck with Ancestral Visions?
If I have a Djinn Illuminatus in play and an Ancestral Vision comes off suspend can I draw three cards as many time as I like by paying 0 for the replicate cost?
Djinn Illuminatus

Each instant and sorcery spell you cast has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost. (When you cast it, copy it for each time you paid its replicate cost. You may choose new targets for the copies.)

Ancestral Vision

Suspend 4—Blue (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay Blue and exile it with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, cast it without paying its mana cost.)
  Target player draws three cards.

Why was this downvoted?

Can downvoters please explain their votes with a comment, this seems just as good a rules question as the 50 others I have asked here.

My guess is that the downvotes are because the question can be answered by the Gatherer rulings for Ancestral Vision.  Djinn Illuminatus is even called out by name.

@ArcanistLupus That is possible, but I've seen plenty of well-received (or at least neutrally-received) questions where the answer was given clearly in the Gatherer rulings. A lot of users who ask MTG questions here don't even know about the Gatherer website.

@GendoIkari Part of the problem with this question is the lack of information in it. Including the text of both cards in question rather then depending on someone either knowing them or clicking on the gatherer link would have helped with the reception. Ideally you should be able to get most of the information you need for the question without having to click on links.

No, this will not work. You cannot pay the replicate cost that Djinn Illuminatus adds to Ancestral Visions. Ancestral Visions has an unpayable mana cost, and Djinn Illuminatus says

Each instant and sorcery spell you cast has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost.

So, the replicate cost is also unpayable.

From the Gatherer rulings on Ancestral  Vision:

This has no mana cost, which means its mana cost can’t be paid for effects such as replicate from Djinn Illuminatus or flashback from Snapcaster Mage.