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SHADOWFIST
Frequently Asked Questions V. 4.4, 1/3/96
compiles by Rob Heinsoo, Jose Garcia, and Ian Brannen
copyright 1996 by Daedalus Entertainment, Inc.
P.O. Box 880
Mercer Island, WA
98040-0880
Business Line [phone]
Rules Question and Customer Service [phone]
Fax Line [phone]
Shadowfist is a collectible trading card game based on the archetypes and themes of action movies. Several factions of secret
warriors from different times in Earth's history vie for control of places with the most Chi energy, known as feng shui sites.
Those who control the most feng shui sites determine the shape of history. If you control enough feng shui sites you can
even rewrite reality and erase your opponents from existence...
This FAQ contains a number of official rulings and rules clarifications. Only decisions we're certain of are addressed in the
FAQ--a couple of rules issues raised in playtest and on the internet are not addressed. We'll be updating the FAQ regularly.
Because we are currently revising the Shadowfist rules for the upcoming Second Edition, it's possible that phrasings and
interpretations may change slightly in the months to come.
For those of you who have seen the widely distributed v. 4.0 of the FAQ, search for this mark, @@, to find material that has
been changed or added since v. 4.0 and 4.2.
Information for
Collectors
The Card Sets
Q. How many editions of Shadowfist are there? How many cards in the different editions? Any other differences between
these editions?
A. There are presently two editions of Shadowfist, the Limited Edition and the Standard Edition. Both editions contain cards
from four levels of rarity: very common, common, limited and rare. Limited Edition contains 323 different cards stamped
with gold foil 'Ting Tings' in the upper right hand corner. Standard Edition was printed at the same time as Limited.
Standard's cards are identical to Limited with two exceptions. First, the gold foil Ting Tings are removed. Second, eight
Unique characters who died in the Shadowfist world's storyline were supposed to have been removed. But Standard's
printing didn't go exactly as planned, and limited quantities of the eight characters killed in Operation Killdeer leaked into
Standard. For a card list with rarity, check out the Web site at:
http://www.halcyon.com/rev/shadowfist.html
Q. Which eight characters died in Operation Killdeer?
A. Mad Dog McCroun, Iala Mane, Jack Donovan, Thing with 1,000 Tongues, Jueding Shelun, Adrienne Hart, Nirmal Yadav,
and Sun Chen.
Art Attributions
Q. Why do the cards Cellular Reinvigoration and Reinvigoration Process have the same art?
A. Because we goofed. Cellular Reinvigoration's art is truly by Mark Tedin. When the same painting appears on
Reinvigoration Process and is attributed to Anson Maddocks, that's a mistake. The correct art will appear in the upcoming
Second Edition.
Q. Any other mistakes in the art attributions?
A. Hands without Shadow is by Edward Beard, Jr., not L. A. Williams. And we spelled Margaret Organ-Kean's name wrong
on several of her cards. And we spelled Nicola Leonard's name wrong on Progress of the Mouse.
Q. Why are some versions of The General printed with black titles and symbols and others with white?
A. It's a typo. As far as we can tell, the two versions of the card are equally uncommon.
Sorting
Q. How is the sorting in the Limited and Standard Editions?
A. Not as good as we'd like. It seems harder to collect a full set than we had intended. Briefly, if you get a particular rare card
in a booster, it seems more likely that you'll get another copy (or more) of that card in the same box. The earliest we will be
able to solve these sorting problems will be Second Edition. Until then, people interested in collecting a full set will certainly
want to take advantage of opportunities to trade. David Bolack and friends have set up a Shadowfist card trading mailing list
called fisttrade.
Fisttrade operates using the Black Marble Wombat mailing list software. To subscribe, send a message to fisttrade-
[e-mail]. The subject field will be ignored. If you wish to subscribe to the mailing list, place "SUBSCRIBE"
(no quotes) in the body of the message. If you wish to subscribe to the mailing list digest, place "DIGEST" in the body (again,
no quotes).
Rules Clarifications
The Designator Rules
Q. How do I tell which cards affect which characters? I've got a Police Station that can turn and maintain to add +2 to the
Fighting of any Cop, but who is a Cop and who isn't?
A. We left a paragraph out of the rules. Here's the paragraph that's going back into the rules in Second Edition:
Designators: Words that appear in the name and subtitle of a card are that card's designators. Subtitles are the first line in the
rules text. Many effects target cards with specific designators. For instance, the Undercover Cop gets +1 Fighting for every Cop
character in play. SWAT Team counts as a "Cop" thanks to its subtitle: "Cop Pawns." Maverick Cop counts as a Cop because
of her name. But the Buro Official does not count as a Cop, since his subtitle is "Vile Bureaucrat."
Another example: the Assassins in Love Event takes control of all Assassins in play. It only takes control of characters whose
designators include the word Assassin. There are characters in the game who have the special ability "Assassinate" but are
not designated as Assassins in their title or subtitle. These characters do not qualify as Assassins.
Some cards give new additional designators to other cards. If, for example, a card effect says that certain cards are now
"considered to be Abominations," that means that the affected cards have gained the designator "Abomination."
@@There are five special cases in which words that appear to be different are considered the same designator.
1. Singular and plural forms of the same word are considered to be the same designator. The Undercover Cop gets to count
both the SWAT Team ("Cop Pawns") and the PubOrd Squad ("Buro Cops").
2. Masculine and feminine forms of the same noun count as the same designator. Priest = Priestess.
3. Adjectival forms of a noun (whoo, there's a word you probably didn't expect to be seeing outside of English class!) are
considered to be the same designator as the noun. Therefore "Hero" and "Heroic" count as the same designator, as do
"Demon" and "Demonic."
4. Composite words can be split into designators consisting of all the words they contain. "Supersoldier" is the obvious
example, containing the designators "Super" and "Soldier." Note that composite words are a lot different than words made
up of multiple syllables -- no fair trying to argue that the word "Artist" is made up of the compound words "Art" and "Ist"!
5. On the other hand, we've made up some new words that are meant to count as composite words. So far, these words
include BuroMil and Arcanowave. The designators in the previous words consist of Buro, Mil, Arcano and Wave. A Buro
Official shares the designator `Buro' with a BuroMil Cyborg.
There are several huge exceptions to the designator rules. The words Site, Feng Shui Site, Edge, State, and Event are not
designators. Neither are connecting words like "of," "and," and "the."
Errata
@@Dance of the Centipede
"Cancel effect generated by turning target card OR turn target card -- target card cannot be turned in response." Dance of the
Centipede cannot be used to cancel Events or to cancel a character's attack, since a character's attack is not an effect.
Evil Twin
As written, the card led many players to believe that you couldn't Twin a Unique character without causing a Uniqueness
Auction. This was not the card's intention. The errata is as follows: "When Evil Twin is played, choose any character in play.
Evil Twin takes on the Fighting score, designators, and abilities of that character, but not its resources and resource
conditions." Uniqueness Auctions occur when two Unique cards with the same name appear in play -- Evil Twin doesn't
cause Uniqueness Auctions because "Unique" is a restriction, not an ability that gets copied (see below).
Reinvigoration Process
The rules text of this card should read: "Turn during your turn to play an Abomination from your smoked pile at normal
cost." Note that in this and all other cases in which cards allow you to play other cards, you must pay Power costs and meet
resource conditions unless otherwise specified.
Thunder on the Mountain
The `m' that appears in the rules text is meant to be an Architects of the Flesh symbol.
Progress of the Mouse
Progress of the Mouse can only be played on an opponent, not on yourself.
Probability Manipulator:
"Turn to increase or decrease the value of any number on target card by 1 until the end of the turn. Probability Manipulator
may not change a number to zero. Does not affect play costs or numbers expressed as words."
Netherworld Errata
The Netherworld expansion set shipped in late November. Cards are still available. We've found two mistakes on the
Netherworld cards that belong in the errata. Read on for more Netherworld questions later in the FAQ.
Chi Sucker
This card's rules text should read "When Chi Sucker attacks, it gains +X Fighting until the end of the attack. X = the number
of Power-generating sites controlled by the controller of its target."
Marisol
The first sentence of her rules text should read: "Damage may not be redirected to Marisol.."
New Game Terms
The Second Edition of the rulebook will contain two game terms that have come into common usage since publication.
Foundation characters: Characters that provide resources but do not have any resource conditions are known as foundation
characters.
Any-time effects: Unless otherwise specified by the rules or on the cards, most Events and abilities that characters and sites
access by turning can be generated at any time during any player's main shot. Following Stephen D'Angelo, we've taken to
calling these effects any-time effects. There are certain effects that are not any-time effects -- these include playing cards other
than Events and turning characters to heal. The rules specify when non-Event cards can be legally played and when
characters can turn to heal.
Card Clarifications
A number of cards will be rewritten for clarity in Second Edition Shadowfist.
Alchemist's Lair
The site is supposed to provide [Magic] resources, not [Chi]. However, in tournament play, Alchemist's Lair that provide
[Chi] provide [Chi], and those that provide [Magic] (Second Edition printing and later) will provide [Magic]. In the privacy of
your own home you can, of course, rule that Alchemist's Lair always provides [Magic].
Arcanowave Reinforcer
Rules text rewritten for clarity: "All your characters in play inflict +1 damage and are considered Abominations."
Booby Trap
Rules text revised for clarity: "Play on a site you control when the site is attacked. Target site and all characters at its location
suffer 3 points of damage."
Explosives
Rules text revised for clarity: "Play on an unturned character. After subject character damages a site in combat, you may
sacrifice Explosives to allow subject character to inflict an additional 5 points of damage to the site."
Fox Pass
Rules text rewritten for clarity: "Turn to change one attacking character's target to a character or front-row site you control."
Helix Chewer
This State was placed in an Event card border in the Limited and Standard Edition. In Second Edition, Helix Chewer will be
in the proper State border.
Illusory Bridge
The card will have text explaining that it is controlled by the player whose site structure it has been played into, not by the
player who owns the card.
Nerve Gas
Nerve Gas does not affect characters with [Magic] or [Tech] in their resource conditions.
Police Station
Police Station can turn to inflict 2 points of damage to a Hood character or Hood site.
Proving Ground
Rules text rewritten for clarity: "When Proving Grounds is first revealed, turn Proving Grounds for no effect. Turn Proving
Grounds to play a character at -2 cost. Multiple Proving Grounds cannot reduce the cost of the same character."
Righteous One
Rules text added to for clarity: "Any character intercepted by Righteous One while Righteous One is unturned is smoked
after inflicting damage on Righteous One."
Havoc Suit
Havoc Suit will be reprinted as HAVOC Suit to correct an error. Fixing a typo is not a name change. Five is the upper limit of
HAVOC/Havoc Suits you can have in a deck, regardless of how it is spelled.
Throwing Star
Rules text rewritten for clarity: "After surviving combat with another character, subject character may inflict 1 point of
damage on any character at its location."
Changes to the Card Abilities and Restrictions
The Card Abilities and Restrictions list that begins on page 45 needs a few corrections and clarifications.
Cancels:
A card effect that has been canceled ceases taking effect and is not resolved in the sequence of effects.
+X Damage
Characters with this ability inflict additional damage to characters and sites; the value of X varies from card to card. Add the
damage bonus to combat damage inflicted by the character. This bonus does not add to non-combat damage inflicted by the
character.
Independent
Characters with this ability may be used to launch an attack during your turn even when an earlier attack failed to damage
its. Non-independent characters may not attack after a failed attack, even if an Independent character's attack has succeeded.
Limited
Limited is a restriction and not an ability. It is not affected by effects that affect abilities.
Mobility
You may change the location of this character to a legal location at almost any time, without turning the character. This does
not allow the character to avoid receiving damage. Note that no character may change location after declaring participation
in an attack until the attack is over. Nor may a character change location after being declared as an interceptor until its
interception combat is finished. It is only possible to change location to an opponent's side in order to intercept an attack.
Characters with Mobility can move any number of columns, but must move one column at a time.
Unique
Unique is a restriction and not an ability. It is not affected by effects that affect abilities.
Other Important Game Rulings
Damage Redirection
Q. Quite a few cards "redirect" damage from one card to another card. What is the source of the redirected damage? Can I use
Robust Feng Shui to redirect damage inflicted onto one of my feng shui sites in order to reduce an opponent's site's Body to
0 and seize the site?
A. No. Cards that redirect damage become the source of the damage they redirect. Robust Feng Shui is the source of the
damage you are inflicting on the opponent's site, so you would not be able to seize or burn that site. It would be smoked.
@@Q. Say that my City Square site is the target of another player's attacking characters. Can I turn City Square to redirect one
of the attacker's damage back to City Square itself?
A. No. Damage redirection has to actually redirect the damage to a different legal card, no fair trying to cheat the spirit of
redirection by redirecting to the card that the damage was originally inflicted on.
Who Controls Weapon and Vehicle States?
Vehicle and weapon States are controlled by the controller of their subject character. This is an exception to the rule that a
State is controlled by the player who played the State.
Cards May Not Turn as Part of the Sequence of Effects
In Which They Entered Play
One new wrinkle in the upcoming Second Edition's Sequence of Effects rules will be that no card may turn as part of the
same sequence of effects in which it enters play. As an example of the consequences of this ruling, consider the case in which
you play a White Disciple. If your opponent responds to you playing the White Disciple with an effect that smokes the
White Disciple, you will never get a chance to turn him to inflict two points of damage on another target, since your
opponent's effect will resolve first and the White Disciple will leave play at the end of the sequence of effects in which it
entered play.
Characters and Sites are Different than Edges and States
in the Sequence of Effects
All cards enter play as soon as they are generated in a sequence of effects. Characters' abilities and States' abilities are effective
as soon as they enter play. Another way of saying this is that characters and sites are generated by being put into play, but
have no further effects to resolve during the resolution of the sequence of effects in which they entered play.
For example, you play an Average Joe with Toughness: 1. In response, and therefore as part of the same sequence of effects,
your opponent turns a White Disciple to inflict two points of damage on the Average Joe. Even though the White Disciple's
effect resolves first, Average Joe's Toughness: 1 is in effect, protecting him from 1 point of the White Disciple's damage.
Effects of States and Edges do NOT take effect until the effect that put the State or Edge into play is resolved. In other words,
effects of States and Edges follow the same sequence of effects rules as any-time effects and Events. For example, say that you
play Average Joe and respond to playing Average Joe by playing Armored In Life on him. Your opponent then responds to
you playing Armored In Life by turning White Disciple to inflict two points of damage on Average Joe. Because the White
Disciple's effect resolves first, the Armored in Life has not taken effect, and Average Joe suffers the point of damage that gets
past his own Toughness: 1.
Power and Resources
Using Resources
Q. Are resources spent like Power?
A. Using a resource to play a card does not decrease your resource pool. Power is generated and spent turn by turn. Resources
gather in your pool. As page 17 of the rules states, you can play any number of cards that require the number of resources you
have in your pool, so long as you can pay the Power cost. The only way to permanently lose a resource provided by a
character or a resource-providing site is for the character or site to be toasted. Characters or sites that are returned to your
hand also stop generating resources.
Q. Do characters have to turn to provide resources?
A. No. Characters don't have to do anything to provide resources except get into play. Once a card that provides a resource is
in play, that resource remains in your pool until the card returns to your hand, is controlled by an opponent, or gets toasted.
Generating Power
Q. Explain feng shui sites and Power generation.
A. Only feng shui sites are played face-down. All other cards have to be played face-up. All face-down feng shui sites generate
1 point of Power in their controller's establishing shot. Face-up feng shui sites generate the amount of Power specified in the
diamond in their upper left corner. The original printing of the rules contains a misleading sentence on page 16: "When the
feng shui site is revealed (turned face-up due to taking damage...), you get the amount of Power stated on it." Don't take that
sentence out of context -- feng shui sites only generate Power in your establishing shot, not when you turn them face up for
the first time.
Q. Page 16 of the rule book says that there are three ways to gain more Power. Doesn't that leave out burning feng shui sites
for Power?
A. Yes, it does. There are *four* ways to gain additional Power.
Playing Characters Under Special Conditions
Q. When I turn Cave Network to play a character with a play cost of 3 or less at no cost, can I also ignore resource conditions?
A. No. 'Playing' a card in Shadowfist requires you to meet its play cost and its resource conditions unless otherwise directed.
Cards that want to get around this rule use wording other than "play a card" -- for instance, Golden Comeback says "You may
take a character from your smoked pile and return it to play." In Golden Comeback's case you don't have to pay the play cost
and meet the resource conditions; you're simply able to put the character into play from your smoked pile.
Q. Can I use Proving Grounds or Family Estate to play a character with a play cost of greater than 3 for no cost using Cave
Network?
A. No. Proving Grounds and Family Estate specify that they turn to play a character at -X cost. Cave Network turns to play a
character with a cost of three or less at no cost. The wording on the cards isn't compatible. On the other hand, Proving
Ground and Family Estate are compatible...
Cards That Affect Cards
with Particular Symbols
Q. How do I tell whether one of my cards is affected by another card that affects cards of a certain [symbol] type, such as
[Magic], or [Architect]?
A. One explanation appears on page 15 of the rulebook. Check it out. Here's another: look at the card's bottom left and
bottom right corners. If the symbol in question appears in either spot, the card can be affected by cards that affect or target that
symbol. In game mechanics terms, if a specific symbol appears in either a card's resource conditions or its resources, that card
belongs to the class of cards that can be affected by cards affecting cards bearing that symbol.
Card Effects and Characters in Smoked Piles
Q. Two related questions. If I have the Arcanowave Reinforcer in play, do all the characters in my smoked piles count as
Abominations? Can the Monkey King turn to return a Lotus card from my smoked pile to my hand?
A. No. And no. We wrote the cards assuming that all effects apply only to characters that are in play unless they are explicitly
stated to apply to cards in the smoked pile or in players' hands. The cards and card effects only affect cards that are in play. If a
card specifically states that it affects cards in the smoked pile or cards in a player's hand then that card breaks the normal
rules. We'll be highlighting this point in the next edition of the rulebook.
Q. Do characters in my smoked pile count as characters I control?
A. No! `Control' is a game term that refers only to cards that are in play. An Undercover Cop, whose Fighting is equal to the
number of Cop characters you control, does not get to count the Cops in your smoked pile, only the cops that are in play on
your side.
Combat and Attacks
Attacking and Intercepting
Q. Do attackers attack in chains?
A. No. All attacking characters attack in a single human (or inhuman) wave. The attacking player does not get to specify
which characters attack first in a given attack. All attacking characters are equally available to be intercepted by defending
characters. And all attacking characters inflict their combat damage simultaneously once they reach their target (unless one
or more have the Ambush ability).
Q. Can the player whose turn it is play States during their attack?
A. Yes! See page 28 of the rules for the full list of which cards can be played during an attack.
Q. If I can launch an attack on an opponent's turn, can I play States during that attack?
A. No. You can only play States during your own Main Shot. Page 28 of the rule book states that an attacking character can
play States, but it assumes that you are attacking during your own turn.
Q. Can a single defending character intercept more than one attacker per attack?
A. No. Each intercepting character may only intercept one attacker per attack. However, multiple defenders can arrange
themselves in a chain and intercept the same attacker.
@@Q. My Walker of the Purple Twilight is attacking, and Fong Sai Yuk turns to move to intercept--if I use Rigorous
Discipline to give the Walker Superleap, is he still being intercepted, or does he leap right over Fong's head?
A. He leaps over Fong Sai Yuk's head, because he cannot be intercepted by turned characters. If an interceptor becomes
ineligible to intercept at any time before the characters are actually in combat with each other, the interception ceases and the
attacking character proceeds towards its target or to the next intercepting character in the chain.
Q. If your first attack succeeds in damaging its target and you want to launch a follow-up attack, do you have to declare your
follow-up attack immediately, or can you play characters, Edges, and generate other card effects in between the two attacks?
A. You can play cards and generate effects in between the attacks.
Q. Can characters be healed in between successive combats in a single attack?
A. Yes.
@@Q. Is there any time in between the time a character with the Ambush ability inflicts its damage in combat and the time
the defending character inflicts damage to generate and resolve other effects?
A. Yes. For instance, an attacking character with Ambush and Tactics could inflicts its damage and withdraw from combat
without being damaged by the defending character.
Q. Is a group of characters making an attack a "single source" of damage?
A. No. A card that inflicts damage is a single source of damage. This could be an attacking character or a Shattering Fire. A
character with a Really Big Gun inflicts +2 damage; the character is still the source of the damage.
The Steps of an Attack
(The original draft of the material that follows was written by Stephen D'Angelo. It's a useful flow-chart for keeping track of
all the steps in an attack, particularly for noting when any-time effects can be generated during an attack. It also contains qu
ick one sentence summaries of a number of sections from the rules, and should be useful as a quick reference.)
Declaring an attack is NOT an effect. As soon as an attack is declared, the Kicking Butt rules take effect, and effects declared in
response to the declaration of attack do not take place before the attack begins. You do not have to "cancel" an attack for it to
fail. An "any-time effect" is an effect that can be used during any player's main shot.
The steps involved in an attack follow.
a. Declare the attack, turn all the characters you control that you wish to participate in the attack, and select a single character
or front row site that you don't control as the target of the attack.
b. Any player can use 'any-time' effects. The player whose turn it is can also play State cards or turn a character to heal it.
c. MULTIPLAYER ONLY STEPS
1. Players other than the controller of the target can declare characters as aiding the attack by turning them Each player gets
one chance to join as you go around the table clockwise from the attacking player.
2. Any player can use 'any-time' effects. The player whose turn it is also play State cards or turn a character to heal it.
3. Players other than the controller of the target can declare interceptors. (Note that the attacker can choose to intercept his
own characters.) Each player gets one chance to declare interceptors as you go around the table clockwise from the player who
is the target of the attack. Handle the entire combat with each player's interceptors before proceeding to the next player to see
if they intercept.
The steps are:
i. Turn a character to temporarily move it to the location of the target being attacked. (If the character has Mobility it does not
need to turn and can intercept even it if is turned.) They are considered to be at that location during combat.
ii. Handle combat as per steps 'e' through 'h'.
iii. Surviving interceptors return to their original locations.
iv. Any player can use 'any-time' effects . The player whose turn it is can also play State cards or turn a character to heal it.
d. FOR ALL COMBATS
The defending player (the one controlling the target) then declares interceptors. Only characters at the location of the target
can be used to intercept. Turned characters can intercept any attacker that does not have Superleap.
e. Line up your intercepting characters in front of the attackers of your choice. Each interceptor can only intercept a single
character.
f. Any player can use 'any-time' effects . The player whose turn it is can also play State cards or turn a character to heal it.
g. The attackers and first wave of interceptors deal damage to one another. Smoke any characters that have taken damage
equal to their Fighting Score. If one character is intercepted and another is not, the unintercepted one waits for his
companions to deal with their interceptors.
h. Repeat steps 'f' and 'g' until all waves of interceptors are dealt with.
i. Any player can use 'any-time' effects in between combats with waves of interceptors and after all interception combat is
finished. The character whose turn it is can also play State cards or turn a character to heal it.
j. All remaining attackers simultaneously damage the target. If the target can deal damage, the defending player chooses how
to divide the damage among the attackers.Smoke any characters that have taken damage equal to their Fighting Score. Any
sitewhich has damage in excess of its body can be seized, burned for 5 power or burned for victory at this time. Seized sites
have all damage on them removed and can be placed at any legal position on your side. Burning a site for power ends your
turn immediately after step
k. Surviving attacking characters return to their original locations.
Notes:
If more than one character intercepts an attacker, the interceptors are lined up in a chain and fight the attacker one at a time
as per step 'e' through 'g'.
@@Note that once an attacker starts down this road it will keep fighting interceptors until it is smoked, otherwise removed
from play, fails to smoke a character intercepting it, or reaches its target. A Character with Tactics can leave the attack at any
time that 'any-time' effects are usable.
Changing Location
Q. Do characters have to turn to intercept?
A. No. In fact the words "turn to intercept" are something of a misnomer. Characters turn to change location. Characters can
intercept attacks at locations they occupy, so a character who is going to intercept an attack aimed at a different location
normally has to turn to change location first. Once they have changed location they are able to intercept. The exception is
Mobility. Characters with Mobility can move to any location without turning, even if they are already turned and so can
intercept attacks against any location.
Q. Is turning to attack considered turning to change location?
A. No. Turning to attack changes the location of the attacking character to the target's location until the attack is over, but in
game terms, turning to attack is distinct from turning to change location.
Q. What about Political Lock and the Walking Corpses?
A. When Political Lock is in play, characters can no longer turn to change location within your own site structure or turn
change location in order to intercept at another player's location. Characters can still turn to attack when Political Lock is in
play. Similarly, Walking Corpses can never turn to change location, but they can turn to attack. Walking Corpses are able to
intercept, but only at a location they already occupy or by using Mobility or Motorcycles to scoot around the board.
Q. The rules on page 30 make it sound as if a character always needs to be unturned to change location. Is that right?
A. No. The misphrased sentence reads "At any time, you may move an unturned character you control one column to the
right or left; you must then turn the character." That isn't precisely correct. Actually, you normally must turn a character in
order to move them to a different location. The character does not move to the different location and then get turned. The
character turns in order to change location. Mobility allows you to change location without turning and regardless of
whether you are turned or not.
The Sequence of Effects
The basic rule is simple: generate all effects in a sequence first, then resolve them in reverse order. The last effect generated is
the first to be resolved. Once you have started resolving the effects in a sequence of effects, no one can generate any more
effects until the current sequence has been entirely resolved.
Generating an effect can involve:
- declaring your intent to use a given effect
- paying a cost in Power
- turning a card, if necessary,
- selecting a valid target for the effect
- checking for or meeting any preconditions necessary for the effect to happen
- placing an Edge, State, Site or Character card into play in a legal position
- placing an Event card you are playing directly into your smoked pile.
Resolving an effect involves:
- making the changes to the board that result from an effect, such as placing damage counters, smoking cards, and removing
cards from play
@@For example, to play Shattering Fire on The Thing with 1000 Tongues, you declare your intent to play Shattering Fire,
you state its target, Thing with 1000 Tongues, you pay the Shattering Fire's cost, 1 Power, and you place Shattering Fire (an
Event card) in your smoked pile. At this stage in which you are generating the effect you are said to be "inflicting" damage to
the Thing with 1000 Tongues, but the damage counters will not be placed until Shattering Fire's effect resolves without
being canceled or redirected. If your opponent(s) do(es) not respond by generating other effects, you then resolve the
Shattering Fire's effect by placing the proper number of damage counters on Thing with 1000 Tongues. If, for example, the
Thing's controller had responded to your Shattering Fire by sacrificing one or more characters to give Thing with a 1000
Tongues Toughness, the sacrifice effect would resolve first and damage from your Shattering Fire would be reduced.
Questions about the Sequence of Effects
Q. I have a Queen of the Ice Pagoda in play. An opponent plays Shadowy Mentor on a character I control. Can I use the
Queen's ability to get rid of it?
A. Yes. When the Shadowy Mentor is played, it has been generated (see sequence of effects above). That means Power has
been paid, a target has been selected, and the State has been placed on the target. It hasn't resolved yet, so nothing else
happens yet. You respond by inflicting a point of damage to the Queen (a condition that is part of generating her effect) in
order to smoke the Shadowy Mentor. You resolve the sequence in reverse order, so the Queen's effect happens first,
smoking the Shadowy Mentor. The Shadowy Mentor hasn't been canceled, so its effect happens, but at the end of the
sequence, control of the subject character reverts to you. The player of the Shadowy Mentor has absolutely no time to use the
subject character for any effect while she is under his or her control because a player cannot generate a new effect while an
existing sequence is resolving.
Q. Can you use a card as soon as you've played it?
A. Yes and no. You can turn a card to use its special ability, or turn a character to attack in the same turn that it is played. But
as explained in the Important Rulings section of the FAQ above, you can't turn a card during the same sequence of effects in
which it was played.
Q. How do you reconcile the two different definitions of effect that appear on page 40 and in the glossary?
A. The glossary states that an effect is "the rules text on a card as it impacts the game." Page 40 states that "anything that
happens during a game is an effect." The latter statement is more accurate, but not necessarily complete. Every action taken
in the game except a declaration (such as signaling the end of a turn, or the beginning of an attack) and the establishing shot
activities is an effect that can be responded to and is resolved using the Sequence of Effects rules.
Q. What do the rules mean when they say that declaring an attack is an effect?
A. This was an error. Declarations such as declaring attacks and declaring interceptions are not effects. Declarations can be
responded to, but they don't occur as parts of sequences of effects. Players can respond to a declaration of an attack with other
effects, but the attack is considered to have started as soon as it has been declared, so many effects that cannot be used during
an attack cannot be used in response to a declaration of attack. The attack itself is not an effect, so it cannot be canceled. See
The Steps of an Attack for the stages involved in an attack.
Q. Can I declare the end of my turn during an attack, or during a sequence of effects?
A. No. And, if opponents respond to your declaration of the end of your turn by generating an effect or a sequence of effects,
your turn does not end until that sequence of effects is resolved.
Questions About Specific Cards
Q. What about the Gnarled Horror's ability to smoke any character it damages?
A. The Gnarled Horror inflicts its damage simultaneously with any characters it is in combat with, and is therefore easy to
smoke in combat. Note that if you could give the Gnarled Horror the Ambush ability, it would inflict its damage first on the
attack, and smoke defenders before they had a chance to inflict their damage.
Q. The Gnarled Marauder's rules text says: "Any damage Gnarled Marauder inflicts on a site in an attack is also inflicted on
the back-row site behind that site." Does this mean that a Gnarled Marauder could conceivably reduce the Body of two sites
to zero in the same attack, allowing me to seize or burn two sites at once?
A. Yes.
Q. When I play cards like Rigorous Discipline and copy abilities that refer to the ability's owning character by name, how do I
interpret the results?
A. Translate ability-copying cards by inserting the name of the character who has been gifted with the ability in place of the
name of the character who normally possesses the ability. For example, the Thing with 1000 Tongues allows you to sacrifice a
character to give Thing with 1000 Tongues Toughness: 3 until the end of the turn. If you want to use Rigorous Discipline to
give Kar Fai Thing with 1000 Tongues' ability, you would sacrifice one of the characters you control to give Kar Fai
Toughness: 3 until the end of the turn.
@@Q. What happens if I use Rigorous Discipline to copy Shih Ho Quai's abilities?
A. Not much. Shih Ho Quai's ability says X = the number of Chi resources you have in your pool. Very few characters have
Fighting scores equal to X, so X would be meaningless. On the other hand, if you gave an Undercover Cop Shih Ho Quai's
ability, the Undercover Cop's Fighting score would be equal to the number of Chi resources in its controller's pool. The
general rule revealed by this specific example is that if a character or other card has its value for X redefined, the second
definition to resolve its effect supersedes the original definition.
Q. What happens if I use Larcenous Mist to remove Mother of Corruption's abilities for a turn?
A. If Mother of Corruption's rules text goes blank because of Larcenous Mist, she will be able to turn to heal and turn to
attack.
Q. My opponent has played Adrienne Hart. Her rules text states that "No States may be played on Adrienne." Can I play
Larcenous Mist on her and then play Shadowy Mentor?
A. Yes. When you play Shadowy Mentor, her rules text will be blank. When Larcenous Mist's effect ends at the end of the
turn, the State will already have been played on Adrienne, and will remain in play.
@@Q. What if I play Larcenous Mist on Grenade Posse from the Netherworld expansion and then play a weapon State on it?
A. Grenade Posse's rules text says "Grenade Posse is not a legal subject of weapon States." As soon as Grenade Posse's rules
text is effective, any weapon States on Grenade Posse will be smoked.
Q. Another Larcenous Mist question. My opponent is playing a Cop deck with loads of Undercover Cops whose Fighting is X,
where X is equal to the number of Cops he controls. I play Larcenous Mist on one of the Undercover Officers. What
happens?
A. Your opponent gnashes his teeth as his cherished Cop proceeds to the smoked pile. Because X is defined in the text box
and the text box is blank, X is effectively zero. This also works on Shih Ho Quai and anybody else with a Fighting Score of X.
Winning the Game
Q. The rules state, "if you are one feng shui site away from winning, you can't play any more feng shui sites from your
hand." Does that mean I can return one from my smoked pile or bring one into play by some other means than playing it
from my hand?
A. No. The only way to win is to seize or burn your final site unless there are no sites to be seized. The Second Edition rules
will contain the amended sentence "if you are one feng shui site away from winning the game, you cannot put another feng
shui site into play."
Q. We're playing a two-player game and I've played five feng shui sites. Then my Ancestral Tomb feng shui site gets
damaged. Since the Ancestral Tomb no longer counts for victory, can I play another feng shui site?
A. Yes, you can. It will cost Power equal to the number of feng shui sites you have in play. And even if the Ancestral Tomb
gets healed later, you still have to seize or burn one of your opponent's feng shui sites in order to win the game.
Q. How should I interpret the following sentence from page 11 of the rulebook? "Note that a player is eliminated from the
game as soon as he or she runs out of cards in his or her deck."
A. As soon as you've drawn your last card from your deck, you lose. You'll never be able to play the last card in your deck.
@@Netherworld Mini-FAQ v. 4.4
Here's a quick set of frequently asked questions about the NETHERWORLD expansion.
Q: If my character is in combat with Queen of the Darkness Pagoda but doesn't damage her, does she toast it anyway? Say that
I redirect the damage away from her or play Shadowfist on her before combat.
A: No. It's not enough to merely inflict the damage on the Queen of the Darkness Pagoda, the damage counters have to be
placed on her in order to activate her toasting effect.
Q: If I play Pocket Demon or Violet Meditation can I discard as many cards as I want to in my establishing shot because I
haven't generated Power from my sites?
A: No. Instead of your sites generating Power, this turn Pocket Demon/Violet Meditation generates Power at the same time
your sites would have generated Power. So if you play Pocket/Violet at the start of your turn, you can't discard more than 1
card without forfeiting the power it would generate for you.
Q: If an edge is in play which requires me to pay Power at the start of my turn, can I play Pocket Demon or Violet Meditation
first to get some power to pay the cost?
A: No, the Power is generated at the same time as your sites would have generated the Power..
Q: Can Pocket Demon or Violet Meditation be canceled by Confucian Stability or by other events?
A: Yes, but only by Events that can be played in response to other Events. Confucian Stability and Brain Fire are the two best
examples of Events that can be played in response to other Events, and can be played in response to a Pocket Demon or
Violet Meditation. Normally you wouldn't be able to play Confucian Stability or Brain Fire in the establishing shot, but
Pocket Demon/Violet Meditation pave the way.
Q: Butterfly Knights - they can attack once per turn without turning. Can they, say, turn to Heal, and *then* attack? Or can
they only do it unturned?
A: Butterfly Knights can attack once on your turn without needing to turn, but must still be unturned to be named as an
attacker (rules, p. 28). The rules text only supersedes the need to turn the attacker, not the need for the attacker to be
unturned to start with. HOWEVER, the Butterfly Knight may be declared as an attacker, then turned to heal before he meets
his interceptors.
Q: Many Netherworld cards refer to Power-generating sites. Does a feng shui site that generates no Power because it's next to
Trade Center count as a Power-generating site?
A: Yes. Any site which has a number other than 0 in its left corner diamond is a Power-generating site.
Q: Tanbi Guiawu must participate in an attack on each of your turns or its smoked. What exactly constitutes participation? If
he pulls out of an attack using Tactics has he participated in the attack?
A: Yes. If Tanbi Guiawu is declared as an attacker, he participated in the attack. Even being unturned by Kinoshita House
later on wouldn't prevent him from having participated in an attack.
Q: Does the Darkness Priestess give you power whenever an opponent discards cards?
A: No. The Darkness Priestess does *NOT* give you power when an opponent discards cards. The Darkness Priestess only
provides Power when an opponent uses effects that explicitly toast cards. Although discarded cards end up in the toasted
pile, toasting a card and discarding a card are not the same, they are different game mechanics terms. The Darkness Priestess
*would* give you Power for every card an opponent toasted using Inauspicious Reburial, however...
Q: Is the Flying Crescent damage simultaneous with the normal damage inflicted by the subject character?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I play a Fox Outfoxed on a Bull Market?
A: No. You can't play Fox Outfoxed on a Bull Market. The Bull Market is an Event. Events are placed in the smoked pile as
soon as they are played, they are never in play. Therefore you can never play a State on an Event.
Q. When Rust Garden says it inflicts damage on "every other site" an opponent controls, does that mean 1 out of 2 sites or 2
out of 2 sites?
A. 2 out of 2. Rust Garden inflicts damage on each site the opponent controls when he or she seizes or burns Rust Garden.
Except for Rust Garden of course, which is specifically included from being damaged by its rules text.
Q. Can I use Brain Fire to change the target of a Confucian Stability? Can I use Brain Fire to make Final Brawl only affect a
few characters in play, not all of them? Can I use Brain Fire to make a player who has played Inauspicious Reburial toast his
own cards? Can I use Brain Fire to put all four points of damage inflicted by Mark of Fire upon one target card?
A. No to all these questions. Brain Fire can only retarget Event cards that use the words 'target' or 'targets.' We probably
should have specified this on the card! The sentence that would help would be "Play in response to an Event that has a
target or targets. . ." Confucian Stability does not have a target. Neither does Final Brawl, or for that matter Neutron Bomb.
These cards affect other cards, true, but the word 'target' is not used on these cards, so Brain Fire doesn't affect them.
Brain Fire can retarget Inauspicious Reburial, but you'll note that Inauspicious Reburial specifies that it has to be played on a
target opponent. Brain Fire requires you to choose a legal target -- Inauspicious Reburial can't be turned back against the p
erson who played the Event, since they are not a legal target. In a multi-player game, you could play Brain Fire to make
another opponent the target of Inauspicious Reburial.
Mark of Fire requires you to inflict 1 point of damage on four different cards. If you use Brain Fire on a Mark of Fire, you get
to change the targets of all four points of damage, if you so desire. But you can't violate Mark of Fire's basic targeting rule,
which requires you to choose four different targets.
Q. I thought Shadowfist cards were self-referential. What do Avenging Thunder and Necromantic Conspiracy mean when
they say "You may only play Avenging Thunder/Necromantic Conspiracy" once per game.
A. Shadowfist cards are self-referential. But in this particular case, our intention is that no player may play Avenging
Thunder or Necromantic Conspiracy more than once per game. The text on an Avenging Thunder card refers to all
Avenging Thunder cards, not just that Avenging Thunder card.
Q. Say I play Surprise, Surprise and draw a Wind on the Mountain Event. Since Surprise, Surprise allows me to play this
Wind on the Mountain at no cost, can I make X = the number of Event cards I want to return to my hand and pay 0 Power?!
A. No. Our ruling follows a different line of logic. In this case, you are playing Wind on the Mountain at 0 cost, so X = 0. You
don't get to return *any* Event cards to your hand.
Q. If I copy Reverend RedGlare's ability onto another character using Rigorous Discipline, do I get to choose a different
designator than Reverend RedGlare's controller chose, or do I have to use the designator he or she already chose?
A. Trick question! The real answer is that you can't effectively copy the abilities of characters like Reverend RedGlare and
Serena Ku! If the character's rules text says something like "Choose X when you play Reverend Redglare/Serena Ku..." then
the ability can't be utilized by an character that is already in play. And since characters can't be given abilities new abilities
when they're not in play, Reverend RedGlare's ability is effectively unavailable to Rigorous Discipline, Soul Diver, and
even Evil Twin.
Q. Can damage CHAR inflicts be reduced to 0 by Operation Killdeer?
A. No. Operation Killdeer and other cards which say that target characters inflict no damage don't affect CHAR, his ability
works against all cards that reduce the damage he might inflict, not just cards that use the word 'reduce.'
Q. What happens if CHAR fights Rah Rah Rasputine?
A. CHAR's ability wins out and he inflicts normal damage to Rah Rah.
Other Questions
Q. When a card refers to you, who does it refer to?
A. As explained in the glossary, "you" refers to the controller of the card. Note that the controller of a card is normally the
person who played the card. As mentioned above, vehicles and weapons are the exceptions. Vehicle and weapon States are
controlled by the controller of the subject character.
Q. Are there any errors in the Overview of the Game which appears at the start of the rulebook?
A. There's one error and one possibly confusing statement. The error appears in the italicized text under the words "Turn
Sequence." The sentence is misleading. It should say "Each player starts the game with 1 Power point in his or her Power
pool and with a hand of six cards." The somewhat misleading statement occurs on page 3 of the rulebook: "Before the player
under attack defends, each player in turn, clockwise from the player under attack, may intercept the attack by turning each
character he or she wishes to intercept with and declaring which attacker that character is intercepting." In this case, the
defenders are turning their characters to change location because they are intercepting an attack that is taking place at a
location other than the location they presently occupy.
Targeting Feng Shui Sites You Control
Q. Can I attack and burn my own feng shui sites?
A. No. You cannot attack targets you control.
Q. Can I target my own characters and sites with card effects that inflict direct damage or smoke other cards?
A. Yes. The rule states that your characters can't attack targets you control, but you can target cards you control for other card
or character effects. For example, you'll almost certainly have to find some way of inflicting damage directly in order to get
rid of an Illusory Bridge site played into your site structure.
Seizing Sites
Q. If I reduce a site's Body to zero by means other than an attack with my characters, can I seize or burn the site?
A. No. The only way to seize a site (or seize or burn a feng shui site) is to reduce its body to 0 by damage inflicted by your
characters in an attack (or characters controlled by other players who chose to join an attack that you declared). If you use ot
her effects to smoke a site, the site is merely smoked. See page 39 in the rule book.
Q. What happens if I seize a site that is the subject of the Inexorable Corruption State?
A. States remain on sites when sites are seized. Inexorable Corruption prevents damage from being removed by any means.
So seizing such a site is a BAD idea. Burn it instead, if possible. If not, you'll have to smoke it.
Characters With Toughness
Q. What happens if a character with Toughness: 1 is intercepted by a chain of 1 Fighting characters?
A. Unless the defending player has a trick up their sleeve, they are making a big mistake. The character with Toughness: 1
will fight each interceptor in turn. Toughness reduces the amount of damage a character receives from any source, so one
point of damage will be subtracted from the damage inflicted by each 1 Fighting score character. The character with
Toughness: 1 won't take a scratch, all the 1 Fighting interceptors will be smoked.
Q. What happens when a character with Toughness: 1 attacks a site that is the subject of two or more Deathtrap States?
A. Each Deathtrap card is a separate source of damage, so a character with Toughness: 1 takes no damage from Deathtraps, no
matter how many of them are piled onto a site.
Q. What happens when I play Inexorable Corruption on a character with Toughness?
A. Again, Toughness prevents one point of damage from any source. So playing Inexorable Corruption on a character with
Toughness merely prevents the character from having damage removed by any means.
Healing Characters
Q. Page 33 of the rules says, "The instant that a character has a number of damage tokens on it equal to its Fighting score, it is
smoked." Can you heal a character that is being smoked?
A. This "instant" in which the character is smoked occurs as one effect in a sequence of effect that may include other effects.
You can't heal damage that been dealt earlier in the same sequence of effects, because when it came time to remove damage
counters, the damage counters you want to remove won't have been placed yet!
But, as page 40 of the rules mentions, you CAN heal previous damage that contributed to a character being smoked. For
example, say your Ring Fighter with a 3 Fighting score has taken 1 point of damage. Your opponent turns a White Disciple to
inflict two points of damage on the Ring Fighting, enough to smoke it. You can respond to the White Disciple's effect by
generating a healing effect to remove the point of damage the Ring Fighter had already suffered. The resolution of the effects
would work out as follows, resolving effects in the reverse order in which they were generated: first you would remove the
original point of damage from Ring Fighter, then you would place the two points of damage from the White Disciple. At no
time would Ring Fighter have suffered the three points of damage that would be enough to smoke it.
Q. Are there Shadowfist tournament rules?
A. Yes. They appeared in issue #12 of SCRYE, and are available from us directly by e-mail. They will also be available at the
official Shadowfist Web site.
Q. What's the current Shadowfist Web site's address?
A. Check out the new home page at http://www.halcyon.com/rev/shadowfist.html. Links include this FAQ, card lists, and
details on upcoming products. Unofficial Web sites include Unofficial Web sites include http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/
fusion/lopez/shadowfist
http://www.nu.edu/~gblake/fist and
http://www.innocence.com/~durrell/shadowfist/index.html.
Q. Was SHADOWFIST designed as a drinking game?
A. No. But you might think otherwise if you noticed how we got confused about which direction is clockwise in the
paragraph about "Simultaneous play" on pages 42-43. Sorry about that. We said clockwise, we meant clockwise.
Q. Any other mistakes too embarrassing to mention?
A. Yes. When we introduced the Ascended on page 8 of the rule book, we meant to use the word "descendants," not
"ancestors."
Upcoming Products
@@Flashpoint
Burning skyscrapers, exploding rainforest temples, saturation bombing and the Doomsday device: the secret war just got a
little more public! FLASHPOINT, the next Shadowfist expansion, will be released in March, 1996. FLASHPOINT focuses on a
battle between the Dragons and the Architects fought on two fronts, the Amazon of 1996 and an Architect city in 2056. The
set includes cards from all seven factions.
Throne War
In June of 1996 we'll release THRONE WAR, a Shadowfist expansion about Ancient China and a four faction melee for the
possession of the Peacock Throne. This expansion focuses on the Lotus, Guiding Hand, and Four Monarchs, but all the
factions get into the action somehow.
Combat in Kowloon
If you've been paying close attention to our previous product announcements, you'll have noted that COMBAT IN
KOWLOON dropped out of our 1995 schedule. We'll be publishing COMBAT IN KOWLOON in the Fall of `96, a few
months after THRONE WAR. Details later in `96!
Second Edition
Second Edition Shadowfist will be released in Summer of 1996. Second Edition will include approximately 50 new Very
Common and Common cards. An equal number of cards from the existing set will be dropped to make room for the
newcomers. Not all of the cards that get dropped will be very commons and commons, a few may be rares and uncommons
that haven't performed up to expectations. All the cards appearing for the first time in Second Edition will have gold foil
Ting Ting stamps.
The Shadowfist Players' Guide
Ten stories that explain the factions and history of SHADOWFIST's secret war. Interviews with SHADOWFIST's designers,
Robin Laws and Jose Garcia. Chapters on Dynamics of Play, Strategy, Tactics, and Nasty Combos. And lots of cool art. In case
you haven't heard, the Players' Guide has been delayed this long because we've committed our resources to releasing new
expansions. If we have to keep choosing, we'll release expansions, but we hope to get the Players' Guide into print early in
`96.
Feng Shui: The Shadowfist
Roleplaying Game
FENG SHUI, THE SHADOWFIST ROLEPLAYING GAME is scheduled for release in April, 1996. It was developed and
written by Robin Laws at the same time as SHADOWFIST. It's going to be 300 pages of full-blowing-things-up-color,
guaranteed roleplaying fun for any Shadowfist fan who wants to play a Redeemed Assassin, Rebel Abomination, Old Master
or any of 23 other heroic archetypes dedicated to the preservation of truth, justice, and the freedom to blow up the bad guys
with extreme prejudice. A full line of supplements is in the works, with titles like Blowing Up Hong Kong and Marked for
Death.
Contacting Daedalus
Our mailing address is:
Daedalus Entertainment, Inc., PO Box 880, Mercer Island, WA 98040-0880.
We provide Internet support in the rec.games.trading-cards.misc newsgroup. We also have a Shadowfist folder in the CCG
area of the GIX exchange on America on Line. The Shadowfist netreps can be reached at [e-mail] and
[e-mail]. For people without net access, the best bet is to call the Shadowfist Answer Line at [phone] between
the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. Our voice mail on the Answer Line keeps blinking out,
so if you miss us you'll have to try back.
At present we are not soliciting submissions for Shadowfist or other card games. The best bet for people interested in writing
about Shadowfist is to submit articles to the various gaming and trading card magazines.
Inquiries about freelance writing guidelines for our roleplaying lines should be sent to John Tynes at [e-mail].
Artists interested in sending portfolios should send them to the address above, Attn: Jesper Myrfors. We are presently most
interested in paintings rather than line art. We are currently not interested in computer-generated art.
Have fun with the cards!
--Daedalus Entertainment

[SHADOWFIST]

Shadowfist Webmaster: Eric Lopez [e-mail]