From: kcc@wucs1.wustl.edu (Ken Cox)
Subject: Re: Dual Power games
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 18:13:32 GMT

Everyone will respond to this, but hey -- it's only bandwidth.

bl375@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Brian G. Greenberg) writes:

>This weekend we played our first
>game with multiple powers.  We found that the games took longer.
>Is this normal with two power games?

Oh, definitely.  We try to keep up the pace -- "Allies committed.
Does anyone want to do anything?  OK, play cards.  Anything?
Reveal cards..." but it does take a lot longer.

Please note that there is little in the way of "official" rules
for multi-power games.  Eon expansion 9 did have a brief section
on them, and I base my answers to the following questions on this
and on previous net articles.

> Also if you use Cosmic Zap
>does it effect both powers or just one.

It Zaps all powers that are used at once.  This means that if
you face, say, Trader/Amoeba, you can Zap the Trader as he
tries to trade hands or the Amoeba as he tries to move his
tokens, but because those don't happen at the same time you
can't Zap both powers.

On the other hand, if you face Macron/Antimatter, you can Zap
both these powers when the outcome is being determined, since
they are both used then.  Some groups play that you could choose
to Zap only some of the powers (e.g., Zap the Macron but leave
the Antimatter operating), others that the Zap must act on all
powers that are in use.

>With the Changling or
>Sorceror flare do you change one power or both and who decides if
>it only on power?

Powers such as the Changeling and Insect act on only one other
power, and most people play that the owner of the power gets
to choose which.  For Flares, it depends on your group's house
rules.  We play that if the card says "powerS" it works on all,
if it says "power" on only one -- so the Wild Sorceror ("trade
the main players' powers") works on all powers, while the
Wild Philanthropist ("loan another player your power") only
works on one.  We haven't had any problems with this.  (And
yes, I know that the text distinction is really between one
player's power and several players' powerS.)

>Now a question about some edicts and such.  If the Vulch plays
>Plague on me and I only have one edict (Cosmic Zap) may I play it
>on him so he can't pick it up or must I discard it?

First, you couldn't Zap him at that moment because he isn't
using his power.  But assuming that you had some card that you
could play at that time, could you use it instead of losing it?
I can't find a clear answer, but I note two points:

1)  Playing an Edict or Flare at that point definitely doesn't
count as discarding one, so if you have another Edict or Flare
that you can't play you would still have to discard that one.

2)  You might want to treat this as a special case of the "lien"
rule:  If someone is entitled to cards from your hand, can you
play cards?  The answer here depends on whose rules you follow:

	a)  Eon, as clarified by Encounter vol. 1 no. 3, does
	allow you to play cards with a lien.

	b)  Mayfair, as clarified by Encounter vol. 2 no. 2,
	only allows the play of a card if it breaks the lien.

If you extend (b) to this situation, you could only play a card
if it cancelled the Plague -- for example, Edict Zap, or steal
it with the (Mayfair) Wild Filch.

>Last question:  We have a player who feels that Finder is too
>powerful of an edict since it says something like this:  Name a
>card.  Now "look through" that person's hand if he has it take 
>it.  He argues that looking through the hand is way too powerful.
>What do you think and how do you usually play it?

You do get to look at his hand.  Yes, it is powerful if used
properly.  (Sure sign of a CE newbie:  The second the Finder
enters his hand, he plays it and asks some random player for
the Forty.)


Ken Cox
kcc@wucs1.wustl.edu