Advantage and JOTL BG/Digital differences

[zafire063]

The two things aren't related, I just don't want to make two posts. Having done the entire JOTL campaign and being over 40 missions into Gloomhaven proper, I have some questions/concerns. I MAY be misunderstanding, as I have a JOTL board game background but no background on the original Gloomhaven board game.

In digital, using advantage, it always seems to prioritize the debuff/element +0/+1/+2 over the x2/blessing card. This is extremely frustrating, but I can't find easy information on this. Is there any way to fix this? This is the case even if the enemy I'm hitting is immune to said status effect. I don't recall it being this way in the base game.

I feel like JOTL digital is a lot different than the board game. I can't find a compiled list of all the differences, so here are the ones I've found:

**Different shop items. Invisibility robe let me do a lot of things I couldn't do in the board game.
***New tier of shop items don't unlock for the entirety of the campaign (aka when you finish the last story mission), which did not happen in the board game. I don't feel I made "bad" prestige choices, as I remember the event cards pretty well.
***You can do things like surround a boss or obstacle that summons enemies (Red Guards class quest for example) to prevent spawns from happening. I feel like I read for JOTL if there are no available hex's then just spawn the enemy at the closest available hex. It's game-changing if you can legitimately prevent spawns by blocking hex's. Not sure if it's digital-specific, or if that's a Gloomhaven-only strategy.
***Voidwardens level 5 ability does not function the same as the board game. Enemies can go through it, but not if you control them, which makes no sense. The card is also worded differently on the board game vs the digital version.
***Minor mission changes. I feel like 4 was easier, 1 was completely different, and 16 had a different mechanic on stage 3. I was quite thrilled at how similar all the rest of them were, great adaption.
***You, obviously, cannot trade items like you could in JOTL. You also don't get immediate access to items you find in the scenario.

I don't dislike the JOTL adaption by any means, just noting the differences. Were there any I missed? Does anyone happen to know the actual rule I put in bold for the board games? I'm having trouble finding any actual information on it.

Thanks!!

[Slow Dog]

Here's the list:
Differences from the physical game:
Several Jaws events adjust reputation. E.g. Event 13 gives you +1 rep instead of the price reduction. The events that require a specific class won't be drawn if the required class isn't in the party, so may be drawn later rather than missed.
There's no Jaws tutorial. Those scenarios have been extended to made them as difficult as standard scenarios.
The Jaws City Events are encountered when heading to a Jaws of the Lion scenario.

Personal Quests
Jaws scenarios generally don't count for PQs to allow characters to complete the JotL campaign without retiring. Specifically:
Vengeance - does not count JotL scenarios
Elemental Samples - does not count JotL scenarios
Eternal Wanderer - does not count JotL scenarios
Goliath Toppler - does not count JotL scenarios
The Thin Places - does not count any JotL scenarios if they qualify as side scenarios
Fearless Stand - does not count new JotL elites
Pounds of Flesh - does not count new JotL Vermling
Trophy Hunt - does not include new JotL monster types

Some Demolitionist cards have been changed so as not to require destruction tokens, and to make the class more viable in base Gloomhaven.
Some perks changed. The rework keeps the same number of perks, but gives the Red Guard "Ignore Item Effects" and the Voidwarden and Demolitionist "Ignore Scenario Effects".

-----------------

Specific queries:
Digital uses Gloomhaven advantage. When a draw is ambiguous, you choose the first drawn. In JotL you'd get to choose for yourself.

The Invisibility cloak works as it should in the board game. You'll have to say what you think is different. In general, where essentially the same item exists in both JotL and Gloomhaven the Gloomhaven version is used.

JotL doesn't have summons, only spawns. A you say, you can't block spawning. However, in Gloomhaven and Digital, enemies summon other monsters. Summoning can be blocked.

For coding purposes the Ward is a summon, rather than an obstacle.

[MrPyro]

Originally posted by zafire063:

In digital, using advantage, it always seems to prioritize the debuff/element +0/+1/+2 over the x2/blessing card. This is extremely frustrating, but I can't find easy information on this. Is there any way to fix this? This is the case even if the enemy I'm hitting is immune to said status effect. I don't recall it being this way in the base game.

When an advantaged draw gives a choice between x2 and an element/debuff card, the result is officially ambiguous*, and Digital uses the original Gloomhaven rule that if ambiguous, the first card drawn is used. JOTL cardboard edition changes this rule to allow player choice if ambiguous (which is a better rule), but this is not implemented in Digital.

* see https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1897763/official-faq-game-no-rules-questions-please and search for Advantage: there's a big section on how it works in base Gloomhaven

Originally posted by zafire063:

**Different shop items. Invisibility robe let me do a lot of things I couldn't do in the board game.

Yeah, they just have the Gloomhaven shop I think, rather than the JOTL shop which was slightly different.

Originally posted by zafire063:

***You can do things like surround a boss or obstacle that summons enemies (Red Guards class quest for example) to prevent spawns from happening. I feel like I read for JOTL if there are no available hex's then just spawn the enemy at the closest available hex. It's game-changing if you can legitimately prevent spawns by blocking hex's. Not sure if it's digital-specific, or if that's a Gloomhaven-only strategy.

This is the big difference between Summon and Spawn. JOTL does not have monsters that summon IIRC, so the only rules are for spawning. For spawning, you are correct that if the spawn hex is blocked, the spawn will happen in the nearest available hex instead. For summoning, however, there must be a clear hex for the summon to take place in, or the summon fails.

[zafire063]

Originally posted by Slow Dog:

Here's the list:
Digital uses Gloomhaven advantage. When a draw is ambiguous, you choose the first drawn. In JotL you'd get to choose for yourself.

It's not ambiguous at all though most of the time though. :(

I did a Double Throw/Power Pitch/Favorite/Power Potion/Advantage combo with Hatchet and draw a +1 immobilize (which the boss was immune to) and a x2. The x2 would have instantly killed the boss and won the scenario, but instead it chose the +1 doing only 21 damage and the boss was immune to immobilize anyway. I'm playing with Frosthaven rules, I don't think switching over would change how it works in that regard. incredibly frustrating.

[zafire063]

Originally posted by MrPyro:

* see https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1897763/official-faq-game-no-rules-questions-please and search for Advantage: there's a big section on how it works in base Gloomhaven

This is the big difference between Summon and Spawn. JOTL does not have monsters that summon IIRC, so the only rules are for spawning. For spawning, you are correct that if the spawn hex is blocked, the spawn will happen in the nearest available hex instead. For summoning, however, there must be a clear hex for the summon to take place in, or the summon fails.

That clears up a lot. Thank you for the link as well, good info!