Gloom FAQ

No. Only the events which specifically state that they can be played as a reaction - Second Chance and Smoke & Mirrors - can be played out of turn. Body Thief and To Be or Not To Be are great cards for a sudden end of the game, as they can be played as the second card of the turn (potentially allowing two characters to be killed in a single turn), but like other events they can only be played on your turn.

Q. "Marooned on the Moors" states that an untimely death may be played as a "Free Play". Does that override the steps rules, so that you can play the card and then an Untimely Death?.

This does override the steps rule, allowing you to play the modifier as your first or second play and then immediately follow it with a death. What is not clearly stated is that you may only take a free play on your turn. Other players can kill that character on the moors as a free play too - but only on their turns.

Q. There's a distinct chance that I and a competitor could finish with equal points in dead characters. Who wins in this case?

It would be a tie, because you don't HAVE to kill your last character -- you could wait and try to find some way to get more points or bring one of theirs back. And there's nothing in the rules indicating that one player should win over the other in this case. A tie is a tie, and if you end the game when you're not going win, that's your decision ... if you don't want a tie, don't end the game! 

Q. Does the future effect of a modifier take place if it's removed from the card in the same turn it's played. What about if it's removed in the same round by another player before its effect can take place?

Most of the instant effects say "When this modifier is played." Thus, once the modifier has been played, the effect occurs and cannot be altered by events that occur later in the round. Likewise, if the modifier is swapped, it is not triggered, because it was not played, it was moved. And just to beat a dead horse, if it is revealed because the card on top of it is remove, it's not triggered, because it hasn't been played, it's been revealed.

Ongoing effects do not occur until the appropriate triggering event. The main ongoing effects are the modifiers that change draw limit and the "discard every time you play a modifier" cards. If these are covered over before they take effect, the effect does not occur. If they are swapped, the new owner inherits the effect. If it's revealed again, it activates again.

Q: The game ends the instant a player's family is all killed. Unhappy Holmes (from Unwelcome Guests) follows Untimely Deaths immediately and becomes a part of that family. So, which comes first? Does the game end before Holmes moves or does the game end when he leaves to go to another family? 

The answer is that Unhappy Holmes DOES move before the game ends. So yes, if Unhappy Holmes is around and someone kills his last character, he can end up with Holmes as his only character -- with other people trying to bring one of the dead back to life before killing another character and having Holmes move again! Meanwhile, the player with Holmes will want to kill him OR someone else's character, forcing Holmes to move.

Q: Let say you have Whiskers (from Unwelcome Guests), who is worth +5 in category base. If the cat gets killed and is flipped over are those points then gone? So its modifiers would be the only thing that count?

The base points DO count. Technically, it would have made the most sense to have the guests printed with scores on both sides to address this, but the clear plastic makes this impossible. As it is, simply don't flip guests if their scores are showing.