Question about "The Road out of Town"

[StayPuft]

I had a question about the Road out of Town board piece and Jake Cartwright the Drifter. Jake's hero card states that he begins in the Road out of Town. If If I remember correctly (it isn't in front of me right now), the rulebook refers to the beginning section for each player as being the "Starting building," or something to that effect, implying that they start in a building if it is on the board, and can therefore choose to search while inside the building.

However, technically the road is NOT a building. So, does that mean you cannot search when you are on the road? In other words, even if his starting location is on the board, Jake cannot search without first rolling to make his way into a building, correct? Or, since it is his starting location, is it considered a building and players can search if they wind up here?

Also, if it is NOT a building, and you cannot search, does that mean Jake should start the game with a hero card? If your building is not on the board, you start in the center of town and get one free hero card, since it is thought that it will take you time to get to a building so you can search for stuff. However, in Jake's case, he wouldn't be in a building either way. So, does he start with a hero card?

[scarydk]

The Drifter starts on The Road out of Town because he lives on the road. His special ability makes him quite powerful and even though his starting location is an outdoor space that doesn't allow for any search he has easy access to any ressource.

A wise zombie never underestimates Jake just because he hasn't got a starting hand

As with any other Hero. If Jake doesn't have his starting location on the board he'll start in the Town Center where he can use his ability when drawing his starting card.

[j0hnnn]

Just adding...

to receive extra cards for starting in the center of the board you must start in the center of the board...

Not starting on a building doesn't necessarily gives you extra cards...

[mqstout]

I'd never thought about that before, but, no, he doesn't start with the cards. He's just a short move from a building anyway to start digging deep into the pile.

[StayPuft]

Thanks for the help, everybody. That is kind of what I figured, so that is what I've always done so far when the situation came up. Besides, the Road out of Town isn't very far from a few buildings that are practically right next to it, so it isn't like it would take him too long to get to a building, and his extra ability kinda makes up for it anyway.

[LFuzer]

Well, that's well observed StayPuft... during my first playthrough (DZD scenario) I choose the Drifter as a character and I felt that his "spawn" was a disavantage and rushed to the nearest building. Then, I started discarding cards like a maniac in the search of a good card and in the long run I realized I totaly ruined the Heroes team... I usually don't recommend him as a character to new players!

[StayPuft]

(06-13-2012 04:15 PM)LFuzer Wrote:  Well, that's well observed StayPuft... during my first playthrough (DZD scenario) I choose the Drifter as a character and I felt that his "spawn" was a disavantage and rushed to the nearest building. Then, I started discarding cards like a maniac in the search of a good card and in the long run I realized I totaly ruined the Heroes team... I usually don't recommend him as a character to new players!

Yeah, even though his ability is very helpful, you definitely don't want to over-use it. I mean, in the first place, you can't get most cards back out of the discard pile. And the ones you can will usually require you to go to a specific building, or get a specific card. So, it isn't the easiest thing to do.

Not only that, but if the zombies are ever able to cause the last hero card to be discarded, they win. So, you definitely do not want to overdo it with the Drifter's ability.