In Way out West the Sheriff and Deputy can (via an ability) arrest other characters. There are various ways in which someone can escape arrest, one of which is that the restrained player gets outside help.
We’ve recently been asked if the player providing the outside help needs an ability to cut the ropes/unlock the door and help the restrained character to escape.
If we’re presented with this situation during a game, we ask how the helping player plans to release the arrested character. If they have an item which will obviously help, that’s great: but if they have a good enough imagination, then they don’t need to have a specific item. After all, Way out West is set in the Wild West town of Cactus Gulch and there are lots of other things lying around which aren’t represented on the item cards.
So if they need something particular for their imaginative plan, and it’s reasonable that they might find it in Cactus Gulch, we let them succeed.
Basically our guideline is: if it feels ‘fair’ that they should succeed, because they’ve put in some effort to find items or to invent a good plan, then they should succeed.
When it does succeed and they escape, it says the Sheriff can rearrest them without using another of his three arrests. How do you prevent an endless loop of Arrest > Escape > Immediate Re-Arrest > Immediate Re-Escape…? Essentially keeping the arrested character in jail for the whole game.
Hi Lee,
Characters should aim to not be arrested early in the game, which means trying to commit any new crimes where there are no witnesses. Otherwise, yes, they will probably get rearrested if they escape.
Later in the game, though, the sheriff/deputy will most likely be too busy to be re-arresting people who escape.