Thanks CKorfmann for sharing your interpretation.
I think that the second player on the tile is protected by default.
I think it's just a direct consequence of what's in the official rules: "The Dragon will not visit a
tile that has the fairy".
I find it inconsistent to say that a fairy will give bonus points to only one follower but will protect all followers on a tile. The fact is that I don't see anywhere in the official rules where it seems to justify such an argument:
For example you say that
the player who placed the fairy gets the bonus points for completing the feature the fairy is on. [...] I would think that the same is true for the 1 point bonus on the beginning of your turn.
I re-read the rules and it says that "If a player starts his turn with a follower on the
tile where the fairy is, he scores 1 point immediately", it doesn't say "a follower on the same tile and city/cloyster/road where the fairy is"... same for the 3 bonus point, it says "the player whose follower stands on the
tile with the fairy scores 3 points for standing there".
I find my interpretation to be more consistent with the rules, which seem to indicate that dragon protection and bonus points are both linked to the
tile where the fairy is.
Indeed, the fairy MUST be connected to a follower because somebody has to get the bonus points. You seem to be objecting to the second player being protected, but your solution doesn't change the mechanics of the game, so I don't see what the problem is.
Scott, your assumption that "somebody" has to get the bonus points doesn't necessarly translate into "one unique player gets the bonus points"... In fact the official rules may lead to the opposite, as shown above. Carcassonne has many cases where players share points during the game (same number of knights on a city, etc...), I don't see why bonus points could not be shared... The official rules won't say that the bonus points can be shared, obviously they didn't think about the possibility, but it doesn't say either that a fairy benefits to one and only one follower/player! However it does clearly says to me that the benefits and dragon protection are per tile... That's my reading of the rules anyway...
My solution doesn't change the mechanics of the game, which is why it makes sense, but your solution on the other end gives an interpretation that seems to go against the rules, and therefore changes the mechanics of the game (different point system), and that's what the problem is.
Actually one clear indication of the confusion that your interpretation generates is when I read that "it is recommended to remove the fairy from the board when the city/road/cloyster it is on has been scored, to
prevent any confusion", whereas the official rules clearly state that the fairy must stay where it is, for very good reasons indeed: because other followers on its tile benefit from it!
Just trying to be precise here. I love this game and wish it to be as correct as possible, so players don't have to argue about the rules before starting a game (which seems to always happens with those extensions involved!).
