Hello there folks,

i m a new player in this great lcg and i dont understand some things about what a non active player can and cannot do.

In the rules it sais that only the active player can play characters and support cards during the operations phase.This means that in the OTHER phases (except operations phase)the non active player CAN play characters and support cards?And how?Only as a response to the active player s action?Or the non active player can play a card (character,support or event) first if he wishes to?

Secondly, the ''only the active player can play characters and support cards during the operations phase'' rule,means that the non active player can defend hiself only with an event card?

So...generally i want to know this:What actions,(and when) can the non active player do to defend hiself?

Characters and Support cards can (normally) only be played during the operations phase. Only the active player can do this on their turn. The non-active player has to wait until they become the active player to bring characters and supports cards into play.

Note there are some specific characters and support cards that can be played as Actions which means they can be played during Action windows.

I'm not sure what you mean by defend... In general, you bring out characters and support cards during operations, and then you go to stories during the Story phase. The non-active player can commit his/her characters to stories that you've committed characters to.

During the opportunity to play actions (see page 13 of the rule book for a diagram of the timing), the active player may play an Action, then the non-active player may play an Action, and this alternates back and forth until nobody has any Actions they want to take.

By Actions I mean cards that have the keyword "Action" written on them.

Cards labeled Response and Forced Response can also be played when their response would indicate. Cards labelled Disrupt can actually interfere with the resolution of an Action.

I'm not sure if I'm answering your question clearly, so please follow up if I've confused you rather than clarified anything.

Thank you very much for your help!

So...the non active player can only play event cards or to trigger effects from his cards already in play(as long as he can pay the cost)...am i right?And he must wait for his turn to play characters and support cards,right?

The meaning of ''defending'',was that if you are a non active player and the active player commits to a story (or stories),the only thing you have to do,is to count his icons from his cards,compare it with yours and choose if it is for your advantage to commit or not to this story (or stories).This is very predictable,isn't it?

It's predictable, unless the active player chooses to play cards (typically events) after the defending player has committed characters. Often, characters and support cards already in play also have abilities that could be triggered after all characters are committed.
Note, that even if all of the active player's domains are drained, there are still some cards that can be played for free.

I remember first learning to play this game (some years ago) and thinking that the story resolution was quite predictable. But as I played more I learned that although sometimes it is predictable, it is still engaging. And sometimes it is not predictable.

One of the important aspects of this game is that characters are exhausted after committing to stories. So deciding whether to defend or not is a crucial aspect of the game and is determined by what you (the defender) are intending to do on your next turn. This turns into decisions for the attacker - how should characters be deployed and where.

The nuances of the game really takes some experience of playing to fully grasp. At some point you will have a revelation that it is more complicated than it seems!

I appreciate your help guys...!I think that i get it now...the event cards can give you some great opportunities of bluffing (or not) when commiting characters,wait for your opponent to make his move,and then strike!This gives a whole new meaning to the ''before'' and ''after'' of the story phase...and indeed can be very challenging!

I have another question about the inactive player and actions:

First the active player can take actions, then the inactive player. What happens, when the active takes his action, the inactive player doesn't (he wants to wait), then the active player takes a second action. Is the inactive player in this example allowed to take an action after the active player has taken his second action even if the inactive player has forfeit his first action?

Interestingly it seems this isn't explicitly covered in the rules or FAQ for Actions (though it is for Responses), but yes, the action window to play Actions remains open until both players have consecutively passed.

The inactive player in your example has the opportunity to take an action after passing once. Passing doesn't take you out of the window of opportunity. The inactive player could let the active player take 3, 4, whatever actions and then jump in and take an action after that.

The window only closes when both players pass one after the other.

Thanks!