By the way, this is a fantastic game, I'm glad to have discovered it. I did have some questions, particularly about timing, which may be different from MtG, if anyone here has played that.

1) The rules state that cards and effects cannot be used during the story resolution phase until all 3 stories have been resolved. How does a card like Payback work, then? I'm guessing that Disrupt type cards are an exception to the rule, thus allowing Payback to work in the middle of a story. Is that correct? Are Disrupt effects the only types playable in the middle of stories?

2) As a followup from question 1, a card like Sheer Force of Will would have to be played BEFORE a card makes my characters go insane. For example, if my opponent played an Event action that made my characters go insane, it would be too late to play Sheer Force of Will?

3) If I am correct in my understanding of timing then, in Magic the Gathering CCG terms:

Action=Sorcery
Disrupt=Instant or Interrupt
Response and Forced Response=Instant or Interrupt

Hi, first of all wellcome to the game. To your questions:

1. Yes you can play payback after a character of yours has been wounded through a combat struggle...thus playing it in the middle of a story resolution. Disrupts ca be played that way...when the situation is met.

2. Yes Sheer force of will will be played before something happens...it is conceived in that way.

And dont try to compare Magic with CoC...sometimes you will be right with the comparition you made...and sometimes not.

lordofmasks

Hey, I know it might be weird for me to offer input here, having not played the game yet (I'm sitting here twitching waiting for the gorram LCG core to come out), but, well, here we go.

I have played M:tG before, though I got out of it due to the cost (hence why LCG interests me), but my notion here, and in a lot of games really, is that there's an intuitive idea of "the stack." M:tG made this explicit in the rules, but there's this idea that the declaration of intent and the actual resolution of the action are two different things. As I recall, a lot of this is intuitive in more casual games, and is implicit on the card or what-have-you, or the thing says something about playing it before something happens or to "prevent" (or a synonym, or "reduce" or similar) something.

Of course, sometimes one needs to be told that this is *not* the case. As an example, in Arkham Horror, sometimes people want to sacrifice Duke (sacrifice to restore Sanity to full) after an encounter goes south (read: drives them insane) but before they actually snap, but that's apparantly a no-no. Of course, one cannot very well expect to have one's cake and eat it too when Yog-Sothothery is involved.

I thought I would Speak up on this. Marius Gave me a different ruling when I asked this on the old Forums.

No Actions or Responses may be played during the story phase unless it is a forced response.

This is because a Forced Response is a "MUST PLAY WHEN" card.

While all other Responses are "MAY PLAY WHEN" Meaning you may play the card if legaly able and the opportunity presents itself. The story phase specifically prohibits actions of anykind being played until the entire story phase is done. This is also brought up in FAQ 2.0 if I'm not mistaken.

"Must" means you have to while "May" mean you have to have permission to.

I don't quite understand the context in which I'm quoted here, but...

Yes, Payback works, since it's a disrupt. Disrupts can be played at any point and they change the outcome of certain situations by modifying them ahead of time. Basically, Payback is played before all stories resolve, to modify the outcome.

No, there is no such thing as "the stack" in CoC. It's more like a First In First Out system, but with several layers of speed, and certain windows to play things.

Hurdoc said:

If you are inquiring the speed/timing you are correct except for response. Response, from my understanding, is triggered and still counts as an action. Response just indicated that a special condition is needed to be able to trigger it.

Just understand that Sorcery speed for Action does not mean you cannot play it on your turn.

Comparing to MTG is fun at times. It is how I taught a few new players to CoC. However doing that made them think in MTG terms and they of course there was a stack and so on and so forth. Of course, playing a plethora of other ccgs has taught me a lot of patience when teaching a new card game.

Hurdoc said:

No. Forced Responses must be triggered during the story resolution as well, if they apply.

Hurdoc said:

I always ignored the Sorcery type when making comparisons, mostly because actions can always be taken during your opponent's turn (unless they specifically say otherwise). I tended to relate pretty much all actions as instants.

Just remember, there is no stack. Each action must resolve fully before the next can take place, and the only exception is Disrupts.