Coming from Call of Cthulhu LCG I'm used to a very interrupt-driven environment; events, actions, etc get played constantly after each and every action by the players. I want to confirm my understanding of A Game of Thrones in this respect:

- Players can play Event cards from their hands during the Challenge phase only, when it is the Action sequence before, between and after the Attacker / Defender / Resolve portion of the phase. The Active player goes first then around the table until all have passed.

- Card abilities are only played when you are the Active player as defined on the card. You can't just start triggering abilities during other people's turns during any phase. I think there are some Forced keywords that will trigger in response to the Active player's action but that's about it.

Do I have this right? The event card and card ability play is much more constrained then in Call of Cthulhu.

Also, I read in the rules about flow charts and timing charts available on the web site: I haven't spotted any of these here, can someone point them out to me as these may answer all my questions.

BrooklynMike said:

In the Challenge phase, there is an opportunity for players to take actions as you say; before the challenge begins, after attackers are declared but before stealth is assigned/defenders are declares, and after defenders are declared but before the challenge resolves. The FIRST PLAYER always gets the first opportunity to take an action in each of the windows (regardless of who is the active player). So you've got the basic sequence right. What you don't have right is what constitutes "taking an action," as is evidenced in the answer to the next question.

BrooklynMike said:

This is incorrect. Card abilites (i.e., the things written on characters, locations, attachments, etc. that are in play ) are player actions, just as card effects (like events) are player actions. So above, when we said that the First Player gets the first opportunity to take an action, then clockwise around the table, an action is any triggered effect on card that player controls that can legally be used in that phase (e.g., no "Challenges:" effect in the middle of the Marshaling phase). You can indeed start triggering abilities during someone else's turn (which, in this game, simply means that someone else is the Active Player because everyone goes through all the phases in a round together; your challenge phase is the same as mine even though we "take turns" being the Active Player within that phase).

Keep in mind that "Response" effects are not actions in their own right. They take part of the window in which some other action is triggered. With the exception of Responses that use the words "save" or "cancel," Responses are not interrupts, either. The original effect, as well as any Responses triggered earlier, resolve completely before the next can be initiated.

BrooklynMike said:

I would argue this point. The timing is different and there are no "stacks" that end up being resolved in some sort of FILO order, but I can't say I have ever heard anyone say they felt constrained by when they could play something.

BrooklynMike said:

You want the FAQ that is in the Support section of the game's mini-site. It's not on the message boards. Look here .

Thanks for the patient reply, and I am reading through the FAQ, especially the part about abilities etc. I'll see if I can pose more focused questions next time, should they arise.