Is Lady-in-Waiting a Lady, for the purpose of A Noble Cause or Lady Sansa's Rose?

Alex

" Lady " is a specific reference to the traits present on the card, which are also in bolded italics. Lady-in-Waiting is a Companion, but not a Lady . As such, she is not reduced by A Noble Cause or sufficient for the conditional 3 power gain of Lady Sansa's Rose.

From a flavor point of view, this makes sense, too. Ladies in waiting were not necessarily nobility.

Not necessarily, but mostly. For example (according to Wikipedia ), of Queen Elizabeth II's nine current ladies-in-waiting, all but two are nobles or daughters of nobles.

Getting back to the original question (since the rules only care about what is printed and what isn't): Is there any text in the rulebook that supports Istaril's assertion that bolded italic text refers to cards by keyword, rather than by title? A similar question applies for cards that appear to refer to cards by title, such as Bastard Daughter.

Alex

Well, bolded italic text refers to traits , not keywords. The rule entry for traits reads:

"Traits

Most cards have one or more traits listed at the top of the text box and printed in bold italics.

> Traits have no inherent effect on the game. Instead, some card abilities reference cards that possess specific traits."

So, from that, we know that card abilities may possess specific references to traits, which are printed in bold italics.

It's also worth considering the following entry:

"Self-Referential Text

When a card’s ability text refers to its own title, it is referring to itself only, and not to other copies (by title) of the card."

So, if "Lady" in the the ability of "Lady in Waiting" referred to cards by title , which she herself has, the ability could only work on herself - meaning that the card could only dupe itself.

Also, if the "Lady" trait (i.e., bold italics") can refer to cards that contain the word "Lady" in the title, rather than in their trait line, consider that in the source material, there is a dire wolf named Lady. Granted, the only representation of Lady the dire wolf in the game right now is as an attachment, but other dire wolves have character cards. Would it make sense that Lady-in-Waiting could be used to duplicate Lady the dire wolf?

The definition of trait is "listed at the top of the text box and printed in bold italics ." However, I can't find any text that says that other usage of bold italics refers only to keywords.

Potatoes are vegetables, but not all vegetables are potatoes.

Alex

The definition of trait is "listed at the top of the text box and printed in bold italics ." However, I can't find any text that says that other usage of bold italics refers only to keywords.

Potatoes are vegetables, but not all vegetables are potatoes.

Alex

From istaril's post: "' Lady' is a specific reference to the traits present on the card, which are also in bolded italics."

From ktom's post: "Well, bolded italic text refers to traits , not keywords."

I'm not sure where your comment about keywords came from. Maybe it's being confused with another game term? It happens all the time in this game!

Yes, traits, not keywords. Sorry!

Alex

However, I can't find any text that says that other usage of bold italics refers only to keywords.

You're coming at that from the wrong direction. It's not a matter of, "The text doesn't say bold italics are only traits, so there must be other, hidden uses." It's a matter of "The text defines only one use for bold italics, so that's the only one the rules allow."

OK, so you're saying that the rules should explicitly state that referencing a trait would also be in bold and italicized text in the printed text box?

Traits

Most cards have one or more traits listed at the top of the text box and printed in bold italics .

Traits will be printed in bold italics in a cards text box.

- Traits have no inherent effect on the game. Instead, some card abilities reference cards that possess specific traits.

I understand you're concern, but I also think it's implicit enough to identify a trait by being bold and italicized in all contexts. It can be deduced by just by going through all the cards and seeing the contexts in which bold and italicized text is used in card effects.

I'm not sure where your comment about keywords came from. Maybe it's being confused with another game term? It happens all the time in this game!

Given the name and avatar, L5R is an easy guess. In AEG's terminology, traits are like FFG's constant abilities, while keywords can be either like FFG's keywords (if they have associated rules) or FFG's traits (if they don't); visually, AEG's keywords are like FFG's traits.

I'm not sure where your comment about keywords came from. Maybe it's being confused with another game term? It happens all the time in this game!

Given the name and avatar, L5R is an easy guess. In AEG's terminology, traits are like FFG's constant abilities, while keywords can be either like FFG's keywords (if they have associated rules) or FFG's traits (if they don't); visually, AEG's keywords are like FFG's traits.

Ah that makes sense. Thanks!