Can you play Way of the Crab during the action window of the Dynasty phase? I'd seen this answered before with a yes and a rules reference, but now someone claiming to be a play-tester on the L5R LCG Facebook page is telling everyone that you CANNOT play Way of the Crab during the Dynasty phase (1.4).

So.... which is it?

There's no reason you can't. Way of the Crab doesn't say it can't be played in the Dynasty Phase.

Yes you can. Way of the Crab is an event card, and has an action ability. The rules reference states during the special action window of the dynasty phase, players are allowed to play actions. The only explicit restrictions during this phase is that players cannot play characters or attachments from their hand.

Again, it is a small minority of players saying you can't play it during the Dynasty phase... it is just the fact that one of them claims to be a play-tester with his name in the rule book that has me even questioning this here.

5 minutes ago, Andrew.Taon said:

Again, it is a small minority of players saying you can't play it during the Dynasty phase... it is just the fact that one of them claims to be a play-tester with his name in the rule book that has me even questioning this here.

It wouldn't matter if he were a designer. There's zero basis for his claim. Has he said why he thinks you can't play it?

Yeah, I read the original thread on Facebook. I'm surprised the mods didn't lock it, that got pretty ugly. And to answer the above question, no... he kinda just said that's how it was and look in the back of the learn to play book for his name.

The problem of course is rules can change from playtesting to release, so while he may be a playtester, it doesn't mean he's the end all be all of what the rules are. (I'd almost take them less seriously, honestly)

I've seen references to someone in that thread being a playtester, but I haven't seen anyone claiming to be one. Who was that?

11 minutes ago, mplain said:

I've seen references to someone in that thread being a playtester, but I haven't seen anyone claiming to be one. Who was that?

Technically a couple did, Monjoni Osso was the one referenced, the other was Sparks correcting Monjoni (and being Sparks).

During the dynasty phase you cannot play character or attachment cards from your hand. There is no restriction on playing actions.

You can see this clearly in the RR page 20 section Play Cards from Provinces. There is a bolded section NOTE: You cannot play characters or attachment cards from your hand. There is no such restriction for events. In the list of things you can do it includes playing events.

It seems concerning someone that would flaunt their status like that, especially if it's at events.

I'm pretty sure I remember in one of the early spoiler videos one of the designers described the dynasty action window as being "an opportunity to play characters or take actions on cards in play".......but that is not what the rules ended up saying.

Maybe it was that way at some point? Maybe FFG intended it to be that way but it went to printing incorrect? Maybe I'm misremembering? At the end of the day the rules as printed allow players to take any action other than play a character or attachment from their hand. That guy trying to throw his weight around because he was a playtester needs a wedgie.

The NDA for being a playtester prohibits making official rulings based on being a playtester.

Unless officially stated otherwise, RAW or your TO takes precedence.

Before this gets too out of hand, I would just like to add that the person in question has followed up with a separate post to the Facebook group apologizing and acknowledging his error. We all (most of us, the humans among us anyways) make mistakes from time to time, and sometimes we look very foolish when we do. He's admitted as much and I think we can leave it at that, as a community surely we have the capacity to forgive and let go for something that, in the grand scheme of things, is pretty minor and I'm sure an honest mistake.

29 minutes ago, Toxium said:

The NDA for being a playtester prohibits making official rulings based on being a playtester.

Unless officially stated otherwise, RAW or your TO takes precedence.

What is RAW? TO? Also OP (original poster?)

1 minute ago, LuceLineGames said:

What is RAW? TO? Also OP (original poster?)

RAW = Rules As Written. TO = Tournament Organizer (to my knowledge). And yes, OP = Original Posted (unless referring to something in the game that is Over Powered).

31 minutes ago, Zesu Shadaban said:

I think we can leave it at that, as a community surely we have the capacity to forgive...

That depends. What clan is he?

2 hours ago, RandomJC said:

The problem of course is rules can change from playtesting to release, so while he may be a playtester, it doesn't mean he's the end all be all of what the rules are. (I'd almost take them less seriously, honestly)

Having done plenty of playtesting... yes. Being a playtester doesn't mean you know the rules. Sadly, neither does being a dev.

6 hours ago, InquisitorM said:

Having done plenty of playtesting... yes. Being a playtester doesn't mean you know the rules. Sadly, neither does being a dev.

TRUTH!

Yes, you can play conflict cards from your hand if they are action cards (but not attachments or characters) - Rules Reference Page 20 outlines what can be done in the Dynasty Phase (Step 1.4):

This is a special action window in which the opportunity to act alternates back and forth between the players, in player order.

With his or her opportunity to act, a player may do one of the following:

◊ Play one character from his or her provinces.

◊ Trigger an eligible action ability.

◊ Discard a duplicate of a character from his or her hand or from one of his or her provinces to place 1 fate on a copy of that character under his or her control.

◊ Pass.

NOTE: During this window, a player is not permitted to play character or attachment cards from his or her hand.

Yup, you can play it in the Dynasty phase. You can play it in all the action windows including the one in the Fate phase so beware enemies of the Crab.

21 minutes ago, phillos said:

Yup, you can play it in the Dynasty phase. You can play it in all the action windows including the one in the Fate phase so beware enemies of the Crab.

Yep - playing in the fate phase can be super savage.

That playtester was wrong. You can play it during the dynasty phase.