I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but it's not in the FAQ and the search function in this forum is absolutely terrible. If there are no cards making it either summer or winter, then is the state of the game neither season (possibly autumn ;p)?

I would imagine that's the case but season aren't even mention in the rules. Would it be so difficult to put all the keywords and special rules in the online errata and advanced rules, so we can get it in one place?

I'm enjoying the game, but I'm not enjoying the endless mire of searches to find answers to questions that should included in the rules.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

docdoom77 said:

Yes, if there isn't a card making a season, there is no season. Considering that all the cards that interact with seasons say "if it is Summer" or "if it is Winter," it doesn't really matter what you call it when there is no effect making it Summer or Winter because all the cards care about is that it either IS or IS NOT Summer or Winter.

docdoom77 said:

Actually, yes - if you are using the seasons as an example of something that should be in the rules. What "keywords" and "special rules" are you not finding?

There are no special rules for seasons. Everything about seasons is entirely card driven. You do what it says on the cards. If you have the cards, you have the rules. Effectively, a rules sheet for seasons would say "if a card says it's summer, it's summer; but it only matters that it is summer if there is another card effect that says to do something when it is summer." Not really worth it, you know?

The only keywords or special rules that are not entirely card driven that do not show up in the Core Set rule book are the Shadows mechanic and the two keywords "Joust" and "Melee." The Shadows rules are available online. And while FFG has been slow getting something for Joust and Melee online, they have put a rules insert in the packs that have the lion's share of the cards that have the keywords. If you have a card with the keyword, chances are, it came in a box with the explanation of those keywords.

Everything else (City plots, River plots, characters that become agendas, seasons, Limited Responses, etc.) are card driven. Either they are traits that don't mean anything unless a card effect specifically refers to the trait, or the instructions for what to do is entirely spelled out on the card. If you have the cards, you have all the information you need to know to use them.

It just seems to me that if there is a recurring term on cards (like season, epic phase, etc) that those things should be in the rules for clarification. It is confusing for new players that these things are not there. There are cards that say: "if it is winter," or "during the epic phase." If I encounter those cards before I encounter the cards that create the epic phase or set the season it can cause confusion. I don't see that it would be that difficult to add a small section to the FAQ/Errata covering these things.

Not a big deal, but it can turn off new players. I think a sticky FAQ in this forum for things that haven't been added to the official document would serve.

Just my 2 coppers. And like I said I enjoy the game. I think the flow chart is one of the best things I've seen for clarifying timing. I'm not all negatives. ;p

Look at it this way: until a card tells you it is winter, it is not; until a card creates an epic phase, there isn't one. I understand being curious about what cards can create these effects, but I agree with Ktom: there is no need to say anything about it in the rules or FAQ, because everything is written on the cards. Though a diagram showing that epic phases don't have action windows before, between or after the challenges contained in them, but have those contained in challenges.

Note that all cards (there are 9) that mention an epic phase without creating one come from a single chapter pack, called Epic Battles, which also contains most of the cards that create epic phases (7 out of 10). The situation for seasons is more confusing, because many more later cards refer to seasons and the cards about seasons are scattered across many chapters and expansion boxes.

Could you give some examples of cards which create seasons? I have only Core set and PoTS expansion for now and I've seen none of them. And I have looked trought some chapters on cardgamedb and still couldnt find any season-creating card.

You'll find them in A Song of Summer (Black Raven), Winds of Winter (White Raven), Lords of Winter (Crown of Winter), Kings of the Storm (Crown of Azor Ahai), Queen of Dragons (Crown of Meereen) and Trial by Combat (Cotter Pyke).

Basically, the ravens trump the others, but they discard all other Raven attachments (which they are themselves) in play when they come in and are immune to non-Raven cards. All those cards have additional effects, but those effects are not linked with the Season (only with the specific card).