Can events such as Bwap Advisors and 3PL be played at any time?

[pvanniervp]

Hello,

The rules state that events are always played as reactions, unless otherwise specified.

In the case of 3¨PL and Bwap Advisors, for instance, no other timing is specified on the card, so what would these cards be reacting to? Or can these two cards actually be played at any time in any of the phases?

3PL:

Remove from play target

Bwap Advisors:

Add any one Basic Capability token to your Resource Pool.

Thanks for your help.

[Cpt Ric]

I've always played it that way, as in, Yes they can be played at any time.

As to what they are "reacting" to, that would be you need the desired effect of the card at that moment. 3PL - a based has appeared and you want get rid of it. Bwap Advisors - you need a basic capacity that you don't have.

If the requirement was that an event card is only played because of another players action, than they would be useless in solo play so I'm pretty sure that is not the requirement.

[pvanniervp]

Okay, thank you for confirming!

[Horizon Jeff]

timing doesn't limit the card to being played in response to anything, but rather it gives the card the additional ability to be played in response.

Generally in Traveller, any ability can be used at any time, unless subject to other limitations like Phase Restrictions or timing (such as ). Once an effect has been generated, no other effect can be generated until the first has been fully resolved. Unless the second effect has .

[pvanniervp]

Thank you for taking the time to expound on this, Jeff, all is much clearer now!

[abouffard]

Are these reaction capable events played from your hand and paid for at the time they are played or must they be Procured and then played from your tableau of paid for face up cards?

If they are meant to be surprises to your opponent then I assume the former is the intention.

[Horizon Jeff]

Are these reaction capable events played from your hand and paid for at the time they are played or must they be Procured and then played from your tableau of paid for face up cards?

If they are meant to be surprises to your opponent then I assume the former is the intention.

Only permanent cards are technically procured. can be played at any time from your hand. are played from your hand during the Action Phase when a performs them.

[abouffard]

Wow Jeff, thanks for the reply!

We had no idea and were Procuring and attaching them to for all the world to see. In fact in our last game my wife crushed the rest of us by Procuring, attaching, and then repeatedly using several because none of us knew they weren’t supposed to work that way. That they were one-offs.

I’d suggest that unless I missed the distinction made in the rules between cards that are Procurable and persistent in front of you and those that are not, that that clarification/distinction should be added to the FAQ or any future edition of the rules. After reading and subsequently re-reading the rules a few times it still wasn’t obvious enough that some cards are playable from your hand and some are persistents and played in front of you.

[abouffard]

Sorry, I just found the Glossary entries for Permanent and Transient. Hadn't noticed them before when reading the rules, probably because I assumed the Glossary was just a summary of terms and their definitions that were explained in the actual body of the rules, as opposed to being the sole location for important card distinction explanations.

[Traveller-Jake]

That are normally one-use cards is present in all the card anatomy rules. See especially pg. 33 of the rulebook.

No are used in the examples of play given in the rulebook. Perhaps that would have made their use more clear?

Some can be attached to , or like Bodyguarding, Dance Among the Heavens, Hobble, Police Raid, Polymath, etc.