On 2008/08/08 2:33 PM -0400, Andy Looney gave their opinion about the
topic of Re: [Fluxx] Hand Limits Optional...
James Hazelton wrote:
I still maintain that you cannot observe the hand limit on your turn.
The simple and unavoidable truth is that Andy had never even
considered observing the Hand Limit on your turn until a fan pointed it
out on this list. This was after 3.1 came out.
This is true. And that's not how I ever play it, nor how I ever
intended it to work.
How this whole thing started is that I was sloppy with my language
long ago and we've kept using the standard established text ever
since. It's all to do with the word "may". When I wrote the phrase,
"During your turn, you may ignore the hand limit," I was thinking of
it only as "this is something you get to do, isn't that great?" not
something some players would find to be an attractive option.
But then I started getting questions like this from Bryan Stout:
I can only conclude that the "may ignore ... as long as"
wording on the card allows the current player to apply the Hand Limit at
any point in their turn they want. It would take the stricter (and
shorter) wording I mentioned last time to unambiguously enforce the
stricter interpretation. In all honesty I cannot say that those who
interpret the rule to allow earlier Limits in one's turn are wrong,
because of the way it is phrased -- even if Andy didn't realize the
implications of the phrasing at first.
... and I had to agree that, since I'd used that pesky word 'may',
I'd created something that had to be optional if someone wanted to
interpret it that way. I also concluded that it didn't even bother
me, since it really isn't a very useful trick very often, and
decided to allow it.
But that's all in the past, what about the future?
We're about to go to press with Monty Python Fluxx, plus we're about
to reprint Zombie Fluxx as version 1.1 (with a few little tweaks)
and later there's Martian Fluxx and someday Fluxx 4.0 and who knows
what else. All of them will have Hand Limits. So what should I do
for these and all future versions of Fluxx?
1) Keep using the traditional text because it's established
2) Re-write the text so that James et al will agree with the
optional interpretation
3) Eliminate the option by re-writing the second paragraph as "This
rules does not apply to you during your turn. When your turn ends,
discard down to x."
We've been using option 1 for a long time, but I'm suddenly finding
option 3 very attractive. Thoughts?
I vote for option 3.
It's how we've always played it when we play with friends, and whilst
it introduces different strategies by allowing people to observe the
hand-limit during their turn, I always thought it went against the
spirit of the card.
Andy, keep things with the spirit of how you meant it to be originally. :-)
-- Andy
Anestis.
--
Scissorsmith - "At the fork in the road, take the rocky path. it
will lead you to the dragon's lair",
Samurai Jack - "Where does the other path go?"
ScissorSmith - "Space Ace".
-- Samurai Jack, Episode XXI