Passing in 4 player games

[uthoroc]

There's a question on the German WotR board at the Spieleteufel, and I'm a bit unsure about the answer. It's about who goes next in a 4-player game when one player of a side passes.

The relevant section in the rules seems a bit unclear to me:

If a player decides to pass an action, he is still entitled to his next action after the opposing team has taken their actions.

Does that mean that once the other side has acted, it is again the passing players turn? Then why does it say "actions" in the plural? They would have only one before he got to go again.

Or does it mean he is allowed to go again, after ALL other players have had a turn? But why even mention that? Passing in WotR never meant that the player can't go again.

The sentence in the German rules is even more confusing, that's why the question popped up in the first place. I only played a 4-player game once, that's why I'm unsure about the resolution.

Personally I'd favor the first solution, since otherwise passing could possibly cost the player an action (his partner goes two times in a row).

[genghissean]

If a player decides to pass an action, he is still entitled to his next action after the opposing team has taken their actions. Which means a player decide the "Team" has passed, and then it is still his turn to use a dice. Thus, the 1st one is correct.
Hab viel spass! ;D

[Krieghund]

It sounds to me like what it's saying is that if Free Peoples player 1 passes, both Shadow players take their turns, then it's Free Peoples players 1's turn again. In effect, if one player on a side passes, he/she passes for both players.

On one hand, this sounds odd, as it gives one team three actions in a row. However, on the other hand it preserves the turn order (FP1, SP1, FP2, SP2), which would be disrupted if Free Peoples player 1 took his/her turn after Shadow player 1 instead of after Shadow player 2.

That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if the intent were that Free Peoples player 1 should go after Shadow player 1 after passing. Veldrin?


P.S. - Uthoroc, can you give us the English translation of the sentence in the German rules?

[uthoroc]

The German sentence is:

Sollte ein Spieler passen, kann er später, wenn er wieder an der Reihe ist, dennoch eine Aktion ausführen.

My translation would be:

If a player passes, he can still execute an action when it is his turn again.

Obviously! But when IS is his turn again?

EDIT: Thinking about it, the sensible rule seems to be that indeed all other players get a turn, then the passing player gets his next action.

Otherwise his side could get into the situation where he can't do anything sensible, but his partner also doesn't get to go until the passing player does something.

I.e. my second interpretation above would be the valid one.

[Krieghund]

OK, I have a designer clarification.

Let's say the turn order is FP1, S1, FP2, S2. FP1 decides to pass. The next turn goes to S1, and then it's FP1's turn again, resulting in a new turn order of FP1, S2, FP2, S1 from then on until the end of the round or someone else passes.

[uthoroc]

Okay, thanks.