The Question of the Month "ACTION FIZZLES"

the1andonlime wrote:

Thread resurrection!

Following on to your above clarifications, I have a follow-up question:
This suggests that an action can fizzle before it reaches resolution

The (ready-minion-requiring) action continually checks the acting minion's
readiness. If that check ever fails, the action fizzles.

In this case, does the action still count as successful?

There are three scenarios to consider (we'll consider that the acting minion is a Nosferatu in all of them):

1/ the acting Nosferatu performs a successful political action, Yawp Court is used before the referendum is called (YC cardtext) and the acting Nosferatu is sent to torpor during combat, then moved to the ready region after combat with the Warsaw Station.

2/ the acting Nosferatu is blocked, sent to torpor during combat, then moved to the ready region after combat with the Warsaw Station.

3/ the acting Nosferatu is in torpor and performs a Rapid Healing action. A minion attempts to block, and the Warsaw Station is used before the block attempt succeeds to move the Nosferatu to the ready region.

(there's also a variant 2'/ the acting Nosferatu has 1 blood and is blocked, plays sup. Form of Mist in combat, opponent plays sup. Catatonic Fear, the Nosferatu burns 1 blood to continue the action, then takes 1 damage from the Catatonic Fear that sends them to torpor before coming back to the ready region with the Warsaw Station).

In scenario 1, making a trip through the torpor region forbids the acting Nosferatu from conducting the referendum or continuing the action, rather than making the action fizzle or end. The reason is that the action has already resolved (it was successful) and it cannot resolve successfully AND unsuccessfully (because it either fails or ends) at the same time.

In scenario 2, making a trip through the torpor region forbids the acting Nosferatu from continuing the action, rather than making the action fizzle or end. Same reason as above (the action was blocked, it cannot fizzle because it cannot be unsuccessful and successful).

In scenario 3, the action has not reached resolution yet when the Warsaw Station is used. Moving from the torpor region to the ready region breaks the unreadyness requirement of the action, and we consider that the action fizzles immediately: it is successful (it was not blocked) but its effects cannot be applied because "2. things happened during the course of the action that prevent the action from happening*" (see the definition of "fizzle" I provided earlier )
In that scenario, the block attempt does not resolve, and the acting Nosferatu can play Freak Drive inferior.

About LSJ's answers: This is how LSJ's statement about the action "fizzling" or "ending" must be understood, I suspect an inaccurate choice of words since he uses both and they don't have the same meaning rule-wise. Furthermore, he indicates that Freak Drive could be played , which is not consistent with the definition of "ending an action" (it would rather be "failing").

To summarize: if the action has already resolved, it keeps its resolution status (successful or not) and cannot be continued.
If the action has not resolved yet and the readyness requirement of the action is no longer met at some point, the action fizzles immediately (and cannot be continued; see the definition of fizzle => it is successful, Freak Drive can be played at inferior).