Certain rules are not stated in the rulebook clearly enough, so I thought they deserve some extra attention.
The Golden Rule
Card effects are always restricted by the game rules, unless expicitly stated otherwise.
For example, Mark of Pestilence says: "Boot all other unbooted dudes", but it only affects dudes in the shootout.
Shootouts
If at any point before the 'taking casualties' step one posse becomes empty, the shootout immediately ends. No further traits or abilities can be triggered, and neither player has to take casualties. This usually happens due to Shootout or Resolution abilities that discard/ace dudes or send them home.
If a posse becomes empty during the 'taking casualties' step or later, the shootout doesn't end immediately, and both players take casualties as normal. The remaining player can choose which of his dudes stay and which flee home. This applies even if a posse becomes empty due to effects generated by traits or abilities, not casualties. (Relevant: Diable en Boite, Dr. Brian Foxworth)
There's only one 'taking casualties' step. If a card effect instructs a player to take casualties, it does not force them to do so immediately, it just adds up to the total number of casualties they'll have to take during their 'taking casualties' step.
If an effect prevents dudes from being discarded or aced as casualties, you must still covers as many casualties as you can by discarding Sidekicks and sending Harrowed dudes home. (Relevant: Shield of Faith, Sheriff Dave Montreal)
"Casualties for losing a round" means any casualties you incur after losing the round, regardless of whether they originate directly from the hand rank comparison, or from a Resolution, a React, or any other card effect. (Relevant: An Accidental Reunion, Righteous Fury)
Abilities
Abilities are card text that start with a boldface phase and cost, followed by a colon (e.g. "Shootout, Boot:").
Each ability can only be used once per turn, unless it is a Repeat ability.
When an ability on a goods or a spell card is used, the dude this card is attached to is considered to be using this ability.
(Relevant: Doyle's Hoyle + Asyncoil Gun)
Abilities are used in the following order: Declare -- Pay costs -- Resolve effect
A Slight Modification is played after an ability is declared but before any costs are paid. The ability is still considered to have been used/played (Relevant: Headline actions, Flint's Amusements).
Requirements
The first sentence after the colon is a requirement that defines whether an ability can be used. If you cannot resolve the first sentence, then you cannot use the ability.
Sometimes the first sentence can be modified by one of the following sentences, if a certain condition is met. This must be taken into account when determining if an ability can be used. (Relevant: Coachwhip! + Quaterman, Samantha "Sammy" Cooke)
Conditional effects (start with "if") resolve even if the condition is not fulfilled. (Revelant: Quickdraw Handgun, Circle M Ranch)
Blanket effects (use "all" or "each") resolve even if they cannot actually affect any card. (Relevant: Quaterman + Mark of Pestilence / Nightmare at Noon)
Costs
Costs of abilities can be written in several formats:
Players cannot use React abilities to prevent or cancel the payment of any cost.
Some cards provide ghost rock that can be used to "pay for abilities" (James Ghetty, Lillian Morgan, Recursive Motion Machine, Lula's Exploit, Old Marge's Manor). This can only be used to pay for primary costs, not for any costs that are part of the effect.
Choose / Affect
Choosing and Affecting are different things.
If another player's effect instructs you to choose a card, you may choose a card that 'cannot be chosen' by other players. That card is still considered to be affected by another player's card effect, not you. (Relevant: Tyxarglenak + Point Blank, Jael's Guile + Yagn's Mechanical Skeleton)
If a card cannot be affected by some effect, this doesn't mean it cannot be chosen. It will fail to affect the target, but it might have some additional effects. (Relevant: Unprepared + Telepathy Helmet, Phantom Fingers + Bio-Charged Neutralizer)
Affecting means having a *direct* effect on a card (boot/discard/ace it, modify its bullets/influence/value, place/remove bounty or permanent markers). Does not include an indirect effect such as attaching a card or discarding an attached card. (Relevant: Ebenezer Springfield)
Lingering effects
Some abilities create lingering effects that trigger when a certain event occurs. Lingering effects trigger at the same timing window as traits (i.e. before Reacts), but are still considered to be part of the ability that created them, with all restrictions this entails (e.g. Shootout abilities can only affect dudes in a posse, cannot affect Shelby Hunt). (Relevant: A Fight They'll Never Forget, Corporeal Twist, An Accidental Reunion)
Stud / Draw ongoing effects
Any effect that turns a dude into a stud or a draw is an ongoing effect that applies continuously until it expires or no longer applies. Effects generated by abilities expire at a certain point in time (end of shootout, end of turn). Effects generated by traits expire when that trait stops applying, whether because a certain condition is no longer fulfilled, or the card with that trait leaves play (or becomes unattached, or loses its text). These effects apply in timestamp order, with the most recent one having effect. There's no difference between effects worded as "This dude is a stud" and "This dude becomes a stud".
Control points
Each card provides a number of control points equal to its base CP rating plus the number of CP markers it has.
An effect that says a card is worth X control points sets its base CP rating is set to X.
An effect that says a card is worth +Y control points modifies its base CP rating by +Y.
'Having' and being 'worth' control points are essentially the same thing. (Relevant: Too Much Attention, Hunter Protections)
If a card loses all control points, remove any CP markers from it, and its base CP rating is hard-set to 0, ignoring any modifiers. (Relevant: Nicodemus Whateley, Doris Powell, Desolation Row).
Join
When a dude joins a posse, they move to the location of the shootout, not the location of whatever card makes them join. This also applies to swapping. (Relevant: Buffalo Rifle, Angélica Espinoza)
If an effect says "a dude enters play and joins your posse", it is consideres to be one effect, so if something prevents that dude from joining your posse, it will also prevent them from entering play. The same effect might be worded as "play into your posse". (Relevant: Scoop Hound + Raising Hell)
Move
If an effect says "move", a dude must actually change location. (Relevant: Kevin Wainwright, Recursive Motion Machine)
If an effect says "move into a posse", this means "a dude joins a posse, moving if necessary". This doesn't require a dude to actually change location (if at the same location, or at an adjacent location and equipped with Buffalo Rifle)
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