A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 2 August 2007
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=59950
*quote* If I were running in a race with you and agreed to give you 3 dollars "after the next race is run," would I give you the money after the current race ended, or the next one? You're already resolving Saya's action, so likewise I'd be inclined to wait for the next action as it says, "after the next time," rather than "the next time after." */quote*
The more appropriate analogy, I think, would be agreeing to give out 3 dollars after the next time you finish a race. If I tell you this during a race, the next time you finish one will be that very race.
Or am I misunderstand the timing of when an action "resolves?"
Thanks!
Martin Lund (rules official), 2 August 2007
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=59950
*quote* If I were running in a race with you and agreed to give you 3 dollars "after the next race is run," would I give you the money after the current race ended, or the next one? You're already resolving Saya's action, so likewise I'd be inclined to wait for the next action as it says, "after the next time," rather than "the next time after." */quote*
The more appropriate analogy, I think, would be agreeing to give out 3 dollars after the next time you finish a race. If I tell you this during a race, the next time you finish one will be that very race.
Or am I misunderstand the timing of when an action "resolves?"
Thanks!
You are misunderstanding the timing of when an action "resolves."
"Resolving" an action is an on-going process. It is not an instantaneous trigger.
"Before" an action resolves, and "after," an action resolves are instantaneous triggers.
You have to React, "before an action resolves," prior to any of the action's effects happening, and you have to React "after an action resolves," after all the action's immediate effects take place. The time in-between, when the effects are resolving, is "resolving an action."
Hence "resolve an action," is a process like "run a race," not a instant trigger like "finish a race."