Hamstrung + Ring of the Void (L5R rules board)

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, 30 July 2009

Thanks again for taking the time to help us out!

Hamstrung's most recent printing reads allows it to react to any action, which is different than its SE printing.

My question is, if I use Hamstrung's reaction before the resolution of a non-relevant action (for example, Impromptu Duel), was Hamstrung "Successful" for purposes of Ring of the Void? The "change in game state = successful" concept seems to lead me to believe that this is unsuccessful, as the Reaction accomplished nothing. However, the recent ruling on Shameful Injury (viewtopic.php?f=59&t=77340) makes me think that since Hamstrung sets up an effect of "that action's effects will not move that personality into an attacking army", then it is successful once it sets that effect up, not seeing whether the original action actually was affected by that reaction.

This 2nd question applies only if the answer to the first question is "no, that is not a successful action": If my opponent is attacking with 2 provinces, 1 with Personality A, and 1 with Personality B. He plays Unpredictable Strategy targeting his 2 personalities. Can I play 2 copies of Hamstrung and have them both be successfully resolved? I know that one copy of Hamstrung is sufficient to stop the entire act of "switching" from happening, but since there are two personalities involved, and each are moving, so one Hamstrung could "successfully" stop Personality A, and the other could "successfully" stop Personality B, maybe?

Thank you again for your help and attention. Your assistance is invaluable!

Zen Faulkes (rules official), 30 July 2009

(I)f I use Hamstrung's reaction before the resolution of a non-relevant action (for example, Impromptu Duel), was Hamstrung "Successful" for purposes of Ring of the Void?

No.

http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_S#Successful: "Effects that... had nothing to affect are not actual changes in the game state."

On: Ring of the Void, Impromptu Duel

If my opponent is attacking with 2 provinces, 1 with Personality A, and 1 with Personality B. He plays Unpredictable Strategy targeting his 2 personalities. Can I play 2 copies of Hamstrung and have them both be successfully resolved?

You can play both, but only the first is successful. After the first Reaction resolves (and they always resolve one at a time), the second has nothing to affect, as above.

On: Ring of the Void, Unpredictable Strategy, Hamstrung