Question about optional actions available to all players

Other Games SotM Game Engine
1

Apologies if this has been answered before or is well known,

When a card allows all players to optionally do something to achieve some effect (e.g: Pervasive Red Dust : if all players discard one card...), can each player decide individually its course of action? That is, in this case, could the Tachyon player decide to discard one card, while the Haka player choses not to do so (i.e: failing to activate the effect of discarding "Pervasive Red Dust", but managing to drop another burst in the graveyard)? Or can all players actually discard a card, in this example, only if all players agree to do so?

Intuitively, we always assumed the latter interpretation, but began wondering if the former option wasn't actually posible since nothing actually seems to require that all players agree on the course of action ...

Thanks in advance

tibor

2

 If all players don't discard, then you didnt resolve the condition.    It's all-or-nothing.

3

 

Sure, but that's not exactly what I was asking… I was asking if a player might chose to discard while the other choses not to do so…

4

That's not the question he is asking.  What he's asking, if something allows all players to discard a card, can, say, two of them discard a card (because, say, one of their cards in hand would be better in the trash), while the other two choose not to discard, resulting in the effect not occuring because not all players discarded a card. He's not trying to resolve the condition in this case; rather, he's trying to take advantage of the fact that one player would like to discard a card, whether or not it results in the resolution of the condition.

I would figure it would depend on how the card is worded.  If it says something like "Each player may discard 1 card.  If all players discarded a card, then X," then yes, you could discard a card whether or not everyone else did.  Of course, if not everyone discards a card, then X doesn't occur.  On the other hand, if it's stated like "All players must discard 1 card in order to X," then I'd say you'd only be allowed to discard a card if all players also will discard a card.

5

 

Exact wording is "At the start of the environment turn, if each player discards 1 card, …".

I'm leaning towards this implying not all players need to discard, but any one may chose to do so… But i guess it could be interpreted otherwise.

 

6

Given that it doesn't seperately state that each player may discard 1 card, and that it only states so during the conditional, I'd say that the only choices are that everyone discards a card, or nobody discards a card.  The key to what would allow a player to independantly discard a card is having a separate sentence that says "Each player may discard a card," which, by itself, is independent of any other conditionals.