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Thief VS Level 9 player - help solve this dilemma!
Hey guys and gals,
I've got a recent scenario while playing Marvel Munchkins, and unfortunately in this scenario our 3 hour long game was completely ruined and even though a winner was declared, it was tainted due to the intense argument that preceded.
I think this scenario applies to any Munchkins game that employs a thief or similar ability.
Scenario:
Level 9 player proceeds to begin his turn. As he is about to flip over the door card, the player next to him says aloud:
"hold on, before you do that I'm gonna do this first..."
The player then starts looking through his cards. He is trying to decide which card to discard in order to try to steal an item from the level 9 player.
Level 9 Player interjects: "you can't interrupt me while I'm kicking down the door, unless you play a card"
At this point, all 4 or 5 of the other players interject and argue that the Level 9 player must wait for the Thief player to make his move (remember it is officially the Level 9 players turn and if he enters combat the thief's powers are useless).
Of course it is impossible to argue against the whole table, so the level 9 player takes his hand off of the almost flipped door card.
The Thief takes another moment to find a card, he then discards it and successfully rolls, stealing an item. At this point the Level 9 player leans in to kick open the door, but a few other player interject again and declare the Thief might not be finished. The level 9 players argues: "but he hasn't done anything, and its within my right to kick open the door" The table argues: "you cannot interrupt the thief's turn"
The Level 9 player, although frustrated, allows the Thief to look through his cards, make a discard, roll the die, another successful steal.
Once the card is stolen, the Level 9 player immediately kicks open the door without hesitation. This is where **** really hit the fan. The entire table jumps up in protest over the Level 9 players move. They argue that he cannot interrupt the thief's turn (the thief had not discarded a third card at this point nor had he even selected one to discard, even if it was his intention). The door card was not a monster, so no combat. The table settles down a bit, and they all tell the thief to keep going. The Thief discards a card, rolls the die, loses. He is suppose to go down a level, but that is initially ignored, the tables is egging him on to just keep discarding cards and trying to steal. As the thief is casually looking for another card to discard, the Level 9 player quickly throws down a monster card and goes looking for trouble. Someone at the table even yells "hurry up before he plays a monster."
At this point the entire table turns on the Level 9 player, they argue that you cannot interrupt the thief, and that the knocking on the door was an illegal move, and that looking for trouble was also illegal. It is a very loud and heated argument. Level 9 player argues, why can a thief interrupt a players turn before he discards a card, but that player cannot play a card to interrupt the thief?
Even though the table disagrees with the moves they don't reverse the Level 9 players card moves, but the game owner interjects and tells the thief to continue stealing items, despite the monster in play and resulting combat. So the level 9 player is in combat, but the game owner is telling the Thief to keep stealing items, and this is actually allowed to happen. He continues to steal multiply items and also lose multiple levels. As this occurs, huge arguments break out over the moves mades. The argument is so intense every player in the game almost simultaneously throws down their cards and calls it quits on the game. They all tell the level 9 player, he is the winner, but he rejects the win. The game is scrapped, even though two other players were at level 9. No winners, just losers.
Im sorry for such a long write-up. I felt the whole story was necessary to put in perspective the scenario.
Ultimately I want to know the official Rule or stance on what happened, who performed illegal moves, if any...
I think it comes down to this:
can a Thief interrupt a players turn with a verbal command, or does he not have to physically discard a card in order to put the players turn on pause? Can he even put a players turn on pause at all? Is it only paused between the time of the discard and the die roll?
If a Thief can interrupt a players turn, should it not require a discard to happen, rather then a verbal intention? Can the Other player (assuming its his legal turn) not interrupt the Thief, if that thief has not discarded a card and is simply looking through his hand for a possible discard?
Wierd scenario, personally I think the group was trying to take advantage of the Level 9 player in order to stop him from winning. They argued that he cannot interrupt a thief, once the thief has expressed any interest in stealing. That seems odd. I thought the rule was, play a card if you want interrupt a players turn. I can understand in a combat scenario, there is a grace period for players to try and stop a combat win. But a grace period for thief's, in order to decide what they want to steal, what card to discard, etc... I don't think the thief is entitled to that sort of grace period. either play the card first or you miss your opportunity.
An official clarification would be amazing!!!
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