A: No, using any special powers or abilities listed on Keepers or Creepers does not use up one of your plays for your turn.
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Q: If I choose to Get on With It or Swap Plays for Draws, and I end up getting Creepers when I draw, can I still use Free Actions or Keeper powers to get rid of them?
A: Well you can… just not until your next turn.
When a player chooses to take either of these Free Actions, the effect is simultaneous with their turn ending immediately. Most notably, this means that if you draw any Creepers with your draws from Swap Plays or Get On With It, you’re stuck with them until your next turn, even if there are conditions which allow you to trash or give them away on your turn. Your turn ended immediately with the draw, so that window is over.
For more info on when you can do what during a Fluxx turn, see the link at the bottom of the right sidebar: Order of Events in a Fluxx Turn
Q: Are Keeper/Creeper powers that say “On your turn…” only able to be used once when you first put the Keeper in play, or on every turn?
A: “On your turn” means every time your turn comes around (assuming favorable conditions apply).
Q: Must you complete an Action before using an optional Free Action allowed by a Rule? What about Keeper powers?
A: Yes, you must complete your compound Action (Draw Two and Use ‘Em, Draw 3 Play 2 of Them, Fizzbin, or Team Up) before you opt to take any optional Free Actions allowed by the Rules.
And, just to preemptively respond about Keeper powers as well, Andy rules that those should also be held until after any compound Action is resolved.
Example: If you could win with the current Goal if you had a Crew Member you don’t have, and you Draw 2 and Use ‘Em, receiving the Captain and some new Goal, you can play the Keeper The Captain (who’s special power lets you steal a Crew Member), but you can’t use his power before you complete the compound Action by playing the second card: the new Goal that you can’t win with. Them’s the breaks sometimes.
Q: When I use a free power on a Keeper (or Creeper), is the Keeper destroyed?
A: Keeper powers do not usually destroy or take the Keeper out of play to use them – unless they specifically say they do.
A couple say you’ll have to pick the Keeper up and put it back in your hand when you use its power, and one or two say to insert the Keeper into the middle of the draw pile. Only a couple will cause destruction of the Keeper being used. In any case those requirements will all be specified on the Keeper in question.
Q: If my opponent has a Keeper in play which says “On your turn you may…” can I use that power on my turn, since it doesn’t specify who “you” are?
A: No. In order to use the powers of a Keeper or Creeper in play, it must be in your possession. “You/your” in this case refers to the owner of the card only.
Q: Does the Holographic Projector make it as though I own other people’s Keepers, and can use their powers, or just for meeting the Goal?
A: The Holographic Projection / Hologram card clearly says you can WIN with Keepers owned by other players. This means it’s power works with respect to the win conditions only. There’s nothing there about it being able to mimic the special powers of those other Keepers. I can’t use a hologram of your Doctor to cure my crewperson of Brain Parasites.
Q: How should one handle duplicate Keepers with powers, if, for example, we want to play with a double-sized deck?
…for example, if we wanted to mix two Batman Fluxx decks and there are two BatComputers in play… or even just putting in multiples of a promo card, like the Ugly Sweater. And how should duplicate New Rules be handled?
A: Well it might seem like a basic question but I don’t think we’ve ever really answered it before. The truth is, we prefer each Fluxx as a standalone experience and don’t really encourage combining decks. We certainly don’t recommend combining multiple copies of the same deck. In almost all cases, each card in a Fluxx deck is unique.
Mixing two Batman decks together creates numerous illogical situations. Sure, there’s the question you’ve asked directly, about two BatComputers, but there will also be two Batmans, two Bruce Waynes, etc. Given that you have to discard Bruce if Batman shows up, then it would seem impossible to have two Batmans in play at once as well. And so on. The deck becomes too big to shuffle as well. We just can’t see a good reason to combine two of the same deck — if you want to play with a big crowd, you’re better off splitting into two smaller groups each playing their own game with their own deck.
That said: Nothing is forbidden. Fluxx is a very accommodating system. There’s no rule against having two copies of the same Keeper, unless you add one as a house rule. The Batman/Bruce Wayne restriction is one example of such a rule. So, unless there’s a New Rule or other fine print requiring some action, redundant Keepers can happily co-exist. As for ability stacking, again, barring a New (or Meta) Rule that provides restrictions, each redundant Keeper would have its full ability.
See also When combining decks, how should I treat redundant New Rules?
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Q: What counts as a “special power” that might be impaired by an attaching Creeper?
any of these?
Card text (paragraphs)
Card title or name
Card Type (special symbols)
Doom/anti-doom hourglasses
A: The special powers referred to on Creepers that can be canceled out are found in the paragraphs describing any special actions or abilities related to having a given Keeper in play. There’s nothing special about a card being a Keeper, or about the name (there are no “names” of cards that give you any abilities are there?) Doom/anti-doom counters are also a separate concept, unaffected by Creepers: Doom is a quality, not an ability.
Q: If you play a Keeper/Item that lets you take another Keeper/Item, can you immediately use that power to take the target card?
For example, in Star Fluxx, can you get the Captain and immediately use him to take the Scientist. Can you then immediately use the Scientist’s special power to steal, say, the Energy Crystals?
In Firefly Fluxx, can you use Zoe to take Wash, then Wash to steal Serenity, then Serenity to get Stolen Goods?
In the Back to the Future Card Game, can you play the Dust Jacket, and immediately use it to steal the Almanac?
A: Yes, you can chain Keeper/Item stealing-powers like this. It is a thing that can happen. While some feel this is overpowered, we don’t feel that it breaks the game, though. Not all of the cards are always out at the same time, and, of course, sometimes you might get screwed over mid-chain by the Surprise It’s A Trap (in Star Fluxx), or You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (in Firefly Fluxx). In the Back to the Future Card Game, of course, there’s only one Item that lets you steal another in this way.
Q: Does the Surprise card It’s A Trap! prevent special Keeper powers or Rules that might allow someone to take your Keeper?
It doesn’t show a specific type of card that it counteracts, but the wording is “Cancel any single game action in which another player is stealing a Keeper you have on the table, and instead you steal one of their Keepers.”
A: In fact, special Keeper powers that let someone take one of your Keepers is exactly the kind of situation that It’s A Trap was designed to counter. The wording is deliberately not specific to a type of card so that It’s A Trap can prevent ANY situation in which some other player may be trying to take your Keeper, whether that originates from an Action card or not.
I have often deliberately put out tempting crew members when I had It’s A Trap hiding in my hand, in the hopes that the person with The Captain would try to steal them, and I’d get to Trap their Captain instead. Or put out the Energy Crystals to try to trap the Scientist, for example.
Also keep in mind that most things which you can use It’s A Trap! to counter also can trigger You Can’t Take This Guy From Me (in Firefly Fluxx).