Interrupt

The verb interrupt is present in the FAQ in a discussion of maneuvers like Wait and Concentrate
==text==
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-3.html#SS3.4.1.4
*3.4.1.4 What are the game impacts of rolling for spells at the end of the turn you finish concentrating? Why was it changed?
The rule refers to the active part of your turn. If you cast a one-second spell, you take a Concentrate maneuver and immediately roll the dice. Only those who are waiting – and persistent, ambient effects – can interrupt. Specifically, you do not wait until others have acted before you roll.
For a spell that takes more than one turn of concentration to cast, anyone can interrupt the spell normally at any time before the last second of concentration. Once the last second is reached, the rules in the preceding paragraph applies.
As for why we changed it, we feel that if you can't interrupt an Attack or Ready without a Wait, you shouldn't be able to interrupt a Concentrate. Concentrate is to mental actions what Ready is to physical ones – nothing more. We want Attack, Concentrate, and Ready to be equals: you Attack to use Innate Attack, Concentrate to use Mind Control, or Ready to turn on Invisibility, but each is one maneuver, its results happening the turn you choose it.
*3.4.1.5 If a character has an ability taking more than one second to activate, can he be interrupted?
If someone has a screwed-up ability like that, yeah – you can interrupt them normally.
==analysis==
This may be referencing (uppercase) Attack/Concentrate/Ready as MANEUVER containing components like the actual (lowercase) attack/concentrate/ready components, as well as other things like a Step, a Facing Change, using Warp as a free action, dropping things as a free action, not to mention any "extra concentrate" (no extra step) given by Comparmentalized Mind to all maneuvers or "extra attack" (no extra step) given by Extra Attack to "attack maneuvers".
In this case it may be referring to a Wait being triggered by a specific component of a maneuver, and the maneuver the Wait transitions into being completely (partial isn't a canon option yet) resolved prior to the next component of the interrupted maneuver.
For example, someone who take a Ready maneuver can "step then ready" or "ready then step" in whatever order they please. A wait triggered by a step would resolve before the ready happens, while a wait triggered by a ready would resolve before the step happens.
Concentrate appears to be a unique situation though because it isn't just intervening between the maneuver's components ("step and concentrate" or "concentrate and step") but instead seems to possibly interrupt the concentrate COMPONENT itself.
MA108 refers to an event that triggers a wait. Although it's a "particular event" it can be "as general or as specific as you wish", so the only question is really what is or is not an event. The examples given are stepping or "says a word", so in terms of responding to attacks, there is not yet a clear example as to whether the choice to attack (prior to rolling) is the latest "event", or if you could also specify the attack's target.
The attack's INTENDED target is declared before rolling, but the attack's ACTUAL target is another matter, because that can be affected by the actual roll, such as:
#a miss meaning an intended target is not hit
#a dodge meaning an intended target is not hit
#Striking Into a Close Combat resulting in hitting an unintended foe on a miss
#B414's Scatter rules on missed AE attacks hitting unintended targets
#Overpenetration resulting in a foe behind the primary foe getting hit
#a Sacrificial Dodge resulting in a substituted target.
MA108's Stop Hit is described as "attack an opponent as he attacks or prepares to attack" and is given this contrast:
:"instead of attacking first which allows him to parry and continue with his attack"
In this situation the attacker interrupted by a Wait has not rolled yet. Stop Hits are implied to happen later than a Wait normally would trigger ("during not before") so if even the "late Wait" so to speak happens prior to an attack roll, this sort of implies either that you can't have Waits trigger in response to attack rolls' outcomes, or if you can, that the resulting interruption is not actually able to retroactively modify the roll.
Category:Concepts