So does anyone have a suggestion for a short, not necessarily technical, description of what Ways, Enchantress and Reckless actually do - so that Harbor Village and Moat work as intended? (Of course without mentioning Harbor Village or Moat.)
Playing a card consists of following a set of instructions. Usually there is only one possible set of instructions, but sometimes there is more than one, in which case the player can choose which to follow.
The problem is that saying that all those things are the card's instructions means that Ways/Ench/Highw/Reckless will work on a card to which Ways/Ench/Highw has already been applied.
But my description
doesn't say that they are the card's instructions. It says that playing a card consists of following a set of instructions,
one of the possible sets being the card's instructions. scolapasta has correctly understood the distinction between "the card's instructions" and "the instructions followed when playing a card", whereas you persist in treating the two concepts as being identical.
There is one further word that needs adding to my description to eliminate a potential misunderstanding. The first paragraph should read "Playing a card consists of following a set of instructions. Usually there is only one possible set of instructions, but sometimes there is more than one, in which case the player can choose which
one to follow."
My model for attempting to understand what's happening needs expanding to cover Highwayman.
The first option needs to be changed to "One option is the instructions written on the card. This option is not available if (a) the card is a Treasure and one is subject to a Highwayman attack or (b) the card has the Reckless trait or (c) one is subject to an Enchantress attack."
Then a fifth option needs to be added; "A fifth option is a null set of instructions. This is only available if one is subject to a Highwayman attack."
(Reckless does not substitute the instructions like the others, it horns in after you have followed them once and makes you do it an extra time.)
It seems to me that "Follow the instructions of played Reckless cards twice" can be considered as having the effect of creating a set of instructions that consists of the instructions on the card followed by the instructions on the card. My only concern about considering it that way is whether it produces the correct result in terms of the rulings (in other words I'm trying to come up with an answer to your question of what does Reckless actually do, though see below). If I've correctly understood the interaction of Ways and Reckless (the instructions on the Way only get followed once?), then it does at least get that right, but I'm unclear on what's supposed to happen with its interaction with Enchantress.
To answer your question "So does anyone have a suggestion for a short, not necessarily technical, description of what Ways, Enchantress and Reckless actually do?" literally I would have constructed my description something like:
A Way adds its instructions to the sets of instructions that can be chosen from when playing an Action card.
Enchantress adds "+1 card +1 action" to the sets of instructions that can be chosen from when playing an Action card and removes the card's instructions from the sets.
Reckless adds the card's instructions followed by the card's instructions to the sets of instructions that can be chosen from when playing an Action card and removes the card's instructions from the sets.
But although that's how I'd like to mentally picture it working
if it gives the right rulings, it struck me as being less intelligible than the way I chose to describe my mental model.