-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MORNINGTON NOMIC Proposals for Voting on in Year Two, Week Eight -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 402 - Bulk Buying [Other, Multiple] [Enactment, Action: Bulkheading] Action: Bulkheading Cost: 4 red Duration: 20 minutes Type: Neutral A Player may Bulkhead a Station by playing the Action "[Bulkheading ]" when adjacent to it. The effect of Bulkheading is that the Station is Blocked and remains Blocked until the Bulkhead is removed. This may be achieved by playing a Removing Bulkhead Action, or by spotting a Fire at the Bulkheaded Station. [Enactment, Action: Removing Bulkhead] Action: Removing Bulkhead Cost: 4 black Duration: 10 minutes Type: Neutral A Player may remove the Bulkhead at a Bulkheaded Station by playing the Action "[Removing Bulkhead at ]". This Action may be performed during a Piece Move such that a Player may effectively move through a Bulkhead. [End of Bulk Buying] { Comment: We only really have one kind of Block, and that's fairly short lived. This is just another kind. Other ways to remove a Bulkhead might include Detonating the Suspect Package next door, but I'll leave that to future amenders. I was also toying with knocking some LV off someone who was moving through a Bulkheaded station, but figured that was unnecessarily vindictive (not to mention difficult to write!). } -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 403 - Croupe de Grace [Other, Multiple] { Comment: the fundamental goal here is to replace Septimus Divergence with something similar, but more in keeping with the way the game has developed. } [Enactment, Action: Croupe] Action: Croupe Cost: 8 - Zone Blues per Round Duration: 20 minutes Type: Neutral Players may place a particular Zone in Croupe for a certain number of rounds by playing the Action "[Croupe for Rounds]" where is a London Underground Zone, and is the number of rounds for which Croupe is to be applied to that Zone. The Crouping Player gains a Possession of a "Zone Croupe Scoop" and is termed the Croupier for that Zone. The Croupier for a Zone is permitted to take the House Cut of a single Token of the Croupier's choice from each Player whose Piece is in that Zone at the beginning of the Croupier's Turn. A Player may only be Croupier for a single Zone at any given time, and each Zone may only have a single Croupier at any given time. A Croupier must surrender the Croupe Scoop at the end of the last round for which e is Croupier. { Comment: The costing is intended to make it very expensive to Croupe on inner Zones, since they would be by far the most lucrative. I did wonder about a chunkier sliding scale a la Zone Passes, but that could be added later if these costings seem too prohibitive. On the Croupe Scoop, this is intended to be one of the devices used by casino croupiers to gather up chips and cards. However, there are two different devices that I've seen used (one like an oversized palette knife, the other reminiscent of a Dutch hoe), and I can't remember the name of either of them! } [Enactment, Action: Decroupe] Action: Decroupe Cost: none Duration: none Type: Post-Move A Croupier must play the Action [Decroupe ] at the end of the last round for which e is Croupier for the given Zone in order to surrender the Croupe Scoop. { Comment: Strictly this is unnecessary, but it allows for a nice bit of bracketing of the Croupe state in a similar way to the Power Restored Action. } [Repeal: Diverging Opinions] Repeal Rule 1.7.5 (Septimus Divergence). [Amendment: Collateral Damage] Amend Rule 1.7.15 to remove reference to Septimus Divergence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 404 - Time Out [Other, Multiple] { Comment: A simple goal - make the conditions under which each game is played more variable. } [Amendment: Time Flies Like An Arrow] Amend Rule 1.1.2 (A New Game) to replace the following text in the list of initial Game conditions - " * Game Time is Monday 0600." with the text - " * Game Time is randomly selected by the Speaker." [Amendment: Fruit Flies Like A Banana] Amend Rule 1.13.1 (The Richard Whiteley Experience) such that the first sentence of the second paragraph reads as: "When a new Game commences (i.e. when the first Player to move in a new game takes eir Turn) Game Time is set to a time randomly selected by the Speaker." { Comment: ... the point being that we've had no weekend play at all. To date, the longest game we've played got as far as Thursday lunchtime. } -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 405 - Stratford (CN) Still Isn't a Terminus... [Amendment] Replace the last sentence of Rule 1.4.11 with: "This action may be performed only if the Player arrives at the Station, and leaves it, by a Move along the same Line, and if that Line terminates there. Neither the Move to the Station, nor the Move from it, may involve any Action-related changes of position (mid-move changes of Line are permissible unless otherwise prohibited, but not at the Terminus itself if a Token is to be Run.) No player may Run a Token from the same Terminus more than once per Game. {Comment: I think this was the least controversial of all the Token Running changes that were proposed: the main effect of this being that Wild or Home moves to or from Terminus stations do not allow the Token Running, and moving to or from Stratford via the CN, or Hammersmith on the PD or DS, do not constitute Token Running. Also, arriving at Ealing Broadway by the CN and leaving via the DS is not Token Running, even if e changes to the DS on arrival. It also means you can't Run a Token if you're Shunted to a Terminus, as Shunting is an Action-related change of position.} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 406 - Parcels Aren't *THAT* Valuable, Honest... [Amendment] Rule 1.11.2 Amendment: Reduce the bonus for carrying a Parcel to 3 Gold Tokens, and add another sentence at the end of the Rule: "While a Player is carrying a Parcel, e may not perform any Actions which directly or indirectly change the location of eir Piece: all moves must be along Underground lines in the standard way." {Comment: Imagine the this scenario... Player 1 Collects the Parcel and declares the Destination Station Wild, and blocks all exits from the Station e is at (only one needed if it's a Terminus...) Next move, e plays a Wild to the Destination Station, collects 5 Gold Tokens, and splits one to get enough Bronzes to buy a Money Belt. Now e is invulnerable, has more than enough Golds to win and can never be forced to lose any. And it was too easy. Even more so if the Player is Drone Keeper - e could get the Drone to do the dirty work of the Wild declarations, and Wild to both the Pick-Up and Destination stations. Alternatively, this amendment really forces the Player to run for it - no Wilds, no Homes, no Striles, Straddles or anything else but normal moves: genuine Parcel Running. And upon arrival, e gets 3 Golds - enough to win, but then e has to hang on to them. Otherwise e could lose two to Shunts and still have enough to win - clearly unbalancing.} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 406 - Unnamed [Amendment] Rule 1.5.3 (Dogs Must Be Carried: Amendment (well, more a total rewrite...) Delete the entire text of Rule 1.5.3 and replace as follows: "If two stations have separate and different names, but are nevertheless linked together by a single Interchange symbol, they are said to have an Escalator Link between them. The currently recognised Escalator Links are: Bank (CN, NT, WC, DL) <--> Monument (DS, CL) Tower Hill (DS, CL) <--> Tower Gateway (DL) Bow Road (HC, DS) <--> Bow Church (DL) If a player finishes eir Move at one of the stations, e may use the Escalator Link, by playing a move of the form: Monument (for Bank) E is considered to finish eir Turn at the station in parentheses, although eir Move was to the other station. The two Stations are otherwise considered separate for the purpose of counting how many Lines are in an Interchange (for example, Bank counts four and Monument two, rather than either counting six.) The player may change Line at either end of the Escalator Link mid-move: but if the change is from a Line which passes through one of the Stations to a Line which passes through the other, both stations must be counted against the player's LV (but only one Interchange). Thus, a move from Aldgate to Shadwell requires an LV of 3 (Aldgate - Tower Hill - Tower Gateway - Shadwell), but passes through only one Interchange. If a move to or through either Station would not be legal, or a change of Line at one of the Stations is prohibited by any Rule, the Escalator Link may not be used either mid-move or at the end: however, the other Station and the Lines through it remain unaffected. Thus, if Monument is Blocked or has had a Fire, then a Move may still pass through Bank, and even change Line to another of the Lines at Bank, but not to either of the Lines at Monument." {Comments: As things currently stand, the question of the Escalator Links is a rather ambiguous one. I believe that Stations with different names should be counted as separate Stations - hence them both counting against LV in mid-move Line changes from one to the other, and the fact that one remains unaffected by a Block on the other one. Also, Bank now has a Blue Token for moving to it, and Monument a Red one, rather than a Silver for either (which treats the whole lot like a single station which is a six-line conglomerate.) } -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 407 - Knipped in the Bud [Amendment] Add the following sentence to Rule 1.8.4 (Knip): 'No Player may move to Mornington Crescent while the game is in Knip.' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 408 - Belt Tightening [Other, Multiple] 1. Remove the item 'Money Belt' from The Emporium (Rule 1.4.18) 2. Remove the following sentence from Rule 1.10.1 (A Shunting We Will Go): "(If the Shunted Player possesses a Money Belt, neither Tokens nor the Money Belt itself may be claimed during the Shunt.)" 3. Refund 5 Bronze Tokens to any Player currently in possession of a Money Belt, and remove the Money Belt from their list of possessions. {Comment: Money Belts make it *far* too easy to hold on to tokens.} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 409 - A Cunning Plan [amendment] In the fourth paragraph of Rule 1.7.6 (Straddling Nancy) replace the phrase "no greater than" with the phrase "equal to" {Comment: The revised sentence should then read as "The Straddle may be for a number of stations equal to the size of the Token Stack (the count of Stations being made from the Stack itself), and is not considered to pass through any of the intervening Stations." -- so if there are 6 tokens on the stack, the straddle is for exactly six stations, not (as currently) any number up to and including 6, the idea being to restrict the power of Straddling a little.} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 410 - That Was The Week That Was [Amendment] Reword Rule 0.6.1 (Theocracy of Muntab) to:- The Game of Mornington Nomic shall be counted in Nomic Weeks and Nomic Years. The Nomic Week number is incremented each Nomic Week, and the Nomic Year number incremented once on the 16th of April every year. The Nomic Week and Nomic Year have no bearing on Game numbers. { Comment: Just to keep it in line with how we're actually incrementing them. } -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 411 - Vic, I've Fallen [Repeal] Repeal Rule 0.4.12 (That Was *My* Idea). { Comment: The odds of two Players submitting Proposals with *identical* effects are well into the realms of infinite numbers of monkeys. Chances are there'll be at least a slight angle of difference; never small enough for the Speaker to say "Oh, we'll ignore that one and use this". } -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal 412 - Moving; A Traumatic Experience [Amendment] { Comment: Right. Brace yourselves. This Proposal attempts to sort out, once if not for all, a simple system for determining whether Moves are allowed or not. All Moves are initially Valid, and the Player checks the necessary criteria to see whether - after seeing if the Station is Blocked or too far away or whatever - the Move is still Valid, and can be played. As well as tidying up such dodgy precedence areas as the Dollis Hill Loop, it gives a simple checklist of things which affect Move legality, which should be a welcome benefit for new players and veterans alike. There's also a fair bit of tidying of the "Move" and "Turn" concepts, since it was all connected. Sorry it's such a horribly lengthy Proposal, but it's better to get it all (or at least most) done in one go. I'm the one who's going to have to cut and paste all this stuff into the Ruleset if it passes, anyway... -- Kevan } 1. Turn Summary [Enactment] The Game of Mornington Crescent is divided into Turns, each taken by different Player, in sequence. During each Turn, a Player may make a Move, perform Actions and collect Tokens. 2. Turn Phases [Enactment] Each Turn has four distinct Phases, which must be performed in the following sequence: 1. Pre-Move Actions The Player may perform any number of Pre-Move Actions. 2. Movement The Player may perform a valid Move. 3. Token Collection The Player may be eligible to collect Tokens as a result of eir Move. 4. Post-Move Actions The Player may perform any number of Post-Move Actions. Multiple Actions are permitted, provided that there is only one example of a particular Action type made that Turn. 3. One Good Turn [Amendment] Reword Rule 1.3.1 (Taking a Turn) to:- To take a Turn in a Game of Mornington Crescent, a Player posts a copy of the Game State Document to the Mailing List; unless this is the first Turn of the Game, this posting will be a copy of the previous Player's Turn, with appropriate alterations. Such compulsory alterations are:- * Appending of a Valid Move and a number of Actions. * Updating of any aspects of the Game State Document which have been altered (eg. Game Time, Token possession, Knip, etc.) Optional alterations are:- * Removal of any existing Comments. * Appending to the Game State Document a Comment. Comments begin with "{Comment:" and end with a close brace "}". Comments in no way affect the state of play of the Game of Mornington Crescent. * Reformatting the Game State Document if necessary (eg. realigning Moves, resizing the Token Stack table, etc.) If a Player's Turn results in some change to the Game State, such change should be mentioned in Comments, at the bottom of the GSD. A Player's name, e-mail signature and any email header information is not to be considered part of the Game State Document. 4. Timing is Everything [Enactment] Players have 36 hours to submit eir Turn, starting from the time the previous Turn was submitted. Saturdays and Sundays are ignored for the purposes of this rule, so that if a Player submits a Turn at 10am on Friday, the next Player has until 10pm on Monday to submit eir Turn. A Player may still submit eir Turn at the weekend, in which case the 36 hours start at 0000GMT Monday. If a Player does not submit eir Turn within this time, any Player from that Game may submit a Turn containing the Move of "Forced Pass" (with no Actions) for that Player, and advance the Game Time by one hour. If the Forcing Player is able to take eir Turn directly after the Forced Player, e may submit eir Turn on the same GSD. { Comments: Reworded from "Move" to "Turn" throughout, and moved to this separate Rule. } 4. Valid Moves [Enactment] The following Moves are automatically Valid, at all times:- * The word "Pass" * The phrase "Forced Pass" (this also counts as a Move of "Pass", for all purposes) By default, all London Underground Stations which appear on the London Underground Map referenced in Rule 1.17.1 are Valid Moves. After selecting a Valid non-Pass Move, the following Validity Modifiers should be applied in sequence to determine whether that Move is still Valid. 1. LV Checks If the distance between the target Station and the Player's current Piece Location is not precisely the same as that Player's LV, the Move becomes Invalid. 2. Special Moves Home [Rule 1.12.1] Wild [Rule 1.11.1] 3. Blocks, Impediments and Gaps Blocks [Rule 1.9.1] Escalator Fires [Rule 1.9.2] Closed Lines and Stations [Rule 1.13.0] Power Failure [Rule 1.7.8] Maelberg Variance [Rule 1.7.17] Gapminding [Rule 1.7.7] Bridges [Rule 1.8.3] Circle Line Polarisation [Rule 1.7.18/19] Construction Lines [Rule 1.5.10] Heathrow Traversal [Rule 1.5.7] 4. Loops and Cascades Dollis Hill Loop [Rule 1.8.1] Parks and Greens Cascade [Rule 1.8.2] 5. First Turn If this is the Player's first Turn in the Game, eir Home Station is a Valid Move and all other Stations are Invalid. { Comments: Slightly arbitrary precedence, there - you can use a Special Move to move well outside of your LV range, but if that Station is Blocked or on a different Line during Gapminding, or whatever, it becomes an Invalid Move. And Loops and Cascades take precedence over everything. This seems the best way to order these things, to my eye. One side-effect is that Home and Wild Moves are clarified as not being "teleports" (the current wording of things is a little vague as to whether they really are, I think); if there's no legal route, you won't be able to get there. This could be sidestepped by putting "Special Moves" after "Blocks...", but it'd make Gapminding and Bridges a lot less effective. Perhaps a later "this Move is considered not to pass along normal LU lines" change to Homing and Wilding would be better. I'll leave it for future amendment, anyway; this is just me interpreting existing Rules in a way I see as being fitting. I've probably overlooked a few things in my lists, as well. Give me a kick. } 5. Token Gift [Enactment, Action] Action: Giving Tokens to Cost: none Duration: 10 minutes Type: Post-Move A Player may perform the post-Move Action of "[Giving Tokens to ]", where "" is any other Player in the current Game. Upon performing this Action, the Actioning Player loses a number of Tokens of eir choice, and the stated Player gains an equal number of Tokens of the same Colours. Details of which Colour Tokens have been Given should be mentioned in that Turn's Comments. The Drone may not perform this Action. 6. The Hills are Alive [Amendment] Reword Rule 1.8.1 (Dollis Hill Loop) to:- If the previous non-Pass Move in a Game is "Dollis Hill", Dollis Hill is a Valid Move. In addition, all Stations other than Dollis Hill are Invalid Move destinations, unless the Player taking eir Turn has performed a "[Dollis Sidestep]" or "[Dollis Escape]" Action this Turn. A "[Dollis Escape]" Action may only be performed if the Actioning Player has an LV of 10 or more. { Comments: Tidied up to fit in with everything, and removing the troublesome precedence issues. Note the addition of "non-Pass Move" - this is so that Forced Passes rightly have no effect, and so that Players can Pass to sit the Loop out and stay where they are, if they don't mind wasting their Move. } 7. Day of the Triffids [Amendment] Reword the third paragraph of Rule 1.8.2 (Parks and Greens Cascade) to:- If a Cascade is in effect during eir Turn, all Moves to Stations other than Green, Park or Plant Stations are Invalid, unless the Player taking eir Turn has performed a "[Cascade Sidestep]" Action. 8. The Engines Cannae Take It [Amendment] Reword Rule 1.7.8 (Power Failure!) to:- During eir Turn, any Player may perform the post-Move action "[Power Failure! ()]", where "" is the Line Code of the Actioning Player's most recent Move. When this is performed, the specified Line suffers a Power Failure until the end of the Actioning Player's next Turn. If a Line has had a Power Failure:- * Any Piece Moves which start or end at a Station on that Line, or which pass through a Station on that Line, are deemed to be Invalid, with the exception of "Walking" Actions. * No Player situated at a Station on that Line may perform a Straddle. 9. Maelbergler [Amendment] Reword the last paragraph of Rule 1.7.17 (Maelberg Variance), replacing "illegal" with "Invalid" and "legal" with "Valid". 10. Amend the Gap [Amendment] Reword the second paragraph of Rule 1.7.7 (Mind the Gap) to:- If a "[Mind the Gap]" Action has been performed and no "[Ignore the Gap]" Action has been performed since, a Piece Move which involves a change of Line is Invalid. 11. Trying to Make Sense of my Bridge [Amendment] Amend the second paragraph of Rule 1.8.3 (Bridges) to:- If a Game's Bridges state is "Up", a Piece Move which starts at one side of the Thames and finishes on the other is Invalid. { Comments: Using Stupid Compass Tricks and whatnot is still permissible, since this is performed as an Action after Piece Movement. } 12. |D|E|M|M|E|N|A|N|T| [Amendment] Remove all but the first three paragraphs of Rule 1.13.1 (The Richard Whiteley Experience). 13. Station Opening [Enactment] Each Station shall have a State that is either Open or Closed. Certain Stations are described as having Restricted Opening; the State of these Stations shall be either Open or Closed depending on the current Game Time, according to the lists in Rule 1.13.4. If a Station is Closed, any Moves to or from (but not through) that Station are Invalid. If a Line Segment is Closed, any Moves along that Line Segment are Invalid. { Comment: Rather unnervingly, that single sentence, intended as a summary of the Closure business, is a perfectly legal summary of the original wording. } 14. Stations with Restricted Opening [Enactment] Barbican - open all day Mon to Sat, Sun 0800 to 2300 Cannon Street - open Mon to Fri until 2100, closed Sat and Sun Chancery Lane - open all day Mon to Sat, closed Sun Chigwell - open daily until 2000 Grange Hill - open daily until 2000 Heathrow Terminal 4 - open Mon to Sat until 0000, Sun until 2300 Kensington (Olympia) - open Mon to Sat 0700 to 2100, Sun 0800 to 2100 Mornington Crescent - open Mon to Sat 0700 to 2100, Sun 0800 to 2100 Roding Valley - open daily until 2000 Shoreditch - open Mon to Sat 0800 to 2000, Sun 0800 to 1300 Temple - open all day Mon to Sat, closed Sun Turnham Green [PD]* - open Mon to Sat 0500 to 0900 and 2000 to 0000, closed Sun * Turnham Green [DS] is not subject to the same restrictions 15. Line Segments with Restricted Opening [Enactment] Line Segments with Restricted Opening (applies to either Line Direction): Chalfont & Latimer to Chesham [MP] - Peak Hours only Earl's Court to Kensington (Olympia) [DS] - open 0700 to 2100 Mon to Sat, 0800 to 2100 Sun Rayners Lane to Uxbridge [PD] - Peak Hours only Waterloo to Bank [WC] - Peak Hours only Whitechapel to Barking [HC] - Peak Hours only Whitechapel to Shoreditch [EL] - open Mon to Sat 0800 to 2000, Sun 0800 to 1300 Woodford to Hainault [CN] - open daily until 2000 Note that the Line Segments Rayners Lane to Uxbridge [PD] and Whitechapel to Barking [HC] have alternative possible Line Codes. If a Player is at a Station on one of these Line Segments when it is closed, e may still move away from that Station by using the alternative Line and paying the usual Token cost for a change of Line. Peak Hours shall be described as Mon to Sat 0800 to 2000 inclusive. 16. What Do You Want From Me? [Amendment] Reword the second paragraph of Rule 1.14.5 (Kafka Sinkholes) to:- If a Station has a Kafka Sinkhole, a Move which passes through that Station is Invalid, and any Player Shunted through that Station ends the Shunt situated at that Station. 17. Ah-Wilbhi Fayed [Amendment] Amend Rule 1.5.7 (Heathrow Loop-the-Loop) to:- If a Piece Move involves traversing the section of the Piccadilly Line running through the Heathrow Stations in an anti-clockwise direction, that Move is Invalid. 18. Difficult Headgear [Amendment] Amend Rule 1.5.10 (Hard Hats Must Be Worn) to:- If a Player is not carrying a Hard Hat Possession, Moves to Stations which lie solely on Construction Lines are Invalid, as are Moves which involve passing along a length of Construction Line. A Construction Line is one which is designated as "under construction" on the Map. { Comments: Rewording and adding a "solely", otherwise Stratford, London Bridge and whatnot are counted as requiring Hard Hats to Move to. That's the lot, anyway. Eighteen bloody sub-Proposals in a Multiple. Good grief. } --------------------------------------------------------------------------------