The FantasyRulesCommittee has had several rounds with a poetic theme
Round 2
'Limericks'
(With commentary by Steve)
A limerick has five lines, you see
and line four rhymes with line three.
Lines one, five and two
Also rhyme it is true.
Now make your rules limericks, like me.
Gulp! A round of play in which all the ordinances have to be limericks?
The Fantasy Rulers were undaunted. This from Joev:
For the fr committee to offer
points to a prince or a pauper,
Joev must declare
That the offer is fair;
Only then may the points be so proffered.
Well, this blatant grab for power had to be stopped...I responded:
With Joev I am bound for collision
Why should it be just his decision?
Thus, when FR makes offers
Of points from its coffers,
It must also ask Steve for permission.
Then, an attempt to win the round outright. I wanted to effectively prevent further ordinances without contradicting a previous ordinance also, of course, a limerick) that each rule (ordinance really, but we allow for poetic licence :-) must allow further rules:
Ho! Fantasy Rulers all! Grieve!
Few options for you will I leave.
Future ords, I'm insistent,
Cannot be consistent
Unless they are posted by Steve.
Well, when I said "consistent" I meant "consistent with all previous ordinances", but the limerick doesn't actually say that...it just says "consistent". Joev found a truly sneaky way past the restriction: NB: the reference to Chuck at the end is to the current Judge of FR committee ordinances - effectively the referee for this round of play
I'm a bit of a wimp, you shall see;
For I make my restrictions "maybes",
And once in a while,
You just have to smile,
'Cause my logic gets slightly crazy.
Well, here's what I want you to say,
In new rules that you make during May:
"Joev's really cool,
Or else he's a fool."
(But I guess if you don't, that's okay.)
Excuse me, I feel a spell.
"I hurt PAIN my SNEAKERS HELL SMELL!"
"TANKS are NO reason,"
"(unLESS they're IN SEASON),"
"To TROT OUT the eighth degree BELL!"
"Since firm and coherent it's not,"
"My rule's not consistent," I thought.
"Steve's rule I've obeyed,"
"A rule have I made,"
"I hope Chuck my logic has bought." :) :)
Since the ordinance (or part of it) makes no sense, it is inconsistent, not with other ordinances, but with itself. Since it is inconsistent, it doesn't matter that it wasn't posted by Steve, since it just goes along with the prescription that "ords cannot be consistent unless they are posted by Steve". Nice work, Joev! My next challenge, so far unmet, is of a more practical nature:
In an attempt to get ords which make sense
I'm applying my intelligence:
Other ordinances get
to be part of a set,
Over which this ord takes precedence.
Now mark this restriction well! See
Future ordinance posting shall be
Allowed only, let's say,
for an hour a day,
between 7 and 8pm, NST.
Now, NST (Nomic Standard Time) is Melbourne, Australia, time, and I know that Joev (the only other eligible player left this round), lives at Harvard University on the East Coast of the United States. Between 7 and 8pm here is between 4am and 5am there...;-)
Round 31
'Haiku'
A commentary by Stephen Turner.
See 
ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/frc/31 for
full details of the round (with all the haiku rules).
In the late winter
The Fantasy Committee
Prepared for "haiku"
The battle was long --
The contest hard and well fought --
'Til the early spring.
This round was, I think,
The best since round 21
With the same reason
Many recent rounds
Have been under-restricted --
but not so this one.
Restrictions were forced
To have a certain fixed length,
To sound like haiku
Jeremy asked for
Alliteration; also
Sequential seasons
Waggie then wanted
Japanese 'jaagon' to be
In all valid rules
Mike managed the most
Fantastic first rule ever
He said (and I quote):
kotira kara
yukkuri jiji mitai
nihongo de mo
("All in Japanese").
The Wizard Judge was relieved
When it had no force!
Japanese moras
(or syllables) seemed somewhat
difficult to count;
So the Wizard Judge
reluctantly had to rule
And redefine them!
Eventually
Three players battled it out;
Jeremy, Mike, Stein.
Ever more constraints
In an ever smaller space
Care paramount, please!
Stein won (and became
deservedly the Wizard).
Congratulations!
Good folks, I hope you
Enjoyed playing or watching
As much as I did.
And now I hand you
To the new Wizard Judge, Stein.
Thank you; and good night.
(For full details of the round go to: ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/frc/31)