Subject: MN: Tithing (from the Cryer Lounge)

From: Kevan Davis <kdavis@i...>
Date: Fri, 04 Dec 1998 19:13:17 +0000

This was something that cropped up in the Cryer Lounge's Vanilla game;
since it's of consequence to all Players (and since I have to cut and
paste certain stuff into a new message to stop Eudora being hopeless
at me anyway), I thought I'd drag it back to the main list.

>> Kevan : [LV+3] [Purchasing Zone 2 Pass] Shepherd's Bush (HC via CN) 
>> [Tithe 6] 
> 
>*applauds* 
> 
>Oh, well played sir! Particularly the cunning token placement... perhaps 
>an amendment is in order to prevent token placement in Tithed zones? 

My Play had, of course, involved putting the Blue Tokens paid for
the Tithe Action into a couple of Zone 6 Stacks, so that I'd be
able reclaim them (through the Tithe itself) next Turn.

Perhaps worth amending, or not? I'm not sure, really. I'd always
seen Tithing as being quite a weak strategy, particularly since
it's quite easy for Players to avoid the full clutch of its
clutches (I presume Dunx knows the means I refer to, here). It
just struck me today that I could Tithe back the Tokens I paid
performing the Action, if I put them in the right place (and if
nobody stole them before my next Turn), and I think this might be
enough to make the Action worth using (to my knowledge, this is
the first time it has been).

I fear it's possibly open to abuse - my original (Buzzed) Move
had me making a merciless Hat-Knock because I knew I could get
the Token back by placing it in Zone 6; prior to that, I'd
considered a "free" Token Cascade, but couldn't quite pull it
off. However there's not *much* you can do with it, as far as
I can see - being able to perform Actions for free is only
helpful if the Actions are of some use to your situation, and
you'd be lucky to find any that were.

[shrugs a bit] I think it's probably just a case of seeing how
things pan out, before deciding whether this needs fixing or
not. I was mildly amused to note the parallels between this
approach to Tithing and the new "Untap X lands when this 
resolves" spells in Magic: The Gathering (if anyone has any idea
what I'm talking about), which let you regain the resources used
to perform the thing, provided it works.

My only possible suggestion would be to include some sort of
risk to Tithing; as it stands, one is only really scuppered if
another Player manages to run around and pick up all the Tokens
you scattered. A condition about only getting the Tithe if you
remain motionless until your next Turn may balance it a little.
Otherwise I can see problems with, once people have a few Blues
to spare, a 20-minute Action that makes the rest of your Actions
free.

Good to see this sort of thing happening, anyway. "Aha, if I
use this rule like *this* and this one like *this*, I get quite
an advantage" is pretty much the point of games like this, and
I think the above situation is an excellent piece of proof, if
proof were needed, that we've got a particularly fine set of
rules going. Lower-case kudos all round.

Kevan

--
kdavis@i... - http://www.innotts.co.uk/~elusive/kevan - UIN: 5998366
"There's people who can't spell 'weird' right,
driving round with thousands in the bank."
-- Half Man Half Biscuit, "Turned up Clocked on Laid off"