Subject: Re: MN: Year 2, Week 33: Proposals

From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 09 Dec 98 12:53:20 +0000

>>Proposal 563 - Calling Off the Subs in a Louder Voice [Multiple] 
>> 
>>This seems to be a subtle attempt to alter the meaning of Walking because
it 
>>omits the first condition from the current form of 1.7.10: 
>>" * To travel between two Stations of the same name on different lines 
>> which are not co-located on the map (eg between Waterloo Interchange 
>> and Waterloo (JL), or between Turnham Green (PD) and Turnham Green 
>> (DS))" 
>>Since this condition was the original purpose of introducing Walking, it 
>seems unnecessarily sly to rework the meaning of the Rule under the cloak 
>>>of something else more desirable. 
>>(I seem to remember making this point before...) 

>Oh. Tsk. You're absolutely right, yes - I meant to take a closer look at 
>this before sending off the Proposal, but evidently forgot about it. 

Fair enough - I rather went off the deep end there, making accusations of 
slyness and insidious evil, for which I apologise. 

>Taking a closer look at it in daylight, though, I'm curious as to why 
>you're so keen to keep such walk-routes - is there really any benefit 
>to walking from Turnham Green (PD) to Turnham Green (DS)? If one line's 
>been Power-Failed then you can prepare to escape along the other, this 
>is true, but Power-Failures only last one Round anyway, so you'd be 
>free to move off via the District next Turn. 

I suppose the main one I'm interested in is the transfer from Shepherd's 
Bush (CN) to Shepherd's Bush (HC) which isn't allowed otherwise and saves 
a six station trip. Granted that this transfer hasn't been used, but I 
don't think the provision does any harm. Unless you really believe it clogs 
up the ruleset to an unacceptable degree, I'd rather keep it. 

>Incidentally, I was up until about 1am last night playing that Uno/Bartok 
>version of Mornington Crescent against (some may remember him from his 
>fleeting York Server appearances) Sandy - having ironed out a few problems 
>and established a reasonable starting ruleset, it's looking to be a 
>fiendishly, fiendishly playable game. Expect a Web page about it later 
>this week, with a downloadable Word file of the cards. 

Ooh, that sounds rather splendid! Just in time for Xmas, eh? (I can think of 
several family members who might be interested) 

-- 
Dunx 
IRL: Duncan Ellis, Senior Software Engineer, Business Modelers, Oracle 
<I work for Oracle, I don't speak for them>

---

From: Kevan Davis <kdavis@i...>
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 15:33:22 +0000

>slyness and insidious evil, for which I apologise. 

No problem. Dramatic finger-pointing tends to make people look and think
more than tentative whispering, and so long as it's not continued for
months afterward, in spite of defence, I'd expect no apology.

>a six station trip.

Oh. I thought it was allowed, but reading the definition of co-situated,
I see that Shepherd's Bush, er, isn't a co-situated Station after all.
Tsk. And nobody's ever buzzed me for going through it as if it was,
either.

>Granted that this transfer hasn't been used, but I 

I suppose it's worth keeping, then - although unused, it's not too
complicated to understand, and isn't taking up an unacceptable amount
of space in the ruleset.

(That Charge table, on the other hand...)

I'll put a page of Venbacker numbers up later this evening, by the way,
as well as updating the Web page. We would like to apologise for the
delay.

>several family members who might be interested) 

What an ominous thought. Yes, I suppose it's feasible, although you'd
have to put the cards together yourself - I've just been playing by
slipping paper cut-outs into plastic-sleeve "deck-protectors", with a
Magic card behind to give a uniform backing and a bit of sturdiness.
I'm not sure how best to go about anything more professional...

Still. I just need to tweak a few Stations, tidy the look of the cards
a bit, and perhaps add a little copyright blurb to each, if I'm going
to end up giving them to people. Hmm.

Kevan

--
kdavis@i... - http://www.innotts.co.uk/~elusive/kevan - UIN: 5998366
"Red-green colour blindness can be cheaply and easily
cured using a pair of cardboard 3D-glasses."
-- Dave's Web of Lies (http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~hancockd/lies.htm)

---

From: duncan@l... (Duncan Ellis)
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 21:55:23 GMT

>Tsk. And nobody's ever buzzed me for going through it as if it was,

Oh - how very careless of us! I honestly hadn't noticed - I suppose I've been
too busy watching out for token infractions and charge iffiness.

Just goes to show, though.

>>>Expect a Web page about it later 

>What an ominous thought. 
The parties involved may well think that, also.

>Yes, I suppose it's feasible, although you'd

I've not come across those... I was thinking of regular bits of card with the
card faces stuck on. Finding a guillotine of some kind is probably essential, or
some obsoete business cards.

I knew I'd regret chucking those old ones from two companies ago...

Dunx
--
Ceci n'est pas un .sig

---

From: Kevan Davis <kdavis@i...>
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 22:33:26 +0000

>I've not come across those...

They're quite good, really, and about four quid for a box of eighty, from
your local sci-fi-rubbish shop. It might be feasible, if I did get around
to informally distributing the game, to use these, slipping a "front" and
a "back" and a bit of cardboard to sturdy it ("45 pathetic Magic commons
free with every game!"). Cheaper than lamination, probably.

>I was thinking of regular bits of card with the

Maybe, but I can imagine them getting very tattered and grubby before too
long, particularly the way I was victoriously throwing Mornington Crescent
down onto the table last night.

If anyone wants a glance at the cards, by the way, the current lot are up
on my Web page at http://www.innotts.co.uk/~elusive/kevan/mcbartok.doc -
Word 7 format, I think. I'll put a proper page up explaining the rules at
some point, as well as a tidier set of cards - it's basically Uno, with
lines instead of suits and station-name-words (Bridge, Green, Park,
South, East, West) instead of numbers, anyway. You can guess the rest.
Suggested extra rules are "You must play Mornington Crescent as your
last card, to win." and "You may nominate a Home Station before the game
starts; that Station counts as Mornington Crescent, for you." We did have
some obscure ones about Taxis and another saying "if another person walks
into the room and starts watching, you may play any card you wish", but
I'll leave those for the Web page.

Eventually I'll sort out some decently drawn (and *colour*) cards, and
make them properly available, anyway, hopefully a while before Christmas.
I'll maybe even approach the London Transport Museum very, very
tentatively, as well...

Thoughts appreciated, anyway. If anyone can spot a decent alternative to
Bridge Stations (since "Knightsbridge" and "Redbridge" don't have it as
a unique word, which is possibly confusing), let me know. I did have
Hills, but "Mill Hill East" counted as an East as well, which unbalanced
it. Tsk. Still.

Oh, and if anyone's particularly interested and not watching the York
server, Simons Mith and I are working vaguely on a frivolous Magic: The
Gathering expansion based around Mornington Crescent. We might start a
mailing list if anyone else is bored enough to care. The cards I've come
up with are on my Web page in the Creativity section, anyway, if anyone
would care to glance. God knows what we're going to do with them.

Kevan

--
kdavis@i... - http://www.innotts.co.uk/~elusive/kevan - UIN: 5998366
"And we're shaking hands goodnight, so politely."
-- Morrissey, "Driving Your Girlfriend Home"