Subject: MN: Year 2, Week 17: Proposals

From: Kevan Davis <kdavis@i...>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 16:27:59 +0100 (BST)

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MORNINGTON NOMIC

Proposals for Voting on in Year Two, Week Seventeen
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Proposal 471 - 'Tis But A Scratch [Other, Multiple]

1. Light on the Surface [Amendment]

Replace the first two paragraphs of Rule 1.11.3 (Station Damage) with:-

Certain events may cause Stations to become Damaged (either Lightly or
Heavily). Lightly Damaged Stations are treated as being Closed until
London Transport manage to repair them; Heavily Damaged Stations treated
as Blocked until repairs are complete.

The GSD shall list Damaged Stations in the following example format,
Heavily Damaged Stations being denoted with an asterisk:-

+---------+----------------------------------------------------------+ 
| Damaged | Victoria, Hyde Park Corner, Angel* |
+---------+----------------------------------------------------------+ 

2. Slight Fire Damage [Amendment]

Reword Rule 1.9.2 (Escalator Fires) to:-

A Player may perform the post-Move Action "[Fire at <Station>]" to spot
a Fire, where "<Station>" is a Station which the Player has passed
through during eir Move, or which is adjacent to eir current location.

If a Fire is spotted at a Station, that Station is Blocked for one Turn,
and becomes Lightly Damaged.

{ Comments : Moderate trade-off, here - we lose all the stuff about
Line-Changing and BR connections, since I think it's probably
too much to remember (particularly if a major Interchange
gets burnt early in the game; too easy to forget it when
making your Moves thirty Turns on, I fear). The Stations are
still Blocked for a Turn, and the Light Damage prevents
Line Changing and BR frippery. Just as powerful, I think;
the BR aspect is a fairly moot point, and the Line Changing
denial is only really useful for short-term tactics anyway. }

3. Open and Shut Case [Amendment]

Reword Rule 1.13.4 to:-

Each Station may be either Open or Closed, dependent on a number of factors.
Certain Stations and Lines are described as having Restricted Opening, the
Open/Closed state of these depending on the current Game Time, and being
given in Rules 1.13.5 and 1.13.6.

If a Station is Closed, a Move which starts, ends or changes Line at that
Station is Invalid.

If a Line Segment is Closed, a Move which involves transversing that Line
Segment is Invalid.

{ Comments : Minor tidying up of the wording, fixing of the obsolete Rule
number references and - the only really consequential thing -
disallowing Line Changes at Closed Stations. Logical, really. }

4. Higher Explosives [Amendment]

In Rule 1.7.30 (Suspect Package Detonation), replace "Damaged" with
"Heavily Damaged".

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Proposal 472 - Hoard of the Things [Other, Multiple]

{ Comments : Merely implementing the idea I mentioned in a Game a while
back - that hoarding Tokens at your Home is preferable to
Banking; no memory requirement since it goes on the Token
Stack, and some potentially-breakable security in terms of
Home-breaking, as opposed to the rather-too-powerful
titanium vault of Bank. }

1. Insurance Clause [Enactment]

Enact a new Rule entitled "What a Banker" as Rule 1.4.9, unless such a
Rule already exists.

{ Comment : Just in case it got repealed. }

2. Under the Mattress [Amendment]

Rename Rule 1.4.9 (What a Banker) to "Hoard of the Things" and reword it to:-

If it would be possible to add a Token to the Token Stack at a Player's
Home Station, that Player may perform the post-Move Action of "[Hoarding
<Tokens>]", where "<Tokens>" is a list of Tokens being Hoarded, their
number not exceeding the unused space in their Home Station's Stack.

Hoarded Tokens are removed from the Token Table and placed one-at-a-time
on the Token Stack of the Actioning Player's Home Station.

3. The Bank That Likes To Say No [Amendment]

In Rule 1.7.15 (Post-Move Actions), replace:-

"[Banking <Tokens>] 1.4.9"

with:-

"[Hoarding <Tokens>] 1.4.9"

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Proposal 473 - Bureau de Change [Amendment]

Repeal Rules 1.7.22-1.7.24, rename Rule 1.7.21 to "Bureau de Change" and
rename it to:-

A Player may perform the following Actions to convert Tokens from one
colour to another; the Paid Tokens are lost, the Received Tokens gained.

+--------------------+----------+----------+
| Action | Paid | Received |
+--------------------+----------+----------+
| [Gold to Silver] | 1 Gold | 2 Silver |
| [Gold to Bronze] | 1 Gold | 8 Bronze |
| [Gold to Blue] | 1 Gold | 2 Blue |
| [Silver to Bronze] | 1 Silver | 4 Bronze |
+--------------------+----------+----------+

The opposite Actions ("[Silver to Gold]", etc.) may also be performed,
with the same exchange rates, but only if the Actioning Player's Piece
is situated at Bank.

{ Comments : Another way to gain those increasingly elusive Golds; the
costs seem high enough, and the Bank limitation is, I think,
reasonable. "Blue to Gold" is a tad powerful, but the one-
of-each-Action-per-Turn slows it down a bit, and sitting
ducklike at the easily-reachable Bank should make people
hesitant. }

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Proposal 474 - Leave Your Hat On (Multiple)

Part 1: New king-size filter legs with the flip-top knee (Action)

[Hands on hat] 20mins no cost.

Part 2: Hands on your heads! (Enactment)

No Player can perform the "[Knocking <Hat> Off <Player>]" action if the
Player targetted has performed the "[Hands on hat" action since the Knocking
Player's previous Turn.

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Proposal 475 - Retracking Token Tracking [Amendment, multiple]

{Comment:

The idea of this proposal is to make token stacks a little less
common and to stop them filling up so quickly. Placing tokens on
stacks as payment would only be valid if one were outside the
Circle, and then would only be allowed to appear diametrically
opposite on the Map. Stacks can still be created by dropping
tokens.
}

1. Reword Rule 1.17.2 - Pythagoras Would Have Loved This to read:

"The major compass points North, South, East and West shall be defined
relative to the current Map when it is being read normally, North being up
the page. 

The Map shall be considered to be divided into two pairs of Halves and
five Quadrants, treating Tottenham Court Road as the Meridian (ie centre
point) for both North-South and East-West axes. 

The Halves correspond to the four major compass points. The
Halves are unnumbered, but each is paired with its opposite: North
and South; East and West.

Each Compass Quadrant corresponds to the intersection of two overlapping
Halves. An additional fifth quadrant, called the "Circle" is defined as
those stations situated on or within the Cicle Line. Stations in the
Circle are not in any other quadrant. For ease of reference, the resulting
Quadrants are numbered clockwise as follows: 

+------------+--------+ 
| Quadrant | Number | 
+------------+--------+ 
| Circle | 0 |
| North East | 1 | 
| South East | 2 | 
| South West | 3 | 
| North West | 4 | 
+------------+--------+ 

Each Station shall have attributes of Half and Quadrant determined by its
location on the Map. 

With the exception of Totthenham Court Road, if a Station lies on a Half
or Quadrant boundary, it shall be considered to reside in all Halves and
Quadrants adjacent to the boundary. 

As the Meridian, Tottenham Court Road is considered to be in no Half or
Quadrant. Any costs, penalties or Rules applying to crossing Half or
Quadrant boundaries shall not affect a Move to or from Tottenham
Court Road."

2. Amend second condition in Rule 1.4.19 - Token Tracking to read:

"It cannot be in the same, or an adjacent quadrant to that of
the Player's final location - if this cannot be satisfied, the
token(s) are discarded."

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Proposal 476 - Turin '57 Convention on International Play [Special Ruleset]

{ Comment: 
Simple enough idea really - a Special Ruleset to allow Games on other 
maps. Just gets a bit complicated in spots... 
} 

[Enactment: Tourists' Charter] 
Turin '57 enables the game of Mornington Crescent to be played on transport 
networks other than the London Underground. 

When announcing a Turin '57 Game, the Speaker must include the following 
information: 
* the transport network to be used 
* the Internet URL of a map of this network to be employed 
* the substitute map entities and effects of Game States for that
network as defined in subsequent Rules in this section. 

In general if a specific Station or Line Segment is specified in a Rule that 
element of the Rule should either be ignored or any general definition 
applied. 

The information distributed at the start of a Turin '57 Game shall be enacted 
as a new Rule under the Turin '57 Special Ruleset. The title of the new Rule 
shall be of the form "<Network Name> Guidebook". 

{ Comment: 
I'm assuming here that there would be some discussion on the list first 
about which map is most appropriate, and about which substitutions should be
made. 

Note the term 'transport network': this allows for other modes of 
tranport to be played, eg the ferries in Sydney. 
} 

[Enactment: Station Keeping] 
The following Stations must have alternatives on the nominated Map defined: 
Term - London Underground Station 
====================================== 
Goal - Mornington Crescent 
Bank - Bank 
Loop - Dollis Hill 

All Rules relating to these London Underground Stations shall be considered
to refer instead to the given alternatives for the duration of the Turin '57 
Game. 

[Enactment: International Line] 
Line Codes must be defined for all the Lines on the nominated Map. 

A substitute Line or section of Line for the LU Circle must also be defined 
where available. Any closed loop will suffice, although one which contains 
Stations within it should be preferred. 

If no such substitute can be defined, then the following Rules must be
ignored 
for that Map: 
- Rule 1.8.5 (Circle Line States) 
- Rule 1.7.4 (Open the Cutlery Drawer, Mrs Higgins) 

{ Comment: I suspect it's obvious that Circle Line States are meaningless 
without a Circle Line, but banning Spoon may seem less rational. However, 
Spoon Clamps can only be removed within the Circle Line. 
} 

[Enactment: Bridge Over the River Kwai] 
Rule 1.8.3 (Bridges) shall have no effect if there is no river or other body 
of water on the nominated Map which is crossed by any Lines. 

In addition to the usual effect of the Bridge state, any water-borne
transport shall be disabled when Bridges are Up. 

At the option of the Speaker, Rule 1.8.3 shall be ignored if disabling of 
water-borne transport would have a disproportionate effect. 

{ Comment: actually I suppose water-borne transport should be disabled when 
Bridges are Down (cf Tower Bridge on the Thames) but Bridges Down is the 
default, fully active network state. 

The last clause is there to allow for playing Gondolier Crescent. 
} 

[Enactment: Class Act] 
Rule 1.17.6 (Station Categories) defines classifications which are used to 
categorise Stations. 

Where the use of these classifications is not obvious on the nominated map
(eg where a different language is used) the Speaker must define equivalent
terms. 

For those classifications based on notation (eg Interchange) the nearest 
equivalent on the key should be specified. For those classifications based
on the name of the Station (eg Compass) a reasonable translation should be 
offered (eg North => Nord (French)). 

These alternative classification criteria must then be used for the duration 
of the Turin '57 Game. 

[Enactment: Zone Doubt]
Where the nominated Map does not use a Zone system, all Rules relating to 
Zones must be ignored. All Players shall gain a single Bronze Token on eir 
Turn. 

Where a Zone system is used, definitions for the Zones to be used must be 
supplied for those Rules which relate to Zones. In particular (taking a
three Zone system as an example): 

* Rule 1.17.7 (Zoning Regulations) defines the Zones. This definition 
should be adjusted appropriately. 
* Rule 1.4.18 (The Emporium) refers to Zones numbered 2-6 and to Passes 
for multiple Zones (eg eliminate the 1-6 Pass, perhaps increasing
the 1-3 Pass cost) 
* Rule 1.7.16 (Neutral Actions) gives the cost for Tithing a Zone, 
supplying a formula its calculation. This formula should be 
adjusted (eg 8 - (2 * Zone)) 

[Enactment: Are the Sandwiches Any Nicer?] 
"British Rail" shall be considered to be replaced by the local inter-urban 
transport network. 

Where no connections exist between the nominated Map and the local
inter-urban transport network, then the following Rule effects shall apply: 

* The Speaker must either nominate another Station Category to house 
Emporia, or state that all Possessions which may be Purchased are 
Dispensable 
* All Rules relating to British Rail stations from the point of view of 
connection shall be ignored eg Ticket Stubs, Visiting. 

[Enactment: Headgear Optional] 
If any of the categories defined as being valid for claiming a Hat from is
not represented on the nominated Map, then the Speaker must specify an
alternative category as a substitute. 

[Enactment: Manoeuvres in the Psychedelic Rainbow Tomato] 
Rule 1.18.2 (Gambits And Their Costs) defines the valid Manouevres on the 
London Underground Map. 

Those Manouevres which relate to specific LU Stations must be ignored. 

Any Manouevres declared in a Turin '57 Game shall be recorded in the
Guidebook for that Game. 

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---

From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 19 Aug 98 11:41:37 +0100

> Line-Changing and BR connections, 
Alarm bells went off here, since that was the fundamental point of the 
Escalator Fire thing in the first place. 

> since I think it's probably 
> making your Moves thirty Turns on, I fear). 
A fair point, although it applies to Bulkheading also. 

> The Stations are 
This eased my fears - yes, very satisfactory. 

> If a Station is Closed, a Move which starts, ends or changes Line at
that 
The only omission from this list is the use of Escalator Links, although I 
suppose a ban on their use is implied. "Bank (for Monument)"-style Moves are 
covered by the start/end condition, and continuous moves which just happen
to 
use the escalator are covered by the line change condition. Very nice. 

> Proposal 472 - Hoard of the Things [Other, Multiple] 
A nice idea with a few small weaknesses, all derived from the use of token 
stacks: 
1. a Player's Home stack can be preemptively filled to prevent Hoarding
by 
that Player 
2. if the token stack limit is reached before a Player has hoarded, e's 
stuffed 
3. since a Hoard is just a Token Stack, it's very slow to collect Tokens 
from. 

> Repeal Rules 1.7.22-1.7.24, rename Rule 1.7.21 to "Bureau de Change" and 
"reword", surely? Sensible bit of tidying up, anyway. 

> with the same exchange rates, but only if the Actioning Player's Piece 
I have grave misgivings about this - I'm not too bothered about the Metallic 
exchanges, but I am very worried about the Blue->Gold exchange. It
reinforces 
the whole Monopoly aspect... 

Ingenious use of Bank, though. 

> Player targetted has performed the "[Hands on hat" action since the
Knocking 

Interesting, but there's no penalty on the Player protecting eir Hats. 

I suppose the Hat protection implicitly lasts only a single Turn, but then 
again there isn't really anything to stop a Player playing one of these 
Actions every Turn. What I would like to see would be a ban on a Player 
picking up a Hat in the same Turn that they're holding Hats on. 

> Proposal 475 - Retracking Token Tracking [Amendment, multiple] 
Very cunning. I suppose I'd better redo the Quadrant doc if this passes... 

> Proposal 476 - Turin '57 Convention on International Play [Special
Ruleset] 
I'll just own up to this one - I know it's a bit long, but all it's trying
to 
do is pick up on the elements of the game which are specific to the London 
Underground maps and generalise them. 

-- 
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, 19 Aug 1998 16:36:11 +0100 (BST)

> by that Player

To an extent. Since the elimination of Bronzes being frittered for such
purposes, though, I think I'd probably welcome people tossing Blacks and
Reds at my Home Station. But yes, dropping a Gold and having people pile
Blacks onto it later is far from satisfactory, potentially taking five
turns to dig it out.

> 3. since a Hoard is just a Token Stack, it's very slow to collect Tokens 

Indeed, indeed. Perhaps a "[Gathering]" Action may be in order, by which
you can collect all Tokens from a Stack, if it's on your Home Station. You'd
still have to visit it, of course.

Just an amendment would bring things more in line with the old Banking
approach, I think. The fact that other Players can pay eight Bronzes to
sneak in and help emselves to the top Token is enough of a limitation to
counter the "always possible to 'Wild' there" benefit, I think.

>reinforces the whole Monopoly aspect... 

I've never been too happy with "[Gold to Blue]" myself, but didn't want
to be too sweeping in my reforms. Blues are reasonably rare and usually
kept on standby for avoiding Cascades and dealing with Knip and things;
I can't see many people rushing to change them two-at-a-time for Golds,
particularly at such a reachable Station.

>Ingenious use of Bank, though. 

Indeed. It's use as one of the 'special' Stations, as mentioned in your
Turin Proposal, seems a good one.

>Interesting, but there's no penalty on the Player protecting eir Hats. 

Giving up a third of your Move is quite a penalty, I suppose. Perhaps
enough. If you've got all five Hats and are trying to cash them in,
it only gives you forty minutes per Turn to deal with anyone who
might be out to get you.

>What I would like to see would be a ban on a Player 

An amusing image, and probably a fair limitation. Although this
is mostly only going to be used when someone has four or five hats,
so isn't much of a restriction if they've got the full set.

Speaking of which, there's *still* no way to get Hard Hats, is
there?

>Very cunning. I suppose I'd better redo the Quadrant doc if this passes... 

What's the "five" equivalent of "quadrant", by the way? It seems
a trifle confusing as it stands.

A sound Proposal, though.

>to do is pick up on the elements of the game which are specific to the London 

I'm not sure if it's maybe too much Ruleset space for something which
we aren't going to use very much, and I fear we'd probably find too
many loopholes in certain alternative Maps, but I suppose it can't
hurt to try...

Kevan

--
kdavis@i... - http://www.innotts.co.uk/~elusive/kevan - UIN: 5998366
"Stay home, be bored - it's crap, I know."
-- The Smiths, "Death At One's Elbow"

---

From: "Wayper, Paul" <WayperP@p...>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 10:45:36 +1000

I've just taken a look at the MN homepage - speccy stuff, Kevan! Love the
'Key to Lines', the icons, the layout, and the content. 10 out of a
possible 5. Ironically, I went to click on the line line that, on MCitED
(Dan's server) is the short game link...

> reinforces the whole Monopoly aspect... 

True - though blue tokens haven't been high on my acquisition list, their
potential should be enhanced by this. Besides, waddling around with masses
of blue tokens is a sure way to get shunted...
> Interesting, but there's no penalty on the Player protecting eir Hats. 

Er, losing twenty minutes of time is a fair penalty. If you were worried,
you could up it to thirty - forty would seem a bit much (says he, imagining
a person on the LU holding desperately onto their hats for half an hour...
:-)

> to do is pick up on the elements of the game which are specific to the
> London Underground maps and generalise them. 

It seems a good thing, anyway. It's already got me looking at the Brisbane
map, poor though it is...

Paul Wayper -- DPI ITS Computer Systems Officer
_____________________________________________________________________
SigClean 1.5a prevents all errors in transcription, transmission, and
reception of eMail, destroys sig and email viruses, and stops flames.
If it doesn't seem to work, contact me and I'll fix it. (c) 1998 PJW

---

From: Graeme Jefferis <Graeme.Jefferis@f...>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 08:46:53 +0100

>It seems a good thing, anyway. It's already got me looking 
>at the Brisbane map, poor though it is...

There is an amazing web site out there -- unfortunately I've 
misplaced the URL -- that not only provides ludicrous amounts 
of metro maps, LU included, but also has a 'navigation' 
feature by which you click two stations and it works out the 
quickest route between the two, necessary line changes, and 
total travel duration. Magical stuff; ISTR it's housed in 
France somewhere; so if I find the location I'll post it.

-Graeme.

---

From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 20 Aug 98 15:32:27 +0100

>> http://metro.ratp.fr:10001/bin/cities/english 

>Doesn't work. 

Oh dear - I don't understand that, because it does for me. I'll try setting 
up a link from Wasteland when I get home. 

An observation on the site itself, though (assuming it's the same one 
Grimace referred to) - it doesn't actually have very many maps on it. The 
LU map is one of those missing, although Paris is quite a good one.

---

From: Graeme Jefferis <Graeme.Jefferis@f...>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 16:28:26 +0100

>Oh dear - I don't understand that, because it does for 
>me. I'll try setting up a link from Wasteland when I get home. 

Well, I'm sure it's the right site, at least.

>An observation on the site itself, though (assuming it's the 
>same one Grimace referred to) - it doesn't actually have very 
>many maps on it. The LU map is one of those missing, although 
>Paris is quite a good one. 

Odd, I remember it being rather good. Something else to
look at when I get home, I think -- I certainly remember it 
having an LU map, as that was the whole reason I went there
in the first place. It was unfortunately the LU standard map, 
with Thameslink, etc, but no Zone markings. 

No matter, I expect there's something salvageable there.

-Graeme.