Subject: MN: Year 2, Week 26: Proposals

From: Kevan Davis <kdavis@i...>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 13:33:05 +0100 (BST)

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MORNINGTON NOMIC

Proposals for Voting on in Year Two, Week Twenty-Six
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Proposal 526 - Lounging Around [Multiple]

1. The Lounges [Enactment]

There exist six Lounges in the virtual Mornington Nomic building; five of
them dedicated to the playing of Games, and one of them (the Discussion
Lounge) containing all other aspects of Nomic discussion and announcement.

Each of these Lounges has a mailing list set up for it, with the following
addresses being those you should post messages to:-

The Discussion Lounge - l-nomic@f...
The Brooke-Taylor Lounge - [email-masked]
The Cryer Lounge - [email-masked]
The Garden Lounge - [email-masked]
The Lyttleton Lounge - [email-masked]
The Rushton Memorial Lounge - [email-masked]

Each non-Discussion Lounge may have a Game being played within it; all
postings relevant only to that Game should be made to the appropriate
mailing list.

To subscribe to the Discussion Lounge, send an email to
majordomo@f... with the message text "subscribe l-nomic".
To subscribe to any of the other Lounges, send a blank email to
"l-nomic-<Lounge>[email-masked]", where "<Lounge>" is the
appropriate letter.

2. Musical Chairs [Enactment]

Upon enactment of this Rule, Game 9 (the Team Game) shall be moved to
the Lyttleton Lounge and Game 10 (the Ruttsborough '58 Game) shall be
moved to the Rushton Memorial Lounge. This Rule shall then repeal
itself.

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Proposal 527 - Oh, What's the Point? [Repeal]

Repeal Rule 0.3.3 (Wake Up, Damn You).

{ Comments : The forced Inactivity has always been a bit pointless and
annoying, and I think we've as many other incentives as we need,
to keep Players Voting. Pft. }

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Proposal 528 - All the Right Moves [Multiple]

{ Comment: 
With any luck, this will finally nail the meaning of 'Move' down. 

I'm afraid I've reintroduced the concept of Player Move, although it's 
called something a little less unwieldy. 

Unfortunately, no matter how much we say "Let's all just be sensible", 
any ruleset which does not distinguish (or at least allow the 
distinction to be drawn) between the direct movement of a Player's 
Piece, the sum of Piece Movement and Actions, and the overall Turn 
isn't actually going to be powerful enough to prevent accidental (or 
indeed willful) misinterpretation. 

Sorry, dave. FWIW, I basically agree with you on this but the terms 
used here are a lot less intrusive, I hope. 

Fortunately, the Concept Formerly Known As Player Move is not needed 
very often (but it *cannot* be removed). 
} 

[Amendment: Shaken Not Stirred] 
Amend Rule 1.5.8 (Moving and Shaking) so that it reads as follows: 

"Moves, Plays and Turns shall be defined as follows in combination with 
those definitions already extant: 

" * A Player's Turn consists of the total set of changes that a Player 
makes to the GSD when e takes eir Turn. This may be referred to 
simply as 'a Turn' 

" * A Player's Play is the section written against eir name at the bottom 
of the GSD which includes the Player's Piece's Move and any Actions 
played. This may be referred to simply as 'a Play' 

" * A Piece's Move is its normal motion along LU lines, excluding all 
Action-related changes to position. This may be referred to simply 
as 'a Move' 

"Those Rules defining Line Velocity and changes of Line apply only to the 
Piece's Move unless specifically stated otherwise." 

{ Comment: as you can see, this introduces the term 'Play', which is 
likely to be familiar in other gaming contexts (cf "Make your play"). 
Altogether simpler to use than 'Player Move'. } 

[Amendment: Stating the Obvious] 
Amend Rule 1.2.0 (The Game State Document) so that its fourth to seventh 
paragraphs read thus: 

"On eir Turn, Players add eir Play to the end of the Game State Document, in 
the following format: 

" <Name> : <Move> (<Line>, via: <Line#>) [<Action>] 

"<Name> is the name of the Player making the Play; <Move> is a valid Move; 
<Line> is the Line Code of the station moved to, unless the Move is "Pass", in 
which case the Player shall give the name and Line Code of the station e is 
currently at in this space. If the station moved to has more than one possible 
Line Code the Player should nominate a Line Code of eir choice from those 
available; <Line#> is the Line Code of each Move Portion and may be omitted if 
the Player has passed or remained on the same Line for the whole Move; <Action> 
is any optional Action performed by the Player. Only Actions defined by Rules 
are valid. If no Action is to be performed by the Player, the square brackets 
should be omitted. This form of destination specification incorporating the 
Station and line code must also be used when specifying a target Station for 
an Action which changes any Player's position, for instance when playing Home 
or a Shunt. 

"Eg: If a Player's current position is at Holborn (CN) and e moves to 
Euston with a LV of 4 with no Actions, then eir Play would be:" 

{ Comment: only a couple of substitutions, but also fixing some ambiguous 
wording elsewhere. 

Next we define another key concept which so far has only an incidental 
definition - the Round. 
} 

[Amendment: Through the Round Window] 
Amend Rule 1.3.0 (Turn Summary) by adding the following paragraphs: 

"A Round is a sequence of Turns in which all Active Players Play. 

"A Round may be used as a period of duration. An effect which is said to 
endure for one Round lasts from the point at which the effect begins 
until the same point in the next Round (Turn Phases to be rounded up). 

"For instance, if something begins during the Post-Move Phase of a 
Player's Turn and lasts for one Round, then that something stops at 
the end of the Post-Move phase in that Player's next Turn or (if that 
Player Resigns or goes Inactive) the point after which eir Turn would 
have been." 

{ Comment: Got that definition, now let's use it. } 

[Amendment: Circular Pylons] 
Amend Rule 1.7.8 (Power Failure) so that its first paragraph reads thus: 

"During eir Turn, any Player may perform the post-Move action "[Power 
Failure! (<Line>)]", where "<Line>" is the Line Code of the Actioning 
Player's most recent Move. When this is performed, the specified Line 
suffers a Power Failure for one Round." 

[Amendment: Round and About] 
Amend Rule 1.9.1 (Basic Blocks) such that its last paragraph reads thus: 

"A Block lasts for one Round." 

[Amendment: Don't Come Round Here No More] 
Amend Rule 1.9.2 (Escalator Fires) so that its last paragraph reads 
thus: 

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

{ Comment: 
So far, so froody (not to mention unremarkable). 

Now we come to the marginally more contentious bits... first, a Move 
that should have been a Turn but which doesn't look any different. 
} 

[Amendment: Time's Wing'ed Chariot] 
Amend Rule 1.13.1 (The Richard Whiteley Experience) so its last 
paragraph reads thus: 

"When Game Time reaches 0000, the next active Player shall, on eir Turn, 
advance Game Time to 0500, e.g. if Rushton's Turn has a Game Time of
Wednesday 
0000, and Garden is to play next, then Garden's Turn has a Game Time of 
Wednesday 0500." 

{ Comment: now a Move which looks really good as a Move, but for which 
the term Move is not now nor ever has been correct - Buzzing. 

As I say, the term 'Move' in this context looks so right, but when you 
consider that Buzzing covers broken Game Time, token totals, LV, and a 
whole host of other GSD elements which have never fallen within the 
scope of a Move then you can see that it's no longer appropriate. 
Basically, it should be a Turn. 
} 

[Amendment: Ha-bout.... Turn!!] 
With the exception of Rule 1.16.4, substitute the word "Turn" for the 
word "Move" throughout Section 1.16 (Buzzing). 

{ Comment: unfortunately, a straight substitution on 1.16.4 would leave 
some very tortured wording... } 

[Amendment: Wait For It, Wait For It...] 
Amend Rule 1.16.4 (Penalties) so it reads thus: 

"Once a Turn has been declared Officially Illegal, the Player who made the Turn 
must then withdraw it and post a replacement Turn. This replacement Turn may 
also be Buzzed in the same way. In the event of any replacement Turn being 
declared Officially Illegal, the offending Player shall also forfeit one Token 
of eir choice from the Tokens e owns, which e should detail in the comments of 
eir subsequent replacement Turn. The penalty applies to each replacement Turn, 
so in the event that a Player's Turn and three replacements for that Turn are 
all declared Officially Illegal then the total penalty is three Tokens. 
If a Player is ever unable to pay the full Token penalty, e loses any Tokens e 
has, eir Turn is forfeit and replaced with a Play of 'Pass' with no actions and 
no Token gains." 

{ Comment: that's your lot. Unavoidably long, I'm afraid, but hopefully not 
too impenetrable. } 

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Proposal 529 - Don't Cramp My Strile [Amendment]

Amend Rule 1.7.12 (Basic Striles) by making it read as follows: 

"A Player may perform a Strile via the action [Striling to <Station>], where 
<Station> is the name of a valid Strile destination. A Strile is instead of 
a Move, not in addition to it, and may be followed by a Straddle from the 
destination Station. The Player's LV is preserved across a Strile, 
and may not be altered in the same Turn as Striling. 

"The mechanism behind a Strile is that the Player's LV is used to launch a 
Strile to a corresponding Token Stack rather than to travel along LU lines 
in the usual way. 

"A Player may Strile between any two Stations according to the following 
criteria : 

" * The Player's LV is above 5. 
" * The Player makes a Move to eir Piece's current location (the normal 
rules for Move validity based on LV being suspended) 
" * The Station in eir Move bears an identical Token Stack to the one in 
eir [Striling...] Action for the purposes of that game. 

"For example (and assuming that all the above criteria are satisfied) to 
Strile between Gants Hill and Amersham one would play: 

" Cryer: Gants Hill (CN) [Striling to Amersham (MP)] 

"The Actioning Player's Location becomes the Station in the [Striling...] 
Action. 

"A Player may not add a Token to, or collect a Token from, any Stack in the 
same turn as Striling away from that stack. E may, however, add a Token to 
or take a Token from the destination Stack after arrival." 

{ Comment: the current wording of Strile is rather confusing. It is implied 
that a Player's Piece must rest at the Strile launch Station, but this 
reworking makes it more explicit (whilst also adding some arguably 
spurious justification for it...). 

The other option would have been to remove this restriction, effectively 
turning a Strile into a form of super-Straddle (and, incidentally, making 
this Rule consistent with the one time a Strile has been performed) but 
that seems less interesting somehow. 
} 

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Proposal 530 - Charge Tunneling [Multiple]

{ Comment: I changed my mind. Hope this doesn't seem too obvious. } 

[Enactment: Fifth Coulomb] 
A Player may perform the post-Move Action of "[Charge Tunneling 
to <Place>]", where "<Place>" is a Station with a Current identical to 
that of eir Piece's current Location. 

Upon performing this Action, the Player's Piece is moved directly 
to the cited Station. 

No Player may Charge Tunnel to Mornington Crescent. 

[Action: Charge Tunneling] 
Name: Charge Tunneling 
Type: Post-Move 
Text: Charge Tunneling to <Place> 
Duration: 20 minutes 
Cost: -1 Si 

{ Comment: 
Not all that expensive, because you can only travel between Stations 
with (by definition) a similar level of remoteness - this cannot be 
used as a quick way of travelling from an inner Zone to an outer one; 
you can travel from one outlying Station to another, or between inner 
Stations; but the two cannot be mixed. 

To find Stations with the same Current as the one you're at, use the 
"Charge Deltas by Value" report and look for a delta of zero. 
} 

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Proposal 531 - Purple Patch [multiple]

{The more the merrier...}

Amend the second paragraph of Rule 1.4.1 (Token Gesture) to read as follows:

"There are eight colours of Token - three Metallic (Gold, Silver and Bronze)
and four Plastic (Black, Blue, Green, Puce and Red)."

Add the following description of Puce Tokens to the list in the same rule:

* Puce : Wild (may be used in place of any other plastic token, the user
specifying which tokens are being replaced in the comments at the end of eir
turn)

Add the following details of the [Silver to Puce] action to Rules 1.7.21
(Bureau de Change) and 1.7.16 (Neutral Actions):

Action	Cost/Paid	Received
[Silver to Puce]	1 Silver	2 Puce

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Proposal 532 - Platform Soles [amendment]

Add the following to the table in Rule 1.14.2 (Stack 'em High, Sell 'em Cheap):

Sequence of tokens:	Reward:
Red Red Green Blue Red	+3 Blue Tokens
Red Black Red Black Green Blue	+2 Silver Tokens
Blue Green Green Red Black	+1 Gold Token

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Proposal 533 - Last One to Amersham is a Cissy [enactment]

While a player's piece has a charge greater than +100% or less than -100%, eir
LV may be increased (but only by the normal means) up to a maximum of 20. If a
player's LV is above 10 when eir charge is calculated, and eir new charge is
less than +100% or greater than -100%, eir LV may remain at its current value
until lowered but may not be raised again by any means until it has fallen
below 10, at which point the maximum LV for that player is reset to the default
value.

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---

From: Richard Brockie <rmb@r...>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 15:48:15 +0100 (BST)

> 2. Musical Chairs [Enactment]

Hurrah!

> Repeal Rule 0.3.3 (Wake Up, Damn You).

Hurrah!

> Proposal 528 - All the Right Moves [Multiple]

Upon first inspection, seems to wrap this thorny problem up, but for one
caveat.

> Action-related changes to position. This may be referred to simply 

Perhaps a bullet detailing the Action part of the Turn is required for
completeness.

> "A Round is a sequence of Turns in which all Active Players Play. 

Hurrah!

Hurrah! An exciting proposal...

> {The more the merrier...}

Sorry, but I don't think so...

> and four Plastic (Black, Blue, Green, Puce and Red)."
^^^^
Should be "five".

> specifying which tokens are being replaced in the comments at the end of eir

I just don't like this idea.

> Proposal 533 - Last One to Amersham is a Cissy [enactment]

Sounds like a laugh...

--- miKi