Subject: MN: Year 3, Week 1 Proposals

From: dunx@l... (Duncan Ellis (Dunx))
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 22:09:51 GMT

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MORNINGTON NOMIC

Proposals for Voting on in Week One
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Proposal 672 - 50Hz Notch Filter [Multiple]

Remove all mention of the Drone in the Ruleset. Specifically,

* Remove the last two bullet points in the list in Rule 1.1.2, and change
the sentence "When a game has at least three Players (including the Drone),
..." to read "When a game has at least two Players, ..."
* Remove the Drone's entry in the sample GSD of Rule 1.2.0
* Remove the Drone Stick posession in the sample Luggage of rule 1.4.12
* Remove the Action [Claiming Drone Stick] from Rule 1.7.2
* Remove the sentence "The Drone may not perform this Action" in Rule 1.7.27
* Change the sentence in Rule 1.11.2 that reads "If neither Pick-Up nor
Destination Station is defined, any Player (except the Drone) may perform
..." to read "If neither Pick-Up nor Destination Station is defined, any
Player may perform ..."
* Remove Section 1.15 entirely (repealing Rules 1.15.1 and 1.15.2)
* Change the sentence in Rule 2.6.1 that reads "A Team Game may only
commence if each Team has an equal number of Players and if there are at
least five Players in the Game (including the Drone)." to read "A Team Game
may only commence if each Team has an equal number of Players and if there
are at least four Players in the Game."
* Repeal Rule 2.6.3.

{The Drone hasn't been used in the last, oh, six or so games, and it seems
to be now almost totally moribund (especially now that the rules are getting
larger and more complex). Sorry, but it's dead wood.}

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Proposal 673 - Contracrostipunctus II [Amendment]

Rewrite Rule 1.5.0 to read:

There are three ways for a Player's Piece Move to be Valid:

1) If the Move is either the word "Pass" or the word "Timeout", then this
is known as a Passed Move. The Move is Valid and the Piece stays at its
current Station.

2) If the Move uses one of the following Actions (only one of these allowed
per Turn):
* Home (Rule 1.12.1)
* Wild (Rule 1.11.1)
* Marmalade Sandwiches (Rule 1.4.16)
* Striling (Rule 1.7.12)
* Stubbery (Rule 1.7.33)
* Walking (Rule 1.7.10)
In this case, the Move is known as a Special Move. The Move is Valid, and
the Piece is moved directly to the specified Station without passing
through any other Stations.

3) Otherwise, the Move is known as a Standard Move. All Stations in the
Map currently under play (by default, the Map defined in Rule 1.17.1) are
Valid. The Player must then check through all the Rules and checks in the
following list to determine if any one of them makes the Move Invalid.
Once the Move is Invalid, it cannot be revalidated by another Rule.

Actions of other Players may move a Piece before or after its owner's Turn
without that Piece in turn being required to comply to these checks. In
other words, these checks are only applied to a Piece during the Piece's
owner's Turn.

1. LV Checks

* If the distance between the target Station and the Player's current
Piece Location is not precisely the same as that Player's LV, the Move
becomes Invalid.

2. Trivial Fares

* Line Changing (Rule 1.5.11)

3. Blocks, Impediments and Gaps

* Blocks (Rule 1.9.1)
* Damaged Stations (Rule 1.11.3)
* The Podume of Infinite Darkness (Rule 1.4.24)
* Closed Lines and Stations (Rule 1.13.4)
* Other Players' Home Stations (Rule 1.12.3)
* Power Failures (Rule 1.7.8)
* Maelberg Variances (Rule 1.7.17)
* Gapminding (Rule 1.7.7)
* Bridges (Rule 1.8.3)
* Circle Line Polarisation (Rule 1.8.5)
* Construction Lines (Rule 1.5.10)
* Heathrow Traversal (Rule 1.5.7)

4. Loops and Cascades

* Dollis Hill Loop (Rule 1.8.1)
* Parks and Greens Cascade (Rule 1.8.2)
* Charge Spiral (Rule 1.19.5)

5. First Turn

* If this is the Player's first Turn in the Game, eir Home
Station is a Valid Move and all other Stations are Invalid.

6. Unused Actions

* If the Actioning Player performed a pre-Move Action to make a
particular type of Move Valid, and did not play such a Move,
eir Move becomes Invalid.

Stations "passed through" during a Move are all of those along the route
which the Player's Piece has taken, excepting the Station it started and
ended the Move at.

{Added in the clause about only having to apply these checks during the
Piece's Owner's turn. This, as far as I can see, fixes Dunx' main concern,
and also plugs an inconsistency in the ruleset that was unstated but could
have been challenged.}

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Proposal 674 - Like A Broken Pencil [Amendment]

Amend Rule 1.1.9 (What Do Points Mean?) such that its second paragraph reads
thus:

Whenever a Player Wins a Game of Mornington Crescent, e gains one Point
for every other Player in that Game when it finishes (other than Team-
mates) who had more Points than em, and also gains two bonus Points.

{ Comment: this just makes explicit the way the Speaker is running the
Points system at the moment.
}

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Proposal 675 - Loopus Loopus [Multiple]

{ Comment: there are a couple of terminological inexactitudes in the loop
references - most references to DH loops should now be to the more general
loop construct, apart from where DH is specified as being a special case
of same. And so... }

[Amendment: Loopus Interruptus]
Amend Rule 1.5.0 (Valid Moves) such that the reference to the Dollis Hill
shall be replaced with the following line:

* Loop state (Rule 1.8.6)

[Amendment: Mini Looper]
Amend Rule 1.10.1 (A Shunting We Will Go) such that the third bullet shall
read thus:

* The Shunted Player's initial location is not a Loop trap Station.

[End of Loopus Loopus]

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Proposal 676 - Free Range [Enactment]

Range Classes define the location of the target or destination of an Action,
relative to the Player performing the Action, at the time the Action is
performed. The following list is in the format:

Range Class : Range Class Name. Range Class Description.

1a : Isolocation. At the same station, on the same line.
1b : Interstation. At the same interchange, not on the same line.
1c : Costation. At the same named station, not on the same line.
2a : Expectoration. On the same Line Segment, or in a Segment that is
reachable without a change in Line Direction, in the same Zone and Quadrant.
2b : Feline-rotation. On the same Line in the same Zone and Quadrant.
3a : Shuntation. On the same Line Segment, or in a Segment that is
reachable without a change in Line Direction.
3b : Observation. In the same Zone and Quadrant.
4a : Echolocation. In the same Quadrant.
4b : Tergiversation. In an adjacent Quadrant.
5a : Misinformation. Not in any of the above Range Classes.

Range Classes are compared alphanumerically - 1a is lower than 1b and 2a is
higher than 1c. Each Range Class implicitly includes all the Range Classes
lower than it. Future additions should slot in between the above Range
Classes in such a way that this implication is still true.

Note that some of the Range Class Names are supposed to be funny.

{This is just to get the general idea into the ruleset before we start
setting up all the relevant Actions with appropriate Range Classes. I'm
also hoping to get people filling in any gaps I haven't thought of. The
point is not to include every single possibility (that would be futile) but
to categorise the type of interaction. Note also that this Rule doesn't
deal with LV, or moves that require you to be in a certain LV range. That's
another matter entirely.}

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Proposal 677 - No more albums [Multiple]

Enact a Rule called "Singularity" with the following text between the lines:

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Actions can be Singular, denoted by a separate column "Singular" (or "S" for
neatness) in Rule 1.7.2. By default, Actions are Co-operative - not
Singular - so this need not be stated.

Only one Singular action can be performed in each Phase of a player's Turn.
This means that one Singular Action (of type Pre-Move or Neutral) can be
performed in the Pre-Move Action Phase, and one Singular Action (of type
Neutral or Post-Move) can be performed in the Post-Move Action Phase.

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Alter the following Actions so that they are denoted as Singular (a "Y" in
the "S" column), and, if present, remove any sentence or phrase in the
associated Rule to the effect that the Action concerned may only be
performed as the first Action of the Post-move Action Phase.

[Shadowing <Player>] (Rule 1.7.25)
[Shunting <Player>] (Rule 1.7.25)

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Proposal 678 - We Regret To Announce... [Multiple]

{ Comment:
This is something which has been mentioned before, if only to diss it, but
the concept behind this Proposal is to have a place where we can record
long term interruptions in service such as Bulkheads, Pegs, whatever.

The objections raised to this idea previously are that it will further
bloat the GSD header, but the fact of the matter is that the long term
effects have not been used extensively to date and that an interruptions
box like this will not pad the top of the GSD anywhere near as much as has
been feared.

This is particularly true when Station Damage is incorporated. In tweaking
Station Damage in this way, I've also taken the opportunity to fix a couple
of bugs in the way it was defined (particularly the repair of heavily
damaged stations).
}

[Enactment: Disrupted Services]
Within the GSD, there shall be a box labelled "Disruptions" following
the example format below -

+- Disruptions ---------------------------------------------------------+
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Any Station, Line Segment, or other component of the Map whose access is
restricted by Player action where that effect does not have a definite
duration (eg one Round) shall be recorded in this box along with an
indication of the nature of the effect. The sequence of items in the box
shall match the order in which the disruptions occurred.

Duplicate items are permitted - since sequence may be significant, any
such repetition should be preserved: that is, having the same effect
happen twice to the same Station means two entries in the box (unless
explicitly banned, of course).

Once a Disrupted Map component has had an effect cleared, the
corresponding item shall be removed from the box.

eg Wembley Park has been Bulkheaded, and Euston has been double Pegged.

+- Disrupted Services --------------------------------------------------+
| Euston (Peg), Wembley Park (Bulkhead), Euston (Peg) |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Amendment: What's the Damage?]
Amend Rule 1.11.3 (Station Damage) as follows:

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 are
treated as Blocked until repairs are complete.

The following notations shall be applied to Damaged Stations in the
Disruptions box:

Lightly Damaged - (Damage)
Heavily Damaged - (*Damage*)

Whenever Game Time moves into a new day, the first Damaged Station listed
in Disruptions shall be removed:

* if the Damage was Light, then the effect is cleared

* if the Damage was Heavy, then the Station is now considered to
be Lightly Damaged and shall be added to Disruptions as if the
Damage had just occurred.

{ Comment: this second point fixes some broken wording in the Station Damage
Rule, where a Heavily Damaged Station is implied to go direct to entirely
clear in one step (which is both counter-intuitive, and counter to the
original intent. }

[Amendment: Peggy Sioux]
Amend Rule 1.11.4 (Peg Leg) by adding the following paragraph to it:

A Pegged Station is indicated in Disruptions by the suffix "(Peg)"
appended to the Station name.
eg Euston (Peg)

[Amendment: Peggy Sioux II]
Amend Rule 1.7.41 (Pegs Tie) by adding the following paragraph to it:

A Pegged Line Segment is indicated in Disruptions by the suffix "(Peg)"
appended to the affected Line Segment, the Line Segment being described by
its end Stations and the affected Line Code.
eg Angel to Bank (NT) (Peg)

[Amendment: Bulk Buy]
Amend Rule 1.7.26 (Bulkheading) by adding the following paragraph to it:

A Bulkheaded Station is indicated in Disruptions by the suffix
"(Bulkhead)" appended to the Station name.
eg Wembley Park (Bulkhead)

[Amendment: Maelberg Varied]
Amend Rule 1.7.17 (Maelberg Variance) by adding the following paragraph to
it:

A Maelberged Station is indicated in Disruptions by the suffix
"(Maelberg)" appended to the Station name.
eg Paddington (Maelberg)

[End of We Regret To Announce...]

{ Comment: there is scope for including Bridge, Knip, and even Circle Line
state in this, but I thought that would best be left for another time.
What I really want to do here is to record something which is easily
overlooked at the moment. }

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Proposal 679 - Czech Variant [Special Ruleset]

{ Comment: Following up on the alternate movement styles discussion from
months ago, this is an attempt at chess on the Underground. }

[Enactment: Piece Maker]
In a Czech Variant Game, a Player has control of the following types of
pieces (with their analogue in chess):

* Commuter (king) - moves in the same way as a Vanilla Piece. The
Commuter is considered to own the LV, Tokens, and other Player
possessions.
* Driver (rook) - can move with an unlimited LV on its current line,
or on a line serving its start position. May only change line at
its start station.
eg an Inspector at Angel may Move to any Station on the Bank branch
of the Northern Line, or to any Station North of Camden Town or
South of Kennington.
an Inspector at Ealing Broadway may move freely to any Stationon
the Central or Piccadilly line not requiring a change in line
direction.
* Inspector (queen) - may move as an Inspector, or may Charge Tunnel
without cost in lieu of a Move.
eg a Shopper at Angel may Move to any Station on the Bank branch
of the Northern Line, or to any Station North of Camden Town or
South of Kennington. It may alternatively Charge Tunnel to Bank
(which would be pointless), Marble Arch or Knightsbridge.
* Busker (knight) - moves by straddling as if standing on a three token
stack.
* Tourist (pawn) - can move with an LV of 1, or to the first
interchange on its current line on its first Move.

A Player has one of each type of Piece except for the Tourist, of which ehas
four.

All Pieces are governed in their movements by Rules about changes in line
direction, obstructions on the Line, and so on, where those restrictions
apply to the movement form which that Piece uses.

Each Turn, a Player may Move a single piece under eir control. Which piece
has been Moved shall be indicated by placing the initial letter of the piece
in brackets after the Player's name. Viz:

Cryer (T): Turnham Green (PD)

[Enactment: No Overtaking]
No two Pieces in a Czech Variant Game may occupy the same Station, nor may
any Piece pass through a Station occupied by another Piece.

A corollary to this is that any Actions requiring co-location of Pieces may
not be played.

[Enactment: Take On Me]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Action Phase Rule Dur Cost Gain
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Taking <Piece>] Post ----- 20 -1 Re
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any Station which may be Moved to by a particular Piece is said to be
controlled by that Piece. A Piece occupying a Station which would otherwise
be controlled by an opposing Player's Piece is said to be threatened.

A threatened Piece may be removed from the Game if the attacking Piece is
Moved to that Station and plays the Post-Move Action of Taking. Thus:

Rushton (I): Latimer Road (HC) [Taking Tourist]

A Piece which has been Taken is removed from the Map and the Game.

[Taking] may not be performed on any Piece owned by the Taking Player, oron
a Commuter.

[Enactment: Checks and Balances]
A Commuter which is threatened is said to be in check.

A Commuter may not be Moved into check.

If a Commuter is in check, the owning Player must play a Move which will
take
the Commuter out of check either by blocking the control of the opposing
Piece, or by moving away from any controlled Stations.

If a Commuter cannot be taken out of check, then the owning Player is
considered to have lost. All that Player's Pieces are removed from the board
and eir name is parenthesised in the Token Table. That Player takes no
further
part in the Game.

If any Player succeeds in removing all other Players from the Game, then
that
Player is considered to have won just as much as if e had played Mornington
Crescent.

[Enactment: Jump Start]
Up to four Players may participate in a Czech Variant Game. There are
four sets of start positions for Pieces corresponding to the four Compass
Quadrants. These start positions are randomly allocated by the Speaker
before the Game begins.

Each non-Tourist (or major) Piece starts at an outlying Station, usually a
Terminus; the Tourists all start at a Station adjacent to a major Piece.

The start positions for each major Piece in each Quadrant are as follows:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | NE (1) | SE (2) | SW (3) | NW (4) |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Commuter | Epping | Beckton | Heathrow T 4 | Amersham |
| Inspector | Upminster | Island Gdns. | Wimbledon | Uxbridge |
| Driver | Walthamstow | New Cross | Richmond | Harrow & |
| | Central | | | Wealdstone |
| Busker | Stratford | Tower Gateway| Kensington | West Ruislip |
| | | | Olympia | |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

There are no Home Stations in the Czech Variant.

[Enactment: Passed Participal]
Only a Commuter may play a Move of Pass.

[Enactment: Promotional Material]
If a Tourist reaches the Meridian, it may be promoted to any other type of
Piece except a Commuter.

{ Comment: so - that's chess. Who's for Go? }

[End of Czech Variant]

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Proposal 680 - Not So Fast [Amendment]

Amend Rule 0.4.3 (Proposal Submission) to say that only three Proposals may
be submitted for a given Week.

{ Comment: There were some strenuous objections to the increase - it seems
only fair that these objections be aired. }

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Proposal 681 - Recapture the Flag [Amendment]

{ A return to the original Capture the Flag variant - the simple and
intuitive "capture another Team's Flag and carry it home" approach,
rather than the complex and bizarre "take opponents' Flags to Mornington
Crescent to get Gold Tokens, to teleport your Flag and to remove Players
from the game" (with, actually, no restriction upon rejoining the game
immediately) which managed to get through a few weeks ago. }

Amend Rule 2.8.5 (Winning) to read:-

If a Flag of a Team ever rests at the HQ of another Team, all members of
the latter Team immediately Win the Game.

No other conditions permit a Player to become the Winner.

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Proposal 682 - Hunt the Ostrich [Special Ruleset]

{ A Drone-hunting variant struck me as potentially interesting, and this
seemed the obvious implementation. I never caught the game on ISIHAC, and
only dimly perceived the York games, but I trust this isn't too far off the
mark. }

1. The Ostrich [Enactment]

In a Game of Hunt the Ostrich, the Drone is known as the "Ostrich". Any
Rules which refer to the Drone should be considered to refer to the
Ostrich. In addition, the Ostrick Stick is Indestructable.

To Win, a Player must Pounce the Ostrich. No other conditions permit a
Player to become the Winner.

2. Ostrich Actions [Enactment]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Action Phase Rule Dur Cost Gain
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Pouncing Ostrich] Neut x.x.x
[Giving Stick to <Player>] Neut x.x.x
[Run Run Run] Pre x.x.x -1 Bk
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If a Player is at the same Station as the Ostrich, is not carrying the
Ostrich Stick and has not given the Ostrich Stick away this Turn, e may
perform the Action of "[Pouncing Ostrich]". When a Player Pounces the
Ostrich, e Wins the Game.

If a Player is carrying the Ostrich Stick, e may perform the Action
"[Giving Stick to <Player>]", where "Player" is any Active Player other
than the Ostrich - the Stick is transferred to that Player's inventory.

The Ostrich may perform the Action of "[Run Run Run]"; upon performing
this Action, its LV is increased by 1.

3. Lynch the Ostrich [Enactment]

If the "Team Play" Special Ruleset is being used in conjunction with
"Hunt
the Ostrich", Players may only give the Ostrich Stick to Players on an
opposing Team.

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Proposal 683 - Fraud Squad [Amendment]

In Rule 1.14.4 (Token Claiming), add the words "nor for a Token which the
Actioning Player placed earlier in the Turn".

{ The "spending a Token then picking it up because you've passed its Station
earlier" loophole has been there for a while, and becomes - as RiffRaff
demonstrates - absurd on Quadrantless Maps such as the Paris Metro. }

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Proposal 684 - Neatly Wrapped [Amendment]

Repeal Rule 2.6.7 (What's mine is yours).

Rename Rule 2.6.6 (Post-Move Team Actions) to "What's Mine Is Yours" and
reword it to:-

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Action Phase Rule Dur Cost
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Giving <Possession> to <Player>] Neut 2.6.6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Player may perform the Action of "[Giving <Possession> to <Player>]"
to give a Small Possession they are carrying to another Player on the
same Team - upon performing this Action, the nominated Possession is
passed from the Actioning Player to the Targeted Player.

{ Combined into one Rule; such layout seems more reasonable. }

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Proposal 685 - Anti-Dairy Farm [Multiple]

{ Reproposal of some of the better ideas from a failed Proposal I made
back in Week 40, for lack of anything else to submit... }

1. Chalk Farm Denial [Enactment; Chalk Farm Special Ruleset]

If any Piece is situated at Chalk Farm, the action of "[Opening MC]"
may not be performed.

2. Landing Lite [Amendment]

Reword Rule 2.2.3 (Clearance Granted for Landing):-

When a Player performs an Action of "[Home: <Station>]", e may claim
a Zone Pass for any single Zone which contains that Station.

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Dunx
--
Ceci n'est pas un .sig

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