Subject: MN: Year 2, Week 3 Proposals

From: dunx@l... (Duncan Ellis (Dunx))
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 21:34:33 GMT

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MORNINGTON NOMIC

Proposals for Voting on in Week Three
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Proposal 694 - Charge Spiral Updates [Multiple]

I propose changing Rule 1.19.5 to have this wording:

"Rule 1.19.5 - Charge Spiral

Any Player may perform the neutral Action "[Charge Spiral Inwards]" or
"[Charge Spiral Outwards]" to put a Charge Spiral into effect.

When a Charge Spiral Inwards is in effect, any Move which does not
involve a decrease in the Moving Piece's Charge is Illegal. A Charge Spiral
Inwards remains in effect until a Piece rests at Tottenham Court Road at the
end of any Turn.

When a Charge Spiral Outwards is in effect, any Move which does not involve
an increase in the Moving Piece's Charge is Illegal. A Charge Spiral
Outwards remains in effect until a Piece rests at a Terminal Station witha
Current of 70 or more at the end of any Turn."

The price of a Charge Spiral, either Inwards or outwards, should remain as
it is.

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Proposal 695 - No Voting For Yourself... [Amendment]

Amend the first paragraph of Rule 0.5.2 to read:
"All Active Players may cast votes on current Proposals by sending
eir votes in an email to the Speaker with a subject line of "MN: Votes"
(if the email does not have this subject line, the votes may be
considered invalid.) No player may cast a Vote on a Proposal that e
proposed emself, and any such Vote submitted is invalid. Inactive
Players may not vote, and any votes cast by an Inactive Player are
considered invalid."
*Alter the Kudos table to remove the reference to Players voting
for eir own Proposals.
{Comment: Is there really a point in allowing a Player to vote for
eir own Proposal but penalising eir Kudos for it?...}

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Proposal 696 - No Hiding Place (1) [Multiple]

Repeal Rule 1.4.16 (Nantucket) and remove all reference to the
Action of "Reshuffling" in the Action Table. Any Possessions contained
in the Nantucket of any player are to be moved into that Player's normal
Possessions in eir Luggage Rack (i.e. the asterisks are removed from
around the Possession.)

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Proposal 697 - No Hiding Place (2) [Multiple]

-Remove the Money Belt from the Emporium.
-Remove the sentence "This effect specifically overrides Money"
Belts from Rule 1.7.48 (Blonking). This Rule should also be renumbered
into Section 1.10 (as an anti-Player action) along with the reference to
it in the Action Table.
-Remove the bracketed paragraph beginning "(If the Shunted Player
possesses a Money Belt...)" from Rule 1.10.1
-And remove the Money Belt reference from Rule 2.4.4.

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Proposal 698 - Shockwaves!

Amend Rule 2.4.4 (Ruttsborough Ruleset, "Crash Barrier"), amending
the list of affected Players from "in the same Quadrant" to "whose
location is less than (n) stations away from the Crashing Player, where
(n) is half the Crashing Player's LV,"
{Comment: Shockwaves aren't *THAT* powerful, honest... and the idea
is that the higher the LV of the player, the greater the area of effect.
But a potential 15-station radius struck me as too powerful even for a
Rutts game.}

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Proposal 699 - Drivebacks (Enactment, Ruttsborough Special Ruleset
only)

A player may perform the Action [<n>-station Driveback on <Line>],
where <Line> is a Line that passes throught the Station e is situated on
and <n> is equal to or less than the Actioning Player's LV.
Upon performing this Action, all Players on that Line are moved a
distance of <n> stations along that Line (or to a Terminus, if this is
closer) in a Line Direction which is directly away from the Actioning
Player. The Actioning Player loses <n> points of LV.
If a Driveback would result in a player being driven through a
Blocked Station or to a Closed Station, then the affected player stops
at the station immediately prior to the Blocked or Closed Station, as if
it were a Terminus.
Any player whose Piece cannot be moved the full distance of <n>
stations - whether this is prevented by a Terminus, Closed or Blocked
Station - loses one Plastic Token of the Actioning Player's choice.
New Action: [Driveback on <Line>] 20-min Post-Move, cost 3 Red.

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Proposal 700 - Ever Decreasing Circles [Multiple]

1. Still Right Here, Where I Always Was [Amendment]

Reword Rule 1.8.6 (Loop the Loop) to:-

A Game may be in one of several Loop states, each of which must have the
following defining features:-

* One or more Trap Stations.
* A Sidestep Action to allow a Player to avoid being drawn into the
Loop.
* A Terminate Action to allow a Player to end the Loop.

During a Player's Turn, if the previous Turn (other than those which
includes a Loop Sidestep Action or a Move of "Pass") saw that Player's
Piece ending that Turn at a Trap Station, the current Player is caught
in the relevant Loop. When caught, moving to any Station other than the
Next Station is an Invalid Move, and a Special Move to the next listed
Trap Station for that Loop is permitted (if no more are listed, a
Special Move to the first in the list is permitted).

If a Player performs the Sidestep or Terminate Action, e ignores the Loop
for the remainder of eir Turn.

{ Simplification ahoy, with a fairly large dose of How I Think Loops Should
Work. Loops become compulsory if you hit a Trap Station, rather than
optional (more of a force of nature than a tool of man), and by assuming
that we'll never have two Loops sharing a Trap Station (I see little
reason why we'd want such things) and that Loops have a fixed rather than
optional sequence, a lot of it can be cut down. This also uses proper
Moves to Loop Stations, rather than enforced Piece movement and a skipped
Move phase. }

2. Hello Dollis [Amendment]

If Rule 1.8.1 (Dollis Hill Loop) has more than one paragraph, remove the
first one.

{ Tidying up should my Proposal "A Special Need" have passed and put the
Dollis Loop into cold storage. }

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Proposal 701 - If Your Mansion House Needs Haunting [Action]

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Action Phase Rule Dur Cost Gain
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[Ghosting] Pre 1.11.x -1 Bk
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The London Underground has a number of disused or semi-existent Ghost
Stations - those featuring in the Game are Aldwych, Blake Hall, British
Museum, Brompton Road, Down Street, Hob's End, North End, North Weald,
Ongar and The Millennium Dome. Although not physically on the Map, they
are considered to be present on it.

A Player may perform the Action of "[Ghosting]" to slip away to a Ghost
Station - if this Action is performed, a Special Move to any empty Ghost
Station is permitted (a Ghost Station is empty if no Players are there).

Ghost Stations are not on any Line (a Line Code of "GH" should be used
where such a thing is required), nor in any Quadrant or Zone, have no
Venbacker Numbers and all have a Current of 50. They may not be Moved to
by any means other than Ghosting, and - not being connected to the
Underground by normal means - are an incalculable distance from other
Stations, adjacent to nowhere and requiring a suitable Special Move to
escape them.

{ Maybe a decent implemenation, at last? Ghost Stations are essentially
perpetually Wild, but aren't connected to normal Stations and can thus
only be escaped from by a Special Move (Homing or what have you, or even
Ghosting elsewhere). You can only Move to an empty Ghost Station, so
they become a network of hiding places.

At the end of the day, Ghosting just lets you sneak "off the Map" for
as long as you can afford to, with possible difficulty involved in
getting back.

And no, this won't break Capture the Flag games - you can't hide at a
Ghost Station with your Team's Flag, because you need to make a Special
Move to get there (and can't do so whilst carrying a Flag). }

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Proposal 702 - Bring Back Spanging [Multiple]

1. Spangers and Mash [Amendment, Repeal]

Remove the "[Spanging...]" Action and Repeal Rule 1.7.35 (Spanging Offence).

2. Spanging Offence [Enactment, Section 1.4]

If a Player is carrying a Spanger, e may perform Shunt Actions free of
charge, and eir Line Velocity is not decreased when performing them.

{ Repealing old girlfriends' rules is on something of a par with
throwing away the more traditional relationship relics, really - I'll
just adjust the concept of the Spanger, instead, I think, which has been
sadly under-used since its original inception. }

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Proposal 703 - Clamp-Tampering [Multiple]

In Rule 1.7.49 (Vermicious Knids), replace "A Player may remove a Knid
Clamp by playing the "De-Knidding" Action while situated at eir Home
Station with an LV of zero." with "A Player may destroy a single Knid
Clamp in eir Possession, by performing the Action of "[De-Knidding]"
whilst at eir Home Station."

Also reduce the cost of the De-Knidding Action from two Blue Tokens to
zero Tokens, and increase the cost of the Knidding Action from two
Reds to four Reds.

{ Getting Home, slowing down *and* paying two Blues just seemed
preposterous - as in Greek legend, just getting Home should be
enough.

Two Reds to give a Knid Clamp is *far* too cheap, as well, really;
regarding Knidding as an Action which says "Target Player who
shares a Station with you cannot win the Game until he returns to
eir Home Station", it's rather powerful. Being able to do this for
a mere brace of Reds - or just one in Ruttsborough - seems absurd. }

In Rule 1.4.27 (The Narg Clamp explained), remove the third paragraph
(that which bans moving to the Crescent or performing Actions involving
Blue Tokens).

Also adjust the cost of the Narging Action from one Red, one Bronze,
one Blue to three Red.

{ Simplifying the aim of the Clamp (another 'you can't win' clause
seems over the top, and the Blue denial seems arbitrary) and making
the cost a little more expensive, with more correct use of colour. }

Move Rule 1.7.4 (Open the Cutlery Drawer, Mrs Higgins), Rule 1.7.43 (The
Velocity Bomb), Rule 1.7.44 (The Green Clamp) and Rule 1.7.49
(Vermicious Knids) to Section 1.4 (Tokens and Possessions). If any of
those Rules have been moved already, though, don't bother.

{ Putting them along with the rest of the Clamps, unless they all got moved
elsewhere by Proposal 687 last Week. }

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Proposal 704 - Run and Hyde [Multiple]

Reword Rule 1.7.38 (Jekyll and Hyde Park) to:-

A Player may perform the Action "[Hyde Transformation]" to gain the Hyde
Mask Possession, provided they are situated at Hyde Park Corner. The
Hyde Mask is a Unique Possession.

If a Player carries the Hyde Mask, e may increase or decrease eir Line
Velocity by five rather than three. Also, any Actions which target the
Player have their Token cost increased by one Red Token, and any
Actions e performs have their Token cost reduced by one Red Token.

If a Player carries the Hyde Mask, e may not pass through or Move to
Holy Stations, nor may e perform the "[Opening MC]" Action.

If anyone is currently Transformed in any Games, they cease to be so
and gain the Hyde Mask. This paragraph then removes itself from the
ruleset.

Alter the cost of the "[Hyde Transformation]" Action to one Blue Token and
two Red Tokens.

{ Tweaked for congruity - rather than appending an (H) to one's name and
having rules for one-at-a-time, this just makes the Mr(s) Hyde trait a
Unique Possession. I've taken the opportunity to make the thing a
little more powerful, too (one extra Red to hit em with *any* Action,
and a Ruttsboroughesque cheapening of their own offensive Actions), since
it's not been used very much. }

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Dunx
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From: kevan@d...
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 12:29:05 -0000

> Proposal 694 - Charge Spiral Updates [Multiple]

A Good Thing, as discussed.

>eir own Proposal but penalising eir Kudos for it?...}

Well, it allows Players to sacrifice a little Kudos to try and push
through a Proposal they really want to see pass; I think it's nice to
have the option to push certain Proposals harder than others.

This would be an issue if everyone was just voting in favour of their
own Proposals and unbalancing things, but as it's not the case, I
don't think we've got a problem on our hands.

>Proposal 696 - No Hiding Place (1) [Multiple]

Hmm. Maybe a good idea, but it seems particularly pleasing to have such
a Liff reference, and there has been some strategic use of the thing. Are
there any good arguments for killing this one?

>Proposal 697 - No Hiding Place (2) [Multiple]

I preferred the stealable Money Belt idea from a few Weeks back, myself.
Being able to buy *some* form of Token protection seems important.

>Proposal 699 - Drivebacks (Enactment, Ruttsborough Special Ruleset

A very interesting Shunt variation, and I'd look forward to seeing how this
turned out in practice. Why only a Ruttsborough rule, though?

Kevan

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