[spoon-discuss] Races 1: Mass

["Orc In A Spacesuit" <orcinaspacesuit@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

All right, here's the revisions to the way things are carried, giving 
everything a mass, and those who can carry a carrying capacity.  It's 
written as if it were modifying the current ruleset, but it shouldn't be too 
hard to adjust for whatever proposals pass.

I don't propose the following, as this is only for discussion:
{{__Carryable Objects and Mass__

In this proposal, the delimiters "{-{" and "}-}" are used to group multiple 
changes to a single rule.

Create the following rule:
{{__Mass__
All carryable objects have the attribute Mass, which is a number.  The 
default Mass is 5.

If an entity holds objects whose combined Mass are greater than 10 times eir 
Strength, e gets -X Speed, where X is the difference in 10 times eir 
Strength and the combined Mass of the objects.  If an entity holds objects 
whose combied Mass is at least 20 times eir Strength, e may not board or 
disembark from an Airspeeder, catch or pick up any object, purchase any 
object that is moved into eir inventory upon purchasing, or enter the Grid.  
No entity may pick up, catch, Force Catch, Force Pull, Force Intercept or 
purchase any object if it would result in the entity holding objects with a 
combined mass greater than 25 times eir Strength.  The previous two 
sentences takes precedence over any rule that permits any of those actions.

Each Airspeeder has the attribute Maximum Load.  If the total Mass of all 
objects within the Airspeeder, including objects held by players, then 
Airspeeder may not move.  The previous sentence takes precedence over all 
rules that permit an Airspeeder to move.  The default Maximum Load of an 
Airspeeder is 1000.  [[Perhaps upgrades could improve this, and maybe 
upgrades could also weigh it down]].

Gnomes in Gnome Bags have 0 Mass.  This supercedes other effects that modify 
or dictate the mass of Gnomes in Gnome Bags.

Following is a list of Base Masses for different kinds of objects.  An 
object's Mass is equal to this Base Mass plus the Mass of all objects that 
it contains, carries, or possesses.  The default Base Mass is 5.

Any object with a Constitution: 10 times its Constitution
Any beverage: 1
Sledge-O-Matic: 40
Shield: 20
Ball of Wax: 2
Ball of Earwax: 2
Shears: 4
Sponge: 2 (Dry)
Sponge: 8 (Wet)
Towel: 3 (Dry)
Towel: 10 (Wet)
Athame: 15
Big Stick: 20
Pinball Gun: 15
Small Lump of Scrap Metal: 25
Large Lump of Scrap Metal: 70
Gnome: 10 [[Those in bags count as 0, see above]]
Football: 2
Bonus Box: 5
Ring: 1
Bread: 2
Olive: 1
Beer Can: 1
Airspeeder: 1000 (without upgrades)
Big Rock: 10000 (without Siren)
Siren: 100
Ancient Monolith: 10000
Siren Bait: 10
Army: 10000
Improvements: 5000
The Improbable: 5000
Can of Whoopass: 5
Toad: 4
Service Mall: 10000 (includes components)
The Casino: 30000
The Tower of Babel: 30000
Temples: 20000
Hand: 3
Olive Trees: 150
Barney: 1000
Petunia: 10

If an object contains or carries any other object(s), the Mass of the 
carried or possessed object(s) is added to the Mass of the object that 
contains or possesses them.  (So a 100-Mass Human with a 20-Mass Shield 
would count as 120 Mass.  And if that 120-Mass Human enters a 1000-Mass 
Airspeeder, that Airspeeder would count as 1120 Mass.)
}}

In Rule 301/32, __The Grid__:
{-{
In section B.3, replace the first and third instances of "player" with 
"Player, a Gremlin, or the Yeti", and the second, fourth, and fifth 
instances of player with "object".  [[Inventories aren't just for players 
anymore.]]  Change "a" to "an" as necessary for proper grammar.  In 
addition, add the following to that section: {{Possessing a carryable object 
is the same as containing a carryable object.}}

In section B.4, change the first instance of "player" to "Player, Gremlin, 
Robot, or the Yeti".  Change the third paragraph to "If the square thrown at 
contains a Player, a Gremlin, Robot, or the Yeti, e may Catch the thrown 
object.  E may declare this catching any time while the object is Airborne.  
When an object is Caught, it enters the Catcher's possession."
}-}
[[End changes to Rule 301, __The Grid__]]

}}
Whew, after listing all those objects, and seeing where there are lists of 
objects in lots of places, I'm seriously thinking of doing a Less is More in 
the form of a massive table.

Or, at least I was, when I first wrote this set of text maybe 3 nweeks ago.  
Now everyone's talking about standardizing stuff.

Also, the reason I list masses for stationary and/or impassible objects is 
that who knows when/if such might ever actually be used... and if such 
values ever become important, we don't need Big Rocks having the default 5 
Mass.

Anywhere there's a number, I made something up.  It's all flexible if you 
don't like something.

Oh, and Petunias:  They don't currently exist, but as part of Movement, I 
made a change to how the IDD worked.  I believe it's in the 3rd Hitchhiker's 
Guide book that the IDD summoned a Petuinia.

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