Daniel Lepage on Sat, 2 Oct 2004 01:06:59 -0500 (CDT)


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[s-d] Protoprop: New Subgame


Here's a protoprop I've just worked up for a new grid-based subgame. The image here is of a game played in the real world on a large rectangular board where the pieces are whatever random things are lying around, and the way they behave is made up on the spot.

I've only included the Checker and the Penny, but I challenge everyone to come up with good descriptions for pieces like the Pewter Hat, the Lego Brick, and the Piece of Lint.

At the moment there's not a lot here: this defines the board and pieces and tells how we can make moves. There's nothing like scoring, capturing, buying property, or anything like that from other games (though two pennies stacked on each other become a Checker, even if the lower one has a different owner). Add whatever's fun, but it's autotracked like PGo, so bear in mind that if you add overly complex things, you'll have to track them in order to use them.

Note the rotating Ministry, btw. I figured since most of the game's auto-tracking, the ministry shouldn't stay with any one player too long. Basically the Minister's job is just to update the rules in the Book of Piece; I doubt this will be a very strenuous job.

Once everyone's had a chance to look at this and tell me what's wrong with it, I'll propose it formally.

{{
__A New Subgame__

Create a new rule:
{{
__The Board Game__

A. Board Stiff

The Board is a Game Object. The Board consists of 110 squares arranged in a 10-by-11 grid. The rows are labeled in order with the numbers 0-9, with 0 being the uppermost row. The columns are labeled with the letters A-K, with A being the rightmost column. Each square may be uniquely identified by its row-number and column-letter (as in, A-5 or J-9).

B. Piece on Earth

Pieces are Game Objects that exist on the Board. Each piece occupies a single square; no more than one piece may occupy a square unless a rule specifies otherwise. Each piece has a type; the types of pieces and their properties are described in the Book of Piece. Each piece has a unique character associated with it, also specified in the Book.

The Book of Piece is a Rulebook; rules in the Book of Piece may be referred to as Piece Specifications, or P-Specs. P-Specs are assigned serial numbers independently of rules in other Rulebooks. Each P-Spec, upon creation, receives an id number equal to one higher than the highest id number of any current P-Spec.

P-Specs describe the existing types of pieces and their properties. In the event of a conflict between a P-Spec and rule in a different rulebook, the P-Spec will take precedence.

C. And It's a Draw

Each entity that can own pieces must have a unique character identifying it. For unowned pieces, the character used is a dash: '-'. When an Outsider becomes the owner of a Piece, e may choose any unused character (it must be a single printable ASCII character) to represent em.

An owned piece is thus represented by two characters, the first denoting the owner, the second denoting the type of piece.

A textual representation of the board thus is a grid drawn in ascii characters, with each piece properly represented at the correct location. [[ Much like the way a Political Go board is drawn]]

D. One Good Turn

Each Checking Period, each player may perform one move on The Board.

Legal moves are defined in the Book of Piece; only moves defined by the rules may be performed in this manner.

In general, each Piece has a move associated with it; it is implicit that only the owner of a piece may move it in this way unless the rules specify otherwise.

In order to perform a Move, a player must include with it an accurate textual representation of the board.
}}

Add a new section to r625 [[Ministries]]:
{{
D.9 The Ministry of the Board

The Ministry of the Board is a Ministry. Its Minister may be referred to as the GameKeeper. The GameKeeper is responsible for maintaining a public display of the Book of Piece. E is responsible for assigning id numbers to P-Specs and amending typos in them as well. E is also responsible for maintaining a publicly accessible textual representation of the board. [[Note that posting it to the mailing list periodically counts for this, as does relying on others' posts; nonetheless, it'd be nice of the Ministry of the Board put it on the wiki or something]]

Finally, e is responsible for posting correct boards after changes to the board that are not players' moves. [[ For example, if a proposal puts a new piece on the Board ]]

At the beginning of each nweek, if two or more nweeks have passed since the last time an election was called for the Ministry of the Board, the Ministry becomes open; however, the player who was Minister at the time it became open is expected to continue eir duties until the end of the election, and may give emself 20 points at the end of that nweek if e does. [[So the Ministry cycles often]]
}}

Create the following rules in the Book of Piece:
{{
__Starting Off__

Initially there are no pieces on the Board.

If a player has no pieces on the Board, then it is a legal move for em to create one piece of any type under their control on any square that is on the edge of the board (i.e., row 0, row 9, column A, or column K).

Otherwise, it is a legal move for a player to create one piece of any type under their control on any square that is on the edge of the board and is adjacent to a piece e controls.

Both of the above paragraphs defer to other rules in the Book of Piece.
}}

{{
__The Checker__

Checker is a type of Piece, denoted by 'O'.

The following are legal moves:
* Moving a Checker diagonally two spaces, provided that the destination square is empty and the intervening square is occupied by a piece. * Performing the above move an arbitrary number of times without the Checker ever landing on the same space twice.
}}

{{
__The Penny__

Penny is a type of Piece, denoted by '¢'.

The following are legal moves:
* Moving a penny one space horizontally or vertically to an unoccupied square. * Moving a penny one space horizontally or vertically onto another penny (not necessarily one you own); this causes both pieces to be replaced by a Checker that you own.
}}

}}

--
Wonko
Estimated amount of glucose used by an adult human brain each day, expressed in M&Ms: 250 -Harper's Index, October 1989 _______________________________________________
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