[s-d] Protoprop: New Subgame

[Daniel Lepage <dpl33@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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