[s-d] Proto: Paprika

["Jamie Dallaire" <bad.leprechaun@xxxxxxxxx>]

Not a proper version of the game including the mechanisms for secrecy or
some dm or dm-bot. Just a set of rules by which the game of Paprika could be
played in the Field Match framework (which would require modifications for
private displays and such of course). Please suggest modifications/discuss
them as I will be attempting to run an informal game with whoever wants to
volunteer to play it (just 3-4 players would probably be best at this point)
and tracking all private displays as well as the true gamestate openly on my
page of the wiki (or elsewhere if that works better). I guess I will start
in a few days, maybe around the start of next nweek or whenever it looks
like no one is suggesting huge changes/I have the time to do it.

I'm not worried about wording or minor technicalities at this point.

Paprika Field Match
-----------------------------

*Field:* 8x12 square (not a torus!) with squares in both diagonal and
cardinal directions adjacent. The Field is Turned at every occurence of
00:00 UTC.

*Displays:* Each Player has eir own Private Display of their Perceived
Gamestate (including the Field and Field objects, as well as the Priority
List). There exists no publicly-available Display, though one showing the
True Gamestate will be available for the practice.

*Victory:* a Player wins when their Avatar reaches (in the True Gamestate)
the top row of the Field.

*Priority List:* Randomly-determined at the start of the game, setting all
Avatars in order. Priority List may change thereafter based on certain
invokable actions. The effects of actions (all are invokable) occur in order
according to the Priority List when the Field is Turned. All other Field
Objects stay at the end of this List, permanently (there but they might as
well not be).

*Dreams vs Reality:* Each Player is, on any given nday, in Dream
(Sleeping) or in Reality (Awake, Waking). Each Players Waking/Sleeping state
is determined randomly and independently at the beginning of an nday and is
never revealed to the Player (well excep tin Practice...). Actions taken
while Awake affect the true Gamestate as well as the Perceived Gamestates
of the Acting Player and of all other Waking Players (unless anything else
prevents it IN ANY GIVEN PLAYER'S PERCEIVED GAMESTATE... such as a
Freeze-Ray). Actions taken while Sleeping have no effect on the true
Gamestate but do affect the Perceived Gamestates of the Acting Player and of
all other Waking Players. Some examples:

BobTHJ is, in reality, Frozen. Any actions he takes on his next turn will
not affect Gamestate. In his perceived Gamestate, he is not Frozen. He
thinks he can do whatever he wants. He takes an action: to move his avatar
forward one space. He sees his Avatar move forward, but the True Gamestate
does not Change. BobTHJ is Awake at this point. Hose, who is also Awake but
did not see BobTHJ get Frozen, sees BobTHJ move forward. Wooble is also
Awake but did see BobTHJ get Frozen. He does not see BobTHJ move forward.
LASD and all his Sleeping buddies do not see BobTHJ do anything.

*Relativity: *All Actions are situated RELATIVE to the Acting Player's own
Avatar, individually in every Display. i.e. when an Avatar moves to the
right, any other Display in which this Action is Perceived will have him
moving to the right (if the Action doesn't fail in that display, see below)
regardless of where the Avatar is standing to begin with. For some displays
this might involve the Avatar falling into a hole, for other not, for
example.

*Field Objects:*
- Avatars (one for each Player)
- Hole (Standing on one sets an Avatar's vertical coordinate down by 4 ---
this can send you under walls or any other field object)
- Springboard (Standing on one sets an Avatar's vertical coordinate up by 3
--- this can send you over walls or any other field object)
- Wall (No Avatar may enter a square that contains a Wall)

Besides Avatars, some of these Field Objects will be placed on the Field at
the start of the game by the Referee. More of some of these may also be
placed by Players during the course of the Field Match.

Any Avatars which move off the Board (by moving, being pushed,
springboarded, holed, leapfrogging, etc.) or whose position cannot be
determined with certainty are returned to their initial square.

*Invokable Actions (of Avatars)*:* *Anytime a Player declares he is taking
an action (at most once per nday (one of ANY action per nday, not one of
each)), that Action is taken. An Action is considered to be taken regardless
of whether it truly affects gamestate (it wouldn`t if the player's sleeping)
or of whether or not it fails (which it does if one of its conditions is not
fulfilled). The only Global Condition is that a Player must not be Frozen
(i.e. any Action taken while Frozen fails). The following Actions along with
any OTHER conditions associated are possible:

- MOVE - Player's Avatar moves to an adjacent square in a specified
direction.
     - Conditions: None

- LEAPFROG - Player's Avatar moves two adjacent squares in a specified
direction.
     - Condtions: There is another Avatar situated on an adjacent square in
the specified direction.

- CUT THE LINE - Player's Avatar is moved to the top of the Priority List.
     - Conditions: None.

- CLEAR - Any Field Object(s) (other than an Avatar) in the adjacent square
in a specified direction ceases to exist.
     - Conditions: There is at least one Field Object (other than an Avatar)
in the adjacent square in the specified direction.

- DIG - A Hole is formed in an adjacent square in a specified direction.
     - Conditions: There exist no Field Objects (other than Avatars) in the
adjacent square in question.

- BUILD - A Wall is formed in an adjacent square in a specified direction.
     - Conditions: There exist no Field Objects in the adjacent square in
question.

- PUSH - An Avatar in an adjacent square in a specified direction is moved 2
squares in that direction (and is considered to step over the intervening
square... if the Avatar can move a single square but is somehow (e.g. a
wall) prevented from moving to the second square, he simply stops after the
first square)
     - Condtions: There is an Avatar in the adjacent square in the specified
direction, and this Avatar would not be prevented by a Field Object (but the
Avatar may be Frozen) from MOVEing to the first adjacent square to himself
in the specified direction.

- FREEZE - Any Avatars (other than the Acting Player's) on the same square
as the Acting Player's or within a 2-square radius in a specified direction
(always specify a direction... the same-square deal always applies) becomes
Frozen and the next 2 Actions taken by each Frozen Avatar's Player Fail
automatically.
     - Conditions: None

- DUCK - The Acting Player's Avatar is unaffected by PUSH or FREEZE Actions
taken by other Players until the Acting Player's next Action is taken.

- TILT - All Avatars are moved (if possible) one square in a specified
direction.
     - Conditions: Acting Player did not take any Action during the previous
nday.

- FOCUS - The Private Display for the Acting Player is updated such that the
square containing his Avatar (in Reality, so this also reveals the Avatar's
location) and all adjacent squares reflect the True Gamestate.
     - Conditions: Acting Player did not take any Action during the 2
previous ndays.

So... I think that provides a good bit of variety in terms of actions. If
you think any should be switched up or you have some cool new ones to add,
do say so please!

If you are up for trying out an open non-secret game like I spoke of above,
please tell me and I will put your name down. We can change the dimensions
of the Field depending how many people we have, I guess.

Finally, does my memory deceive me or is there an old calvinball listserv
kicking around somewhere that we could use for this in order to avoid
spamming our regular lists?

Cheers,

Billy Pilgrim
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