| Peter Cooper Jr. on Sun, 28 Aug 2005 19:18:50 -0500 (CDT) |
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| [s-n] Rules Archive 94/11 |
Attached is a copy of the rules as of nweek 94, nday 11, (or in real time, Tue Jul 26 22:25:24 UTC 2005) -- Peter C. I've discovered that I often visit the state of confusion, and I know my way around pretty well.
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B Nomic Ruleset
Section 0: Emergencies
Rule 0-0/6: Tweaks
At any time, regardless of the state of any time-keeping device in the game,
any player may submit a Tweak. A Tweak is a Motion.
Legal Votes on a Tweak are SECOND, OBJECT, and ABSTAIN.
Eligible Voters on a Tweak are all players.
Casting a Vote on an Open Tweak is a legal Game Action regardless of the
state of any time-keeping device in the game.
The Player who submitted a Tweak may not vote SECOND on that Tweak.
1 real-world day after a Tweak is created, it becomes Open.
6 real-world days after a Tweak becomes Open, it becomes Historical.
When a Tweak becomes Historical, if it received at least two SECOND Final
Votes and received no OBJECT Final Votes, the Tweak Passes.
Section I: Basics
Rule 1-1/0: The Game of B
The name of this game is B Nomic.
Rule 1-2/3: Objects
A Game Object is anything which exists within the context of the game. That
is, its existence must be sanctioned by the rules; the term Object shall be
an unambiguous synonym for Game Object in all Game Documents except where
specified otherwise. [[Note that this does not require the object's
definition to be in the ruleset; an object could be defined by reference to
an outside Document]]
An External Force is anything which exists independently of the game.
An Outsider is an External Force which is also an Object. [[ i.e., something
that exists outside of the game but is also acknowledged by the rules as
influencing the gamestate, and thus exists within the game as well, such as
a player.]]
A Game Document is a body of text specified as a Game Document by the Rules.
Game Documents are Game Objects. [[ which is true by definition, but we
might as well state it.]]
In a Game Document, with the exception of this paragraph, text between
doubled square brackets (that is, text between "[[" and "]]") shall be
deemed Comment Text and has no direct effect on the gamestate.
Rule 1-3/2: Actions
A Game Action is defined as any activity specified by the rules to be a Game
Action. Any Outsider may take any Game Action at any time unless the rules
say otherwise. To do this, e must specify to a Public Forum that e is taking
that action. E must also specify any targets necessary for that action [[for
example, you must specify a proposal in order to vote against a proposal]].
E may list multiple actions that e wishes to take, in which case e takes
them in the order e lists them. E may also state that e performs an action
multiple times, in which case e performs the action that many times (if
legal, of course) sequentially. The Rules also have the power to cause an
Outsider to take Game Actions whether e posts or not.
Should a player send an action to a private forum when a public is needed
for that action, the action is not taken unless there is a Minister in
charge of tracking the effects of that action and said Minister announces on
a public forum that e is recognizing the action (and repeats what the action
was). If the Minister does do this, then the action happens if it was
otherwise legal. The player attempting to perform the action may object
within one day of its recognition (or before the recognition) and assert
that it was not a true attempt at an action, in which case the action
doesn't happen, or is negated if it already happened. [[ So that if you
jokingly say "I give Wonko all my money" on spoon-discuss, you can object
when Wonko recognizes it.]]
An Outsider does not take a game action if the number of times the action is
repeated is infinite or cannot be determined [[so "I do X until my score
hits 100" is legal only if you can show that your score will hit 100 and
that it is possible to figure out how many times you do X before it
happens]].
Game Actions occur upon reaching the appropriate fora, in the order they
arrived, unless a rule states otherwise. A Game Action that is caused by a
Rule instead of by a Forum Post takes place at the time specified by the
rule.
A text to the effect that "any player may do X" should be interpreted to
mean that X is a Game Action; but such a declaration implies that only
players may take the Game Action X (unless another declaration permits other
Outsiders to as well).
Rule 1-4/0: Fora
A Forum is a means by which Outsiders can communicate. Fora may be Private
or Public; all Fora are Private until a rule makes them otherwise.
Rule 1-5/1: Revision
Game Documents may be specified by the rules as Revisable. Every Revisable
Document has a revision number associated with it. This is an integer that
is equal to zero when the Document is created and is increased by one every
time it is modified.
Note that an object that is not Revisable may still be changeable; it simply
will not be assigned revision numbers according to this rule.
The revision number may be specified by appending a slash (/) and the
revision number to the identifying number of the document.
Rule 1-6/0: Submission
The rules may state that it is legal for Outsiders to Submit certain
document types as a Game Action. To Submit a Game Document, an Outsider must
provide a full description of the Document in the Public Forum message where
they take the Action of Submitting.
Section II: Rules and Proposals
Rule 2-1/0: The Rules
Rules are Revisable Game Documents. They govern how the game is played. All
Outsiders must abide by all current rules at all times.
Rules may only be modified as described in the rules.
A Rulebook is a collection of Rules. Every Rule must be in a Rulebook; no
rule may be in more than one Rulebook.
The Ruleset is a Rulebook; all rules that are not in other Rulebooks are in
the Ruleset. Rulebooks themselves may be divided into Sections.
In each Rulebook, every Rule and Section is assigned an id number. Section
id numbers must be unique within that Rulebook; Rule id numbers must be
unique within each Section.
Each Rulebook must have a rule which mandates its existence; these rules
must always be in the Ruleset [[And thus not in any other book]].
Rule 2-2/0: Precedence
Should it happen that the text of one rule contradicts or otherwise
invalidates the text of another, the two rules are considered to be in
conflict. If one of the rules explicitly states that it takes precedence
over or defers to the other, and the other does not make a contrary claim,
these claims are used to determine which shall take precedence.
If this is not the case, then:
* If the two rules are in the same Section of the same Rulebook, the one
with the lower id number shall take precedence.
* If the two rules are in different Sections of the same Rulebook, the one
with the lower Section number shall take precedence.
* If the two rules are in different Rulebooks, precedence is determined as
if the conflict were between the rules defining the Rulebooks.
In the case of conflicting passages within the text of a single rule, the
text occurring later in the rule will take precedence over the earlier text.
This rule takes precedence over all other rules.
Rule 2-3/2: Proposals
Proposals are Motions.
A Proposal is owned by the entity that submitted it.
[[See rule 3-3 for more information.]]
Rule 2-4/3: Rules of Grammar
The following rules apply to all Game Documents. If a Revisable Game
Document is revised and a violation of one of the following rules is not
amended as part of the revision, the repeated error is treated as a new
violation.
The Grammar Nazi is expected to enforce the following rules:
* Correct spelling
* Proper use of commas and apostrophes
* Proper use of the following homonyms:
* there/their/they're
* your/you're
* its/it's
* lose/loose
Proper use of Spivak pronouns (when Spivak pronouns are used)
Proper use of adjectives vs. adverbs
Proper use of periods
Proper use of that/which
Every time a proposal is created or revised, the Grammar Nazi is required to
post a list of all violations of the above grammar rules, if any exist, to a
public forum. For each such list, the offending player is given two suck
points, plus one suck point for each violation not corrected within two
ndays of the Grammar Nazi's report. When a proposal passes, the player who
created it receives one Suck Point for each violation of the above rules in
that proposal. At the beginning of each nweek, each player with 10 or more
Suck Points loses 10 Suck Points and is able to propose one fewer proposal
that nweek than they would otherwise. This process is repeated until no
player has both 10 or more Suck Points and the ability to make one or more
proposals. A player may spend 1A at any time to have 5 Suck Points taken
away from them.
Rule 2-5/0: Order of Operations
If two rules would cause a change to the gamestate to occur at the same time
(such as "at the end of each nweek"), then the rule that takes precedence
over the other has its change happen before the other.
Rule 2-6/1: Motions
There is a class of Game Documents called Motions.
A Motion consists of a list of changes to the state of the game (that is,
changes to the state and/or existence of some number of Game Objects) and an
optional title. The definition of a particular Motion may include additional
properties.
At the time a Motion is created, it is assigned a unique serial number at
the discretion of the Minister of Change.
Any object which is a Motion:
* can be in one of these three states: Pending, Open, and Historical.
* has a list of Legal Votes
* has a list of Eligible Voters
Motions are initially Pending.
Motions are Revisable. When a Motion is Pending, the object that submitted
it may revise it by resubmitting it.
For each Open Motion, each Eligible Voter for that object has a Current Vote
on that object. A Current Vote can be any Legal Vote for that object. The
Current Vote for each Eligible Voter is initially set to ABSTAIN for each
Open Motion.
As a game action, a player may set eir Current Vote for any Open Motion if e
is an Eligible Voter for it. This action may also be known as casting a
Vote.
When a Motion changes from Open to Historical, it is said to have Resolved.
When a Motion resolves, the latest Current Vote that each Eligible Voter had
on the object while it was Open becomes known as that entity's Final Vote on
that object. A reference to the votes, or count of votes, of a Resolved
Motion shall be understood to refer only to the Final Votes on that object.
[[The definition of each object then describes the meaning of "Passing".]]
A Motion that does not Pass is said to have Failed.
When a Motion Passes, the changes to the game state listed within it are
made. If more than one Motion Passes at the same time, the changes are made
sequentially in ascending serial number order.
Section III: Gameplay
Rule 3-1/6: NTime
There exist two entities known as The Clock and The Watch. The Clock shall
consist of two numbers, representing nweeks and ndays. The Watch shall
consist of two numbers, representing wweeks and wdays. The Clock shall
always be either On or Off.
For the purposes of this rule, 'X' denotes the number 12, and 'Y' denotes
the number 10. [[X is the length of an nweek, Y is the length of an nyear.]]
If The Clock is On, then at 00:00:00 UTC, the number of ndays on The Clock
shall increase by one, unless the number of ndays on The Clock is equal to
X, in which case it shall become equal to 1 and the number of nweeks on The
Clock shall increase by one.
If The Clock is Off, then at 00:00:00 UTC, the number of wdays on The Watch
shall increase by one, unless the number of wdays on The Watch is equal to
X, in which case it shall become equal to 1 and the number of wweeks on The
Watch shall increase by one.
One nday shall be defined as the time between two consecutive changes in the
number of ndays on The Clock. One nweek shall be defined to be X ndays, or
the time between two consecutive changes in the number of nweeks on The
Clock.
One wday shall be defined as the time between two consecutive changes in the
number of wdays on The Watch. One wweek shall be defined to be X wdays, or
the time between two consecutive changes in the number of wweeks on The
Clock.
Whenever any rule other than this one specifies a certain amount of time,
that time shall be measured according to The Clock, unless that rule
specifies otherwise. [[Thus, if a rule gives someone 1 nweek to do
something, and The Clock is turned Off when the person has 6 days left, then
the person still has 6 days left once The Clock is turned back on.]]
If the Clock is Off, any game-related actions taken by players are
implemented when the Clock is turned On and in the order in which they
occurred. This does not apply if a rule explicitly allows other times for
the Game Action to occur.
The Clock may not be changed from On to Off or from Off to On except in ways
explicitly permitted by the rules. When the Clock is turned Off, the number
of wdays and wweeks on The Watch shall be set to zero.
A period of Y nweeks is known as an nyear. A period of Y wweeks is known as
a wyear. Hence the first Y nweeks (1-Y on the Clock) comprise nyear 1, the
second (Y+1-2Y on the Clock) comprise nyear 2 and so on.
Rule 3-2/2: Joining and Leaving
A Player is an Outsider who consents to be governed by the rules, fulfills
all requirements for continued playerhood specified by the rules, and has
become a player in a manner specified by the rules.
An External Force may become a Player by posting a message to a Public Forum
containing a request to become a player and a uniquely identifying name that
e wishes to be known by. E may do this if and only if e fulfills the
following requirements:
* E is capable of passing a Turing Test
* Eir Soul is Lost, Found, or e has no Soul
* E has a working e-mail address
If a player whose Soul is Found rejoins the game, eir Soul does not cease to
be Found and remains in the possession of its Master.
A Player may cease to be a player by Forfeiting the game; this must be done
in a Public Forum unless there are no working public fora, in which case e
may notify all players privately instead.
No restrictions may be placed on when a player may forfeit; any player may
forfeit the game at any time (regardless of the clock, the watch, etc.)
When a Player ceases to be a player for any reason, e loses all game-defined
properties and attributes except for eir Name, and eir Soul becomes Lost,
unless it is possessed by another player, in which case it remains Found and
in the possession of its Master.
Rule 3-3/11: Proposing and Voting
Timing
The period of time starting with the tenth nday of each nweek and lasting
through the end of that nweek is known as the Voting Period of that nweek.
At the beginning of the Voting Period of each nweek, every Pending Proposal
becomes Open. At the end of the Voting Period of each nweek, every Open
Proposal becomes Historical.
Proposal Submission
Any player may Submit a Proposal, unless the number of Pending Proposals e
owns is greater than or equal to 5 minus the number of Burns e has.
Voting
A Voting Entity is a Game Object that has the right to vote on Proposals.
All players are Voting Entities.
Eligible Voters for proposals are all Voting Entities.
Legal Votes on proposals are FOR, MAYBE, MAYBE NOT, AGAINST, and ABSTAIN.
Proposal Resolution
When a proposal resolves, the proposal Passes if any of the following are
true:
* All non-ABSTAIN Final Votes on that proposal are the same value.
* Twice the number of Final Votes FOR the proposal, plus the number of
MAYBE Final Votes on the proposal, is greater than twice the number of
Final Votes AGAINST the proposal plus the number of MAYBE NOTs.
Otherwise, the proposal Fails.
Burns
Players may get Burns; these may only be removed or otherwise altered as
explicitly permitted by the rules. At the end of each nweek, all Burns Heal
and are destroyed.
Rule 3-4/6: Scoring
Each player has an attribute called eir Amplitude, which is an integer that
is initially 0.
A single unit of Amplitude may be referred to as an Angstrom, denoted by a
capital A. [[ As in, "Wonko gains 1000A"]]
When a Proposal changes from Open to Historical, each player whose Final
Vote on it was not ABSTAIN gains 1A.
When a Proposal Passes, for each Final Vote on the proposal that was FOR it,
the proposal's owner gains 2A.
When a Proposal Passes, for each Final Vote on the proposal that was MAYBE,
the proposal's owner gains 1A.
Rule 3-9/6: Do The Funny Voice!
1: Specialty Proposals
Specialty Proposals are Proposals which meet the requirements to be one or
more of the types of Specialty Proposals listed below. A single Proposal may
belong to multiple types of Specialty Proposal.
Specialty Proposal types must each have a requirement or list of
requirements that a Proposal must meet to qualify as an example of the type
and a reward to be given to a Player who creates a Proposal of that type
which passes. Additional effects of a Specialty Proposal may be specified as
well.
If no proposals passed in the 2 nweeks prior belonging to a proposal type
then that type is worth double the amount of genechips it would be worth
otherwise.
2: Types
2.A: Story Proposals
A Story Proposal makes use of comment text to tell a story that has some
connection to the effects of the proposal. The text of the story may not
become part of any rule upon the Story Proposal's passing. A Story Proposal
may be indicated to be part of an ongoing story by use of a story name and
chapter number in the proposal's title. When a Story Proposal passes, its
owner is awarded ten Genechips plus three Genechips for each previous
chapter in the story it is part of, if one exists.
It is expected that chapters in an ongoing story will be connected by common
characters, plot, and concepts central to the story. Although new
characters, plot twists, and concepts may be introduced in a chapter, a
chapter which is not clearly part of the story to that point will not recive
any bonus for being part of an ongoing story.
2.B: Short Poem Proposals
A Short Poem Proposal is a proposal which is either in haiku, limerick, or
rhyming couplet form of four or fewer couplets, or creates a rule or new
section of a rule in one of those forms. Whether the title of the Short Poem
Proposal is included in the poem is up to the creator of the proposal. When
a Short Poem Proposal passes, its owner is awarded four Genechips.
2.C: Sonnet Proposals
A Shakespearean Sonnet Proposal is a proposal which is in Shakespearean
sonnet form. ABABCDCDEFEFGG a sonnet's rhyme scheme is; five iambs do
comprise each line by def, and fourteen lines exact should sonnets get.
Whether the title of a Shakespearean Sonnet Proposal is included in the
Shakespearean sonnet is up to the creator of the Shakespearean Sonnet
proposal. If a Shakespearean Sonnet Proposal passes, its creator is awarded
14 Genechips and the right to act very superior for one nweek. If a Sonnet
Proposal fails, its creator is awarded seven Genechips. If the Shakespearean
sonnet was identical to a Shakespearean Sonnet created in a previous
proposal, no Genechips are awarded.
2.D: Miscellaneous Form Proposals
A Miscellaneous Form Proposal is a proposal which meets any of the following
requirements:
* The Title is a multi word palindrome
* The FOR votes exceed the AGAINST votes by one and there are at least 9
votes total
* The Title forms an acronym that is a Nomic Word or sequence of Nomic
Words and at least four letters long.
* The Title contains exclusively Nomic Words, each Nomic Word in that
title at least 3 letters long starts with the same letter, and there are
at least 3 such alliterative words.
* It defines the Gibberish Word
Proposals that satisfy any of the above requirements are worth 3 Genechips
per requirement fulfilled.
Rule 3-12/2: Victory
"Overlord of Everything" is a Title, and Wins are Game Objects. The act of
receiving a Win is called Winning; the most recent player to Win, if there
is one, holds the title "Overlord of Everything".
Any player may Win at any time by declaring so in a public forum, but only
if a sentence in the Ruleset other than this one explicitly permits it.
This rule takes precedence over all rules which contradict it.
Rule 3-14/2: Article 1, Section 7
There exists a game object called The Big Rubber Stamp. The player who is
holding the Big Rubber Stamp is known as the Dictator. At any time during
voting, the Dictator may use the Big Rubber Stamp to veto one proposal by
declaring that e does so in a public forum and spending one genechip; that
proposal fails that nweek regardless of the votes it receives and may not be
revised. A player may do this up to twice during each distinct continuous
period of time they have the Big Rubber Stamp.
Once the Dictator has vetoed two proposals since they became Dictator, the
Big Rubber Stamp is transferred to one of the authors of the proposals that
were vetoed at the beginning of the next nweek (chosen at random) and the
new player becomes the Dictator.
If the Big Rubber Stamp has been in the possession of one player for 3
consecutive nweeks, transfer it to a different random player at the end of
the third nweek regardless of how many times it was used.
Rule 3-15/1: Clock Stops
Clock Keys
Clock Keys are Game Objects. They have a value, which is either Off or On.
Clock Keys are initially On.
If a player is a Minister and does not have a Clock Key, one is created and
given to em. If a player has a Clock Key and is not a Minister, eir Clock
Key is destroyed.
A player who has a Clock Key may as a Game Action change eir Clock Key's
value from Off to On or from On to Off. This Game Action may be performed
regardless of the Clock state.
Waiting for Update
When one or more proposals resolve, if the Rules Public Display requires
updating to reflect the changes caused by the resolution but that Public
Display has not yet been updated, the game is said to be Waiting for Update.
Clock State
If a majority of existing Clock Keys have a value of Off, or if the game is
Waiting for Update, then the Clock is Off. Otherwise, the Clock is On.
Rule 3-16/1: The Voting Gremlin
There exists a Game Object called the Voting Gremlin. The Voting Gremlin is
a Voting Entity. The Voting Gremlin may possess Genechips.
During the Voting Period of each nweek, a player may, at most once per Open
Proposal, Bribe the Voting Gremlin by giving 10 Genechips to the Voting
Gremlin and specifying a Legal Vote for that Proposal.
The Current Vote of the Voting Gremlin on an Open Proposal is the Vote
specified in Bribes for that proposal by the most players. If there is a tie
for which Vote to use for a given Proposal, the Current Vote of the Voting
Gremlin on that proposal is ABSTAIN.
Rule 3-17/1: Legislator of the Nweek
At the beginning of each Nweek, the Manager selects a proposal at random
which passed during the previous nweek. The author of that proposal gains
the title, "Legislator of the Nweek," for the duration of the nweek. Only
proposals made by Senators can be selected this way; if no such proposals
exist, then no player is Legislator of the Nweek.
Once during the nweek, The Legislator of the Nweek may give a proposal that
e did not propose eir Seal of Approval by stating that they do so in a
public forum. During resolution, that proposal is treated as if it received
one fewer AGAINST vote than it would have otherwise.
Rule 3-18/3: Referenda
Referenda are Motions.
Legal Votes on Referenda are OBJECT and ABSTAIN.
Eligible Voters for Referenda are all players.
One nday after a Referendum is created, it becomes Open.
Two ndays after a Referendum becomes Open, it becomes Historical.
When a Referendum Resolves, if there are less than two OBJECT Final Votes on
it, the Referendum Passes.
Referenda may only be submitted as explicitly permitted by the rules. If a
rule says that a player may submit a Referendum to change some aspect of the
game, then this permits players to submit Referenda as long as the referenda
contain no changes to the gamestate besides the one explicitly permitted by
the rules. [[ Thus, if the rules say "player X may change Y by Referendum at
any time", it means that player X is allowed to submit referenda that do
nothing but change Y; no other player is permitted to submit Referenda by
this sentence, nor is player X allowed to submit Referenda changing other
aspects of the game. ]]
Rule 3-19/3: Classes
Each player belongs to a Class. Any player may change eir class at any time,
but the change will not take effect until the end of the nweek in which it
is made. All players are initially of Class Boring Guy.
The following classes exist:
Boring Guy
Boring Guys have no special powers or restrictions.
Priest
A Priest may not take any action that includes giving up eir Soul or binding
to another object. A Player may not become a Priest unless e possesses eir
own Soul. A Priest can Heal another Player as a Game Action, if that
Player's Soul is Lost or held by another Player; this causes the targeted
Player's Soul to return to its owner's possession.
Senator
A Senator may make up to three additional proposals each nweek, but may not
vote FOR on eir own proposals.
Lobbyist
The number of proposals a Lobbyist may make each nweek is reduced by one. A
Lobbyist can Lobby a Senator to vote a certain way on any proposal made by
that Senator. If, for a given Senator and proposal, the number of Lobbyists
for one possible vote exceeds the number of Lobbyists for any other possible
vote (i.e., if one choice has a plurality of Lobbyists), then the Senator's
Current Vote is that vote, regardless of what the Senator has submitted
emself. This can override the restriction that a Senator can't vote FOR eir
own proposals.
Necromancer
A Necromancer may, once per nweek, Reanimate any Soul e possesses. If the
Soul does not belong to a current player, then this allows the Necromancer
to cast a single extra vote on any Open proposal. If Soul does belong to a
current player, then this allows the Necromancer to set that player's votes
on all Open proposals.
A Necromancer may only do this if e does not possess eir own Soul, and may
not do this with the Souls of Priests.
Section IV: Tracking the Game
Rule 4-1/2: Ministers
Ministries are Game Objects. Each Ministry must be held by at most one
player at any given time; this player is the 'Minister' of that Ministry.
Each Ministry has a list of powers and responsibilities; the Minister is
empowered to use those powers and expected to fulfill those
responsibilities. If a Ministry has a Minister, that Ministry is 'Filled';
otherwise, it is 'Free'.
There exists a Ministry called the Meta-Ministry, whose Minister may be
called the Meta-Minister, or Kurt Godel [[alternate spellings of Godel are
also acceptable, for you umlaut fans out there]]. The Meta-Minister is
responsible for maintain a Public Display of the current status of all
Ministries.
Any player may start an Election for any Open Ministry as a Game Action,
provided that there is not already an Election in progress for that
Ministry.
The current Minister of a Ministry may start an Election for that Ministry
as a Game Action, provided that there is not already an Election in progress
for that Ministry.
For five ndays following the start of an Election, players may Nominate
other players or themselves to be Candidates in that Election. Players so
Nominated may accept or reject their nominations; those that accept become
candidates in the election. After these five ndays have passed, the Election
enters the Voting phase, when every player may cast a vote for a single
candidate (players may cast multiple votes, but only the last vote cast by
each player shall be counted). Three ndays later, the Election ends, and the
candidate who received the most votes becomes the Minister of the Open
Ministry.
In the event of a tie, the candidate among those tied for first who first
accepted eir nomination for that position for that election becomes the new
minister.
Rule 4-2/2: The Backup Duty
If a change has been made to the state of the game more than three days ago
and a Minister responsible for presenting that portion of the gamestate in a
Public Display has not updated that display or notified a Public Forum of
the change, then any player may Perform The Backup Duty by notifying a
Public Forum of the change and either modifying the appropriate Public
Display, if possible, or creating a new Public Display with the corrected
information.
Rule 4-3/0: Public Displays
A Public Display is a document [[possibly, but not necessarily, a body of
text]] containing information as specified by the Rules. Public Displays
must be reasonably accessible to all players. For the purposes of this rule,
reasonably accessible objects include:
* Wiki pages
* other websites
* information held by an individual but released to a public forum no less
frequently than once every eight ndays and communicated to any Outsider
on demand
The Public Metadisplay is a Public Display, containing a list of the names
and locations of all other Public Displays.
Rule 4-4/14: Ministry Listing
Besides the Meta-Ministry, the following Ministries exist:
The Ministry of Law
The Ministry of Law is a Ministry; its Minister may be called the Keeper of
the Game, or just the Keeper. The Keeper is responsible for maintaining a
Public Display of the current Ruleset, and notifying a Public Forum when the
Rules change.
The Ministry of Change
The Ministry of Change is a Ministry; its Minister may be called the
Manager. The Manager is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of
Motions.
The Ministry of Communications
The Ministry of Communications is a Ministry; its Minister may be called the
Fair Communications Commissioner, or the FCC. The FCC is responsible for
maintaining a Public Display of all existing Public Fora. E is also
empowered to designate new Public Fora; when e does so, e must notify all
players of the new Forum, either by posting to a previously existing public
forum, or by sending a message to every player.
The Ministry of Everyone
The Ministry of Everyone is a Ministry; its Minister may be called the
Secretary. The Secretary is responsible for maintaining the Roster, a Public
Display containing the names of all players and any relevant information
about them that isn't tracked by any other Ministry or Duty.
The Ministry of Arcana
The Ministry of Arcana is a Ministry; its Minister may be called the Adept.
The Adept is responsible for maintaining a Public Display list all Game
Objects and all of their attributes, except for Objects and attributes that
other Ministries or Duties are responsible for tracking.
The Ministry of Tiles
The Ministry of Tiles is a Ministry; its Minister may be called the Tiler.
The Tiler is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of current Tiles,
and determining which Tile a player gets when e Draws a Tile.
The Ministry of Grammar
The Ministry of Grammar is a Ministry; its Minister may be known as the
Grammar Nazi. The Grammar Nazi is responsible for maintaining a high
standard of grammar in the Game, as defined by the rules laid down in Rule
2-4.
The Ministry of Spirituality
The Ministry of Spirituality is a Ministry; its Minister may be called
Death. Death is responsible for tracking the locations and values of all
Souls and Talismans, and for tracking the number of SP in each player's
possession.
The Ministry of Banking
The Ministry of Banking is a Ministry; its Minister may be referred to as
the Banker. The Banker is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of
each player's holdings of all currencies not tracked by another Ministry.
Rule 4-6/0: Deputies
A player who is a minister may designate a player as eir deputy. A player's
deputy is empowered to use the ministry powers of the deputizing player and
may fulfill eir responsibilities. A player may revoke eir deputization once
the deputy is no longer needed.
Rule 4-7/1: Tidiness
Executive Tidiness
If a game document contains an error in grammar, spelling, format, or
content; or system errors, system downtime, program errors, or other
unanticipated system events have altered the game state in a manner not
explicitly permitted by the rules; then the Minister responsible for
producing, maintaining, or listing the document shall be permitted to submit
a Referendum to correct the error. This power is referred to as Executive
Tidiness.
Grammatical Tidiness
An error in grammar or spelling in a Game Document may be corrected by the
Minister of Grammar by Referendum. This power is referred to as Grammatical
Tidiness.
Section V: Justice
Rule 5-1/3: Calls for Inquiry
If players disagree about the legality of an action, the interpretation or
application of a rule or set of rules, or the current state of the game, any
player may invoke the Second Highly Exalted Network for Active Nomic
Interpretation and General Analysis of Nomic States, or SHENANIGANS. This is
done by submitting a Call For Inquiry, or CFI; this is called Calling
Shenanigans.
A CFI is a Motion that also includes a statement about the game. A CFI may
be submitted at any time regardless of the state of any time-keeping device
used in the game.
The entity that submitted a CFI is called its Plaintiff. When Calling
Shenanigans, the Plaintiff may choose to Call Shenanigans on another player;
if e does, the chosen player is the CFI's Defendant.
Both the Plaintiff and the Defendant of a CFI are encouraged to submit
arguments for or against the statement of the CFI.
At the second time midnight UTC occurs after a CFI becomes Pending, it
becomes Open. At the fourth time midnight UTC occurs after a CFI becomes
Open, it becomes Historical.
Rule 5-2/1: Judges
Eligible Voters on a CFI are all players except for the Plaintiff and
Defendant of that CFI.
Legal Votes on a CFI are YES, NO, REFUSED, and ABSTAIN.
Casting a Vote on a CFI is a legal Game Action regardless of the state of
any time-keeping device used in the game.
When a CFI resolves, count the non-ABSTAIN Final Votes and interpret the
results as follows:
If a majority of the counted votes are YES, then the CFI Passes; the
statement should be treated as true for the purposes of interpreting the
ruleset.
If a majority of the counted votes are REFUSED, then the CFI is declared
Moot, and has no effect on the gamestate or the interpretation of the rules.
Otherwise, the CFI Fails; the statement should be treated as false for the
purposes of interpreting the ruleset.
Section VI: Tiles
Rule 6-1/2: Definitions
Tiles are Game Objects.
Each Tile may have a Tile Letter, which is any of the 26 letters in the
standard English alphabet (case doesn't matter), or any of the Gremlic
Runes.
A Tile may be owned by a Player; the set of Tiles that a player owns is
called eir Rack.
The Bag is a collection of Tiles; all Tiles whose locations aren't defined
or specified are put in the Bag.
A statement that a player Draws a Tile means that if there are any Tiles in
the Bag, a random Tile from the Bag becomes owned by that player.
Rule 6-2/1: Joining and Leaving
Each player may be Playing Tiles. Players initially are not Playing Tiles.
A player not Playing Tiles and who has not been Playing Tiles for at least
one nweek may choose to be Playing Tiles as a Game Action.
A player who is Playing Tiles may choose to no longer be Playing Tiles as a
Game Action. When e does so, all Tiles in eir Rack are put into the Bag.
Rule 6-3/0: Drawing
If a player who is Playing Tiles at any point does not have at least 7 tiles
in eir Rack, e Draws Tiles until either e has 7 Tiles or there are no more
Tiles in the Bag, whichever comes first.
Rule 6-4/3: English Words
An English Word is a word recognized as a word by the [8][WWW] Yahoo!
dictionary and labeled as a part of speech with the exception of the
following:
* Words that always contain a capital letter
* Abbreviations
* Words having only prefix and/or suffix as their part of speech.
* Words that contain a character that is not one of the 26 standard
English letters, such as a hyphen or apostrophe.
Rule 6-5/8: Playing
At most twice per nweek, a player may make a Tile Play. A Tile Play consists
of doing any one of the following:
* Playing a Word in a Zone. Arrange all the Tiles in that Zone, plus at
least one tile from your Rack, plus any number of Tiles from Connected
Zones, such that the sequence of Tiles forms a Nomic Word in that Zone.
Tiles used from your Rack are removed from it and put on the Board in
that Zone, and Tiles used from Connected Zones are moved to the Zone
being played in. If you use Tiles from Connected zones, you must also
arrange the remaining Tiles in that Zone (without adding more) to form a
Nomic Word in order for the play to be valid. You gain control of the
Zone you played in, as well as any Connected Zones that you used Tiles
from. If all of the Tiles in a Connected Zone are used in a play, that
Connected Zone becomes uncontrolled and the play is valid.
* Zapping up to three Zones. A Zone may only be Zapped if it contains at
least one Tile and has not had any new Tiles added to it for at least 10
ndays. When you Zap a Zone, you gain amplitude equal to half the number
of tiles in that Zone, rounded down. If a player controls that Zone,
then that player gains Amplitude equal to the number of Tiles in the
Zone times n, where n is one plus the number of Runes in that Zone. Then
the Zone becomes uncontrolled, and all Tiles in it are put in the Bag.
* Exchanging Tiles. Put all Tiles from your Rack into the Bag. You may
only make this play if you have not made a Tile Play already during the
nweek. You may not make another Tile Play for the rest of the nweek.
Rule 6-6/1: Nomic Words
There exists a Game Document called the [9]Nbrgd Dctnry of B Nmc, also know
as the B-Dict. The B-Dict consists of a series of Entries, each of which is
a name and a definition.
A Nomic Word is any string of characters that is also any of
* an English Word
* the name of an Entry in the Nbrgd Dctnry of B Nmc
* a word used in a rule in the Ruleset
Rule 6-7/1: The Board
The Tiles Board is a game object consisting of nine regions called Zones,
arranged in a 3x3 grid. Two Zones are Connected if they are orthogonally
adjacent to each other or if one of the Zones is the center Zone.
Each Zone may contain any number of Tiles; Zones are initially Empty.
Each Zone is either controlled by a player or uncontrolled. A Zone may not
be controlled by multiple players.
Rule 6-8/1: Blanks
Blank Tiles may exist.
A player may add a Tile Letter of eir choice (as long as it is one of the 26
English letters) to any Blank Tile in eir Rack. This causes it to lose any
previous Tile Letter it had.
When a Blank Tile goes into the Bag, it loses its Tile Letter.
If there are less than four Blank Tiles in existance, create enough Blank
Tiles so that there would be four in existance.
If there are more than four Blank Tiles in existance, Blank Tiles are
destroyed when they would be put into the Bag.
Rule 6-9/0: Gremlic Runes
Gremlic Runes are Tile Letters. Each Rune has a set of letters associated
with it called its Values; a Rune is denoted by listing its Values between
slashes, as in /vd/.
A string of Tiles containing Gremlic Runes forms a Nomic Word if and only if
it forms a Nomic Word for every possible choice of Value for each Rune in
it. [[ Hence "ri/dv/er" is a word, because river and rider are both words,
but "in/dv/erses" is not, because inderses isn't a word]]
Rule 6-10/2: Tiles Time Limit
There exist objects called Tiles Tokens. The Token Pool is the collection of
all Tiles Tokens not owned by players.
Initially, there are one thousand Tokens in the Token Pool.
At the beginning of each nweek, 50 Tokens from the Token Pool are destroyed,
or all of them are if there are fewer than 50.
When a Tiles Token is given to a player, it gains a Type, becoming a Magic
Token, a Length Token, a Power Token, or a Control Token.
* When a player Zaps a Zone, e receives 8 Power Tokens.
* When a Zone controlled by a player is Zapped, the player receives 3
Length Tokens for every letter in the word beyond 5. If any Gremlic
Runes are in the Zapped Zone, the length will be considered to be the
sum of the lengths of all word combinations created by the Rune(s). For
example: a/rl/e would be 6.
* When a player takes an action that causes em to gain control of three or
more Zones at once, e gets 10 Control Tokens plus 4 for each Zone e
gains control of beyond 3. This does not count Zones e already
controlled.
* When a player who does not control every Zone takes an action that
causes em to gain control of every Zone e doesn't control, e gets 25
Control Tokens.
* When a player plays a word with more than one Gremlic Rune in it, e
receives 10 times the factorial(X) Magic Tokens where X is the number of
Gremlic Runes. The factorial(X) shall be calculated as the product of
all integers from 1 to X, inclusive.
If a player would gain Tokens but not enough remain, e gains all the
remaining Tokens. If these conditions would cause multiple players to gain
Tokens at once, the gains happen in the order of the sentences above (so
that if you Zap a zone and only 7 Tokens remain, you get them all as Power
Tokens and the player whose Zone got zapped gets nothing).
When there are no Tokens in the Token Pool, the game of Tiles ends. At this
point, players gain Genechips as follows:
* +20GC if you have more Power Tokens than each other player
* +30GC if you have more Length Tokens than each other player
* +30GC if you have more Control Tokens than each other player
* +35GC if you have more Magic Tokens than each other player
* +60GC if you have more Tokens total than each other player.
* +40GC if you have more Tokens total than each other player save one, who
has more than you.
Then, section six of the ruleset is repealed, all Wand definitions are
destroyed, and the section of rule 4-4 pertaining to the Minister of Tiles
is removed.
Section VII: All Things Mystical
Rule 7-1/4: Fun With Souls
Souls are Game Objects. Upon joining, all Players are given a Soul, which
gains eir player name as an attribute. Players are said to be the Owner of
the Soul which bears eir name. A player may only lose possession of eir Soul
or gain possession of another Soul in a manner stated by the rules. A Player
who possesses any Soul may be referred to as that Soul's Master.
A Player who does not have the maximum allowed number of Souls in eir
possession may take possession of a Lost Soul by declaring in a public forum
which Lost Soul e is taking possession of. When a Player takes possession of
a Lost Soul, the Soul ceases to be Lost and becomes Found. If a Found Soul's
Master leaves the Game for any reason, that Soul ceases to be Found. If its
original owner is a Player, it returns to eir possession. If the original
owner is not a player, it becomes Lost.
Players whose Souls are Found may not take possession of Lost Souls until
they have reclaimed possession of their own Souls. Players whose Souls are
Bound may not take possession of Lost Souls until their Souls are no longer
Bound.
The maximum number of Souls a Player may possess is 3. If a player possesses
more than 3 Souls, Souls will be randomly chosen from all Souls e possesses
(including eir own) and taken away until e is down to 3 Souls. If eir Soul
is taken away in this manner, it becomes Lost.
Rule 7-2/2: Talismans
Certain objects may be designated Inventory Objects, which may also be
referred to as Talismans. Each Talisman has a body of text associated with
it called its Effects; this describes what happens when a player uses the
Talisman, and may also include general effects of having the Talisman and
other such things. The Effects field of a Talisman may only be changed as
explictly permitted by the rules. It is acceptable to have a subsection of
an existing rule be the Effects field of a given Talisman.
The Effects of a Talisman may include static effects, triggered effects,
and/or activated effects.
[[ Examples:
* static effect: "as long as you hold this, X applies to you" or "X always
applies"
* triggered effect: "When X happens, Y happens"
* activated effect: "You may do X to have Y happen"
]]
Each Talisman also has a Game Document associated with it called its
Appearance; this may be an empty text (and is if no Appearance has been
specified for that Talisman), but in general it should be a description of
what the Talisman looks like, either in plain text or via a link to an
existing image outside of the game (such as the url of a gif or some such
thing).
No Talisman may ever be created that has the same name as an existing
Talisman but a different Effects field (however, this does not limit the
number of identical copies of a given Talisman that may exist).
Entities may give Talismans they hold to other Entities if and only if both
Entities agree to the trade.
All talismans have a rarity. A player may not receive or create a "rare"
talisman if e already holds a copy of one. A player may not create a
"unique" talisman if a copy of one already exists. A player may not trade a
talisman that is "cursed". Any other rarities have no effect.
Rule 7-4/4: Soul Binding
Each type of Talisman may have a Price, which is a list of objects.
If the price of a Talisman type lists X SP for any number X, this is
shorthand for "A Soul or group of Souls with combined value X SP or
greater".
Any player who has at least one of the objects in a given Talisman type's
price may attempt to Forge a Talisman of that type, or may contribute the
object(s) to another player's attempt to Forge a Talisman of that type.
If, at the end of the 4th, 8th, or 12th nday of an nweek, a player has been
attempting to Forge a Talisman for four or more ndays, and for four or more
ndays enough objects have been contributed to the forging to fulfill the
price, then the Forging resolves: a new Talisman of that type is created in
the possession of the player who attempted to Forge it. This destroys the
objects spent for the price, except for Souls. Souls spent this way become
Bound to that Talisman, ceasing to be Lost, Found, or in anyone's
possession.
When a Talisman is destroyed, all Souls Bound to it become Lost.
Rule 7-5/2: The Value of a Soul
Souls may have an attribute called Value. The Value of a Soul is expressed
in Soul Pennies, or SP. The Value of a Soul is determined by the following
formulas:
* If the Soul is possessed by its Owner, its Value is equal to 100 plus
twice its Owner's Amplitude.
* If the Soul is Lost, its Value is equal to the last Value it had before
it last became Lost, unless it became Lost before the passing of this
rule or was Bound immediately prior to becoming Lost, in which case its
Value is 100.
* If the Soul is Found, its Value is equal to its Value when it became
Found plus 10 per nweek it has been Found.
* If the Soul is Bound, it has no Value.
Section IX: Section Nine
Rule 9-3/2: The Vat
There exists a set of players that are known as being In The Vat. This set
is initially empty.
If a player (to be known as the Vat-ee) has not posted any messages to a
public forum within the past four nweeks, any player (to be known as the
Vat-er) may choose to put the Vat-ee In The Vat. Performing this Game Action
requires the Vat-er to not only post a message to that effect to a public
forum, but also to send a copy of the message to the Vat-ee at the email
addresss that the Vat-ee last used when e last posted to a public forum.
When a player who is In The Vat posts to a public forum, e is automatically
removed from being In The Vat.
If a player has been In The Vat for at least two nweeks, any player may
Smite em with the Mighty Fist of Oblivion. This removes the targeted player
from the Vat, and causes em to cease to be a player, just as though e had
Forfeited.
Rule 9-4/6: Genechips
Genechips are Game Objects. Players may possess Genechips or exchange them
with other Players. Initially, all Players hold 0 Genechips.
There exists a string of letters called the Gibberish word.
If a proposal passes that defines a new Game Object or type of Game Object
whose name is the Gibberish word, then that proposal must also set a new
Gibberish word or it has no effect.
If a player has the power to rename a Game Object directly, e may not change
the Object's name to the Gibberish Word. (i.e., you can't change your own
name to the Gibberish Word or name a building after the Gibberish Word).
Rule 9-7/4: Titles
Titles are honorifics awarded to players by proposals, Tweaks, or rules. New
Players initially hold no titles. Titles are recorded on the Roster.
Rule 9-8/8: Wages
At the beginning of each nweek, each player receives the following bonuses,
which may be referred to as "Wages:"
* 15 Genechips for each Ministry e holds. A player may not receive more
than thirty Genechips each nweek in this manner.
* A number of Genechips equal to one-fourth the number of sections eir
Fort has, rounded to the nearest integer
* ten times the quantity of 4 minus the number of hundreds of genechips ey
posses [[10(4-h)]]. This bonus is calculated and added after all other
periodic increases in Genechip holdings calculated at the beginning of
each nweek, and only awarded to players who performed at least one Game
Action in the previous nweek.
Rule 9-9/1: Diplomatic Immunity (and double negatives)
Any player may, at any time in the public forum, make emself to be
Unavailable For The Forseeable Future (also known as Hiding Under A Rock).
When a player declares emself to be Unavailable For The Forseeable Future, e
must specify a period of forseeable time, either in ndays and nweeks or in
standard days/weeks/months, with a limit of two nyears or one year.
Any player who has declared emself to be Unavailable For The Forseeable
Future may, by posting a message on a public forum, declare emself to be Not
Unavailable For The Forseeable Future. By taking any game action on a public
forum, a player who is Unavailable For The Forseeable Future automatically,
by implication, declares emself to be Not Unavailable For The Forseeable
Future (or Not Hiding Under A Rock).
If the player remains Unavailable For The Forseeable Future from the time of
that message until the specified period has elapsed, then the player
[[enters a period of unforseen future and]] ceases to be Unavailable For The
Forseeable Future.
A Player who is Unavailable For The Forseeable Future:
* may not be put in The Vat
* cannot be selected by any process which randomly selects a player.
* may not be the target of other players in subgames (except where the
rules state otherwise). [[This is to protect your investments from
players - but there is no guarantee that the rules won't target them
anyway.]]
Rule 9-10/1: Effect Description Conventions
When a body of text describes a property of an object or an activated
ability, the following conventions apply unless stated otherwise:
* The use of the 2nd person (i.e., 'You', 'Yourself', 'Your', etc.) is
assumed to refer to the entity who holds the object in question, except
when describing activated effects, in which case it refers to the player
who activated the effect.
* A string of the form "[price],[actions]:[effects]" is interpreted to
mean that players may perform the actions in [actions] and pay objects
they hold equal to [price] to cause [effects] to happen (obvious
variants on this are also acceptable, for example, putting the actions
before the price). If such a string is associated with a specific
object, then it is assumed that only the holder of that object may do
this unless stated otherwise. "Pay" in this context means "destroy"
unless there is an obvious other meaning for the objects in question
(some currencies might go to a Bank, for example, or cards might end up
in a deck).
* If the word "sacrifice" is one of the actions in such a description, and
the description is associated with an object, it means "destroy this
object".
* If a player is permitted to invoke an activated effect described as
above, e is implicitly empowered to perform the necessary actions when
doing so (i.e., if it says "destroy this and gain 5 GC: target player
loses 10A", then the holder of the object is implicitly permitted to
gain 5GC and destroy the object, but only when invoking this ability).
Section X: Haunted House
Rule 10-1/0: The Haunted House
There exists objects called Rooms. Each player is in exactly one Room at any
given time.
Each Room consists of the following:
* A name
* A description of the room (this has no direct effect on the game)
* A (possibly empty) set of Room Ordinances, which are rule-like documents
that have the force of Rules, but only apply to players in that Room
unless specified otherwise
* A (possibly empty) list of other Rooms that can be gotten to directly
from this one; this list is called the list of Exits for the Room
The first, fifth, and ninth ndays of each nweek are called Checkpoints; the
time between two consecutive Checkpoints is called a Period.
Once per Period, each player may move themselves from the Room they are in
to any Room that is on their current Room's list of Exits, except where
prohibited by Room Ordinances.
Room Ordinances take precedence over other rules when applicable.
References
1. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/FrontPage
2. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/Rules?action=raw
3. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/Rules?action=print
4. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/FindPage
5. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/TitleIndex
6. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/WordIndex
7. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/HelpOnFormatting
8. http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/
9. file://localhost/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/B_2dDict
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