Saturday, July 02, 2011

Proto: Making good on a promise

Add a new Dynastic Rule to the Ruleset.  Call it “Turns” and give it the following text:

A Turn Boundary is an event that occurs automatically at the start of each week and each Thursday at noon.  Turn Boundaries can also occur at other times as caused by the Ruleset or by proposal enactment; these are Irregular Turn Boundaries.  The start of each dynasty is an Irregular Turn Boundary.  The moment when Turn Boundaries cease to be defined (e.g. when this rule is repealed) is considered to be an Irregular Turn Boundary.

If a non-Irregular Turn Boundary would happen during Hiatus, it is skipped.

A Turn is the period of time between two Turn Boundaries; for the purposes of this definition, it should always be assumed that there will be at least one Turn Boundary sometime in the future.

Add a new subrule to the rule “Turns”.  Call it “Turn-based Actions” and give it the following text:

Each Gladiator has a non-negative integer number of Action Points, tracked in the “AP” column of the GNDT.  New Gladiators start with 3 AP.  Any Gladiator who has not yet done so during the current Turn may set their AP to 3; this action is known as Refreshing.

A Main Action is a type of action.  In order to take an action defined as a Main Action, a Gladiator must spend 1 AP; a Gladiator with no AP cannot take a Main Action.  Also, no Gladiator can take more than 3 Main Actions in any 24-hour period.  Whenever a Gladiator attempts to take a Main Action, if they are able to Refresh first, they automatically do so.

Finally, cause an Irregular Turn Boundary event to occur.

Proofreading is welcome; this is the kind of rule I’d like to last beyond the end of the dynasty.  Also, help with regards to a fair way to handle turn boundaries during hiatus is welcome.

posted by Bucky at 02 Jul 2011 21:54:44 UTC Comments (9)

Comments

aguydude:

03-07-2011 01:39:21 UTC

I’d replace “noon” with 12:00:00 UTC, or add “noon” to the glossary.  I prefer the former.

I would also replace “should always be assumed” with “it is always assumed” .  “A gladiator with no AP cannot take a Main Action” is redundant (first bullet point of Numbers and Variables).  It seems unlikely that a rule will be introduced that allows one to “spend” resources that they do not have, so I prefer to avoid redundancy.

aguydude:

03-07-2011 01:43:23 UTC

Hmmm.  One ugly thing is that players can manipulate turn boundaries by using a Declaration of Victory.  The “Fair Play” says not to try to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus via Declaration of Victory, but manipulating turn boundaries in this fashion is not necessarily intended to “delay” the game.  Though I’d be more apt to edit “Fair play” by replacing “by putting” with “or put.”

scshunt:

03-07-2011 08:12:27 UTC

Noon is well-defined, I think as 12:00:00 in the local timezone.

mideg:

03-07-2011 18:37:49 UTC

Add a timezone or it might be up for interpretation. Otherwise looks good. I wouldn’t be too sure about this rule outlasting several dynasties, though, it is only applicable if there are turns and such….

scshunt:

03-07-2011 21:22:25 UTC

All times are in UTC. This is a well-established rule.

mideg:

03-07-2011 21:42:51 UTC

But if noon is 12:00:00 in the _local_ timezone, then it’s not well defined. Local is Germany for me. One of your statements must be wrong or I am right.

scshunt:

03-07-2011 21:47:17 UTC

The appendix says “For the purpose of all rules, time in Blognomic is in UTC.”

mideg:

03-07-2011 21:50:30 UTC

You said: “Noon is well-defined, I think as 12:00:00 in the local timezone.”

‘the local timezone’ is not UTC, but local. Thats inherent.

Noon as a time of day could(!) be considered to be 12 o’clock in local time. What is the cost of using UTC instead and making it clear?

mideg:

03-07-2011 21:52:58 UTC

I just realized we are discussing this in the (out of date) Proto-Thread, as the real Proposal has already been made (with noon :-( ). So, nothing further from me except maybe an improving Proposal at some time changing noon to 12:00:00. No hard feelings!