Sunday, January 01, 2023

Proposal: Me and My Shadow

Withdrawn. Josh

Adminned at 02 Jan 2023 17:34:55 UTC

In the rule “Items” add a subrule titled “Mannequin” and give it the following text:

The Narrator privately tracks a string variable named “Mannequin Form” with a value equal to “Mannequin” by default. When an Explorer grabs the Mannequin, it takes on the Explorer’s appearance, and the Narrator sets the variable Mannequin Form equal to that Explorer’s name.

While the variable Mannequin Form is equal to the name of an Explorer, the following rules in the bullet list below apply, with the phrase “that Explorer” being the Explorer whose name matches the value of Mannequin Form:
* The Mannequin is not added to that Explorer as a held Item
* The Mannequin is not publicly tracked as an Item nor treated as an Item by any of the rules
* The Narrator publicly tracks the Mannequin in the list of Explorers with the same name as that Explorer, rolling a private die roll when the Mannequin is added to the list to determine which entry is the real Explorer and which one is the Mannequin and privately tracking the result. After the dice roll, the Narrator must privately inform that Explorer which entry is the real Explorer and which one is the Mannequin as soon as possible, and must also inform that Explorer of this information whenever that Explorer privately askes the Narrator for it.
* When added to the list of Explorers, the entry for the Mannequin contains publicly-tracked fields whose initial values are the same as that Explorer
* The Mannequin’s Items are fake Items formed by the Mannequin’s body and do not have any of their rules applied to the Mannequin.
* When that Explorer is setting their own Planned Action, they may also set the Mannequin’s Planned Action to either “Rest” or a Movement Planned Action
* That Explorer may not edit any of the Mannequin’s publicly-tracked fields other than Planned Action
* During the Mansion Phase, the Narrator carries out the Mannequin’s Movement Planned Action in the same way as for an Explorer.
* Any rule that would apply to an Explorer’s Movement Planned Action also applies to the Mannequin’s Planned Action. Any rule that would apply to an Explorer’s Location also applies to the Mannequin’s Location. All other rules that apply to Explorers do not apply to the Mannequin.
* The rules for being Possessed by Katastrophe do not apply to the Mannequin. The Mannequin is never treated as being Possessed by Katastrophe, regardless of that Explorer’s possessed status
* The Mannequin may not have a Ploy
* The Mannequin may not grab, drop, or use Items
* The Mannequin may not achieve Victory. If that Explorer posts a Declaration of Victory, the Narrator sets the value of Mannequin Form to “Mannequin”. This occurs during Hiatus.
* During the Mansion Phase, if all Movement Planned Actions have been executed and the Mannequin is in the same Room as another Explorer who is not the one matching the current value of Mannequin Form, the Narrator sets the value of Mannequin Form to “Mannequin”

If at any time the Narrator changes the value of Mannequin Form from an Explorer’s name to “Mannequin”, the Narrator also removes the Mannequin from the list of Explorers and adds it as a publicly-tracked Item to the Room matching its current Location. This occurs during Hiatus if the value of Mannequin Form changed to “Mannequin” during Hiatus.

This item acts like a decoy but is not meant to be foolproof. There are intentional situations in which it would be easy to tell which is the Mannequin and which is the real Explorer. It’s up to the Explorer to use the Mannequin to their best advantage given these situations.

Comments

quirck: he/him

01-01-2023 18:45:12 UTC

“The Narrator publicly tracks the Mannequin in the list of Explorers” contradicts “If that Explorer posts a Declaration of Victory, the Mannequin is removed from the list of Explorers.” Maybe like in the next bullet point, reset the Mannequin to the default state in case of posted DoV?

JonathanDark: he/him

01-01-2023 19:06:03 UTC

I fixed up the bullet list so that this condition makes a little more sense.

Bucky:

01-01-2023 20:28:40 UTC

“If that Explorer posts a Declaration of Victory, the Narrator sets the value of Mannequin Form” should be explicit that it occurs during hiatus. See the Hiatus entry in the glossary.

JonathanDark: he/him

01-01-2023 20:41:11 UTC

Fixed, and also fixed the last sentence regarding removal of the Mannequin from the list of Explorers to cover that during Hiatus as well.

Bucky:

01-01-2023 22:40:46 UTC

against as this proposal seems to add to the dynasty’s complexity in an amount disproportionate to its contribution to gameplay. In particular, most new rules will require an addition to the mannequin’s rules list.

Which, now that I think about it, shouldn’t be called rules because that means something else.

Josh: Observer he/they

01-01-2023 23:02:08 UTC

against per Bucky.

Darknight: he/him

02-01-2023 02:01:09 UTC

against

SingularByte: he/him

02-01-2023 08:34:46 UTC

As much as I do want new items, this is an extremely complicated one.  against

Kevan: he/him

02-01-2023 10:33:46 UTC

against per Bucky.

quirck: he/him

02-01-2023 10:37:01 UTC

imperial

JonathanDark: he/him

02-01-2023 17:21:04 UTC

against Withdrawn