Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Proposal: The Alternatum

Cannot reach quorum at 1-4 and fails. -Purplebeard

Adminned at 30 Jul 2015 07:08:26 UTC

Replace the paragraph in the Core Rule “Victory and Ascension” which reads:

When a DoV is enacted, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Rat who made the DoV as its Head Scientist. That Rat may pass this role to another Rat at this point by making a post to that effect, if they wish. The Hiatus continues until the new Head Scientist makes an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category - this should specify the Head Scientist’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and may optionally specify that the terms Rat and Head Scientist will be replaced with theme-specific terms throughout the entire ruleset, and/or a number of dynastic rules to keep. Upon posting such an Ascension Address, the Ruleset is updated to reflect any changed terms, and any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept are repealed.

With:

When a DoV is enacted, all other active DoVs are failed, and one of the following happens:

  • If it is currently a Metadynasty, a new Dynasty begins with the Rat who made the DoV as its Head Scientist. That Rat may pass this role to another Rat at this point by making a post to that effect, if they wish. The Hiatus continues until the new Head Scientist makes an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category - this should specify the Head Scientist’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and may optionally specify that the terms Rat and Head Scientist will be replaced with theme-specific terms throughout the entire ruleset, and/or a number of dynastic rules to keep. Upon posting such an Ascension Address, the Ruleset is updated to reflect any changed terms, and any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept are repealed.
  • If it is not currently a Metadynasty, a Metadynasty starts with no Head Scientist. The Hiatus continues until another 24 hours have passed, at which point an Admin should post an entry in the “Ascension Address” category stating that a Metadynasty has begun. Upon posting this entry, all dynastic rules are repealed.

I’m putting this out there. At least until activity picks up (and I sure hope it does), we may want to consider this.

Comments

Kevan: he/him

28-07-2015 13:31:05 UTC

Even if we think that metadynasties have more activity on balance than regular Imperial dynasties (which I’m not sure they do), alternating blindly doesn’t seem like much fun.

against

Darknight: he/him

28-07-2015 16:40:07 UTC

against

Josh: Observer he/they

28-07-2015 18:36:56 UTC

for When there are five players, having one of them as the Emperor can feel like an unaffordable luxury.

Kevan: he/him

28-07-2015 19:18:07 UTC

So why not have a rule of “when there are five players, just have metadynasties”? Or explicitly “make this a metadynasty right now”? This is just saying that irrespective of what happens over the next three or four weeks, and whoever wins, we’ll have an anonymous metadynasty afterwards.

I think Player-Emperors might be a better way to go. Dynasties where we deliberately avoid Emperor-tracked information and “Emperor makes a thing up” gamesmastering, and allow the Emperor to play to win, either on the same terms as everyone else, or with a different agenda. (Your own Eighth Dynasty actually wasn’t far off of that.)

Purplebeard:

28-07-2015 20:09:51 UTC

against In addition to the above, having only half the dynasties reward their winners with emperorship seems very wrong.

Josh: Observer he/they

28-07-2015 20:14:39 UTC

I don’t disagree that this isn’t the only way of achieving the end, but it’s the one currently up for vote, and I don’t mind it. We can always repeal it if it gets onerous.

That said, CoV against , if only because I intend to win this round and don’t want to lose the opportunity to get up to 10 :)

redtara: they/them

29-07-2015 05:15:24 UTC

Why not just change the part of the rules reading

When a DoV is enacted, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Rat who made the DoV as its Head Scientist. That Rat may pass this role to another Rat at this point by making a post to that effect, if they wish.

to

When a DoV is enacted, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Rat who made the DoV as its Head Scientist. That Rat may pass this role to another Rat at this point or begin a metadynasty by making a post to that effect, if they wish.

redtara: they/them

29-07-2015 05:16:15 UTC

Not to sound like a populist, but I think we can trust the current players to know what the game needs more than the players who happened to be active in late July 2015.

Josh: Observer he/they

29-07-2015 08:42:56 UTC

I don’t think it even needs that change - the Emperor can always disenfranchise themselves with their first proposal.