Goodbye

I request to become inactive, or dead, or frozen, or whatever the word currently is.

I've had a lot of fun with BlogNomic, it is certainly a dynamic and creative game, but I don't think I can afford to spend the time that I used to with it. I never was one to propose very much, but I knew good ideas when I saw them. It was fun to watch the game evolve from the agricultural system of Geran to the Orwellian theme of Kevan, upset by a short reign of Anthony that led into a factory of robots and now a lab of mutants.

Maybe I'll come back after November's over, but until then I'll be working on other projects. Thank you all for a wonderful time and I hope the Gods of Nomic Creativity shine on you for a long time.

Proposal: are you looking at me?!

Add to rule 14, "Battle."

Two or more specimens may challenge an equal or greater number of other specimens to a battle in the arena. The winnings are averaged and split evenly among the winners rounding down. Battle is conducted in the same manner as above, however, the Doctor must give the larger team a proportional advantage.

I think this will make things delightfully interesting.

Enacted by Squirrel, 28nd Oct.

Proposal: Inspired By Silly People

[This idea was lifted from a previous Nomic but I find it crafty, clever, and cunning]

add to the rule "5 - Enactment" the following paragraph:

Specimens that voted AGAINST an enacted non-trivial proposal may each claim 2 lifeforce.

This rule does not apply to itself should it pass.

Failed by Squirrel, 28nd Oct.

Proposal: Coalition of the Stupid

enact a rule entitled "Sanctions" which states:

The Doctor, for fear that his specimens are learning too quickly, reserves the right to impose sanctions on some his specimens. As soon as a specimen achieves a permanent (i.e. not Glarsh--or other--induced) Intelligence of 4, that given specimen has achieved a demonstrably and blatantly detectable high level of Intelligence. The Doctor has only sufficient enough staff to banish two(2) such smart specimens from The Lab at a given time, prohibiting them from operating in it until he chooses to let them enter or their INT drops to 3, therefore restoring confidence in The Doctor's own intellect.

Enacted by Squirrel, 28nd Oct.

Proposal: More on Glarsh

That the following paragraph be added to Rule 17:

Any player may start a Glarsh petition. If a number of players equal to or higher than Quorum sign the petition, the the Doctor must, within 48 hours, provide Glarsh to everyone for a period of at least 48 hours. If the Doctor does not, they are attacked by Glarsh-hungry Specimens, and lose 20 Life Points.

Enacted by Squirrel, 28nd Oct. (I changed the rule to read "he/she is" rather than "they are" for clarity. Anyone who objects is welcome to CFJ this decision.)

Going Frozen

I'm going to be away for the weekend - off tomorrow morning and not back until Monday - so I should probably go idle to stop anything being held up. You'll have to lay off the Arena challenges until I'm back, I suppose.

Haven't got time to faff with templates, so if another Admin wouldn't mind putting me in the stasis freezer...

Battle : Est vs Aaron

Each Specimen gets an attack of D10 plus their ATT, minus their opponent's DEF. (So Est gets +0, and Aaron gets +1.)

Round 1: Aaron (7) dodges the rockets of Est (7), metal fist flailing nowhere.
Round 2: While Est (8) reloads, Aaron (10) gets a solid punch in.
Round 3: Lurching back and firing blindly, Est (6) is helpless as Aaron (8) delivers the final blow.

Aaron is victorious! He gets 10 Life, and Est loses 10. (Again, no INT bonus as Aaron was the strongest competitor.)

Proposal : Through the Corridors

[ Um, we don't actually have any rules for moving between locations. And it wouldn't hurt to have a neutral room for live, unfrozen, unpunished Specimens who aren't in combat, or willing to be operated upon. ]

To Rule 11 (Locations), add the location:-

Corridor. Specimens with nothing better to do can lurk in the Corridor.

Also to Rule 11, add the paragraph:-

Specimens may change their Location no more than once per day. Specimens may only enter and leave the Morgue and Statis when their Death or Frozen status changes, and may not leave the Sceptic Tank before their sentence is up.

Also remove all the bracketed abbreviations; they don't make any difference to the GNDT, if anything making it slightly more confusing.

Any Specimens without a location shall be moved to the Corridor.

Failed by Squirrel, 28nd Oct.

Glarshlessness

The Glarsh vending machine is now empty.

Challenge: Aaron

Aaron!

Me and you!

Behind the lab!

It's go time!

Proposal : Dawn of the Dead

To Rule 13 (Experimental Modification), add:-

Some Modifications have specific effects - if a Specimen possesses any of the following attributes, it must obey their rules. If a Modification specifies particular Attribute changes, they take place instead of the Surgeon's incrementation.

• Vampirism. When a Specimen becomes Vampiric, it gets +1 STR and +1 RGN. When a Vampiric Specimen defeats a non-Vampiric Specimen in combat, the latter becomes Vampiric.
  
• Zombie Plague. When a Specimen contracts Zombie Plague, it gets -1 INT. When a Zombie Specimen defeats a non-Zombie Specimen in combat, the latter contracts Zombie Plague and the attacker gains 1 INT.
  

If this Proposal passes, give half of the proposer-awarded Life Points to Damanor.

Failed by Squirrel, 28nd Oct.

Proposal : Bed-Blocking [Trivial]

[ Oh dear, I dropped this by mistake when rearranging the rule... ]

To Rule 13 (Experimental Modification), add:-

A single Specimen may not perform more than one Modification per day.

Failed by Squirrel, 28nd Oct.

Proposal:Vampirism

A Subject may have the special modification of Vampirism, which may be applied at no cost to the Subject by anyone with INT at least 5. Usual rules about consenting to surgery by non-Doctors apply.

A Subject with Vampirism pays triple the normal lf cost when gaining a new Modification by surgery. However, on defeating another subject in the Arena, the Vampire steals a random modification from said Subject, unless the Adminion processing the challenge rolls heads on both of two coins, in which case the modification is simply lost. Also, no attempt to steal occurs unless the losing Subject has a stat above 2, and the random selection is made only among those mutations presently increasing the loser's stats to 3 or more.

A Subject may be cured of Vampirism by any surgeon, at a cost of 50 LF. The surgery succeeds if the square of the surgeon's INT is above the result of a roll on 4d10, otherwise the vampirism remains. The LF is lost in any case.

NOTES: This is intended to bring back species, in a sense, and also provide a means to "smack down" players who have ridiculous stats (which will eventually happen if nobody wins).

Failed by est, 28th Oct. -5 to Pakaran (Nathan is Pakaran, right?), +2 to est

Surgery request

Can someone graft this bounce field generator onto my forehead? It will make attacks bounce off.

I'll just have to be careful when jumping rope.

EDIT: Why does my real name show up, not my nick of Pakaran?

Just letting you know

Everything up though "Sorry, this is killing me" can be taken care of. I would do it, but I have to go to work.

Glarsh Is It!

A Glarsh vending machine has now been installed in a spare corner of the lab - all Specimens have been given enough loose change to help themselves to cans of the stuff (bright orange label with "Glarsh!" in thick green italics), until such a time as it runs out, or is destroyed for reasons of safety.

Specimens should note that Glarsh has been engineered in such a way that using it outside of comments to this rule will have no effect.

Missing Vote Problem - Solved

This has now been sorted, through email with Yariv; it was an issue with some of Blogback's new anti-spam measures, now that the age of Blog Comment Junk Mail is upon us. We are presumably the only weblog who shout "smileys" at one another on a regular basis (and notice when one goes missing).

Carry on.

Battle : Aaron vs Damanor

After circling each other warily for a while, Aaron and Damanor have launched into battle in the Arena. A glass panel slides quietly open in the wall of the chamber, and the Doctor looks on, clattering some dice (each Specimen gets an attack of D10 plus their ATT, minus their opponent's DEF).

Round 1: Aaron (5) slams his Mace Fist into Damanor's (3) underprotected chest.
Round 2: Aaron (7) does it again. Damanor (2) staggers back against the wall of the arena, clicking his Lobster Claws.
Round 3: Damanor (7) lunges forward with both pincers, nipping sharply at Aaron's (3) Poisonous Skin, but to little avail...

Aaron is victorious! He gets 10 Life, and Damanor loses 10. (Aaron doesn't receive any INT bonus, as Damanor was weaker than him.)

Proposal: Retrospect [Trivial]

add to rule 14 - The Arena:

Specimens may not receive surgical modifications until 48 hours after they have accepted or issued a challenge.

This is to try and avoid such things as "ARRRRR let's fight. Ooops, it would appear that you have a number or two higher than myself in Defense. Timeout. Doctor could you please correct this disparity before I get clobbered? Thanks. Have a nice day."

Self-killed by Aaron. -5 to Aaron, +2 to est

Proposal: Sorry, this is killing me [extremely trivial]

Change all instances of "8X-4Y" to "4(2X-Y)".

No Lifeforce should be given to me if this passes.

Self-killed by est, 23rd Oct. -5 to est, +2 to est

Proposal: Knight Threatens Rook

enact a rule entitled "Expenditures" such that:

Specimens may use their lifeforce to temporarily boost a quality of their choosing. Once per week a specimen may spend (20 - INT) lifeforce in order to boost one attribute by one. This boost lasts for 24 hours. They may not, however, do this subsequent to accepting a challenge.

Enacted by est, 23rd Oct. +10 to Aaron, +5 to est

Proposal: Arrrrrrrr

enact a rule entitled "Medical Malpractice" described by the following wondrous words:

The Doctor is not as infallible as originally thought. Should a specimen attain an intelligence of 6 and their lifeforce equal at least 100 it shall be eligible to engage the Doctor in a Surgical Challenge. The Surgical Challenge involves:

1. The eligible specimen issues a challenge to the Doctor(the Doctor has no choice but the accept)*.
2. Each participant shall then have 48 hours to craft a "special surgical enhancement" expressed in the form of a post.
3. Each specimen shall vote on the surgical enhancements showing which one they prefer (putting a FOR vote in the comments section of the preferred submission and leaving the other one blank). Their vote, however, carries a weight equal to their relative intelligence. So, a specimen with an intelligence of 3 voting FOR the Doctor’s post will be counted as three FOR votes for the Doctor’s “special surgical enhancement”.
4. The participant that has the most FOR votes after another 48 hours (note: the whole Surgical Challenge takes 96 hours) becomes or remains the Doctor.
5. If the challenger loses, then he/she/it suffers a penalty of -2 to his/her/its intelligence.

Prohibitions: No surgical enhancements may be performed on any specimen subsequent to the initial issuing of a Surgical Challenge


*Conditions: To mark the beginning of the first 48 hour period and to show that the Doctor acknowledges the challenge he shall have the privilege of naming certain conditions of the "special surgical enhancement" (i.e. no robotic parts, animal parts may only come from those that start with the letter Q, must somehow involve the game Go, etc ...).

Enacted by est, 23rd Oct. +10 to Aaron, +5 to est

Proposal: Turn and Face the Strange ... [Trivial]

alter rule "14 - The Arena" to the following extent:

this:

The other specimen may either accept or decline the challenge within 12 hours of the initial challenge. If the challenged specimen fails to respond in 12 hours he/she/it is assumed to have declined.

becomes this:

The other specimen may either accept or decline the challenge within 24 hours of the initial challenge. If the challenged specimen fails to respond in 24 hours he/she/it is assumed to have declined.

upon the passing of this proposal the lifeforce that would be awarded me instead is awarded to "Carol".

Enacted by est, 23rd Oct. +2 to Carol, +2 to est

Challenge: Aaron

It seems that I've slept right through your meaningless challenge. Still, it seems harmless enough to waste my time stomping you into oblivion, especially when your only feeble modifications are the ones that I performed on you. (Poor Aaron, is he still mad at me for changing my vote on his Proposal: Iain Duncan Smith? Hasn't he figured out that it would have failed anyway after Kamikaze's vote?)

Don't worry, Aaron, I won't hurt you too much.

Oh, and can I get reptilian scales implanted, just to make things a little more balanced before I stomp him?

Proposal : Cryogenics [Trivial]

Replace "Idle" with "Frozen" throughout the ruleset, and "Reactivate" with "Unfreeze".

Also, make Cayvie and Sheeley into Frozen Specimens, rather than Dead ones (since they haven't actually been killed, and should be able to just wake up if they want to).

Enacted by est, 23rd Oct. +2 to Kevan, +2 to est

Carol Attacks!

Carol escapes briefly from the laboratory basement to attack Royce for 4 Life Force. The resultant scar tissue, which may or may not be infected with Glarsh, quickly hardens to form a leathery, greenish carapace across Royce's back.

Proposal : Neater Surgery

[ New player Bluebottle expressed some confusion over how modification worked - here's an attempt to reword the relevant rule for clarity.

And while we're here, let's replace the "voluntary subject" rule with the assumption that anyone in the Lab wants to be operated upon; having to keep an eye on random comments to see who's asked to be modified isn't really working very well.

(Oh, and I'm also assuming that surgery can't decrease attributes, at least for now... Under the current wording, it's arguable that an INT 0 surgeon can slice anyone's attributes back down to zero.) ]

Reword the Rule 13 (Experimental Modification) to:-

The Doctor wishes to "experiment" to test several modifications on different Specimens, and to encourage Specimens to operate on one another. Possible modifications include, but are not limited to: replacing limbs with animal limbs or mechanical (clockwork) ones or adding new limbs; skin replacement; adding claws/fangs; etc.

If a Specimen is in the Lab, it may attempt to modify any other Specimen that's also in the Lab (other than the Doctor) - the operator is known as the Surgeon, and the Specimen being modified is the Subject.

Modification consists of the Surgeon choosing an Attribute in the Subject which is lower than the Surgeon's INT, and incrementing it. The descriptive nature of the surgery should be noted in the Subject's "Modifications" and the Subject's life drained according to the extent of the work:- The life drained is equal to 8X-4Y, where X is the new level of the attribute being modified, and Y is the INT of the Specimen performing the experiment. (If less than 4 Life would be drained, 4 Life is drained instead.)

(If the proposal "Where am I, anyway?" failed, replace "If a Specimen is in the Lab, it may attempt to modify any other Specimen that's also in the Lab" with "Any Specimen may attempt to modify any other Specimen".)

And remove the dusty old "Specimens other than the Doctor are known as Subjects." sentence from the Ruleset, as the term's already being used in other contexts.

Enacted by Squirrel, 22nd Oct.

Challenge: Damanor

Damanor!!!

I issue you a CHALLENGE!!! If you are weird being enough then you will accept and adjourn to the Arena where I will proceed to destroy your seemingly burgeoning ego. Let us settle this with nose and tooth, with castor oil and liver nodes, with cardigans and pastries. DOUBLE DEUCE!!!

Hugs and Kisses,
Aaron

Fresh Specimen!

It seems the Dr has captured a new specimen, for there is a new face among us.

He says his name is "Bluebottle". I guess we better make him "welcome".

(walks off in the direction of the instrument table)

Proposal: Where am I, anyway? [Trivial]

Enact a Rule: Locations

Each specimen has a current location, displayed in the GNDT. Specimens have access to limited communication systems in all locations, with exceptions noted in individual rules. Locations include:
Laboratory (Lab): Where the Doctor and other specimens perform laboratory experiments, and some specimens await modification.
Arena (Are): Specimens meet here to test modifications through combat.
Morgue (RIP): Location of dead specimens until they are reanimated.

Also, if Proposal: Despite All My Rage passes, include a location: "Sceptic Tank (Tank): Quarantine for highly bellicose specimens." If Proposal: Is he dead, or just asleep? passes, include location: "Stasis (ZZZ): Idle specimens await revival in the stasis chamber."
Just formalizing something that we pretty much already have, and adding a location for the Doctor to stay instead of having him float in the ether (without apropriate modifications). Not really much point in having a dead body in the arena, either.

Enacted by Squirrel, 22nd Oct.

Proposal : Melting Pot [Trivial]

[ We haven't managed to do anything with "Species" (we're all still Human), and the idea is seeming more and more irrelevant now that we're bolting random animal parts onto one another. ]

Repeal Rule 11 (Species) and remove the Species column from the GNDT.

Enacted by Squirrel, 22st Oct.

New Specimen : Pakaran

A fresh human, Pakaran, has been delivered to the laboratory. Welcome to BlogNomic.