Ruleset
Core Rules
Ruleset and Gamestate
This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Scribes shall obey it. Section One consists of the “core rules” of BlogNomic, covering basic proposal mechanics; Section Two contains the rules of the current dynasty; and Section Three contains the appendix, which exists solely to clarify the remainder of the ruleset.
The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset.
Scribes may correct obvious spelling and typographical mistakes in the Ruleset and their own Pending Proposals at any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns with the singular “they”.
If the Ruleset does not properly reflect all legal changes that have been made to it, any Scribe may update it to do so.
Scribes
Any human may apply to join BlogNomic (if they are not already playing) by registering at http://blognomic.com via the Register link in the sidebar, and then making a post making clear their wish to be a Scribe. An Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar and the GNDT, at which moment they become a Scribe.
A Scribe may leave the game at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A Scribe may not rejoin the game within two weeks after having left. A Scribe may only change their name as a result of a proposal approving the change.
Some Scribes are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Scribes who wish to become Admins may sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their posts by Proposal, CfJ, or voluntary resignation. New admins shall be given the GNDT configuration password when they become admins.
Idle Scribes
Some Scribes are Idle, and shall be marked as such in the sidebar. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “Scribes”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play” and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Scribes are not counted as Scribes.
If a Proposal contains a provision that targets a specifically named Idle Scribe, then that Idle Scribe is considered to be Unidle solely for the purposes of enacting that specific provision
When a Scribe is unidled, if they went Idle in the same dynasty, their personal gamestate retains the last legally endowed values it had, if they are still valid. Otherwise (including if a value is invalid, does not exist, or the Scribe Idled in a different dynasty), the Scribe is given the default value for new Scribe, if such a value exists.
An Admin may render a Scribe Idle if that Scribe has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past four days, or if that Scribe has not posted an entry or comment in the last seven days. In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post. Admins may render themselves Idle at any time, but should announce it in a post or comment when they do so. An Admin may Unidle a Scribe if that Scribe has asked to become Unidle in an entry or comment from the past four days, and Idle Admins may Unidle themselves at any time, unless the Scribe who would be Unidled asked to become (or rendered themselves) Idle within the previous four days, and within the current dynasty.
Admins who are unidling themselves should, in their first vote following each unidling, highlight their changed idle status and any changes to quorum to have come about as a result of it.
Dynasties
BlogNomic is divided into a number of Dynasties. Each Dynasty may be headed by a single Scribe, known as the Editor. If there is no Editor, the Dynasty is a Metadynasty.
Votable Matters
A Votable Matter is a post which Scribes may cast Votes on, such as a Proposal, a Call for Judgement or a Declaration of Victory.
Each Scribe may cast one Vote on a Votable Matter by making a comment to the Official Post that comprises that Votable Matter using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST, or DEFERENTIAL. Additional voting icons may be permitted in some cases by other rules. A valid Vote is, except when otherwise specified, a Vote of FOR or AGAINST. A Scribe’s Vote on a Votable Matter is the last valid voting icon that they have used in any comment on that Votable Matter. Additionally, if the author of a Votable Matter has not used a valid voting icon in a comment to the post, then the author’s Vote is FOR. A non-Scribe never has a Vote, even if they were a Scribe previously and had cast a valid Vote.
Votable Matters can either be Pending, Enacted, or Failed. When a Votable Matter is first put forward, it is considered Pending.
Whenever an Admin resolves a Votable Matter, they must also mark their name, and report the final tally of Votes (or the fact that it was self-killed or vetoed). Comments cannot be made on Enacted or Failed Votable Matters.
This rule cannot be overruled by Dynastic Rules in its application to Calls for Judgement or Declarations of Victory.
Proposals
Any Scribe may submit a Proposal to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the “Proposal” category that describes those changes (unless the Scribe already has 2 Proposals pending, or has already made 3 Proposals that day).
Special Proposal Voting
When a Scribe casts a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote), this renders the Proposal Self-Killed, even if the author later changes their Vote. The Editor may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a proposal; when the Editor casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Editor later changes their Vote.
If a Scribe other than the Editor casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Editor. When the Editor has a valid Vote other than VETO on a Proposal, then all votes of DEFERENTIAL are instead considered to be valid and the same as the Editor's Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified.
Resolution of Proposals
The oldest pending Proposal may be enacted by any Admin (by updating the Ruleset and/or Gamestate to include the specified effects of that Proposal, and then setting that Proposal's status to Enacted) if either of the following is true:
- It has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum, has been open for voting for at least 12 hours, and has not been Vetoed or Self-Killed.
- It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST, and it has not been Vetoed or Self-Killed.
The oldest pending Proposal may be failed by any Admin, if any of the following are true:
- It has been Vetoed or Self-Killed.
- The number of Scribes who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
- It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and cannot be Enacted.
If a proposal somehow ends up being pending for more than 7 days, it is ignored for the purpose of calculating the oldest pending proposal, and can be failed by any Admin.
Calls for Judgement
If two or more Scribes actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Scribe feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Scribe may raise a Call for Judgement (abbreviated CfJ) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgement” category.
A Pending CFJ may be Resolved by an Admin if it has a Quorum of FOR Votes, a Quorum of AGAINST Votes, or if it has been open for voting for more than 48 hours. When a CFJ is Resolved, it is to be Enacted if it has more FOR Votes than AGAINST Votes and Failed otherwise. When a CFJ is Enacted, the Admin Enacting it shall update the Gamestate and Ruleset, and correct the GNDT and other gamestate tracking entities, as specified in the CFJ.
Any CfJ that specifies neither changes to the Gamestate or Ruleset nor corrections to any gamestate tracking entities may be failed by any Admin.
This Rule may not be overruled by Dynastic Rules.
Victory and Ascension
If a Scribe (other than the Editor) believes that they have achieved victory in the current Dynasty, they may make a post to the Blognomic weblog in the Declaration of Victory category, detailing this.
Upon doing so, the game immediately goes into Hiatus, if it hasn’t already. During this time, the only game actions that may be taken are those covered by Rules “Scribes”, “Votable Matters”, “Calls for Judgement”, “Gamestate Tracking” and “Victory and Ascension”.
Every Scribe may cast Votes on that DoV to indicate agreement or disagreement with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty.
A Pending DoV may be enacted if any of the following is true:
- It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours, has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum, and either the Editor has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
- It has been open for voting for at least 24 hours, has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum, and has a number of AGAINST Votes lesser than half of Quorum, rounded down.
- It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, has a number of Votes that exceed or equal Quorum, and more than half of its valid Votes are FOR.
A DoV may be failed if any of the following are true:
- It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours, and the number of Scribes who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
- It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and cannot be Enacted.
When a DoV fails and there are no pending DoVs, Hiatus ends.
When a DoV is enacted, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Scribe who made the DoV as its Editor. That Scribe may pass this role to another Scribe at this point by making a post to that effect, if they wish. The Hiatus continues until the new Editor makes an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category - this should specify the Editor's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and may optionally specify that the terms Scribe and Editor 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.
A DoV may not be started in the period between an enacted DoV and that DoV’s Ascension Address. When a DoV is failed, if it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Scribe who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was failed.
This rule cannot be overruled by Dynastic Rules as it relates to Declarations of Victory, but can be overruled in other matters.
Fair Play
The following are BlogNomic’s rules of fair play. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if a Scribe's behaviour or actions are otherwise deemed unacceptable (socially or otherwise), a proposal or CfJ may be made to reprimand or punish the perpetrator or, in cases of extreme or repeated violations, remove them from the game and bar them from rejoining.
- A single person should not control more than one Scribe within BlogNomic.
- A Scribe should not “spam” the BlogNomic blog. What counts as spamming is subjective, but would typically include posting more than ten blog entries in a day, more than ten blog comments in a row, or posting a blog entry of more than 1000 words.
- A Scribe should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or the GNDT).
- A Scribe should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Scribe.
- A Scribe should not edit the "Entry Date" field of a blog post.
- A Scribe should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
- A Scribe should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an ascension address).
Seasonal Downtime
Blognomic goes into hiatus every year on December 24th, and remains in hiatus until December 27th. During this time no game actions may be taken except those described in the rules entitled “Votable Matters,” “Gamestate Tracking” and “Call for Judgement”.
Dynastic Rules
Two-Player Mode
If all Proposals enacted in the previous seven days were made by only two Scribes, and if the current dynasty is at least nine days old, and if one of those Scribes is the Editor, then the game is in Two-Player Mode and the other Scribe is the Ineditor. Otherwise there is no Ineditor. If for any reason there would otherwise be more than one Ineditor, the game is not in Two-Player Mode and there is no Ineditor.
The Ineditor may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a proposal made by the Editor; when the Ineditor casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed.
If the game is in Two-Player Mode, and the Editor hasn't vetoed any proposals except by the Ineditor in the previous seven days, the string “(other than the Editor)” is ignored in the rule Victory and Ascension.
Apocrypha
As a Daily Action, but not more than three times in a given week, the Editor may Visit the Archives by either:
- Selecting a random previous Dynasty with an archived Ruleset, then selecting a random Dynastic Rule from the final version of that Ruleset (not counting subrules for the purpose of this random selection), including as many of the rule’s subrules as they deem appropriate. (The Editor may use a randomization method of their own choice for this action.) The Editor may Visit the Archives this way up to twice per week.
- Selecting a rule (and any number of its subrules) as specified by a Map which has not been used before during a Visit to the Archives, and whose date has either arrived or passed, and whose rule it would be possible to select under the previous bullet point.
The Editor shall only use the first method if all Maps whose date have arrived or passed have been used. If a Map specifies a Rule that would not be possible or permitted for the Editor to add, it is considered used.
Upon selecting such a rule, they may copy its text and add it as a new Dynastic Rule to the current Ruleset, replacing the terms for Emperor-analog and Player-analog with “Editor” and “Scribe” as appropriate. The Editor must then Mark it as Provisional.
If adding such a rule would create a new victory condition, the Editor shall replace all mentions of achieving victory in the rule with Scoring, and assign the rule an unused three-letter code in accordance with the rule "Grading".
A Scribe who is not the Editor may spend 1 Paper to draw a Map as a weekly action. Upon doing so, they should privately contact the Editor with a message specifying a single Dynastic Rule (including any number of its subrules) from any Dynasty, and any date; this is known as a Map.
Objection!
The Editor may Object to a map that they find unacceptable for any reason. When they do so, they must post a story post and its title should begin with “Objection: X” where X is the name of the rule being Mapped to, this is the Objection. The Editor should not mention the Author of a Map in an Objection. A Map is considered used if it specifies a rule that is the subject of an Objection that is neither Upheld nor Overturned. Scribes may post FOR and AGAINST votes on any Objection, with the appropriate voting icons, within 24 hours of it being posted; the Editor is considered to have voted For if they have not yet posted a valid voting icon. Only a Scribe’s most recent valid vote is considered to be their vote. Any votes posted after 24 hours are considered invalid. After 24 hours the Objection becomes Closed. If the For votes on a Closed Objection are greater than or equal to the number of Against votes on it then it is considered Upheld, otherwise it is considered Overturned. If an Objection is Upheld then any Map specifies the rule X is considered Used. If an Objection is Overturned then it returns to being unused and can not be Objected to again.
Paper Money
Each Scribe has an amount of Paper, tracked in the GNDT. New Scribes start with the same amount of Paper as the Editor unless another Dynastic Rule says they start with a different amount of Paper.
A Scribe may, at any time, transfer a positive amount of their Paper to any one other Scribe who shares their Location. A Scribe may spend a positive amount of energy to transfer an equal or smaller amount of their Paper to any one other Scribe who does not share their location.
Provisional Rules
A Dynsastic Rule is considered Provisional if its name ends in "[?]" or if it is a subrule of a Provisional rule. To Mark a Dynastic rule as Provisional is to add "[?]" to the end of its name if it's not already there, and to Unmark a rule is to remove "[?]" from the end of its name. References to a Provisional Rule’s name may omit the “[?]” mark.
If a Provisional rule contradicts a non-Provisional Rule, the non-Provisional Rule always takes precedence. Additionally, a Provisional Rule cannot:
- Render illegal any pending Proposals or CfJs, or forbid any Scribe from making an otherwise legal Proposal or CfJ.
- Modify the rules of voting or enactment on a proposal that modifies it.
- Alter other Rules, or permit a person to alter those rules.
- Directly cause a Scribe to become Idle.
- Directly cause anyone to achieve victory.
If a rule has been Provisional for the last week, any Scribe may Unmark it.
Weekly Bonuses
As a weekly action, the Editor shall award 1 Paper to each Scribe that submitted a Dynastic Proposal during the week before the current week. The Editor shall then make a blog post, the Weekly Report, listing the Scribes awarded Paper in this way.
When the Editor makes a Weekly Report, he may additionally name a Scribe (other than himself) that authored a Dynastic proposal enacted in the previous week as Scribe of the Week, replacing any previous Scribe of the Week. Scribe of the Week is an Official Position. The Editor should decide who to name as Scribe of the Week based primarily on the quality of proposals enacted that week.
Material Requisition
As a weekly action, a Scribe may make a request for materials. A request for materials allows the requesting Scribe to gain 1 unit of any object that is tracked in the GNDT. This is done by making a post in the GNDT with a comment of RFM while increasing the chosen statistic by 1.
Historic Tomes
Archived Rulesets from previous dynasties cannot be modified except by CfJ, and Scribes shall not attempt to modify them. This does not prohibit archiving the current Ruleset at the end of a dynasty.
Any non-Ruleset document on the Blognomic wiki that would qualify as gamestate under the final Ruleset of a dynasty before the current one (a “Historic Document”) may not be modified except as explicitly permitted by other rules. If a Dynastic Rule attempts modify a Historic Document, the following steps happen in order instead:
1) A copy of that wiki page is made at a subpage of that page found by adding “/dynasty141” to the end of its URL (that Historic Document’s “Manuscript”) if this process hasn’t already created the Historic Document’s Manuscript.
2) All references in the Ruleset to the Historic Document are modified to refer to its Manuscript instead.
3) The modification happens to the Manuscript instead of the Historic Document.
Exchange
Scribes can spend 3 of any one Commercial resource tracked in the GNDT to gain 1 of any Commercial, non-Valuable resource tracked in the GNDT.
The following resources are considered Commercial: Paper, Looks
The following resources are considered Valuable: Looks
Vanity
Each Scribe has an amount of Looks, which is tracked as numeric variables in the GNDT. New Scribes start with the same amount of Looks as the Editor.
Objects
If a Scribe has a value tracked as a numeric variable in the GNDT, that value is considered to be an object for the purposes of Dynastic Rules.
Official Positions
A Scribe may be granted an Official Position, which is tracked as a selection field in the GNDT. While holding such a position, a Scribe may perform a Daily or Weekly Action that they would otherwise not be able to perform, called that Office’s Powers; each of these actions is described following the relevant position below. The list of Official Positions is as follows, with the name of each position in bold:
- Scribe of the Week - The Scribe of the Week may, as a Daily Action, select another Scribe and increase each of their numeric resources tracked in the GNDT by 1.
- The President of the Galaxy - The President of the Galaxy may, as a weekly action, select an pending proposal and endorse it by leaving a comment that says “I’m the President of the Galaxy, and I approve this message.” This increases the looks of the Scribe that made that proposal by 3, but also increases that Scribe’s stress by 1. The President of the Galaxy may not endorse their own proposals.
Locations
Each Scribe has a Location, which by default is “Scriptorum” and can be any single English word. A Scribe whose location is XXX is considered to be “in the XXX”.
As a daily action, a Scribe may spend 15 Energy to change their location. Upon doing so, the Stress of every scribe with the same location that the Scribe is changing their location to is increased by one (including the stress Scribe performing the action), unless that location is the Scriptorum in which case no Stress values are changed.
Abdication
A player can Abdicate(give up) an Official Position they hold at any time by making a comment in the format of ABDICATE: (Position Title) in the GNDT. A player who makes such a comment is reffered to as the Abdicating player for this rule in that instance. The position indicated in the comment must then be removed from the Abdicating player’s row in the GNDT as soon as possible. Abdication can only remove the Abdicating player from an Official Position if they hold that the position. Only one official position may be abdicated per comment. If more than one Scribe holds the same Official Position, only the Official Position in the Abdicating Scribe’s GNDT is removed. Player’s can only Abdicate their own Official Positions.
Raffle
Whenever a Scribe is in the Lottery Room, as a weekly action that Scribe may “Write their name on a ticket” by making a comment in the GNDT of “Enter Raffle” and reducing their paper by 1. A Scribe can only perform this action if they have at least 1 paper. After a scribe performs this action, their name is appended to the list of Entries in this rule. Each name must be placed on a new line to ensure readability. When the Editor makes a weekly report, if the Entry List in this rule contains the name of at least 1 Scribe, they must choose a Scribe whose name is on the list of Entries at random. The chosen Scribe gains an amount of paper equal to the number of names in this rule’s Entry List plus one. Immediately afterwards, they must remove all names from the Entries list in this rule.
Entry List:
Offenses
Offenses is a value tracked in the GNDT. Scribes start the game with 0 Offenses. Whenever a Scribe performs an action that affects GNDT statistics of another Scribe other than their Offenses and was not the direct result resolving a votable matter, the latter can once declare they are Offended by their actions up to one day after such actions took place, and subsequently increase the former’s Offenses by 1. A Scribe with 3 or more Offenses is considered Harmful. A Scribe who is not Harmful is then considered Harmless.
Apocryphal Rules Go Below This Point
Whenever a proposal creates a Dynastic Rule, that rule is added to the ruleset immediately above this rule unless the proposal says otherwise. Dynastic Rules added to the ruleset by other means must be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules. Subrules are exempt from this rule; they are placed within their parent rule as normal.
Ousting
As a weekly action, a Scribe can Oust an Official Position currently held by some Scribe by spending 2 Paper. Upon doing so, the position in question ceases to be held, and the Scribe who held it just before the Ousting gains 2 Paper; additionally, daily and weekly actions described in that Office’s Powers cannot be performed for 48 hours. Editor is not an official position.
Bathing
Whenever a Scribe is in the Bathroom, as a weekly action, that Scribe may “Bathe” by making a comment in the GNDT of “Bathing” and a roll of DICE10. The Scribe then takes the roll to the ‘Bathing Effects Table’ below. If the dice roll is 1, the effect in the row titled ‘1’ is applied; if the dice roll is between 2 and 5 inclusive, the effect in the row titled ‘2-5’ is applied; if the dice roll is 6 or 7, the effect in the row titled ‘6-7’ is applied; if the dice roll is 8 or 9, the effect in the row titled ‘8-9’ is applied; and if the dice roll is 10, the effect in the row titled ‘10’ is applied.
Bathing Effects Table:
- 1 The Scribe, after bathing, is in a good mood and decides to clean the Bathroom. The Scribe may decrease their own Stress by up to 6, but must reduce their Looks by 1.
- 2-5 The Scribe is cleaner. They may increase their own Looks by 1.
- 6-7 Bathing does wonders for the Scribe’s image; they may increase their own Looks by 3.
- 8-9 Out of soap, but relaxing nonetheless. The Scribe loses 2 Stress to a minimum of 0.
- 10 The Scribe’s singing annoys the other Scribes. The Bathing Scribe must increase the Stress of the other Scribes in the Bathroom by 1 and their own Stress by 2.
Teaming Up
Two Scribes who are Watching each other and have the same Status are a Team.
For the purposes of all Dynastic Rules but this one that care about the Stress or Energy of a Scribe in a Team (a “Team Member”), the Energy of each Team Member in a Team is equal to the higher Energy in the team plus 15, and the Stress of each Team Member is equal to the higher Stress in the Team plus 3. However, if either Member of a Team takes Damage (due to a rule other than this one), so does the other; if either member of a Team gains or loses Paper (due to a rule other than this one), so does the other; and if either Member of a team loses Energy or gains Stress (due to a rule other than this one), so does the other.
Energy
Each Scribe has an amount of Energy, and a level of Stress, which are tracked in GNDT. New Scribes start with 50 Energy and 0 Stress. As a weekly action, a Scribe may rest, and set their Energy to either (100 - their Stress), or 35, whichever is larger.
Proxies
A non-Scribe entity designated as a Proxy by this rule or its subrules is a Proxy. Each Proxy has its own GNDT row. Proxies are considered to be Scribes for the purpose of other Dynastic Rules, except where they explicitly refer to non-Proxy Scribes.
If a rule allows a Scribe to cause a Proxy to act, that Scribe can update the gamestate on behalf of that Proxy as allowed by the rules. If a Scribe needs to make comments or GNDT updates on behalf of a Proxy, they must start the comment with “PROXY (X):” where (X) is the name of the Proxy. Proxies designated as such by subrules of this rule cannot make blog posts.
Derelicts [?]
Derelicts are a type of Proxy. When a Scribe changes their Location to match the Location of one or more Derelicts, they may spend 20 Energy to cause one of those Derelicts to attempt an action that only modifies GNDT gamestate.
There are three Derelicts: MC Geran, MC Damanor and MC Keitalia.
HHGTTG [?]
If a Scribe is Harmless then they may subsequently be elected as {The President of the Galaxy}
The President of the Galaxy is an Official Position. If the President of the Galaxy isn’t mostly harmless, remove their Official Position as President of the Galaxy.
Grading
Each Scribe has a list of Projects, tracked as three-letter codes tracked in the GNDT column “Projects”. New Scribes start with no Projects.
A Rule can cause a Scribe to Score (by saying that the Scribe Scores) if and only if that Rule both:
- has title starting with its unique code in square brackets, the code being three capital english letters;
- has a code for which no rule having that code has caused that Scribe to Score earlier in the current dynasty.
Scribes cannot Score in any other manner.
When a Scribe Scores, they gain a Project with the three-letter code of the Rule that caused them to Score, and should brag about it in a blog post. Projects should not be awarded in any other manner.
This Rule takes precedence over other dynastic rules for the purpose of determining when or whether a Scribe Scores.
Deliberations [?]
Any Scribe may submit a Deliberation to alter the text of any pending Proposal or Deliberation by posting an entry in the “Deliberation” category that describes those changes (unless the Scribe already has a Deliberation pending or has already submitted 3 Votable Matters that day, or the target Proposal or Deliberation has already been targeted by a Deliberation pending in the last 12 hours).
Deliberations are Votable Matters and as such are governed by Rule 1.5 (“Votable Matters”). Deliberations cannot be Vetoed or Self-Killed. Any pending Deliberation may be enacted by any Admin if any of the following are true:
- It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours and has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum.
- It has been open for voting for at least 24 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, and more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST.
- It has been open for voting for at least 6 hours, has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum, and has no AGAINST votes.
Any pending Deliberation may be failed by any Admin, if any of the following are true:
- It could not be Enacted without either one of the Votes AGAINST it being changed, or the set of Scribe being changed, or by awaiting the passage of time.
- It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and cannot be Enacted.
- Its target Proposal or Deliberation has been resolved.
If a Deliberation includes the word “CRUCIAL” (all caps), then its target Proposal or Deliberation cannot be failed until it has been pending for at least 48+F-A hours, where F is the number of FOR votes on the Deliberation and A is the number of AGAINST votes on the Deliberation, if F-A > 0.
Appendix
Keywords
A keyword defined by a rule supersedes the normal English usage of the word. A keyword defined in this glossary supersedes that defined by a rule. (eg. A rule specifying "bananas are blue" cannot be overruled by posting a dictionary definition or a photo of a banana, and a rule specifying "every day is Sunday" will be overruled by the glossary entry below.)
- Can
- "is able to"
- Comment
- A blog comment published to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com
- Core Proposal
- A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of core rules and/or the glossary, and/or renaming, banning, and/or the granting or removing of admin status from one or more Scribes.
- Daily Action
- If a game action is a Daily Action, each Scribe able to perform it may take that action once each day, but not more than once every ten hours.
- Daily Communal Action
- A Daily Communal Action is a Daily Action that can only be performed by one Scribe per day.
- Day
- References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
- Dice
- References to "YDICEX" refer to Y X-sided dice, rolled within the GNDT. To roll dice, post DICEX in the comments field of the GNDT, replacing X with the number of sides on the die you wish to roll.
- Dynastic Proposal
- A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of dynastic rules and/or gamestate defined by dynastic rules.
- Effective Vote Comment (EVC)
- A Scribe’s Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter means that Scribe’s Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Scribe’s Vote on that Votable Matter.
- Flavour Text
- When posting a blog entry, a Scribe may use the “Commentary or flavour text” field of the blog publishing form to add their own comments or description of their post. For the purposes of all other rules, such text is not considered to be part of the post.
- Gamestate
- Any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of, including all Wiki Pages, or GNDT columns, which the Dynastic Rules explicitly mention.
- IRC Channel
- The Blognomic IRC channel is located at #nomic on the slashnet network (irc.slashnet.org).
- May
- "is permitted to"
- May not
- "is not permitted to"
- Post
- A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com
- Private Message
- A message sent via Blognomic’s Private Messages system at blognomic.com.
- Quorum
- Quorum of a subset of Scribes is half the number of Scribes in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Scribes it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Scribes.
- Resolve/Resolution
- If used in a context of a Votable Matter, the word “Resolve” means to perform the act, as an Admin, of enacting or failing a Votable Matter. The world “Resolution” means then the act of doing so. If used in any other context, the meaning of both “Resolve” and “Resolution” is the standard English meaning of these words
- Rule
- Each individually numbered section of the ruleset is a rule, including sections that are sub-rules of other rules.
- Shall
- "is required to"
- Should
- "is recommended that"
- Sibling Rule
- Two rules are “siblings” of each other if they are both direct subrules of the same rule.
- Slack
- The BlogNomic Slack is located at blognomic.slack.com. Scribes may request an invite to the Slack while logged in by clicking the button in the sidebar.
- Slack Channel
- A Slack Channel is any channel on the BlogNomic Slack. To reference a Slack Channel, use a hash (#) followed by the name of that channel. (For example, #random.)
- Story Post
- A Story Post is an entry in the “Story Post” category.
- Subject
- The "subject" of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is "" (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
- Subrule
- A subrule is a type of rule that is nested within another rule. A proposal that specifically affects a rule affects all of its subrules; a proposal that specifically affects a subrule does not affect its parent rule or any other subrule of that rule, unless they are also explicitly cited as being affected by that proposal.
- Vote
- The word “Vote”, used as a noun, means a Vote that is cast in accordance with Rule “Votable Matters”. The word “Vote”, used as a verb, means the act of casting such a Vote.
- Voting Icons
- For use in voting, a check box http://blognomic.com/images/vote/for.gif shall represent a Vote FOR, an X http://blognomic.com/images/vote/against.gif shall represent a Vote AGAINST, an IMP http://blognomic.com/images/vote/imperial.gif shall represent a Vote of DEFERENTIAL, and an Imperial Seal http://blognomic.com/images/vote/seal.gif shall represent the Imperial Veto.
- Week
- References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
- Weekly Action
- If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Scribe able to perform it may take that action once each week, but not more than once every twenty-four hours.
- Weekly Communal Action
- A Weekly Communal action is a Weekly Action that can only be performed by one Scribe per week.
- Wiki
- The BlogNomic Wiki at http://wiki.blognomic.com
Gamestate Tracking
Votable Matters and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at http://blognomic.com. Any Scribe may post to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the Ruleset allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts. Any single official post cannot be of two different types of official post unless a rule explicitly states otherwise.
If no Scribe has commented on it, or if the only comments on it begin with “Note:” and contain no voting icons, an official post may be altered or removed by its author; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. However, despite this, official posts can never be changed from one category to another, or changed to be a different sort of official post, if they have been posted for more than fifteen minutes. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post's Status must be changed to reflect its status.
A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following exception: Whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than fifteen minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as they wish.
Specific parts of the Gamestate data shall be tracked by the Generic Nomic Data Tracker at http://blognomic.com/gndt/generic.cgi?nomic=blog. Any Scribe may update any Scribe's data via the GNDT, whenever the Ruleset permits it.
All updates to the GNDT are logged. Actions that change gamestate directly (defined in other rules) can normally be performed simply by applying their effects to the GNDT, which updates the gamestate accordingly, unless another rule specifies some other method of performing them; one GNDT update may contain one or more actions, or one action may be split over multiple GNDT updates, as long as it’s clear what is happening and the actions are otherwise legal. The GNDT merely represents the Gamestate, and is not the same thing. In the event that the Gamestate and the GNDT are different, any Scribe may correct the GNDT to comply with the Gamestate.
If a Scribe feels that the GNDT was altered such that it no longer matches the gamestate (such as by performing an action which was against the Rules (as they were at the time of the alteration), or by any other means), they may simply undo the effects of that alteration. Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed GNDT update, Scribes are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement instead. Scribes shall be assigned a password for the GNDT when they join the Nomic.
Random Generators
The GNDT can be used to generate random results.
- The DICEN command can be used to generate a random number between 1 and N.
- The FRUIT command will return a random result from the following options: Lemon, Orange, Kiwi, Grape, Cherry, Tangelo.
- The COLOUR (or COLOR) command will return a random result from the following: White, Red, Green, Silver, Yellow, Turquoise, Magenta, Orange, Purple, Black.
- The VEGGIE command will return a random result from the following: Potato, Carrot, Triffid, Pumpkin.
Any changes to the potential outcomes of the GNDT’s random result commands must be made by proposal; and any proposal that seeks to nominate a change to this rule must first identify an active Scribe with server-level access to the BlogNomic site who is able to perform the changes, and must also update this rule to reflect the new potential outcomes.
Clarifications
Numbers and Variables
- If a set of valid values is not specified in their definition, game variables defined to hold numeric values can hold only non-negative integers. Any action that would set those values below zero is an illegal action unless explicitly otherwise stated in the ruleset.
- Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
- All numbers, unless stated otherwise by a rule, are in base ten.
- Unless otherwise specified, to “spend” or “lose” an amount X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V; to “gain” X of a numeric value “V” means to add X to V; and to “transfer” X of a numeric value “V” from A to B means to subtract X from A’s V and add X to B’s V. Unless otherwise specified, only positive amounts can be spent, lost, gained, or transferred, and a rule that allows Scribes to transfer a numeric value only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to another Scribe (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
- A Scribe who has a choice in whether to take an action defined by a dynastic rule may not take that action if both of the following conditions are true: a) the action's effects are limited to changing values tracked in the GNDT and/or similar gamestate-tracking entities (such as a wiki page), and b) the action would change one or more of those values to an illegal value.
- If a rule implies that the result of any calculation should be an integer (for instance, by attempting to store that result in, or add it to, a gamestate variable that can only hold integers), the result of the calculation is instead the result rounded towards 0.
- If a number or other game variable is selected 'at random' or 'randomly' from a range of possible values, its value shall always be taken from a uniform probability distribution over the entire range of possible values, unless otherwise specified. This value must be determined by an appropriate DICE roll in the GNDT, unless otherwise specified.
- If a game variable has no defined starting value, then that starting value is the nearest legal value to zero that it may take (for numerical variables, defaulting to positive if tied), blank (for a text string or list that may be blank), the alphabetically earliest legal text string it may take (for a text string which may not be blank, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”), or the list which is alphabetically earliest from the set of lists with the fewest elements (for lists which may not be blank, and considering each list to be a single unpunctuated text string, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”).
- Invalid values for game variables can never be used, even if the values stored in the GNDT remain valid. (for example, if X appears in a formula referring to a value that is a non-negative integer, X must be used as a non-negative integer)
Rules and Proposals
- If a new rule is created by a proposal and its location is not noted in that proposal, that new rule is to be placed in the Dynastic Rules.
- If a wiki page becomes gamestate as a result of a proposal enacting, that page shall - unless otherwise specified - be reverted to whatever state it was in at the time of that proposal's submission (and if the page did not exist at that time, it shall be blanked).
- Where a Proposal would amend the effects of Proposal Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (eg. a proposal proposing that enacted proposals earn their author a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own author, when enacted).
- Rules which trigger upon the Resolution of a Votable Matter are the responsibility of the Admin who Resolves it.
- Unless otherwise specified, a new Dynastic rule shall be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules.
- If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead named “Unnamed Rule”.
- The names of rules are not themselves rule text and have no effect other than being rule names.
- If the admin enacting a proposal reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (eg. “two days after this proposal enacts, Scribe A gains 1 point”), that step is ignored for the purposes of enactment. Once a proposal has been enacted, it can have no further direct effect on the gamestate.
Time
- For the purpose of all rules, time in Blognomic is in UTC.
- All references to time must be either specific or defined within the ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. "dinnertime", "twilight") cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
- Where the month, day and/or year of a calendar date are ambiguous (eg. "04/10/09"), it shall be assumed that the date is in a day/month/year format.
Spelling
- Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g, British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
Names
- Within the ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Scribe if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Scribe's name.
Prioritisation
- If two parts of the Ruleset contradict each other, precedence shall be construed in the following order:
- The Appendix has precedence over any Rule;
- A Dynastic Rule has precedence over a Core Rule, unless that Core Rule explicitly says it can’t be overruled by a Dynastic Rule;
- If both contradicting parts are Core Rules, or if both of them are Dynastic Rules, the part with more limited scope applies. (e.g. if the rules “Scribes may Kick each other” and “Scribes may not kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Scribes may not Kick each other.)
- If two parts with the same scope contradict each other, the negative rule applies. (e.g. with “Scribes may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Scribes may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Scribes may not Punch Spacemen on Friday.)