Core Rules

Ruleset and Gamestate

This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Guests 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 glossary, which exists solely to clarify the remainder of the ruleset. Rules may be referred to by their type, entire number and name or type and name. (e.g. This Rule may be referred to as Rule 1.1 Ruleset and Gamestate or the Rule entitled “Ruleset and Gamestate").

The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset.

Admins may correct obvious spelling and typographical mistakes in the Ruleset at any time, including replacing Spivak pronouns with the singular "they". A typographical mistake is defined as “A mistake in printing, typesetting, or typing, especially one caused by striking an incorrect key on a keyboard.”

Guests

Anybody may apply to join BlogNomic (if he is not already playing) by registering at http://blognomic.com via the Register link in the sidebar, and then making a post announcing his arrival. An Admin shall add him to the roster in the sidebar and the GNDT, at which moment he becomes a Guest.

A Guest may leave the game at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A Guest may only change his name as a result of a proposal approving the change.

Some Guests are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Guests 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.

Some Guests are Idle, and shall be marked as such in the sidebar. For the purposes of the Ruleset, excluding Rules 1.1, 1.2, 1.8 and 1.10, Idle Guests are not counted as Guests. Admins may render a Guest Idle if that Guest has asked to become Idle or if that Guest has not posted an entry or comment for more than 7 days. In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post. Admins may de-Idle an Guest at his request (unless that Guest asked to become Idle within the previous 4 days) - the Guest's personal gamestate retains the values it had immediately prior to his going Idle. If one or more values would be undefined, it is set to the value new Guests receive, if such a value exists.

Proposals

Any Guest may submit a Proposal to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the "Proposal" category that describes those changes (unless the Guest already has 2 Proposals pending, or has already made 3 Proposals that day).

Proposals can either be Pending, Enacted, or Failed. When a Proposal is first put forward, it is considered Pending. A Proposal may not also be a Call for Judgment.

Voting

Any Guest may cast his Vote on a Pending Proposal by making a comment on that entry using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST or DEFERENTIAL.

If the Guest who made a Proposal has not cast a Vote on it, his Vote is counted as FOR. If a Guest uses more than one Voting Icon in comments on a Pending Proposal, his Vote is the last voting icon he uses. If a Guest leaves the game or goes Idle, his Vote is no longer valid. If a Guest votes against his own proposal, that vote may not be changed. This is referred to as a Self-Kill.

A vote of DEFERENTIAL is a vote of no opinion, or of faith in the decision of the Executor. The vote will count as the same as the Executor's vote. If the Executor casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL on a proposal, it serves the purpose of cancelling any previous vote on that proposal that was cast by the Executor. If there is no Executor, a vote of DEFERENTIAL counts as an explicit vote of abstention.

If no Executor has voted on a proposal, a vote of DEFERENTIAL on that proposal does not count as a vote for the purposes of rule 1.5.

Enactment

The oldest pending Proposal may be enacted by any Admin (and the Ruleset and/or Gamestate updated to include the specified effects of that Proposal) 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, more than half of its votes are FOR, 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 enough AGAINST votes that it could not be Enacted without one of those votes being changed.
It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and half or fewer of its votes are FOR.
It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and has fewer than 2 valid votes.
The Guest who proposed it has voted AGAINST it.
The Executor has voted to VETO it

Whenever an Admin marks a proposal, CfJ, or DoV as passed or failed, he must also mark his name, and report the final tally of votes (or the fact that it was self-killed or vetoed).

Proposals the Executor has voted to VETO are considered vetoed. Proposals the author has voted against are considered self-killed unless the Executor has voted VETO on them, or they have fulfilled one of the other requirements to fail a proposal before the author’s self-kill vote is placed.

Calls for Judgment

If two or more Guests actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Guest feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Guest may raise a Call for Judgment (abbreviated CfJ) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgment” category. The post shall go on to describe the issue, and measures that shall be taken to resolve it.

All Guests may add votes of agreement or disagreement in comments to this entry, using appropriate voting icons (a Guest's later votes overriding their earlier ones). Unfailed CfJs continue until they reach a Quorum of FOR votes, a Quorum of AGAINST votes, or if there is no hiatus going on, until four days have passed, and if there is a hiatus going on until two days have passed. After this time, if more than half of the cast votes are in favour, the Gamestate and Ruleset shall be amended as was specified. Otherwise, the CfJ fails. A Failed CfJ has no further effect.

Any CfJ that has no effect on the ruleset or gamestate may be automatically failed by any admin.

Gamestate Tracking

Proposals, Calls for Judgment, and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at http://blognomic.com. Any Guest 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.

If no Guest has commented on it, an official post may be altered or removed by its author; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. 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.

AA 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.

Voting and comments are accessible through the link at the bottom of every post.

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 Guest may update any Guest'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. A GNDT update that does not perform a rules-defined action does not alter the gamestate; Guests should not alter the GNDT except to correct it to match the actual gamestate (in the case that the two somehow end up different), or to perform an action.

If a Guest 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), he may simply undo the effects of that alteration. Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed GNDT update, Guests are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgment instead. Guests shall be assigned a password for the GNDT when they join the Nomic.

Dynasties

BlogNomic is divided into a number of Dynasties. Each Dynasty is headed by a single Guest, known as the Executor, and is named according to the number of Dynasties he has headed (eg. "The First Dynasty of Myke").

The Executor may vote to VETO any Proposal.

Victory and Ascension

If a Guest (other than the Executor) believes that he has achieved victory in the current Dynasty, he 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 “Guests”, “Voting”, “Calls for Judgment”, “Gamestate Tracking” and “Victory and Ascension”.

Every Guest may respond to an active DoV saying whether or not he believes the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty (using the FOR and AGAINST icons).

The Declaration of Victory may be resolved after 24 hours, or after 12 hours if the Executor has voted on it. Upon resolution, if a Quorum of Guests have voted on the DoV and more than half of those votes were in favour, then the DoV passes - otherwise the DoV fails, and if no other DoVs are still pending, the Hiatus ends.

When a DoV passes, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Guest who made the DoV as its Executor. (That Guest may pass this role to another Guest at this point, if he wishes.) The Hiatus continues until the new Executor posts an Ascension Address to the BlogNomic weblog - this shall specify the Executor's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and may optionally include a proclamation that any number of Dynastic Rules will be repealed, and that any keywords will be replaced with new theme-appropriate terms.

A DoV may not be started in the period between a passing DoV and that DoV’s Ascension Address. When a DoV is failed, if it has a number of AGAINST votes that exceed Quorum, the Guest who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was failed.

A Declaration of Victory may not also be any other type of Official Post unless the rules concerning that type of Official Post explicitly state otherwise.

Fair Play

The following are BlogNomic’s rules of fair play. If any of the rules are found to have been broken, a proposal or CfJ may be made to remove the perpetrator from the game, and bar them from rejoining.

A single person should not control more than one Guest within BlogNomic.
A Guest 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 Guest should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or the GNDT).
Instead of deleting content from a blog post which has at least one comment, the content should either be struck through with <strike> tags, or replaced with a link to a copy of the same content on the wiki.
A Guest should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Guest.
A Guest should not edit the "Entry Date" field of a blog post.
A Guest should not make or edit a post such that its title does not broadly match its URL title.
A Guest should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
A Guest should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an ascension address).

Dynastic Rules

Away Until Morning

For purposes of all dynastic rules, the Executor is not considered a Guest unless it is explicitly stated otherwise.

The Executor can be contacted by private telegram at cartlesham at gmail dot com.

Life and Death

Each Guest at Cartlesham Manor can be either Healthy, Stunned, Wounded, Poisoned, Restrained, Terrified, Arrested, Asleep, Missing or Dead (as tracked in the GNDT). All Guests start the game Healthy. If a Guest is not Dead, they are considered to be Alive. If a guest is Healthy, Wounded or Poisoned, they are considered to be Alert. If a Guest is Dead, Stunned, Restrained, Terrified, Arrested, Asleep or Missing, they are considered to be Dormant.

Certain health states have restrictions on which health states may follow them:

If a Guest is Stunned and would become Stunned again, they instead become Wounded.
If a Guest is Wounded and would become Wounded again, they instead become Dead. If a Guest is Wounded and would become Stunned, they remain Wounded.
If a Guest is Poisoned and would become anything other than Healthy, Poisoned, Arrested or Dead, they instead remain Poisoned.
If a Guest is Restrained and would become anything other than Healthy, Restrained, Arrested or Dead, they instead remain Restrained.
If a Guest is Missing, they cannot become anything other than Missing, except through the Rule “Turning Up”.
If a Guest is Arrested, they cannot become anything other than Arrested.
If a Guest is Dead, they cannot become anything other than Dead.
If a Guest is Asleep and would become Wounded, the Executor shall roll DICE2. If the result is a 1, the Guest becomes Dead. If the result is a 2, the Guest becomes Wounded and the die is not rerolled.

As a daily action, a Guest may Recover, and apply one of the following effects to themselves, of their choice:-

If they are Stunned, they become Asleep.
If they are Terrified and are in a room with more than two Alert Guests, they become Healthy.
If they are Asleep, they become Healthy.
If they are Healthy, they become Asleep.

Turning Up

If a Guest is Missing, their Location becomes “?”, which is a valid Location, but not a Room. Two Missing guests are not considered to be in the same Room.

A Missing guest has an Actual State, tracked privately by the Executor. Their Actual State may be Healthy, Stunned, Wounded, Poisoned, Restrained, Terrified, Asleep, or Dead.

As a weekly action, if the lights are on a Missing guest may roll D3 in the GNDT. If they roll a 1, they may send a PM to the Executor asking to change their Status to their Actual State. The new location of the guest is set by the Executor.

Crises

If a Proposal title includes the phrase “Crisis:”, then it represents a solution to a physical problem within the manor (such as a fire, a locked door or a guest who is behaving suspiciously). A Dormant Guest may not propose a Crisis or vote on one, and while a Guest is Dormant, their vote on a pending Crisis is not counted. Quorum for the enactment of a Crisis will be calculated as half the number of Alert Guests, rounded down, plus one. A pending Crisis may be enacted or failed as if it were the oldest pending proposal. If the oldest pending Proposal is a Crisis, the oldest pending non-Crisis Proposal may be enacted or failed as if it were the oldest pending Proposal. For purposes of the clause in the “Proposals” core rule, the phrase “(unless the Guest already has 2 Proposals pending)” shall be deemed to exclude any Proposal that is a Crisis. No Guest may have more than 1 Crisis Proposal pending at any time.

If the Executor has not cast a vote on a Crisis, it cannot be enacted, and it can be failed if it has been open for voting for at least 48 hours. The Executor may Veto any Crisis proposal which he considers to be physically impossible, or otherwise inappropriate.

A Crisis may not be proposed or enacted while the Lights are Out.

If a proposal would have no effect other than changing the health states of one or more Guests, the Executor may edit its title to make it into a Crisis.

Taking Action

If a Crisis would result in a Guest’s health state being altered, it can only be enacted if each of the Guests whose health state is being altered is present in the same Room as a Guest who voted FOR the Crisis.

If a Crisis would result in a Guest becoming Restrained or Arrested, it instead requires two of the Guests who voted FOR the Crisis to be present in the same Room as each Guest who is becoming Restrained or Arrested.

If a Crisis would result in a Guest becoming Arrested, it additionally requires one of the Guests who voted FOR the Crisis to be present in the Parlor (to make the phonecall to the police).

Cat and Mouse

Two of the Guests may be Murderers. Although unaware of one another’s identities, they both consider themselves responsible for Lord Cartlesham’s death, and they intend to eliminate anyone who stands in the way of the inheritance. Two of the other Guests may be undercover Detectives. One is from Cartlesham Police Station, the other from Scotland Yard - they are investigating the circumstances surrounding Lord Cartlesham’s death, and are initially unaware of one another’s identities. The identities of the Murderers and the Detectives are not tracked publicly, and are initially known only by the Executor.

If there are ever fewer than two Detectives, the Executor may privately generate a random number between 1 and 5. If the number is between 1 and 4, the Executor may privately select a random player (from those who are neither Murderers nor Detectives) and privately email them with an offer to make them into a Detective. If they accept, and if the Executor honours their acceptance, then they become a Detective.

If there are ever fewer than two Murderers, then the Executor may privately generate a random number between 1 and 3. If that number is between 1 and 2, then the Executor may privately select a random player (from those who are neither Murderers nor Detectives) and privately email them with an offer to make them into a Murderer. If they accept, and if the Executor honours their acceptance, then they become a Murderer.

Arrest

If a Guest becomes Arrested, they are removed from the house for police questioning. Their Location value becomes “Cell” (this is a valid Location, but does not count as a Room).

The police have only a limited amount of cells and patience. If four Guests have become Arrested during the course of the game, further Guests may not become Arrested.

Bloodline

Each Guest has a degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham, represented as a number and tracked privately by the Executor. The Guest with the lowest degree of relation is Lord Cartlesham’s next of kin.

If a Guest has no degree of relation defined, the Executor may privately assign a uniformly randomly-selected degree between 1 and 1000 to that Guest. If two Guests should ever have the same degree, the Executor should choose one of those Guests at random and raise their degree by 0.5. A guest may never have a degree of relation lower than 1.

Genealogy

As a weekly action, if an Alert Guest is alone in the Library and the Lights are On, they may ask the Executor (via PM or other private means of communication, such as private message on IRC) which of two Guests (other than the Guest asking) has the lower degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham. The Executor must privately reply truthfully to such queries, as soon as is reasonable.

As a weekly action, if an Alert Guest is alone in the Study and the Lights are On, they may privately give the Executor the names of two other Guests. The Executor must then privately reply with the degree of relation of one of those two Guests (without giving their name), chosen randomly.

Surnames

Each Guest has a Surname, which can either be “Cartlesham”, or a name taken from this version of a list of Wodehouse surnames on the BlogNomic wiki.

All Guests start with a surname of Cartlesham. If a Guest ever has a degree of relation above 1000 yet still has a surname of “Cartlesham”, the Executor shall change that Guest’s Surname to a random name given in the list mentioned previously.

Family History

If they have not already done so earlier in the Dynasty, a Guest (known as the Relative) may send a telegram to the Executor to reflect on whether he or she has a direct family connection to another Guest. Upon receiving such a telegram, the Executor shall select a random non-Dead, non-Arrested Guest whose degree of relation is lower than that of the Relative, and privately inform the Relative of the selected Guest’s identity.

If the Guest with the lowest degree of relation contacts the Executor in this way, the Executor will instead respond informing them that they believe themselves to be the next in line to the inheritance.

Fake Invitations

If a Guest joins the game or unidles after the 18th of February 2010, they shall be counted as “Missing” for the purpose of Rule 2.11 (The Reading of the Will).

Lights

At all times, the lights are either “on” or “off”. The initial state of the lights is “on”.

When the Lights go Off, the Executor rolls DICE3 for each Poisoned player. If the result is 1, that player’s status is changed to Dead.

If the Lights are Off, an Alert Guest may email the Executor with a list of at most five Dark Actions they wish to take, if they have not already done so since the Lights last went Off. This list is known as a Dark List. A Dark List may not contain more than one Heavy action. The possible Dark Actions are:-

Move to another room on the same floor. This movement is not tracked in the GNDT, and is instead privately noted by the Executor. When the Lights are turned back On, the Executor will update the GNDT with the Locations of any Guests whose Location changed while the Lights were Off. When a Guest moves between rooms, it makes a Padding Noise in the room they left, and a Creaking Noise in the room they entered.
Move to another room on any floor. As above. The Executor shall privately roll a four-sided die. On a 4 the Guest slips on the stairs and becomes Wounded. If the destination floor is above the current floor, the Location of the Guest does not change. If the destination floor is below the floor, the Guest's new Location is the target one. This rule does not apply to the Detectives, the Murderers and the Servants, who all have a better knowledge of Cartlesham Manor and can move to another room on any floor without the risk of slipping.
Kill a named Guest (known as the Target) that they share a room with. Only a Murderer may take this Dark Action; this is a Heavy action. Upon taking this Action, if the Target is present in the same room as the Murderer, the Target becomes Dead. Either way, every Alert Guest in the room (except the attacker and the Target) Glimpses the attacker.
Wound a named Guest (known as the Target) that they share a room with. Only a Murderer may take this Dark Action; this is a Heavy action. Upon taking this Action, if the Target is present in the same room as the Murderer, the Target becomes Wounded. (Unless the Target was Restrained, in which case they become Dead.) Otherwise, the attack attempt makes a Crashing Noise in that room.
Handcuff a named Guest (known as the Target) that they share a room with. Only a Detective may take this Dark Action; this is a Heavy action. Upon taking this Action, if the Target is present in the same room as the Detective, the Target becomes Restrained. Otherwise, the handcuffing attempt makes a Clicking Noise in that room.
Free a named Guest (known as the Target) that they share a room with. Upon taking this Action, if the Target is present in the same room as the Guest freeing them, if there are fewer than two Alert Guests in that room (not including the Guest taking the freeing action), and if the Target is Restrained, the Target becomes Healthy.
Hide. Upon taking this Action, the hiding Guest becomes Missing and their Actual State becomes their health state prior to becoming Missing.
Conceal a named Guest (known as the Target) that they share a room with. Upon taking this Action, if the Target is present in the same room as the Guest concealing them and the Target has become Dead or Restrained since the lights last went out, then the Target becomes Missing and their Actual State becomes their health state prior to becoming Missing.
Repair the fusebox. This Dark Action may only be taken in the Basement. Upon repairing the Fusebox, the Lights come back On and the remainder of the current Dark List is ignored. The Executor must privately notify the Guest who has repaired the Fusebox, that he did so.
Clumsily bludgeon a named Guest (known as the Target) that they share a room with. This is a Heavy action. Upon taking this Action, if the Target is present in the same room as the bludgeoning Guest, the Target becomes Wounded. (Unless the Target was Restrained, in which case they become Dead.) This action always makes a Thudding Noise in the room.
Poison a drink. When the Lights are turned On, for each Poison a drink action taken in a room, the Executor randomly changes the status of an Alert player inhabiting the room to Poisoned, if any exist. Guests who are not Murderers may only Poison as the final action on their Dark List.

If the Lights are Off and the Executor has any unprocessed Dark Lists in his email inbox which were sent since the Lights last went Off, and whose sender is Alert, he may select one of these Lists at random and process it. The chances of a murderer's Dark List to be chosen in this way is two times that of other Dark Lists'. The Executor may not process a Dark List within the first twelve hours after the Lights go Off.

Certain Dark Actions may make a type of Noise in a room. When such an action occurs, the Executor shall privately roll a four-sided die for each Alert Guest in that room; on a 4, that Guest heard the noise. Detectives always hear any noise that occurs in the room they occupy. After one or more Dark Lists have been processed, the Executor shall notify any Guests who heard noises during those Lists’ Actions, listing the noises they heard in the order they were made.

Whenever a Kill action results in other Guests Glimpsing an attacker, the Executor shall select the Role of six random Guests (from those who were not the attacker), and privately share that same list - plus the Role of the attacker - with each Guest who Glimpsed it.

If the Lights are Off and the Executor has no unprocessed Dark Lists and has received no Dark List in the past 24 hours, they may make a post stating that the Lights remain Off. This is treated as a new instance of the Lights going Off. Upon doing so, a random Alert Guest becomes Stunned, after stumbling around in the darkness for so long. Then, a random Alert Guest becomes Wounded. Finally, a random Alert Guest becomes Asleep.

Roles

Each Guest has a Role, which is tracked in the GNDT. The initial Role of each Guest is “Stranger”. If a Guest is a Stranger, or has the same Role as another Guest, they may change their Role to any Servant, Gentry or Tradesman Role which is not already taken by a Guest.

Valid roles

The list of valid Roles is as follows:

A. Servants (any Guest with a Role listed in this Part A may be referred to as a Servant): Butler, Cook, Maid, Governess, Gardener, Chauffeur, Handyman.

B. Gentry (any Guest with a Role listed in this Part B may be referred to as Gentry): Dowager, Aristocrat, Attorney, Professor, Colonel, Vicar, Admiral, Banker, Judge, Physician, Diplomat, Curator

C. Tradesmen (any Guest with a Role listed in this Part C may be referred to as a Tradesman): Musician, Director, Actor, Journalist, Secretary, Gangster, Architect, Athlete, Jeweler, Inventor, Stonemason, Spiritualist, Mechanic, Novelist, Actuary, Apothecary, Housewife, Bodyguard

D. Lunatic, Stranger

Functions of Roles

Certain Roles have certain powers associated with them. Unless expressly specified below, a power associated with a Role may only be exercised while the lights are on and while the Guest exercising that power is Alert. The powers that are associated with particular Roles are cumulative with actions that a Guest may otherwise take.

Actor. The Actor has a gift for imitating others. The Actor may exercise the special power of any other Role that is described in the “Functions of Roles” subrule, provided that the Actor may not exercise the special power of any other particular Role more than once, nor exercise the aforementioned power more frequently than weekly.
Actuary. The Actuary is an insufferable bore. Once every 96 hours, if the Actuary is in the same room with a particular Alert Guest then the Actuary may set that other Guest’s status to “Asleep”.
Admiral. The Admiral is blessed with nerves of steel. Whether or not the lights are on, if at any time the Admiral becomes Stunned, the Admiral may change his state from Stunned to Healthy.
Apothecary. The Apothecary is a trained expert in antidotes. If the Apothecary is in the same room as a Guest who is Poisoned (other than the Apothecary himself), then as a daily action, the Apothecary may change that Guest’s state from Poisoned to Healthy.
Aristocrat. The Aristocrat treats his social inferiors with a casual contempt. As a daily action, the Aristocrat may "expel" all Alert Servants and Tradesmen from the Room in which the Aristocrat is located. In this case, "expel" means that the Aristocrat causes each affected Guest who is in the relevant Room to be moved to a Room selected by the Aristocrat to which that Guest could have voluntarily moved, whereupon each such affected Guest may not return to the Room from which they were expelled for 24 hours or until the Aristocrat leaves the room, whichever happens first.
Athlete. The Athlete has a remarkable facility to recover from injury. If at any time the Athlete becomes Wounded, the Athlete may change his state from Wounded to Asleep.
Attorney. The Attorney has a brilliant legal mind. Once every 96 hours, if the Attorney is in the Library (regardless of whether any other Guests are in the Library), the Attorney may contact the Executor by private telegram, specifying the names of two other Guests and stating that he is researching them. Folowing the receipt of that private telegram, the Executor must privately truthfully reply to the Attorney, stating which of those two specified Guests has the lower degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham.
Banker. The Banker has a talent for sizing up a person’s worth. As a Weekly action, the Banker may contact the Executor by private telegram, specifying the name of one other Guest who is in the same room as the Banker and stating that he is auditing them. Following the receipt of that private telegram, the Executor must privately truthfully reply to the Banker, stating that other Guest’s absolute degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham (expressed as a number in accordance with the “Bloodline” rule).
Butler. The Butler and the Maid, working as a pair, keep the house in smooth working order. Once every 48 hours, whether or not the lights are on but so long as neither the Butler nor the Maid is dormant, if the Butler and the Maid are in different rooms (according to the GNDT, regardless of any moves that either of them may have made as a Dark Action), the Butler can move the Maid to the Butler’s then-current location.
Chauffeur. The Chauffeur’s job is personal transportation. As a daily action, and whether or not the lights are on, if the Chauffeur is in “Room A” and is not prohibited from voluntarily moving to “Room B”, the Chauffeur may move from Room A to Room B and may simultaneously change the location of exactly one other Guest who is in Room A to Room B (even if that other Guest is Dormant or is otherwise prohibited from moving to Room B).
Colonel. The colonel is extremely brave. Whether or not the lights are on, if at any time the Colonel becomes Terrified, the Colonel may change his state from Terrified to Healthy.
Cook. The Cook exercises lordly authority over the Kitchen. If the Cook is in the Kitchen then, as a daily action, the Cook may "expel" all non-Servants from the Kitchen. In this case, "expel" means that the Cook causes each affected Guest who is in the Kitchen to be moved to a Room selected by the Cook to which that Guest could have voluntarily moved (including, in the case of each affected Dormant Guest, a Room to which that Guest could have voluntarily Moved if that Guest were Alert), whereupon each such affected Guest may not return to the Kitchen for 24 hours.
Curator. The curator is a careful observer of his surroundings. If the Curator is in a particular room when the lights were switched from on to off, and is in that same room the next time the lights are switched from off to on, the Executor shall privately notify the Curator whether any Dark Actions took place in that room while the lights were off (whether or not any Noise was heard). The Executor shall, with respect to any such Dark Action, also provide information to the Curator as to the identity of the Guest whom the Curator suspects of having taken that Dark Action; in that case, there is a 50% chance that the information provided by the Executor will be accurate and a 50% chance that the information will be false.
Director. The Director is a keen observer of human behavior. Once every 48 hours, if the Director is in a room with at least two other Guests, the Director may contact the Executor by private telegram, specifying the names of two other Guests who are in the same room with the Director and stating that he is observing them. Following the receipt of that private telegram, the Executor must privately truthfully reply to the Director, stating which of those two specified Guests has the lower degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham.
Dowager. The Dowager has a voracious appetite for gossip. Once every 48 hours, the Dowager may contact the Executor by private telegram, stating that she is gossiping. Folowing the receipt of that private telegram, the Executor must privately truthfully reply to the Dowager, naming two Guests specified by the Executor in the Executor's discretion and stating which of them has the lower degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham.
Gangster. The Gangster is a notorious break-in artist. The Gangster, if Alert, may ignore any prohibition on entering a particular Room that would otherwise be applicable as a result of a Crisis or the exercise of another Role’s special power by operation of the “Functions of Roles” subrule.
Gardener. The Gardener is equipped with a sturdy pair of shears for trimming hedges. As a daily action, if the Gardener is in the same room as a Guest who is Restrained (other than the Gardener himself), then as a daily action, the Gardener may change that Guest’s state from Restrained to Healthy.
Governess. The Governess, being accustomed to dealing with children, is skilled at dealing with disrupted sleep patterns. If the Governess is in the same room as a Guest who is Asleep (other than the Governess herself), then as a daily action, the Governess may change that Guest’s state to Healthy.
Handyman. The Handyman is frequently called upon to engage in repairs throughout the mansion. If the lights are off, the handyman may still move as if the lights were on.
Housewife. The Housewife has a voracious appetite for gossip. Once every 48 hours, the Housewife may contact the Executor by private telegram, stating that she is gossiping. Folowing the receipt of that private telegram, the Executor must privately truthfully reply to the Housewife, naming two Guests specified by the Executor in the Executor’s discretion and stating which of them has the lower degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham.
Inventor. The Inventor is a genius capable of constructing useful items. As a weekly action, the Inventor may contact the Executor by private telegram, stating that he is inventing, and stating with as much specificity as possible the attributes of the invention that he wishes to create. Following the receipt of that private telegram, the Executor shall determine whether or not the attempt to invent was successful (with success occurring on 50% of invention attempts, and the Executor determining the outcome of this percentage in whatever manner the Executor deems suitable. If the Executor determines that the invention attempt was successful, the Executor shall post a blog post specifying the gamestate effects of the existence of the invention and, if applicable, the rooms and/or Guests (or the manner of determining the rooms and or Guests) experience such gamestate effects; such gamestate effects shall be determined by the Executor in his sole and absolute discretion, with the Executor being encouraged to refer to the Inventor’s telegram for guidance. No Invention may change or alter the effect of any Core Rule.
Journalist. The Journalist has a knack for ferreting out secrets. If the Executor is required to privately provide information to a Guest as a result of that Guest’s exercise of his special power under the “Functions of Roles” subrule, then there is an 80% chance that the Executor will provide information to the Journalist; in that case, there is an 80% chance that the information provided by the Executor will be the same information that the Executor provided to the other relevant guest, and a 20% chance that the information will be false (with the Executor determining the outcomes of these percentages in whatever manner the Executor deems suitable).
Judge. The Judge exercises potent authority over cases that are brought before him. If at any time there is a Crisis where the proposed action is expressly limited to changing the state of a single named Guest (such as a Crisis proposing to change the state of a particular Guest to "Restrained"), then the Judge's vote counts double with respect to that Crisis.
Maid. The Butler and the Maid, working as a pair, keep the house in smooth working order. Once every 48 hours, whether or not the lights are on but so long as neither the Butler nor the Maid is dormant, if the Butler and the Maid are in different rooms (according to the GNDT, regardless of any moves that either of them may have made as a Dark Action), the Maid can move the Butler to the Maid’s then-current location.
Musician. The Musician has uncommonly keen hearing. If the Musician is in a particular Room and a Dark Action occurs in or with respect to that Room that may make a noise, then the Musician hears that noise; additionally, in that event, the Executor shall provide information to the Musician as to what Guest the Musician suspects of having taken the Dark Action that made that noise; this information is accurate 50% of the time (with the Executor determining the outcome of this percentage in whatever manner the Executor deems suitable).
Physician. The Physician is a gifted healer. If the Physician is in the same room as a Guest who is Wounded (other than the Physician himself), then as a daily action, the Physician may change that Guest's state to Healthy.
Professor. The Professor has made a career out of formulating and testing hypotheses. As a weekly action, the Professor may contact the Executor by telegram, stating that he is theorizing. Such telegram shall contain exactly one declarative statement with respect to no more than one Guest (such as “Guest X has the lowest absolute relation to Lord Cartlesham”, or “Guest X performed the attack that wounded a guest in the Library last night”) to which the Executor shall privately reply by repeating the declarative statement and including one of the words “TRUE”, “FALSE”, and “UNANSWERABLE”. Such TRUE or FALSE reply by the Executor shall be an accurate characterization of the truth or falsity of the statement 66% of the time (with the Executor determining the outcome of this percentage in whatever manner the Executor deems suitable). An UNANSWERABLE reply by the Executor shall be a characterization of the statement as paradox, requiring action from the Executor beyond replying TRUE or FALSE, requiring knowledge of future events, or otherwise not classifiable as true or false to the best of the Executor’s abilities.
Spiritualist. The Spiritualist has the astonishing facility to speak with the dead. The Spiritualist may, at most once every 96 hours, notify the Executor that they are conducting a seance and give the name of a dead Guest, whereupon: (1) the Executor shall privately notify the dead Guest that the Spiritualist is trying to contact him from beyond the veil, and requesting that the dead Guest deliver a message to notify the Executor what information, if any, the dead Guest chooses to deliver to the Spiritualist. The Executor may, in his discretion, provide to the dead Guest true or false information regarding the circumstances of the dead Guest’s death, which the dead Guest may incorporate or omit from the dead Guest’s reply to the Spiritualist, as he chooses, (2) the Executor shall, promptly after receiving from the dead Guest’s message to the Spiritualist, privately communicate the same to the Spiritualist.
Vicar. The Vicar provides serenity to worried souls. As a daily action, if the Vicar is in the same room as a Guest who is Terrified (other than the Vicar himself), then as a daily action, the Vicar may change that Guest’s state from Terrified to Healthy.

Manor Plan

Within the Manor exist four floors. Each floor has one or more rooms. Each Guest is in a room; this is tracked in the GNDT column “Location”. If a Guest is the only Alert Guest in a particular room, they are considered to be alone in that room.

Following is a list of all rooms according to their floor, with a code indicating how they should be referred to in the GNDT.

Attic: Attic [3-ATTC]

Second Floor: Master Bedroom [2-MBED], Study [2-STUD], Lounge [2-LNGE], Bathroom [2-BATH].

First Floor: Library [1-LIBR], Dining Room [1-DNGR], Kitchen [1-KTCH], Parlor [1-PRLR].

Basement: Basement [0-BSMT].

All Guests start in the Parlor. If, at any point, a Guest has an invalid value listed in field “Location”, it is replaced by the first value in above list.

Movement

If the Lights are On, an Alert Guest may move to any room on the same floor by updating the GNDT “Location” field with a new room. Additionally, as a daily action an Alert Guest may change their Location to a room on a different floor.

Incidents

As a daily action, and if the Lights are On, the Executor may announce an Incident. He does this by randomly selecting two items from the following list (in whatever manner deemed suitable by him), updating the gamestate as specified, and posting a blog entry announcing its occurrence.

The lights go out.
Some kind of accident or revelation occurs in a randomly-selected room. If there are any Guests in that room, one of those Guests is selected at random and becomes Stunned or Terrified.
The door to a random room jams, and that room may not be entered or exited for 24 hours.

Pipe Mail

Cartlesham Manor is equipped with a pipe mail system that connects all rooms to the Master Bedroom. As a daily action and if the lights are on, any Alert guest may send a letter from any room to the Master Bedroom. They do so by sending an e-mail to the Executor with their intention of doing so and the text of the letter. Other people in the room of the sender are not notified of this happening. If the lights are on and the executor has such a letter in his email inbox, and if there are any Alert Guests in the Master Bedroom, he shall inform them of the letter appearing and it's content. The people informed this way may be referred to as 'recipients'.

Seals

The Detectives have Detective Seals, with which they can seal letters. If they do so, the Executor must also notify the recipients of the letter that it was sealed with a Detective Seal. If a Detective becomes Dead or Wounded as a result of a Dark Action taken by a Murderer, that Murderer shall be privately told that their victim was a Detective, and may seal letters with a Detective Seal for the remainder of the game.

The Murderers are in possession of all of Lord Cartlesham's personal seals. They may seal letters they send with such a seal. If they do so, the Executor must also notify the recipients of the letter that it was sealed with a Bloody Seal.

The Reading of the Will

One of the Guests may be the Rightful Heir. If a Guest has already become the Rightful Heir, further Guests cannot become the Rightful Heir.

If at any time only one Guest is not Dead, Missing or Arrested, they become the Rightful Heir.

Daybreak occurs at 23:55 on February 28th 2010. At Daybreak, the Guest with the lowest degree of relation (excluding Guests who are Dead, Missing or Arrested) automatically becomes the Rightful Heir. The Executor may announce the Rightful Heir's identity at any point after this time. Once Daybreak has passed, any game effect which would render a Guest Dead, Missing or Arrested instead has no effect, and if the Lights are Off, the Executor may turn the Lights On.

If a Guest is the Rightful Heir, they have achieved Victory.

Calling the Police

There are suspicions that the Executor orchestrated Lord Cartlesham’s murder with the help of several accomplices, and this revelation would render the will void if proven.

As a weekly action, if the Lights are On and if Daybreak has not yet occurred, an Alert Guest who is in the Parlor and who has never been a Murderer may telephone Scotland Yard with his or her suspicions regarding Lord Cartlesham’s death. To do this, they must make a GNDT comment of “Using the telephone” and send a telegram to the Executor with a list of Guests and/or idle Guests - this is known as a Suspect List.

Upon receiving a Suspect List, if the list includes the name of every Guest who has been a Murderer this Dynasty (including idle Guests), and does not include the name of any Guests (including idle Guests) who have never been a Murderer this Dynasty, then the Executor shall announce this correct identification to the weblog, naming the Guest who made the phonecall. The Executor shall change the state of any Murderers currently in the Manor to “Arrested”, and the Guest who made the phonecall achieves victory.

Silence

If a Guest is Dead, Missing or Arrested they may not reveal any information that they learned, deduced, or otherwise acquired about another Guest, or any in-game information about themselves that had not previously been revealed. This includes, but is not limited to, whether or not he or another Guest is a Murderer; what another Guest may have communicated through private conversation; or even previously-unshared logical deduction about the roles of the other Guests based on the circumstances of the game.

These restrictions do not apply to communication among the group of Dead Guests and Arrested Guests, or to any information contained in the current state of the GNDT. Additionally, this does not affect the Spiritualist’s special power mentioned in Rule 2.7.2 “Functions of Roles”.

The Safe

The Attic contains a hidden Safe. The Safe can be Open or Closed. It initially starts as Closed. The Safe contains a paper which has the name of the Guest who has the lowest degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham. The Safe has a nine-digit Combination lock determined by the Executor. Any Guest present in the Attic who believes that they know the combination may privately inform the Executor that they wish to Open the Safe and provide the Combination. This action cannot be performed more than once daily. If the Combination is incorrect, the Executor shall provide the requesting Guest with a number indicating how many numbers are correct and in the correct position. Executor shall provide the first Guest wishing to open the Safe with the correct Combination the information contained in the Safe and change the state of the Safe to Open.

Combination Lock

The numbers for the Combination to the Safe are hidden somewhere in the Lounge. If the state of the Safe is Closed and the lights are on, as a weekly action, a Guest in the Lounge may inform the Executor that they wish to search the Lounge for clues for the Combination. The Executor shall then inform all Guests who were in the Lounge when the search request was made of either a chain of three consecutive numbers from the Combination, or a single number of the Combination and its position. (This is determined at random.)

Closing the Safe

If the state of the Safe is Open, then the Executor may change the state of the Safe to Closed by choosing a new Combination and making a blogpost to that effect. The Safe shall contain the name of the Guest who has the lowest degree of relation to Lord Cartlesham amongst all the Guests who are not Arrested or Dead at the time when the Safe was Closed.

Late Arrivals

As a weekly action, any Guest who is Dead or Arrested may make a blog post announcing that they are playing a late arrival. They must then set all their statistics in the GNDT (except Surname) to those of a new Guest. Their former Role is no longer considered to be taken by a Guest per Rule 2.7, if the Guest was a Murderer or a Detective then they are no longer a Murderer or Detective for the purposes of the ruleset, and they are treated for all purposes of any Dynastic Rules as if they just unidled, with the following exceptions:

The rule ‘Silence’ applies to them with regard to any information learned before they made their Late Arrival post.
If they were Dead before they announced that they were playing a Late Arrival, then the Spiritualist’s ability applies to them as to any other Dead Guest. The above restriction does not apply to this ability.
Their Degree of Relation is increased by 1000, rounded down to the nearest 1000, then increased by a random number (chosen by the Executor) between 1 and 999.
They must choose and adopt a Surname other than “Cartlesham”, from the list given in the “Surnames” rule.

Glossary

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

Daily Action: If a game action is a Daily Action, each Guest able to perform it may take that action once per day, but not more than once every six hours.

Day: References to a "day" (as an entity rather than a duration, eg. "Sunday") refer to that day in the timezone of the BlogNomic blog, which is considered to be GMT for all purposes.

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.

Effective Vote Comment (EVC): A Guest's Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Proposal means that Guest’s Comment to that Proposal (if any) that contains that Guest’s Vote on the Proposal that is given effect in accordance with Rule 1.4 when the Proposal is Adminned.

Flavour Text: When posting a blog entry, a Guest 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.

May: "is permitted to"

Post: A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com

Quorum: Quorum is equal to half the number of Guests, rounded down, plus one. If a Rule or other Gamestate document refers to a Quorum of some subset of Guests (such as a Quorum of Guests who share a particular Gamestate attribute, but excluding all other Guests) then Quorum is equal to half the number of Guests who share that Gamestate attribute, rounded down, plus one. If the words quorum and Quorum are ever different, they effectively mean the same thing.

Shall: "is required to"

Should: "is recommended that"

Story Post: A Story Post is an Official Post that is not a member of any specific category of Official Posts mentioned or defined in a Core Rule (excluding Official Post).

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.

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 (currently http://blognomic.com/images/vote/seal.gif) shall represent the Imperial Veto.

Week: References to a "week" refer to the period of time between the start of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.

Weekly Action: If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Guest able to perform it may take that action once per week, but not more than once every twenty-four hours.

Wiki: The BlogNomic Wiki at http://blognomic.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Clarifications

Numbers and Variables

Unless otherwise specified, game variables defined to hold numeric values can hold only non-negative integers, and any action that would set those values below zero instead sets them to zero. 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: When “X” is a number, to spend X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V (i.e. replace V with V-X).
No action may be taken which would require setting a gamestate variable to an illegal value. (e.g. spending X of a numeric value that must be non-negative when the subtraction would result in a number which is negative).

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.
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 Enactment or Failure of a Proposal are the responsibility of the Admin who Enacts or Fails it.

Time

For the purpose of all rules, time in Blognomic is in GMT.
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.
Any duration reference to a given day (i.e. “Sunday” or “August 2nd"), unless otherwise stated, inclusively begins at 0:00:00 GMT on the mentioned day and inclusively ends at 23:59:59 GMT on the same day.

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 Guest if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Guest's name.

Ruleset 72

Contents