From selengut@MIT.EDUMon Oct 23 20:33:26 1995 Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 15:28:44 EDT From: Jeremy D Selengut To: frc@nvg.unit.no Cc: selengut@MIT.EDU Subject: Round Summary We're off to a slow start so far, but hopefully things will pick up now that the weekend is past. Here's the status so far: Round 46 Begun Thu, 19 Oct 1995, 09:00:00 Member Expiration Date Style ------ --------------- ----- Dug The Witching Hour +1.5 Vanyel The Witching Hour -2.0 All Others The Witching Hour -- Total number of rules posted = 2 Valid rule expiration date bonus = 9 days Valid rules will now extend expiration dates past The Witching Hour -------------------------------------- Summary as of 3 p.m. EDT, 23 Oct, 1995 -------------------------------------- Proposal 46:A (temporary R.O. overrule) Voting ended Sat, 21 Oct 1995, 09:41:36 EDT Proposal passes 5:0 >>> Temporary RO change proposal 46:A >>> For the extent of the current round (#46), R.O.'s #3,4 and 5 shall read as follows: 3. Starting a Round and posting Rules. Whenever a round of play ends, a new round should begin as soon as possible thereafter. The (new) Judge shall determine the exact time of the start of the round, and e may also suggest a theme for the round and nominate a member to post the first fantasy rule. Only those persons eligible to play may post fantasy rules. The Judge is not eligible. 4. Eligibility to play. The first valid fantasy rule posted by each member shall make its author eligible until midnight on Hallowe'en (12 Midnight, Eastern time, October 31st, 1995), hereafter known as "The Witching Hour." The posting of second and subsequent valid rules by each author will change eir eligibility expiration date by the following formula: Expiration date = T + 9 - N/5 (Rounded up) where Tp = the time at which the rule was recieved by the judge, and N = the number of rules (valid and invalid) posted so far or the number 25, whichever is smaller. The posting of an invalid rule (after the first valid rule) will reduce the expiration date by one (1) day. The expiration date shall never be sooner than The Witching Hour. 5. End of Game. If at any time after The Witching Hour, there is only one person eligible to play, then (a) all current fantasy rules are repealed (b) the round ends (c) the sole remaining player is declared winner of the just ended round and becomes Judge. If at any time after the Witching Hour there are NO persons eligible to play then all persons who had posted a valid rule after The Witching Hour are "reanimated" as if they had just posted a valid rule. <<< End Proposal <<< Rule 46:1 Author: Dug Judgement: VALID Style: +1.5 >>> Rule Start <<< The hour is not late, but the darkness has come quickly. The abandoned hunting lodge which shelters us has become more ominous than rustic, and the sounds of the night creep steadily toward us. We stare into the dimly burning fire, talking quietly in turn, more to ourselves than to each other. The time has come to let our fears leak through our stories, to share what we can't truly believe, but somehow do. We have all been touched by something we do not understand, something perhaps we cannot understand. But we have come to know that the experiences we have had and those we have heard share a common thread, a horrid, evil thread. A thread that, as far as we know, has continued throughout all of human history, sometimes large and ropy and other times almost disappearing. Can Evil be embodied? Can It exist in solid form? Can It live among us, breathe, hate, laugh? Certainly, people through the ages have thought so, but we civilized, modern, _scientific_ people are not used to real believing. And yet our collective evidence is overwhelming. There can be no denying this basic fact: Evil walks our twentieth-century world as surely as we do. And It knows we mean to stop It. Still we must convince ourselves, make our rational selves understand. Until the Witching Hour strikes, we must share the stories we have gathered, the stories we have experienced. We must illuminate the commonalities of our stories, highlight the pieces of understanding we can form of this creature we revile, learn what we can before it is too late. For after the Witching Hour has come, the hunt has begun. Then we will have no choice but to plan, plan for Its destruction, or ... if it should come to that ... our own. >>> End Rule <<< Commentary: Although it seems difficult to craft an invalid first rule, it is easier than one might think (I know, having done it myself...), and coWizard Dug skates 'spookily' close to the edge here. His restrictions can be interpreted to apply to this rule as well as all future rules and, if so, has he 'shared a story,' 'illuminated' any commonalities, 'highlighted' any pieces of understanding? If I say yes, then I should accept future broad interpretations of these restrictions. To avoid this, I will interpret this rule as applying only to future rules; reading 'we must' with an assumed [from now on] derived from the 'The time has come' in the first paragraph. I only do this because this is the first rule and I like it so much. (Dug should be particularly careful not to rely on my good nature in the future; especially as The Witching Hour approaches...) -1 Style point for putting me in such a spot. +3 Style points for being _wonderfully_ thematic (if a little cliche') and neatly incorporating the new Hallowe'en ground rules. -0.5 for length. BTW, the phrase 'large and ropy' gives me the willies for some reason, why is that? Rule 46:2 Author: Vanyel Judgement: INVALID Style: -2.0 >>> Yes, my friends, it is true, for the CIC tells me so. Evil though it may seem, there seems to be a crackdown on the net, over such pastimes as our own... my guess is that like many other crackdowns, it is a way for the evil to prevent the good from uniting against it. (After all, the evil don't follow rules anyway...) But this cannot stop us! We must become more circumspect--do not, in the future, refer directly to the name of this committee. In fact, don't even refer to the "game" nature of this committed, or that you are "making restrictions"... this, hopefully, will keep them off our track. >>> Commenatry: Clearly, my instructions about when the round should start were ambiguous and self-contradictory. I said the round would start not before 9 AM EDT and also that it would start after Dug's first posting *sigh*. To remedy this, I accepted Dug's rule at 9, and this one one second later. This rule is not consistent with the 'share a story' restriction of 46:1. Vanyel's crackdown on the net is in the form of an informational posting, not a story (which is generally typified by a plot, among other things) As for style, I must say that I don't see what's punny about yet another reference to the CIC, or how that is relevant to the theme of the round. In fact, the only thing 'spooky' about this rule is Vanyel's use of grammar and syntax. My opinion of the stylishness of the restrictions: *yawn* (sorry, but I call 'em as I see 'em). From selengut@MIT.EDUTue Oct 24 20:23:37 1995 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 10:51:07 EDT From: Jeremy D Selengut To: frc@nvg.unit.no Cc: selengut@MIT.EDU Subject: Judgement 46:3 Rule 46:3 Author: Jesse Received: Mon, 23 Oct, 19:19:31 EDT Judgement: VALID Style: 0 Expiration Date: Wed, 1 Nov, 19:19:31 EDT Total Style: 0 >>> Lying snugly in bed, thinking myself immune from the Darkness that lurks without (indeed not thinking about the Darkness at all), I dismissed the sounds I heard that night. A soft rapping at the window: no doubt a tree branch. A howl somewhere between laughter and a dying sob: an owl, or a raccoon. The repeated scratch at the door: surely it is the cat, I thought to myself. That morning, the chickens were gone without a trace. Not a speck of blood, not one more feather than usual lay about the henhouse. Yet only one chicken remained, wide-eyed and terrified, cowering in the corner nesting box. Others in my house say it must have been the raccoons that carried the chickens off. But if you could have seen that chicken's trembling, heard the sound of its squawk as it died of fright at my approach, you would have known as surely as I that the Darkness was near that night. The Darkness acts subtly, never quite revealing Its true form or intent, never leaving evidence of Its passing. The Darkness always tries to keep us off our guard. For as long as we can believe that what we see and hear around us is due to animals, or the wind, or merely a trick of the light, we may rest peacefully, unguarded and soft, while the Darkness gathers Its forces. Thus is the method of the Darkness, until the moment of Its cold and terrible strike. >>> Commentary: The only quibble I can find as to validity is the "illuminate the commonalities of our stories" restriction of 46:1. As I judged that stories were only required after 46:1, this is the first story given. I have two choices - fulfilling this restriction is impossible (in which case no further valid rules are possible), or the restriction is trivially fulfilled in this case because it is self-similar (which, of course, implies that all future rules can trivially fulfill this restriction by being self- similar - *yuck*). A third, and less consistent possibility, is that this and only this rule can get by on self-similarity because it is the first story. I feel that, for the good of the round, I must choose this last possibility, resolving to punish myself for being soft and not invalidating 46:1 when I had the chance by wearing uncomfortable shoes all week. Some interesting questions are raised in this rule: Are Evil and the Darkness the same manifestation of It? How subtle is subtle? What qualifies as "quite revealing"? On style, however, my vote is split. The rule is unnecessarily long, but completely consistant with the theme. The pilfering of chickens, on the other hand, seems small potatoes for something thathas permeated all of human history... on the other hand, even Evil incarnate has got to eat, right? There are restrictions in this rule, but they could be finessed. I'd go negative on this but I'll throw in a small first-posted-rule-is-valid bonus and settle up at 0. - coW-J Jeremy From selengut@MIT.EDUWed Nov 1 21:25:51 1995 Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 13:40:27 EST From: Jeremy D Selengut To: frc@nvg.unit.no Subject: Round 46 FRC members, Round 46 is now over, although it seems that it never really began. Did everyone just go on holiday, or was the prospect of writing ghost stories too daunting??? I think an apology is owed to Jesse, who not only gets in his first rule, but wins by default! (BTW, I suggest that Jesse not accept the judgeship of round 47, but instead nominate either Dug or I for that onerous duty). Is there any precident for just expunging the record of this round and just try playing it over from the top? (new theme and all?) - co-W Judge (ret.) Jeremy