Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 18:55:30 -0600 (MDT) From: John Williams To: Fantasy Rules Committee Subject: End of Round 58 Ok, I think it's really over this time. I had fun; I hope you all did too. Since this was my first time judging, I would welcome any comments on my judging style, public or private. Congratulations to Ronald, the new Wizard-Judge for round 59! ~just plain Sharkey Round: 58 Theme: Childhood Judge: Sharkey Wizard: Waggie 9 valid rules out of 12 rules submitted. 1 unsuccessful rule. Player Rules Style Eligible until: ====== ===== ===== =============== Ronald 3/3 +3.5 Fri, 21 June 1996 09:04:19 +0100 Anton 3/4 +2.5 Jeremy 1/2 +1 Morendil 1/1 -1 Waggie 1/2 +1 58:1 Waggie Thu, 30 May 1996 17:57:25 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (Aw, rats! I couldn't even find *anybody* that time...) "Ollie! Ollie! All-in-free!" Okay, everybody has to tell a story about Old Crumplebum when they come in and kick the can. Like the time his mean old dog took that beachball away from my little sister and popped it. And I dare the last one to come in and kick the can to go pick an apple from Mean Old Crumplebum's tree. [For the purposes of this rule, "kicking the can" means posting one's first rule of the round, and we'll find out who is the last one in when the round is closed to new players.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Judgement: It does not contradict itself (or anything else). Style: Very nicely thematic (+1), but it dropped out of character (-.5), and the restriction could have been done better (-.5). 58:2 Jeremy Thu, 30 May 1996 22:34:12 +0100 Judgement: INVALID Style: +1.5 >>>>>> Old Crumplebum was a stickler for rules and regulations, why, I remember he used to yell at the kids in the neighborhood (waving his cane menacingly) if they would step off the curb even a moment before the WALK sign turned on. It seemed to us then that the essence of old age was the strict adherence to silly rules. In all of the games we made up one could always change the rules around if things started going against you... In that spirit: This rule and all following rules may be amended in the following way: 1) A rule may only be amended by the immediately following valid rule. 2) An amendment may consist of only a single phrase or clause added to a single sentence, phrase or clause present in the rule to be amended in a grammatically correct fashion. 3) The placement of the text to be added must be unambiguously specified. 4) Amendments may not be amended. Rules amended in this manner will be regarded as if they originally included the added text. For instance, the next rule might (but this rule does not) amend this rule by adding the text, " or in any other way" just before the colon. >>>>>> Judgement: Peter correctly pointed out that there are two colons in this rule, which would make the rule inconsistent with itself (way #3, and also way #2 if the first colon was chosen). Even though the example is not an actual amendment, it contradicts the restriction by being part of the explanation of the restriction. Style: I liked the concept, which is nicely in theme with the round. (+1.5) 58:3 Morendil Thu, 30 May 1996 23:12:43 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: -1 >>> Yeah, and what do *you* know about Ole Crumplebum, Waggie ? It warn't you what got into his old junk lot an stole a bunch of great stuff... an almos got bitten on the *ASS* by that mean 'bull of his, too ! But I've still got all that stuff in my secret place in the shed : I'll show y'all if you want. I've got sheet metal - Mom says you can get yerself all cut up wid blood an tetanous an all that, *yech* - an I've even got a very big SPRING ! Bet we could rig up a jumpin machine with it ! You have to think of sumpin' better than _that_ if you wanna tell a story here, lemme tellya ! >>> Judgement: No problems. Style: Nothing special: not especially original (-1), and the restriction is extremely subjective (-.5). Small plus (+.5) for being the first rule which did not drop out of character. 58:4 Jeremy Fri, 31 May 1996 16:25:04 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: -.5 >>>>>> This rule and all following rules may be amended in the following way: 1) A rule may only be amended by the immediately following valid rule. 2) An amendment may consist of only a single phrase or clause added to a single sentence, phrase or clause present in the rule to be amended in a grammatically correct fashion. 3) The placement of the text to be added must be unambiguously specified. 4) Amendments may not be amended. Rules amended in this manner will be regarded as if they originally included the added text. >>>>>> Judgement: It didn't tell a story, so it doesn't have to be better than a spring. Style: No thematic material. (but we saw that in 58:2 so only -.5) Brief and clear. (+.5) Second try. (-1) Judge still likes the restriction, so he's glad you tried again. (+.5) 58:5 Ronald Fri, 31 May 1996 18:58:30 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: +.5 >>>> "Big deal, y'r spring! It ain't gold y'r spring. Lemme tell you: I took Old Crumpy's treasure from him." Ron's face was flushed, but he surely got everybody's attention. "Me Mom said to Pop, that Old Crumplebum doesn't get his dough from the bank, but that Old Crumpie has it all buried under the apple tree. So I've been looking for it. And I've been founding it. Of course, Old Crumpie chased me off, when he saw me digging, but I got one!" And while Ron proudly showed his one gold coin, the children heard a thundering voice say: Change "1) A rule may only be amended by the immediately following valid rule." into "1) A rule may only be amended by the immediately following valid rule that contains the word "repeal" in the amendment." >>>> Judgement: Clearly better than a spring, and the amendment is legally stated. Style: Subjectively fulfilled a subjective restriction. (+.5). Didn't even fall out of character for the amendment, and I would like to find out who that thundering voice is. (+.5) No restriction, other than the amendment. (-.5) 58:6 Waggie Fri, 31 May 1996 19:11:34 +0100 Judgement: UNSUCCESSFUL Style: +1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- This rule amends the previous rule 58:4 by inserting the phrase "none of the rules among" between the third and fourth words of the first sentence. (Nyah, Nyah, Jeremy! I think your mommy is calling for you to go home for supper now...) Oh, and if somebody gets dared to do something, they have to do it as soon as they can, or they're OUT! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Judgement: 58:4 is no longer the previous valid rule. However, considerng this is only 13 minutes behind 58:5 and was originally numbered 58:5, I believe Waggie did not see the other rule before sending this one. Style: +1 for being subtle, since the newbie judge missed the real restriction in this rule. 58:7 Anton Mon, 3 Jun 1996 16:48:24 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: +1 >>>>>>> Aw Jeez! - who woke Judge Williams up? Just listen to him rantin' 'bout his old rules agin.You'd better watch out - 'cording to me pa he's reeeal mean. I know he's new in town, but pa sez he even scares Old Crumplebum. Story goes that they grew up together downstate somewhere, 'n' that the Judge used to be sooo wild. It's coz of him Ol' Crumpie got his name - seems they were arguin' 'bout some girl, an' the Judge just went back to his house, got his shotgun, an' peppered Old Crumplebum in the ass with buckshot as he ran off. Betcha di'nt know that! Me ma says his judgin's right wierd too. 'Cording to her, if you dont give a good reason why a new rule should restrict somethin' then he ain't never going to accept it - he sez our lives already have too many dumb regulations as it is! >>>>>>> Judgement: No problems. Style: Baiting the judge qualifies as a childish thing to do. (+1) 58:8 Anton Fri, 7 Jun 1996 18:04:03 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: 0 >>>>>>> Darn! Looks like I'm gonna have to go climb that tree then. Where's everybody gon' to anyway? Bet your all hidin' somewhere. Well - won't stop me climbin'. Ain't nobody who can say I wimp out of a dare. An' that tree don't look too bad to climb... ...see! That was easy. Just get an apple and get outa here. Bleurch! It hadda a worm in it. Look - the other half's still wrigglin'. Now how do I get outa this tree?... ...O-oh lawd! Here comes Ol' Crumpie - an' his mean lookin' hound. I'm in big trouble. If you can't come up right now with one helluva good reason why I'm up his tree, you'd betta scram, coz I think he's gonna drag us all off to our parents otherwise, and we'll all get grounded. And you cant play if your grounded... >>>>>>> Judgement: He climbed the tree as he was required to. The reason for the restriction is good enough. Style: Stays in character, but I've already given 2 awards for that, so it's no longer innovative. (+0) 58:9 Ronald Fri, 7 Jun 1996 18:04:07 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: +2 >>>>> thundered Judge Williams when he interrupted into the circle of children. But the children had disappeared into six different directions. Therefore nobody heard the Judge mutter: In the distance one could hear Old Crumplebum laugh mockingly. >>>>>>> Judgement: This arrived at sabre-wulf only _4 seconds_ after Anton's 58:8. He doesn't explain why Anton is up in the tree, however, Anton allows him to scram as an alternative. Since he says "nobody" was left to hear the Judge, I must conclude that Ronald has scrammed. The amendment is also legal, since this is "the following valid rule that contains the word "repeal" in the amendment." Style: Ronald must be little psychic to scram at the right time, and also to hear Ole Crumpie laughing, presumably at Anton in the tree. (+2) It's a nice way to avoid the restriction of 58:7, but he consulted with the judge previously to determine whether I would rule favorably on that interpretation. (+0) 58:10 Anton Mon, 10 Jun 1996 18:38:59 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: +1.5 >>>>>>> - "You can't finish like that!", the editor cried, "This is supposed to be a children's story - don't you know that they always have a happy ending? We can't publish this as it stands..." - "Oh dear", mumbled the penitent author, "I suppose I could alter it a little. Let's change 'Therefore nobody heard the Judge mutter:' to 'Therefore nobody heard the Judge mutter, as he ambled off to repeal the law permitting Cal-Amityville's First Annual Mandatory Tree-Climbing Day:'." - "Hmmm. Rather weak. How does it continue?" - "Well I thought.." - "And we need more humour. The book won't sell if its not funny! I want all future installments to include a comic episode, or else they won't be accepted." - "All right, but you _must_ stop interrupting! I will never finish if you don't stop butting in!" snapped the harrassed author, as he picked up his pen again and wrote... >>>>>>> Judgement: It succeeds in fulfilling all the restrictions, although it might not resolve the tree-climbing incident entirely. Style: Very stylishly done. It invents a way to thematically drop out of character and reinterprets the round's theme. (+1) More kudos for making the amendment do two things at once, and for the town name "Cal-Amityville". (+.5) 58:11 Ronald Fri, 14 Jun 1996 09:04:19 +0100 Judgement: VALID Style: +1 >>>>>>> 14 june 1929 CAL-AMITYVILLE TRIBUNE 5 cents JUDGE SAYS: CHANGE THAT RULE! Boy falls from tree, breaks Old Crumplebum's arms and legs. (Town editor) Judge Williams said today: 'Well I thought..' When young Anton decided today, to shall continue with 'that the steal some apples, little did he word repeal must appear twice know of the consequences this dartly in future rules.' This amend- act would have. (See page 5) ment of the Judge was the 1st since his repeal of Tree-Climb- ADVERTISEMENT ing Act. (See Editorial.) Buy Stocks! The Trees grow to heaven on Wall Street! CROSSWORD Across: Phone C.A.Ville's Broker 1) Time after present 2) Game Today! gouverning entities 3) Not exclude 4) Between one and three 5) Language spoken in ADVERTISEMENT Paris 4) Basic units of a Miss Dupont teaches French, sentence la plus belle langue >>>>>>> Judgement: The amendment is legal, even though 58:10 does not give a good reason for the restriction and is not posted by Ronald. 58:7 states that every "new rule" must give a good reason, and 58:9 makes the distinction between "new rules" and "old rules" clear: the "old rule" is the one being amended. However, Ronald attributes the main story to the "Town editor", who has been told that he must stop interrupting. (I deduce that he is the same editor as 58:10, by his publishing the story on page 5.) Anton is vague about what constitutes an interruption, so since the author is clearly further along in his story, I will conclude that the editor is leaving him alone to write. Passes the other restrictions just fine. Style: Continues the reinterpetation of the theme in another creative manner (+.5) Kudos for the crossword and the stock market references (+.5) 58:12 Anton Sun, 16 Jun 1996 16:36:12 +0100 Judgement: INVALID STYLE: 0 >>>>>>> "Hi pop!", Ron called out as his father, the Judge, walked in. "I liked the latest edition". "Humph!", replied his father, "The printers got the headline wrong - it should read 'JUDGE SAYS: CHANGE THAT RULE OR HE WILL REPEAL IT!'". As he slumped in his chair he continued "And there wasn't room for the best story - I had a great case today. Old Crumplebum had complained about the Baptists constantly ringing their bells, and had obtained an injunction against them. But I was able to grant them a repeal!" While his father, chuckling, rang to confirm his latest share acquisitions, Ron wandered out into the yard. He tried to read his father's paper - momentarily wishing he had paid more attention at school as he pondered the meaning of 'la plus belle langue' - but his thoughts kept returning to the events of the day. "Anton be damned", he thought, "how dare he insult pa so! I must exact my revenge as soon as I can, so as to restore our family's honour...". A few minutes later, Judge Williams looked out of the window at his son in the yard. He was worried about the boy, and had to admit that perhaps this was due to him being more lenient to Ronald than to the other kids. He resolved that in future (to avoid accusations of bias) he would treat everyone as a 'Ronald' - even that scoundrel Anton! >>>>>>> Judgement: Everything is fine, except that there is no comic episode, which would be required if this was an episode of the story. Talking about the newspaper of the previous rule would seem to place it outside the story, while the actions of the characters would seem to place it inside the story. While 58:11 indicates that the actual story is on page 5, there is nothing here to indicate that this is not a merging of the two threads. In fact since it contains elements from both, I concluded that it was inside the story as well as outside, and should have had a comic episode. The Judge chuckles, but in spite rather than humor, it seems to me. Style: Ronald started it, but this rule definitely put the author's world inside his own story - a nice twist of reality. (+1) Loosens restrictions more than it tightens them. (-1)