Cantr II Discussion Forum

Posted: **Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:16 am**

Has anyone ever played Nomic? I love the concept! It only takes one dice and a set of rules, but I understand there are web based versions of the game. Would it work in the Forum Games?

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/nomic.htm

Posted: **Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:46 pm**

Reading through the rules... yeah, it could work by forum, by we'd need to start a signup for it so we don't have people popping in and out... also it would help a lot to have a forum moderator playing too to keep things organized in a single post. (or three

)

Posted: **Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:34 am**

Seems like an interesting... albeit complicated excersize. I've read the premise but not all of the rules. I'm willing to try though, if there's decent interest.

Posted: **Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:53 am**

I'm up for it, but I have my doubts that this forum has enough activity to sustain a game at any reasonable pace.

I'd suggest that anyone here interested join en-masse a nomic game hosted and played elsehwere?

Posted: **Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:27 pm**

I'd be interested, as long as it's not too complicated to get into. Also, I'm not sure what the object of the game is.

Posted: **Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:15 pm**

I've come up with a bit of an idea. Having played NationStates, I thought a Nomic approach might work well for a government/laws/etc type game.

Here's what I thought:
(Looks complicated but it isn't)

Laws A (Game Laws)
A001 - Laws are to be categorised as either A, B or C, and will have a three-digit number, assigned sequentially.
A002 - Any registered player can suggest an A law.
A003 - New A laws will be suggested to the players in general, and will be enacted only in the case of a majority vote.
A004 - A new law of any kind can take the form of an amendment to an existing law. In this case, and if the amendment is enacted, the new amended law takes the place of the old one and assumes it's number.
A005 - Suggestions to repeal laws will count as suggestions to amend. If enacted, the law will simply be wiped blank, and that 'slot' can be filled by a new law.
A006 - The number associated with a law does not affect the power of the law. For example, law A006 has no more worth than law A002, and vice versa.
A007 - As well as law changes, all players can suggest events or issues to discuss. These cannot change anything in themselves, but could lead indirectly to new laws being suggested. Before 'happening', events or issues must be voted on by the players. In general, only events that are impossible wouldn't be accepted.

Laws B (Government Laws)
B001 - Only one government will exist, made up of just ten Councilmen. [These will be the first ten players to 'sign up' to the game.]
B002 - Only Councilmen can suggest a B law.
B003 - New B laws will be suggested to the Council in general, and will be enacted only in the case of a majority vote.
B004 - Councilmen also follow the C laws, since they are also citizens.

Laws C (Citizen Laws)
[Once the ten Councilmen have been assigned, new players will fill the roles of citizens.]
C001 - A citizen may apply to be a Councilman at any time.
C002 - Only Councilmen can suggest a C law.
C003 - New C laws will be suggested to the Council and citizens in general, and will be enacted only in the case of a majority vote.

Each 'citizen-player' represents around 100 - 1000 citizens. This group can be a political group, a social group, a religious group, a hobby group or even just a random selection of citizens. It's up to the player. The group should be RPed in the sense that events and issues suggested by them should ideally be related to their general identity. In other words, a religious group probably wouldn't start a petition to legalise gambling. A group of gambler wouldn't demonstrate against a new casino. Etc.

There could probably be some kind of system by which citizens could join or leave different groups, but I haven't planned that. That could be one of the things addressed by new A laws.
The exact process by which a citizen applies to be a Councilman can also be finalised in-game. And anything else can be changed, as long as it gets the majority vote.
I'm not sure yet how the voting process would work either. Ideas?
And eventually, a government could split into two or more (by colonisation, war, etc), and they'd of course have to create laws to deal with each other.
Thoughts, anyone?

Posted: **Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:33 pm**

I looked at the rules, and it looked lik a good idea for a game, I'll definitely play. However, I'd feel much more confortable playing it by the starting rules proposed on the website, of course by the nature of the game changable in game, than starting off with a completely new set of starting rules.

But yeah, I'll play

Posted: **Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:42 pm**

I wanna play as well and I agree with deadboy. Since we get to change rules anyway, I'd rather have the first game with the original rules then for the next game we can see what needs to be changed to make the game better.

Posted: **Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:54 pm**

I would be very up for this. I've played it before, and it is great.

I was introduced to it by political students, as a reflection of a democratic / bureaucratic process. It does this very well, without any need for any rules changes.

However, the game does need a gamesmaster, or 'mod', and one who has some knowledge of the game. Not sure I'd like to do that though.