Online CoN Rules for Non-Members.

[scorpiusx]

[If you're only concern right now is to read the online rules for this game, go ahead and skip this blue italicized portion. If you're wondering why in the hey I have copy and pasted these rules in a different forum, I assure you that I have a perfectly logical reason. I myself have several friends who have had interest in what I have told them about CoN, or I have otherwise wanted to show them this game to gauge interest. The main problem here is that the CoN subforum is inaccessible if you are not already a member of the site. Therefore, in order to explain the object of the game, either I have to take ages to paraphrase, or I have to sloppily make a variety of messages explaining it. In this format, in this forum, I can just post a link to this page and Voila! Therefore, I ask that this page please not be deleted, as I myself plan on using it as a tool, and it may have uses for other players as well. Please note that all words below on this page were written and produced by LordRaidor, and I am just pasting them here. Thank you.]

RULES AND MECHANICS FOR
ONLINE (FORUM) PLAY
(Last Updated 1 Jun 2010: Recent and/or important updates are highlighted in green)

The Curse of Ne-Gok-Sa is ideally suited for play in an online environment; It can be played in a chat room, on a bulletin board, or in a community forum, just like this one. ^_~ The following addenda to the basic "Curse of Ne-Gok-Sa" rules (mostly notes on mechanics) will apply to the games hosted here in this forum:

• All dates and times referenced by these rules will be based on Central Standard Time (CST) in the United States (or Greenwich Mean Time minus 6 hours). The forum clock at HeroScapers.com will be the official time-piece when enforcing game deadlines. [Note: the "Timezone" option in the user profile at 'Scapers.com must be set to "(GMT - 5 hours)" during Daylight Saving Time (April-October) or "(GMT - 6 hours)" otherwise (May-September) to be synchronized with CST.] All game deadlines (for registration, voting, special powers, etc.) will be explicitly posted before each game begins. Usually, this occurs at 11:00PM CST (2300hrs) on each real-world day in question.
• Participants must be registered users in the 'Scapers.com forums to play, and must adhere to all forum guidelines throught the course of the game.
• The CoN League Scoreboard and Thread Index maintained at 'Scapers.com contains hyperlinks to all relevant rules, roles, and regulations (including these), as will as an index of all games, both completed and in progress. If there is currently an open registration thread accepting entries for new games, it will also be noted there.
• To enter a game, there must be an open registration thread in the 'Contest' forums. If there is a game accepting entries, interested users must send a PM (private message) to the host's user account at HeroScapers.com and agree to all of the rules posted here. All registrations must be received before the deadline posted in the registration thread. A list of all registered players will be maintained in the registration post and updated throughout the game to reflect the players' statuses. Once the registration period ends, no further entries will be permitted.
• A player may only participate in one CoN game at any given time. If a player is participating in a CoN game already in progress (whether active or Paralyzed), that player will not be allowed to sign-up for a new game undergoing registration.
• Once a player registers for a CoN game, that player will be expected to participate in that CoN game. Prospective players who are unsure of their ability to regularly participate in the game for the posted dates should not register. Registered players who, by choice or necessity, withdraw their participation from a game in progress should show other players the couresy of announcing this publicly. Players who regularly exhibit a lack of active participation in CoN games before they are Paralyzed may be warned by the host(s) or banned from entry into future CoN games, solely at the discretion of the Storyteller(s).
• Once registered, each player may choose his or her character identity for the game if they wish. A player must post his or her choice in the registration thread before the end of the registration period, and it must be an 'official' Hasbro character that follows Einar, Jandar, Ullar, or Vydar (unique or common, hero or squad member). Characters are claimed on a first-come, first-served basis, and once a character is claimed by a player, no other player may use that character. Characters that follow Utgar may NOT be chosen unless specifically allowed by the Storyteller(s) during registration.
• Players who do not choose a character identity by the end of the registration period will be assigned one randomly by the host. Players whose character identities are randomly assigned (by choice or by default) will be given 1 extra 'vote' in the 'role-playing' category at the end of the game to determine distribution of the 'role-play' Victory Points (see scoring, below).
• Each CoN game will contain no less than 10 players and no more than 24 players total, including the Storyteller. After registration, players will be divided randomly by the host(s) into the minimum number of similarly-sized games to accomodate these restrictions, unless otherwise indicated during registration.
• Player roles (Valhallan Warrior, Visionary, or Mindshackled Puppet) will be assigned randomly by the host. There will always be exactly 1 Storyteller and 1 Visionary in each game. The number of Puppets in each game is equal to one-quarter of "Y" (rounded down), where "Y" is the total number of players in the game minus 1. This is illustrated in the Role Distribution Chart following these rules.
• Each player will be sent a confirmation PM to their 'Scapers.com account of thier secret role and their public character identity before the game begins.
• Player roles will be kept SECRET for the duration of the game. Roles will not be revealed by the Storyteller as players become Paralyzed. All roles will be revealed only when the game is concluded.
• Any revelations by a player of his or her role, whether 'accidental' or deliberate, should be considered an attempt to mislead or manipulate the other players (because it probably is). This is a perfectly acceptable and time-honored tactic. ^_^
• Players may 'role-play' their characters if they wish (i.e., a Viper may add lotsss of hissess to hisss postssss, or a Tarn may act drunk and disorderly [within forum guidelines], etc.). This is not required, but it will increase the likelyhood of netting 'role-play' Victory Points at the end of the game.
• Each 'DAY' of the game will consist of 48-72 hours in the Real World. If 'DAY1' is Friday/Saturday/Sunday (thru 11:00PM CST Sun), then 'DAY2' will be Tuesday/Wednesday (thru 11:00PM CST Wed). 'DAY3' will restart the cycle again on the next Friday/Saturday/Sunday, etc.
• Each 'NIGHT' of the game will be a 24-hour time period in the Real World, following each 'DAY' of the game. If 'NIGHT1' is a Monday after 'DAY1' (ending at 11:00PM CST), then 'NIGHT2' will be Thursday, after 'DAY2' (again, ending at 11:00PM), and so on.
• DAY Votes (by all non-Paralyzed players) must be submitted PUBLICLY in the forum. Each player voting must post their vote in BOLDED RED ALL-CAPS at normal text size (or larger) so that it can be easily located by all players. Votes may be cast for a 'player' (i.e., I VOTE FOR LORDRAIDOR) or their character identity (i.e., MY VOTE = STORYTELLER), as desired. (For players who do not know how to do this, just copy-and-paste this code: MY VOTE HERE into your post, replacing the words "MY VOTE HERE" with your actual vote.)
• Day Votes must be posted BEFORE 11:00PM (2300 hrs) CST on the Sunday or Wednesday in question to be valid. Votes submitted after this cutoff will not be counted.
• DAY votes in the forums may NOT be retracted or changed, for any reason. A Day Vote may be cast anytime in the 48-72 hour period, as each player sees fit, before or after any degree of discussion with the other players. However, be sure you are absolutely certain of your vote BEFORE you post it in the forum thread. I repeat, once you post a vote in the forum thread, it MAY NOT be taken back or changed.
• For the above reason, no posts in the game thread may be edited by thier creator, for any reason. If you make a mistake, or mis-typed something, make a new post to clarify; DO NOT use the 'edit post' button in the game thread. Players who edit their own posts (for any reason) may be warned or simply evicted from the game, at the sole discretion of the Storyteller (so don't do it).
• NIGHT Votes (Mindshackled Players only) will be submitted IN SECRET to the Storyteller (host) via PM. Votes are not required to be in bolded red all-caps for Night vote PMs, but this convention may be used, if desired.
• NIGHT Vote PMs must be posted BEFORE 11:00PM (2300 hrs) CST on the Monday or Thursday in question to be valid. Votes submitted after this cutoff will not be counted.
• NIGHT vote PMs may also NOT be retracted or changed, for any reason. A Night Vote PM may be sent anytime in the 24-hour period, as each Minkshackled player sees fit, before or after any degree of PRIVATE discussion (via PMs) with the other Mindshackled players. However, be sure you are absolutely certain of your vote BEFORE you PM it to the host. I repeat, once you PM your vote to the host, it MAY NOT be taken back or changed.
• Each Mindshackled must submit his or her own vote PM to the host for it to be considered valid. A single Mindshackled 'ring-leader' may not send the host a PM 'decision' for the whole group.
• DAY or NIGHT votes submitted by Paralyzed players will not be counted. Paralyzed players are encouraged to continue to participate in the discussions to help their faction win, but they no longer have Paralyzation votes.
• The Warrior with the Visionary power may send a single PM to the host anytime in a 24-hour 'NIGHT' period (Monday or Thursday) to ask the role of any player he or she wishes, be they Paralyzed or not. This PM must be posted BEFORE 11:00PM (2300 hrs) CST on the Monday or Thursday in question to be valid. The Storyteller will answer the Visionary's question with a PM to him or her containing that character's role. The Storyteller will not lie or mislead the Visionary.
• Nobody is allowed to 'abstain' from DAY voting. If an official 'DAY' vote from an active player is not posted by the appropriate deadline (as applicable), that player's vote will be assumed to have been cast for themselves and entered into the results. If nobody votes during the period in question, then the target of that DAY's Paralysis will be determined randomly by the Storyteller. All vote results, including Mindshackled PMs, Visionary queries, and random vote asignments, will be posted at the game's conclusion, if requested.
• Any un-Paralyzed player who fails to post a 'DAY' vote in any two consecutive 'DAY' voting periods will be dropped from the game at that time. The character and role held by that player will then be handed off to a SIDEBOARDING player to fill that character/role for the remainder of the game. Repeating for clarity: any un-Paralyzed player who fails to make two consecutive DAY votes will be EJECTED from the game and have their character/role filled by a SIDEBOARDER. If you plan on 'laying low', you will still have to at least fill your 'DAILY' voting responsibilities, or you will be removed from the game.
• Puppets MAY 'abstain' from voting at NIGHT. Puppet NIGHT votes are never cast for 'themselves' or a 'random' target. If none of the Puppets cast a Paralysis vote during a given NIGHT period, then there will be NO VICTIM Paralyzed by the Puppets that NIGHT.
• Any DAY or NIGHT ties will be broken RANDOMLY by the host, as necessary. There will be no re-votes. Anyone who thinks they might end up in a tie should do their pleading and groveling publicly in the thread before the final votes are cast. No second chances. ^_^
• The official results of the DAY and NIGHT votes will be posted in the game thread as soon after the end of each game 'DAY' or 'NIGHT' period as is feasible for the host. Return PMs to the Visionary (and/or other 'advanced' NIGHT power roles, such as the Empath, Intuitive, etc.) will also be sent at this time (after the NIGHT deadline has elapsed). These things should usually be done within one hour of the deadline (by midnight CST), but the Storyteller(s) will not be held to this. The first-post 'status' board with each player's curent condition will also be updated at this time. (The result of each 'Day' vote should be obvious to anyone who is keeping track anyhow, unless a tie-breaker is needed or secret balloting is being used.)
• Players who become Paralyzed (by DAY vote or by the Mindshackled) suffer no immediate ill-effects beyond the loss of thier voting privilages. Paralyzed players are encouraged to remain an active part of the discussions to help their faction win. Note the Paralyzed players still get equal victory points if their faction wins the game, and continued participation will increase the likelyhood of receiving 'role-playing' and 'most-entertaining' votes to determine the game's true winner(s).
• Players MAY choose to volutarily Paralyze THEMSELVES, if they wish. This may be done by DAY or NIGHT, simply by posting in the public thread that their charcter is drinking from the Wellspring. Once the Storyteller rules that such an act is 'official', it may not be retracted, and that character is considered Paralyzed for the rest of the game. The first such 'self-Paralysis' during any DAY will count as the DAY Paralysis for that DAY (for the purposes of the Empath power, etc.), and will invalidate the DAY voting for that DAY as well (the player, if any, with the most votes that DAY will not be required to drink from the Wellspring or become Paralyzed). Any subsequent 'self-sacrifices' during a DAY with multiple such acts, or any voluntary self-Paralyzations that occur at NIGHT, will have no additional effects upon the game other than those players involved losing their voting privilages and becoming officially Paralyzed.
• The game will end when (a) all of the Mindshackled have been paralyzed [and the Warriors will all win], or (b) the number of active Minshackled players equals the number of active Warriors [and the Mindshackled will all win]. When either situation occurs, the host will make a post to announce the end of the game, post the identities of all the players, and release the results of all of the voting.
• The players themselves will decide the true 'winner(s)' of the game after it ends. Players on the winning faction will get 3 initial victory points each. Players on the losing faction get 1 initial point each, and the Storyteller gets 2 initial victory points. Each player may then cast 2 additional final votes, 1 to the player in the group who best acted out and/or role-played their character identity, and the other 1 to the player in the group who made the game the most fun. These are obviously speculative, and made at each player's discretion.
• Any post-game 'votes' not cast in the thread within 96 hours after the game ends will be considered forfeit and will not be included in the final determination of the voting outcome.
• Players whose character identities were randomly assigned will receive one extra 'role-play' vote during the post-game voting tabulation. Any players who registered for one type of game (advanced, basic or keep), but willingly allowed the Storyteller to move them to a different type of game instead (for size-balance purposes) will receive one extra 'most-fun' vote at this time as well.
• After the final votes have been counted, the player with the most 'RP' votes will get 3 extra points. The player with the next-most 'RP' votes will get 2 extra points, and the 3rd-highest total of 'RP' votes will get 1 extra point. Likewise, most 'fun' votes gets 3 points, 2nd-most gets 2 points, and 3rd-most 'fun' votes gets 1 point.
• The player(s) with the most victory points after all of the final votes are tallied wins the game. Ties are fairly common. Curse of Ne-Gok-Sa games should never have physical 'prizes' at stake, as the whole point of playing is simply to have fun. However, 'league' rankings will be compiled for all players based on an average number of points per game played, and can be used for bragging rights, or to decide who should be Paralyzed first in the next game. ^_^
• PMs between any and all players are legal, and encouraged. However, be warned that this is a game of subterfuge, intrigue, politics, manipulative schemes, and LIES. I would advise all players to regard ANY messages they receive from other players as outright falsehoods and attempts at vote manipulation (becase they probably are). ...But feel free to pretend that you believe them and then manipulate them in return if it suits your agenda... ^_^
• There is not a 'rule' against posting a game-related PM from another player in the public forums or in another PM. However, since any idiot can FAKE a quote from another player with relative ease, this should also be viewed as little more than deception and trickery (which it probably is). To further undermine the credibility of 'quoted' messages, any player may request any role-specific 'forged' PMs that they wish, via PM to their Storyteller. Requests for forged messages should state to whom the PM should be addressed and what the message should relay (i.e., a Visionary message stating so-and-so is a Puppet, or an Empath Message stating that thus-and-such is a normal Warrior, etc.). The 'fake' PM will be constructed by the Storyteller in an exact format matching the 'authentic' PMs being sent for that game, and the fraudulent PM will be sent back to the requesting player at the same time that any 'authentic' PMs are dispatched for that NIGHT (after the ending deadline). The 'forged' PM may then be forwarded to other players as needed, and will be indistinguishable from 'official' messages of the same nature. ^_^
• It is ILLEGAL to post anything other than bbcode and text in the game thread, or in PMs between players. DO NOT post images or screen captures, or any links to such images, in the game thread or in game-related PMs unless you have explicit permission from the Storyteller. (A small signature-line image identifying your in-game character is allowed.) It is also ILLEGAL to take ANY action in the game thread or via PM which completely removes all doubt of a player's secret identity (for example, telling another player your forum password so they can login as you and see your 'identity confirmation' PM). DOUBT is the central element to making this game function, and any action that completely removes all doubt will be considered cheating and grounds for ejection from the game (solely at the Storyteller's discretion).
• All players should refrain from making 'out-of-game' references to their honor, nobility, or general trustworthiness. Any player who swears an oath of honesty on their mother, their priesthood, their dog, etc., or asks another player to do so, will most likely be met with significant hostility from the remaining players, possibly even resulting in the offender's Paralyzation during the next DAY vote. This is just a game - please keep 'personal' elements out of it.
• That said, keep in mind that this is a game of DECEPTION. Players in here are undoubtedly going to lie, backstab, and manipulate each other regularly in order to win. It's nothing personal, ...it's just the nature of the game. Whatever happens in a CoN game, let it stay in the CoN game. Just because someone is a lying, treacherous, backstabbing, evil swine in this game, it doesn't mean they are that way all the time, it just means they're good at playing this game. (...Or if they ARE that way all the time, just wait for them to prove it outside the game before you start openly hating them for it, O.K.?...)
• Cheating SUX. The bulk of this game revolves around secrets, deception, and paranoia. Anyone willing to cheat in order to win shouldn't be playing this game. For those determined enough to find them, I'm sure there are ways to cheat that are not covered in these rules. However, DON'T CHEAT. Don't make the Storyteller come up with even more rules to prevent cheating or decide punishments for it. Just DON'T CHEAT. Play Fair and Have Fun, or don't play at all. ^_^

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