I had a short conversation with 'Mr . Anonymous' on the IRC. I'll copy paste the transcript here to bring more clarity about where he's coming from and what the point of contention exactly is.
19:15 Devastator oh, mentioned things to PW.
19:15 Devastator Told you I wasn't hallucinating that rule.
19:17 radio Yeah, but PW might be misremembering his own rules.
19:17 radio When we bought all that stuff with those corpse words, he got a list of it explicitly.
19:19 Devastator Trading corpse words is okay, although I'm disappointed at that a bit.
19:19 Devastator I objected to doubling and tripling up on copies of gang words from corpses.
19:22 radio PW did mention before words can be looted off of corpses though, didn't he?
19:22 radio I don't remember if he mentioned exceptions for gang words.
19:23 Devastator Yeah, that's okay.
19:23 Devastator But no making multiple copies of such.
19:24 Devastator which is what ER said he was doing with many.
19:24 radio I think ER just took one 'many' word off of the two corpses, giving him 2 more 'many' for a total of 3, no?
19:25 radio Like, say Thag died right now, OZ could take his copy of cat from the barbar corpse I think.
19:25 Devastator Yeah, that's illegal.
19:25 Devastator You can't hold more than one copy of a gang word.
19:25 Devastator unless you found a second copy from territory.
19:26 radio what part, exactly, is illegal?
19:26 Devastator Having multiple copies of a gang word.
19:26 Devastator It's illegal from corpses and from yourself, by not using it a round.
19:26 radio See, I don't think that is correct as I understand the rules, you can loot any sort of word from a corpse I think.
19:27 radio But the looted gang word won't replenish itself.
19:27 radio So if Oz were to use his own copy of 'cat', it'd replenish, but not if he used the word 'cat' that he looted from corpse!Thag.
19:29 Devastator Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You have the rules wrong.
19:29 Devastator You cannot get multiple copies of a gang word from any source.
19:29 radio Where does it state that?
19:29 Devastator PW is saying that right now.
19:30 radio "I assume it is a mistake in record keeping."
19:30 radio I think PW just glanced at the complaint, then threw it into the thread to let us sort it out.
19:30 Devastator Yes, because you aren't allowed that, and he thought he made the rule clear.
19:30 radio Then could you point me toward where he declared that rule please?
19:33 radio Because before, one of our gangmembers died and I looted an extra copy of 'repair' directly from him and stuck it into my inventory. I explicitly said in my action that I was looting a repair word, and PW didn't object to it.
19:33 Devastator That's okay. What isn't okay is having a second copy of it.
19:34 radio Wait, so right now I have 1 (replenishing) repair word from my gang, and 1 non-replenishing repair word from looting. So don't I have a second copy of it then?
19:35 Devastator You never can have a second copy of a gang word, unless you get it from territory.
19:35 Devastator If you spent your copy of that, you can pick up another one from a corpse, yes.
19:35 Devastator But you still can't get a second copy of it at the end of the mission.
19:35 radio no, I hadn't spent my repair yet (iirc, lemme check).
19:36 Devastator "doubling up on words from corpses carrying gang words." was what I said.
19:36 Devastator And he said to knock it off.
19:37 radio Yes, but I'm willing to bet PW hardly even read that pm, and/or he doesn't remember his own rules and/or judged differently on separate occasions.
19:38 radio so, when I had my repair gangword and looted an extra repair from a teammate's corpse, I was breaking that rule then, if I'm understanding it correctly?
19:38 Devastator Yes.
19:38 Devastator No doubling up on gang words, except for territory.
19:38 radio So why did PW not mention that then when I explicitly looted that second repair?
19:39 radio I mean, we have a discrepancy here, right?
19:39 Devastator Because he didn't read your post that well, and thought you were picking up a missing word.
19:39 Devastator Not that you were doubling up.
19:40 Devastator Did you try to cast a spell with two copies of repair in it?
19:40 Devastator I think that's the point where he's likely to notice.
19:40 radio But you can see how people in our gang would think it is allowed, given that precedent?
19:41 Devastator What precedent? PW hasn't said it's okay, just not noticed.
19:41 radio That's a precedent, cause it isn't as if at the time we knew he wasn't paying attention.
19:41 radio (which, for the record, we aren't sure of)
19:41 Devastator He has said, right now, for you to not do that.
19:42 Devastator And you're ignoring that because he didn't notice it in the past.
19:42 radio Perhaps, but what I asked was 'But you can see how people in our gang would think it is allowed, given that precedent?'.
19:42 radio If pw now rules differently, I'm perfectly fine with that.
19:42 Devastator I've mentioned this to your gang members before.
19:42 Devastator I was told I was just hallucinating the rules.
19:43 radio Perhaps, but it wouldn't be the first time you communicating with others in this irc lead to misunderstandings, no?
19:43 Devastator Heh, yeah.
19:43 Devastator and it isn't the first time someone's ignored what I was saying because it was me saying it.
19:44 radio So, if PW reaffirms his ruling, I'll explicitly ask why it was different for me back then, and if he said he just wasn't paying attention I'll get rid of the word immediately.
19:45 Devastator So PW has to rule against you twice for you to follow the rules?
19:45 Devastator I can understand that, but why is this such a huge deal?
19:45 Devastator Egan was stating how he would destroy the attackers using a spell with four copies of 'many', which was shenanigans, and I don't want that to happen.
19:45 radio 'for you to follow the rules' see, I don't think it is fair that you word it like this.
19:46 Devastator It's not the first you've heard of this rule.
19:46 Devastator Or the second time.
19:46 Devastator Or the third time.
19:46 radio If I carried around that word due to a misunderstanding on my part and a failure to notice on PW's part, that's one thing, but it ain't willfully cheating.
19:47 radio It is the first time PW is brought in to clear things up.
19:47 radio And as I demonstrated, we had precedent that made it seem it was allowed.
19:47 Devastator I'm pushing it because PW will notice when the big spell happens.
19:47 Devastator I'd much rather sort things out before that point is reached.
19:48 radio Of course!
19:48 radio It is good that you bring it up to PW himself directly so we can sort this out and bring clarity.
19:48 Devastator And I can get reluctance, but you should be asking PW this, in thread.
19:51 Devastator Ask PW to clarify the rule and I'll be happy.l
19:51 Devastator Syv is asking the wrong question, at this moment.
19:52 Devastator I'm informing you of that.
19:52 radio I haven't really read syv's reply closely.
19:53 Devastator "Anyway, I suppose the question here is whether or not gang words can be looted off corpses. If they can't be looted, I guess I need to go over the list again. If yes, the next obvious question would be whether they can be sold off corpses"
19:54 Devastator The answer to both those question is yes. The question is "Can I carry multiple copies of a gang word?"
19:55 radio If one loots a word, it implies they carry it as well, right?
19:56 radio Or is the real question "Can I -use- multiple copies of a gang word simultaneously?" ?
19:56 Devastator You can only loot the word when you don't have another copy of it.
19:56 Devastator You can sell it off a corpse if you have a copy, because it's on the corpse and not you.
19:57 radio Perhaps I/you should copy paste this/parts of convo and post it in the thread, so people will understand better where you are coming from?
19:57 Devastator You can also loot it, sell it, and then have a fresh copy for yourself after the next turn, which is something I didn't want but has been legal.
20:10 Devastator What is the rule in question, as you understand it?
20:15 radio The way I currently understand it is that, upon death of a mage, all the words in his inventory (replenishing gang words and non-replenishing words) become single-use, non replenishing words that can be picked up from the corpse, and used regularly like a single-copy word one gets from territories.
20:22 Devastator Yeah, that's the issue. I'm saying that isn't the case.