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[qwertyuiopas]

(I already have a few games going that I can't just let die yet, so I really shouldn't be starting another...)

Hello, and thanks for coming. I assume you recieved the solid platinum tablet inscribed with an invitation? Regardless, I greatly appreciate your coming. Please sit down at the table, you can have your haulers deposit your rule collection in a quantum pile down the hall.

After the disturbing discovery of tacticus by the common masses just a few scant years ago, the number of rulebooks has undergon a catsplosion of growth! And most of them are't worth the inferior stone they are engraved upon! Since it has been so long since I have had a decent game without someone pulling out one of the thousands of variations on "Longcat kills everything!!11!" (ugh), I have invited you here for a real game.

Since the quality of rulesets ranges so much, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to have a good game is to limit the rules that can be brought in.

Thus, to add a rulebook from your collection, it will first have to be accepted by at least half of the other players, and you will have to describe the whole rule, not just state what it enables you to do. If you can't find a rulebook with an appropriate rule, we could create a temporary one, if anyone had a half-decent idea for a new ruleset. However, no meta-rules. Those have ruined countless games, and evan having a vote will not keep them out entirely.

Code: [Select]

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We shall start with a standard 8x12 room of smoothed granite, and four gold pillars.

Also, it would be nice if you could explicitly state colourations, as I will be painting the bord occasionally, and you wouldn't want an ugly white gap where your pieces could be.

[Jetsquirrel]

*sits down*
what do i do?

[Virex]

My dear sir, as you may perhaps know, colouring our swifthand versions of the board, which is required as per the 1956 ammendum to "Boards and Beards, Tacticus as a competetive and leasurly activity", is possible by applyin the so called "tt" tags, in favour of the "code" tags and colourising the squares using the apropriate "color" tag. Note that this has to be misspelled on purpose for it to have any effect beyond defacing our beautifull game board.


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With that said, I must say I am delighted to be able to participate in this game. But allas, as described in "On transmutation, transmongrifation and disembodiment, volume III-a", any pilar made of gold is liable to turn into lead upon the slightest touch of an Carbelyd. As Carbelyds are key figures in the now famous "seven room gambit", they will undoubtly be played and, as a result of their untrustworthy nature, they will in fact deface our pillars. To counteract this, and at the same time, provide an initiative for my fellow players to play 1997 world-championships version of the "double-bridged bypass", I place a Rhodium guardian next to each pilar. Rhodium, as anyone who has studied "Metals and Melts, a basic guide to protective plating usage in tacitus tournaments from 1827 to 1943" surely remembers, has excelent protective properties against Carbelyds and all related creatures such as Anemyds and Nuphenits. As such they were pivotal to the "Golden Twin defense" which won Sir Isaac Rutham the 1912 European championships. Also, Rhodium guardians are appealing to look at and as such provide protection against pseudomedusaec creatures such as the lidrogoron, another piece commonly used in the "seven room gambit".
As these Rhodium guardians are coloured as their outer metal shell, they are silvery grey.


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[qwertyuiopas]

Excellent!

Although, it is probably best to leave the colours out of the map while using [code] tags, it is important to at least declare the colouration of new map additions. And remember, the palette is a full 256 colour pairs, and with the font I am using, only black on black is invisible.

[100killer9]

I shall be delighted to participate, or possibly not. It depends on what you would say should I ask what, indeed, Tacticus IS.
And so I ask: What is Tacticus?

[Cheddarius]

Tacticus is Calvinball in a board game. You make a game, and then every turn whoever wants to play makes up a rulebook to reference and basically does whatever schle wants. Like this.

[qwertyuiopas]

A board game with literally countless rulebooks, played by the dwarves of class.
There are so many diffrent rulebooks that almost anything is a rule.
Players generally bring their own copies, and add them to the game as needed, though often merely refrence the rule in question.

It is often unknown if they even have a copy of the book, if they merely refrence a rule.

(Basically, a game where you make up rules and pretend to cite them. No real turn order.
This one is diffrent, however, that I have requested that overpowered rules are denied by public vote, to prevent the spiral out of control following an escalation of arms.)

If I draw it, it is canon, otherwise it can be voted down.

(More history: Tarn/Toady One mentioned TACTICUS, likely in a powergoal name, and since no description was given, players instantly wanted to play. So they made up rules as they played, with plenty of nonsense. It was compounded by an imitation of upper class mannerisms. All that from memory, so likely wrong)

[Criptfeind]

My dear chaps and chapses, I shall join this startlingly regimented game with a first move from the Book Of Metal Automatons Volume: XXVIIIC. How To Build, Maintain, And, Use. The section on side effects and curricular logic.This allows me to put a second level alchemist in any map that has three or more Carbelyd summoned on the same turn. As you must know he may specialize in acid. So I shall have him put on his Green robe.


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He must unfortunately try to build a alchemist workshop on the first turn, but with no materials to do so he is quite useless for this turn.

[qwertyuiopas]

Spoiler: contiuing history: The true root of tacticus (click to show/hide)

I HAVE DONE IT!
I have found what appears to be the origin of tacticus!

Yeah, adding little games and pieces would be fun.  This is covered by the two "Tacticus" power goals -- that's our made up board game for power goals.  The hope is to have random rule sets and game items -- we can start with fixed examples and allow it to randomize them to the extent that it remains fun and workable.  The AI for computer players will be horrible for most of the permutations, but it should be able to look ahead a bit and do some evaluations for any game.  If it's doing more than moving randomly, that'll be enough for a while.

Starting from there, it appears to have then branched into
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=572.0

And if you want anything else, go search it yourself. Set the minimum age to over 700, Probably 800 or so.

And that's just to get the ancient roots.

Tacticus has a whole history behind it that no sane mortal could accuire without having lived through it.

Also, remember, that "fair" rules are encouraged.
And you should at least try to write it out somewhat. Don't just say "such and such allows me to create this unit in the event of this conveniently specific and accurate situation"
The general goal of this game is leaning somewhat towards a Nomic, but without the meta-rules governing rule changing. So be verbose in your rule citations, wherever possible!
The goal is NOT to "win" but to have a fun, fair, game!

[Cheddarius]

Referencing the ancient text Horrors of War: Deadliest Biological Weapons of All Time by Hun Tzu, A.K.A. "Hot Soup", I can create a Kitten Factory on the lower left corner. Being that that is blocked, chapter 3, "Deployment", page 84, clearly states that I must move the factory to the right or upwards, whichever one being my choice, until it is placeable. As you all must know, kitten factories produce kittens inside the space in the factory whenever it is clear, and the space next to the door must not be blocked (chapter 1, "Rules"). Chapter 1 further states that when the door is opened, a kitten will move out two spaces, and there will be an opportunity to close the door the following turn. A kitten must not block the doorway; if it would block the doorway by moving out, it will be too frightened to do so. In addition, any player may open or close the door, but only once per turn. Chapter 4, "Engagement", page 103, briefly goes over the fact that kittens grow into cats after two turns of existence.
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On the subject of cats: The same text, Horrors of War: Deadliest Biological Weapons of All Time, chapter 5, "Biological Weapon Physiology", states that cats are composed of 1 flesh and 1 bone, and that each turn, a fully-grown cat will produce 1 more cat in a random available orthogonal direction. Another book, The Beginning Architect, chapter 3, "Workshops", details plans for a butcher's workshop. It states that any dwarven unit can build a workshop in one turn, and that the workshop, when operated by an adjacent dwarf, will turn up to 5 cats (among other things, for example 1 cow) into their constituent parts. The text Dwarf Fortress For Nobles (an excellent and useful read; I recommend it) states that 1 dwarf can hold an infinite stack of meat/bones/etc., and requires 10 meat to increase its level. It also explains the details and operations of crossbows and bones, which I shan't repeat here, or at least not until it becomes relevant.

[Criptfeind]

And you should at least try to write it out somewhat. Don't just say "such and such allows me to create this unit in the event of this conveniently specific and accurate situation"

Ah quite quite. That particular verboseness was missed by Yours Truly. The unified rules for alchemists state that a Acid alchemist can make acid of his level or lower wherever he has a workshop although he losses the other ability's of alchemists because of his over-specialization. Furthermore he can make alchemists workshops and if need be use alchemist acid. Most Acid alchemists start with 2-5 acid ville but as he came because the making of a automaton he does not. He also can do Unskilled moves such as walking or building simple constructions, basically any Unit move that takes no skills or ability.

Does that fulfill your requirements for explaining the full rules of moves?

[Cheddarius]

I've changed my post to reflect more detailed rules.
Also, I suggest that people post general texts, not things like "Bob's Handy-Dandy Guide To Partying", and refer to those texts again and again. It makes it more... immersive, I guess.

[Asmodeous]

A most. . . fascinating little game you have here. Upon a bit of research I stumbled across Ancient Magics and Tacticus Implicatives, and discovered that Alchemists are allergic to cats of all varieties, and therefore they will use their spells to annhilliate them upon any direct contact. To test this theory, on my turn I will open the door, which the Alchemist in the center of the board can clearly see, and as you can see. . .

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The cat has been turned into a strange... gooey mass.

(Edit: Woops, misplaced the cat-goo. Carry on.)

[ein]

I was once good friends with a fellow. His name was Sir Marcus von Baron. He wrote a book titled TACTICUS: An Autobiographical Love Story. This book contained a number of supplemental rules he encountered throughout his journeys and some he created himself. These rules are tied and written together as a story filled with romance and mystery and murder. He gave me the original manuscript. Unfortunately, on the way to the publisher, his train was horribly derailed and collided head on with a whale. His nephew General von Baron published the book five years after his death.

Anyway, this brings me to the rule I am about to discuss. In the book, there is a part where the protagonist's love interest is adopted by a cat. The protagonist, knowing the horrors of cats, hires a thief to hire a robber to kill the cat. The robber breaks into the house and is about to kill the cat when he is hit on the head with a candelabra and killed. The thief, not wanting to waste his money, goes to finish the job himself. He is also caught and killed in the same manner.

Now, these being trained professionals, you would think that they would have noticed somebody sneaking up on them. Because they didn't it is assumed that the cat-killer-killer was a phantom and not the love interest.
The rule that is associated with this story is as stated below:
 • Any attempt to directly end a cat/kitten's life will lead in the loss of life for the other party.
 • Magic users, and by extension alchemists, have a fifty percent chance of resisting this.
 • The cat-killer-killer will not attack those who indirectly attempt to end a cat/kitten's life, such as bridge-a-pults, starvation, and summoned entities without life.
 • Any non-living entity, such as undead and constructs are immune due to their inability to be killed, which comes in direct conflict with the cat-killer-killer's name.
 • The cat-killer-killer is a non-physical entity appearing only when necessary, therefore, the cat-killer-killer will not be placed on the map and can only be removed through magical means.

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Effects in Play:
 • Cat-Killer-Killer

TACTICUS: An Autobiographical Love Story is a great book. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the game and love stories. I ifnd myself frequently picking it up on a cold winter's night and reading it by the fireplace with a nice cup of tea.

[RAM]

Jolly good of you to save a seat for me, for now I shall only add the Necromorticide book to my hammerspace. Which clearly states that when introduced it allows its owner to place their Necromancer creature and a grave on opposing corners of the field and grants the ability to collect and maintain death points. I currently only anticipate using the 'Mwahahaa' and 'Bzzt' rules from the chapter '101 Uses for Death' and the following from 'Corpsemas':
 Animate Skeleton, Walking Corpse, Call Spirit, and Assemble Necrolem.
 I will also mention the 'MWAHAHAHAHAAA-gack-MWAHAHAHAHAAA' rule in case it comes up.

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Effects in Play:
 • Cat-Killer-Killer
 • RAM: 0 Death Points