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Permission to Visit by Ron Newcomb
Section: Compass Hiatus
The craft of writing holds that if a journey doesn't advance the plot or deepen relationships, the journey should be skipped with a sentence or two. This extension defines the verbs VISIT, ATTEND, GO TO, and FIND in accordance with this writing advice by plucking the character from one location and setting him in another, bypassing the need for cardinal directions. The author may also free herself and her players from geographical concerns altogether by simply not connecting locations together with cardinal directions, and concentrate her efforts on story concerns.
The author can still provide guidance to the player by asserting certain regions of the work as off-limits. Each region has a "gatekeeper", which is either a character whose explicit permission (or temporary invitation) is required, or, is an item the player must be carrying, to enter the region. Individual rooms may be declared "public" so that they may always be entered by the player. For example, outside the entrance to a secure building would typically be public.
Whether a room is public or not may be changed by the author during the game. Changing the gatekeepers is also done directly. (A region is public when its gatekeeper is "nothing".) Invitations and permissions however are changed via the actions PERMIT, FORBID, and INVITE. Invitations are temporary, expiring when the invitee leaves the region. Permitting a character grants a permanent invitation, or at least until the gatekeeper forbids the character.
now the gatekeeper of Dune is Leto Atreides;
now the courtyard entrance is public;
try Leto forbidding the Harkonnens from Dune;
try Leto permitting Paul Atreides to Dune;
try the Fremen inviting Duncan Idaho to the desert.
These Actions work equally well with PCs and NPCs. PCs can themselves become -- and cease to be -- gatekeepers. For example, if we would allow our player to claim regions as his own:
Claiming is an action applying to one visible object.
Carry out claiming: now the gatekeeper of the noun is the actor.
Report claiming: say "You claim [the noun] for Spain!"
Modifying our player's inventory to list these many new resources is almost certainly in order. We'll need a new rule for each.
if the number of player-owned regions is not 0, say "You own [list of player-owned regions].";
otherwise say "You don't own any real estate. Even your apartment is rented."
First carry out taking inventory:
repeat through the table of Invitations begin;
say "[The invitor entry] [if the temporary entry is true]invites[otherwise]permits[end if] [invitee entry][if there is a place entry] to [place entry][otherwise] anywhere[end if].";
end repeat.
A testing command, "list invitations", is provided. It will list all permissions and invitations currently held by anyone, anywhere.
Compass directions are still supported, of course. Permissions are checked when moving thus.
Section: Miscellany
Visit, Attend, Find, and Go To are all functionally synonymous with one another: each command moves the character to the location of the desired person, place, thing, or event, provided the gatekeeper allows it of course. The verbs can be used interchangably with all noun types as an allowance to the player, but in the case of disambiguations, each has specific preferences: Visit prefers persons, then rooms, and finally things; Find prefers things, then persons, then rooms; and Attend & Go prefer rooms, then people, and finally things. This is an important point because any rules the author's game affects will affect all of these verbs equally. Such consistancy is usually a good thing, if at first unexpected.
Modifying the default behavior for hybrid works is relatively painless. For example, if we are writing an exploratory game and do not wish the player to skip rooms:
Similarly, if we wish to warn the player when his invitation is about to expire:
if the actor invitation to the room travelled from will expire by going to the room travelled to begin;
say "Your invitation will expire. Are you sure? ";
unless the player consents, do nothing instead;
end if.
If we would like to hide unknown people and items, using extension Epistemology by Eric Eve:
Check finding (this is the Don't Jump To Unknown Items rule): if the noun is unknown, say "You don't know where [the noun] is." instead.
If we would like to introduce concepts of last known locations, hard to find people, and things misplaced by other characters, here's a start:
This is the Last Known Location rule:
try actor travelling to the last known location of the noun.
The Last Known Location rule is listed instead of the Visit Uses Travel-To rule in the carry out visiting rules.
The Last Known Location rule is listed instead of the Find Uses Travel-To rule in the carry out finding rules.
We can ask at any time if a person "can visit" a region, room, thing, person, or even a direction.
if Uncle Ernie can visit Aunt Bertha,
if the player can visit the skeleton key,
if the actor can visit the town square,
if the player can visit north, say "You can go north from here."
Example: ** Testing Area - A touching story about a lone cattle prod.
Include Permission to Visit by Ron Newcomb. Use no scoring.
Section 1 - as the story opens
Area 51 is a region.
Roswell is a region.
HQ is a region.
The RV is a region.
Silo 1 and a shady spot are rooms.
Silo 5 is a room in Area 51.
The general store is a room in Roswell. "Everyone in Roswell stops by this filled-to-bursting little store. It's amazing anyone can find anything."
The office full of answers is a room in HQ. "Ah! Yes! It's all here! Aliens are involved!".
your RV is a room in the RV. "Looking out the window of your RV, you can see the town of Roswell and, in the distance, a couple of grain silos. [if office is visited]'Oh bother, where's that keycard? I need it as proof!'[otherwise]'How odd, to have grain silos in the desert,' you ponder.[end if]". Understand "home" as your RV.
Mayor 'Shorty' Grein Mannie is a man in shady spot. The gatekeeper of Roswell is Mayor Mannie.
The keycard is a thing in the store. The gatekeeper of HQ is the keycard.
The player is in your RV. The gatekeeper of the RV is yourself.
A dalmatian named Spot is an animal in silo 1. Understand "dog" as the dalmatian.
A targeting spot missile is a thing in silo 5. It is not portable.
The printed name of shady spot is "shady spot behind silo 1".
Shady spot is north of Silo 1. The general store is north of shady spot.
Definition: a thing is inanimate if it is not a person.
Definition: a region is player-owned rather than other-owned if the player is the gatekeeper of it.
First carry out taking inventory:
if the number of player-owned regions is not 0, say "You own [the list of player-owned regions].";
otherwise say "You don't own any real estate. Even your apartment is rented."
When play begins: now the left hand status line is "[the location of the player], within [the map region of the location of the player]"; say "You arrive in Roswell NV just as your TV blares the news, 'Roswell is now under martial law, as declared by its brand-new ruler, Mayor 'Shorty' Grein Mannie. Checkpoints are setup around the town's entry points, and no one without explicit permission is allowed in.'[line break][line break]You're sure it's just a suggestion, though.[line break][line break]You must get into the main offices of Area 51 to find out what's really going on.".
The agenda is a thing in your RV. The description of it is "People to visit: [a list of people which is not the player].[line break]Things to find: [a list of every inanimate thing not carried by the player].[line break]Places to travel: [a list of every unvisited room].[line break]Regions to explore: [a list of every region]."
Section 2 - a strange device
The bizarre cattle prod is a thing in Silo 1. The description of the bizarre cattle prod is "There's a disclaimer sticker on it that reads, 'Warning: do not [bold type]touch[roman type] yourself with the mind-control prod.'".
Understand "zap [someone]" as touching.
Persuasion for asking the dalmatian to try doing something when we have touched the dalmatian: rule succeeds.
Persuasion for asking the mayor to try doing something when we have touched the mayor: rule succeeds.
Instead of touching:
if the noun is the dalmatian, say "You pet Spot, but it doesn't win him over.";
if the noun is the mayor, say "You shake hands with the mayor, but it doesn't win him over.";
Section 3 - a likely ordering of events
Instead of touching someone when the prod is carried, say "[The noun] goes kinda glassy-eyed[if the noun is the mayor] and says, 'Yes, my leader. You may [bold type]take[roman type] Roswell, or any other region you desire'[end if]."
Understand "take [any region]" as taking ownership when the player carries the cattle prod. Taking ownership is an action applying to one visible thing. Check an actor taking ownership HQ: say "Hm. A keycard-locked door keeps you out, and the mind-control prod doesn't seem to be much help with inanimate objects." instead. Check an actor taking ownership: if the actor is the gatekeeper of the noun, say "[Actor] already owns that." instead. Carry out an actor taking ownership: now the gatekeeper of the noun is the actor; say "[Actor] now owns [the noun].".
Carry out travelling to when the location is the office: say "In your haste to leave, you accidentally drop the keycard!"; try silently dropping keycard.
Instead of travelling to the office when the keycard is in the office: say "Curses! It's in the office! You've locked yourself out! What an unwinnable state of affairs!"
Instead of touching yourself when the prod is carried: end the story saying "You go kinda glassy-eyed until a unnerved cop, three days later, orders you to drop the weapon."
Test all with "test spot/go home/test me".
Test spot with "go home/visit spot/go home/go to spot/go home/find spot".
Test me with "take agenda/x agenda/go office/go store/visit silo 1/x prod/take prod/touch the dog/n/touch the mayor/take roswell/i/x agenda/take area 51/go to office/take hq/find keycard/take keycard/go to office/i/find RV/find keycard/x agenda/touch me".
Example: * Lax Security - Forget the keycards. Just ask a coworker to let you in.
Include Permission to Visit by Ron Newcomb.
section 1 - people and places
HR, sales, purchasing, R&D, and the basement are regions. After printing the name of a room, say ", a part of [the map region of the item described]".
H wing is a room in HR.
R wing is a room in R&D. The gatekeeper of R&D is Charlie.
P wing is a room in Purchasing. The gatekeeper of Purchasing is Bob.
S wing is a room in Sales. The gatekeeper of Sales is Bob.
The stairwell is a room in the basement. The gatekeeper of the basement is the wrench.
The break room is a room. "North is HR in H wing, managed by no one. [line break]East is R&D in R wing, managed by Charlie. [line break]South is Sales in S wing, managed by Bob. [line break]West is Purchasing in P wing, managed by Bob. [line break]Southwest is the stairwell with the broken door."
H wing is north of break room. "The break room is south of here.".
R wing is east of break room. "The break room is west of here.".
P wing is west of break room. "The break room is east of here.".
S wing is south of break room. "The break room is north of here.".
The stairwell is southwest of break room. "The breakroom is northeast.".
The player is in H wing. Bob, Charlie, and Stan are men in H wing. The wrench is in H wing. Persuasion rule: persuasion succeeds. The soft hiatus rule is not listed in any rulebook.
section 2 - expand our notions of Inventory
First carry out taking inventory:
repeat through the table of Invitations begin;
if the temporary entry is false, say "[The invitor entry] has granted [invitee entry] permission to visit [if there is a place entry][place entry][otherwise][regions owned by invitor entry]and anywhere else he holds authority[end if].";
otherwise say "[The invitor entry] has invited [invitee entry] to [if there is a place entry][place entry][otherwise][regions owned by invitor entry]anywhere you'd like to see[end if].";
end repeat.
section 3 - handy stuff
To say regions owned by (character - a person):
repeat with R running through regions begin;
if the gatekeeper of R is the character, say "[R], ";
end repeat.
Test me with "TEST denied/TEST expired-invite/TEST permit/TEST forbid/TEST fixit".
Test denied with "stan, invite me / stan, invite me to sales".
Test expired-invite with "i/bob, invite me to sales/visit p/i/visit s/i/visit h/i".
Test permit with "i/bob, permit me/i/visit p/visit s/i/visit r".
Test forbid with "i/visit bob/bob, forbid me/i/visit p/visit s/i".
Test fixit with "go to break room/sw/find wrench/take wrench/go to break room/sw".