(TFT) Law

["Jay Carlisle" <Jay_Carlisle@charter.net>]

Immutable Rules
Royal Laws

101. All players must always abide by all the rules then in effect, in the 
form in which they are then in effect. The rules in the Initial Set are in 
effect whenever a game begins. The Initial Set consists of Rules 101-116 
(immutable) and 201-213 (mutable).

All persons residing in the environs of exampletown shall abide by all laws, 
both Royal and the laws of exampletown.

102. Initially rules in the 100's are immutable and rules in the 200's are 
mutable. Rules subsequently enacted or transmuted (that is, changed from 
immutable to mutable or vice versa) may be immutable or mutable regardless 
of their numbers, and rules in the Initial Set may be transmuted regardless 
of their numbers.

Royal law shall take precedent over any law enacted by exampletown and no 
law enacted by exampletown may amended or repeal Royal law.

103. A rule-change is any of the following: (1) the enactment, repeal, or 
amendment of a mutable rule; (2) the enactment, repeal, or amendment of an 
amendment of a mutable rule; or (3) the transmutation of an immutable rule 
into a mutable rule or vice versa.

Any law may be amended or repealed at the pleasure of the King.

104. All rule-changes proposed in the proper way shall be voted on. They 
will be adopted if and only if they receive the required number of votes.

All petitions properly submitted by the council of Exampletown shall be duly 
considered by the King and his council.

105. Every player is an eligible voter. Every eligible voter must 
participate in every vote on rule-changes.

Exampletown shall send one representative to the Kings yearly council as 
well as any special councils that may be called.

106. All proposed rule-changes shall be written down before they are voted 
on. If they are adopted, they shall guide play in the form in which they 
were voted on.

Any newly enacted, amended, or repealed Royal law shall be delivered in 
writing and sealed with the Kings signet to the council of Exampletown.

107. No rule-change may take effect earlier than the moment of the 
completion of the vote that adopted it, even if its wording explicitly 
states otherwise. No rule-change may have retroactive application.

Any newly enacted, amended, or repealed Royal law shall be announced 
publicly by town crier.

108. Each proposed rule-change shall be given a number for reference. The 
numbers shall begin with 301, and each rule-change proposed in the proper 
way shall receive the next successive integer, whether or not the proposal 
is adopted.
If a rule is repealed and reenacted, it receives the number of the proposal 
to reenact it. If a rule is amended or transmuted, it receives the number of 
the proposal to amend or transmute it. If an amendment is amended or 
repealed, the entire rule of which it is a part receives the number of the 
proposal to amend or repeal the amendment.

All Royal laws shall be recorded in the Kings Book of Law.

109. Rule-changes that transmute immutable rules into mutable rules may be 
adopted if and only if the vote is unanimous among the eligible voters. 
Transmutation shall not be implied, but must be stated explicitly in a 
proposal to take effect.

(This is likely an amendment that would be pursued by Exampletown as they 
grow and become more powerful)

110. In a conflict between a mutable and an immutable rule, the immutable 
rule takes precedence and the mutable rule shall be entirely void. For the 
purposes of this rule a proposal to transmute an immutable rule does not 
"conflict" with that immutable rule.

Royal law shall take precedent over any law enacted by exampletown and no 
law enacted by exampletown may amended or repeal Royal law.

111. If a rule-change as proposed is unclear, ambiguous, paradoxical, or 
destructive of play, or if it arguably consists of two or more rule-changes 
compounded or is an amendment that makes no difference, or if it is 
otherwise of questionable value, then the other players may suggest 
amendments or argue against the proposal before the vote. A reasonable time 
must be allowed for this debate. The proponent decides the final form in 
which the proposal is to be voted on and, unless the Judge has been asked to 
do so, also decides the time to end debate and vote.

(Another likely future amendment)

112. The state of affairs that constitutes winning may not be altered from 
achieving n points to any other state of affairs. The magnitude of n and the 
means of earning points may be changed, and rules that establish a winner 
when play cannot continue may be enacted and (while they are mutable) be 
amended or repealed.

Only the King may enact, amend, or repeal a Royal law.

113. A player always has the option to forfeit the game rather than continue 
to play or incur a game penalty. No penalty worse than losing, in the 
judgment of the player to incur it, may be imposed.

The King shall appoint an agent in Exampletown to oversee the Kings 
interests and laws.

114. There must always be at least one mutable rule. The adoption of 
rule-changes must never become completely impermissible.

The King shall protect and defend Exampletown and provide justice through 
his agent.

115. Rule-changes that affect rules needed to allow or apply rule-changes 
are as permissible as other rule-changes. Even rule-changes that amend or 
repeal their own authority are permissible. No rule-change or type of move 
is impermissible solely on account of the self-reference or self-application 
of a rule.

(Amendment type likely to arise with lawyer listed on the Jobs Table)

116. Whatever is not prohibited or regulated by a rule is permitted and 
unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the rules, which is 
permitted only when a rule or set of rules explicitly or implicitly permits 
it.

Whatever is not prohibited or regulated by a Royal law is permitted and 
unregulated excepting by law of Exampletown.

Mutable Rules
Exampletown Laws

201. Players shall alternate in clockwise order, taking one whole turn 
apiece. Turns may not be skipped or passed, and parts of turns may not be 
omitted. All players begin with zero points.

Make up of town counsel.

202. One turn consists of two parts in this order: (1) proposing one 
rule-change and having it voted on, and (2) throwing one die once and adding 
the number of points on its face to one's score.

Statement of parliamentary procedure. (Roberts Rules of Order, etc.)

203. A rule-change is adopted if and only if the vote is unanimous among the 
eligible voters. If this rule is not amended by the end of the second 
complete circuit of turns, it automatically changes to require only a simple 
majority.

Voting procedure.

204. If and when rule-changes can be adopted without unanimity, the players 
who vote against winning proposals shall receive 10 points each.

Counsel member pay and privileges.

205. An adopted rule-change takes full effect at the moment of the 
completion of the vote that adopted it.

Implementation of Exampletown law.

206. When a proposed rule-change is defeated, the player who proposed it 
loses 10 points.

Reasons and procedures for dismissal of Counsel members.

207. Each player always has exactly one vote.

Counsel member powers by possistion.

208. The winner is the first player to achieve 100 (positive) points.

Fees and taxes.

209. At no time may there be more than 25 mutable rules.

Limits of counsel power.

210. Players may not conspire or consult on the making of future 
rule-changes unless they are team-mates.

Collusion, cronyism, etc.

211. If two or more mutable rules conflict with one another, or if two or 
more immutable rules conflict with one another, then the rule with the 
lowest ordinal number takes precedence.

Procedure for recording Exampletown law.

212. If players disagree about the legality of a move or the interpretation 
or application of a rule, then the player preceding the one moving is to be 
the Judge and decide the question. Disagreement for the purposes of this 
rule may be created by the insistence of any player. This process is called 
invoking Judgment.
When Judgment has been invoked, the next player may not begin his or her 
turn without the consent of a majority of the other players.
The Judge's Judgment may be overruled only by a unanimous vote of the other 
players taken before the next turn is begun. If a Judge's Judgment is 
overruled, then the player preceding the Judge in the playing order becomes 
the new Judge for the question, and so on, except that no player is to be 
Judge during his or her own turn or during the turn of a team-mate.
Unless a Judge is overruled, one Judge settles all questions arising from 
the game until the next turn is begun, including questions as to his or her 
own legitimacy and jurisdiction as Judge.
New Judges are not bound by the decisions of old Judges. New Judges may, 
however, settle only those questions on which the players currently disagree 
and that affect the completion of the turn in which Judgment was invoked. 
All decisions by Judges shall be in accordance with all the rules then in 
effect; but when the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the point 
at issue, then the Judge shall consider game-custom and the spirit of the 
game before applying other standards.

Establishment of legal system.

213. If the rules are changed so that further play is impossible, or if the 
legality of a move cannot be determined with finality, or if by the Judge's 
best reasoning, not overruled, a move appears equally legal and illegal, 
then the first player unable to complete a turn is the winner.

Rights of citizens.

As I want to keep this general enough for inclusion in any campaign I had to 
get even more general for Exampletown owing to the many different types of 
power structures possible.
Here are some examples of different charters.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1127stomer.html
http://www.town.winthrop.ma.us/Pages/WinthropMA_Bylaws/towncharter
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/magnacarta.html
http://www.ncl.org/npp/charter/index.html

Two more important points about charters.

All Units operate under a charter; Formal Units with explicit charters and 
Informal Units with implicit charters that describe the Units functions and 
duties.

A Units charter also describes the power, resistance, income, abilities (if 
any), alignments, and control slots for inclusion in power structures.

If Exampletowns town counsel is modeled after Winthrop, MA (6 precinct 
representatives, two at large members and a president) then Id say they 
have no direct power (too small a group), a resistance determined largely by 
the size of its population, and an income based off its tax obligations via 
its charter and would be a card in the power structure of whoever controls 
the town in the above I assume a King.
I currently use 10 as an average rating for power, resistance, and income.

Politicians and lawyer Figures ought to have a little bit to do using this 
method.
Also, theres always local ordinances that could assign very large taxes and 
such on things like found treasure
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