Comments by John Lawson

Regarding 'cockles', below.  Note that the link actually provides no
solution to the meaning of 'cockles' in this sense.  Neither does the
Oxford English Dictionary, which has much the same info as the editor's
link.  The upshot is, we don't know what 'cockles' are.
I once read a hypothesis that suggested that expressions that were used
formulaicly, but made no sense (like 'dead as a doornail') were actually
the punchlines of forgotten jokes.  Sounds dopey, but think of how many
punchlines you use as metaphors in colloquial conversation, and how often
you really tell the jokes they go with.

Peter, I've recently been playing Grand Camelot in another venue.  Grand
Camelot is a four-player version of Parker Brothers Camelot game.  (To the
peanut gallery: Yes, I know it's not a chess variant; let me finish.)  

Grand Camelot has two unusual features for a four-player game:
1 - Partners sit side by side.  Translating to this game, Red and Green
would be partners against Yellow and Black.
2 - The turn sequence is a 'figure-8'.  Translated to Chaturanga 4-84, that
would be Red - Yellow - Green - Black (repeat)

This small change works surprisingly well, and I've wondered if it would be
as successful in a 4-player CV like this.  I generally find 4-player
abstract strategy board games annoying, but Grand Camelot is lots of fun
and very exciting.

Also, the comment about the ZRF being double-dummy brought an idea to mind.
 Has there been a CV (e.g. Bridge Chess or Whist Chess) where the players
bid to achieve a certain outcome?  The partner of the 'declarer' sits out,
and the defenders play without communication.  This might be a possible
thing to design.  One could even play a Feeback version with ones
physician, attorney, and accountant.

I fall between Peter and David here.  When I write a comment, I don't
really plan it.  Something in the page, or another comment sets me off, and
I just start writing.  If it leads somewhere not completely germaine to the
page being commented on, so be it.

BUT, the result is that discussions that are potentially interesting or
inspiring get buried attached to pages that effectively conceal them from
later browsers.  (Look at the recent discussion attached to the
'Archoniclastic Chess' page.)

To do the thing properly, comments should be limited to the variant they
are attached to, and any flight of fancy should be moved to the discussion
group.  I think this is against human nature (at least mine) and I would
probably never make 50% of those posts.  Furthermore, the discussion group
posting may be cryptic outside of context of the variant page that inspired
it.

On the other side, the number of people 'misusing' the comment system are
relatively small.  It would be a huge waste of time and resources to build
a parallel discussion system for a handful of 'chatterers'.  Also, the
public discussion board has a better possibility of attracting random
searchers.

Maybe a compromise is possible.  Let me note here that I am no programmer,
and I have no idea how difficult any particular idea would be to implement.
 An idea that seems simple to me might be to allow the writer of an
extended comment to select a small set of keywords ('Ruddigore',
'double-move') which the comment system could also search for.

Better ideas?

Wow!!  

Who said theme doesn't count in abstract games?  I want to play this, but I
think I'm going to be disapointed when the pieces remain silent.  I want to
see a ZRF, but not too soon.  Whoever does it needs to do a good job on the
graphics, not to mention audio, to do the game justice.

'What eldritch noise did I hear?'  Perhaps the screech of the El.

OK, now I'm going to try to clarify ichor:

          Alabaster             Obsidian

          Wounded Fiend moves
Move 1    Ichor deposited       Ichor ply 2
          Ichor ply 1

Move 2    Ichor ply 3           Ichor ply 4

Move 3    Ichor ply 5           Ichor ply 6

Move 4    Ichor ply 7           Ichor ply 8

Move 5    Ichor ply 9           Ichor ply 10
                                Obsidian pieces need not 
                                move off ichorated square

OR

          Alabaster             Obsidian

                                Wounded Fiend moves
Move 1                          Ichor deposited
                                Ichor ply 1

Move 2    Ichor ply 2           Ichor ply 3

Move 3    Ichor ply 4           Ichor ply 5

Move 4    Ichor ply 6           Ichor ply 7

Move 5    Ichor ply 8           Ichor ply 9           

Move 6    Ichor ply 10
          Alabaster pieces need not 
          move off ichorated square


Does this look right?

Regarding notation, I had developed a scheme to use when playing via email.
 I have pasted the essence of it below.  I like the way Moussambani records
moves, but check out my scheme for tracking ichor on an ASCII diagram.

Nemoroth notation and ASCII diagrams                     ver.1.0


 Mobile piece symbols-
 
 Alabaster
 B - Basilisk
 G - Ghast
 L - Leaf Pile
 A - Go Away
 W - Wounded Fiend
 H - Human
 Z - Zombie
 
 Obsidian
 b - Basilisk
 g - Ghast
 l - Leaf Pile
 a - Go Away
 w - Wounded Fiend
 h - Human
 z - Zombie


 Immobile piece symbols-

 M - Mummy

 Alabaster
 pB - Petrified Basilisk
 pG - Petrified Ghast
 pL - Petrified Leaf Pile
 pA - Petrified Go Away
 pW - Petrified Wounded Fiend
 pH - Petrified Human
 
 Obsidian
 pb - Petrified Basilisk
 pg - Petrified Ghast
 pl - Petrified Leaf Pile
 pa - Petrified Go Away
 pw - Petrified Wounded Fiend
 ph - Petrified Human


 Square types-

 Empty squares - empty squares, no special notation needed 
 Ghastly squares - determined relative to Ghast, no special notation
needed
 Basilisk squares - determined relative to Basilisk, no special notation
needed
 Multiple occupancy squares - occupants are listed on the first two lines
of square.  There is room for six in each square of the diagram.
 Ichorous squares -  are denoted by an 'I' in the lower left corner,
followed by the number of plies remaining until ichor evaporates. In play,
when a Wounded Fiend moves, the player moving puts 'I 10' in the
appropriate squares.  Each turn, the player on move decrements the numBer
by 1 until it reaches 0 and the ichor has evaporated.
 
 Example -

   +------+
   | M wpb|
   |pH    |
   | I  6 |
   +------+
 This square contains:
  Mummy
  Obsidian Wounded Fiend
  Petrified Obsidian Basilisk
  Petrified Alabaster Human
  Ichor that will evaporate in six plies (three turns)


 Notating moves -

 This is done the normal way, except indicate petrification by Basilisk,
engulfment by Leaf Pile, or destruction by Zombie like captures.  When a Go
Away pushes pieces, just list the moves as if the pieces had moved
voluntarily.  Also indicate any petrification, engulfment, or destruction
as a result of the push.