PD - Last Man Standing: Rules

[Draxas]

Original game design of PD - LMS is (C) 2004, owned by Bent 00 (whose real name will not be listed here to protect anonymnity as much as possible), and used with permission. All properties of game mechanics and system not covered by the above copyright are (C) 2004, owned by Draxas. All elements of characters and concepts used within the game that are not solely fabricated by Bent 00 or myself are (C) their respective owners (Rare or Free Radical).

Welcome, participants in PD-LMS! This guide will help you to understand the rules of engagement, as well as the arms and equipment you will be using to ensure your foes are eliminated.

First, to start:

- All players begin their first LMS with 50/50 HP
- At the start of their first LMS, each player is also issued a loaded Falcon 2, plus 80 additional Pistol Rounds
- Finally, all players are given $10 at the start of each round, unless they were victorious in the last LMS. For the monetary reward for winning a round, see below.

And now, how to play:

- Players take it in turn to attack each other with whatever weapon they have equipped. In order to attack, a player posts a message like "*Shoots <target> with a Falcon 2*" or something similar. The victim loses HP equal to the damage value of the weapon used.
- Players reduced to 0 HP or less are eliminated. The dead take no further part in the battle.
- Double posts are strictly prohibited, with only 2 exceptions. Under normal circumstances, after taking an action, you must wait for at least one other player to act before you can act again.
- Exception #1 to the above rule is for non-playing posts. Please head these with "OOC POST" or something similar, so everyone knows it does not influence the game.
- Exception #2 occurs if 24 hours have passed since your last playing post. If this occurs, you may act again.

Actions:

- An action is anything you do (game-related) during a post. Actions are categorized into "fast actions" and "post-ending actions."
- There are several types of post-ending actions, but the most common are: attacking (a player or a Sim), reloading, or unloading a clip from a weapon into your reserves.
- Fast actions include everything else: Shopping, using consumables, switching weapons, etc.
- Post-ending actions do exactly what they say: they end the playing part of your post. Any other actions performed afterward, of either type, will be ignored. Repeated violations of this rule may have to get the Judge involved...

Cash, and its uses:

- Each time you dispatch an opposing player (ie., strike the killing blow), you earn an amount of money based on their maximum HP:
50 HP: $5
to 100 HP: $10
to 150 HP: $15
to 200 HP: $20
etc.
- Cash can be spent on weapons, ammo, and other equipment in the Armory. For Armory specifics, see below.
- Victory in a round of LMS will score the winner $30.

Equipment:

- Only one weapon (except double-ups) can be equipped at a time. By default, your equipped weapon is the last weapon used.
- In addition to a weapon, certain pieces of equipment (ie. Shields) can also be equipped simultaneously.
- Certain weapons can be doubled up. This, for game purposes, will usually just allow two attacks against your chosen target. Certain weapons may have other effects, however...
- Weapons will need to be reloaded once their clip is expended. In order to reload a weapon, you will need the appropriate ammo type. Reloading is a post-ending action, so you are not allowed to attack during a post you reload in. You can elect to reload your weapon before the entire clip is used, in which case it is treated in the same manner as described.
- Players are limited to carrying 6 items in their inventory. This includes all types of items (Consumables, Armor & Shields, Weapons) except ammo. Maximum ammo capacities can be found in the Armory rules.

Status Conditions:

Several conditions have been revealed in the arena so far, and more will be added as they appear. For now:

- Blindness: Blindness normally lasts 5 posts, and will reduce your accuracy with all weapons to 10% while it is in effect. However, it will also negate any other accuracy penalties that are affecting you while it is in effect. If a Blind player is hit with another Blindness inflicting attack, it will have no effect. Has only been known to occur from Mystery Boxes so far.
- Regen: Regeneration will normally last 10 posts, and will heal +2 HP each post for the duration of the effect. This will not allow you to exceed your Max HP. If a player already has the Regen status and has another Regen bestowed upon them, their status will not be affected. Has only been known to occur from Mystery Boxes so far.
- Poison: Poison normally lasts 6 posts, and will reduce your HP by -1 each post for the duration of the effect. If a Poisoned player is hit by another Poison inflicting attack, their Poison counter will be reset to its maximum value. Poison status can be inflicted by attacking with a dataDyne Combat Knife in secondary mode.
- Sedation: Sedation normally lasts 5 posts per level, and can be increased to a maximum of level 3. For each level of Sedation, your accuracy will suffer progressively more. This is as follows:
Level 1: 50% accuracy
Level 2: 20% accuracy
Level 3: 10% accuracy
If a Sedated player is hit by another Sedation inflicting attack, their Sedation Level will increase by 1. If their Level is already at 3, then their duration counter will be reset to maximum. Sedation can be inflicted by many weapons, including Tranquilizers, Crossbows, and N-Bombs.
- Psychosis: Psychosis is a special status that can only be inflicted on Simulants, and only by the Psychosis Gun. Please consult the Psychosis Gun information in the Armory for its effects.

Surprises...:

- On occasion, Simulants may enter the arena. Sims will have stats just like players, and will be armed just like players.
- There are many types of Sims, many like the ones in PD, some not. Each type will attack according to its personality and ruleset. As Sims appear in the arena, their behavior will be added to the Simulant Library.
- Every Simulant has a reward to bestow on the player that strikes the killing blow against it. This will be described when the Sim enters the arena, and could be just about anything...
- Simulants may wind up killing a player, either by attacking or counterattacking them. If this occurs, nobody scores the kill, but the cash reward for killing the player goes to the last human player to attack the victim. If, by some strange circumstance, the victim was never attacked by a human, the money is lost.
- If a player becomes the Last Man Standing (winning the round), all Sims still in the arena will flee.
- A SIM ACTION IS NEVER CONSDIERED A PLAYING POST!
- Another item that may pop up on occasion is a Mystery Box. Mystery Boxes can be opened by any player during a playing post as a fast action.
- Mystery boxes can have any number of effects, good or bad. The effect is determined randomly, and changes every time.
- You can, of course, elect to ignore a Mystery Box. You will only open a Box if you explicitly state that you are doing so.
- Boxes ignored for a long enough time by all players may do unexpected things...

For the next time:

- After a round is complete, player status will be logged for the next round.
- Players can carry over all weapons, ammo, items, and money they have at the end of a round into the next round.
- As a bonus for playing a round of LMS, every player's max HP will increase by 10, whether they win or lose. In addition, all players will be granted a bonus box of ammo for a weapon of their choice that they possess. If a player is completely equipmentless and moneyless, they will be granted a new set of starting equipment at the beginning of the round.
- All players will be healed to full HP at the start of a new round.
- You can shop at the General Armory (no Rare items) between rounds as much as you like. If you would like to do so, post your purchases/sales in the current signup thread.

Miscellaneous other rules:

- VERY IMPORTANT! All players are limited to a maximum of 10 playing posts per day. This is gauged on a midnight to midnight basis, Eastern US time. A counter is present on everyone's status to inform you of how many posts you have left in a given day. Violation of this rule is an extremely serious infraction, and the Judge's wrath will be swift and terrible...
- All attacks must be targeted at a specific player. You may not target "the next poster."
- Doubling up on weapons will not allow you to attack two separate targets. Similarly, you may not attack multiple players, or attack multiple times, in a single post.
- Permanent teams are prohibited. Temporary alliances are fine, but there can be only one Last Man Standing...
- As always, role playing your posts is encouraged. Just be sure to make it clear exactly what you are doing in your post. If you think it might be unclear, just spell it out at the end .
- In order to make sure the game doesn't die, or get really dull, there is an activity time limit. One full week of inactivity in the LMS arena will cause you to be disqualified, and eliminated from the arena. If, for whatever reason, EVERYONE in the arena goes AWOL for a week, the person who posted last will automatically be declared the victor.
- Remember, only actions performed by a living human player will comprise a playing post.
- Violation of the rules will cause the Judge to take action... And he doesn't like that. Judgement will be meted out as he sees fit...

Please note that these rules may be subject to change as situations warrant. If they do, I will post an update here.

Happy hunting!

[Draxas]

Well, I forgot something, so it's already been modified...

[Draxas]

...And again.

You'd think I would remember the rules I thought up...

[Draxas]

Minor rules clarification, about performing actions.

[Draxas]

Wording clarificaions, at Notesurfer's request.

[Draxas]

Added rules for carrying over character status between rounds of LMS.

[Draxas]

Added a rule about maximum inventory capacity.

[Draxas]

Added a couple of additional rules about Simulants, including a failsafe against "suicide by Sim."

[Draxas]

Changed the amount of starting ammo from 40 to 80, due to a distinct lack of ammo to begin. Any current players will receive a bonus box of ammo at the end of this round.

Also added a max HP bonus for taking part in a round. The more rounds you play, the more resilient you can get... I may eliminate this if it becomes too unbalancing.

Altered the "poor status" rules for starting a new round. Players will be boosted in any area they require it... But if this priveledge is abused, it will be revoked.

[Draxas]

Clarified some rules about Sims and events at Ranger's behest.

[Draxas]

Added official rules for the good and bad status conditions which have been popping up more and more lately. From now on, any new conditions will be updated automatically.

[Draxas]

Altered the rules for issuing equipment and cash between rounds:

- When going into the next round, all players will be granted a bonus box of ammo for their equipped weapon, or another weapon of their choice by request. In addition, if a player has less than $10 at the start of a new round, they will have their cash boosted to that amount. If a player is completely equipmentless and moneyless, they will be granted a new set of starting equipment at the beginning of the round.

Alterations to the bad/good status section is forthcoming at the end of LMS 3.

[Draxas]

The bad/good status rules have been modified. Also added a little tidbit about between-round shopping, and only being allowed to gain ammo for weapons you possess between rounds.

[Draxas]

New rules for the new Mission Based Gametype for PD - LMS are as follows. Please READ CAREFULLY, as this will alter the game in many ways.

First and foremost, unless they are specifically altered here, all of the rules in place from previous rounds still apply. This includes, but is not limited to, the double posting and post-per-day limitations.

Now for the specifics:

- Rather than the usual fragfest that we all know and love, there are some significant changes for a "Mission Based" round of LMS. This means that there will be a map, and objectives to complete. The layout and objectives will likely be familiar to those of us who have played Perfect Dark.

- Players will (sort of) work as a team to complete the mission. While there is nothing stopping you from attacking each other, the main objective for this round will be to complete all of the mission objectives.

- Simulants of many varieties will be active in the arena, and attempt to stop you from completing your mission. Sims for a mission based round of LMS will be handled somewhat differently than normal. Sims, rather than having a specific personality, will instead be assigned a rank. This rank will determine their attack frequency and HP, and is as follows:
Meat - 5 HP, 5% attack
Easy - 10 HP, 10% attack
Normal - 20 HP, 25% attack
Hard - 35 HP, 50% attack
Perfect - 40 HP, 75% attack
Dark - 50 HP, 100% attack

- Sim attacks will be handled in a special manner in a mission based LMS. Simulants will no longer automatically counterattack (unless they are armed with a wepon that has that ability). Instead, during each playing post, they have the listed % chance to attack a random player. These attacks will be administratively handled in a different way as well. Instead of the normal method (I post who the sim attacks in my own post), I will be modifying posts where Sims attack to include this, to better achieve a real-time effect.

- Sims will have "Drops" rather than "Rewards" during a mission based LMS. When a Sim is defeated, instead of automatically rewarding a player with their spoils, they will drop one or more items to the ground. These items are "up for grabs" and can be taken by anyone (see below). Please note that this only applies to Sims, and if a player is killed, their attacker is still rewarded automatically.

- Certain special types of Sims will not fall neatly into the rules above. These will be described as they are encountered.

- Two new status effects will be in play for all mission based LMS rounds:

Unaware/Inactive - Unaware indicates that a Simulant is not aware of the team's presence in an area. Inactive indicates that a mechanical enemy is currently shut down, and will not attack. In both cases, this immediately applies an additional "Optional" status to the Sim (see below for the details of this status effect), so players can elect to avoid these Sims if they so choose. However, Unaware Sims are easy targets for opportunistic players. If a player shoots an Unaware Sim with any weapon, the Sim will instantly be defeated. However, unless the weapon used is Silent, this will instantly alert any other Sims in the area, removing their Unaware status (as well as their Optional status) immediately. Also note that activities with noisy weapons may remove this status from Sims in other areas as well. Inactive enemies are not quite as easy to defeat, but will not fight back unless activated. Activation can be performed by another Sim, and will require a certain number of posts based on the device they are attempting to activate. Only Sims will ever have these status effects.

Optional - This denotes that it is not required to defeat a Sim to move into another area. This does not necessarily mean that they will retain this status forever, nor does it necessarily mean that the Sim will not attack.

- Several new post-ending actions are also available:

Move (location) - This denotes that the group is moving to another part of the map. Any player can declare a Move action once all non-optional Sims are defeated. The entire group will move based on a single player's Move action, so be sure to coordinate this well. Note that if a Move action is declared before all non-optional Sims are defeated, the move will not occur, and the player who declared the action will be penalized by becoming the target for all Sim attacks during that post.

Pick up (item) - Picking up an item that is "up for grabs" is a post ending action.

Give (item) to (player) - If, for whatever reason, you want to pass an item to another player, you can use this action.

Trade (youritem) for (theiritem) with (player) - This can be used to set up trades with another player. In order for a trade to be executed, however, both players involved in the trade must post the same trade action in each of their posts.

Take cover (loaction) - In many areas of the map, there will be terrain features that both players and Sims can take cover behind. Each of these will be listed with several attributes: A name, an attribute, a capacity, and a %, like this example:
A low wall (thin) - 50%, Capacity = 3
This means that there is a low wall to seek cover behind. Thin is a special attribute, detailed below. Capacity = 3 means that a maximum of 3 players or Sims can take cover behind the object. 50% denotes that the cover will have a 50% chance to block enemy fire. Note that if 2 opponents are behind the same piece of cover, it will provide no benefit to either.

- The various attribtes for cover are as follows:
Thin - Thin cover will provide no defense against Piercing or Explosive weapons.
Destroyable (X HP) - Destroyable cover can only take a certain amount of damage before it is reduced to nothingness, with X (from the X HP) being the amount of damage it can take. If destroyed, it no longer provides any benefit. If it is destroyed, and damage would overflow the capacity of its HP, then the additional damage is lost. Also note, that this type of cover can be specifically targetted, with the intent to destroy it, at 100% accuracy.
Explosive (X HP, Y Damage) - Explosive cover is identical to Destroyable cover, with one notable exception: If the HP value of the cover is exceeded, then it explodes, inflicting Y damage to anyone taking cover behind it.

- During a mission based round of LMS, the Armory will be closed, except for specific intermissions from the action. Purchases must be made either before the round begins, or during these intermissions.

- Also note that certain items will be available that do not have practical functions during a regular round of LMS. These will be described as they are encountered, and are often required to complete mission objectives. If players possess any of these at the end of the mission based round, they are automatically redeemed for $10 each. Also, if a player dies with any of these in their possession, they are automatically dropped from that player's inventory, and become "up for grabs."

- Completing a mission objective will immediately reward a player with $10. If a player performs an action that causes them to fail a mission objective, a penalty will be assessed, depending on the objective, and may involve money, HP, equipment, etc.

- Completing a mission based round of LMS will grant a total reward of $100. This will then be evenly split among all of the victors.

- At times, NPCs may join the player's team during a mission based LMS. Often, these NPCs must be protected for a mission objective. Other Sims will be able to attack NPCs as if they were players. Players can shout orders to an NPC during a post (which is a fast action, and will not end a post), but whether or not these orders are followed depends on the NPC.

I think this covers everything. If not, I will continue to post additional alerts as they are necessary.

[Draxas]

Officially added rules for the 10 post per day limit and the increasing rewards.