Prompt: Fantasy Book Title
Welcome to BlogNomic, a self-modifying game where changing the rules is a move. Players make blog posts proposing alterations to the ruleset, discussing and casting votes in the comments: if enough vote in favour, the rules are changed and play continues.
The game has been running since 2003 and resets every month or so. Have a look around the wiki for more information and history, or join our Discord. New players are always welcome to join the game at any time.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Friday, July 11, 2025
Proposal: [Building Blocks] Mentee-Mentor Mentorship
In “No Private Communications”; amend “A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but should keep their conversations away from discussing specific gameplay strategy. This rule’s restrictions on communication do not apply during an Interregnum. The restrictions in this rule on communication in non-blognomic-related media shall not be construed as to cause those media to be gamestate. ” into
A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but the mentor and the mentee should not pursue strategies that is based on the private information of the other party.
The restrictions on communication due to the Rule No Private Communication do not apply during an Interregnum.
this should be the final form.
in essence; i don’t believe that it is a good idea that mentors are blocked from talking about nomic strategies when NPC is active; especially when the whole idea of mentorships is to guide new players into nomic. does that create situations where the mentor may know some secret identities of the mentee; or can conspire something in the dark? yes; but when the whole rule is based on good sportsmanship (in the sense that if i were to really conspire and then later say ‘nuh-uh’; there’s not really much that is stopping me apart from the sense of being a good player w/in the community) i think it is better to give the leeway when there is a new player involved.
and; i’m really confused by the second part of this; until i read the proposal back then.
edit 1: reinstated the Interregnum loophole; i was parsing it as the limits of this applies only to mentor-mentee communicaion. i still don’t see the merit of arbitrarily construing the ruleset’s scope to be infinite (hypothetically; if there is a rule “Chiiika must work for 24 hours”; there is zero chance i work 24 hours.)
edit 2: removed references to a unnamed subrule.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Endgame Orphan Variable?
I feel like Endgame Wordsmiths is an orphan variable. There’s no mention of where it’s tracked. The only two references to it say “the Endgame Wordsmiths list”.
I’d propose a fix but I don’t have available Proposal slots.
Proposal: [Building Blocks] Putting the Mentor in the Mentorship
quick revise withdrawn by Chiiika.
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 08:59:42 UTC
In “No Private Communications”; amend “A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but should keep their conversations away from discussing specific gameplay strategy. This rule’s restrictions on communication do not apply during an Interregnum. The restrictions in this rule on communication in non-blognomic-related media shall not be construed as to cause those media to be gamestate. ” into
A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but the mentor and the mentee should not pursue strategies that is based on the private information of the other party.
In “No Private Communications”, add a new subrule with the following text:
This rule’s restrictions on communication do not apply during an Interregnum, even if this rule is active.
i want to experiment with this form of the proposal first; open to amending later on.
in essence; i don’t believe that it is a good idea that mentors are blocked from talking about nomic strategies when NPC is active; especially when the whole idea of mentorships is to guide new players into nomic. does that create situations where the mentor may know some secret identities of the mentee; or can conspire something in the dark? yes; but when the whole rule is based on good sportsmanship (in the sense that if i were to really conspire and then later say ‘nuh-uh’; there’s not really much that is stopping me apart from the sense of being a good player w/in the community) i think it is better to give the leeway when there is a new player involved.
and; i’m really confused by the second part of this; until i read the proposal back then.
edit 1: reinstated the Interregnum loophole; i was parsing it as the limits of this applies only to mentor-mentee communicaion. i still don’t see the merit of arbitrarily construing the ruleset’s scope to be infinite (hypothetically; if there is a rule “Chiiika must work for 24 hours”; there is zero chance i work 24 hours.)
Proposal: [Building Blocks] Releasing the Tapes
In the rule “No Private Communication”, replace the text “disclosing what information was discussed” with “containing a full transcript of the discussion”.
As Josh said, let’s not dance around the requirement. Either it’s the full text or it can be a generic summation.
Proposal: [Building Blocks] Putting the Mentee in the Mentorship
quick revise withdrawn by chiiika.
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 17:54:56 UTC
In “No Private Communications”; amend “A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but should keep their conversations away from discussing specific gameplay strategy. This rule’s restrictions on communication do not apply during an Interregnum. The restrictions in this rule on communication in non-blognomic-related media shall not be construed as to cause those media to be gamestate. ” into
A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but the mentor and the mentee should not pursue strategies that is based on the private information of the other party.
i want to experiment with this form of the proposal first; open to amending later on.
in essence; i don’t believe that it is a good idea that mentors are blocked from talking about nomic strategies when NPC is active; especially when the whole idea of mentorships is to guide new players into nomic. does that create situations where the mentor may know some secret identities of the mentee; or can conspire something in the dark? yes; but when the whole rule is based on good sportsmanship (in the sense that if i were to really conspire and then later say ‘nuh-uh’; there’s not really much that is stopping me apart from the sense of being a good player w/in the community) i think it is better to give the leeway when there is a new player involved.
and; i’m really confused by the second part of this; until i read the proposal back then.
Proposal: [Building Blocks] Plotting In The Backrooms
Withdrawn. Failed by Kevan.
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 08:17:12 UTC
In the rule “No Private Communication”, after the text “the Wordsmiths who were part of the conversation should make a post to the blog disclosing what information was discussed at their earliest convenience”, add the following text:
, including the details of what was discussed about dynastic gameplay or votable matters that affect the dynastic ruleset or gamestate
Please don’t take anything by the title. It’s just for fun. However, it seems to be important to clarify the level of detail required to be revealed.
No Private Communications disclosure
During a mentoring conversation with aria yesterday I inadvertently tripped over into a violation of the following prohibition in the rule No Private Communications:
A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but should keep their conversations away from discussing specific gameplay strategy.
In the conversation, aria asked me why I had voted as I had on Proposal: Remove Rewards for Better Merit and I outlined the gameplay considerations that went into determining my vote.
I believe that this compliantly meets the threshold of ‘disclosing what information was discussed’.
Call for Judgment: Pondering Core
failed 0-6 with 1 def resolving to neg; my bad - Chiiika.
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 17:37:03 UTC
Uphold Chiiika’s enactment of Reform of Recuperative Break Management at 10 Jul 2025 04:23:40 UTC.
Reform of Recuperative Break Management cannot be resolved into the Core Rules because it is missing the [Core] Tag; ref. https://wiki.blognomic.com/index.php?title=Ruleset#Tags.
Proposal: Nominal Yield
Reached quorum 8 votes to 0. Enacted by Kevan.
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 08:15:31 UTC
If the current Acronym is RRBM and Trapdoorspyder isn’t idle, skip the rest of this proposal.
Repeal “Yielding”.
Remove both bullet points in the ruleset that read “Set every Wordsmith’s Status to Playing.”
Replace the phrase “Playing Wordsmith” with “Wordsmith” throughout the ruleset.
With Reform of Recuperative Break Management taking the reunidling window down to 48 hours, I don’t think we need this mechanic that was intended to allow 2-3 day breaks any more.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Proposal: Unfortunate Unidle Timing
Popular, 7-1 with 1 DEF and Puzzler voting FOR. Enacted by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 00:53:03 UTC
In the rule “Scoring”, change the sentence
For each Wordsmith other than the Puzzler that did not post a Scoring to that Backronym, subtract 1 from that Wordsmith’s Points, to a minimum of 0, unless the author of that Backronym is that Wordsmith
to
For each Wordsmith other than the Puzzler that did not post a Scoring to that Backronym, subtract 1 from that Wordsmith’s Points, to a minimum of 0, unless the author of that Backronym is that Wordsmith or that Wordsmith was not a Wordsmith when the Backronym was posted
Don’t obligate people who start Wordsmithing mid-round to post scores during a potentially very short window.
Proposal: Reworking Redundancies, Building Media
Unpopular, 1-5 with reduced quorum due to Puzzler voting DEF. Failed by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 20:39:28 UTC
Remove the rule Buzzwords and any ruleset items that mention Buzzword or Buzzwords.
Add a new rule under Scoring, named Key Engagement Parameter; with the following text
The Key Engagement Parameter is a private English word tracked only by the Puzzler.
In Acrogenerate, after “Set the current Acrotype to be Secret, and then perform the Steps for that Acrotype, ignoring the result and repeating this step if the selected Acrotype is the same as the Acrotype selected in the most recent Acrogenerate before this one.” and in The Threshold, after “Perform the Steps listed in the table that are associated with the current Acrotype, in the order in which they are listed for that Acrotype.” add the following point:
- Generate a Key Engagement Parameter by randomly choosing a word from the EFF Wordlist that satisfies the following limitations; randomly choose again if it fails any of the limitation until a suitable word is found:
- The first letter of the Key Engagement Parameter must be a letter that exist within the Acronym.
- It must not exist within the Word Bank.- Readying a Keynote Transmission by searching it’s definition on Cambridge Dictionary; randomly choosing one definition of the word if it has more than one definition; and replacing up to half of the words within that transmission with [bzzt]. The resultant string is the Keynote Transmission.
In Acrogenerate, replace “Make a Story Post with a title that starts with the text “New Acronym: ” followed by the value of Acronym.” with
Make a Story Post with a title that starts with the text “New Acronym: ” followed by the value of Acronym and the Keynote Transmission within the post.
In The Threshold, replace “Make a Story Post with a title that starts with the text “Endgame Acronym: ” followed by the value of Acronym.” with
Make a Story Post with a title that starts with the text “Endgame Acronym: ” followed by the value of Acronym and the Keynote Transmission within the post.
In Scoring, after the point “Calculate the median value among all of the recorded numbers of that Backronym, rounded down to the nearest integer, and add the result to the Points of the author of that Backronym, or twice the result if the state of the blog is Endgame. If no such numbers were recorded, use the value 4 instead. If this rounded value is 1, then the Backronym is considered a Flop and any later steps in this action that would award Points to the Backronym’s author are skipped.” add
If the title of the Backronym includes the Key Transmission Parameter and the Backronym is posted within 24 hours of the most recent Acrogenerate action; increase the Points of the author of that Backronym by 2 and increase the Coins of the author of that Backronym by 3.
From what I can see; the Buzzwords is like a bonus that no one hits. This is a bonus that you can potentially hit.
Story Post: Repulsive Renderer for Biohazardous Manifolds
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 03:32:29 UTC
As demands for increasingly lightweight and easy-to-wear space suits increase; we’re glad to announce the RRBM - by rendering a layer of hard magnetodynamic barrier that passes thru the user harmlessly; it seals the user from any biohazardous manifolds such as the vacuum of space; the sulfurous rain of Venus; or the dust on the Moon. The barrier fits your body; meaning that you can touch it and feel it but it wouldn’t stick to you. The system also include a jet propulsion device for maneuvering and air recycling module.
Story Post: Rapidly Rejuvenating Beakhead Missiles
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 03:28:41 UTC
Here at AriaMissiles™, we are known for our quality missiles. Every single one of them is beautifuly nanobot-printed, and you select a majestic animal from eons long past to be the beakhead. However, until now, the precious carvings would explode along with the missile. We have just implemented technology that will allow the beakhead to reform itself after detonation, leaving a permanent marker of your strength in the rubble.
Reactivate, Repaint, Bring in for Maintenance
Unidle Chiiika. Quorum raises to 6.
Proposal: Into Words
Popular, 9-0. Enacted by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 20:37:26 UTC
In “Scoring”, replace “along with any flavor text” with:-
and (if the current Acronym is not RRBM) at least one word of flavor text
Requiring players to leave some kind of comment when making each scoring, in future rounds, rather than just the number.
aria to be mentored by Josh
aria to be mentored by Josh until the Sixth Dynasty of JonathanDark has ended and the date is past the 6th of August 2025.
Hello
Hi! I am new, and am requesting to be unidled.
o/
Wednesday, July 09, 2025
Story Post: Replicating Receptacle for Botanical Management
Adminned at 11 Jul 2025 00:29:25 UTC
Ever find yourself in need of quick and easy storage options when working in your home botanical lab? With our (patent pending) self replicating receptacles, now you can keep your work station neat and organized from the smallest sugar carrot to the largest chicken cabbage.
Warning, we are not responsible for any receptacle replication malfunctions. Use at own risk.
Proposal: Remove Rewards for Better Merit
Timed out, 4-4 with reduced quorum due to Puzzler voting DEF. Failed by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 20:36:41 UTC
In “Scoring” replace “For each Wordsmith that posted a Scoring to that Backronym” with “For each Wordsmith other than the author of the Backronym that posted a Scoring to that Backronym”
Don’t think you should be able to actually change your score, but can still give yourself a score to hide which one is yours
Story Post: Roundworm Radar Beeping Machine
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 22:10:13 UTC
Are you a Druid looking for animal companions, then come on down to Weird Al’s DnD to grab yourself a Roundworm Radar Beeping Machine.
Weird Al’s DnD, where we put the strange in strangest and the odd in oddities.
Proposal: Reform of Recuperative Break Management
enacted 4-3 with 2 def resolved to for by Chiiika.
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 04:23:40 UTC
In the rule Idle Wordsmiths, change
unless the Wordsmith who would become Active has become Idle within the past 96 hours (4 days)
to
unless the Wordsmith who would become Active has become Idle within the past 48 hours (2 days)
Proposal: Pressure Release
Withdrawn. Failed by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 09 Jul 2025 11:12:05 UTC
In the rule “Scoring”, replace “a Scoring posted to it from every active Wordsmith other than it’s author” with “a Scoring posted to it from every active Playing Wordsmith other than it’s author” and replace “For each Wordsmith other than the Puzzler that did not post a Scoring” with “For each Playing Wordsmith other than the Puzzler that did not post a Scoring”
If a Wordsmith is Yielding, maybe we shouldn’t have to wait on them to post Scorings and penalize them for not Scoring other Wordsmiths’ Backronyms. Yes, they could just idle, but the point of Yielding over idling is the intention to continue playing, just not this particular Acronym round.
Story Post: Raccoon Radar Beeping Machine
Illegal, as “Raccoon” is already in The Word Bank
Adminned at 08 Jul 2025 14:20:13 UTC
Are you a Druid looking for animal companions, then come on down to Weird Al’s DnD to grab yourself a Raccoon Radar Beeping Machine. Weird Al’s DnD, where we put the strange in strangest and the odd in oddities.
Tuesday, July 08, 2025
Proposal: Reduced Report for Both Matching
Popular, 6-0. Enacted by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 09 Jul 2025 11:10:17 UTC
In the rule “Scoring”, change
for each word in the title of that Backronym that includes all the letters of a Buzzword, text with that title word and the position of that Buzzword in the Buzzwords list
to
for each word in the title of that Backronym that includes all the letters of at least one Buzzword, text with that title word and the position of the first such Buzzword in the Buzzwords list
It’s quite possible for one word to super-match two different Buzzwords that contain similar letters, but the current rule assumes each Backronym word only triggers the information-granting clause on one buzzword, so this clarifies how the Puzzler’s supposed to handle it by using the Buzzword-list order.
Proposal: Favorite sine flectu
Withdrawn. Failed by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 08 Jul 2025 21:59:51 UTC
Add the following text to the end of the rule “Favorites”:
For the purpose of matching Favorites to words, differences in pluralization, tense or grammatical aspect are considered to be irrelevant, as is the difference between the positive, comparative and superlative forms of an adjective.
They should still work if someone adds an “s” or “ing” to the end.
Story Post: Retrospective Reconstructor for Bicultural Misunderstandings
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 21:55:06 UTC
Intended for high stakes corporate negotiations, our two-camera facial scanner with cutting-edge expression recognition technology and attached universal language model can determine both when one participant in a discussion offended or confused another to within a tenth of a second, as well as the specific vague communication or linguistic or cultural differences that led to it, within four minutes of the offense.
Proposal: Reduce Raven’s Byproduct on Membership
Popular, 5-1 with 1 DEF and Puzzler voting FOR. Enacted by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 08 Jul 2025 21:58:07 UTC
In “scoring” replace “lowest number of points” with “second lowest number of points”
Giving people who still want to join now an outside chance at winning
Story Post: Rusty Robot Battle Monitor
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 21:47:19 UTC
The RRBM allows you to observe Rusty Robot Battles from a safe distance. Turns out we still haven’t cured tetanus in the future and so staying away from shrapnel benefits everyone.
Story Post: Reductive Radioactive Blast Missile
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 21:11:43 UTC
The ultimate in non-lethal solutions to war. Don’t kill your enemies - just shrink them! Guaranteed to scale down biological life forms to at least one-tenth their original size. CAUTION: Lingering radiation in the blast area will continue to produce effects for the next 10,000 years +/- 100 years. Subjects entering the blast area after detonation should wear appropriate shielding and spend no more than 3 days in the area.
Story Post: Repercussive Rocket Boot Modulator
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 20:56:51 UTC
Nothing will spoil your day more than a pair of rocket boots firing with different propulsive forces! Even the smallest of fuel miscalibrations can be uncomfortable on a long journey. Perfectly balanced at even the highest of speeds, this rapid-feedback manifold modulator fits either heelplate and will ensure that wherever you go, you will always be putting both feet forward!
Story Post: Regressive Retroviral Biotic Manufactory
Adminned at 10 Jul 2025 20:44:48 UTC
A plant that is used to devolve hostile organisms at the genetic level, such as removing antibiotic resistance in bacteria, eliminating animal-to-human transmission in viruses, or selectively de-inbreeding dog breeds.
Proposal: Readily Recognising the Backronym Matters
Reached quorum 4 votes to 0. Enacted by Kevan.
Adminned at 08 Jul 2025 13:27:50 UTC
In “Scoring”, add a new bullet point after the first in the “may make a Scoring on a Backronym as long as all of the following are true” list:-
* No Backronym has been Closed since the most recent Acrogenerate action (if the Acrotype is Secret)
Before “Once a Backronym has been resolved”, add a new paragraph:-
If the Acronym is Secret, then an Open Backronym can only be resolved if every Open Backronym was either posted at least 48 hours ago, or has a Scoring posted to it from every active Wordsmith other than its author.
Removing the temptation for players to wait for early Secret Backronyms to resolve and have their author publicly identified, before using that information to cast (or change) a Score on a later one. This proposes that the Puzzler can’t start closing the Backronyms until all of them are closable, and that further Scores can’t be posted while he’s doing that.
Story Post: New Acronym: R_R_B_M
Prompt: Fictional Futuristic Device
Reminder that all Acrotypes will be Secret from here on out unless the rules are changed.
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Proposal: Endgame Unending
Popular, 6-0 with 1 DEF and Puzzler voting FOR. Enacted by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 07 Jul 2025 17:47:45 UTC
In the rule “Acronym”, replace “If the result is less than or equal to the Threshold” with:-
If the result is less than or equal to the Threshold (or if the state of the blog is Endgame)
Patching the greater/less oversight in Keep Endgame Verdict Absolutely Nonrandom.
Saturday, July 05, 2025
Proposal: Secret Offshore Bank Accounts
Popular, 7-0. Enacted by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 07 Jul 2025 12:28:59 UTC
If “Keeping Evasive View, Anonymous Neophite” was not enacted, enact it.
In the rule “The Word Bank”, remove the text “If the Acrotype is not Secret, then”.
In the same rule, just before the text “When a Wordsmith posts a Backronym” insert the text “If the Acrotype is not Secret, “.
In the rule “Acronym”, insert the following as the first step in the Acrogenerate atomic action:
* If the Acrotype is Secret, add all of the words in the title of every Backronym posted since the most recent Acrogenerate to The Word Bank, ignoring words that are already in The Word Bank.
During a Secret Acrotype, words don’t get added to The Word Bank until the start of the next Acrogenerate, allowing folks to still anonymously post Backronyms and adhere to the current Word Bank while eventually contributing their titles to the Word Bank for the next round.
Proposal: Secret Bank Accounts
Withdrawn. Failed by JonathanDark.
Adminned at 07 Jul 2025 12:27:31 UTC
If “Keeping Evasive View, Anonymous Neophite” was not enacted, enact it.
In the rule “The Word Bank”, remove the text “If the Acrotype is not Secret,”
Seems like there’s a fair number of people in favor of keeping the Acrotype Secret, but also keeping the Word Bank in play. Why not both?
Story Post: Kremlin: Eternally Vying for the Adoration of the Nation
Adminned at 07 Jul 2025 12:38:38 UTC
In Russian politics, to be loved is to be feared, and to win the national heart of the people is to rule with strength and indomitable will. Can you balance the ruthlessness of purging your political rivals with successfully managing one of the largest countries on earth to be the most beloved leader of the Russian people? A game of negotiation, resource management, and push-your-luck, for 2-5 players.
Friday, July 04, 2025
Story Post: Killer Expansion: Vampires Aliens Nuns
Adminned at 07 Jul 2025 12:37:24 UTC
In the newest expansion to the hit board game, Global Takeover, three new factions emerge, ready to claim the world for their own. Drain your opponent’s will as hungry vampires, abduct and probe you’re way to victory as invading aliens or spread godly fear as ruler wielding nuns.
Story Post: Knights of England: Vassals And Nobles
Adminned at 07 Jul 2025 12:35:22 UTC
Another exciting expansion in the classic tile laying game series.