Taken from http://hamp.hampshire.edu/~megF91/usenet.txt: Wow, I work fast don't I? Actually this is pretty much the same as 1.0, with the addition of a few new cards and some "clarification" of the rules (not that there was anything wrong with them in the first place...), and a copyright notice (you _did_ ask about distribution, John). One of the cards is Chris Keroack's suggestion (gain one cred, Chris!). So anyway, without further ado... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- USENET: THE FLAMING v 1.1 copyright(c) 1995 Matthew E. Grossman see end of article for distribution information A collectible trading card game of Usenet politics and global domination! In this game you take the role of a "Medusa", a sinister individual plotting to control Usenet through your "tentacles", operating from the sites under your control. Each player starts out with five "cred" (symbolizing your credibility on Usenet); when you have no cred, everyone will ignore you and you have LOST! The objective of the game is to be the last player remaining with cred. There are four types of cards: sites, continous events, instant events, and attacks. The site cards are shuffled into a separate site deck; the other cards are shuffled together into a play deck. To start, each player (on his or her first turn, proceeding clockwise) draws three site cards and places them face up on the table, then draws seven cards from their play deck. Play begins, in the same order. At the start of a players turn, he (come on, how many girls are stupid enough to play these games anyway? OUCH, sorry Amy...) draws one play card if he has less than seven cards in his hand. If he has no cards in his hand he draws seven new cards from his play deck. The player then brings on-line (untaps) any of his sites that are currently down (tapped). The player may then play attack or event cards. Since these things are being done by your tentacles at the sites you control, playing a card involves downing a site (tying it up with your schemes). Each attack or event card has a power rating, which indicates how powerful a site must be in order to play that card. These numbers go from 1 to 3, with 3 being the most powerful, so mit.edu can play any card, but hamp.hampshire.edu can only play cards with a power rating of 1. A player may end his turn at any time after he has brought his sites on-line. He _must_ end his turn if all of his sites are down. The player seated clockwise then begins his turn. Event cards may be played at any time. Continuous events remain on the board after they have been played (e.g. Turkish Revisionist 'Bot), instant events produce their effect then vanish from play (e.g. Not Allowed). Events take effect in the order they are played, but some events (e.g. Not Allowed) work retroactively. Lengthy discussion and hair-splitting analysis of the rules is required to solve these difficulties. Attack cards may only be played during your turn, and are the only cards that directly effect Medusas. The name is confusing; some attack cards are beneficial, and you can play an attack card on yourself. ----------------Cards------------------- Each card is listed by type, name, power, and description. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. Really. Site cards: (using these as guidlines, you can easily make up more) hamp.hampshire.edu, 1, A small, "alternative" college. mit.edu, 3, M.I.T. 'Nuff said. netcom.com, 2, A large Internet service provider. Instant Event cards: NOT ALLOWED, 1, Leader Kibo has spoken. Retroactively blocks last event card. INTERNET WORM, 3, An undergraduate "accidentally" releases his homework onto the Internet. Curiously, only your rivals' sites are affected... Downs every other players' sites for one turn. All of them. UNIX PASSWORD SECURITY FLAW, 2, _Another_ one? You may look at one other player's hand. GULLIBLE CONGRESSMAN, 2, You convince the government to finance the "information superhighway". You may place one more site into play. FORGED SPAM, 1, You forge a spam originating from the target site. It goes down for one turn. CANTOR AND SIEGEL (spam), 2, Those darn lawyers get an account on the target site. It is _permanently_ removed from play. MASTER CRACKER, 3, "I'm doing this for scientific purposes...really!" You may look at one other player's hand _and_ take one card to add to your hand (if you want to). FLAMEWAR, 1, Causes the target player to miss his next turn as he is drawn into a massive flamewar. Also blocks the effects of a Righteous Rant (no one gains cred). Continuous Event cards: GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR, 1, The Internet was built to survive this, right? All players must discard the sites currently in play and each draw _one_ new site. As long as this card is in play, each player may only have one site. (If you're wondering why this card is only 1 to play, it's because any fool with a C-64 can hack the Pentagon. Remember "War Games"?). CANCELMOOSE, 2, As long as Cancelmoose is in play, no spams may be played, and any spams already in play are removed. RISKS DIGEST, 1, As long as you have this card in play, your sites may not be attacked by Master Cracker or Unix Password Security Flaw. This does _not_ protect any other players' sites. TURKISH REVISIONIST 'BOT (spam), 1, For some nefarious reason, you set up a 'bot to decrease the signal-noise ratio on Usenet (even more?)... but it gets out of hand. As long as this card is in play, every card costs one more power than the listed amount to play. CANCELBUNNY, 2, Dead agent those SP's, OSA OT's! The Church of $cientology decides to cancel your posts. As long as this card is in play, the target may only play one card per turn. ARCHIVE SITE, 3, "Knowledge is Power". This card allows you to take one card from _any player's_ discard pile, and "archive" it at the site which you played this card on (must be one of your sites). You may then play this card in the future, as if it was in your hand. After you have played the card, you must discard it (though you could then archive it again). If the archive site goes down, you lose the card archived there; if the site is removed from play, this card is discarded. Attack cards: MASSIVE TROLL, 1, You are caught up in a massive troll involving rec.org.mensa, rec.arts.startrek.misc, rec.aquaria, sci.physics, alt.music.ska, alt.sex.bondage, alt.fan.hofstadter, and alt.conspiracy (among others). You make a complete fool of yourself in front of thousands of net.citizens. Lose 1 cred. OOPS!, 1, You meant to do an e-mail reply to that...interesting...message in alt.sex.bondage. Instead, you post to alt.activism.militia. Lose 1 cred. B1FF!!1!, 2, B1FF HAS THIS K00L N3W ACC0UNT!!!111! 1'M G0NNA P0ST FR0M 1T ALL THE T1M3!!1!!! Your younger brother gets hold of your password. You'll never live this down. Lose 1 cred. FEAR THE KABAL!, 2, Dave Hayes and Stephen Boursy independently reveal your fiendish plans for usenet domination. All players take a vote as to whether target gains or loses 1 cred. INITIATION, 3, In a secret 4 a.m. IRC session with Dave Lawrence, you are initiated into the Cabal. Gain 1 cred. TIME, 1, Time Magazine writes an article on the Internet and quotes you. Lose 1 cred. TIME AGAIN, 2, Time Magazine writes an article on the Internet and calls you a "cyberpunk guru". Lose 2 cred. ETERNAL FAME, 2, Someone creates an alt. group named after you. Gain 1 cred. ETERNAL FAME ON AN EPIC SCALE, 3, Someone creates an alt.sex. group named after you. Gain 2 cred. ETERNAL FOOL, 1, _You_ create an alt. group named after yourself. Lose 1 cred. REAL LIFE, 1, You find something better to do than take over Usenet. Lose 1 cred, but gain a life. DROP THE KEYBOARD, PUNK!, 2, You get raided by the Secret Service. Skip a turn, but gain 1 cred. SUMMON SHUB-INTERNET, 3, You summon Shub-Internet and wreak havoc on Prodigy and AOL. Gain Lose 2 cred, you dweeb. RIGHTEOUS RANT, 2, An unusually stylish and eloquent posting which contains polysyllabic words and polite, correctly spelled English. If no one counters with another Righteous Rant or Flame, gain 1 cred on your next turn. For each person which adds or counters with another Righteous Rant, each rant-player gains a cred (i.e. 3 rants = each rant-player gains 3 cred). (Advanced rules: 3 righteous rants in the same turn automatically ends the game, as it is now a discussion and no longer Usenet.) -Chris Keroack Distribution Notice: USENET: THE FLAMING v 1.1 is (c) 1995 by me (Matthew E. Grossman). It may be freely distributed provided that this notice remains attached and no fee is charged for distribution. If you have any card or rule ideas email them to me at megF91@hamp.hampshire.edu. If I use your ideas in the next version I'll give you credit.