Patrol: Shoot Your Friends!

12/15/04

These rules are currently the responsibility of Paige Phillips and Gwen Capron, PatrolComm Chairs. If you have any questions/flames about them, send them to them, or to any other member of Patrolcomm.

Patrol runs every Saturday night at 8 pm in Building 36. Patrol games run until approximately 11 pm.

Description

Patrol is a game sponsored by the MIT Assassins' guild. Participants are divided into a number of teams. Each player is armed with a dart gun and a small number of rubber darts. Each player also wears a colored headband denoting what team he/she is on and whether or not he/she is currently alive. The object of the game is to shoot members of the other teams without getting shot. If shot, the player can ressurect by visiting the ressurection floor. The main goal, however, is to have fun.

Mandatory Fun

The first and foremost rule of Patrol is that fun is mandatory. This means that if you are not having fun, you are playing the game incorrectly, and it is possible that other people are failing to have fun for the same reason. The purpose of Patrol is not to kill the most people or to get killed the fewest times, it is to have fun. Keep this in mind whenever arguments arise.

Physical contact / Injury

Intentional physical contact between players (including their guns) is never permitted under any circumstances. Also, be careful during the game, as there are a lot of obstacles which you might trip over. Finally, never intentionally aim the dart gun at another person's face; being hit in the eye by a dart is an unpleasant experience many of us have stories about.

Gamemasters

All games are run by a gamemaster. The gamemaster for the evening is specified at the beginning of the game, and is likely the one who will explain the rules to new players. If any problems arise which players cannot resolve on their own, the gamemaster may resolve them. The gamemaster also has the right to ask a player who is not abiding by the spirit of the rules to leave the game for that week. All Gamemaster's decisions are final even if they contradict the letter of the rules.

The Playing Area

• The Playing Area consists of the two Basement Floors and the First Floor of Building 36. The Resurrection sites are located on various floor landings of the two stairwells at the ends of the main hallway in building 36. As the number of players currently in the game changes, the floor of the Resurrection site may be changed at the discretion of the Gamemaster. In general, if the resurrection floor is on the third floor or higher, all floors beneath it are added to the game area.
• Labs, offices, closets, and bathrooms are off limits.
• The 6.001 tutorial room, known as ``The Control Room'' is a non-combat zone, so that players can relax in relative safety. As such, you can be shot while in the control room, but you cannot shoot out of it. In order to make a legitimate shot through the doors of this room, all supporting appendages of the shooter must be outside the room, and you may not have anything anchoring your body in the control room.
• Wherever there are double doors, one of the doors must remain open at all times. Some single doors will be propped open before the game starts. These should remain open.
• If a door that is supposed to remain open gets closed, the first player to notice this should prop the door open. While fixing a door, a player can not be shot or shoot other players. No live player or shot dart may pass through a door that is being fixed. Play continues around the door while it is being fixed. (This is known as a "Door Halt".)
• Combat may not occur in the stairwells at the ends of the hallway (which are used for resurrection), but may occur in the center stairwell, which can be used to access the basement (but can not be used for resurrection).
• Combat may not occur in Elevators. Do not shoot into or out of an opening elevator, as there is no way to know who may be on the other side.

Death and Dying

You are dead if:

• You are hit anywhere on your body, including your gun or any dart not in your gun, by a dart shot from any other player's gun, including that of someone on your team.
• You are hit in your hair or some piece of clothing by a dart shot from any players gun at such an angle that the dart would have hit your body had it kept going.
• You voluntarily leave the playing area.

You are not dead if:

• The dart hits something else, such as a wall, furniture, or another player, before it hits you.
• The dart hits your hair or a loose piece of clothing at such an angle that if it had kept going it would not have hit your body.
• You are shot during a halt.
• The person who shot you was dead before they fired.

Deciding when you are dead

• The Shooter calls the shot.
• Give the Victim the benefit of the doubt. It's much more fun to be alive than dead.
• Input from witnesses, alive or dead, is always welcome and should be given considerable weight. Note: While people are arguing about who is dead and who isn't, they are still targets. This means that if you spend time arguing about being dead or not, you can still get shot.
• Two or more players may simultaneously shoot at and kill one another. They are all dead. This is known as a "mutual kill."

Life after Death, Or What To Do When You're Dead

1. When it is decided that you are dead, you should immediately take your headband off. When you are dead, attempt to avoid interfering with the remaining combats that are still happening in your area. Move out of the way if possible (such as against a wall), but if you cannot, sit on the ground (or lie there like a corpse) and wait until you have a clear route of exit.
2. Dead people may be used for cover if they happen to be in the right place.
3. Once you can exit the room without interfering with combat, make your way toward your choice of resurrection site.
4. While moving about the area, be sure to clearly indicate that you are dead, such as by holding your headband out in front of you. When passing around corners, it is polite to announce "Dead Walking," or "deadwalk," to avoid startling those who may be hiding around the corner.
5. Once you have reached the ressurrection site, you can put your headband back on. You are now alive again. You are not considered to have arrived at the ressurection site until you have stepped onto the floor, or until you have stepped out of the elevator.
6. You may continue playing once you have exited the resurrection site and entered a combat area as defined by the above rules. You may linger in or around the resurrection site until the rest of your team arrives.
7. Dead players tell no tales. If you are dead, make every effort to not give away the locations of live players.
8. Remember that the living have priority over the dead when it comes to picking up darts.

Weapons and Ammunition

• All players must use guns that are obviously plastic and that shoot the same darts as all of the other guns in the game. If you wish to know if your gun is legal, consult the gamemaster.
• Patrol keeps a supply of guns for temporary loan during the course of the evening, which will be tended by the Gamemaster. These guns belong to the MIT Assassins' Guild and should be treated with the utmost respect, and returned after the game is complete. Never fire a gun without a dart in it, as it is bad for the gun.
• Live people may pick up darts from almost any place at any time, except from a dead body. (Darts on a dead body are considered to belong to the owner of said body.) Dead people may not pick up darts unless there are no live people and no battles in the vicinity.
• However, it is considered polite to allow dead people to collect at least some of the darts which they have fired, especially if they have very few or none. Note that part of the strategy of Patrol is ammo mangement.
• If you are dead and have less than the number of darts that players start with, you may ask other players if they have extras. If you have more than twice the starting number of darts and are asked for some, you must give some away. Do not hoard darts.
• Darts may not be picked up from inside the Control Room unless they were fired into the room from outside. Darts in the Control Room are considered to have not yet been made a part of the game

NPC Halts

Any Time a non-player (NP) enters the playing area, the game must immediately halt, as follows:

• Any player who sees the non-player enter the playing area should immediately call "Non Player Halt!" loud enough for everyone nearby to hear it; other players are encouraged to repeat the message for those who may be too far to hear it.
• The halt may not necessarily extend over the entire playing area. If it is convenient, it may be limited to only the immediate area of the NP, such as the Lobby.
• During a halt, no action may take place in the area of the halt. No one can shoot or be shot, move, pick up darts, or reload. No action outside the area of the halt may affect anything within the halt.
• Dead players may move toward the Resurrection site during a halt, but they may not begin play until the halt has ended.
• Once the NP has left the area, play may begin again. Someone who sees the NP leave should call "Resume on Three" loudly enough for everyone in the area to hear it, and then do a countdown, "Three, two, one, resume."
• Some people who appear to be NP's are familiar with the game (such as other Guild Members); feel free not to call a halt if asked and just play around them. The symbol for "I'm Not Here", is to put a hand over your head.

Etiquette

The following are not necessarily rules, but are practiced by enough of the players so that not following them could get players mad at you, violating the Mandatory Fun rule. As the people who play patrol regularly change, so too do the unwritten rules by which order is kept. This being the case, attempt to observe the following suggestions, but if the game is doing something else entirely, do that instead. Note that in all cases, the written rules have higher priority.

• It is considered terribly annoying to be shot at right after climbing up and down a flight of stairs. Do not shoot at anyone who has just resurrected unless they shoot at you (or you agree to some sort of duel). The area around the ressurection site tends to be a "waiting area" for people to wait for the remainder of their team to arrive before they go back into the game.
• If you do not wish to be shot, but you are standing in a hallway, tell other players that they can pass you by. However, if someone is blocking the hall, feel free to tell them you'll shoot unless they move. They should obey, since no one enjoys being shot.
• Normally, teams entering the game as a group will give another team a few seconds to enter the game and kill a few people before they get shot in the back by the first team.
• Teammates are encouraged to share darts. Enemies are also encouraged to share darts -- if you see an enemy who is out of darts, or who asks you for some, you should hand some over if you have extras. Whether or not you shoot them before they can reload is up to you, but it is usually nicer if you allow them to get ready and then start fighting. Some people will shoot first, though.

Noise

Do not be excessivly noisy. Not only is this tactically sound, but it also reduces any irritation caused to NPCs working in the building. Remember, one complaint can get patrol stopped, permanently.

Mandatory Fun

Again, remember that the main purpose to Patrol is to have fun. Please do not do anything to ruin this for yourself or other players. If you wish to make a complaint, please talk to the gamemaster.