Subject: It's time for...
Author:
Posted on: 2016-12-27 15:10:00 UTC

...the 2017 PPC NEW YEAR'S GIFT EXCHANGE!

[APPLAUSE]

Since we're almost at the end of 2016, it's high time we all start preparing for the new year, and what better way to start than to kick off the latest round of gift giving? I'll be shaking things up this year with a few rule changes, since I thought I'd try something a little different and unexpected this year. Without further ado...

ADMISSION AND SETUP:
1. You need to have Permission and at least two agents to enter this event. You don't have to have the teams participate in their entirety, either - any one of your agents can opt out based on whatever's most convenient for you.
2. This time, all of you will be going in basically blind - meaning that nobody will know who sent what until all the gifts have been opened, not even the Boarders participating! Hence, in order to enter, send me an e-mail (my address is clickable) with your attending agents and which gift each will bring. This may be either a "souvenir" from a mission you've published previously, or just something they happen to have that they want to give away. As soon as you've sent the e-mail, reply to this post with the word "Sent" and no message content, so everyone will know who's participating.
3. I will take six or seven other Boarders for this year's event, so the first seven Boarders to submit applications will be the ones attending.
4. Anyone with Permission can host this event. One of their agents must serve as an in-universe host for this event, but all agents are required to participate as players, including the host. I will confirm who the host will be if and when anyone steps forward - otherwise, Falchion will be the host this year. (My other participating agents will be my DIC and DMS-VG teams, but no other agents of mine will be participating, for some very spoilery reasons.)

EVENT RULES:
5. Once everything's been set up, preferably on New Year's Day, the Boarder volunteering the event host will set up an introductory post on the T-Board for this event. The most important rule: NOBODY MUST KNOW WHAT THE GIFTS ARE UNTIL THEY'VE OPENED THEM. All of the gifts will be wrapped and put in a big pile at the start of the game.
6. Once I've tallied the full list, I'll provide a list of the players, and a list of the gifts, but not a list of who sent what. The starting player will then be selected at random. Then when that player opens a gift, the agent who submitted it must speak up and confirm that they were the one who did so. Then that agent is the next to play! Thus, in general, the person who will play during each turn is the one who volunteered the gift revealed during the previous turn.
7. For each turn, the agent currently in play can either choose a gift from the pile (I'll provide the full list of gifts on the Posting Board) or, if others before them have already chosen gifts, they can "steal" a gift from the previous owner. A gift can be stolen up to twice; after that, it is locked to the agent it's ended up with, and cannot be stolen again. Note also that if a gift is stolen from any agent, THEY CANNOT STEAL IT BACK.
8. The game ends once everyone has received a gift. Since the first agent cannot steal, he/she will be given the choice to steal after everyone else has played.

And that's that! LET THE GIFTING COMMENCE! :D

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