Editing Round 9/History (section)

=== The Duck Old One Endgame (6 Mar 2021-28 Apr 2021) ===

Lest we forget, the game by this time still did not have a win condition. There was a lose condition in the form of the god egg doomsday clock (see {{Heading|Duck God}}, but it was a pretty passive system and, again, provided no way to win. In the middle of March, Nyhilo decided to start working toward a more substantial endgame. This started with a proposal draft<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/518856008605499402/817668533886255124</ref>, composed on 6 Mar 2021, which introduced "Duck Disciples," randomly generated enemies that players would have to take out using Quack Attacks, gaining fruit prizes for their help. Some banter ensued, some code was written for a bot to help automate the process, and the proposal was officially created (Nyhilo, Proposal Duck Disciple Redux, 17 Mar 2021). The proposal caused some accidental stress for Klink (see {{Heading|Duck Transmutation}}), but other than that had very little effect on the gamestate: only a few actions were ever taken against a Duck Disciple.

{{Proposal Box
|name = Duck Disciple Redux
|text =
Amend rule Duck God by adding subrule Duck Disciple.
:The Duck Disciple is an entity that worships the Duck God.
:
:The Duck Disciple is not owned by any player, but still may be the target of Quack Attacks. Once per voting period, a player may perform a Quack Attack against the Duck Disciple. After this attack resolves, the Duck Disciple then performs a Ritual Quack Attack. This is a Quack Attack that can be performed by the Duck Disciple by its own means and without the need for player ownership. If, after performing this quack attack, the Duck Disciple has 0 or fewer quacks, it perishes.
:
:* Ritual Quack Attack. Cost: None. Targets: 1 random named Duck that is not the Duck Disciple. Effect: Target loses 1d6 quacks.
:
:When a Duck Disciple perishes, all ducks that dealt damage to that Duck Disciple gain 1d6 quacks. Additionally, the owner of the duck that reduced the Duck Disciple to 0 or fewer quacks rolls a d20 on the following table and receives the benefit of that roll.
:
:1-10 - 4d6 seeds<br>
:11-14 - 1 Grapes<br>
:15-17 - 1 Watermelon Slice<br>
:18-19 - 1 Blood Orange<br>
:20 - 1 God Egg

:If a Duck Disciple does not exist at the beginning of a voting period, one will be created with 3d20 quacks and will be given a name by means of an available source that is capable of generating random duck names. The Duck Disciple will then be known by that name, with the "Disciple" title preceding it, and a incrementing numerical suffix if a Duck Disciple with that name has existed before.
}}

Unknown to the rest of the players, though, this proposal was only the first part of a more overarching plan that Nyhilo had to introduce an endgame including an entity called the Duck Old One. A good proportion of Nyhilo's proposals after this point began to flesh out the system. While most of these proposals passed, they were only by a few votes. Many players didn't really follow what was going on; for instance, by their own admission, Trungle<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/515607055223095300/881249943422107659</ref> and Klink<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/515607055223095300/881250124070813826</ref> didn't really latch onto the overarching story. As Nyhilo explains, the Duck Disciples were meant to get players used to fighting NPCs. Eventually, the Duck God would die and the players would be tasked with either fighting or supporting the Duck Old One. Those who emerged victorious would be declared the winners of Round 9.

Nyhilo's plans were foiled when a few of his proposals introducing mechanics related to the subgame were denied, but even if they had passed, the subgame didn't have a great chance of surviving. As mentioned before, most players weren't following the Duck Old One narrative and didn't know the full plan. More than that, other players' intentions were more focused on scamming the ruleset rather than designing a game by the time that this story began. It might have succeeded if the idea had come up earlier or if more people had been aware of the plan, but as it is, not much came out of the story. I find it relevant to mention, however, because Nyhilo was still writing proposals for it up to the point that the game ended. Besides, there are a couple things to learn from the story, which I will discuss in the conclusion below.