PEXOS 13: The Survivor New Zealand Rulebook

Tribes
  • Castaways will be marooned in a remote island in New Zealand. They will be divided into 2 to 4 teams called tribes which would live on separate islands.
  • Divisions are generally made in advance by the host, but in some cases, after the game starts, tribe members have been chosen in various ways by one or more of the contestants themselves.
  • Tribes are given unique names and identifying colors which will be used on tribe flags, challenge courses, on-screen text and various other items.
  • Contestants should be ACTIVE at all times. There will be be a designated thread for each tribe where members can post freely anything. You cannot post on the other tribe’s thread.


Challenges
  • Challenges consist of endurance, agility, problem solving, teamwork, dexterity, luck, and/or willpower, and are usually designed to fit the theme of the current season. These challenges will take place here in the PEX ORPG Forum.
  • In Reward Challenges, the contestants compete for items which may greatly affect everybody’s gameplay. All reward challenges are individual challenges and winners are decided based on luck.
  • The Immunity Challenge is the most important aspect of the game. Winning this challenge will secure a tribe or an individual safety for the following tribal council.
  • Most challenges will start in the evening (anytime from 6 to 11 PM Philippine Standard Time) and may run for 24-48 hours. However, there are some challenges which are live and may last for 2 hours, at most. The schedule of challenges will be posted at the ‘Tree Mail’ thread after Tribal Council.
  • To even out the number of players participating in a tribal immunity challenge, the host may require the tribe to sit out one or more of its members.
  • Tribal Immunity: During the tribal phase of the game, the tribes vie for the ownership of the Immunity Idol. The winning tribe will be granted safety from the upcoming Tribal Council. In rare cases, there are double eliminations and both tribes go to Tribal Council, where the Immunity Idol temporarily retires and is replaced with the Immunity Necklace which is usually only available post-merge.
  • Individual Immunity: After the merge, where there is only one existing tribe, the remaining contestants compete in individual challenges to seek possession of the Immunity Necklace, which guarantees safety at Tribal Council for its bearer. Unlike the tribal Immunity Idol, which gives exemption to its host, the incumbent wearer of the necklace still must attend Tribal Council and cast a vote, but that player cannot be voted out.
  • Only the individual immunity is transferable, giving safety to its new wearer, while leaving the original winner vulnerable.
  • Non-participation in 2 consecutive immunity challenges WILL result to disqualification from the game.
  • Posts may be edited provided that the timestamps would not appear. Posts with timestamps during challenges will be nullified.


Merges, Tribe Switches, and Dissolves
  • If the game starts with more than two tribes, there may be a dissolve of the tribes down into 2 tribes after 1 to 4 Tribal Councils.
  • There may also be a Tribe Switch at some point before the merge. In this, the members of each tribe are swapped around, typically not redistributing the tribal numbers. The mechanism for the Tribe Switch may vary from a random shuffle to a schoolyard pick by two tribe 'captains'.
  • When there are 8 to 12 players left in the game, the separate tribes merge into a single tribe. From this point, challenges are won on an individual basis. In general, after the merge has been announced, the members of the newly merged tribe collocate to a single camp. The merged tribe also selects a new tribe name and designs a new tribal flag.


Exile Island
  • A selected player is sent to Exile Island which is a password-protected board at the PEXOS 13 Proboards forum. The player to be exiled is selected by the Reward Challenge winner.
  • Unless stated otherwise, players who win the right to decide who goes to Exile Island may also choose to go themselves.
  • The person exiled receives a consolation prize of sorts – a clue to the hidden immunity idol.


Hidden Immunity Idol
  • Only one Hidden Immunity Idol is present in this season.
  • Its purpose is to, one way or another, give the holder immunity when they choose to play it at Tribal Council.
  • Castaways can PM the host if they want to use the idol before the votes are revealed.
  • Contestants may use the idol at a Tribal Council where they are sure to receive votes, or else, they will either waste the idol (if they had either no votes against them or if they have votes, there may not be enough to eliminate them) or getting eliminated without even using the idol.
  • Once the idol is used, it is rehidden. From this point forward, the idol is valid up until the Tribal Council where there are only five contestants remaining.


Tribal Council
  • Tribal Council is held at the end of each round. Here, the tribemates vote one person out of their tribe.
  • The players are then questioned by the host, who often provokes revealing details from them of events and interactions since the tribe's previous tribal council. Players should post their answers to ALL tribal council questions before the deadline of votes.
  • Players voted out after the merge will be part of the jury. They will return to witness the remaining survivors’ actions at Tribal Council. The information they take in from these visits will help them decide who will be the Sole Survivor. They are forbidden to post at the Tribal Council thread with exception of the Final Tribal Council.
  • After the tribal council questions have been posted, a player who has been awarded individual immunity through an immunity challenge is then asked if he wants to transfer that to another player. Whoever has the immunity after this possible exchange cannot be voted out.
  • Castaways shall then post their vote (along with the reason) in their respective ‘Tribal Council Vote’ thread in the Proboards forum before the deadline of votes. Strictly NO editing of posts.
  • Failure to vote AND answer tribal council questions WILL give you a self vote.
  • The castaway with the most number of votes will be eliminated from the game.
  • If a tie occurs, the contestants are forced to re-vote (those with the tied votes are excluded) with the option to vote for the other person. If the second vote still ends up tied, the infamous Purple Rock tiebreaker will be used.


Final Tribal Council and the Sole Survivor
  • The Final Tribal Council is the final event of the game. This is where the remaining 2 or 3 survivors face the jury, who will have a very important decision to make in voting for a winner.
  • After hearing the finalist's opening words, every jury member, will be given a chance to ask a question, berate, insult or just to mere throw the player off guard. After all jurors have spoken, the finalists will address their final statements.
  • The jury will then vote for a winner (not to vote against someone, like previously held Tribal Councils). The person who gets the most votes from the jury will win the title of Sole Survivor.


Other Points to Remember
  • A round starts usually with a Reward Challenge and ends after the Tribal Council. It will last for 3 to 5 days, depending on the length of the challenge. There will be 12 to 16 rounds before the Final Tribal Council.
  • To keep track of the game, every castaway is required to post their confessionals for the round at a password-protected thread in a separate forum. You can talk about everything that transpired throughout the round like the twists, your tribemates, strategies and alliances, etc. Failure to post a confessional before the round ends WILL give you a self vote.
  • Last and definitely not the least, have fun and enjoy the game.


References:
http://survivor.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_(TV_series)