Combat Orientation

[Caden Law]

One Final Note I'm always somewhat staggered by the resistance that some people put up against new ideas. I found nothing anyone's said so far offensive in the least, but Caden is talking about biting his tongue. What is so apalling about this idea that you have to bite your tongue? Worst case scenario for you: This idea happens, you don't participate.

Alright, I won't bite my tongue for this one: Your posts so far read like a snide, self-important, unimaginative little shit who fits into the classic mold of a Stop Having Fun Guy with regards to common characters and the usual tournament structure. Happy now? Therein lies the heart of what made me post. You apologized for that, I apologized pre-emptively, hilarity has ensued, all's well that ends well. Moving along.

If you’ve read anything that Visla’s written, you’d know that the character and the writer behind her are both continuity and plotline thick. It’s not an excuse, or fair to call someone a poor roleplayer, if the character wouldn’t realistically fit into something. I mean, scores are hurt when a character is developed for one thing and forced by the writer into something they don’t fit into.

A character can be realistically made to do anything. It's just a matter of how creatively the player approaches the situation and how many options the character has. If character X would not normally do action Y then introduce factor Z and giggle like a maniac. The only challenge involved is doing it well. In the interest of not derailing the topic, I'll leave my gripes at that.

Carry on, folks. G'luck with the vignetourney thing.

[Visla Eraclaire]

Alright, I won't bite my tongue for this one: Your posts so far read like a snide, self-important, unimaginative little shit who fits into the classic mold of a Stop Having Fun Guy with regards to common characters and the usual tournament structure. Happy now? Therein lies the heart of what made me post. You apologized for that, I apologized pre-emptively, hilarity has ensued, all's well that ends well. Moving along.

Except that I'm not telling people to stop making fighting characters or trying to stop their fighting tournaments or suggesting that those things are bad (something I have repeatedly disclaimed). They're perfectly fine for some people.

I'm trying to add something for different sorts of people. That's why I find your hostility so surprising. How can someone who is suggesting a new tournament structure be unimaginative? You're acting as if I presented an extremist, straw-man version of what I actually said, when I've actually made a specific effort to point out I was not trying to attack what other people are doing.

Some people are always going to find a way to inject vitriol into my posts whether it's there or not. Hope you enjoy it, at least.

People (and by extension characters) can be made to do stuff by outside circumstances introduced by the writer, however, I feel this is a classic sign of poorly done, heavy-handed writing. It's a philosophical choice in writing style. I think it's a bad thing. Some people like having stories driven by fate or circumstance. I find such things tiresome and lazy. I think a good story should flow entirely from the motivations of its characters whenever possible. Obviously, the world exists. It's out there and it's going to do things to your character that they can't control, but that shouldn't be what drives a story, in my mind.

Not everyone writes that way and not every circumstance driven story is bad, but I think that, like all techniques, if you lean too heavily on circumstance you're crippling your story in other respects. There's a reason why deus ex machina solutions are considered bad. They come from nowhere and not from the working out of a story's inherent theme.

Now I said some pretty harsh things about that style of writing. Make no mistake, I don't despise people who write that way. I just hold myself up to my own standards and refuse, for the most part, from letting circumstance drive things too much. If I do have something happen from circumstance, I like it to feel deserved, or the opposite. It shouldn't be random.

Example: A greedy person is robbed. It's a circumstance, but the reader feels vindicated because that was a deserved occurance. On the other hand, an innocent is harmed grievously while trying to help someone. The exact opposite, it's a complete tragedy, but it isn't random in any event.

Ok, so enough literary theory sidebar I guess. I'll be talking to Task about this idea. If people have more suggestions, feel free to post them.

I'd appreciate if anyone just wants to say "I don't like this" or "We don't need this" or "I won't participate" to at least tell me what you think could be added to make you interested. If nothing can be done, there's no reason to post.

[Taskmienster]

Your posts so far read like a snide, self-important, unimaginative little shit who fits into the classic mold of a Stop Having Fun Guy with regards to common characters and the usual tournament structure.

Honestly, if "snide, self-important, unimaginative" can be accurately placed on a person for coming up with a new, inventive way to perform a tournament... that sucks. I'd hate to be one of those types of people for having an original and unique storyline, character, thread, tournament idea, or anything else...

[Relt PeltFelter]

In one LCC, I think it was, Ter-thok and Chroma Rockskin won and both characters were barely combat oriented, more gimick characters that won through comic relief. Lol. Just a side note.

FOR THE RECORD, good sir, we won through applied utilization of psychosis and discomfort, I'll have you know. But the fact that anyone remembered it warms my heart, so thank you.

I have to agree, though, that there is a heavy focus on combat. I was one of those dudes who, I guess, "dungeon-mastered" in the Adventurer's Crown, and that was some of the most fun I had writing here, setting up challenges for hapless detectives.

There's a lot to be said for non-combat threads, but it's a shame that they seem so hard to come by. A tournament based entirely on alternative methods of roleplay, like the Adventurer's Crown, would be well received.

[Max Dirks]

A few things to consider:

1. There have been three quest based tournaments: the Anebrilith Hunter's, and two Adventurer's Crowns. None have been finished. Poor organization and drop outs were not the reason they failed. One failed due to the first forum crash. The others weren't completed because the concept simply required far more man power and participation than possible on Althanas at the time. Rather than continue the tournament we've opted to follow the feature quest route (ironically none of those have truly finished either).
2. We've had many tournaments with back stories and many without them. Non-combat characters should love those without because there is no need for a character to string their encounters as such. In the original tournament, the Serenti Invitational, neither of the finalists referred to the tournament in their battles. The Magus Cup is the same way. This type also makes it handy for moderators because they don't have to "game master."
3. Most importantly, you don't have to battle in a tournament (even if it has a back story). Cooperation breeds higher scores. To not communicate during a battle spells disaster for both participants. I can't really buy the argument that in a regular Althanas tournament the parties don't communicate.

Visla, the only thing I don't like about your tournament idea is that it doesn't support the role-play aspect of the site. The staff are sticklers about no IC rewards for OOC activity. If you do a vignette about the same topic that doesn't include your character or any interaction with others then it's not really about the site.

[Taskmienster]

But if it's changed in a way that the general Vignette portion of the rounds would be broad enough for any character to be part of, they could tell a story about a topic. Then it would be like a small solo quest per character about a prompt given.

[Godhand]

What's this!? Someone five-starred Visla's stupid thread!

ASSHOLEMAN, AWAAAAYYYYY!

[Taskmienster]

No more trolling please. Thanks.

[Saxon]

Visla, the only thing I don't like about your tournament idea is that it doesn't support the role-play aspect of the site. The staff are sticklers about no IC rewards for OOC activity. If you do a vignette about the same topic that doesn't include your character or any interaction with others then it's not really about the site.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of writing over roleplaying. We should try this idea to see how people like it, but I'm starting to see some of the potential problems you're trying to mention. Namely, I guess, is player interaction. But, still, I don't think people would mind it too much. People can be given prompts and objectives to accomplish and write those out in timed threads, then they'd be judged. The winner is declared with the thread that is best written to the prompt. Besides, we just got out of a tournament that made folks stick to prompts for setting, I don't see why we can't use a more elaborated format for another kind of tournament.

Essentially it'd be like a writing contest and then judges grade each entry to see who would win, I guess.

EDIT: Forget what I said about IC rewards for OOC activity. Things like multiple characters should be probably decided later if we manage to adopt this idea.

[AdventWings]

I have a few ideas about a non-combat tournament running through my head, though I do realize it will take a lot of manpower as well as game-mastering. Running a tournament, as you've experienced, is rather taxing especially when you don't have enough hands on the wheels.

The Vignette Tourney concept is an interesting one, but without some form of "link" to the overall tournament it's going to be an OOC Tourney. I have a proposition that will work with this, though I should probably talk to the Mods about it first...