Original Character Battle RP Tournament - Anyone want to give it a go?

mshcherbatskaya

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Here are the ingredients for an Original Character Battle RP

4-16 players
1-3 judges
1 arena master

Players each create an original character, give them a backstory, abilities, motivations, all that good stuff.

The arena master pairs off the players into 1v1 rounds and provides the players with the arena, which may be magical or mundane, futuristic or feral, as they see fit.

Each player then writes a story about how they beat their opponent in the arena. The stories do not need to agree. Each player may have a radically different take on the arena and their opponent. The important thing is how you take the elements - your character, your opponents character, the arena - and craft them into a COMPELLING STORY.

The pairs of stories then go to the judges, who choose the best written, most entertaining or interesting story in each pair. The winning stories then become canon in the "universe" of the tournament, and the winning players are then paired off to repeat the process in the next round, with the option of building off what came before. This proceeds tournament style until a winner is crowned.

I'm offering to take the post of arena master if enough people want to play or are willing to judge. I can also provide service as a writing coach for people who would like to play but might be a little nervous about their writing chops.

There are more nuances that can make the tournament a hell of a lot of fun, but I wanted to see if there were enough interested people first.
 

Baldrek

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I was hoping something like this would appear again now that the Escapist is on its way back, was thinking about it myself, but I don't consider myself proficient enough to run one of these tournaments. I am definitely throwing my hat in the ring if enough folks are interested though.
 

mshcherbatskaya

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I can run it if we get enough people who want to play. People who would rather read than write are also welcome to serve as judges.
 

Doc Gnosis

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Is this a Ratings War?

IF so, make me a judge please.

Or I can compete if there are better options available.
 

mshcherbatskaya

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Yes, this is a Ratings War-type RP. If we get enough people interested in competing, I would be happy to have you as a judge.
 

Khedive Rex

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If there's an Escapist revival, I'd consider it an honor to participate.

I didn't think I'd ever see a Ratings War again, honestly. It brings up some tremendously good memories for me. I couldn't think of a better place to start on a spirited rebuild of our once beloved forum.

So, count me in.

And Msh, you should check your inbox.
 

mshcherbatskaya

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It occurs to me that people might be a little more forthcoming if they had some idea of the setting. I'm calling this one Genre Wars - combatants will be thrown into settings derived from genre fiction. You might end up fighting everything but your enemy in Survival Horror, but you could also end up in High School Romantic Comedy, or on a Brisith Navy vessel in the Age of Sail. I will highly encourage the judge(s) to give extra consideration to how well the competitors use the tropes associated with the genre, and will do my best to set the scenes for maximum fun.
 

mshcherbatskaya

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OK, I scared people off with the threat of High School Romantic Comedy, didn't I? Fiiiiiiine....no rom-com. I know, it's the scariest genre. I will stick with more light-hearted genres like Post-Apocalyptic Fortress Assault, or Monkey-Pox Pandemic Disaster Thriller.
 

Khedive Rex

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I'll have my character submitted this weekend. I have a very clear image of him/it, just gotta translate that down to paper.

Is there something like a character sheet you'd like me to fill out or do I have permission to take full liberties?

Also, I demand High School Romantic Comedy be included as a genre. I'd also like to request Victorian Aristocracy Mystery Drama and Folksy Gritty Coming-Of-Age ala Huckleberry Finn or Catcher In The Rye.

Let's make it really weird in here guys.
 

mshcherbatskaya

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I haven't done any sort of character sheet, but I would at minimum like a clear description of your character's appearance and powers. It pays to have a well-thought-out character, because one of the ways your opponent can beat you is by writing your characther better than you do yourself.

So let's do this: Your character walks into a bookstore/gamestore/comicbook store/movie theater/library and sees a door in the back they've never noticed before. They walk through the door into the Infinite Library, the repository of all stories ever recorded in any medium. You are greeted by the Librarians, who have been arguing about which genres are the best and you have been called, among others, to help decide. Write an intro vignette that tells us how this happens to your character. It may be that your character was a normal person transformed into something fantastical by entering the Library, or maybe they were already a Jedi/werewolf/mercenary/Templar/fairy princess when they came through. The library is connected to all realities and the portal's effects can be...unpredictable.
 

Demonjazz

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Don't mean to step on the DM's toes with his post, but I reckon I better mosey on down to this here RP and start writing up a post for some sort of Western or Cowboy character later this week. I may bring in some friends with me as well.
So many decisions on Cowboys though, I could do the comedic caricature, the folksy poetic type, the romantic cowboy, the grizzled killer, the Cowboy Dad/Sherrif, the Reluctant killer.
 

Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)

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I remember when we did something like this a while back, we eventually had to stop doing these games because we didn't have enough players. I will be more than happy to participate
 

Thomas Barnsley

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Yessss I ran a game like this a while ago. It operated a bit differently; the vague setting for all the characters was predefined, and winners would be determined by popular vote among the other contestants, with the competing players then collaborating together on a post that would describe how the fight went down. So basically the judging was focused less on a piece of writing and more on the specific character, and everyone would vote instead of select judges.

But I'd happily get involved with this as well! Need to think of a character though.

EDIT: I wouldn't mind a bit of clarification about the setting though. You said that the setting evolves with each winning fight, so that the things established in the arena that gets voted for become canon. But you also mention this Library, so that every setting is canon at the same time. How does that get reconciled, or have I misunderstood something?
 

Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)

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In a decayed run down library old books sit, rotting away along with their knowledge. But some pieces of knowledge refused to be forgotten no matter how much the world wants to forget about them. The pages of one of these old books opens and the hand emerges, more if it?s dead decomposing body emerges, an abomination beyond?

?Oh my God will you stop this melodrama?? The monster yelled? Hey what?s going on? Who said that?

?Okay first of all I?m not an abomination, Godzillarich, second of all my name is Chris. I know that you were planning on going to Google, find the French word that means scary, and name me that, but I got no time for that laziness.? Chris said? Okay how you talking to me? What is this?

?I?ll explain it for your dumb mind. Ever read those Creepypastas written by 10-year-olds about how fictional characters kill real-life people for stupidly vague reasons, well I?m one of them except for the part of trying to kill people. That?s not my style.? Chris told me as he walked around the library. ?Anyway because you terrible and making characters allow me to explain myself.

My powers: well being a very self-aware guy I can use that to my advantage to measure my opponents, and somewhat flex reality a little bit. I also know what the writers are planning in advance and can plan around that. I can also shoot lightning.

Description: because I?m too lazy, here?s an image from Google.

That seems unprofessional?

?Like you would?ve done any better, your writing is always awful.? Chris said like a jackass

Words hurt man?

?Anyway my back story is simple, I was created a few seconds ago. And that?s about it.? With his exclamation out of the way Chris looked around the library searching for something. ?Yo Godzillarich, any ideas where the hell that mystical door mshcherbatskaya was talking about is??

I have no clue, they didn?t really tell us about the specific details about that yet. I may have to wait on them before we continue...

?Nevermind found it. Your still completely useless.? Chris said as he walked in front of the door. ?Well no time like the present, let?s get this stupid tournament over with.? And with that Chris walked through the door.
 

JoJo

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Consider me interested. Will need to think up a character first :)
 

Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)

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mshcherbatskaya said:
Do we want to start small with 4 characters or do we want to try and get the full eight?
Well technically we have six or 7 depending on if doc wants to be a judge or a contestant. So can get one or two more people that would be cool.
 

JoJo

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mshcherbatskaya said:
Do we want to start small with 4 characters or do we want to try and get the full eight?
I'd say the ideal number would be eight players and three judges. If you're willing to serve as a judge too (should be compatible with being arena master), then we'd only need two more players and one more judge. Might be a good time to start dusting off any old RP contacts who are still lurking around.
 

mshcherbatskaya

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tf2godz said:
mshcherbatskaya said:
Do we want to start small with 4 characters or do we want to try and get the full eight?
Well technically we have six or 7 depending on if doc wants to be a judge or a contestant. So can get one or two more people that would be cool.
By my count, we have only one player (you) since no one else has submitted an actual character yet. Saying they are interested is great, but they aren't entered in the tournament until their character goes up.
 

Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)

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mshcherbatskaya said:
tf2godz said:
mshcherbatskaya said:
Do we want to start small with 4 characters or do we want to try and get the full eight?
Well technically we have six or 7 depending on if doc wants to be a judge or a contestant. So can get one or two more people that would be cool.
By my count, we have only one player (you) since no one else has submitted an actual character yet. Saying they are interested is great, but they aren't entered in the tournament until their character goes up.
Demon, Thomas, and JoJo are making characters as we speak, we are buddies. they are 100% playing.