Would you participate in a deadly tournament?

[Breaker]

I'm working on an idea for an indie tourny, so I'll probably be posting a few polls to get a feel for what the people of Althanas want.

Today's poll asks the question: would you compete in a tournament without the safety net of the Ai'Bron monks? Knowing that if your character died, they died for good, would you still enter into the ranks and chase the prize? If it makes any difference, be aware that my tournament (if I run one) would feature the most overall prizes, as well as probably the biggest prizes, of any Althanas tournament.

Would you risk your character's life for a big reward? Please tell me why or why not below.

[Mari]

My lower tier characters, yes - but they'd die quickly.

Amari no; she is too tied in with too many storylines. I genuinely enjoy writing with her.In the future when her storylines are exhausted then b all means I'd throw her into a death match.

Although, Technically she'd be almost ok what with her revival ability :P


The question is, what is the limit on the death?

Say, if someone died, would if their character history and background allowed, would they be able to become etheral being (such as ELthas?)

Or would it be total death of the profile and persona?

[Breaker]

Althanas has a history of dead PCs coming back to life. In my personal opinion (which may be different from the official opinion), characters can always be brought back to life via quest. Flames of Hyperion sort of did this in his recent solo. The aim of this idea isn't to ruin anyone's fun, merely to raise the stakes and create a high risk, high reward scenario.

So to answer your question, I don't think it would mean the total death of the profile, but I will look into this further.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Defo.

I love the added pressure it puts on me to keep Shinsou alive. Not sure its suited to some of our newer members but if someone gave me the opportunity of a deathmatch i'd snap it up.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

I'd participate with Elthas since he's got a death wish.

I don't know how he'd fair against someone like Madison but I would be totes willing on a non-biased PKer situation.

I have had characters killed off the past and been totes fine with it. I'd just main alts (Like Nosdyn or Lexxum) if Elthas actually died in this.

But yes I'm totes in.

[Breaker]

Thanks a bunch for the feedback guys :)

To anyone just seeing this, I strongly encourage you to vote and leave comments!

To give a better answer to Mari's question, I've confirmed that there's not really such a thing as "permanent death" on Althanas. If you were to die in a tournament without the Ai'Bron safety net, you'd still be able to come back to life in a separate thread. No one's profile will be annexed, and no one will be told they can't revive their character creatively in a quest. In other words, the worst thing that can come from a deathmatch tournament is some cool character development.

[Ebivoulya]

Probably wouldn't hurt to repeat my thoughts here, so they can be discussed.

The idea sounds cool, but I worry about the fairness. The main problem I'm seeing is that people with higher-leveled characters will have a clear advantage, just by virtue of the fact that they have access to more ability slots. Since people are probably either going to be entering their low-level alts they don't mind losing, or their high-level characters they've gotten bored with, I forsee a large gap in character level. If that happens, you can guarantee not a single low-level character is making it through. The possibility of that will reduce the number of low-level entrants greatly, I imagine.

The solution to this is where I'm not certain. Trying to give low-level characters extra abilities just for this tournament is going to lead to a lot of self-healing and resistances, just to stay alive longer. Asking the higher-leveled characters to forgo some of their abilities will also lead to them cherry-picking which ones they keep based on survivability. You could perhaps figure the average level of entrants, then ask the higher-level characters to only use profiles of that level, but those old profiles could be hard to find for some.

Discuss.

[Storm Veritas]

I would not, in all likelihood. I really write with only one character, and have for ages. If he was made dead I'm not sure I'd want to start again from scratch.

[jdd2035]

I kind of have to agree with Storm. I have connected with very few characters in my role playing career as well as I have with Cain. I'd rather not lose him even if there is a chance at a Tia Delma type resurrection.

[Gum]

Sounds like a lot of fun! I would probably enter, as long as the other elements of the tournament suited me. I probably wouldn't enter if the arena was heavily restricted--like the cell or something like that. Also, I probably wouldn't enter if I was still dealing with the AC.

Although, I'm of the belief that no matter how strong an opponent might be, you'll always be able to "bullshit" your character out a bad situation. It happens in fiction all the time where ridiculous good luck saves the hero. The only thing stopping that would be peer pressure. I can already feel Ebi judging me for having a secret door conveniently open up to save my character from certain death. I suppose how the thread was judged might push a participant away from that kind of bullshit too?

Regardless, this is a really cool idea! Good luck with it, dude!

[Breaker]

@ Ebi those are some interesting ideas, but I'd prefer to avoid messing with peoples' profiles, for the reasons you noted and also because it would create a hassle for me. Plus I prefer to see players compete with their actual profiles.

What about something more in line with what Gum mentioned... just as an example, imagine a battle being held in a ring in a large field. Seriously injured combatants could step out of the ring, thus "eliminating" themselves (ICly, not OOCly). It'd be a sort of a yield option, but as always the winner at the end of the day would be the person who wrote the best game.

Also, regarding Gum's comment, this wouldn't be held until after the AC is completely over. Right now I'm just gauging interest :)

[Wander]

I have visions of Althanas Hunger Games.

[Ioder]

I would participate in a heartbeat. *Pops knuckles* cash me outside how bout da

[Breaker]

The poll has taken an interesting turn. More to come on this.

[Arthropleura]

No I am not interested in putting any of my characters through that. I'm willing to do many things,. But not kill them (yet)

[FennWenn]

I dunno, I'd probably be willing to put one of my guys in a deathmatch. I'm not sure that ICly, Fenn'd want to deathmatch without a fallback, but I could probably find some way to push him into the ring anyway. Now you have to fight the smol, suckers!

I mean, uh, may the odds be with you!

[Flamebird]

I'd be okay putting Ashla in a situation like that, because character development and she's kind of become a tank of shorts; but concerning Felicity, it would not be in her character (and she's level two.) From an IC perspective, she enjoys combat in all its bloody goodness, but she isn't cold hearted and would not enter a fight knowing somebody was going to die (except maybe severe necessity.) OOCly, I can see reviving Ashla working, but not Felicity.

Would I entire a tournament knowing my character would die permanently (aside another thread of revival, obviously)? ... Well... it all depends on both IC and OOC reasons...

[Warpath]

I'd do it. Nothing cements a character's cool factor like dying gloriously.

You should do it so the character's owner and the character's killer each get a followup post after the judgment. Like, the fight ends, it's judged, and then there are two more posts to wrap it up (maybe with bonus rewards? I dunno). The idea is, the writer gets to control how his dude (or dudette) bites it, and their murderer gets a chance to react. Killing someone after a pitched battle ought to have an impact on the survivor.

[Venex Apara]

I think a big level one tournament would be cool and probably the most fair.

[Breaker]

I think a big level one tournament would be cool and probably the most fair.

There is a tournament which caters to lower level characters, I believe it's called the Magus Cup.

WELL. This poll has gotten more yes votes than I ever expected, so I think we'll have to do this. Look for more information and registration once the Osiris Open is complete!