Althanversary Tournament Information Thread

[Ther]

Who: You, the players of Althanas. Althanaversary will be able to accomodate up to 32 players.

What: Althanaversary, the new January tournament to celebrate 5 years of Althanas.

Where: All Althanaversary-related registration threads and tournament threads will take place in this forum.

When: Registration for Althanaversary will begin on Friday, January 19th, at 12 A.M. E.S.T. The first 32 players who register will be enrolled in the tournament.

Why: Because we rule.

How (The Rules): Althanaversary is a one-on-one tournament where players get to choose the match-ups. When players register, they must choose to be in one of four brackets (Bracket I, II, III, or IV) - those players who register earliest will have their choice of brackets but will be unsure of who else is in it, while those who register latest may have less brackets to choose from but a better knowledge of who is in their bracket. Once registration has ended, players will then have 3 days to essentially create the match-ups in one of their brackets, and submit them to the tournament host. Players may choose any bracket to create match-ups in, but they can only submit ONE bracket. It need not be their own. 4 brackets will be chosen at random (one for each group of players), and the round will begin, at which point it will be a standard one-on-one battle. This process will continue up to the final round. BRACKETS ARE NOT REQUIRED - you need not make one to participate.

Because this is rather complicated, allow me to illustrate:

------------------------
Cyrus the Virus, Santhalas, Witchblade, Serilliant, hamnat, Slayer of the Rot, Ira Shinkara, and Dante are all in Bracket I. Santhalas, looking for an early advantage and an easy first round, makes the bracket he submits the following:

Santhalas vs. Serilliant
Cyrus the Virus vs. Witchblade
hamnat vs. Dante
Slayer of the Rot vs. Ira Shinkara.

Santhalas's bracket is chosen, so the match-ups he selected will occur in the first round. He easily wins his battle against Serilliant, and advances along with Witchblade, hamnat, and Ira Shinkara.
-------------------------

The winner of the tournament will receive 3,000 GP and 40% of the EXP required to go up a level (or 2,000 EXP, whichever amount is the larger).

So with that said, are there any questions?

[Slayer of the Rot]

Yeah, I got a question.

Why is it that it's Ira Shinkara moving on, eh? Talk about a vote of non-confidence.

[Lucien]

...He easily wins his battle against Serilliant... I'd like to see that day. ;)

Does anyone else get EXP?

[Ther]

Yeah, there's normal EXP awards for the battles, obviously. And second place can get 15% of the EXP needed to go up a level (in addition to normal battle EXP, of course) while third place will get 10%.

[Sighter Tnailog]

I assume you mean the night that spans Thursday the 18th to Friday the 19th, correct? In the past people, mods included, have misinterpreted the meaning of 12 AM.

[Christina Bredith]

Subtle, Santh. Real subtle. I expect a Santh vs. Serilliant battle now, even if it's not part of the tournament. ;)

Anyway, I like this idea now! I had no idea what you were on about the first time you mentioned it, but now I understand. It sounds super-cool. ^^

[Witchblade]

Whoo!

I like this tournament idea because I've already won against Cyrus and Slayer!

[Ther]

I assume you mean the night that spans Thursday the 18th to Friday the 19th, correct? In the past people, mods included, have misinterpreted the meaning of 12 AM.

Yes, exactly. 12 A.M. being a little under two full days from now. 9 P.M. PST on Thursday, for those on the West Coast.

[Raelyse]

I have two issues:

Is there going to be a cool IC name for this tournament?

I might be out during that time, but I really wanna be in. Any way I could get in? It's your stupid timezones

[INDK]

What's the ruling on multiple characters by the same author?

Also, how will the second round work. To use your example, if Santhalas, hamnat , Ira Shinkara and Witchblade advance, will you have everyone make a new set of brackets for the round? Otherwise will you make it something where people have to say in their bracket something like winner of Santh/Serilliant faces winner of hamnat/Dante?

[Storm Veritas]

Only 32 available slots, huh? I'll have to make sure I'm on right on time then.

[Uukan Kimari]

Why does have to start right when Idun wants to meet in Long Island? You bastard, Santha. :P I'm fooling. It was your idea I hang out with her and join this tourny.

[Omegastar]

why does regristration have to start when im usually in bed

Ba Hum Bug on you

it looks like ill have to stay up late to register i am for sure getting omega in on this perfect place to show of his skills and what not.

[Ther]

Is there going to be a cool IC name for this tournament?

No, probably not.


I might be out during that time, but I really wanna be in. Any way I could get in? It's your stupid timezones

I doubt there will be a problem with people being able to register (I don't think all the slots will be filled in one day), but if the 32 slots fill-up and there's still 15-20 people wanting in, then I could see


What's the ruling on multiple characters by the same author?

It won't be allowed at first - if for some reason we're lacking 32, or the above situation occurs when more players want to join and we can bump it up to 64, then multiple characters would be allowed.


Also, how will the second round work. To use your example, if Santhalas, hamnat , Ira Shinkara and Witchblade advance, will you have everyone make a new set of brackets for the round? Otherwise will you make it something where people have to say in their bracket something like winner of Santh/Serilliant faces winner of hamnat/Dante?

Brackets of 8, like the first. The winners from Bracket 1 and Bracket 2 will be combined, and the winners from Bracket 3 and 4 will be combined.


Only 32 available slots, huh?

Yeah, that's about the level of demand I'd anticipated, but if there's drastically more wanting in I could see expanding the number of slots, as I mentioned above.


Why does have to start right when Idun wants to meet in Long Island?

Yeah, I was going to say - I don't think she's suddenly flying out of Georgia in the middle of the night to disrupt your Althanas plans.

[Solomon]

When and where do we submit the match-ups for the brackets we created?

[Zook Murnig]

I'm definitely in, unless my girlfriend goes into labor before this starts. Crazy kids.

[Elrundir]

When and where do we submit the match-ups for the brackets we created?
As he said, this will be done once registration has ended. Presumably they'll either be PMed or there will be a topic made for the purpose of registering brackets.

[Ther]

I haven't decided yet whether brackets should be public or private. Anyone have any preferences?

[INDK]

I don't really see what making them private does. It may send a sign that someone is "dodging" someone else, or see who wants to be a bully and give themselves the easiest possible road to the finals, but I think public shaming might be a good way to make sure we get more interesting matchups.

[Letho]

How long will the rounds be? Two weeks as usual perhaps?

[Arsenic Ruin]

Im in, that is if Im not to late.

[Ashiakin]

Registration starts at 12 AM EST on Friday, January 19th, Arsenic.

[Ther]

How long will the rounds be? Two weeks as usual perhaps?

I'm still debating on that, but I don't see why rounds need to be any longer then 7-10 days. It's a one-on-one battle only, so I don't see why they should take that long.

[Ashiakin]

Is there going to be no IC context for the tournament?

[Cyrus the virus]

I dunno, I can't see any battles shorter than 2 weeks finishing, except those by two members who are perfectly coordinated and who can post as soon as it's their turn.

[Ashiakin]

I dunno, I can't see any battles shorter than 2 weeks finishing, except those by two members who are perfectly coordinated and who can post as soon as it's their turn.

I tend to agree with this. Two weeks would be ideal, but ten days would be acceptable.

[Storm Veritas]

I dunno, I can't see any battles shorter than 2 weeks finishing, except those by two members who are perfectly coordinated and who can post as soon as it's their turn.

In my experience, there's also a large contingent of folks who will sign up, and then not show up. Just the way it goes. You could give them six months and they wouldn't finish a thread. Because of the new rubric, not finishing a thread doesn't really hurt your score as much as it used to.

I think either ten days or two weeks would be fine, also that single-week long rounds would be fine too (provided judges could turn scores around quickly). I would strongly suggest against extending the tournament rounds longer than that, since it seems to help tourneys lose steam more easily.

[Elrundir]

10 days seems like a good compromise between the two.

[Sir Fedlund Overby]

Could we say that battles that are under X number of posts, the person who dissappeared automatically loses, so the uncommited won't advance to the next round to screw things up further?

EX: Bugar Head vs. Snot Nose
Bugar Head posts first day
Snot Nose posts second day
Bugar Head posts fourth day
Snot nose never shows his face again

Bugar Head automatically advances.

X to be determined.

[Cyrus the virus]

Yeah, Storm, but when we start running our tournaments in a way that doesn't cater to those who actually participate, there's a problem. I'd feel weird if our main reasoning for short rounds is "the inactive people wouldn't have posted anyway".

[Raelyse]

Is there going to be no IC context for the tournament?

I'm worried about this too.

[Ther]

Yeah, no IC context for the tournament. Set it up like you would a normal battle.

[Zieg dil' Tulfried]

We need IC reasoning, or there are going to be some pretty awful stories and this will be a big flop. Not to mention a completely random series of battles that just happens to look much like a tournament is kinda strange.

[Lost Without You]

Hey, here's a thought. You guys could actually *gasps* CREATE a UNIQUE storyline for your battles! Wow, I'da never thunk it possible. A tourney where we, the players, get to choose our storylines...i love it santh!

[grim137]

The only problem is that some characters litterally have no reason to ever meet each other, much less fight. While the create your own storyline thing would work great between certain characters, with out reason for some of our characters to fight (as I suspect will be the case in a lot of situations) most storylines will turn into little more than "I'm bored lets fight".

[Lost Without You]

Then maybe, just maybe, those people should NOT reg for the tourney? Let those creative enough duke it out.

[Dissinger]

In that case its on the roleplayers to figure it out. It could be for any number of reasons and remember Grim, not all fights are to the death. Lets take Seth and Letho for example. Letho is an official, if he were to catch Seth stealing he would of course run down the dirty thief. Cornering Seth produces the fight and the thread has a storyline. It doesn't take much to create one, if anything it forces you to be creative, and since thats the goal, I'm all for it.

[Lost Without You]

I'm with Pat...lol.

[Sir Fedlund Overby]

While I agree that creativity is good, if we were to create a storyline, why not make it an anniversary, like it is supposed to be?

Think of someone/something important in Radasanth or somewhere that happened a long time ago that is worthy of an anniversary and host a big tournament for it.

[Uukan Kimari]

This is how the first tornament took place, before the map ever came out. All we had was Corone because no one role-played in the other forums. I feel like an old fogey, now.

[Lost Without You]

But you ARE an old fogey Uukan!

[Zook Murnig]

Perhaps the anniversary of the opening of the Citadel, that way there's an IC reason for everyone to be resurrected and people can choose their own arena.

Which is something I was wondering about. Is the arena set overall as the same for every fight, is it set before each fight by a mod, or do the participants of each fight choose the battlefield?

[Uukan Kimari]

Well I am not feeling Uukan anymore, so I might make a new character by tonight for the tornament. *whips out his cane.*

[Ther]

We need IC reasoning, or there are going to be some pretty awful stories and this will be a big flop.


On the contrary - the last time I ran a tournament (and the 4-7 times I have before), The Cell (which WASN'T a flop, mind you), I heard incredibly similar introductions in many of the posts. Knowing what I do now, if I were to read those same style of introductions over again, I don't think I'd be as lenient on the scores.


Not to mention a completely random series of battles that just happens to look much like a tournament is kinda strange.

In what way? How does a tournament battle different from a normal battle? This is a writing competition, after all.


The only problem is that some characters litterally have no reason to ever meet each other, much less fight.

Hogwash. You can give me a stick and a ball of twine and I'll find someway to get them a conflict (granted, it'd be rather absurdist, but you know what I mean).


While the create your own storyline thing would work great between certain characters, with out reason for some of our characters to fight (as I suspect will be the case in a lot of situations) most storylines will turn into little more than "I'm bored lets fight".

Perhaps you should create your bracket accordingly, if you think you're going to have that problem.


Think of someone/something important in Radasanth or somewhere that happened a long time ago that is worthy of an anniversary and host a big tournament for it.

Exactly. If players want to create their own tournament, they can do so as well. Surprise me, use Althanas content.


Which is something I was wondering about. Is the arena set overall as the same for every fight, is it set before each fight by a mod, or do the participants of each fight choose the battlefield?

Players can create any environment they wish, of course. A hint: Setting isn't a measure of how creative your setting is as much as it is a measure of how the setting fits organically into the story (how it affects the story, makes sense with the story, etc.).

[Solomon]

I'm a little confused now. What is the extent of no IC content? Your character cannot draw on past memories or feelings to sway their performance in battle? Can they mention things that led them here and inspired them, or is everything completely there and then?

Sorry I'm so out of the blue, but this is the first tournament I'll be participating in (So long as I make the list in time) and I don't want to mess it up for anyone!

[Lost Without You]

Solomon, your post is right on point. Your char can draw on anything. In other tournaments here on Althanas, there is usually an overarching storyline. In this one, there's none. You make this tournment what you will. It's up to US to make it good, not the mods.


EDIT: Let it be known I INTENTIONALLY chose group III cuz Madison is in it! I shall PWN thee Madison!

[Elrundir]

I'm a little confused now. What is the extent of no IC content? Your character cannot draw on past memories or feelings to sway their performance in battle? Can they mention things that led them here and inspired them, or is everything completely there and then?

Sorry I'm so out of the blue, but this is the first tournament I'll be participating in (So long as I make the list in time) and I don't want to mess it up for anyone!
That's correct. The only difference with this tournament is that... I suppose you'd say it's not ICly taking place anywhere. The Cell, for example, was something that actually took place in the IC world (in Gisela, was it?). This tournament has no such anchor.

But as Santh said, you do get to set up your brackets how you like. Of course there's no guarantee that your bracket will be picked, but as long as people don't choose brackets for silly reasons (which could end up hurting them in the end) instead of fights that could be interesting and could work well story-wise, then we shouldn't have too much of a problem. Besides, I think this gives you a little more chance to score those story points. How many times does a judge want to read "Character X is waiting in his corner of the battlefield for the fight to begin"?

[Fenris]

Sweet. So far I'm up against a level 6, a level 5, and a level 3.

The term "dismemberment" comes to mind...

Hoo boy.

[Lost Without You]

Ok, Elrundir, that's not even funny...not EVEN funny. Just cuz I'm going to be an easy win for you doesn't mean you just AUTOMATICALLY choose my division. Besides, Aurora mantra "divide and conquer"...wait...wrong PG :-p You shall rue the day my friend! Oh, and good luck!

[Elrundir]

Pfft, don't get too worked up now. ;) I just haven't RPed with Sighter in ages is all. If it has to be at opposite ends of an earth-shattering spell, then so be it.

[Lost Without You]

Lol. Hey, if you want Maddy first, have at him. I'll take whomever else decides our division is where it's at(and it is!).

[Zieg dil' Tulfried]

I also chose to join the group with Fin and Elrundir. This is going to be fun.

[Lost Without You]

Lol. Our group is going to be HELLA difficult. Now if only everyone knew who I was..........................

[Ataraxis]

Hehe, chose the Third Division too. I didn't think really long about this, I now realize...

And how the hell am I supposed to fight you people? Oo I haven't gotten my End-Quest Ability-Spoils yet.

Crud. Stupid me.

[Uukan Kimari]

Fallen Angel? :P I just glaced at your profile. Now that I think about, Fallen is close to Maddy, so you would have to be MY BEST FRIEND ON AIM. OMG

[Cyrus the virus]

Oh God... Everyone's going to want to see Luc-Dan part III, aren't they?

And we were going to wait until level 10 :(

[Lost Without You]

And now Ataraxis? Wow...what a bunch of nobodies huh? We're doomed to suck...

[Cyrus the virus]

Ataraxis rules. I wish he was a girl so I could justify my crush on him.

Also, some of you fuckers need to choose avatars or I'm not going to know who you are, ever.

[Ataraxis]

You know I yearn for your sweet, Canadian skin too, Cy.

<3

Heh, I don't get this hype with this Ataraxis dude/ette. It's like, a librarian, get over yourself!

[/rant]

[Uukan Kimari]

Go Logan go!

haha, I knew your AIM from Althanas chat.

[Lost Without You]

Lol. I refuse to respond that with anything other than LOL.

[Sighter Tnailog]

I must say, Division III will be the height of excitement.

And I'm gonna show you wannabes what elves are made of. Except Elrundir, who I'll show what a REAL elf is made of.

[Lost Without You]

What "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice"? We already know you're full of sugar Finny, lol. Besides, you've never heard Farasrian's favorite line...

"Seraphim never die."

[Sighter Tnailog]

I distinctly hope that your Seraph has six wings, two over your face, two over your feet, and two to fly, because Findelfin is itching to clip them.

[Lost Without You]

Finny, my seraph doesn't need wings to beat you. All he needs is a mind, cuz that's still twice as much as you got ;-)

[Sighter Tnailog]

I'll look forward to watching that mind spill onto the pavement. Seraph or not, I'm sure Ainalindil...a blade that seems to be pretty effective against those whose fall from grace renders them vulnerable to holiness...will prove its worth.

[Lost Without You]

And this is why you get Culix in round one in my bracket ;-) Yes, the fallen seraphim is aware of the blade and fears it heavily. Let it be known, however, that his fear of the blade will not quelch his desire to be rid of holy beings and artifacts :-p Besides, take a trip over to the dark side, Finny, you might like it!

[Ashiakin]

Wow, I didn't think this tournament would fill up so fast. It never has before. My internet broke and hour before registration last night. I was looking forward to participating. Oh well. How likely is the possibility of expanding the number of participants since the registration went so quickly?

[Ther]

It's really dependent on how many other people want to participate - if we can get 32 more players to sign up for a second conference (including people with multiple accounts) then that'd be great. Even if we can get 24, I might be able to work something out that's fair to both conferences.

So if you're reading this, and you didn't get into Conference one, please please please register for Conference two as soon as possible.

[Dirge]

(including people with multiple accounts)

I'm on it! I was about to ask that question, I'm glad it was already responded to. Somebody's phychic...

[Djakara]

If we have two conferences, will we be allowed to submit a bracket per conference?

[Farmboy]

I'm feeling pretty confident with my bracket, unless I get Raelyse in the first round. Then I'd be screwed. XD

[Ther]

If we have two conferences, will we be allowed to submit a bracket per conference?

No, one bracket only, although you could pick a bracket in the other conference (if it occurs).

[Osato]

When, if we know yet, does this shindig start? Or are we waiting to see if the second bracket fills?

[Uukan Kimari]

Monday 12 am est

So tonight.

[grim137]

I take it that because the second set of brackets didn't get filled those of us in them aren't going to get to compete when this thing starts.

[Ther]

Yeah, match-ups should start later this week.

[Dirge]

Awesome, thanks peeps!

[Sevellus]

I must say, Division III will be the height of excitement.

And I'm gonna show you wannabes what elves are made of. Except Elrundir, who I'll show what a REAL elf is made of.

Um, I dont mean to be rude, but you probably will lose to an elf. And it wont be Elrundir.

But hey, it wont be the first time people close to the double digits lose to a level zero, so dont take it too hard, eh?

[Atzar]

I'm feeling pretty confident with my bracket, unless I get Raelyse in the first round. Then I'd be screwed. XD

We'll see, amigo. We'll see.

And in the interest of being on-topic... do we know when this tournament kicks off?

EDIT: Yes, we do. I love being blind... :D

[Spirit Hunters]

Just to clarify, I'm not sure if it's posted somewhere else and I missed it or what, but are conference 1 and conference 2, two seperate tournaments?

or will the winner of conference 1 go on to face the winner of conference 2 in the final round?

[Ther]

They will face each other, yes.

[Sid]

When is conference II starting?

[Storm Veritas]

Conference I is closed, correct?

I thought it was supposed to be over last Friday, but I'm not sure if that has been changed.

[Cyrus the virus]

It's closed, yeah. Go try to post in one of the threads.

[Storm Veritas]

Ooh, clever!

I was looking for the little padlock dealies, which are absent.

Nice.

[Cyrus the virus]

Bring it, little kitty.

[Yamihara]

Bring it on, hot shot!

Do tell Izvilvin I have his name engraved on one of my knuckles!

...OK, so maybe not. But having his teethmarks embedded in them steel ones is definitely what I've got planned!

O~ttsu!

[Cyrus the virus]

Izvilvin's teeth will break your hand, skanky foo!