Battle System for Arcs

From HollowWiki

Battle System for Arcs

Originally conceived for Surface Tension!


If you are in an arc that will soon have a battle, and that has choosen to use this system, please read this page carefully.


This battle system seeks to address the problem of day-long battle rps in which everyone is posting once every 1.5 hours, no character is linked to any clear results, and the only outcome possible after all that work is the outcome everyone expected when they started the RP 12 hours earlier.


To avoid this, this battle system hosts a series of “Champion Spotlights”. The champions are all of our characters. The spotlights are the duels.


In each spotlight, characters on each side will face off against each other. Each side will be matched by strength. For example, a dragon won’t go up against a ranger. A dragon would go up against either a very, very powerful magic user, or a rag-tag team of plucky heroes whose combined strength makes the fight more realistic.


Duels will be judged. It is recommended that there be two judges per spotlight who must decide together, unanimously, which side wins. This means that if they disagree, they have to talk it through among themselves, weigh the pros and cons on each side, etc. This ensures a more thorough examination of each spotlight. Arc leaders are free to use the traditional three judges if they so wish.


The stakes are what make this system unique. The stakes are a major beneficial outcome for your side in the arc. In other words, the stake is story. Let's look at a couple of examples.

Examples

Let’s imagine a fictional drow v. elves battle takes place at the former Drow Military Camp in Southern Sage. Below are two Champion Spotlights listing characters and stakes. Remember these are just examples and do not reflect actual arrangements or stakes.


Champion Spotlight One, at the slave pens:

Gevurah and Rauva v. Gilwen and Rhosorien


Stakes:

If Gevurah and Rauva win, this means that in the battle at large the elves suffered more casualties than the drow, and that 15 elves were captured into slavery, among them one of the NPC members of the Elven council.

If Rhosorien and Gilwen win, this means that in the battle at large the drow suffered more casualties than elves, and that the elven slaves that were not killed were rescued effectively by the Elven army.


Champion Spotlight Two, at the watchtower:

Daath v. Gheneroc

Stakes:

If Daath wins, this means that his actions directly led to the drow maintaining their control of the tower and from it launching a massive attack to break the line of invading elves and keep a significant chunk of the insurgents at bay.

If Gheneroc wins, this means that his actions destroyed the top half of the drow’s watchtower, effectively ruining their ability to survey the forest from above and defend their camp with archers for some time.

Rules

  1. None of the stakes will capture, maim, or kill a PC. Unless you want that for your character growth, then tell your arc leader what you want to risk.
  2. Characters with NPCs must leave their NPCs out of the judged battle. The IC reason is up to you. For example, with Gevurah’s entourage of rogues, they’ll just get lost in the shuffle of battle. Boom. They’re out. Arc leaders may nullify this role at their discretion.
  3. Once the groups and stakes are set, everyone will have a set amount of time to do their champion spotlight duels. If champions don’t complete their spotlight in the allotted time, the stakes are voided, arc leaders will pick a result, but you get no glory.
  4. Judges will then have 5 days to judge. If judges fail to judge within five days, arc leaders will look for substitutes. Worst case scenario, arc leaders will decide it themselves.
  5. Suggested time or world count limits:
    1. For real time duels: 20 minute posting limit.
    2. For hmail duels: 400+ 50 plus every additional opponent = maximum limit per post. Let's not over tax our volunteer judges' times! What does the + 50 mean? Say Gevurah is facing off against 3 opponents, She gets 400 words for the first opponent, then +50 for each additional opponent (2 more), so Gevurah would have a word limit of 500.


Dueling and Judging Guidelines

Check out this nifty rating system! <--- This guide has an explainer on how to judge group duels like 2 v 3.

Like this? What do you need to do to participate?

Hmail your arc leader. Briefly describe your character’s capabilities if you think they're not familiar with them.


Not interested in dueling, but interested in judging? Hmail the arc leader. Volunteers are needed!