Gevurah's Duel Judging Guide

This following guide is adapted from this Judging Guide and Dueling 101.

Read the guides linked to above if you don’t understand what “power gaming” means. This guide also hates power gaming, and assumes that if you’re reading this, you know what it is and how to identify it.

Rubric

The following rubric is designed to help judges quantify their qualitative assessment of a duel.

Category	Definition	Rating Scale	Scale Guide
Story	Duels exist within a narrative and setting. Motivations for all parties involved affect the tone/mood of the battle, and the environment has an effect on the duel.	0 to 2 points	2 – The duelist took into account each character’s motives and perspectives (including their opponents), as well as the setting. They used this knowledge creatively and added to the greater story that brought them here in the first place. 1 – The duelist took into account the setting, but not any motives. There is no explanation for why these people are even here or care about the fight. 0 – The duel could have taken place anywhere between any two characters and you’d never know the difference.
Creativity	Attacks and defenses were unique and inspired.	-1 to 3 points	3 - The duelist was ingenious throughout the duel, especially in how they used their skills, their setting, and/or their opponents combat traits. 2 – At least one post really blew their opponent out of the water. 1 – The duelist did not use similar attacks or defenses, and the posts made creative use of their race and class. 0 – The duelist did not use similar attacks or defenses, and the posts were of good standard stock for their race and class. -1 - The duelist kept stabbing over and over, or using magic missiles over and over.
Continuity	Battle causes fatigue, and past actions and injuries affect future attacks and defenses.	-1 to 1 point	1 – The duelist kept in mind previous attacks and defenses, and acknowledged wear and tear. 0 – The posts flowed naturally as a sequence of events, but wear and tear never came into play. -1 – The duelist outright contradicted a previous attack. For example, wielding a sword with a hand that was badly hurt in a previous attack.
Realism	Everything that happens makes sense.	-1 to 1 point	1 – Nothing that happened raised the judge’s eyebrows. It makes sense for the race, class, character history, RP history, setting, etc. 0 – Maybe reality was bent a little bit, but whatever, this is a fantasy game. Let it pass. -1 – Something that makes no sense just happened.
Style/Flow	The quality and legibility of each post.	-1 to 1 point	1 – Each post was entertaining and easy to follow. 0 – Judges infrequently had to reread a section to understand what happened, and doing so led to clarity. -1 – Despite rereading passages, what happened remains unclear. Posts were convoluted.
Sportsmanship	A courteous, respectful, and generous approach to the duel.	-3 to 1 point	1 – The duelist played with their opponent in a manner that was notably spirited and positive, conceding to their opponent’s best moments by taking damage, and never “subtly” mocking them for missteps. No power gaming present. 0 – The duelist couldn’t help but point out a few flaws in their opponent, but the tone was never mocking and the duelist took damage when appropriate. No power gaming was present. -1 – No power gaming was present, but the duelist was totally snarking in their prose and thought no one could tell, but everyone could totally tell. Don’t be that guy. Example “ThatGuy is amazed that his opponent can dodge 4 daggers strategically placed to land at least a nick! But no matter, ThatGuy has other tricks up his sleeve…” Don’t. If the opponent isn’t playing fair or is power gaming, trust that the judges know this. If you do this, you look like a butthead. -2 – No snark detected, but the duelist was power gaming throughout, showing more concern with trapping their opponent than with engaging in the play of battle. -3 – Snark and power gaming?! ThatOtherGuy is the worst. Heavy penalty for this shenanigan.
RP History^	(Optional) The character has a long RP history or admin-approved high level which makes it a tougher opponent than most.	0 to 2 points	2 – Character with a massive RP history, great power, and/or prominent role in the game, who has earned the skills they use in the duel. 1 – Character with noteworthy RP history, impressive power, and/or key role in the game. 0 – Everyone else.

^ Judges do not need to take RP History into account at all. Hey, Bard the Bowman got lucky and killed Smaug, right? Sometimes crazy things happen. However, if you do feel that RP history should come into play out of respect for what characters have achieved, that is absolutely valid too.

Scoring

Starting from 0, simply add or subtract points for each duelist in each category (RP History being optional). This leaves a maximum score of 9 (or 11 for judges who choose to award points to established characters).

Notice there is no category for spelling, punctuation, and grammar (SPAG). So long as the judge can understand what is happening, SPAG mistakes get a pass. If SPAG is so bad that the judge cannot understand what is happening, then detract one point from Style/Flow.

Also, let’s say a duelist does something that is not realistic more than once. The judge should not detract a point every time this happens. You simply detract one point whether it happens once or more than once. The same applies for every other rubric that has negative point allocations.

Duels with More than One Opponent on Each Side

If you decide to use the rubric, you may be asking yourself what to do if one side of the duel has more than one player. You pit the highest ranking opponent on each side against each other.

So let’s say it’s

James, Harriet, and Gus versus Birdie

You use the rubric and assign the following scores:

James: 6

Harriet: 9

Gus: 4

V

Birdie: 8

Who wins? James, Harriet, and Gus, because their highest score, Harriet (9), beat the other side highest score, Birdie (8).

Do not average scores. It will just create resentment. Harriet would feel rightfully robbed if she lost because she was placed in a team that she feels brought her down (their average would be 6.33).

By taking the highest score, the best duelist earns the win. James and Gus get experience dueling and a good time. Birdie did her best as she would have done whether fighting solo or in a team.

Do Judges Need to Reveal Scores?

Nope! If you use this rubric, keep it to yourself. Why invite such scrutiny and potential drama? This is for you to use and never share with anyone.

It is also wise to refrain from announcing whether or not you award points based on character history. Announcing it will invite harassment from players trying to get two points, whether you choose to award points or not.

You may tell the duelists what you liked about their posts, but keep the numbers game out of it. This is meant to help judges more methodically choose a winner.

Control Moves

A control move is any attack that restricts movement in the opponent, such as pinning, paralysis or sleep. Because they can be battle-enders, it's easy to slip into power gaming with control moves.

Magic users should be especially sensitive to what their control moves do. In general, control moves via mind control is considered poor form. Any sentient NPC meant to restrain the opponent is a power game move (e.g. the ghoul assistant grabs the opponent from behind with super strength).

If you’re going to use a toxin that causes paralysis, be careful. This is hard to do without power gaming. Localized paralysis (just this arm!) can be done effectively if the attack to land the toxin isn’t a power game attack. For example, toxin that can only be transmitted by touch, or has a reasonable area-of-effect.

If after reading this you’re still unsure how to use control moves wisely, then just don’t. Stay away from control moves.

Don’t Pee In the Pool

This shouldn’t need to be said, but must be said anyway, like “no peeing in the pool.”

Judges are smart, and just as much a part of the Hollow culture and history as the duelists. They have a sense of reasonable typing speed and the dueling capability and style of each duelist (in most cases). So a judge will know if a duel attack was pre-written, or if another player is fighting on behalf of a character that is not theirs. Just don’t do this. If a judge smells cheating and has decent evidence, the cheater loses and admin get involved.