The Fearsome Encounter (GBS3G8) [Round 3: Ark of Hope]
08-07-2011, 02:19 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
In a small, out-of-the-way pocket universe, one being of massive interdimensional power approached the seat of another. The latter, known to many as the Controller, sat in a chair surrounded by hanging cables, screens, and control panels, his eyes hidden behind rectangular glasses that reflected back images of beings stuck, for the moment, in a mist-shrouded swamp.
"Apprentice," he said, his voice slow and deliberate, "you've learned well. Eight months ago, by some timelines, you were nothing but a child, pulling your plaything from universe to universe and watching it suffer the same way over and over again. Under my tutelage, you've learned a great deal, and I think it's time... for a test. I want to see what you've learned."
The Apprentice, who stood before the chair, was quite obviously making an attempt to emulate his teacher. There were a few differences- rounded shades in the place of sharp, rectangular glasses, a sport coat over the top of the button-down shirt, and blonde hair sweeping back instead of pitch-black straight up.
"What sort of a test?" He was obviously eager; the Controller's lessons about hiding one's true intentions evidently hadn't had as much impact as some of the others.
His teacher didn't so much as pause at his pupil's lack of self-control. "You are familiar with a project of mine, the Gradual Massacre." He paused just long enough for the Apprentice to start to respond, then cut him off midway through the first syllable. One of the lessons he'd taught his student was that bigger wasn't always better- a tiny victory and a massive one could be equally satisfying.
"I've talked to the Fool, who's got another batch of them going, and he's agreed to allow us to run one of them."
"Us?"
"Us. You will be responsible for deciding on three of the round locations and four of the contestants. I will deal with the remaining four and five."
"...Nine contestants, Controller?"
"Come now." A smile played across his lips. "If we were to follow the formula to the letter, things would turn out just as they do in every other battle. I want this to be...
"...a truly Fearsome Encounter."
-
Welcome to the Fearsome Encounter, the eighth Grand Battle of the third season. Normally, I'd say something here like "I'm sure you're all down with the rules, but on the off-chance you're not hip to this jazz, go peep this other battle," but I decided not to. Instead, I'm going the boring route that doesn't involve words like "hip" and "jazz"- I'm just going to lay it all out right here. If you're already in on the game and know how it goes, you should still probably read sections two and three.
Section 1. Grand Battles In General
1.1: What's going on here?
The Apprentice, the Grandmaster of this battle, will be plucking up eight contestants from across the multiverse and pitting them against each other in a battle to the death. They'll be scattered around a setting for the first round, and once one of them dies, he'll be picking them all up again and moving them to a completely different place. This'll happen every time one of them dies, and eventually there will just be one contestant left standing. They'll presumably get some reward or something and be returned home. (Eventually, they'll find out about the All-Stars battle, which will feature the eight winners from Season 3 going through it all again, but not just yet.)
1.2: Writing over fighting.
Now, players can't just go killing other characters willy-nilly, that wouldn't be any fun. How this is actually going to work is different from how it'd seem in-game. Whichever writer is deemed to be the worst author of the bunch will be the one whose character dies at the end of the round. The final decision there rests with me, but I'll generally solicit opinions when the time comes.
1.3: Reserved.
In order to prevent a player from almost completing a post only to have someone else post right before them and mess it all up, players are allowed to reserve before they post. Simply post "Reserved" or some variant thereupon and for 24 hours, no one else is allowed to post until you do. Oftentimes people will respect them for longer, but that's the strict minimum I'm arbitrarily putting here. After that, others can technically post, even if they choose not to.
Section 2. How FE Differs
2.1: It's the season's villain battle.
In the last battle of Season 1, the Savage Brawl, it was decided that that battle was going to be a villains-only battle; all characters had to be villainous by some definition, whether they were viciously violent, scarily schemey, or alliteratively avaricious. When the last battle of Season 2 (the Great Belligerency) rolled around, the idea stuck, so here we go again. All characters in this battle have to be, by some stretch of the definition, a villain.
2.2: I've got some things up my sleeves.
If any of you have read the Gradual Massacre, which I'm also hosting, you may be familiar with a little character called Arnold Scarlet. I won't ruin the surprise if you haven't read it, but just be warned that I like to have a few plans here and there, and I'd hardly pass up the chance to do the same here.
2.3: I'm the goddamn Statman.
For those who don't know, the start of this battle was predicated on a few statistical requirements. Those were met, but there's an additional requirement that anyone who wants to play need to follow as well: If you're in any other battles, you must have posted in each at least once in the last 6 weeks. This is mostly because I'd like to avoid this battle falling prey to the inactivity that has plagued a number of others- users who don't have time to post in the battles they're already in more often than once every month-and-a-half probably don't need to be adding more to their plates.
Section 3: Pandering to the Judge
3.1: Post early and post often.
The number one thing that gets players killed is not posting enough. This'll be especially true here- considering what's happened to a number of battles I've been in, I'm not about to take people going inactive lightly.
3.2: Grammar, people!
The number two thing that gets players killed is bad grammar. If high school English class drilled one thing into me, it's decent grammar, so posting something riddled with grammatical errors is likely to place you thoroughly on the chopping block, even if your character is interesting or you've been telling an interesting story.
3.3: Play well with others.
Once those two requirements are passed, the real competition starts, where things like collaboration or plotting start to come into play. Players who talk to others (say, on the #grandbattle IRC channel) are likely to have a significant edge here, and playing towards my affinity for long-term plans could help you gain the edge as well. Remember, you're writing with a group of other people, and the more you do to make the game fun for all, the better your chances of coming out on top.
-
Players:
-Augustus and Azungrada (Dragon Fogel; #7C0FCA)
-Cepra Samedi (MalkyTop; #B22222)
-Cthaasa (Sanzh; #855F85)
-Encyclopedia (Mirdini; #000044)
-Mr. Saturday (50,000 Unstoppable Watts; #C41E3A)
-Parliament (Schazer; #900020)
-Pope Triumphian (Solaris; #305666)
-Redclaw (Akumu; #696969)
("Wait, no ninth? But he said-" Don't you worry about it.)
(Please try not to post right now. Decisions should be out in the next day or two, with the round start not far behind, and I'd like to get the game going atop page 2.)
In a small, out-of-the-way pocket universe, one being of massive interdimensional power approached the seat of another. The latter, known to many as the Controller, sat in a chair surrounded by hanging cables, screens, and control panels, his eyes hidden behind rectangular glasses that reflected back images of beings stuck, for the moment, in a mist-shrouded swamp.
"Apprentice," he said, his voice slow and deliberate, "you've learned well. Eight months ago, by some timelines, you were nothing but a child, pulling your plaything from universe to universe and watching it suffer the same way over and over again. Under my tutelage, you've learned a great deal, and I think it's time... for a test. I want to see what you've learned."
The Apprentice, who stood before the chair, was quite obviously making an attempt to emulate his teacher. There were a few differences- rounded shades in the place of sharp, rectangular glasses, a sport coat over the top of the button-down shirt, and blonde hair sweeping back instead of pitch-black straight up.
"What sort of a test?" He was obviously eager; the Controller's lessons about hiding one's true intentions evidently hadn't had as much impact as some of the others.
His teacher didn't so much as pause at his pupil's lack of self-control. "You are familiar with a project of mine, the Gradual Massacre." He paused just long enough for the Apprentice to start to respond, then cut him off midway through the first syllable. One of the lessons he'd taught his student was that bigger wasn't always better- a tiny victory and a massive one could be equally satisfying.
"I've talked to the Fool, who's got another batch of them going, and he's agreed to allow us to run one of them."
"Us?"
"Us. You will be responsible for deciding on three of the round locations and four of the contestants. I will deal with the remaining four and five."
"...Nine contestants, Controller?"
"Come now." A smile played across his lips. "If we were to follow the formula to the letter, things would turn out just as they do in every other battle. I want this to be...
"...a truly Fearsome Encounter."
-
Welcome to the Fearsome Encounter, the eighth Grand Battle of the third season. Normally, I'd say something here like "I'm sure you're all down with the rules, but on the off-chance you're not hip to this jazz, go peep this other battle," but I decided not to. Instead, I'm going the boring route that doesn't involve words like "hip" and "jazz"- I'm just going to lay it all out right here. If you're already in on the game and know how it goes, you should still probably read sections two and three.
Section 1. Grand Battles In General
1.1: What's going on here?
The Apprentice, the Grandmaster of this battle, will be plucking up eight contestants from across the multiverse and pitting them against each other in a battle to the death. They'll be scattered around a setting for the first round, and once one of them dies, he'll be picking them all up again and moving them to a completely different place. This'll happen every time one of them dies, and eventually there will just be one contestant left standing. They'll presumably get some reward or something and be returned home. (Eventually, they'll find out about the All-Stars battle, which will feature the eight winners from Season 3 going through it all again, but not just yet.)
1.2: Writing over fighting.
Now, players can't just go killing other characters willy-nilly, that wouldn't be any fun. How this is actually going to work is different from how it'd seem in-game. Whichever writer is deemed to be the worst author of the bunch will be the one whose character dies at the end of the round. The final decision there rests with me, but I'll generally solicit opinions when the time comes.
1.3: Reserved.
In order to prevent a player from almost completing a post only to have someone else post right before them and mess it all up, players are allowed to reserve before they post. Simply post "Reserved" or some variant thereupon and for 24 hours, no one else is allowed to post until you do. Oftentimes people will respect them for longer, but that's the strict minimum I'm arbitrarily putting here. After that, others can technically post, even if they choose not to.
Section 2. How FE Differs
2.1: It's the season's villain battle.
In the last battle of Season 1, the Savage Brawl, it was decided that that battle was going to be a villains-only battle; all characters had to be villainous by some definition, whether they were viciously violent, scarily schemey, or alliteratively avaricious. When the last battle of Season 2 (the Great Belligerency) rolled around, the idea stuck, so here we go again. All characters in this battle have to be, by some stretch of the definition, a villain.
2.2: I've got some things up my sleeves.
If any of you have read the Gradual Massacre, which I'm also hosting, you may be familiar with a little character called Arnold Scarlet. I won't ruin the surprise if you haven't read it, but just be warned that I like to have a few plans here and there, and I'd hardly pass up the chance to do the same here.
2.3: I'm the goddamn Statman.
For those who don't know, the start of this battle was predicated on a few statistical requirements. Those were met, but there's an additional requirement that anyone who wants to play need to follow as well: If you're in any other battles, you must have posted in each at least once in the last 6 weeks. This is mostly because I'd like to avoid this battle falling prey to the inactivity that has plagued a number of others- users who don't have time to post in the battles they're already in more often than once every month-and-a-half probably don't need to be adding more to their plates.
Section 3: Pandering to the Judge
3.1: Post early and post often.
The number one thing that gets players killed is not posting enough. This'll be especially true here- considering what's happened to a number of battles I've been in, I'm not about to take people going inactive lightly.
3.2: Grammar, people!
The number two thing that gets players killed is bad grammar. If high school English class drilled one thing into me, it's decent grammar, so posting something riddled with grammatical errors is likely to place you thoroughly on the chopping block, even if your character is interesting or you've been telling an interesting story.
3.3: Play well with others.
Once those two requirements are passed, the real competition starts, where things like collaboration or plotting start to come into play. Players who talk to others (say, on the #grandbattle IRC channel) are likely to have a significant edge here, and playing towards my affinity for long-term plans could help you gain the edge as well. Remember, you're writing with a group of other people, and the more you do to make the game fun for all, the better your chances of coming out on top.
-
Players:
-Augustus and Azungrada (Dragon Fogel; #7C0FCA)
-Cepra Samedi (MalkyTop; #B22222)
-Cthaasa (Sanzh; #855F85)
-Encyclopedia (Mirdini; #000044)
-Mr. Saturday (50,000 Unstoppable Watts; #C41E3A)
-Parliament (Schazer; #900020)
-Pope Triumphian (Solaris; #305666)
-Redclaw (Akumu; #696969)
("Wait, no ninth? But he said-" Don't you worry about it.)
(Please try not to post right now. Decisions should be out in the next day or two, with the round start not far behind, and I'd like to get the game going atop page 2.)