Special thanks to Blackberry for introducing the game, as well as diligent modding!
To participate, simply post "/in" in the thread and send me a PM with two powers.
If you don't want to pick any powers, PM the mod and he'll select two powers on your behalf.
Once I have received all powers I will reveal the powers and the bidding phase will begin.
Communication in private will be permitted after the bidding phase has begun.
You may select a superhero name now, or after you have won your powers.
(Borrowed from Blackberry)
Sign-ups:
1. Burning_Earth
2. Save the Dragons
3. Blackberry
4. Thurhame
5. DiplomatDC
6. Dessew
7. KingdomAces
8. Aronis
Last edited by Caycedo on Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:38 pm, edited 16 times in total.
Great to have you both aboard! Send me a message with the powers you would like to submit for auction, or let me know if you want me to select some on your behalf.
Friends, as we are attracting more players and our game is filling up, I will be willing to start once we have at least seven players. That being said, I feel that the quality of the game is enhanced with a greater number of players, but I will defer to your collective will when it comes to starting.
You pace nervously in the dark, fiddling with your heads-up display. Through the walls, you hear the low roar of a crowd eager for the bloodshed and mayhem that has become the hallmark of the Arena. It feels like a lifetime ago when you yourself sat in one of the thousands of seats, eager for jets of flame, gnashing teeth or vile toxins to bring glorious death to the newly-minted meta-humans laying waste to each other far below you.
Suddenly, the walls before you begin to rumble open, the harsh light of the Arena streaming through. The clamor of the crowd assaults your ears, and as you step through the opening, you see the Arena from a very different angle.
Why had you come here, risking your life? Fame? Wealth and Power? Justice? Validation? Revenge? Escape? As you look around you, you see that seven other individuals stand between you and the goal upon which you are willing to gamble your life.
The Arena itself changes with every season. This year, it is mocked up to resemble a squalid sprawl of bombed-out tenements, inundated with knee-deep stinking sewage. Probably best to avoid falling in. From your platform, you easily step out onto one of the rooftops, making note of the stairwells descending into the building's interior. A useful place to hide?
Your examination is cut short as the walls seal up behind you and a familiar booming voice echoes through the arena. Despite the roar of the crowd, the thunderous words of the Prince ring in your ears.
"Welcome, dear friends, to my humble playground. Make yourselves at home!" His shrill laughter grates your eardrums.
"I applaud your courage. You have taken your life into your own hands, as you seek a prize beyond measure. Rest assured, dear ones, that should you survive my Arena, you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams."
The Prince continues, cackling: "But let's get on with it, shall we? You know the drill, eager combatants. As a test of your dedication, you must secure the tools of victory with your own life force. Consider your choice carefully, as your life will never be the same!"
Your heads-up display is whirs to life, and is populated with the following list:
Dear Players, questions have been answered to the best of my ability in your posts. Please understand that I am working to ensure that there are no complications when it comes to the interactions powers have with each other, which ultimately means that I reserve the right to make authoritative interpretations. I appreciate your understanding and your rigor in ensuring that our game flows smoothly.
Also, please note that in the case of a tie, tied players will be allowed a re-vote. If the re-vote results in a tie again, the power is discarded, and players involved will forfeit energy equal to the previously tied value.
I believe that the powers up for auction should now have a considerably greater degree of clarity, but please continue to voice your concerns as we work together to create a fun, engaging and coherent game for everyone.
Also, a gentle reminder that the deadline for Power Bids is coming up in a little less than 20 hours from this post.
This post will be made pretty, and will have flavor text added, as soon as I am able to access a computer for a longer amount of time. I just wanted to get the results posted so that the game can get moving. Also, note that the front page has been updated to reflect the powers and energy totals of each player.
To confirm that you have seen the results of the auction, please send me a message containing a brief (2-3 sentence) history of your character, and why he/she might have come to the Arena, as well as the name you have adopted for yourself.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. I have been having some computer difficulties, and, having only recently recovered my game notes from my computer, I am having to do all the of my work from my phone, which, as you may realize, is quite time consuming.
That being said, the game will be officially beginning this evening!
Stay tuned!
One additional note: I would like for this game to be as flavorful as possible, as I feel it enhances the over-all experience. While I will certainly take on my responsibilities in making this a reality when it comes to writing (hopefully) engaging scenes, please feel free to get into your character when it comes to your interactions with other players.
In this same vein, if there is a particular way you would like to perform the actions you articulate in the Allocation Phase, please say so in your PM, so that I can integrate it into the Resolution scene.
For your reading pleasure, here are the character descriptions of your fellow players:
Spoiler:
Burning_Earth:
Mr counterspell dude
One day I was walking along then some wizard came along and he was like "oh I'm gonna kill ur parents because yeah" so I was like beggin him not to do that and he tried to but he couldn't because it turned out I had a natural counter magic radius.
Blackberry:
Hero Name: Tiara
Tiara has always dreamed of one thing… becoming royalty. Growing up, her daddy was an inventor. He told her one day she'd make them a very rich family and his little girl would be so rich that she'd be able to marry into royalty. Alas, his father was not that great of an inventor as he appeared to be.
Nowadays, her only desire is to become the princess to The Prince. About a month ago, she stole some nice gown and received some fake jewelry and gold to enter the Prince's ball in an attempt to meet and swoon the adorable guy. But her plan failed, and The Prince didn't even notice her.
Now, she had a new plan to grab the Prince's attention. Win the Arena game and when the Prince asks what dream she wishes to be fulfilled, she'll tell him.
Her daddy invented a shield for her to use in the arena… although she's a bit worried. Her dad was never a great inventor, and this shields seems a bit fickle.
She's decided on the codename Tiara, because, what better name for a destined princess?
DiplomatDC:
I am the Gambler. Entering the Arena seeking great fortune, I tend to play risky and ignore my own payroll, in this case Energy levels, to seek high rewards and damage (Spell of Berserk, All In). Though all my life I've always knew the casino games were made for people like us to lose. That's why we have to cheat the system at times. Through card counting and observations of biased roulette wheels and dice, slowly but surely I've begun to amass a sum of wealth. But this is chicken feed compared to the potential rewards of winning this Rumble. I've bribed a mad scientist of mine, to transform my body, such that damaging me would only make me stronger, but it does have a small drawback, that my own power might cause my downfall. No worries though.
Dessew:
Dessew D. Dessew-Dessew was living the ordinary life of socio-geologists studying the connection of crystals and creative grammar. It all ended when a radioactive crystal shred stuck into his pinky finger, granting him the ability to transform parts of his body into crystal and to pronounce th's as z (when voiced, of course.) That day he became Ze Exponential Crystal, guardian of minerals.
Thurhame:
The Dragon Monk was raised in the mountains of Tibet, learing martial arts from a young age. After mastering control of his inner energies, he obtained the title Dragon given to the strongest in his clan. He entered the arena to test himself against strong opponents.
Save The Dragons:
Evolving Diamond Batman of Raging Power!
Arriving at the arena, the man had no idea who he was or how he got there. The rules were quickly dished out, and he saw powers as power. If he could just...get that one power, he might remember who he is. That was it. He must have all the powers. ALL THE POWERS!
KingdomAces:
The Convict
Ten years ago, the Convict was the leader of an underground organization with one goal: to shut down the arena by any means necessary, because even if it cost several innocent lives now, that would be far less than the amount of lives lost for brief moments of amusement in generations to come. The Convict managed to plant bombs in all corners of the arena, but was caught before they could be detonated, and was sentenced to life in prison. Now all the convict wants to do is go home, putting this whole mess aside. The convict took the only deal available. Survive the arena and win your life back. If the convict was going to have to turn to the enemy, there was no way that it would be allowed to win out overall. The convict would win this, and would would not sacrifice humanity in order to do so, so a normal life could still be possible once this was all over. If the convict loses? Well, at least it's better than rotting in prison.
As you lock in your choices, your heads-up display flickers out, and for a moment you gaze out at the figures standing on the roofs of the dilapidated buildings off in the distance. Could you really bring yourself to kill? The cold realization that, if you want things to go your way, all of these people will have to die one way or the other...
Your musings are interrupted as you notice a drone buzz down from the Arena ceiling high above. It's coming right towards you! Of course you've seen this countless times before, but you can't help but squirm as it alights on your shoulders, and its wicked needle pierces your neck, injecting who knows what into your body.
You feel it. The drone's buzzing seems muted as you feel the changes shuddering through your body. You can see your competitors writhing, but there is no time to waste feeling uncomfortable. You are armed now. You are ready.
A siren wails as the Prince's smirking froggy face illuminates the dome above you.
"I hope you enjoy your presents, friends! You've been just delightful, and I thought, 'Wouldn't this party be so much more fun if I invited one of my very best friends?'"
The ground begins to rumble, and a mottled, mangy pair of ears bursts through the roof of one of the buildings near the center of the Arena.
"That's Peanut! He's my favorite creation, and I truly hope you all have great fun with him. Can I confess something? I've been a very bad master, and I've not fed him for several weeks now. I imagine he's quite irritable.
Anyways, let's begin!"
The lights flash, the countdown begins, and you see Peanut munching his way through the roof. He looks hungry. Things just got a bit more complicated.
In addition to fielding attacks from your competitors, all players will face potential assault from Peanut, the Giant Hungry Rabbit. During the Allocation Phase, you may spend energy to distract Peanut;
the players that spend the most energy and the least energy respectively will receive a very special visit from Peanut.
1. In regards to Batman Captions, the wording is a bit unclear, so I will interpret it like so:
-Batman Captions will activate for every attack you make against a player. If I had 30 energy, and I used to to make 3 attacks of 10 against 3 other players, Batman Captions would activate 3 times, one for each player.
I will also rule that Batman Captions is a passive ability, as it's activation is automatic.
Also, to clear things up regarding Peanut, Peanut the Hungry Mutant Rabbit will attack the player who spends the least energy and the most energy trying to distract her.
...
I joined this game because all the mechanics were open at the start, letting us focus on strategy and diplomacy. If you're going to bastard mod hide things from us, then go ahead and replace me.
In post 60, Thurhame wrote:I don't like special mechanics; I like battles of wits against other players.
I especially don't like suprise special mechanics, and hiding information on top of that is just too much.
To put it simply, we're supposed to be fighting each other, not the mod.
Dear Thurhame,
I am truly sorry that you feel you were misled in terms of your understanding of the basic premise of the game. However, I would urge you to refer back to the previous two iterations of Rumble hosted on MS. In both games, the mod introduced surprise elements (In the first players were tasked to defuse a bomb, and in the second they had to fight a number of smaller NPCs). In this light, you can see that there is clearly precedent for unexpected challenges to be posed to the players. Moreover, if we consider other instances of the Game-As-Spectacle that exist in larger pop-culture (think Survivor, Big Brother etc.) it is (ironically) common place for players to have to think on their feet, revising their strategies in light of unexpected occurrences. In this light, I hope that you can see that in considering the plotting of this particular game, I did not think that introducing an unexpected element would upset anyone to the extent that it appears that you have been upset. With this in mind, however, I do feel that it is important to consider that a significant part of any situation (real or imagined) which requires strategic critical thinking is the ability to deal with unexpected events.
Before everything else, I am trying to facilitate a
fun
experience. If you insist on being replaced, I will of course honor your request. However, I would ask you to be considerate of your fellow players, and indeed the game itself, having been delayed by the technical difficulties of both myself and the site. If it is any consolation, you should understand that the objectionable element, AKA Peanut the Rabbit, is not my attempt to play in my own game. Rather, it is a mechanism whose energy allocations are entirely determined by the actions of the players. I chose to use this element in the game because I thought it might introduce a different level of strategic decision making: An important part of Rumble is the Auction Phase, in which the player must critically manage her resources, attempting to anticipate the actions of the other players with major consequences. As I felt that this was a particularly interesting element of the game, I wanted to see if it was possible to introduce a bidding, and subsequently deduction-based, element in addition to the existing dynamics of diplomacy that characterize this game. I am disappointed that this has upset you, but I would encourage you to at least give it a sporting try for the sake of your fellow players.
1. In regards to Batman Captions, the wording is a bit unclear, so I will interpret it like so:
-Batman Captions will activate for every attack you make against a player. If I had 30 energy, and I used to to make 3 attacks of 10 against 3 other players, Batman Captions would activate 3 times, one for each player.
I will also rule that Batman Captions is a passive ability, as it's activation is automatic.
Also, to clear things up regarding Peanut, Peanut the Hungry Mutant Rabbit will attack the player who spends the least energy and the most energy trying to distract her.
Submission deadline is 9pm EST June 13th.
I would like to contest this. Although the wording is iffy, it does say *Damage*, not Attack. So you'd have to go by number of sets of Damage. Also - your wording suggests he can only use Batman Captions on players he attacks, which is not at all what the power describes.
Also, if Batman Captions is passive, then I assume Fickle Shield is as well given the reasonings why you stated Batman Captions was passive. Although to be honest (even though it would disadvantage me), I think anything that the player has a choice in is technically something we choose to activate, as it is not automatic if we have to do something/choose for it take effect.
On a side note, I don't quite understand why the original power of Boycott was changed to only affect certain powers. I don't think there should have been a distinction of "activated" vs "passive" - but that's just my personal opinion.
In re-reading the wording of the power, your interpretation is correct. Furthermore, with this revised understanding of the power, I do feel that Batman Captions qualifies as an activated ability and will be treated as such.
An updated understanding of this power will be posted on the front-page.
