General Discussion (Q&A) Thread

**Andromeda** · 01-02-2007, 12:03 AM

As it sounds, I am just going to open up a thread for asking all your questions. I had wanted to keep things with as few threads and necessary, but I guess one more will not hurt it. I'll transfer the posts that were made here and anyone with a question can ask me.

I prefer you did not PM for general questions simply because if you have a question, someone else probably has the same one. This way I can answer them generally, rather than personally. Questions about an individuals quest and something more personal, can be PM'd to me. But we are not at that point, so if you have a question this is place for it.

Well since merging and moving was being a pain, I'll just quote even one.

Originally Posted by LocoColt04

While I'm still unsure of whether I'll be participating or judging in this (the latter would be your call, of course, but the former depends upon my upcoming free time, which should hopefully be expanding), I do have a question for you all the same.

What is the tentative start date for the inaugural tournament? Are you placing a time limit on applications or are you waiting for a certain character cap instead? I figure these are the two questions that everyone who's interested will want to have answers for before anything else, so I'm asking now.

Answer:

Well the start date will be tentatively set for two week down the road. Though I'm going to be judging a lot of it by the responses I get from people. I know that there are already good hand full, like 8 or so. So consider the deadline for profiles in two Sundays.

Originally Posted by Andromeda

You'll have to forgive me I put together this last night so I was distracted. I had all of the information, but I did not put it all in the right places. I had meant to include the story in this thread as well. I went and made that correction now. Since I'm more awake now I'll be going around cleaning things up if I made any other mistakes.

The rules thread has all of the information aside from the story, because the story will change, but the rules will remain unchanged. The story and quest threads are made seperate mainly to answer any questions at this point. Though the quest thread is also going to have all of the quests as they are announced, so it will be used. I'm going to leave the story thread for questions to be asked about the story itself so that it can be explained there.

The profile is not too bad and relays important information. Just remember that having a thorough profile will be important so that those who are RPing with you have an understanding of how you are. It will also aid me as well. But you do not have be so thorough there is nothing left for mystery. Just finding that balance so there is enough for people to work from.

Originally Posted by Merlin

Perhaps you should make a Q&A topic or General Discussion topic in here so that silly ppl like administrators aren't breaking TFF Rules by posting unrelated questions in the 'Character Profile' topic...

Anywho, since I'm a judge I don't believe I need a character profile, unless I am judging IC, in which case I will edit this post and add something.

**Anomaly** · 01-04-2007, 09:46 PM

A thorough and detailed character profile will be required, the information required will be provided at the bottom. This information will be necessary for the creation of the quests and how the overall plot will be molded.

Character profiles will not be requested until the tournament’s background and current state of affairs in the world has been announced.

So...then do you need us to post up profiles before you make the quest? Or do we need to wait for the current world background to be posted up before we make our profiles and then you make the quest?

**Andromeda** · 01-05-2007, 08:28 AM

As I was saying before, when this was more just an idea being thrown around I did not want to have profiles tossed at me. Since they would have been reworked completely, since I had not even made the world yet. I was simply saying I will not be asking for profiles until I posted the background information, which I have done now. So profiles are wanted right now.

And I will be using the profiles as a way to group people together at the start, simply because for story sake I'm not going to intentionally mix kingdoms together at this point. Each side will work together independently for the first round unless I come up uneven with groups.

Quests will not be handed out and announced until the deadline for the profiles have been reached. When the quests are announced, the tournament will pretty much start that day or shortly there after. I may provide a day or two before the start, so that you can think over the information and ask questions initally if needed about the quest you received.

**Andromeda** · 01-18-2007, 07:04 PM

I'm answering HUNK's question about character death. There is no enforced death for characters. And if an organization falls due to a plot event, well your character will naturally still be around, though what happens after that event is up to you. You and your afflications are not so connected that if you lose they are over. If you lose, it will be up to you if you really want to kill your character off. I will allow for you do that, but it can only be by your own hand and after you know that you have lost, naturally.

This is more RP than a battle, so do not feel that failure means death. All it means is that your story ends sooner than the others.

**Merlin** · 01-25-2007, 03:54 PM

So... do we have a timeline set up yet? While extending the signup period indefinately might seem admirable, there's a point where it becomes counterproductive to the greater good.

**Andromeda** · 01-25-2007, 11:12 PM

Yes, I am keeping a close eye on things here. Aside from needing a couple people to finish up their profiles there are still things that I doing behind the scenes that I want to have ready before closing things. I also got caught up in a few other things that I was not planning on, so I did not have the free time available that I was expecting. Either way, I do not think that things will go on must past the end of the month. I already have about 12/13 people, which I had hoped for 16 at least it is enough.

I figure if all things go well, I will be closing the sign ups in a week or little more. Probably in the first week or so of February. Then there will be a week for me to get everything in order, meaning working the brackets out and getting the quests ready for everything. And then things will start for writing probably mid-February. The only thing that will really stop me from meeting that will be is something comes up with me that I am unable to write or something of that nature. So I would consider February to be pretty definative right now.

**Andromeda** · 02-04-2007, 03:08 PM

Well I am announcing the deadline for signing up for the tournament. As of Tuesday night at midnight, Tuesday/Wednesday I will close the threads for signing up and profiles. When that happens I will begin creating the brackets for the tournament as well as the quests. When that is finished I will announce the pairings or groups. When I have announced them I will give you one day to reflect and ask questions. At which point I shall create your threads and you can begin posting.

If you have any questions about this bring them up now.

**Merlin** · 02-16-2007, 11:33 PM

Keep in mind folks that you technically have a little over 3 weeks to go, but you shouldn't wait around to the last minute to do something. I want you all to do well in this and fight your way to the top. I don't want to have to vote out people because they were too lazy to post at all. Musicmuse, Aerif, and Anomaly are the only people who have participated so far. If you're brainstorming or something, at least post in your OOC thread so we know you are even attempting to participate. The following people have yet to actively participate in this Tournament:

Group 1
Dragonheart
Cassie-Chan
Psiko

Group 2
Itachi Uchiha
HUNK
Hexin
Rabble Rouser

Group 3
Haku
Dante Fatima (posted in OOC but not in Quest yet)

**Psiko** · 02-18-2007, 09:05 AM

I want to apologize because last week was not a good week for me. I worked 77 hours and so when I wasn't working, I was sleeping for the most part. We had a big visit from one of the higher-ups and now that this is done, I can get back to being active here.

Again, I apologize.

**Merlin** · 02-18-2007, 02:13 PM

Two from group 1 and one from group 2 have responded so far to my inquiry. I guess that's a start...

In any case, I'm going to begin looking over what has been posted so far. If I let all the posts start piling up, it will become troublesome in a few weeks. XD

**Fehrant** · 02-18-2007, 05:03 PM

Hey, care to throw a random encounter for my character to chew on the meantime?

Seriously, though. If it keeps going like this, I'll win by default.

**Andromeda** · 02-18-2007, 05:27 PM

Yes, though winning in a round that is only suppose to lose one person is going to screw a lot of things up. If we lose that many people just from inactivity, it means I am going to have completely re-organize the groupings. So do whatever you can to push and pull the others in your group to get in here and post.

**Fehrant** · 02-18-2007, 05:41 PM

That's not my only concern either. Even if people suddenly start posting, at this pace, I doubt we'll leave the hideout.

**Andromeda** · 02-18-2007, 06:11 PM

Yes, that will be a problem. Hopefully, with introductions out of the way, whenever. One of you will be able to speed up the process. Once we hit the three week mark I will need to make a decision of where everyone is at in the posts and progress to know how feasible it will be to have it finish up in a week.

Once we are over the first round hurdle, I think thing will improve somewhat since the remaining people will have actually posted and know that the tournament is happening. They will also not have the same hesitations that they might right now. I am not sure what is the reasons for some of them not posting. It could be life, no internet suddenly, writer's block, lack of motivation. Who knows, and these things can pop up at anytime too, so I do not expect the future rounds to be complete smooth rides to the end. I foresee plenty of more bumps in the road.

One of the problems was that it took 6 weeks to go through the signing up process. This is partial due to lack of interest suddenly, which seemed a little strange since most of the people that had interest in the original thread in the RP OoC forum did not actually show up here to my disappointed. That there gave me some false impressions of what to expect. Hopefully the future tournaments will not have such troubles as being established, rather than completely unknown.

**Merlin** · 02-18-2007, 11:17 PM

TFFers are notorious for being lazy when it comes to RPing. You give them a month, they'll wait around till the end THEN start posting. Hence why I love inactivity penalties and shorter time periods. Fine you don't post after X days/weeks.. you lose! About the only thing I liked about FFH back during a certain cross-forum tourney was that they wrote like winning the Tournament was their livelihood... they didn't sit around waiting, they typed till their fingers bled. Unfortunately, TFF has never been like that. I'm not sure how to change that, but it is one thing I have always wished for here...

As for Fehrant, you should grant him the ability to double-post. Hell if the rest of them in his team want to be MIA... don't let it hold him back. Lets see how creative he can be. I think it'd be interesting. Sure its technically not RPing at that point, but hell... why make him sit there for 3 weeks. That stinks.

EDIT: Also, I get the feeling that I'm the only judge that actually posts... maybe I care too much about seeing Andro's RP Tourney work... lol! I really would like to see this thing succeed. O.o

**Andromeda** · 02-18-2007, 11:34 PM

I have been thinking the same thing as well Merlin. Especially since I would like to see the RP complete, if it does come down to it. Fehrant can double post to get things moving along. I am not sure if I want to make that call right now, since as you said TFF RPers are notoriously lazy about posting. I do not know why they would want to be when there is a timeline. I would be posting immediately myself knowing that I could not wait around until the end. It is a different environment than the rest of the standard RPs out there that you can wait a week for a post, in spite of it being annoying.

As for the other judges, Spike does not look around the forums much and he said that he is only available in the latter half of the week. *shrugs* That really should not change matters in posting, but as long as he judges. And Loco, well he has ToA. Though it is moving along on its own, so I do not know what is stopping him. The only thing that stops me is that I work 9-6, otherwise I post here as soon as I can.

**Fehrant** · 02-18-2007, 11:44 PM

Oooh, double-post? Nice. I love the autistic feeling of RPing myself with... myself. My apologies, I mean, authentic feeling. My brain is being pushed to the limit due to the excessive competition, as you can see. Will work on something, though, if that would tilt the balance to my benefit, dear judge. *evil grin*

As a side note, I do second the motion about inactivity penalties; it makes my PC clock appear useless otherwise.

**Andromeda** · 02-19-2007, 12:01 AM

Yes, that might be something to consider. However, I would not feel right about adding it in the middle of the round, considering it would be seen as a threat or ultimatium as this point rather simply another part of the judging process. I was wanting to get away from the ideas of penalties and rewards for doing things, since it would make too much like Jam and TRPT. But penalty for inactivity I think would be something to add into the judging criteria, since it is important that someone is active as well as writing well or else nothing get done.

It would be a subtractive point scale along with the other judging categories. It would need to be capped, I think, as I would really hate to see insanely poor activity become completely destructive. However, it might need to be uncapped since inactivity itself is destructive to the RPing of others. It will be something that I will need to discuss between the other judges.

**Victoria** · 03-08-2007, 12:15 PM

...Seeing as this is the first tournament of its kind, I'd say no. -_-;

Besides. This tournament is practically as good as dead, no offense.

**Anomaly** · 03-08-2007, 10:23 PM

Meh, get it to the next round and we'll see how dead it stays.

**Andromeda** · 03-08-2007, 10:39 PM

That is what I'm hoping for Anomaly. All of the people that lost interest or whatever are removed now. So we shall see what happens with the remaining people. Though with the sudden drop in numbers, it does require me to alter the rounds. So expect to see an update of it after the round is finished. I'm going to try to get the next round up and moving as soon as possible so there is little delay or lose of interest.

This is far from dead yet.

**Victoria** · 03-08-2007, 11:10 PM

As far as I'm concerned, the round was finished a long time ago as soon as it "died".

Might as well start the next round ASAP as Anomaly says.

lalafalala · 03-19-2007, 12:21 AM

Can I join right now? If not, when can I be able to? please reply ASAP.. I want to join the game badly!!

**Victoria** · 03-19-2007, 10:27 AM

...No. You can't. The deadline passed ages ago. Sorry. You'll have to wait till next time.

...If there even is a next time.

**Andromeda** · 03-20-2007, 07:07 PM

One quest has been closed and hopefully I will be closing the other two shortly. Once that is done I will take a week to put together the next quest(s) and events in the story. However, I will also be introducing some changes to the rules that will hopefully combat inactivity. Everything that changes will be marked out clearly before the next round begins.

I'm hoping with the remaining people that activity will be improved. But I shall see.

**Andromeda** · 03-22-2007, 05:58 PM

I have closed the last quest having received a reply to my PM from Hexin. He has dropped out. I am awaiting a reply from Psiko to know if he is continuing or not. Depending on what happens with him, there may be one or two quests. I will be sorting out the aftermath and change in state of affairs as a results of the outcome from the quests.

I will hopefully have the quest(s) ready by the end of the weekend and just be ready to execute things next week. The latest I will begin the next round is on Friday, but I may start it earlier.

Currently the participants for the Finals are
Anomaly
Aerif
Dragonheart
Musicmuse

There will be at least two more rounds, but definitely not as many as originally planned. The story will be shortened and bridged heavily to accomendate the changes.

That aside rest up and I hope to see a good next round.

**Andromeda** · 03-27-2007, 11:22 PM

Well my laptop decided to fry the OS, or something is corrupted. Either way this is going to much more challenging now to get this done. I have to borrow the parents computer to do anything on the internet now. I'm still planning on working on the next round, since I still have a computer. There just might be more slow down since I don't have immediate internet access.

And Psiko has confirmed himself to be participating in the finals.

**Andromeda** · 04-04-2007, 12:09 AM

I have posted the quest now and the update to the story. So you can view those threads now to see what has changed at these links Quest Briefing and Background Story. If you have questions, direct them to the respective threads. I also am making some updates to the rules and judging which I will provide below. So if you have questions about those changes please ask.

Again I apologize that this was delayed so long. An unfortunate series of events aligned to make things difficult. But everything should be good now, internet willing. Tomorrow at midnight I will make the thread for the next round and you will be able to begin.

Finals

The way the finals works are there is five participants still left. For the uneven number I am going to just simply put everyone in one group. With that group of five, two will be eliminated from the first round. And then the final round will have three participants left and the winner will be decided from them. Simple and straight forward, nothing to worry about.

Updates

I am altering the judging process a little to hopefully encourage people to post more and not just stop. I have not explained the exact details on the process on how the judging is managed. But each category has so many points possible; tally them up and the one with the highest wins. Telling you this did not matter so much before because there was no direct impact other than your ability to write to the judging process.

But that is changed now; I am adding a new category activity. The activity category has fewer limits placed on it and works differently. The other categories the judges rate the writing with each category. With activity, the judges have no influence over it at all it is simply systematic. It begins at zero, if you post frequently it goes up, giving you a small bonus helping you make back what you might have lost in other categories. However, if you do not post, it will go into the negatives taking away points.

While other categories used to be a tiebreaker of types, activity will now become the real tiebreaker. If you can write like a professional, but can’t post, you may not stand as strong a chance at winning as someone who is good, but posts more often. As you all should know by now in RPs, posting often is just as important as posting well.

I will set the bar at four days, meaning if you do not post every four days you lose two points. If you post every four days the scale will not go up. If you post every day or other day, you will gain one point. Inactivity will be heavily penalized, since in a tournament setting it is even more important. It is possible to lose up to 14 points, which is a heavy portion of your score. I will cap the highest possible to gain at 10 points, since while activity is definitely important it should not have an over riding factor over poor writing skill.

This is simply posting twice a week, which should be not too difficult for people. Another change is that if you are waiting for someone to post, after three days post regardless. Do not take the penalty to wait on them, progress is important when there is a time limit. If it is necessary you can double post to keep the RP moving. I do not want the RPs to stall like they have the tendency to do.

I will let these changes run for the remaining two rounds. After that I will decide if I want to make them permanent changes to the tournament rules. The likelihood is quite high of them becoming permanent in spite of my own dislike for it.

**LocoColt04** · 04-04-2007, 12:17 AM

I actually like the changes. I mean, I understand why you'd be hesitant on keeping them, but even with a personal dislike toward them, you have to realize that it will probably be beneficial to the tournament from an overall standpoint.

Inactivity is the bane of these tournaments, and penalties for such are almost necessary. If the ToA was done on a point scale, trust me when I say I'd do the same thing.