The Place: Earth. The Time: The Modern Era. For its entire existence, humanity has thrived on conflict and violence, as wars raged throughout history, sifting the tides of time back forth from the victors and the conquered. Even today, even as the supposed civilized world turns a blind eye to it all unless they themselves are a side in it, violence ravages the human sole as people kill or be killed in the murky depths of the ignored, supposed “third world” areas. Yet, even then, people in the supposed civilized worlds find appeal in violence, as movies grow more and more gruesome, and people pack stadiums and arenas to the brim to see men and women batter each other with either their own fits, or random foreign objects like chairs and ladders – whether it’s staged or not seems to matter little, as in the end, violence reigns.
As such, one particular individual notices this, as even if one event, such as boxing, wanes, another takes its place, such as Mixed Martial Arts, all using brutality and violence for the sake of entertainment. So, this single individual brews a plan in one’s mind on how to use this, as even this person finds the idea appealing. Many humans have dreams and aspirations, but not everyone can reach those dreams, at least not without hard work and determination – with those, even the most eccentric dreamers can reach for the stars. This is not a problem for this particular eccentric dream, because this individual is loaded.
No, seriously, I mean, like, filthy stinkin’ he or she can buy your organs from you while you still breathe whether you like it or not rich.
Anyway, this individual, henceforth known as “s/he” because I’m getting annoyed of always typing “this individual” “this person” and “he or she,” is extremely wealthy, though no one really knows whether it’s from a massive family inheritance or from running a business that must have its tentacles in every facet of life and death worldwide. Whatever the case, s/he begins her wild, eccentric plan to hold what will be the largest, grandest, and most entertaining fighting tournament imaginable – but one that will be the purest, most truthful one ever. While s/he certainly wouldn’t turn away any competitors from “the leagues,” s/he wished for something more....real. As such, the first part of the plan was to discreetly fund and track down local, small time, tournaments, whether they be top ranked martial arts competitions in rented out high school gyms and community centers, or seedy, exceedingly illegal street fights in back alleys and bar rooms. Using agents, s/he tracks and finds the winners of these competitions and offers them a chance to participate in the chance of a lifetime. A two way, totally paid for trip to and from venues where the tournament will take place, with all expenses taken care of, and a chance to win the prize of 100 Million Dollars. While s/he considers the total, enormous cost of this spectacle to be mere pocket change, s/he also knows that the trip alone will entice many, and the prize money will guarantee almost everyone to join in. Even the few wandering souls who care nothing for material possessions will surely join for the chance to prove themselves the greatest fighter in the entire world.
Everyone is allowed to enter, with few rules:
-Weapons are allowed, but must not be automatic or projectile, and are strictly hand to hand
-There will be no intentional killing
-Fight as if each match is the last the combatant will ever participate in, and act like his or her very soul is on the line
Somehow, someway, s/he manages to convince eight venues in the world to host the preliminaries of the tournament, taking place in London, Sydney, Moscow, New York City, Yokohama, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, and Mexico City, making it truly a worldwide event. After the massive list of participants are separated into the eight venues, and then trimmed down to the final, but still large, list of combatants, the true test begins. S/he, currently, is putting the finishing touches on the large resort hotel complex on her duo of privately owned islands somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. While s/he resides on the smaller, but still incredibly impressive island, the larger one has been converted into a mega attraction for the sole purpose of hosting the finals of this tournament. While the main, massive stadium is near the equally large hotel and filled with the most advanced....well, everything, it is merely for the finals two rounds of the tournament – the rest of the fights are scattered across the island, which has been terraformed to accommodate a whole host of terrains and environments for the battles to take place – all while having safe, contained places for an audience to watch, of course, masterfully and almost artistically weaved into the environments themselves. Naturally, the entire thing is also televised worldwide, where it is almost guaranteed to be an absolute ratings grabber and a large source of revenue.
Not that s/he cares. In fact, non one, not even his or her closest advisors know why s/he’s doing this – only s/he does, in the end. Still, even with that slight bit of mystery, the show shall go on.
As such, the quest to decide who will be the final champion of the Stroke of Death tournament begins...
Well, I suppose you want the actual rules besides just the blatently cliched and at least slightly campy story that goes with it, right?
This is an RPG where participants will each have their own, special unique character entered into a worldwide, global fighting tournament. Whether the RPG starts in the eight stadiums or at the island depends on how many participants join in. Each participant will be seeded randomly, like in a real tournament, and when placed against each other, the two will have their characters fight against each other. After a certain period of time, the posting will cease, and the judges will read through the posts and determine which one is “better,” through a mixed criteria. The winner will then be informed via PM, at which point s/he can finish off the other participant as s/he sees fit, and move on to the next round. This will continue until the end, when a champion will be crowned. Between fights, participants are encouraged to mix and interact with each other in whatever they see fit.
Keep in mind, while strengths and weaknesses should factor into the actual posts of the fight themselves, that is not where the participants will be judged. First of all, when I say judge, this isn’t a huge, critical look at the posts – it’s merely a look at how the post itself presents itself as a whole. Judges will look primarily for:
-Good writing
-Believability
-Sticking to the character submitted
-Creativity with what’s given
The writing quality is a given – it’s not so much that the judges want it to be an immaculate work of art, but a competent post that avoids grammatical and syntax errors, among other things people should have learned in grade school. Believability is basically how the fight goes – having your character completely overpower the other guy in every single post and trying to have the fight be totally one sided will basically guarantee a complete and utter loss, so keep the fight fun and fair. Also, be sure to stick to the strengths, weaknesses and other skills you gave your character when it was submitted. Having someone “suddenly” discover the ability to shoot lasers from his/her eyes certainly won’t fly. Finally, the game official will give the battle field and description of said site when he announces the seeds, so using the environment creatively in tandem with your character, as well as with the attributes of the other character is a plus in the judges’ book.
The basic flow of the RPG will be:
- Fight Announced and Set to start at a certain date, and an official – almost always played by me, DarkJuno – will flip a coin and designate which participant will post first in the actual fight – the winner is designated as “A” and the other will be known as “B” for this example
- On or before said date, both participants, henceforth known as “A” and “B”, will write a post where their characters arrive at the field of battle, chosen by the officials
-On that date, “A” will post first with the first attack, but...
-Whether the hit lands or not is up to “B” who now posts. After taking the hit or avoiding it, this person then strikes back with his/her own hit...
-Where “A” again decides if it hits or not.
-This continues back and forth for either a set period of time, whether it be hours for two active RP’ers or days for ones who aren’t on as much, or a set number of 4 posts each, whichever comes last
-After said timeframe ends, posting will cease. There will be no penalties for posting, but if it relates to the fight, it will be ignored and eventually deleted
-Judging occurs
-The judges will pick a winner, who will be PM’ed
-The winner will issue a final post where his/her character defeats the other
-regular posting until the next fight
Other characters may post their activities during the fight if it relates to watching or being around the fight - otherwise they must wait until the matchis over. Characters will not die, though they can be horribly injured, and will be picked up by the medical staff right after the fight. After this, defeated fighters can still participate in the regular, RPG posting, but are out of the tournament. This will continue until the finals, when the one champion will be decided. This participant will earn a prize for being the winner, as well as bragging rights for winning the tournament.
So, what are the prizes, you ask? Well, that'd be:
-The accumulated number of posts lost from the betting that takes place amongst LA's members
-A special graphic that names you as the winner of the tournament, which you can have forever
-And even if you're not in a dorm, a full month of dorm access
-Plus dammit, you can brag and rub it in everyone's faces
Simple and sweet.
