Omni Archive - Dante's Abyss Rules (2018)

[6] Participation and Preshow

Thu, 03 May 2018 19:34:09 +0000

You want to participate?

You have two options to join Dante’s Abyss.

Option 1 – Join as one of your PC Primes – Show up at a registration booth (information below). The end. Please remember that fluid timing is not a thing we do so please resolve your current thread or storyline before leaving (because you never know what might happen to your character).

Option 2 – Join as an NPC Prime – Join the competition IC as an NPC. This NPC must be pre-approved ahead of time in the NPC One Stop Shop. The NPC must fulfill all standard NPC rules (points, approved stuff, etc) and may not be a higher level than the account you plan to use to post. That account will receive your Posting OM and your Bonus OM. Note: If you wind up winning with an NPC, please be aware that said character will receive an artefact and may become a target for artefact hunters. Artefacts may not be transferred from this NPC to your Prime.

Okay, How Do I Join? - Starting sometime in late May, the in-character Registration booths will pop up throughout the Omniverse. These ‘booths’ include a large tent housing an office-like area, a staff of three Syntech employees, and a smaller room with a metal pad.

When you go to sign up (there will be a thread in the Dante Verse), these workers will take your biography, your vitals, and film a small promo of you to air on the Dataverse and on other streaming services. You will then be ushered to the back, where you will be Recalled to Syntech Station 18 (aka ‘the Preshow Facility’) in the Dante Verse. When you post in the ‘Registration’ thread, please make sure you include your Verse in the title (example: Registration)

The preshow facility is very similar to last year’s event. There’s a central hallway that connects to several domes. This information will be included in a sticky when the preshow launches.

Library – a quiet zone where people can read and surf the Dataverse. Books can be found from all types of worlds and histories and parallel universes. How much of it is legit and how much is science fiction? Fuck if Karl knows.
Park – an ‘outdoor’ area where people can play sports or enjoy a picnic. During the last few hours before the event launches, this area will turn into a ‘nighttime park’ complete with a little meteor shower.
Dojo/Gym – a place for people to work out or practice fighting to keep them amped.
Bar – a dome that contains a variety of restaurants, bars, and cafes that serve all types of cuisines. You’ll find what you like, we assure you.
Barracks – All accepted participants have their own private room where they can go to rest.
Teleportation Hub – A room with a large teleportation chamber that is used to send combatants to areas across the Dante Verse.

Note – Please note that violence against Syntech employees or willful destruction of Syntech property will disqualify you from participation.

Also Note – If you want your character to join in some unique fashion, please PM me ahead of time.

[5] Rewards & Betting

Thu, 03 May 2018 19:17:55 +0000

Rewards

1. All Primes who participate will get the Participation Bonus (+50%)
2. Every match that a team wins, both members receive +10% Exceptional Writing Bonus. (receiving the 2nd or 4th round bye counts as a win)

3a. Both members of the Winning Team will receive the Exemplary Writing Bonus (+100%)
3b. Both members of the Runner Up Team will receive +75% Exceptional Writing Bonus
3c. These bonuses do not stack with per-round bonuses.

4a. After the Winning Team is decided, those two primes must fight to determine Grand Champion, who will receive the Grand Championship Belt and first selection in the artefact pool. The loser in this Grand Championship Match will receive second pick from the artefact pool.
4b. At the same time, The Runner Up team will fight to determine who wins the final artefact from the pool.

5. If the event has 32 or more entrants, everyone, regardless of performance, will receive +5% bonus OM (no ghosts in round 1 or the bonus is off)
6. If the event has 40 or more entrants, everyone, regardless of performance, will receive +10% bonus OM (no ghosts in round 1 or the bonus is off -- this does not stack with #5)

Betting

Each round, individuals participating in the tournament may place OM bets on the outcome of other matches. You may bet 50 OM per match. There will be a thread for bet placements. To make a bet, you must first post in your Purchase and Deduction Log, adding the amount of your bet(s) to Consumed OM. If you are making 4 50 OM bets, you would add 200 to your Consumed OM. It goes without saying that you need to have the spare OM to do so.

Once you make the PDL post, you'll post in the Betting thread with your selections, which locks you into those picks.

If you make the correct bet, you win 100 OM. If you lose the bet, well... better luck next time.

Artefact Pool

Space Stone, Four Sword, and Berserker Boots

[4] Score Card/Judge Rubric

Thu, 03 May 2018 03:24:54 +0000

This is not a score card of my creation (I actually had my own at some point), but it's one that I've grown to like.

I'm not saying that this system/rubric is better or worse than anything else anyone is using, it's just the one that I have always used (either purposefully or just unofficially in my skull).

Plus I'm a teacher, so I like having rubrics and standards and blah blah blah educator talk.

Sections

Quote:Description and Clarity:
This section covers how effectively the writer created the world around the reader. How they staged the scene. Making sure that the reader can understand what is being described, using vivid or appropriate descriptions of items, events and people in the story and having good word choice all go into this section of the review. Note that using “purple prose” is not always effective, nor is consistently using flat, dry description. A writer that gets a good score in this section draws the reader into the world and allows them to see through the eyes of the character/narrator.

Voice:
No two writers write in the same style, nor should they. Even individual stories call for individual writing styles, a mood that creates a tinted lens through which the story is viewed. This is traditionally called the “voice” of the writer and it is a very important part of writing. A writer with a high score in this considers tone, pacing and including/disincluding detail throughout the entire story, and carefully selects words that epitomizes the character and the scene.

Characterization:
Character development, the actions and motivation of characters and dialogue are all important in this section. The goal is to create “round” characters as opposed to “flat” ones. Making the people in your writing seem real, not just archetypes following a plot progression is the goal here. The writer should consider who the people they are writing as are as individuals, why they take certain actions, their personal problems and boons, how they interact with the world around themselves and how they approach problems are all considerations for a writer in this section. Note that not all GOOD characters are LIKABLE characters. If you really hate a character that’s well written, this section deserves a good score! You should be grading ALL of the characters the writer is working with, even the opposition's. It's entirely possible that a writer portrays a character more compellingly than that character's "owner".

Story:
Every body of creative writing, no matter how short or long, follows a storyline. How well the themes, events, messages and twists grab the reader is what makes the difference between a decent story and a great story. The writer must capture the reader’s attention hold it with the actions of characters and the world around them. This isn’t to say that a writing must be packed with action or intrigue, even something as simple as eating breakfast can be made into a great story. The presentation of events and how those events tie into the writer’s voice is what makes it good reading.

Technical:
This is the clerical work of the body of work. Spelling, punctuation, grammar and anything else that can be considered technical goes into this section. Generally every major grammatical error per 500 words moves this section down one grade. Additionally, look for length of sentences,the size of paragraphs, and the general presentation of the finished writing. If it looks unprofessional in presentation, then this section should suffer. If you could see the current format being accepted for the pages of a novel, this should be a high score.

Points
So, honestly, the consistency of the points only matters within a single fight. It's very difficult to maintain a specific standard, even for the same judge, between each writing. However, giving too many or too few points will dramatically interfere with the Damage and SP bonus that is given after this section.

Remember that MOST writers should be scoring about a 10. "Average" isn't a bad thing, and even if the writing is of a high quality, it is being compared to the standards of the site. 4's and 5's should be rarely awarded, and even good writers should not be getting them every time they post.

Quote:"1: There is room for improvement. Generally the reviewer should highlight how the writer could improve this area as well as direct them to outside sources that can give more help.

2: This section was about average. The writer has room for improvement but about par with the rest of the site’s writing ability. Reviewer should highlight areas to improve and site specific errors or weak spots.

3: This section is above average. The writer has shown a competency higher than the average writer on the site, but can still notably improve. The reviewer can be vague with their ideas for improvement but still include specific details and weak spots.

4: This section was fantastic! The writer took the reins and really took the reader on a journey. Few errors or room for improvement can be found by the reviewer but anything that the reviewer feels could be cleaned up should be noted.

5: This section is one of the best the reviewer has ever seen. This level of writing is on par with professionals with very few errors and the reviewer should have a hard time finding room to improve. This grade should be handed out rarely, and only to the very best writing!"

If you are interested/"want to do your homework", I highly recommend you delve into the old tournament run in Camelot two years ago. This was the scoring standard used, and there was like... a 'crap ton' of fights you can check out if you have questions or want to see 'real life' examples.

EDIT:

Please note that, as it stands, SP-usage is purely for the sake of enriching your writing/the story/the scene you want to create. I wanted to prevent people from just squatting on their SP, because I think that's lame.

"Stats?" - I feel compelled to point you to the last FAQ on the 'Fighting and Competition Rules' page of the manual. When it comes down to stats and game mechanics, my philosophy is that such things exist to enhance and guide what you're writing. If your opponent has an advantage over you in some regard (physically or because they have a complex move set), I want to see your character adapt and adjust. I want to see you work your writer brain and create a compelling piece. On the other side of the spectrum, if you take your first post to go Tier 3 and you literally just bitch slap everyone around... that isn't going to be fun to read and it's not doing your character any favors. Again, I think that FAQ answer sums it up pretty nicely.

[3] Fighting Logistics

Thu, 03 May 2018 03:04:10 +0000

This thread will contain an example fight overview and some extra logistical points (so many logistics).

The example used in this thread will feature a team of Gilgamesh and Sasuke versus a team of Deadpool and Karl Jak.

Thread titles will contain the matchup and the round. For instance: [Round 1] Gilgamesh & Sasuke vs Deadpool and Mickey Mouse.

In the second round, thread titles will be amended with a W or an L for which bracket they are in (W = Winner Bracket / C = Consolation Bracket).

Post order will go as follows, using the characters above as examples.

Team 1, Person 1 (in the fight above, this would be Gilgamesh)
Team 2, Person 1 (in the fight above, Deadpool)
Team 1, Person 2 (in the fight above, Sasuke)
Team 2, Person 2 (in the fight above, Mickey Mouse)

People may not switch turns during a fight, but...

Pre-Round Turn Swaps: If you and your partner want to rotate (let’s say that Sasuke thinks he’s a better ‘opener’ than Gilgamesh [you're not <3], you must PM Karl Jak between rounds and get approval. Your next fight title will be updated to reflect your swap.

Fighting ‘Areas’ and their Border: The fights will be contested in various ‘arenas’ around the Dante Verse. Sure, some of them may be plain. Others might be spread over city blocks. Some of them may be barren, while others might be filled with debris and destructible objects. The OP (opening post) of the fight will always feature the fight rules as well as a description of the area. Note: All fight areas, regardless of their given size, are bordered by an invisible force field, much like you’d find at the edge of a verse. These fields are indestructible and you cannot project any of your powers beyond them (Senses, Teleportation, etc). Things thrown at this barrier will fizzle on contact.

Stuff in the Fight Area: Obviously, that stuff is there for your primes to use to their benefit, and it’s for you (the writer) to use against your adversary in the ultimate mind-game that is ‘the Fight.’ For the sake of clarity, any weapons or other nonsense found at fight scenes will function as if you had that thing as a Move (so ‘non-incidental’, which is not common for Fights).

Items, Moves, Artefacts, Etc… : All Moves, Powers, and Proficiencies function normally within the borders of the Fight Area. Items follow the exact rules they do in the Omniverse, so if you use an Item, it is considered ‘Consumed’. Please remember that Damage and SP are healed between rounds. If you bring an Artefact with you, please be aware that normal Rules apply. If you are defeated, you lose your Artefact. It’s up to you to deal with the fallout from that situation outside of the Dante’s Abyss.

“Deadlines and the Three Strikes”: This event is intense, but the 2v2 format does mean you should (theoretically) have time between your posts. I understand that life happens. Because of this, every entrant in the tournament receives ‘three strikes.’ At any time, they may request an additional day to complete a post. This counts as using ‘one strike.’ After using all their strikes, missing a post will result in a scoring penalty. Strikes are per individual and may not be donated or exchanged.

Penalties: In the even that you have no remaining strikes, please know that missing a post or posting late will result in a score loss of 25% for the post in question.

”Help, My Partner Ghosted!”: In the event that your partner misses both of their posts, they were be considered ‘ghosted’. Any prime who ‘ghosts’ will be killed and returned to the Nexus, where they are subject to all Death rules. The remaining partner will be moved to the Loser’s bracket, and be assigned a new partner in the form of an NPC.

“The f**k do I do now, then?”: You keep writing, obviously. A solo partner will get the same amount of posts as two people, and they can chose to write half their posts as the NPC (but this won’t be a requirement). Like in the real world, if you draw someone who ghosts, just roll with the punches. Who knows, you might still upset the ‘Winner bracket’ champ in the grand finals.

Fight Judgment: Once all posts have been made in a fight, said contest will be judged. A scorecard will be provided, and the team with the best scores will be declared the winner. The judge card will be included on a separate thread for a reference point. I make the promise to try and have a fight judged within 36 hours of its conclusion but be aware of my work schedule, which I’ll make available to everyone.

Fight Judgment Feedback: I can’t promise much in the way of meaningful feedback in the early stages of the contest. There is just too much going on to do more than brief remarks. As the crowd of contestants dwindles, I’ll do my best to provide more in-depth analysis to the remaining contestants. My apologies in advance to those early exits.

Judgment in General: I say the same thing every year (because I mean it every year). I respect all of you, and I appreciate the time you dedicate to this summertime adventure (yea, I know, you just want the OM… that’s okay too). That said, there can be only one Grand Champion. Along the way, people will be eliminated. There will be close matches. There will be tense moments of waiting that may ultimately end in disappointment and for that, I am sorry. Just do your best, and be proud of yourself. There have been over 90 characters (and likely somewhere in the ballpark of 40 to 50 writers) who have entered Dante’s Abyss, and while only 3 of them can say ‘I am the Grand Champion’, all of them should be proud of themselves. This is a high-risk, high-stress, high-reward environment. Embrace it. No regrets. I hope you enjoy yourselves and know that I’m proud of all of you (unless you ghost in the opening round… because wtf kind of jank nonsense is that).

[2] Event Logistics

Wed, 02 May 2018 18:54:11 +0000

This year’s event is a tag-team double-elimination tournament. This thread is intended to be a general overview of ‘broad’ logistical things, with other thread going into more granular detail as needed.

Initial creation of teams will be done through a lottery at the conclusion of registration. In the event of an odd number of entrants, the last person will have to write with an NPC (this will not impact their scoring).

Bracket: Check the thread

Character Limitations: During fights, there are no limits to Moves, Powers, and Proficiencies. In the pre-show facility, The impact of Moves and Powers are limited and summoning using Omnilium is totally inhibited.

Fight Rules: Fights will be fought under mostly standard Omniverse fight rules, with the following setups:

Quote:Word Limit: 850
Posts: 2
Time Limit: 48 hours
Random Elements: On
Damage Meter: Off

Between rounds, damage points will be healed and SP will be restored. Any Items used during a fight will be consumed as they would in any ‘normal’ fight.

Scoring: Matchups will be scored on writing quality, assessed through a provided rubric (link).

“Three Strikes”: Every entrant in the tournament receives ‘three strikes.’ At any time, they may request an additional day to complete a post. This counts as using ‘one strike.’ After using all their strikes, missing a post will result in a scoring penalty (-25%). Strikes are per individual and may not be donated or exchanged.

The team with the higher combined score will move onto the next round. The team with the lesser score will move down to the loser’s bracket. Losing while in the consolation bracket will eliminate a team from competition entirely.

Winning and Losing: Matches end when one team can no longer continue to fight. In the Loser bracket, the team that wins may opt to kill or spare their adversaries as they so desire. Banishment Circles do not work in the Dante Verse. Participants who are eliminated but not killed may watch the remainder of the show from the Preshow Facility or take a teleporter back to a verse of their choice.

Grand Finals: The grand finals will be a sudden death bout between the team from the Winner bracket and the team from the Consolation bracket.

For this fight, the team from the Winner Bracket will select the style of the arena and the will receive an additional post at the end of the fight.

Example post order for a sample Grand Finals match: Gilgamesh and Sasuke (Winner Bracket) vs Deadpool and Retane (Consolation Bracket)

Sasuke 1 - Deadpool 1 - Gilgamesh 1 - Retane 1 - Sasuke 2 - Deadpool 2 - Gilgamesh 2 - Retane 2 - Sasuke or Gilgamesh 3

Grand finals end in KO (no death).

Grand Champion: At the end of X rounds, the last remaining team in each bracket will face one another to determine the champion team and the runner-up team. The two primes in the champion team will then have to fight one another to determine the Grand Champion and the Runner-Up. The two primes from the runner-up team will fight one another to determine 3rd place.

Winners of these fights may kill or spare their opponent.

Prizes: For those primes who finish in the top three, there will be a pool of Artefacts to pick. The Grand Champion will have first pick, and the Runner-Up will have second selection. The remaining Artefact will go to the third place prime. All contestants will receive bonus OM for Participation. For those primes who go further in the tournament, there will be a sliding scale for Exceptional Writing OM.

[1] Overview

Tue, 01 May 2018 19:16:21 +0000

This summer, the proud people from Syntech are proud to bring you another installation in their award-winning franchise ‘Dante’s Abyss.’

Dubbed ‘Tandem Budokai,’ this event will pit some of the Omniverse’s most talented warriors, mystics, psychopaths, rogues, and blackguards against one another in a battle to determine who is the best.

The twists? (there are always twists)

The tournament will follow ‘double elimination’ rules, wherein it takes two loses to be eliminated. The other twist? Your partner for the event will be determined through a random lottery drawing at the start of the event. At the conclusion of the event, the individuals who compromise the winning team will have to battle one another to determine who will reign as Grand Champion, and the entrants of the losing team will have to face off to determine 3rd place (who receives the remaining artefact from the pool).

The Preshow Facility, Facility 18, will feature similar amenities as previous installations. Rather than a plane or a helicopter, teams will enter the teletube chamber to be teleported to the location of their fights, which allows for battles to take place in a variety of environments and climes across the beautiful expanse of the Dante Verse.

Do you have what it takes to survive the marathon?

Only time will tell.