Young Writers Society

Hello, Champions!! Please reserve your spots here... Also, eliminations and Trials will be announced and discussed here.

*butts in* This is also where the point bank will be from now on, meaning this is where you see how much of an advantage you have over the other participants.

The following info will surround the Trials and how they are to be done, the points and their use, and of course, the elimination of characters, by both Trial elimination and PvP.

Trials

So, the entire focal point of this SB is the characters' struggle through the Trials until only one survives (no trying to pull a Hunger Games and fool the Maze with deadly berries. It won't work)

These Trials will involve the Champions having to retrieve Trial-specific items to proceed further in the Maze (the loser not having an item) Basically, it's like musical chairs, just with your lives on the line.

This may seem straight forward, but it will involve their Planewalking ability to even be able to complete it. This ability is essentially teleportation, but instead of taking them from A to B instantly, it takes them from A to A, but in another realm, or Plane, of existence. How they do it, depends on person to person (whether the close their eyes, spin around, wave their arms or do a random dance)

The Trials will be given in the SB Challenge Thread, and must be followed to the letter to ensure that your characters even have a shot at proceeding (*glares at @15253 and @Verser*). There will also be a bonus point available per Trial, but only 1 character p/user may receive the points from it. And that brings us to the next category...

The Points system

When completing Trials, you will be rewarded points according to several factors.

The first factor is when you post. What I mean by this is, the sooner you post after a Trial was released, the more points that character will receive (so if you are first to post for Trial 1, you'd get 220 points, with the value decreasing until Champion 22, thus the last to post, who'll get only 10 points)

The second factor is how the conditions of each Trial were met. With this I simply mean, the character will receive points based on whether they completed every detail of the Trial stated in the Challenge correctly (so please pay close attention to what I want then... Also, absence of Trial from a post is immediate elimination)

The third is how much you wrote. This category will award points based on the length of the post, aka how many words you wrote per post. However, writing a 2500 word post won't award 2500 points, but rather 250 (thus 10% of the word count, with the initial point cap being 250, so for the first Trials it won't be beneficial to write 4000 words)

What is the use of these points then? Well, it has two, the first of which is the Merchant.

The Merchant will be a way for each character to gain buffs and advantages (some temporary, some permanent), at the expense of your points total. He will be available from the first Trial, but be careful when using your points. (Also, when buying a item or possible temporary follower, please write it how you got it in the Maze. The Merchant is not a character, so they must find/tame/etc the items. Buffs and spells can just be used)

The reason why you should be careful with your spenditure of points, is because the points also get used for what I consider the fun part: the Eliminations...



Now, the fun part

So, there are two methods of elimination. Trial and PvP. Let's discuss the former first.

After each Trial, all the points will be placed on the list, which from now on will be sorted according to points, from the least to the most (the list on the first post of DT)

To put it simply, the less points you have, the more likely you are for elimination, with the lowest Champion being eliminated.

Since we have npcs in the Maze now, no one will be eliminated for the first few Trials, but the points add up continuously (unless you spend them, of course)

When you are at the bottom of the list after the last npc gets eliminated, you are to write out that character in the next Trial (so the points determine who will die with the following Trial, as simple as that)

The other method is PvP.

This one is much more complicated, since this has to do with the Merchant, the points, and the collaboration and consent between two users.

Obviously, since it is a Maze of death and a survival competition, Champions will encounter one another, and may fight. They may also injure one another, but not fatally if it is without consent.

From the Merchant will be available PvP chips, so to even consider a PvP, you put yourself at a point-related risk. With this chip, you are allowed to PvP eliminate another character.

But, since I do not tolerate godmodding, you can't up and kill every character. You will therefore have to discuss a PvP battle between two characters with the other character's user. You should also keep it fair, and therefore come to me, so I can set it up as a poll in the DT, and let the users vote for who should win... (to avoid godmodding. When it is between your own characters, I frankly don't care, as long as you don't do in for the lols...)

The post should also be a collab post then, with the loser writing the first half of the fight, and the winner the second.



Hunger and thirst are basic needs for a reason, so our characters will have to eat and drink to maintain their strength. Failure to do so will have consequences, on which I shall elaborate later. First, I shall state how long each character's supplies will last.


There will undoubtedly be a few questions concerning this information, so I shall endeavour to answer them pre-emptively.


Why do some characters start with supplies, but mine doesn't?
These characters' creators explicitly mentioned in the character profiles that they would be taking supplies into the Maze.

Why do some characters start with a knapsack, but mine doesn't?
If your character had brought along supplies, they'd have kept it in some form of a bag - we default all pouches, satchels, etc. to the Small Knapsack.

Why do some characters start with more supplies than others?
The value of the supplies depends on the description the character's creator gave in the concerned character profile. The Small Backpack only allows Small Supplies or Moderate Supplies, so the characters will have to buy a Large Knapsack if they want to carry Ample Supplies.

Why do some characters consume supplies at half the rate of others?
The undead should technically not require sustenance at all, so their supplies take the form of an energy source (like a Soul Gem). Not only do their supplies last twice as long, but they suffer less from the consequences of not using supplies. However, being undead has the drawback of scaring the temporary followers, which means they need to spend 50 more points to enlist their service.

Why does my character have to consume more supplies than other characters?
Larger beings such as centaurs, minotaurs, ents, etc. will naturally require more supplies to sustain themselves. For example, Moderate Supplies will last them only two Trials, instead of three, while Small Supplies will provide insuffient sustenance. However, they have the benefit of making temporary followers feel safer, thereby causing them to stay with them for two Trials instead of just one.

What happens when my character doesn't use any supplies?
For the first Trial, the characters don't have to use any supplies, because we assume they will have eaten beforehand. From the second Trial onwards, however, the characters will have to consume one unit of supplies during each Trial; if the characters don't have supplies going into a Trial, they need to find and consume them before they finish the Trial. Failure to do so will result in a penalty.

What is the penalty for not consuming supplies?
If a character completes a Trial without consuming supplies (excepting the first Trial), they will accrue a penalty of 10x points for each Trial they go without consuming supplies. For example, if an elf or centaur does not consume supplies for one Trial, they lose 10 points, but if they don't consume supplies during the next Trial either, they lose 20 more points, and so on. The undead also lose points for each Trial they neglect to consume supplies, but the increment increases every two consecutive Trials, not one.

How does my character find supplies?
If you have spent the required amount of points and your character has a large enough knapsack to contain the quantity bought, they can find the supplies in any way you like. The same goes for any items or followers bought from the Merchant - buffs also function in the same way, except they are acquired.

What happens when my character has no points left?
Nothing; just ensure your character's point bank doesn't drop into the negative. If your character's point bank ever drops below zero after Trial Four has concluded, they will invariably die.


So, I really hope I made this easy to understand for everyone... Please ask me if you are unsure about ANYTHING in this post, for it could mean life or death for your characters...

@Caesar darn name changes

I'm worried that I may not have time for this, but the idea is beautiful and Wandering, how do you come up with these epics?

Yeah, I'll give a definite yes or no by Thursday, depending on how things go this week, but for now, can I reserve both for Rakados, please? :3 (THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL AND EVIL AND I LOVE THEM.)

Hello!

Seems like a lovely idea and I was wondering- which is a complete surprise to me as well- but can I have one Gruul and one for Izzet, please?

@SpiritedWolfe, all is good and well! I shall preliminarily reserve Rakdos for you...

@Stegosaurus, I would've said no, but since you are asked nicely, I will say yes.. Just note that if someone were to come along with a request for both Izzets or Gruuls, then I might ask you to change one of them...

ACTUALLY, I could have the Gruuls.. if that is okay >.> for both? Maybe?

One for Dimir (were you really surprised?), pretty please. Character up tonight or tomorrow.

@Stegosaurus, gotcha! Both Gruuls reserved...

@QueenofHearts, one Dimir coming right up! (they are also my favorite Guild, but as the Maze I have no favorites...)

Would an assassin work for House Dimir?

The Guild Leader of House Dimir is the Master assassin, so yes...

How is it that House Dimir has melee attacks as a weakness? Assassins, thieves, and spies need to be able to fight should they get caught. And... assassins. How can an assassin not know how to /fight/?

Yes, but they aren't very armored, and don't carry big weapons... If a Dimir assassin were cornered by a Boros patrol or Gruul force, no amount of fighting skills would help...

And a good assassin or thief doesn't need to fight... (they are meant to be masters of stealth)

Ah, okay, makes sense.

this is the plot of dragons maze

fugg

can I be jace

darnit wizard I have no time to storybook why now ;_;

^ legitimately my reactions in that exact order