It is a hot day in the middle of summer. Will Kane, with a pair of handcuffs on his belt, a dusty sheriff's badge in one hand and a revolver in the other, enters the Thunderdome at about 10am. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin has sent a message that he is arriving on the train at noon. Kane has two hours to find someone to help him. He calls out to the audience for help in dealing with enemy. Nobody responds and Kane is left all alone, standing in the center of the field with the sun burning directly overhead, looking up at the Thunderdome train station.
The seconds tick away and at 12 noon exactly the train pulls up to the northbound platform. Kane keeps watch for a small boy about 10 years old to leave one of the carriages, but he sees nobody fitting that description. Instead, all he sees are more audience members, all of whom have to show ID stating they are over 18 before entering the Thunderdome.
Kane is still looking for Wiggin as the conductor blows his whistle. At that exact moment he feels a tap on his shoulder. He tries to turn and bring his gun to bare on his enemy but finds he can't move his legs. He glimpses Ender out the corner of his eye, ducking under his aim and sweeping his legs. He feels a sharp shock on his wrist, he screams and drops his gun. Kane hits the ground hard, feeling the spikes of his sheriff's badge dig into the palm of his hand as he tries to break his fall. The last thing he remembers is seeing the sole of a small foot approaching his face at high speed... and then darkness.
Will Kane wakes with the sun on the side of his face. He can tell his nose is broken and he feels blood in his mouth. He knows he is laying on his back, so tries unsuccessfully to move. Glancing down, he sees his boot laces are tied together, and the pain in his wrists tell him his hands are secured behind his back, probably with his own handcuffs. A silhouette looms over him.
"What?" Kane groans, "How?" The sun is behind the boy's head, so Kane can't see Ender's face.
"You are just a small town sheriff," It is a high voice, not yet broken, "yet I am the greatest military tactician and commander the world has ever seen."
Kane notices his own gun in Wiggin's hand and shivers. "But how did you get off the train and down into the arena without me spotting you?"
"Who says I was on the train? Never trust any source of information fully, especially if the source is your enemy. I simply used the train as a distraction, knowing that you would be looking in that direction. I came through the opposite entrance, the lower one behind you. The train made so much noise I walked right up behind you, I didn't even try to be quiet. Then you were looking for me so hard, tying your laces together without you noticing was so easy even Bonzo could do it. From then on I improvised. You've obviously never fought without the use of your legs, something that every member of the Dragon Army learns on their first day of training."
"What happens now?" Kane knows he is the one asking all the questions but feels powerless to do anything else.
"Now I kill you," Ender's voice is devoid of emotion, "those are the rules. I don't like it, but I'm never going to leave a potential enemy standing." Kane sees Ender crouch down beside him and is momentarily blinded by the sun. He feels the muzzle of his own gun press against his temple so tries to jerk his head away. "Please stay still; I don't want to mess this up and it will only be more painful for you."
"No!" Kane cries and starts to roll away. He hears a crack like thunder and everything turns dark once more. All sensation seeps away from body, yet somehow his hearing lasts longer than his other senses. Ender is addressing the silent audience.
"I'm not going to speak for the dead here today, but Kane may have beaten me if he had known one thing: The enemy's gate was down."
You're going to have to specify the point in the books from where you're drawing him, as the chronology is VERY important in determining how dangerous he is.
I need to re-read Enders game. I read the entire series and he isn't as cold as he is on the space station...and that game with the tower, portrait, and snake. I might be remembering it incorrectly but hot damn that book was Awesome. Not knowing how badass Kane is, that's what I'd expect from Ender, just from how he killed the wasp at the lake. Rhinocero should arrive soon to speak for Will Kane.
It's a pity I missed the entries, I think I would've entered Vash the Stampede.
I will be bowing out if this is going to be nothing but prose. Takes me too bloody long to write those things out, writing them is no fun, and the fact that the first person already god mods to hell and back destroys any will to write anything. Have fun.
Takes me too bloody long to write those things out, writing them is no fun, and the fact that the first person already god mods to hell and back destroys any will to write anything.
Maybe this is a stupid question, but what does "god mods to hell and back" mean? I just wrote an interesting little story about how a fight could go down. And I only wrote a long entry because I've locked my laptop in my van with my keys with all the rest of my stuff and didn't have anything else to do on my old PC yesterday evening.
I guess I could change it to:
Kane has a gun. Ender has no gun. Kane shoots Ender. The end.
I will be bowing out if this is going to be nothing but prose.
Heh, yeah, I might not have the time either, come to think of it. I guess this remains to be seen.
god mods to hell and back
Based on context, I'd say it means the first person to post took absolute control of the fight.
I just wrote an interesting little story about how a fight could go down
"Could" is the key word, I guess.
I guess the best way to go about Thunderdome is to let people write whatever they want and then have huge arguments about what the characters would do in that situation, based on the knowledge that should be available to them.
The rules of engagement need to be fleshed out. The way we used to do this in my old RPing days was each player would post a way the fight could happen and the bystanders vote yea or nay based on which one was more plausible or fun to read. We don't have to do it like that but there's gotta be a standardized method of "fighting".
Also, the parameters need to be specified(like so). What's the environment like? What are characters allowed to have? Do characters have knowledge of eachother before the fight?
Yeah, I was going for that approach. If whoever was representing Kane typed out a better battle with Kane winning we'd go with that instead. It wouldn't have to be long, just well thought out. But to be honest I was going for a "write something awesome so my opponent wouldn't even bother" approach.
Do characters have knowledge of eachother before the fight?
Here's what I think the answer to this one should be:- A character only knows what they would know from their own abilities / experience, PLUS whatever would be considered general knowledge in the universe of the other character.
Long posts aren't necessary. The turn role playing would be better suited for this. People just need to be notified when they're up. Rhinocero needs to show up, I think I'll give him a heads up next time I see him on. Or could any of you guys do the same if you see him on? Use rules 1 and 3 Sail's Thunderdome. Since we've already done the submission we can ignore 2 unless not everyone knows a character.
Should we let lukeburrage have his train station and entrances and staged battles rather than teleported ones? His post came before the rule was set in place, for a start.
No character can die due to starvation or thirst or suffocation. They must die because of damage inflicted by the opponent.
I don't think should be limited to "damage inflicted by the opponent". For example, if someone reflected a killing attack, that should certainly count. Questions of causality are also brought up - if the character caused it to occur, then how can that not count? For example, if one character directly removes the air from the other's vicinity, does that not count, though it is suffocation? I see no reason for limitations like this - I say let each case be judged separately to remove anything overly "cheap".
Additionally, I'm not entirely sure of the necessity of death at all, is not a consensus of "pwned" enough?
They have absolutely no knowledge of the other character before the fight begins.
I disagree with this; I hold to my above statement that
A character only knows what they would know from their own abilities / experience, PLUS whatever would be considered general knowledge in the universe of the other character.
They may not "bring" any items or weapons if they are not somehow a part of them.
"A part of them" must extend to include weapons or items that are considered an integral part of the character, as was established in the other thread.
Luke and Rhino's battle will be an exception for the reason you give.
In regards to your second statement, inflicted is synonymous with caused. For the matter of death, I guess the opponent doesn't have to die if it is too far out of character for a contestant. If we had Vash in the tournament, since he is such a pacifist, we would only need a sufficient consensus of defeat since it would be too out of character for him to kill. All the conditions of the arena are the default conditions at beginning of a fight, if a character removes oxygen from an area, that is permissible.
I don't know if general knowledge should be known. I think it should be as if they were teleported to some arena by the master of the universe inexplicably only knowing that they need to defeat their opponent.
Maybe this is a stupid question, but what does "god mods to hell and back" mean?
It basically means that any of the players in a prose role playing game starts playing the characters of the other players. This can be anything from "When Mary Sue entered the room, every person turned to her and stared." to "Kane sneezed." and using that as an excuse to know his position and throw a grenade.
I just wrote an interesting little story about how a fight could go down.
It was interesting indeed, and I'm not saying it was bad, merely that it kinda goes against what I thought would be the rules (I was going with Sail's third rule about arguing why a character would win). In other words, Magnum_Opus failed at setting the game up and providing players with all needed information to actually play the game.
Well, I asked for clarification before starting but didn't get any guidance, so just went with what I thought would be most entertaining. I'm not sure how turn based role playing works on a forum, especially if the people playing aren't reading or posting. Also, it is a pity a link to the rules were posted after my turn. Unless all the rules are outlined clearly in a single post by Magnum Opus I guess I can't start again or continue.
Not really. Magnum Opus didn't say he was using any of my rules until after Luke's turn, nor did he have to use my rules. All he needed to do was actually think the whole thing through.
So I'm meant to look at every unclearly signposted link to guess there are rules posted in another thread for a different competition then know they also apply to this contest, even though the next post then says "Well, thats a different type of tournament than the one I intend"... ? Silly me
So I'm meant to look at every unclearly signposted link to guess there are rules posted in another thread for a different competition then know they also apply to this contest, even though the next post then says "Well, thats a different type of tournament than the one I intend"... ? Silly me
Not the point, the rules, as we now know are the rules, were posted in the third post, which is what I was pointing out. Also, if you are going to quote a line, don't leave out the CRUCIAL part of said sentence.
Well, thats a different type of tournament than the one I intend so let me just change some words.
Some words does not mean completely different rules. And if according to you there were no rules before your post, why the heck would you post anything when you have no rules, you could've waited, or were there things breathing down your neck, threatening to kill you if you did not post your story? Seriously!
As for 'every unclearly signposted link', those words in that order make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Then again, I have no fucking clue what the hell you consider to be a 'signposted link'. Unclear, you are.
Also, if you are going to quote a line, don't leave out the CRUCIAL part of said sentence.
Well, thats a different type of tournament than the one I intendso let me just change some words.
That's not what he meant by that at all. He changed his first post so that it said "First Ever Bracketed Forum Thunderdome" as opposed to first ever Thunderdome. These are the words he was talking about changing. Way to take stuff out of context. You're being overly-aggressive for the situation.
Also, if you are going to quote a line, don't leave out the CRUCIAL part of said sentence.
Well, thats a different type of tournament than the one I intendso let me just change some words.
That's not what he meant by that at all. He changed his first post so that it said "First EverBracketedForum Thunderdome" as opposed to first ever Thunderdome. These are the words he was talking about changing. Way to take stuff out of context. You're being overly-aggressive for the situation.
That's not what he meant by that at all. He changed his first post so that it said "First Ever Bracketed Forum Thunderdome" as opposed to first ever Thunderdome. These are the words he was talking about changing.
Oh? I did not know that. I don't reread posts that have already scrolled of the page. Just shows you what this entire topic is, unclear because the topic starter fails at making pretty much anything clear.
Way to take stuff out of context. You're being overly-aggressive for the situation.
Not really, the topic lacks clarity so miscommunication is huge, as for the aggressiveness, Luke's being a cocky bastard what else do you expect? Just look at the post above.
Not really. Magnum Opus didn't say he was using any of my rules until after Luke's turn, nor did he have to use my rules. All he needed to do was actually think the whole thing through.
Yeah but it's far, far easier this way.
This may fall apart if I go but because of school I must leave for this week. I'll be back soon so I leave this in Sail's hands if he is willing to take it. It'll be interesting to see where this goes for better or for worse.
Way to take stuff out of context. You're being overly-aggressive for the situation.
Not really, the topic lacks clarity so miscommunication is huge, as for the aggressiveness, Luke's being a cocky bastard what else do you expect? Just look at the post above.
I said "This" to the changing of the words, not to you being aggressive. I didn't find you overly-aggressive, just mistaken.
Comments
The seconds tick away and at 12 noon exactly the train pulls up to the northbound platform. Kane keeps watch for a small boy about 10 years old to leave one of the carriages, but he sees nobody fitting that description. Instead, all he sees are more audience members, all of whom have to show ID stating they are over 18 before entering the Thunderdome.
Kane is still looking for Wiggin as the conductor blows his whistle. At that exact moment he feels a tap on his shoulder. He tries to turn and bring his gun to bare on his enemy but finds he can't move his legs. He glimpses Ender out the corner of his eye, ducking under his aim and sweeping his legs. He feels a sharp shock on his wrist, he screams and drops his gun. Kane hits the ground hard, feeling the spikes of his sheriff's badge dig into the palm of his hand as he tries to break his fall. The last thing he remembers is seeing the sole of a small foot approaching his face at high speed... and then darkness.
Will Kane wakes with the sun on the side of his face. He can tell his nose is broken and he feels blood in his mouth. He knows he is laying on his back, so tries unsuccessfully to move. Glancing down, he sees his boot laces are tied together, and the pain in his wrists tell him his hands are secured behind his back, probably with his own handcuffs. A silhouette looms over him.
"What?" Kane groans, "How?" The sun is behind the boy's head, so Kane can't see Ender's face.
"You are just a small town sheriff," It is a high voice, not yet broken, "yet I am the greatest military tactician and commander the world has ever seen."
Kane notices his own gun in Wiggin's hand and shivers. "But how did you get off the train and down into the arena without me spotting you?"
"Who says I was on the train? Never trust any source of information fully, especially if the source is your enemy. I simply used the train as a distraction, knowing that you would be looking in that direction. I came through the opposite entrance, the lower one behind you. The train made so much noise I walked right up behind you, I didn't even try to be quiet. Then you were looking for me so hard, tying your laces together without you noticing was so easy even Bonzo could do it. From then on I improvised. You've obviously never fought without the use of your legs, something that every member of the Dragon Army learns on their first day of training."
"What happens now?" Kane knows he is the one asking all the questions but feels powerless to do anything else.
"Now I kill you," Ender's voice is devoid of emotion, "those are the rules. I don't like it, but I'm never going to leave a potential enemy standing." Kane sees Ender crouch down beside him and is momentarily blinded by the sun. He feels the muzzle of his own gun press against his temple so tries to jerk his head away. "Please stay still; I don't want to mess this up and it will only be more painful for you."
"No!" Kane cries and starts to roll away. He hears a crack like thunder and everything turns dark once more. All sensation seeps away from body, yet somehow his hearing lasts longer than his other senses. Ender is addressing the silent audience.
"I'm not going to speak for the dead here today, but Kane may have beaten me if he had known one thing: The enemy's gate was down."
I guess I could change it to:
Kane has a gun. Ender has no gun. Kane shoots Ender. The end.
I guess the best way to go about Thunderdome is to let people write whatever they want and then have huge arguments about what the characters would do in that situation, based on the knowledge that should be available to them.
Also, the parameters need to be specified(like so). What's the environment like? What are characters allowed to have? Do characters have knowledge of eachother before the fight?
A character only knows what they would know from their own abilities / experience, PLUS whatever would be considered general knowledge in the universe of the other character.
Long posts aren't necessary. The turn role playing would be better suited for this. People just need to be notified when they're up. Rhinocero needs to show up, I think I'll give him a heads up next time I see him on. Or could any of you guys do the same if you see him on? Use rules 1 and 3 Sail's Thunderdome. Since we've already done the submission we can ignore 2 unless not everyone knows a character.
Additionally, I'm not entirely sure of the necessity of death at all, is not a consensus of "pwned" enough? I disagree with this; I hold to my above statement that "A part of them" must extend to include weapons or items that are considered an integral part of the character, as was established in the other thread.
In regards to your second statement, inflicted is synonymous with caused. For the matter of death, I guess the opponent doesn't have to die if it is too far out of character for a contestant. If we had Vash in the tournament, since he is such a pacifist, we would only need a sufficient consensus of defeat since it would be too out of character for him to kill. All the conditions of the arena are the default conditions at beginning of a fight, if a character removes oxygen from an area, that is permissible.
I don't know if general knowledge should be known. I think it should be as if they were teleported to some arena by the master of the universe inexplicably only knowing that they need to defeat their opponent.
As for 'every unclearly signposted link', those words in that order make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Then again, I have no fucking clue what the hell you consider to be a 'signposted link'. Unclear, you are.
This may fall apart if I go but because of school I must leave for this week. I'll be back soon so I leave this in Sail's hands if he is willing to take it. It'll be interesting to see where this goes for better or for worse.