Festival of Blades [RP Event - EU]

Feynn · March 2015

]

What: Festival of Blades - A traditional Redguard holiday, including celebration, revelry, market stalls and of course a swordplay tournament.
Where: Bergama, Alik'r Desert.
When: The festivities are on the 26th of March, with the tournament starting at 7pm GMT, but everyone would be welcome to arrive in Bergama one or two days before, and to stay for one or two days after the end of the tournament.
Who: Anyone who has a character in the Daggerfall Covenant, regardless of whether they are alts, mains, copies, swordsmen, spectators, tourists, travellers, merchants and whatnot.

The 26th of First Seed is upon us, and you know what that means: the Festival of Blades! During the Festival of Blades, the people of the Alik'r Desert celebrate the victory of the first Redguard over Malooc, the goblin god who led the Horde of giant goblins and was eventually defeated by HoonDing, the Yokudan god of Make Way. The story is considered a myth by most scholars, but what do they know? The holiday is still very popular in the desert.

By order of the All-Beneficent King Fahara'jad, this year's celebrations of the Festival of Blades are open to all the peoples of the Daggerfall Covenant and beyond. Let all who wish come to the Alik'r Desert and witness the magnificence of the Redguard people and the richness of the Alik'r on this day of rejoicing, in which we celebrate the victory of our ancestors over the giant goblins of Malooc's Horde. The embassies of Hammerfell across Tamriel have arranged passage at reduced price on ships departing from all major ports, for all those who wish to attend the celebrations in the glorious desert city of Bergama. All those who would require it will be provided letters of safe conduct to travel to and from Bergama. The highlight of this year's celebration will be a Grand Tournament of Blades - all are welcome to enroll and prove their prowess in the Way of the Sword.

Everyone is welcome to arrive in Bergama a couple of days before the 26h of March, and to stay a couple of days afterwards. Bergama is a beatiful city, wonderfully located in the middle of the Alik'r Desert, not far from several locations of interest such as the necropolis of Tu'whacca's Throne, beautiful oases such as Goat's Head and Ogre's Bluff, and the Dwemer ruin of Aldunz. The city itself is bustling with activity, with merchants, gambling, inns, guild halls, parks, gardens, and a majestic Hall of Judgement. It's definitely a place where your character will find something to do and will be able to meet new friends. So why not just seize this opportunity to visit the Alik'r?

You are welcome to organize casual RP and perhaps your own mini-events before and after the 26th. On the date of the Festival itself, however, the main event will be a Grand Tournament of Blades. All are welcome to sign up by contacting me directly or through this forum. The specific rules of the tournament will be communicated later on, but this I can say already:

The only weapons allowed are swords: longswords, greatswords, sword and shield - you get the idea. No hammers, no daggers, no staves, no axes, no bows and most of all no magic.
The outcome of each duel may be pre-determined by the contestants themselves if they wish to find a mutual agreement OOC. Otherwise, it will be decided by a system of dice rolls. A system of roll modifiers may be announced to take into account the characters' different skills.
The initial pairings will be determined by means of dice rolls. However, if a specific pair of contestants has a preference to fight against each other, I may take that into account.
As a memento of the event, the winner of the tournament will receive an epic greatsword in Redguard style, of any level, trait, enchantment and set bonus of their choice (limited to the 8 common traits). A longsword might be provided too, subject to availability.

In addition to the tournament, other activities during the Festival may include:

Market stalls: do you have a merchant who might be interested in selling his or her wares? Please let me know.
The Effigy Dismemberment: a moment of joyful celebration - as per tradition, an effigy of the goblin god Malooc will be paraded and dismembered.
Music, singing, poetry, story-telling: do you have a bard, a minstrel, a traditional Redguard storyteller? If so, please let me know.
If you have anything else in mind that you would like to see included, please do not hesitate to suggest it.

Here is a list of a few significant locations:
Stone Oasis Inn (green): Bergama's main inn. Taverns in the Alik'r Desert are rather peculiar, large and stylish. A perfect place for a tavern night. Come relax on carpets and pillows, try smoking a water pipe, and have a sip of honeyed spiced tea.
The Winking Jackal (purple): Bergama's gambling house. Come here try your luck with the dice - but be careful, in spite of its respectable appearance this is rumoured to be quite a shady joint.
Training and sparring area (blue): whether you want to practice with your sparring partner before the Grand Tournament, or whether you simply want to observe Redguard swordsmen in their training, this is the place to be.
Tournament area (red): This area, in front of the Hall of Judgement, is where the contestants in the tournament will test their skills against each other.

Please contact me on this forum or in-game if you would like to participate, and especially if you would like to sign up for the tournament or to provide any kind of service during the event. You can also post a reply on http://stormrp.enjin.com/forum/page/1/m/23365114/viewthread/19921430-festival-blades-26th-march

Feynn · March 2015

Tournament Rules

Contestants will be paired randomly once I have a final list. There will be several tournament stages, with winners in the first stage going on to fight in the second stage, and so on until there is only one champion of the tournament. So for example, if the contestants are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, the tournament could looks as follows:
Stage 1: A vs. B, C vs. D, E vs. F, G vs. H
Stage 2: A vs. C, E vs. G
Stage 3: A vs. E
If the number of contestants does not lend itself to such a neat stage progression, it is possible that some contestants will be involved in fewer duels than the others. I will draft a proper plan once I have a final list of contestants and after having drawn their names randomly, and then it will look much simpler, I promise.

Combat rules

Because there will be so many duels (although many will take place at the same time) we should aim to keep combat fast paced and simple.
Combat is based on dice rolls with a d20. Each contestant has 3 health points per duel. Contestants must create a room on the website rolz.org to determine their dice rolls. Before each duel, the contestants (e.g. A and B ) take a first roll to determine initiative. The contestant with the higher score in this first roll gets to attack first. If A’s attack roll is higher than B’s defence roll, B takes one point of damage. If the attack roll is higher by 10 or more, it is considered a critical hit and the defender takes 2 points of damage. If the attack and defence rolls are equal, the defence is successful.

Example:
A rolls 13, B rolls 9. A gets to attack first.
Round 1: A rolls 6, B rolls 10. A attacks, B defends successfully.
Round 2: B rolls 15, A rolls 7. B attacks successfully, A takes one point of damage.
Round 3: A rolls 19, B rolls 8. A attacks successfully, B takes two points of damage (critical hit).
Round 4: B rolls 12, A rolls 2. B attacks successfully, A takes two points of damage (critical hit). B wins the duel.

Remember that attack emotes should be phrased as attempts, and that the outcome of the attack should be emoted by the defender. If they wish, after a successful defence players can directly emote a counterattack. In the example above, B could have included in the same emote both her defence in Round 1 and her attack in Round 2. This would arguably make the fight more fluid.

Contestants are using their own real swords, not blunt practice blades. The duel could end when the loser decides to surrender (for example because he recognizes the superiority of his opponent, or because he has been disarmed and has a sword pointed at his throat, or because he is too tired) or at first blood. This will be decided by the loser in their emote. Of course accidents could happen, and the duel may well end with the loser’s death. In this case, the death must be agreed by both winner and loser OOC. A contestant who causes another one’s death is automatically disqualified.

Combat modifiers

These are modifiers to reflect your character’s skill in swordsmanship: they are numbers which you will be allowed to add to your roll to make the fight more realistic. Please try to be realistic in choosing what your modifier should be. In order to use a modifier, players MUST announce it in this thread and briefly explain why that number is realistic for their character. The descriptions below are just meant as a general indication, of course: feel free to explain why a certain modifier would be appropriate for your character, even if you don't exactly fit the examples below.

0 “I have never used a sword before – I might end up cutting myself.”

+1 “I can hold a sword and I have taken a few swings at a training dummy.”

+2 “I have survived a few swordfights.”

+3 “I am talented enough and I have won a few swordfights before.”

+4 “I practice often and regularly and I have been in several swordfights before.”

+5 “I practice often and regularly, I have been in several swordfights, and I am very talented.”

+6 “I have received professional training, I practice regularly, and I am a veteran of many duels and battles.”

+7 “I have been trained by a master swordsman and I have spent years honing my skills.”

+8 “I am a master swordsman. I have devoted my entire life to the Way of the Sword and I have trained others in this art. My body is strong and agile, my reflexes are ready, and my instincts are trained by years and years of practice.”

+9 “My name is Inigo Montoya. You have killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Rhook · March 2015

Feynn wrote: »

Tournament Rules

+9 “My name is Inigo Montoya. You have killed my father. Prepare to die.”

awesome