Once upon a time (Don't all stories begin this way?), in a far away land, there was a D2 Rollup Sheet. That was the "hook"! That's where it all began.
The fun begins? What do I name my team? What will the warriors be named? Does it matter? Do I want something that strikes fear in the heart of men? Do I want something personal? Do I want something unusual-but-catchy? (Rumor has it that The Consortium's first team was Bulldogs, named after his high school mascot, with all warriors named something that relates to either "bulls" or "dogs;" it was managed by Kennelworth.)
But more important than the names are the "designs." They are really just a set of numbers, aren't they? Five separate warriors. Seven categories ST, CN, SZ, WT, WL, SP, DF and 70 points, with none lower than 3 and higher than 21. Plus, the fun part, fourteen more points to add! Yes! The manager cannot add more than six to any category, and the end resultant cannot yield any category outside the 3-21 limits. Plus, SZ (size) is off-limits and cannot be added to. Will my warriors be strong or have lots of "hit points," or smart, or willful, or speedy, or great hand-and-eye coordinated? Or some combination thereof? I also get to (or have to) pick a style for each: AB (Aimed Blow) aimer, BA (Basher), LU (Lunger), PL (Parry Lunge) plunger PR (Parry Riposte) ripper, PS (Parry Strike) piker, SL (Slasher), ST (Striker), TP (Total Parry), WS (Wall Of Steel) waste. How does one choose? By experiment, by gut, by learning from a mentor or teacher, by accessing the RSI site, by accessing the Terrablood site, by whatever? (Note, the earlier managers-- like Assur, Consortium/Teacher, and Jorja, did not have access to the wonderful and enormous information on the two internet sites. This is, after all, a Play-By-Mail game.) Rumor has it that the simpler, but by no means lesser, styles to learn are BA, LU, ST, SL, TP. The finesse styles are more difficult, but by no means lesser, and they are AB, PL, PR, PS, and WS
Then the team is sent to the witches and wizards of RSI to run through a computer, and some die rolls, and some luck/hose designations, and voila, a great team is born. (NOTE: A later lecture about skills, hosing, bonusing, assessing the warrior profile sheet, stats verses skills, etc., will be forthcoming.)
What next? Every two weeks (or four if one is in a "slow" arena.) in advance of the due date, strategy sheets for each warrior fighting must have appeared (mail, fax) in RSI's hands for entry into the stewpot of mystery. For each warrior, the manager must enter basic data (warrior name, ID, arena, account, Team, etc) and also gets to choose weapons, armor, seven offensive efforts, seven activity levels, seven kill desires, seven attack locations, seven protect locations, zero to seven offensive tactics, zero to seven defensive tactics, two challenges (challenge warrior number), two avoids (avoid team numbers) AND, if the manager wishes, one whole different set of strategies for the challenge or in preparation for someone else's challenge. Wow! That is a lot (Five times; remember?), and it is a lot of fun choosing. (WARNING: Print legibly.)
The computer matches are made at the RSI secret underground headquarters, and the results are mailed to the managers' headquarters. Reading the fights is one of the most valued parts of the game. There is much to be learned from the actions, resultant, and the wordings on the fight sheet.
As the warriors fight more and more, they acquire FE (Fight Equivalent). In a normal arena, FE is simply the number of fights. (One fight = one FE.) FE is a measure of experience and is different from arena recognition. Why is FE important?
Some warriors fight in tournaments, and the records from those tournaments are not a "natural part" of the fighter's w/l arena record. Hence, some warriors in arenas can have "hidden" experience and their total arena w/l record is, then, inaccurate or understated. (Note: There are two no-tournament arenas: DM81, slow DM83, where this cannot happen.) Let me state this plainer. In an arena, a warrior may have listed a 4-3 record, 35 (or whatever) recognition points, and could also have fought in a few tournaments and have an additional, not listed, 8-6 record for an FE of 14. If you fight that warrior with your own 4-3 record, the opponent has 14 more fights than you in experience (Tournament FE is halved as skill learning in tournaments is halved.), 7 more FE, had 14 more fights to raise stats or skills, and is probably quite a bit better than you are. This whole process of "hidden record and FE" is called sandbagging. More on tournaments later.
As you win and lose in the arenas, your warriors grow in status and move closer and closer to being the top warrior, Duelmaster, in that arena. The battle for wins and losses, and stylemasters (best in style), and Duelmaster are really what the arena is all about.
As a Noblish Island member, you have one special difference. You must move your team out to a "real" arena after your tenth round of fights. In normal arenas, one can participate as long as one wants, and that team's record continues to accumulate. (There are several long-running teams in Alastari with over 2000 fights recorded. And that does not include the amount of tournament fights-- hidden w/l--that those teams have.) Choosing the best arena for a Noblish grad is a topic for a different day.
But things change and "stuff" happens in arenas. Your warrior gets killed. You kill someone's warrior. A warrior is killed in a tournament. Teams leave. New teams start. New warriors (replacements) start. This adds spice to the arena, and can be cause for changed game plans and strategies. These particular actions can change your team from those starting five warriors that you hand-designed and may have become attached to:
In all cases a single replacement 70-point rollup (Unless more than one of these happened at the same time-- and it certainly can.) is provided to the manager for the team. This allows the manager to retain five warriors in the arena at all times. What happens to those "lost" warriors? The dead warriors are just that. Dead and gone. (NOTE: There is actually an outside-the-arena Tournament of The Dead each year and it is possible, but very difficult, to bring a warrior back from the dead. Most dead warriors are simply not worth an attempt.) The fourth situation-- Lord Protector graduation-- creates a whole new world of D2 (Duelmasters) for its manager.
With your very first graduate you will receive a "packet" which explains everything you want to know about ADM. You will also receive some information on your warrior's "favorites." (Favorite rhythm, weapon, tactic and skill learn.) You will get the opportunity to place the now immortal (Well, they can die in ADM fights, but, then, are immediately resurrected and ready for the next round of fights), warrior in an ADM arena and fight it there. ADM arenas are different, in a way, and that, too, is a topic for a different lecture. However, the point is that you will get a replacement for your basic arena, AND, you will now have an advanced warrior you can fight in a different advanced arena.
Advanced arenas? What's different? The warriors are immortal. The warriors are more experienced. Arena selection is limited. The warrior ID MUST include the arena number (e.g. 93-9170, not just 9170). Warriors are from many basic arenas. Sandbagging is far more prevalent. Stat learning and skill learning is probably faster. Warriors can now train their stats to a 25-25-x-25-25-25-25. The cost to run is different, based only on an individual warrior cost to fight. A manager can run as many warriors as he/she wants. (Not just limited to the five as in Basic.)
And somewhere along the line, a manager just might want to expand and run additional teams in other basic arenas. (There are rumors, nay, truths, that a manager has actively run nearly 40 at one time! Dedication-- or dumbness? That manager runs appx eighteen at the moment.) Usually a manager can only run one team in an arena, but there are lots of arenas out there-- large and small. While arena selection is a lecture for a later date, I will mention that there are several kinds/styles of arenas:
New rollup sheets only cost $5.00, with no charge to "rolling" the warriors. Some experienced managers may buy quite a few rollup sheets in a year's time. It does, of course, cost additional to run more arenas, with no real discounts for volume.
Your D2 experience will not be complete until you enter one or more warriors in a tournament. Most managers will tell you that the greatest thrill in DM is being able to attend a Face-To-Face tournament. So much can be learned in a short time, meeting, competing, and networking with the "best in the game." Exciting, educational, and worth it! Let's take a moment to talk about tournaments.
There are normally four tournaments annually, and any warrior from any team can enter. January-- FTF (Face To Face) Tempe AZ. April-- Mail In Tournament. July-- FTF East with the location varying from Midwest to Southeast, to Northeast. (Last Locations-- Milwaukee, Orlando), and October-- Mail-In Tournament, including a Dead Warrior Tournament. A mailer from RSI is sent out in advance of each tournament, outlining the event. The following brief explanation explains many of the differences between tournaments and arenas.
It costs $7 per warrior (same price as in the 80s) and each warrior is guaranteed three fights (unless killed) and on the average fights five+ times. Strategies (except challenges and avoids), are the same as for arenas. Death rates and skill/stat learning rates are halved. Warriors fight until they acquire three losses. (The Primus and Contenders classes-- at the top end-- are different.) Acquiring eight wins earns a warrior a Tournament Victor (TV) achievement. Winning the class (the last one standing without three losses) earns a Tournament Champion status (TC). TCs are precious! There are advantages and/or prizes given to these special achievers. Mail-In Tournaments are done completely by mail and approximately a week to ten days after the weekend event, a packet with all warriors fights will arrive in the mail. Face-To-Face Tournaments are just that-- fought in person. On site, (FTFs are held in a local hotel's large meeting room.) each manager knows his next opponent and has the opportunity to submit a strategy or strategy change specifically for that fight. The fight sheet is presented to the manager on the spot after each round of fights. The action can be fast-and-furious, exciting, and personal. The final match for the TC of each class is read out loud to the crowd as the two managers sit side-by-side. Tournaments usually have eleven classes-- Rookies (0FE), Apprentices (1-4FE), Initiates (3-10FE), Adepts (11-20FE), Champions (21-30FE), Challengers (mortal warriors above 30FE) and the five immortal ADM Classes from the lowest to the highest-- Freshman, ADM, Eligibles, Contenders, and Primus.
Should you enter a tournament? Will you run more than one team? How long before your first Lord Protector and subsequent running in an ADM arena? It is all ahead of you. But, first, let's get you through Noblish Island and feeling somewhat comfortable and confident about D2 and excited about your prospects.
The end.