[FLUFF] Rules & Call for Teams for the 2012 NYC

[Bill Martin]

Okay, here it is. Post your team listings in response to this thread,
or e-mail them to me.

It's already that time of year again: time for you to post the teams
who you want to go up against the nasty Challenges that the challenge
team has come up with over the year. The idea isn't to walk all over
the Challenges; rather, the point is to see how well you can rise to
the challenge, and to have fun doing so. "Winning" or "losing" isn't
important.

I'll say that again, because not making it clear caused some hurt
feelings in past years:
The point is to see how well you can rise
to the challenge, and to have fun doing so.
"Winning" or "losing" isn't important.

Those of you who've played this in years gone by already know that
there are rules for the Challenge.

First, here are the general rules.

I've come up with three Challenges (Easy, Medium, and Hard, relatively
speaking). Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to recruit a
team of three characters to help you take on one of the Challenges.
(The smart move here is to not accept the mission, but how much fun
would that be?) If you want to have your team go up against two or
three Challenges, or put together two or three teams (one for each
Challenge), that's okay.

(Astute readers will realize that there's a fourth participant in each
team - the person who put the team together. Depending on the team and
the Challenge, this may be important.)

On New Year's Day, I will post the Challenges, along with the teams
that I saw posted for each Challenge.

In some previous years, Blade would then judge which teams were up for
the challenge. However, that caused many hurt feelings in the past,
mostly among people who thought the idea behind the New Year's
Challenge was to try to win against somebody. Therefore, I've decided
in advance to continue Rob Kelk's idea that every team fails the
challenge unless you can convince me otherwise.

You have one week after I post the Challenges in which to write a short
fanfic telling me how you and your recruits handle each scenario.
(That's a better deal than the FFML's "One-Hour Challenge"...) Once
your fanfic has been posted, preferably to rec.arts.anime.fandom, I get
to critique it. (Followups to the post announcing the challenges will
be set to rec.arts.anime.fandom to make it easier for everyone to post
there, unless I forget.)

The critiquing rules are simple:
(1) If any of the characters act out-of-character and I spot it, you lose.
Period. If you think I’m wrong, then prove it with canonical evidence.
(2) If you don't address the challenge that I give you, then you lose.
(Examples of not addressing the challenge include, but aren't
limited to, spending all of your time on a side issue, getting
your recurits to try to bribe the judges instead of solving the
problem at hand, or solving only a part of the challenges, then
figuring the rest will sort itself out.)
(3) I reserve the right to stomp all over the munchkins who pick
"power" teams. I might not do this at all, but I reserve the
right to do it.
(4) An entertaining story with questionable tactics will be looked upon
more favourably than a boring story with excellent tactics. An
entertaining story with excellent tactics will be looked upon most
favourably, of course.

Second, here are the specific rules, expanding on assumed points in the
general rules.

Unless otherwise stated in a particular Challenge, the Challenges take
place in a close analogue of our world where magic and psi powers work.
They're still unknown, but they work. (Table-top roleplaying gamers
might think of the worlds described in "GURPS Cabal" or "Mage: The
Ascension" here. The setting isn't either of those worlds, but it's
similar.) You can't send your teams to Pallet Town or Kami House or
Hinata-sou, because they don't exist here. You can send them to the
Vatican, if you think that it'll help (or if you just want to pray for
a miracle), because the Vatican really does exist. If you choose to
visit Miami, you end up in the city in Florida, not the one in "Miami
Guns".

The characters get whatever gear *_that they own_* that they usually
wear or carry, unless at the time of summoning they are holding a
certain object. (For example, the "Urusei Yatsura" character Shutaro
Mendo gets his wad-of-cash-big-enough-to-fund-a-corporate-takeover,
because he always carries it around with him. He doesn't get his
family's private helicopter, because that belongs to his family, not to
him.) I may be lenient on this when a character has a mecha or
hardsuit issued to him/her (such as a Knight Saber has), or they happen
to be the only life form in the aforementioned mecha or hardsuit;
convince me. However, when the gear itself counts as one or more
characters, the "extra" characters have to stay at home, unless you
assign one of your other summons to that character. (Thus, picking
Chibi-Usa from "Sailor Moon SuperS" doesn't give you Pegasus for free,
and picking Katsumi Liqueur from the second half of "Silent Mobius"
doesn't give you Grosspoliner for free.)

Omnipotent characters, or those near enough not to matter, are
disallowed. If you take a character that can do anything, then there's
no challenge to rise to. (Repeating Rule One again: The point is to
see how well you can rise to the challenge, and to have fun doing so.
"Winning" or "losing" isn't important.) Appendix One, below, has a
non-exclusive list of characters near enough to omnipotent to be
disallowed; I reserve the right to add to the list. Appendix Two, also
below, has a non-exclusive list of characters that, while not uber
enough to be banned, have been brought to my attention that may be
added to the banned list at a future time due to potential easy ways
out of challenges. I repeat, Appendix Two is NOT BANNED, however,
based upon their use, they MAY be moved to the banned list at future
date if I see evidence that they should be there.

Characters should come from anime or manga, while some video game
characters are acceptable. (No, you can’t take Gaius Baltar from the
Battlestar Galactica graphic novel. I don’t care if your local store
puts it with the manga.) I’d prefer if you chose characters from
anime or manga, however I can make exceptions for videogame characters,
as long as they are Japanese in origin (in other words, Japanese
inspiration came up with the character, not an American, if the
character is an original. Japanese reinterpretations of real or
fictionalized characters, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, or the Mummy
are acceptable while the originals are not.) If you have any doubt
that someone is acceptable or not, email me.

In addition, the “Same Character Rule” is now going to be properly
defined. If you wish (for some unknown reason) you want 2 or 3
instances of the same character, there are set guidelines. The
original instance of this rule was when Ethan Hammond asked for Atsume
“Nuku-Nuku” Natsume from both the OAV and TV continuities. After
review, this exception is allowed because although both have the same
origin, they’ve had different lives, and are essentially different
characters in different continuities. If, however, someone asked for
Son Goku from Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT, officially
it will not be allowed, since it is the same character, just with
different amounts of experience. Tenchi Masaki from Tenchi Universe
and the OAVs would be allowed, while Tenchi Masaki from the OAVs and
GXP would not. If you have a question, e-mail me.

Now, let’s address some shared bodies characters. Picking Seiji from
“Midori Days” in the middle will not get you Midori on his hand for
free. Picking Gotenks from “Dragon Ball Z” will count as two
characters, because it is a fusion character. However, Lucy/Nya from
“Elfen Lied” are two distinct personalities sharing a body, but only
count as one based on how they share the body. Now, if you decide to
use a character like Risky or Safety from “Omishi Magical Theater
Risky/Safety”, but don’t pick the other sharing the body, the summoning
locks in that particular character. This, however will not affect the
Jusenkyo cursed and other similar conditions, so they still will
transform with hot/cold water, or whatever causes transformations.
Again, if you have a question, email me..

While it would be nice if the characters you choose would be able to
work as a team (with you or each other), it isn't required. However,
keep in mind that you'll have to write a fanfic with these characters
to show that you should win, and writing any character out-of-character
(also called character rape, like making Xellos a goody-two-shoes
without a reasonable explanation) is an automatic loss.

While it would be nice if you take a team made up of characters from
three different stories, you may pick all three from the same show if
you wish. (Yes, you may choose three "Z Fighters", or all three
Gunbusters, if you really want to. Don't think that I haven't planned
for that, though.)

Since there's more anime available than there is time to watch it, I
can't possibly know who every character is. Be sure to clearly
identify the characters you choose, and provide capsule descriptions of
who they are and what they can do. Don't assume that I'm familiar with
the characters, even if they're ones we often talk about on the
newsgroup or are well-known (like Akane, Akane, Akane, or Akane).
Repeats from previous challenges you, yourself have entered are an
exception. You’ve told me about them before, and unless something’s
changed, I shouldn’t need to be told again.

Also, you have to state from what part of what continuity you are
taking your recruits from. (There's a world of difference between
"Ranma 1/2"'s start-of-anime Saotome Ranma and end-of-manga Saotome
Ranma, for instance.) If you fail to do this, then I will assume you
want the first appearance of the character, from the anime if there's
still any question. (THIS IS A CHANGE FROM 2004'S RULES.)

All characters are to act in character. The only exception is that
they won't try to kill you or try to take over the world as soon as
they show up. They may change their minds just *after* they show up,
of course...

Was that clear?

No? Okay, here's an example, from the 2004 Challenge:
Hand-of-Omega decided to try the Easy Challenge, and chooses for his
team The Gentleman (from "Read or Die"), Rin (from "Please Save My
Earth"), and Eriol (from "Cardcaptor Sakura"). Rob made sure that he's
specified from when in each series he wants to take these characters.
On January 1, the challenge givers announced that the Easy Challenge is
to have all three of the team members agree on a plan of action in a
particular situation. Blade, with his knowledge of "Please Save My
Earth", decided that there's no way that Rin would agree to anything
proposed by either of the others, and the others probably wouldn't
agree to any plan proposed by Rin. At the time, Rob Kelk agreed.
Hand-of-Omega wrote this short fanfic to show how the team he assembled
would be able to succeed:
<http://www.google.ca/groups?selm=27420f11.0402142347.a2f6075%40postin...>
Rob Kelk read through the fanfic, decided after some thought that the
solution proposed would just barely work, and overruled Blade's
decision. Hand-of-Omega won the 2004 Easy Challenge.

One last thing, there are a few characters who are not bannable that
can time travel, either on their own, or via allowable equipment. As
of now, there is a time travel block, similar to the one from “The
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” where attempting to travel to a point in
time to where you could stop the challenge from happening, will result
in dropping you off back where you came from. For example, during the
SpiderCarnage challenge, time travel to stop the Robot Controller (or
whatever your team renamed him) from summoning the Japanese Spiderman,
Leopaldon/Marveller, and the Carnage symbiote would be blocked. Time
travel that would allow your team extra prep time to help build
anti-symbiote weaponry would be allowed, but would have to go to a time
not affectable by the block.

Good luck, everyone. You're going to need it...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Appendix One: The Banned List
Characters that are near enough to omnipotent to be disallowed from all
future New Year's Challenges
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since merely being listed here can be seen as a spoiler, the character
names are listed in ROT-13. The anime and manga names are in clear
text.
Ah My Goddess: Oryyqnaql, Xnzv-fnzn, Uvyq
Akira: Nxven, Grgfhb
Dragonball Z/GT: Furaeba (n.x.n. Fura Ybat), Cbehatn
Excel Saga: Gur Terng Jvyy bs gur Znpebpbfz, Anorfuva
Princess Tutu: Qebffryzrlre, Snxve
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Nxvb, Nagul, Qvbf
Sailor Moon: Dhrra Freravgl, Arb-Dhrra Freravgl
Slayers: Gur Ybeq bs Avtugznerf, Prcuvrq,
Funoenavtqb
Superbook: Tbq, Wrfhf, Gur Qrivy
Tenchi Muyo Ryo-ohki: Gbxvzv, Gfhanzv, Jnfuhh
The Flying House: Tbq, Wrfhf
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Unehuv Fhmhzvln, Lhxv Antngb, Elbxb Nfnxhen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Appendix Two: The Restricted/Watch List
Characters that could potentially tip the scales enough that they might
be added to the banned list in future challenges, or ones that I feel
will give a hidden loophole to solving a challenge. Being on this list
is not a banning, but a warning that using them will gain my utmost
scrutiny.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since merely being listed here can be seen as a spoiler, the character
names are listed in ROT-13. The anime and manga names are in clear
text.
Dragonball Z/GT: Qraqr, Xnzv, Theh
xxxHolic: Lhxb Vpuvunen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--
Please note, I have blocked most gmail addresses. I can still be
reached by e-mail, and if you are a legitimate poster, I can make an
exception in my killfile rules to allow me to see your posts. I do not
like the spam when it doesn't come from those tins.

[Starcade]

Just letting you know, I'm back in again. Trying to figure out teams,
but there you go...

Mike

[billnes]

I've been away from the group for a while. What exactly is this?

Thanls,
Bill N.

[Rob Kelk]

It's an excuse to write fanfic. Pick three characters - any three,
except for those so all-powerful that they can ignore any challenge.
Pick a difficulty level. On January 1, the missions will be revealed.
You have until January 8 to post how those three characters and yourself
would carry out the mission that matches the difficulty you chose.

The point is to write a story, not to break the spirit of the challenges
while sticking to the letter of them. Entertaining stories that show how
the characters fail are received better than point-form lists of how the
characters succeed (although entertaining stories of how the characters
succeed are best of all).

--
Rob Kelk <http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/> e-mail: s/deadspam/gmail/
"I'm *not* a kid! Nyyyeaaah!" - Skuld (in "Oh My Goddess!" OAV #3)
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear
of childishness and the desire to be very grown-up." - C.S. Lewis

[Starcade]

Easy: Sora Naegino, Rosetta Passel, and Layla Hamilton from Kaleido
Star (full knowledge, including previous challenges)

Medium: Anna Heart, Mia Gillem, and Leon Oswald from Kaleido Star
(full knowledge, including previous challenges)

Hard: Team "We Are Nuts!": May Wong from Kaleido Star (full
knowledge, including previous challenges), and Kaname Chidori and
Sousuke Sagara from "Full Metal Panic" (all known series information)

Sousuke will have at least his impossibly-stashed mega-arsenal of
every conceivable firearm and weapon of somewhat-mass destruction.
Chidori, of course, will have the fan to knock over his head...

Mike

[dot_wa...@hotmail.com]

Eh, I'll round up the usual suspects:

Team Sugar
*Kirby, Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. Melee
*Kinomoto Sakura, Card Captor Sakura, end of series
*L, Death Note, right after his debut

Team Unfair Advantage
*Seta Soujirou, Rurouni Kenshin, post Kyoto Arc
*Doraemon, Doraemon, post 1st OVA (including 4th dimensional pocket)
*Zhuge Liang, styled Kongming, Dynasty Warriors series, circa Battle
of Chi Bi (starting stats and weapon, no extra equipment)

Team Pyrrhic Victory
*Flonne, Makai Senki Disgaea, beginning of episode 12 (can heal via
Power of Love, and shoot feathers of light as an offensive
projectile)
*Legato Bluesummers, Trigun, right before he snuffs it in the anime
*Xelloss, Slayers Try, post series

All three teams will be doing all three challenges.

-"Dot"

[Starcade]

On Nov 30, 7:46 am, Bill Martin <bill_r_mar...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> The characters get whatever gear *_that they own_* that they usually
> wear or carry, unless at the time of summoning they are holding a
> certain object.  (For example, the "Urusei Yatsura" character Shutaro
> Mendo gets his wad-of-cash-big-enough-to-fund-a-corporate-takeover,
> because he always carries it around with him.  He doesn't get his
> family's private helicopter, because that belongs to his family, not to
> him.)  I may be lenient on this when a character has a mecha or
> hardsuit issued to him/her (such as a Knight Saber has), or they happen
> to be the only life form in the aforementioned mecha or hardsuit;
> convince me.

So I am clear (and to illustrate for others still waiting to put teams
together)...

For my Hard team, I get all the guns Sousuke Sagara can stash (and
that's a lot -- see Fumoffu episode), but I don't think I get the
Arbalest, is that correct? If I can, I'll gladly take it, but I don't
think I get the Arbalest.

Mike

[Bill Martin]

Yes, you get all the guns he can stash. As to the Arbalest, since its
A.I. is not self-aware, and serves as an anti-theft protection so that
only Sasuke can operate it, yes you can have it if you 1) think it will
do any good [remember, the Hard challenge does not always mean solve
with more dakka] and 2) grab Sosuke from a point after which he'd
started piloting it. Just remember that the Arbalest has an
operational time of 100 hours (or 4 days & 4 hours) and you would only
get the standard armaments, unless the episode you grabbed Sosuke from
has one of the few times an alternate armament has been used.

[Starcade]

So the answer to that is no -- not realistically speaking, that is.

Mike (Done partially as an exercise to explain for any interested
parties who might not have gotten in on this yet... HINT WINK)

[Rob Kelk]

Oops - I replied to the update thread instead of to this thread...
Posting again.

On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:46:08 -0600, Bill Martin
<bill_r...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Okay, here it is. Post your team listings in response to this thread,
>or e-mail them to me.

Since this may be the last time we do this, I'll come out of
retirement. Easy Challenge only.

This time around, I'll go with "Team Friendship is Magic...al-Girls".
(No, I'm not a brony - I just know a small herd of them.)

First, a magical girl of the earlier sort, who's clumsy and a klutz and
the possesser of great untapped magic power and greater love for her
friends: Sae Sawanoguchi. We'll call upon her at the end of the "Magic
User's Club" TV series, when she finally knows what she's capable of if
she doesn't control herself and her magic.

Next, one who considers friendship and love to be her most important
attribute: Usagi Tsukino. We'll ask Sailor Moon to stop by between S and
SuperS, when she's confident enough to be capable in a pinch but isn't
over-powered.

We'll leave "over-powered" for the magical girl who redefined
befriending: Nanoha Takamachi. We'll call "Lyrical Nanoha" in from the
end of StrikerS, when she's between training cadets.

[Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)]

ALWAYZ UZE MOAR DAKKA!


--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.livejournal.com