Battle Stadium Guide
(Originally 'Universal Martial Arts Tournament' Guide)
Beta Version 1.4    Updated  5-13-98
All information in this guide are subject to change
 

Starting date: Unknown



Table of Contents:

Introduction

What the tournament is about

The Scoring System

The Judging System/Criteria
            Negatively judged actions
            Equalizing Power
            Disqualification
            Last notes on Judges

The Stadium
            Arenas
            Other places

Battle Format

How winners are determined

Prizes

Final Notes
 


Introduction:
             It has been a while since the Dimensional Traveler announced the Universal Martial Arts Tournament, and the time for the grand event is near. The fighters have been anxiously preparing themselves for this event, and is eager to test their skills against other opponents.


What the tournament is about: (this part is to be taken OOC)
             First, it must be clear that the tournament is NOT about power. It is all about skill and creativity. The tournament does not reward beings that have tremendous power (for example…. The power to destroy cities, planets, universes, etc… with one blow). It is so easy to just say “My character is 100 times more powerful than yours, so you must die when I do this…”  This is why the Nexus equalizes power so that beings that normally have a huge gap in power can fight fairly, with only their skills to determine who will be the winner. The more skillfully and creatively you display your character’s techniques, the better.
 


The Scoring system: (This part is to be taken partly OOC and partly IC).
             Just loosely based on the Olympic point system, the fighters are individually judged using a point system after their battle. Points range from 1.0  to 6.0  (6.0 being perfect). Let me say right now it is impossible for anyone to get a perfect 6.0 in their fight (The best fights will probably range from 5.4 to 5.8). I want to emphasize that this point system is NOT absolute. It is relative from one fighter to another, and from one battle to another. For example, in a certain fight, the better fighter will have a better score of those two, say… 5.5. In totally different battle with different people, the better fighter of that fight may get a 5.3. This doesn’t mean that the fighter with 5.5 must be better than the fighter of 5.3. Each fighter is the best from their previous battle, but their scores can’t be compared to one another because they haven’t directly fought yet. As you see, this point system isn’t very strict, and is still mainly based on how judges rate the fighter’s performance. I think defining the concept of “points” and “score” as it applies to this tournament should be helpful:
            Points/Score (concept): Anytime you see the word “points” or “score” used in this guide, don’t think of numbers. Instead, think of it as “Judge’s opinion”. Anytime you see “earn points” or “higher score”, think “judge’s opinion becoming higher”. Anytime you see “deduct points” or “lower score”, think “judge’s opinion becoming lower”. Remember this.


The Judging system/criteria:

  There will be at least one Judge to watch each battle that takes place. In their battles, each character will be judged on the following criteria:

- General impression: Basically, if you are able to make the judges go “great match!” or something like that at the end of the battle, you’ve earned yourself a good score (remember the concept score and points). Of course, this depends on all the other criteria below.

- Expressing actions: In short, you should express what your character does in a descriptive and clear way so that other people can imagine what your character is doing when you post your actions. This doesn’t necessarily mean ultra-long posts, but just that there’s enough description so that other people (especially the judges) won’t be confused and ask “what the hell did he/she just do?”. This is especially essential in complex maneuvers.

- Skill / Creativity: This is closely related to the above criteria, but goes one step beyond. This is where you display your flair and style when it comes to fighting. You’ll be judged on how skillfully you execute your moves (I won’t go into detail with this), and how creative your techniques are. This criteria also includes how well you adapt to your environment (you will see that there are different environments where matches can take place in the “Stadium” section.


Be aware that you may be negatively judged on certain things, like the following:

- Violating the rules of battle in Anime Dojo. This would be a good time to review that section. I’ll also emphasize some of them here.

- God Moding: This should never take place, especially in the tournament. If you God-mode, you’re not only violating the nature of the Dimensional Nexus, but violating general guidelines for RPing as well. God-moding is related to the 2 following things:

- Abuse of certain special techniques, such as teleportation, self-healing techniques/items, and mind-control. These abilities are considered cheap, unimaginative, and requires little, if any, skill. It’s not illegal to use them, but you would have to be very clever in how you use them to not get a negative reaction from the judges. Overall, it is better to not risk using these at all. Note that there are more possible cheap techniques, moves, and maneuvers other than these, particularly in characters with “magic” abilities.

- “Overpower” techniques: When your opponent unleashes some “ultimate” attack, it is understandable that you would want to release your character’s “ultimate” attacks as well, to try and counter your opponent’s. Be careful when you are in this process. You and your opponent may easily get into a tiresome chain of unleashing one ultimate attack after another to try and overpower the other. In the process, you’ll both probably exaggerate your powers, posting massive destructive posts. This is a no-no. First of all, final attacks will only earn you points from judges when it is believable, creative, necessary to end the fight, and skillfully executed. Don’t think that an impressive finishing move is your ticket to victory (You’ll also see later that defeating your opponent may not mean you earned the better score from the judges). Also, In order for all those conditions to be met, your opponent will have to willingly accept and receive that final attack. You cannot predict if your opponent will do that. If your opponent decides to counterattack with his/her own ultimate attack, trouble may start. No penalty is given when he/she counterattacks for the first time (since you did it first, he/she can also do it. From their perspective, their counter is THEIR first ultimate attack). However, if you decide to counter that counterattack with another ultimate attack, then the quality of your fight has been degraded, and points will be deducted. The more times this goes back and forth, the more deductions there’ll be. Even worse, if after all that, both characters are still standing and continue fighting, then the battle will just be plain ridiculous, and more points will be deducted. In short, each player is allowed 1 ultimate attack during each match (whether it for the offensive or to counter), if it is really necessary at all. A successful final attack (meeting all the conditions) earns slightly more points from the judges, but it is safe (point-wise), and maybe even preferable to win without using an ultimate attack.
 


Equalizing power:
            In the very beginning of the Anime Dojo, it’ss been known that all powers are “equalized” in the dimensional Nexus. However, this hasn’t been clearly defined, until now:

            The meaning of “equalizing” power: Because the multiverse is infinitely vast, characters coming from different universes doesn’t necessarily have the same power level as other beings. The Nexus offers a way for everyone’s power to be equal. As soon as someone steps into the Nexus, they are adjusted to have a potential “peak” power level, this “peak” power level is the same in everyone else in the Nexus. This means no character may surpass this “peak” level, but they can certainly be weaker than this peak power level. This “peak” power level enables every fighter to have the same potential. Now, to address the issue of “powering up”, which is common to most Anime series: It is possible to power up from a weaker state, but no matter how much you power up, you still can’t surpass the “peak” level, which is the same for everyone. This particularly affects DBZ characters such as Vejita, Trunks, and Goku, who has several specific levels of transformation. In their case, each transformation may giving the character more power, but that increase is slight. Going from normal mode to Super Saiya 1, the changes of the character’s power may be noticeable. However, going to level 2, the change in power level is smaller compared to the first transformation. And going to level 3 and above almost, the increase in power is nearly 0. Thus, at that point, the character is approaching or is at the peak power level. In all these cases, the opponent may choose to match these power ups, however, depending on the opponent’s nature, he/she may not specifically call these “power ups”. For humans, that may be simply “concentrating harder/clearing mind/focus energy/ etc”. One last note, as a character enters the nexus, and that character is normally more powerful/weak than the “peak” level of the nexus, he/she does not FEEL weaker nor stronger because of it, but the effect is there.
 


Disqualification:
             On certain extreme situations, a fighter may be disqualified from the tournament. Listed below are some actions that may lead to disqualification. However, more may be discovered as the tournament progresses. Its up to the judges to decide if the action warrants disqualification. Alternatives to disqualification are suspension from battle for a period of time, points deducted, and whatever else the judges may decide. Here are the grounds for possible disqualification (some of them):
-- Killing your opponent: yes, death can occur in the Nexus, though its rare.
-- Intruding other people’s fights.
-- Tampering with the Stadium in any way
-- Seriously violating the rules of battle.


Last notes about Judges: (taken partly OOC)
-- I would like for the identity of judges to remain unknown to the contestants, so judgements can be made fairly. To do this, judges should get new WBS handles such as these: Anime Dojo Judge, Judge of Anime Dojo, Tournament Judge, etc.
-- Judges are allowed to also be contestants (with a different character, of course) in the tournament. In such cases, they may not judge their own fight, and must be judged by the other judges.
-- All rights not specifically stated in this guide are reserved for the Judges.
 


The Stadium

             All battles will take place in the stadium. The layout of the stadium is similar to a normal circular  football/baseball stadium, except it’s much larger, and has several variations. The specific places of the stadium are:

Arenas: These are the battle fields located in the center of the stadium. There are 4 arenas in the stadium, thus, a maximum of 4 battles can take place at a time. Each arena is similar to the holofields in that its environment can be adjusted when needed, but it is less flexible, and its environment is preset before the battle has started. Due to its holographic properties, contestants in one arena cannot look into other arenas, (That its, you can’t watch other fights while you yourself is fighting.), but they can see spectators in the bleachers (read below). The ground of each arena can be damaged, but it can not be completely destroyed; the ground will reset itself when the fight is over. Here are the preset environments of each arena:
 
Arena 1 -- This is a fighting arena like the one in the DBZ series. It floor is tiled, and composed of concrete. The main fighting area is about 500 meters by 500 meters, surrounded by a grassy area on the outside. If a contestant is thrown outside of the fighting boundary (specifically, any part of the body touches the grass) during battle, points will be deducted from his/her performance, but will be allowed to continue fighting. (see the judging format).

Arena 2 – This is the standard dojo environment (but much larger). It has the look an decorations of a traditional Japanese Dojo. It has an area of 100 meters by 100 meters. It has wooden floors, walls, and roof. The walls of the dojo cannot be broken through under any circumstance, but its roof can be. The dojo’s rafter (roof) is composed of wooden beams that can be walked upon. Unlike Arena 1, there are no spots where there is a penalty. Near the corner of two opposite walls, there are weapon stacks, featuring swords, staffs, spears, and other Japanese weapons. The dojo is also equipped with large punching bags, soft mats, and wooden dummies near corners of walls.

Arena 3 – This is a simulation of a beach on a wild tropical island. On one side, there is a beautiful sandy beach. However, as you get away from the beach, you’ll find yourself in a forest full of tall trees, various plants, and various insects and animals that you’ll normally expect to find in such an environment. There some large rocks to be found by the beach, and normal “stuff” that you’ll expect to find on a beach. Fights here can take place on the beach, in the forest, and anywhere in between. And if you are wondering, there are no penalties for dropping into the sea.

Arena 4 -- This is a simulation of a rocky plain (like those found in the DBZ series). There are hills, plateaus, mesas, etc. There are almost no limits to where you can go. Of course, although this arena offers the largest area, it is also the most simple one.

Idea behind the layout of the Arenas:
             Each arena is designed to be a unique from each other. They have different properties and themes so that different battle strategies can be used. Because of the variety of battlefields, I’m hoping that no battles will be the same. Also, some fighters may prefer one fighting environment over others, so that is why the choices are given. Whenever appropriate, fighters should use the unique elements of arenas’ environments to enhance your fight (thus, “interactive background”). Use the descriptions of the environments (ie Arena 2’s rafters and equipment, Arena 3’s forest and beach items) to make your fight more interesting.


            Other than the Arenas, these are the places in the Stadium:

Bleachers – for people who simply want to watch, or fighters taking a break from their fights to watch other fights. The bleacher’s seats are free to move around the stadium via a hovering mechanism, so people are can focus on a fight in a certain arena.

Energy restoration chamber – for fighters to heal fully from a battle so they can continue fighting.

Lockers: each contestant has their own lockers to place their belongings until the tournament ends.
 


Battle Format:
             Everything begins with preliminary battles. A random process is used to determine who would fight who (ie, I would be writing contestants names in pieces of paper, shuffle them, then pick out pairs of papers). After the battle pairs have been decided, each pair may choose their arena to fight in. (If there is a huge demand a certain battle environment, then it is possible that the arena with the less-demanded environment be preset to another copy of the popular environment). Both fighters may fight with weapons, but hand-to-hand combat is prefered. The fighters may also utilize the properties of their battle environment properly. Each battle lasts 1 round. The fighter with a higher score (remember, you may get defeated and still earn a better score than your opponent) will advance to fight other victors). The fighter with the lesser score isn’t out of the tournament. Instead, he/she will fight other people, and still have a chance to advance. Thus, it is possible that the same pair of opponents will meet again later in the tournament. --- The exact system of how contestants will progress in the tournament depends on how many participants signed up. (more on this later on) ---

Note on RPing multiple characters: (to be taken OOC)
             If you are currently playing more than one character in the Anime Dojo, then you must decide on which character will compete in the tournament. You are only allowed to play one contestant. This is for many reasons (including the that if you do play more than one contestant, you may have to fight yourself with your handles)


How tournament winners are determined:
             This is yet to be fully determined. For now, it will be up to the judges to look back on the overall performances of the top scorers through the tournament, then decide on 3 winners. (More on this later on)
 


Prizes:
             As promised, the winners of the tournament will get the prize of one wish from the Dimensional Traveler. However, there are limitations, and if the wish is too absurd, the Traveler may still grant it, but it may not be what you had in mind. (Also more on this later on)
 


Final Note:
             I think the most important thing to remember about this tournament is that it is about good fighting. This tournament is set up so everyone can have good, clean, fun. It is a chance for people to show their fighting abilities. Everyone is eligible to enter, in fact, I encourage everyone to enter. Don’t be intimidated by all the things in the tournament, they are just there so everyone have an equal chance, and no one has an advantage (You won’t have to worry about your opponent pulling a very cheap move or anything like that) Just remember that the tournament enables you to do your best with your character, and be proud of your own fighting skills. Don’t worry about your opponent; a good fight ends with opponents shaking each other’s hands (just an expression). Also, don’t be concerned of your score in a battle. You’ll do better by concentrating on the fight rather than what the judges think. As for the prize in this tournament, you (IRL -- in real life) shouldn’t even let that be a reason to fight. After all, the prize (a cyber-wish) does nothing IRL. It is only there so that your character (IC mode) has an extra motivation to compete. With that, I hope you will have an awesome time in the Uchuo no Tenkaichi Budokai.
              Once last thing, Ranma will not be a contestant in the tournament, for good reasons.
 


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