Magic Duel Road Rally

[Fyrd Argentus]

There are no further rallys planned. The prizes, energy, and clickie coding space I have are all going to other quests.

If anybody wishes to organize and operate another rally, I will definitly help. Contact me if you are interested.
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First Rally was run May 3-4, 2010, and good fun was had by all 5 participants.
Second rally ran May 18-19, with 9 starters.
Third Rally ran June 8-9, with 12 starting competitors.
RALLY NUMBER 4 ran 03:00 ST Sunday July 18, with 5 of the possible 8 starters present actually competing.
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Magic Duel Road Rally Rules by Fyrd Argentus
http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/6848-magic-duel-road-rally/#entry57986

These competitions will be held periodically, and are designed to test your detailed observation of the lands through which you are passing.

[u]Simple Rules[/u]:
Start at the beginning, follow the scavenger-hunt-like directions from Peasant to Peasant and PM each in turn, trying to hit as close as possible to the proper time mark -- 30 seconds per action point from official start time. Whoever comes closest to the right times wins.

[u]Fine Print[/u]:
There will be an official starting point and time announced in the MOOD PANEL, along with preliminary instructions. Participants must follow these instructions to navigate a pathway through the common areas of the realm, at a speed of 1 action point per 30 seconds, making detailed observations of the landscape as part of the instructions. When the end-point is reached, the player must report (by PM'ing the judge at that location) the total number of action points it takes to navigate the course – and should do so as close to 1 minute after the start time per 2 action points of the course. Score is -3 per error in reported path length, and -6 per deviation from proper elapsed time in minutes (fractions retained, as based on PM time-stamp).

Check-points – scattered along the route are characters with name "Peasant" followed by a roman numeral. Players must PM these peasants with CUMULATIVE path length of the course so far, and at the proper time mark, just as if this was the endpoint, and player score will be adjusted in the same manner as at the endpoint. Also, the personal papers of the peasant will contain additional instructions, which supersede any previous instructions. Missing a check point completely results in an automatic -1000 to score, which is also the cap on penalty per check-point. [Edit] ~ FIRST PM COUNTS, no do-overs! ~

Winner and runners-up are determined by smallest total penalty score for all check-points and end-point combined. Those failing to report at the end-point before the Rally is called to a close will not be considered. Number and nature of the prizes depends on donations by sponsors, right up to the finish of the rally.

Delayed Start – Players don't actually have to start at the right time, but will suffer serious time penalties when they report in at check-point and end-point. Rally will continue until accumulated time delay penalty makes it impossible to beat the scores that have already placed.

Doubling Back – You may of course double back for clues, cut cross country, or do whatever is necessary to arrive at each check-point and the end-point at the proper time, but you must report path length in action points as if you had followed the instructions exactly.

North, south, east, west, etc. – refer to directions as given on the master map, with North at the top of the map. Left, right, in, out, etc. refer to directions from the point of view of the scene image, whereas turning left, right, etc. applies from the point of view of following the road. When multiple choices are available in a turn, they will be distinguished as "bear right" (slight turn) or "sharp right", for instance.

For purposes of this rally, a "league" is defined as 12 action points of move. This is 6 minutes at the running speed of the road rally, or very roughly 1 hour at slow march speed of historic armies.

"Lone tree" refers to any tree whose leaves do not touch another tree – all bushes etc. count as trees. "Stone" refers to any irregular (natural) shaped stone that shows white inside. "Brick" refers to any deliberately shaped (rectangle etc.) stone.

Assistance of any kind from other players is allowed, and interference with each other is allowed, but each player reporting in will get their own score. Tampering with or impersonating the peasants, or other forms of cheating, will be dealt with accordingly by the judges.

Those who win a wish point in one rally may compete again, but may not win additional wishpoints in subsequent rallys.

================= Past Winners and Prizes ===============================================

[b][u]PRIZES FOR THE FIRST RALLY[/u]:[/b]
1ST Place to Lightsage - A Wishpoint, sponsored by King Lifeline of Marind's Bell.
2nd Place to Mighty Pirate - 5 Credit package from Kyphis of Legend Speakers.
3rd Place to Shnappie - An aged Angien from Kyphis of Legend Speakers.
4th Place to Burns - 5 Silver
5th Place to Mya Celestia - 3 Silver

[b][u]PRIZES FOR THE SECOND RALLY[/u]:[/b]
1st Mighty Pirate - A Wishpoint, sponsored by King Firsanthalas of Loreroot.
2nd Mya Celestia - 5 credits sponsored by Kyphis of Legend Speakers.
3rd Asterdai - Aged TS from Grido
4th Clock Master - 5 silver
5th Czez - 3 silver
6th BFH Lighthing - Pimped Grasan from Kyphis of Legend Speakers.

[b][u]PRIZES FOR THE THIRD RALLY[/u]:[/b]
1st Place to *Clock Master* - A Wishpoint, sponsored by King Yrthilian of Golumus G.
2nd Place to Sajura Oninay - 5 Credits in the form of avys from Fyrd of Legend Speakers.
3rd Place to Pazur - Aged Tormented Soul from Grido.
4th Place to BFH Lighthing - Aged Pimped Grasan from Kyphis of Legend Speakers.
5th Place to Time - 5 Silver
6th Place to Shnappie (or was it third?) - Shop Joker

[b][u]PRIZES FOR THE FOURTH RALLY[/u]:[/b]
Eon took first prize, a WP from *Clock Master* of the LHO's.
Throm McLeod took second place, a gold coin donated previously by Eon
Sephira Caelum got an aged Tormented Sould donated by Grido.
Sir Noobalot got an aged and tokened Winderwild donated by aaront222.
Fateless Gerard got an aged and tokened Angien donated by Kyphis of the Legend Speakers.

Edited August 14, 2010 by Fyrd Argentus

[Shadowseeker]

Note, what about those with a slow connection=?

I have a decent one, and at times it takes like 10 secs just to load...

[Elthen Airis]

There is also the interface which gets you out of the scene, as if you were idle. I, at least encounter that quite often.

[Grido]

You're using alts and naming them "peasant" and such? would it not be player friendlier if you used actual people to help rather than relying on alts?

Or if you are detered by gathering people to help, it's a pretty straight forward storage function to put onto several clickables down the route that will record the time that they got there...

Also, are people still expected to pass the scene in 30 seconds after entering the scene, waiting for it to load, finding the "Peasant" opening a message to them, writing and sending the message and then closing the message window? In 30 seconds?
Oh, and also open and read their papers within the time?



As an additional note, i'll provide TS's like you asked in my thread, but the timing issue needs to be looked at i think....

[Fyrd Argentus]

The peasants (and I did clear these special alts with Chewett) are just mobile signposts (no creatures). I imagine I will need help, but people with brains can do more important things. And it may be a long time before I can access clickies personally.

On timing -- 30 seconds per scene AVERAGE plus 10 minutes per gate should be AMPLE time to rush through the course and then take extra time on a few spots. That's the way RL rallies are run - you drive faster than the posted speed, then time your crossing of the check point after you arrive to hit it on the nose. The difference here might be that somebody is shooting at you as you wait.... 30 seconds per action point is just slower than the slowest regeneration time I am aware of. I think regeneration will be the limit here, not connection speed. If somebody has data that shows otherwise, please share.

[Kyphis the Bard]

Bearing in mind that it is 30 seconds per [b]Action Point[/b] not Scene, it would mean that the Loreroot Gates would equate to 15 minutes.
This system is quite good so long as every race goes through a gate, as it allows people to figure out how long the journey should take and do everything else they need to as well.

It also means people with faster connections will have to sit around for a while to make sure they get the timing correct, if they make the observations fast enough

Personally, I think this is a good way of making a race fair for people with slower connections, and I hope to see this event continuing to run in the future.

[Fyrd Argentus]

I intend to keep this open to all players -- public lands only -- so the loreroot gates are OUT. (I still havn't gotten through them myself! Day 48 and counting.) And no tangling with the Dark Slime, etc.

[Grido]

[quote]The peasants (and I did clear these special alts with Chewett) are just mobile signposts (no creatures). I imagine I will need help, but people with brains can do more important things. And it may be a long time before I can access clickies personally.[/quote]

To point out, I wasn't saying you couldnt do it, I was just commenting it might be friendlier to use actual players.

Also, by way of clickables, there are ~many~ players who do already have the ability to edit them, and a large proportion would be more than happy to edit them for you, including me.

[Fyrd Argentus]

I think the first thing that "presents" to the player needs to be the Peasant, which is clearly distinguished as the check-point by the name, and will not be a target for requests for spoilers. Plus they can receive PM's.

I think there does need to be a real player "hanging out" at each check point to react to situations, but not to BE the check-point. They would only identify themselves if needed, and would be free to move around.

Use of clickables is a logical extension of this system, and I will happily take you up on the offer, as the complexity of the MDRR grows. I am not going to publish in a public log whether or not clickables have been incorporated yet at any particular point in time.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Fyrd Argentus

[Fyrd Argentus]

Now actively assembling prize packages. We are probably about 1 week out from our first run!

We have silver and creatures to start, trying to get wp's.

[Asterdai]

I like the idea, it is something new and something i personally havent seen before in MD, however the rules are a little too complicated for me to participate. Good luck!

*edit* took part in my first one on a good computer luckily! i came third i think, not bad i say!

3rd competition i Had to give up, and was extremely frustrated as Mobile broadband sucks rotten cabbages.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Asterdai
changing some stuff

[Fyrd Argentus]

First run of the Rally will be in approximately 1 week from today.

The grossly simplified version of the rules:

There is only one rule that matters - don't mess with the Peasants, who are the checkpoints.

The goal is pretty simple too. Start at the beginning, follow the scavenger-hunt-like directions from Peasant to Peasant and check in with each in turn, and try to hit as close as possible to the proper time -- 30 seconds per action point. Whoever comes closest to the right times wins.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Fyrd Argentus

[Astrea]

WHy must it always be at midnight?

[Fyrd Argentus]

So far, all the feedback I've had was that was a good time. That's 5pm for me. When would be better for you?

[apophys]

I've noticed it has been on Tuesdays so far. I have a class I need to leave for during that time period, so I haven't been able to attend. Could you maybe schedule it for any day other than Tuesday? I suspect Friday or Saturday (not being school nights) would be best for people in various time zones.

[Totenkopf]

when/where is this?

[Fyrd Argentus]

#3 is starting in 2 hours -- at 0:00 ST. Watch the mood panel for starting place. First two began at GoE.

[dst]

Could you please post also the logs for the race?

[Fyrd Argentus]

DST, no - on several levels.

1) You did not participate - why do you want them? If you're thinking of running one, you'll need a whole lot more. I am open to that. Somebody who needs to award 3 wp to get their Q doc should consider apprenticing on this.... It would also allow more diversity in time of event.

2) They are hardcopy, and it would be a lot of wasted work scanning them etc. Better put the energy and time into another Rally.

3) Because the peasants do not have mail managment (and Chewie said it might be alt abuse if I gave them credits) there is a lot of messy calculations of PM time. I would have to add volumes of commentary to explain them. Again, not worth the effort.

p.s. If anybody cared to give each alt ONE credit (via avy transfer, for instance) Rallies would be easier..... (I think one each would do it).

Edited June 13, 2010 by Fyrd Argentus

[dst]

So what? If I did not participate I am not entitled to ask for the logs?
Don't worry, I am not going to steal your bright idea.
I want the logs for transparency. And instead of dissolving my suspicions you just made them worst.

So until I am not sure how "fair" your quest is I will not try it. Be happy! You got rid of dst!

[Fyrd Argentus]

If you had participated, you would have known that there is a "debrief" in chat at the end of each Rally that explains where different people went wrong and how the rankings occurred. Everyone there has seemed satisfied. This too is something I am not about to try and post.

In addition, I have given more personal detail to individuals who have requested it.

[dst]

So basically you have to be in to get the info. That is not fair. I am a person who likes to know all the data BEFORE starting something. If it's too hard for you or you simply don't want to then don't blame me for questioning your fairness.

[Fyrd Argentus]

Updates are being added by editing the first note in the thread.

[Fyrd Argentus]

No further rallys plan. First post in thread has been updated. Mods please close the thread.