Grand Tournament Discussion

Of course that would be allowed. As long as you would be willing to host the next Tournament is does not matter if the faction you represent is a government or not so long as it has the facilities to host the following tournament and is decently large IC.

They're not major flaws. This is not an OOC tournament, it's an IC one. You obviously need an IC character who would ICly participate in such an event. Additionally, this IC tournament would obviously have IC rules, such as no magic. If you can't participate, you can't participate; it's not a major flaw, it's realism.

No magic is definitely not a flaw. If you think about it for even a moment, the sheer scale of problems that could accompany a competition of magical violence would spell (har har) disaster for spectators, unless the place was super warded (which I suppose is possible under Sandbox rules but still). I also think a character who's purpose is kinda to fight and adventure, but who relies solely on magic, would be somewhat under equipped for the Sandbox environment, anyways.
Faction representation isn't a problem either--it's kind of one of the points of the tourny. Think medieval tournament, when kings sent their best knights to the joust.

How is this going to be judged? I think a small panel of judges (2-3 judges) will be necessary. Because "physics" are processed as somewhat "realistic" in the sandbox, judgement should be fairly straightforward and consistent with who's swing or block is most plausible.

First-blood victory conditions would do well in both exposing the best fighter in most scenarios, and keeping matches from getting too drawn out.

I'd allow warriors to come equipped with any weapon(s) they'd like. Perhaps put a restriction on armor to force skill-at-arms as the ultimate equalizer. Otherwise, we might have to think about weight/armor divisions, which would just send the whole concept downhill.

I think if it was set up exactly like this, it would achieve all the goals we'd want out of it (see which fighter is the best fighter, while keeping conditions fair, while also being interesting to watch!).

If it's set up like this, there's people I know who weren't too excited about the Sandbox when I told them, but I know would love to sign up if there's an actual awesome event they can partake in to help initiate them into our world (muahaha).

--Edit: specifically I do not so much like the OOC judgement portion on how well the RP is done. I think simply figuring who is the best fighter would be more constructive, since PvP in the sandbox isn't as collaborative as they might be in tabletop games, newer players could always refer to the tournament to learn the strategies and techniques of the best, which serves an OOC purpose even from IC judgement, and also helps newbies (who perhaps may not be used to "actual" PvP) learn how to write PvP scenes in which the opponent is actually trying to win.

Other tournaments would be pretty cool, they could come after this one or pop up in other places. The concept of tournament at all is really good for RP.

Okay so what im thinking about doing is changing how the tournament is judged. I'm thinking that instead of numerical values the judges simply confer on who is the In character victor. Combat may be called to an end early if a clear victor emerges and will be called to an end after a maximum of 15 posts each. This way it will still to technical, in character martial skill. What do people think of this?

Participants will be able to fight with what ever close combat weapons they chose and a shield of any type should they chose to do so. Also all participants will wear some form of leather garb as, in a setting where you cannot be serious harmed, one has no need for armour as it would only slow them down and offer unneeded protection.

I feel that people belonging to a faction is a key theme of the tournament and it helps continue the event for the future as the winning faction get to host the next tournament with rules of their choosing and on their own turf.

Also i'd give it a week or two before I start to draw things together and begin the tournament. That should be plenty of time to advertise to perhaps outsource new players who are interested in such an event. 

When/If a combatant takes a fatal or seriously injuring hit, instead they will be teleported out of the arena into the back of the arena and will effectively lose the match. All damage will be negated leaving them unscathed but they will forfeit the match.

And it will be 15 rounds. so 15 posts each.

If a non faction fighter wins, Estherol City will host the next tournament for them. So don't worry or hesitate to join, this issue is resolved.