My original title for this document was “Memories of a Worlds Duelmaster”, named after my experiences both as DM and player. Believe me, I’ve seen some whoppers come down the pike, and I have to admit I’ve won and lost several duels and races. But that’s not the reason why I’m writing this article. I’m here to share my knowledge to those of you who sorely need it. You can take it or leave it - that’s your choice.
Planning The Tournament
This is the stage where most people blow it. The Duelmaster
must be prepared for their tournament. This means knowing exactly what
they need to do it. What arenas or racetracks to bring? What pregenerated
cars are needed? How many people do you expect to show for your tournament?
All this must be in your plan and always have a backup to it.
I’ve seen enough poorly-planned Worlds
to know the pitfalls. One Dueling Worlds saw the Duelmaster forgot to bring
an arena. He had to go with a poorly-made Arch Arena and start late. A
Racing Worlds saw a hastily-designed track drawn up right before the final
round. Or a preliminary round where the cars were announced by the Duelmaster
from the Compendium. These fall into the category of “Don’t Do This”. Remember,
have all your supplies (arenas, racetracks, cars, etc.) ready at least
a month before the tournament - don’t ever rush things. That’s how novice
errors creep in. Sit down, think about what you really need to make your
tournament a success.
Then there’s Duelmasters who want
to overplan their tournament. Forming a committee to argue out the tournament
rules. Remember the only one person is responsible for the tournament and
that is the Duelmaster.
I’m the first one to tell you that
Car Wars is not perfect and needs to be fixed. But you can’t revise the
whole game before one tournament six months from now. That’s the best left
to a Q&A Forum. And people for years have been finding loopholes and
other garbage in the rules, then using them for their own benefit. This
will continue until the rules are revised.
Planning the tournament should be
short and sweet. Where, When, What divisions and How many are advancing
to the Final round. The fine details can be taken care of after you get
that information out.
Location
Where is your tournament being held? Is it at a convention
or a local hobby store? How many people to you expect to attend?
I know some tournaments that were
held at houses or hobby stores in which only the hosting chapter attended.
In turn this doesn’t look good when it was a regional being held. Or a
convention tournament where there were more players than the Duelmaster
had planned for.
Local tournaments will not be as big
as regional ones. Regional tournaments will not be as big as National and
World tournaments. World tournaments will be as big as how accessible the
location and how popular the game is at the time.
A big factor in attendance is how
soon information for it is available to the public. Is the location available
six months, three months, or a week before the scheduled time. How much
time do the players have to plan for it and to get there? We were told
of a Regional that was some 900 miles away a week ahead of time. Another
Regional event was different from its published description in ADQ. It
didn’t make us real happy, even though we still surprised the Duelmaster.
So don’t spend too much time planning
your great tournament or creating a committee to debate how to run it.
Otherwise there will be players wondering whether or not the tournament
is worth attending. Remember your players always - without them you have
no tournament. If you’ve never ran tournaments before, look up someone
who has successfully done one or look up old ADQ articles on running tournaments.
Don’t go it alone when you don’t have to.
Length
How long is your tournament going to last? One, two, three
or four days? Again, how many players are you expecting to attend?
Generally, the shorter the tournament,
the less rounds are needed. Don’t plan a three-round tournament for one
day. Both you and your players will be at each others’ throats before it’s
over. It’s just too much and too long for a one-day event.
Round Guidelines
| # of Players | # of Rounds |
| 6-10 | 1 |
| 10-50 | 2 |
| 50+ | 3 |
Plan on cutthroat eliminations. The competition really
sparks if they know only a few will advance. I’ve breezed through some
Worlds because over half the field advanced. If the number of players allowed
to advance into the next round were fewer then the arenas would’ve been
more intense and interesting.
Sometimes having a second preliminary
round can be hard to manage due to a lack of competition. The Duelmaster
is really not doing the players a favor if there isn’t enough competitors
to make the second round worthwhile.
The Duelmaster must know how many
players he can effectively control at any one time. Having too many players
in a round can slow play down to a snail’s pace. I know some people like
having 14+ players in an arena, but how much is actually accomplished by
doing that? Generally its best to have ten or less players at any one time.
I remember a few Worlds with 14-16 players in the final rounds, lasting
5 hours with 12 turns completed.
It all comes down to how many are
attending your tournament. The sooner that’s answered the better off you’ll
be.
Plan for equal time slots if at all
possible. In other words, all the games slots are either 4 or 6 hours longs.
Don’t vary the game time, it goofs up you and your players. If you can
schedule your event the same time each day, it’s easier on everyone involved.
You don’t have to look at a schedule everyday to see when it’s going to
be.
The killer times is having a preliminary
until midnight, then having the finals at 8 a.m. the next morning. Leave
yourself time to check over the designs. Doing them in the middle of the
night is not good for anyone.
RULES
What rules is the tournament going to be played under?
Compendium I or II, Uncle Albert's Catalog from Hell, Pocketbox , Deluxe,
or a modification of one of these? What division and other specifications
are going to be posted?
The rules of the tournament help determine
your turnout. Players are drawn to rules that suit them. AADA Worlds always
play with the latest set of rules (Compendium II/Uncle Albert's Catalog
from Hell). Each version of rules has it's own flaws and quirks, so plan
accordingly.
As for divisions, you have a the field
from Division 5 to 30, 40, 60, 80, 100 and unlimited.
Most tournaments are done in Division
60 or under. Above that you have more accessories than car. I've never
seen a tournament held above Division 60, and I hope I never do. It wouldn't
be so much a duel as a bloodbath with all the firepower available. NOVA
had a Division 60 club championship which was won by the player who fired
last. The ones who fired first nearly ventilated each other in two turns,
exchanging 6 and 8 dice volleys. The winner simply polished off the crippled
survivor of that battle. That was with three players. With eight it would've
been more grisly.
Don't assume your players know the
rules. You may have rookies or ruleslawyers in the bunch an you'll never
know until it's too late. Remember to state your vehicle restrictions,
because some players can sneak in some surprises. I once took in a grasshopper
in an arena because the Duelmaster said 'no helicopters'. He said nothing
about grasshoppers. Another time a player brought a microplane in a Division
5 arena. It may not have lasted long or got airborne, but it is possible.
Another strange sight in arenas is buses. In divisions 30 and over, you
can bring in a bus. I’ve seen it done, in the 2047 Dueling Worlds one player
would’ve brought in a Mini-Bus until I put my foot down. Another ‘don’t
let this happen to you’.
What other things are you going to
limit? Dueling and Racing tournaments have their own limitations.
Dueling Restrictions
Things like Division I've already covered. But power plant/engine
restrictions come from the arena. In some arenas gas engines aren't allowed
(i.e. Hammer Downs). Sometimes the arena restrictions have been ignored.
In a few Dueling Worlds held in Hammer Downs gas engines were used.
Be careful with your description of
the event. One Regional Duelmaster once said 'Division 15 Race'. So me
and a fellow player designed race vehicles for the event. It was more of
a dueltrack event, but we rocketed away from most of the pack with a 30
mph acceleration. By the time we engaged the others our speed was over
200 mph. It ended in tragedy for us, but it was a riot to do. Especially
taking a hairpin turn at 210 mph with the new one maneuver per phase rule.
The Duelmaster stopped the game to watch us make the turn; he couldn't
believe that we did it.
Racing Restrictions
Racing tournaments are usually strict on which car bodies
are allowed. Very few tournaments have more than one body style. A Racing
Worlds years ago had both Can-Am & Indy Car bodies in use. Most racers
used Indy Cars.
It's not uncommon to have one car
body in the Preliminaries and another in the final round. Such as having
Sprints for the preliminary and Indy Cars in the final round. Further restrictions
depend on what kind of race you're running. It can either be a dueltrack
or a pure racing event.
Dueltrack races have very little restrictions,
usually only on the body type and division. After that anything goes, and
usually does. The worst examples of dueltrack cars are the Gunboat and
the Shuttle. The Gunboat is overarmed and slow for most races, but it can
blow away most of the racers if the Duelmaster allows such a vehicle to
be used. The Shuttle is a speed demon built with the largest engine possible.
It inevitably includes rocket boosters and nitrous oxide. A Shuttle can
go from 0 to 60 in a single turn. In one Worlds final round a racer brought
in a car that went from 0 to 75 on the first turn.
In another Racing Worlds one player
brought in a Gunboat since the Duelmaster set combat after five turns.
After the other racers sped on the Gunboat pilot took position in the center
of the starting straightaway, where he stopped and attempted to shoot the
players (who where by this time going over 200 mph). The Gunboat and its
deluded pilot was taken out by one of the front running Shuttle drivers.
At over 300 mph the Shuttle and the Gunboat were utterly destroyed.
Dueltrack events tend to be short-lived
affairs, lasting at most a single lap. Some Duelmasters also love to run
staggered opposing starting positions. This spells trouble for racers,
as T-bones and other maneuvering mayhem abound in such circumstances.
Race events, on the other hand, have
a lot of restrictions compared to Dueltrack events. Restrictions such as
weapons spaces, dice of damage, and speed boosters are the most common.
These restrictions help make the players design decent race cars.
Weapons space availability limit the
number and types of weapons a racing can mount in their car. This greatly
cuts down the Gunboats on the track. The weapon limit also applies to external
weapon mounts, which may or may not be allowed. The amount of damaged caused
by a weapon can also be limited, such as no HD ammo, pulse lasers, or incendiaries.
This can also stop players from loading up on heavy rockets and especially
gauss guns. Thankfully, 3D6 weapons tend to be heavy, a real detriment
for making fast cars.
| Division | Weapon Spaces |
| 5-20 | 0 or 1 |
| 25-60 | 2 |
| 65-80 | 3 |
| 85-100 | 4 |
| 100+ | 5 |
This table is the usual pattern of
weapon space restrictions. Any race above Division 60 is rare. Also, your
entering a zone of heavy weapon capabilities, though damage restrictions
can offset this.
Speed boost restrictions are put in
place to stop the Shuttle launch starts. Not everyone like the zero to
60 mph starts. By not having rocket boosters, nitrous oxide, and supercharger
capacitors, you can have a rolling start of 50 to 100 mph for the whole
pack.
EWPs and turrets are dropped from
race events to limit speed loss and arcs of fire. Additionally, the idea
of a car taking a banked turn at 200 mph and firing a turreted weapon is
crazy to say the least.
EWPs have two purposes in racing:
mounting weapons or rocket boosters. With limited weapons space and no
speed boosters, the use of EWPs is simply not needed. Ejected EWPs are
racing hazards, becoming impromptu obstacles which can cause crashes very
quickly. In one Worlds a player hit a dropped EWP at 160 mph. He vaulted
some 16 inches down the track. He became a debris field at the end of his
unscheduled flight, leaving the survivors to pick their way through the
debris at high speeds.
No dropped weapons is common rule
in all racing events. If you allow it, remember this: what comes around
goes around. Some weapons are short-lived, like paint sprays, or other
last as long as dirt, such as smoke and ordinary spikes. Just limiting
dropped solid and liquids doesn't stop the ruleslawyers from bringing in
flame clouds and cloud bombs. Only the total ban of dropped weapons will
take care of those problems.
There are a few weapons that by there
very nature should be banned from Racing events. These are: flamethrowers,
oil/paint guns, spike guns, grenade launchers, and mineflingers. Flamethrowers
are technically an aimed weapon, but it leaves a smoke cloud after each
shot. The others are better understood as aimed dropped weapons. Since
they fire ammunition that affect driving and maneuverability, they fall
under the no dropped weapons rule.
I know some ruleslawyers will try
to say since the have a 'to-hit' these weapons can be considered direct-fire.
Technically true, but they nevertheless they deploy dropped weapon loads.
Hence the ban from racing events.
Dueltrack races may not be as restrictive
on dropped weapons. Dropped liquids and solids will still be banned, but
everything else will be okay. Flameclouds and cloud bombs will still be
disallowed.
In racing, the start of combat is
a questionable topic. Some duelmasters say after five turns, others after
one lap is completed. Of the two, I believe the one lap rule is best. It
allows the races to spread out and forces them to think long term. The
five second rule is good for less than one lap Dueltrack events.
Scoring
This is sore spot for many players and duelmasters. Scoring
can be subjective for various reasons. Ultimately, all scoring comes down
to the Duelmaster's final decision, not to a committee of players. The
players can state their position to the best of their ability and see if
they can change the Duelmaster's mind. Maturity must be observed in any
game, and any player not acting mature can be asked to leave the game.
Scoring can be done in two different
ways. Either by survivor or by points. Each has it's own benefits.
The survivor system is based on the
principle that the last person left alive wins. In racing it would be the
one who went the furthest. It's quick, easy, and unforgiving at best. And
it has shortcomings. It can allow a person to win with just one kill over
a person that had a few kills but was killed himself. In racing it's a
bit more fair, for it is the number of laps completed that really counts.
Lapping and passing someone are two
different things. To lap someone means you're one lap ahead of them. For
them to win, they would have to lap you twice - once to catch up and pass
you, the second to put a true lap's worth of distance between you and him.
The term lapping is used when you lap someone.
Passing means to pass someone, it
may be for position or lapping. Players on the same lap may pass each other
if they're able. But players passing each other on different laps are lapping
each other. It can be confusing at times.
One Worlds several years ago allowed
points for passing. Two racers in the middle of the pack spent a lap passing
each other one way or another. Not very sporting or fair. The eventual
winner was one of the passers. It came down to whether or not he passed
a wreck on the last turn. After a considerable amount of arguing with the
duelmaster the racer was declared the winner. Not a way to finish a World
Championship.
The point system is the most widely
used and abused scoring system. Everyone and their grandmother have their
own variation on it. The AADA has no standard scoring system, as it varies
from year to year.
To begin with there are two classes
of points - kills and give-me.
Kills
Kills are pretty straight forward, you would think. But
players have very interesting ways of being killed or unkilled. A recent
Worlds saw a player lose all his tires, then activate his active suspension
and drive off on his rims after being declared a mobility kill.
There are two types of kills: mobility
and firepower. A vehicle is considered fully killed when it has a mobility
and firepower kill scored against it.
Mobility kill: a mobility kill is
when a car can no longer move under its own power due to combat or maneuvers.
The loss of a power plant or engine is one example. Another is the loss
of two or more tires, causing the car to become immobilized.
Firepower kill: a firepower kill occurs
when a car's weapon systems are no longer in operating condition due to
damage from combat and maneuvers. Weapons destroyed in a vehicle-to-vehicle
collision (rams, for example) can be counted towards a firepower kill.
No matter how much the kills are defined,
there's always Murphy's Law to contend with. Players can present some interesting
situations for kills, such as previously mentioned Worlds mobility kill.
Give-Me
Give-Me points are points earned without much effort.
While kills are earned through effort and maneuvering, give-me points come
from such things as targets, checkpoints, rings, and jumps.
Targets: a target is a small target
area usually placed on walls and corners of an arena. The usual targeting
penalty is -3 (or a base to-hit value of 8) and are scored once per player.
It's rare for players to mine the area around targets, since a player could
easily shoot a target from a fair distance away. While easy, a target requires
you to fire a damage-capable direct-fire weapon at it, thus making you
use a round that otherwise would be fired at an opponent.
Checkpoints: checkpoints are the most
common of the give-me points, used in the worlds for years. They're ½"
squares that are scored only once per player per checkpoint. Mining checkpoints
is a common tactic. Creation of no-fire zones around checkpoints is begging
strong enforcement. The best way around this that violators be immediately
disqualified and leave the arena by the quickest route possible. Otherwise,
don't hogtie the Duelmaster with the no-fire zones.
Rings: rings are attached on breakaway
chains, which in turn are connected to cables suspended between obstacles.
A car equipped with a lightweight lance can attempt to snag a ring by driving
underneath the support cable. A ring can be caught at -6 penalty (or a
base to-hit of 9). Computer and point-blank points can't be used.
Going after a ring places the player
in a vulnerable position; since catching a ring is a firing action, he
has to make the choice of either getting a ring or defend himself if attacked.
Most players won't mine the area around the rings since that would deny
them access to the rings also.
Jumps: another favorite of the Worlds,
and heavily abused. Points are scored for every jump successfully completed.
A successful jump is defined by having a good take-off and landing.
The unfortunate dark side of jumping
is the mining of ramps and using airborne cars as skeets. Over the years
jumping has become hazardous for everyone. The infamous remote-detonated
mines and the Texas Synchronized Mid-Air Crashing Team are the most memorable
of these hazards.
The tactical value of using jumps,
however, should not be dismissed. Likewise, spectacular kills can be made
frequently by using jumps.
Multipliers: these are points are
scored after another give-me points are scored; such as completing a jump.
Afterwards all points are multiplied by a certain factor; like being doubled
or tripled or one and half times their original value. Sometimes points
are multiplied after completing a round. Such as; all points are doubled
in the second round.
The Multipliers sound like something
out of an arcade game. If you wish use multipliers, then use them in special
events (one time arenas), not in a tournament. There are whole arenas designed
around scoring points, such as one designed like pinball machines. In these
arenas you can score points to your heart’s content.
A dark side of multipliers is that
some duelmasters allow rescoring of points. Such as; scoring a checkpoint
again. Meaning a player can score all the checkpoints, targets, and jumps
again. And you can rescore the multiplier to up the scoring factor(double
to quadrupt). This encourages the checkpoint charlies to score more points,
instead of going into combat.
Give-me points are not my favorite
points as they too easily abused and lead to non-combative 'rolling for
checkpoints' style of play. I've come to the conclusion that they should
be left out of duels and tournaments. Give-me points do not promote combat
and can be a source of contention when determining a winner for a duel.
Dueling tournaments should stick to
scoring kills only, no give-me points. Old fashion, perhaps, but the game
is called Car Wars, and the spirit of Car Wars is the blood-'n'-guts style
of dueling.
Optional Points
These points are not always used. Their use depends on
the Duelmaster. They include surrendering, leaving the arena, and last
survivor.
Surrendering. This is an honorable
way to exit a duel without dying. When your armor has been breached and
the next shot will kill you surrender is the preferred option. Firing on
a surrendered car is reprehensible and must be dealt with severely.
The surrendered car must go out of
the nearest gate. Surrendering is worth as much, point-wise, as a complete
kill. Leaving the Arena. When you don’t feel like surrendering, thus denying
your opponents the kill points, you can simply leave the arena. However,
such an action does come at a cost. Leaving the arena, other than in the
case of surrender, will cost the leaving player the same number of points
as a complete kill.
Last Survivor. These are points given
to the last surviving duellist and breaks any ties that exist at the end
of the duel. Last survivor points are worth as much as a complete kill.
Point System
One Point Base
Firepower kill: 1
Mobility kill: 1
Becoming a firepower kill: -1
Becoming a mobility kill: -1
Checkpoint: 1
Target: 1
Jump: 1
Survivor bonus: 1
Everything is even, but can easily break down due to point-grabbing.
Two Point Base
Firepower kill: 2
Mobility kill: 2
Becoming a firepower kill: -2
Becoming a mobility kill: -2
Checkpoint: 1
Target: 1
Jump: 2
Survivor bonus: 2
An improvement, and point-grabbing is made less attractive. Let's make it even more so.
Five Point Base
Firepower kill: 5
Mobility kill: 5
Becoming a firepower kill: -5
Becoming a mobility kill: -5
Checkpoint: 1
Target: 1
Jump: 1
Survivor bonus: 5
The Duelmaster
The Duelmaster must be experienced and have endurance
for what he does. Knowledge of the game is essential, but he must be able
to stand his ground with abusive players. There are players who want to
badger or trick the Duelmaster for their gains. A good Duelmaster can't
be badgered or tricked.
The Duelmaster's word is final, no
matter what. He can not and will not be ruled by a committee, because in
the end only he can decide the question. The bullying of duelmasters should
not be tolerated; any player doing so should be thrown out of the game.
Don't misunderstand me; the duelmaster
must be open to new points of view and always be improving himself. To
stop growing is to go backwards. Everyone must always keep learning and
improve themselves.
Rule Questions, or Car Wars Reality 101: Common Misconceptions of Car Wars Rules
Mid-Turn Acceleration: this is a myth. Each Car Wars turn
is one second long; to accelerate twice is that time is impossible. All
acceleration and deceleration takes place at the beginning of the turn.
This includes any bonuses.
Consecutive Fire Bonus: Everyone wants
this bonus and it's abused quite heavily. The firing vehicle must have
line-of-sight to the target side during all the firing turns. Lost of line-of-sight
during a single turn means loss of all consecutive fire bonuses. The bonus
is only accumulated on one side of a vehicle at a time. A vehicle can present
a different profile by offering a different side to the target. If all
sides of a vehicle were flat and the same size, then consecutive fire bonuses
would apply on all sides, but they aren't, so it's one side at a time.
Active Suspension: helps a car hold
the road better and compensates for some tire loss. Active suspension works
only on cars with two or more tires. A car without tires is running on
its rims, and active suspension can't work with just rims. A car on rims
can't get enough traction to move, assuming it has enough clearance from
the ground anyway. Nice idea, though.
Ice and Oil: some players like using
ice and oil, usually putting them together in the same spot. On the face
of it, an ice/oil combo will cause a D6 hazard. Sorry to shatter your illusions,
but ice and oil don't mix. What you really get is an oily slush that's
only a D2 hazard.
Seeding: any seeding done depends
on the prevailing rules in the Worlds. It may or may not be done each year.
It use to be that club and regional champions were seeded in the second
round of the Worlds. However, for the last several years the Worlds had
seen low turnouts. The usual three rounds have been reduced to two. If
there were any attending club and regional champs they were seeded either
in the first or second rounds.
I've seen former World Champions who
where seeded that really didn't deserve the honor. In the previous years
they had won in deplorable fashion with poor manners. To top it off, these
former champs didn't bother to show up until the last moment for the final
round, usually cobbling a design together with reckless disregard for design
procedures. If a champion shows such disdain for his title, then he shouldn't
be seeded in the first place.
Seeding in general doesn't promote
growth in the champions of the game. Instead, their title gives them a
free ride. Champs have to go back into the mix and prove themselves worthy
of their title. At present there isn't a automobile competition in the
world in which the yearly winner doesn't have to deal with the whole season
of competition to compete in the final round only. Why should Car Wars
promote free rides to the final round? A player who plays only one game
a year doesn’t have the edge that a player who plays each week does. To
win the game you must be in the game. In my opinion seeding should be dropped
from the Worlds for the foreseeable future.
Grenades: A grenade will land on its
chosen target on a 12 on a roll of 2D6 only. Any other result has to be
randomly determined. This applies to thrown and launched grenades.
Teamwork: teamwork is strictly forbidden
in all tournaments. Shielding one car from another, two players attacking
the same car to the exclusion of all else, and passing up opportunities
to fire on a friends car are examples of teamwork.
The worse case of teamwork is the
infamous Texas Synchronized Mid-Air Crashing Team. This happened in Hammer
Downs, where four duelists, in coordinated maneuvering, used the jumps
to collide in mid-air. Needless to say all four vehicles were destroyed.
Another form of teamwork is players
using identical designs in a tournament. Two identical vehicles is a crime,
three is a conspiracy, and four is unthinkable. When this happens the Duelmaster
can demand another design from the second, third, and subsequent players.
There has been a few times when this happened in the Worlds.
Vehicle Range: this is a ruleslawyer's
wet dream. The intention is for balancing the "unfair" gas engines used
by cars. The car's actual range is not a problem within the average arena.
Only a minuscule amount of distance will be covered in an arena combat
setting.
A Car Wars mile is 360 inches in game
scale. Vehicle Range has been enforced on and off throughout the years.
It's worthless, considering the comparative power factors between electric
power plants and gas engines.
| Engine Size | Weight | Spaces | Cost | Power Factors |
| Super Power Plant | 1,100 | 6 | $3,000 | 2,600 |
| 200 ci Gas Engine w/5 gallon dueling gas tank | 560 | 4 | $5,825 | 2,500 |
The gas engine weighs less, costs more,
and has fewer power factors. To top it off, thanks to the formula to determine
the speed of a gas engine vehicle, a vehicle so equipped has a top speed
that's 1/3 less than a car with an electrical power plant. Gas engines
have a higher chance to catch fire and explode and are easily damaged in
combat. Finally, any modification to boost a gas-equipped car's top speed
will cost much more than an electric car. So you see, all these disadvantages
more than cancel out the supposed unfairness of the gas engine. The vehicle
range rule was not well thought out and should be dropped from tournaments
entirely.
Start and stop times: the tournament
must start on time and end the same way. If a game starts late then the
Duelmaster will have an uphill battle to motivate the players. Most players
will not follow a haphazard Duelmaster. The more organized the Duelmaster
is the better. The arena and cars need to be ready before your arrival
at the convention. Have plenty of supplies; you'll never know when you'll
need them.
It is critical that the arena starts
no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled start. Get to your assigned
table ahead of time. This way you can answer any questions from players
that are waiting for you. Taking an arena down should not take more than
15 minutes. Be sure to get the names of those duelists advancing on to
the next round and those that have won in each round. Collect all designs
in advance so they can be checked for errors. After the final round allow
thirty minutes for award presentation and photographs.
Fire and Explosions: a car doesn't
automatically catch on fire in its interior when its exterior is set on
fire. An armor facing must be breached before a fire can go internal. Once
the fire is inside the appropriate checks and rolls are made. If all internal
components are fireproofed, then there's no fire, otherwise, after the
use of extinguishers of all kinds, the roll is made to see if a vehicle
blows up. This is the way to handle internal fires, not the instantaneous
occurrence that some players make it out to be.
No tire shots: tire shots in duels
are mainly a waste of time, ammo, and effort. To shoot a tire effectively,
a tire-shooter will have to come in close and from behind to minimize the
firing penalties for target speed, the tire itself, an target range.
In dueling tournaments victory is
built on kills, and tire shots invite easy kills. To promote more lively
and inventive dueling, no tire shots by direct fire weapons should be allowed.
This will encourage players to use dropped weapons and engage in combat.
After all, those shots you wasted against those tires could've been the
ones you needed to breach an enemy's armor and earn you an honest kill.
Damage Sinks: A damage sink is an
item that serves no other purpose other than to absorb damage. Examples
include mini-safes, armored beer refrigerators, multiple zero space gas
tanks, and component armor around empty cargo spaces. These items are not
allowed in AADA-sponsored tournaments. Most players see damage sinks for
what they are and don't use them. However, there will always those players
that insist on bringing there beer into the arena. The consumption of alcoholic
beverages in arena combat is strictly forbidden.
To Pregen or Not to Pregen: The arguments
for pregenerated and custom designs has been going on for years. It depends
on the tournament, and both options have their benefits.
If the tournament is only one round,
then use custom designs. But if it’s more than one round use pregenerated
designs. Leaving custom designs for the final round. If you run a Amateur
Night tournament, then use pregenerated designs(it fits the theme).
The Duelmaster must check over all
the custom designs that enter in the tournament. The less you have to check
over the better. Since most likely each player will bring in three designs.
With just ten players, that thirty designs to check over. Don’t give yourself
more headaches then you have to.
Some Duelmaster which to control how
many “advanced” rules are used in the early rounds, then want to use custom
designs. Smooth move, you just blew it. You can control what rules are
used with pregenerated designs. And if you’re afraid your players can’t
handle the “advanced” rules, then are you ready to run this tournament.
You may as well hand it over to some one who’s willing to take it on, “advanced”
rules and all.
Fun: remember, it's just a game and
have fun. As Bugs Bunny said, "Don't take life too seriously - you'll never
get out of it alive".