Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 10:32:27 -0500 From: "Robert F. Heeter"Subject: W2WT: Tournament Status Update (B) O Valiant Warriors Brave and Bold! In the bitterly cold crusted snows of the frozen month of January, as your armies struggle forward on yet another march to yet another battle, you spot something unusual up ahead. The snows atop the hill in front of you seems to be spouting upwards! But then you realize it is a white banner of peace, a most unusual standard indeed in this realm! Surely your enemy is not surrendering! But what can it be? Soon your curiosity is satisfied, as you recognize your friend the Tournament Messenger. He is clad in pure white, from his boots and armor made of some magical porcelain-like substance, to the white scarf that protects his face and the milky plume of feathers flying from his helm. He bows before you, and you seek his news: "Noble Warlord, it is a time of transition. The swiftest war of Round A has now reached Turn 20, and is nearly completed. Elsewhere the struggles continue; some battles are still on Turn 8. In other games, there are Warlords whom the fates have frowned upon, whose luck has fled, and whose battles have already ended in noble defeat. This is the State of the Tournament, sire." You nod. Indeed, although there is much fighting left to occur, even in your own game the range of possible outcomes is shrinking. The strong have grown mighty, and the weak have grown feeble, and it is starting to become clear that not everyone is going to be able to win this time. The Messenger continues: "The valiant wizards of the Corps of Scenario Engineers have just about completed the Round B scenario. Because some of the Round A games continue to struggle, we are not ready to begin Round B just yet. However, we do not want those who met their fate in Round A swiftly to get bored! Soon we shall make a preliminary version of the Round B map available to all warlords for playtesting and practice. (Indeed, a few hardy moderators have begun the X02 game to try out the revised scenario and test the Round B rules.)" "More will be revealed when the scenarios become public, and over the next few weeks the preparations will be made for the launching of Round B sometime around the fourth day of the third week of the second month. (That is, Thursday, February 19, 3 weeks from today.)" You grin. A voice in your head is saying: "Prepare thyself!" "Some preliminary information for Round B: A memo from the Scenario Engineering Corps to the Moderators has been leaked to those of us in the Public Relations Office. It seems there will be 50 cities, 4 temples, and 36 other ruins, containing numerous flight and command items, a variety of powerful allies (the same for each side this time), and of course fresh coffers of gold. Furthermore, each side will again have 2 heroes. But now, rumor has it that razing will be allowed at any time!" You smile with the expectation of a coming battle... "Gossip coming from the Turkish contingent has it that the Rules Gurus have accepted their proposal to allow certain types of quests with specific rewards! Sources at Tournament Headquarters have refused to comment. The venerable sages of the Historical College of Mages have reported that based on these characteristics, the Round B scenario may be an updated version of the "Duel of the Gods" scenario, playtested in the Duel, Duel2, Duel_III, Duelz11, and DuelZ12 games stored in the Remailer Past History archive." You smirk. Surely this messenger is saying only what he has been told to say! But curiosity now rages within you, and the muscles of your arm twitch as your hand instinctively reaches for the musty, dog-eared book in which the past history of the playtesting campaigns has been recorded... "One last thing: Headquarters is proposing that all players in Round A games which are not finished by the start of Round B will receive 8 additional vacation days on the day that the Round B wars begin, which they can use as vacation or convert (2-for-1) into 4 additional timeouts at any time as they finish their Round A game." And the messenger departs as swiftly and silently as he arrived... You look around at the blood-stained armor and fierce faces of your veteran troops, and vow that those vacation days shall not be used. It is time to finish this war, for a new battlefield awaits! -- Tournament Headquarters ****************** SUMMARY *********************** Round A games are starting to end. Expect the Round B scenario very soon. The Round B map is based on the Duel playtesting games. Round B should begin in 3 weeks. Additional vacation/timeouts will be given to allow players to start Round B while finishing Round A. Try to finish Round A as swiftly as you can! ***************************************************