Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 20:06:11 +0100 From: Tournament HeadquartersSubject: W2WT: Practice Round Scenario! (A) ** Attached is the [ . . . ] Practice Round Scenario. If this is the ** ** wrong scenario for you, let me know immediately! - Headquarters ** Greetings, Warlord! Returning to your castle from training with your armies one fine summer's day, you spot the now-familiar Tournament Messenger riding up on a flying carpet: "Mighty Warlord, perhaps you would like to train your forces on the actual battleground of the Practice Round?" the messenger says with a smile. You grin. It's about time! The messenger continues: "Say, what do you think of this magic carpet? It makes it a lot easier to convey messages to the 150+ Warlords active in the Tournament!" You chuckle. But you know he's just delaying the *real* fun, so you let him continue: He says, "Attached to this scroll you should find complete instructions explaining how to reach the Practice Round battleground. All the information you need should be included. It is absolutely essential that you get this installed properly, especially the army set. Create some practice games and make sure that your hero moves 22, that scouts can be pillaged for 175, and that unicorns move 26, have strength 6, and give +2 stack in forest! If you have any problems, contact your Email Buddy, your soon-to-be-assigned Moderator, or, if you get desperate, Tournament Headquarters. We shall see you on the battlefield soon!" The messenger hands you a heavy copper tube with sparkling crystals that cap the ends. Inside the tube you see a heavy parchment and a small scroll. You take it eagerly. It's time to march! You summon your lieutenants and tell them it is time to get ready. Pages scurry about the training ground as the men are notified and begin preparing for their departure. With your sages and advisors, you head into your castle to study the new information over the evening meal. As the servants bring in vast dishes of succulent food for the evening meal, you study the scroll which you find inside the copper tube. The scroll reads: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Practice Round Scenario: WC Olympics * 4 players, 44 cities, 22 ruins, 1 temple * Razing will be off in this round, for simplicity. * Sides will be assigned randomly by the Game Assignment software. * The ruin contents will be as shown in RuinMap.JPG and RuinMap.txt, and as described in the ruin descriptions. * The Olympics scenario commemorates this, the first Warlords Olympics, and honors the Warlords who have worked tirelessly to bring this tournament together. And now, at last, it is your turn to gain honor - by playing it! * We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the map while we generate the game assignments for the Practice Round. Soon thy foes shall be humans and thy battles shall be real! Credits: Map Design: Martijn Dashorst Ruin Layout: Barry Brook Final Deluxe Version: Barry Brook Final Mac-Classic Version: Ivan Baird Final PC-Classic Version: Patrick Domning Tournament Army Set: Bob Heeter Comments and Ideas: Gary Best, Ivan Baird, and others =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= You rub your chin in thought: 44 cities - a good size for a 4-player game. 22 ruins - lots of practice with the Tournament Rules on digging up loot! And a temple - in the center - a focus of strategic interest! But what is this about a ruin map? One of your sages holds it up for you. "See, Milord, when they start the actual games, they will distribute an official gamefile. The ruins contents in that gamefile will be edited to match the contents shown in this map! All the elements of Tournament Warlords are here in one form or another - every sort of ally, gold in ruins and strongholds, battle, command, and flight items! Everything but speed items, which unbalance the Tournament game. And as you can see on the parchment, the description of each ruin explains what we shall find inside when we visit! That way, players in all games start with everything exactly the same, and no one gets an unfair advantage from the ruin contents." You grin. Sounds like fun! With the preliminaries aside, and the main courses of the meal consumed in a voracious rush by your battle-hungry team of advisors, you all spend the evening contemplating the vast parchment which describes the Olympics arena that will be used in the Practice Round of the Tournament. It is a curious land, an Olympic land, with four great rings of land - two rings of forest and two rings of hills - each enclosing a vast lake. In the center is a fifth ring of plains pierced by a ferocious range of everlasting snow-crested mountain peaks. Your sages note the bloody trails leading through the narrow mountain passes to the holy shrine of the WarBOT Temple, where soldiers of all nations will soon face their bloody fates in the perpetual struggle to earn the favor of the gods of battle. No doubt the streams running through the mountains shall soon run red with blood! You take this in at a glance, and then note that outside the arena of combat the land has a curious shape. Indeed, the Tournament sages created this land to help you keep the rules of the tournament in mind. You look closely and see that some ancient sage from a faraway land has even written magical signposts describing the Ten Commandments of Tournament Warlords! You look at your advisors eagerly discussing the strategic highlights of the map. Sleep will not come easily tonight! You study the map further. Which side will you be assigned to play? With sides being assigned randomly, one thing is certain - you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of all of them! In the northwest are the Organizers, with a fair share of the cities and some unique ruins to exploit. Of course they go first - they were the first to begin preparing the tournament! In the northeast are the Athletes, commemorating the playtesters who sweated over the rules and played dozens of games (some wonderful, some lousy) to test out the ideas of the Organizers, and improve on them. In the southwest, going third, are the Reporters, commemorating the Moderators who have volunteered to watch over the games and provide the wisdom of their experience to help you learn the tournament style of play. And in the southeast, with the last word as usual, are the Spectators, commemorating the Email Buddies who came together out of nowhere to help get everyone certified for play by email! Each side has its own set of allies and its own special item; its own advantages and disadvantages. How will these allies and items benefit you the most, should you inherit that side? There is much to ponder here... You yawn. Tomorrow, on the road the the battlefield, you will consider these things further! Fortunately the time which has passed since you registered for the Warlords Tournament has not passed in idleness. Your forces have been ready to march for over a week! So when the next morning arrives at last, you find yourself astride your mighty charger, an immense warhorse decked out in the finest colors your kingdom has to offer. From this potent perspective you survey the massed ranks of your armies, and give the order that will start the great adventure for which you have waited so patiently and so long: "To the Tournament!!!" And with the thunder of a thousand hooves and stomping of several thousand boots, your army begins its march to the Practice Round!