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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bear pit: Maximizes number of fights and time spent
standing in line at the expense of all interaction between the fighters and the
rest of the populace. It minimizes pomp, ceremony, flirtation, persona,
etc. It's very hard to tell whose winning unless you ask the list mistrsss
ior watch *every* single fight. It also minimizes the value of any
specific fight, because the is no elimination and no limit to the number of
fights involves. A favorite of high-stamina fighters with no other
immediate responsibilities. An difficult situation for fighters
who have immediate responsibilties elsewhere. (I usually can't stay in
line for the entire tourney, which makes it impossible to keep up.) This
style will have imbalanced fights up to the end, because the lesser fighters are
still in. The victory is based more on how you moved down lesser fighters
than on encounters between top fighters, which can be pretty rare.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Single elimination: reduces the number of fights, since
each encounter eliminates one fighter. (If there are N fighters, there
will be N-1 encounters.) The encounters can be single or 2 out of 3.
Half the fighters are eliminated in the first round. Used in Crown for
various reasons. *Very* clear how somebody's doing. (He's
undefeated, or he's out.) This style of tournament maximizes the effects
of the pairings. *Somebody* fought Miguel in the first round.
Excellent for pomp and ceremony; not so good for lesser fighters.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Double elimination: Each fighter continues until beaten
twice. For N fighters, there will be 2N-2 or 2N-1 fights. This
allows every fighter at least two fights, with more opportunity to see top
fighters against each other. Not immedeiately clear how well somebody is
doing. The most common question around the list field is "How you
doing?" The answer is either "undefeated" or "one loss". This is a
compromise between lots of fights and ability to interact with the ladies and
other onlookers.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Progressive melee: First round is one-on-one. Then
the victor and loser in each fight are a team, facing two person teams in the
second round. Third round is four person teams, etc. Everyone fights
all the way through, and the draw is incredibly important. Individual
skills do not win this tourney. It works great if there are 8, 16, 32 or
64 fighters. It works OK with 24, 48, or 96 fighters, but will end with a
round robin of 3 teams. With any other number, some compromise solution
must be found.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Melting snowball: Progressive melee in reverse.
Split the field into two teams, which fight. Split the winning team into
two teams, which fight. Lather, rinse, repeat. The biggest problem
is that half the fighters only get one round, and only two fighters get any
individual fighting.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Pas de arms: This is not a tourney style; it's an
approach to the non-fighting aspects of the tourney -- panoply, heraldry,
flirting with the ladies, etc. It's usually run with a set of different
fighting challenges with no elimination.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>But all of these are intended for individuals. If
you want a way for branches or teams to compete, you need something
different. </FONT><FONT face=Arial>For comparing different groups, you
will have the additional problem of trying to find a way to even things up, so
Emerald Keep's team, say, is not grossly outmanned by Elfsea's or Steppes's
team.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Ideas for group competition also available, if you want
them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>