On-Line Tournaments

Tournament Rules

by J. Scott Pittman

A set of guidelines for playing tournaments using an e-mail club

Introduction

The following is a set of guidelines that explains how the Tournaments in the Street Fighter mailing list work. It has been created so that people who are new to the list can better understand what the Tournaments are and how they work.

What is a Street Fighter Tournament?

A Tournament is a contest between fighters, played through an e-mail list club. The idea is to set fighters agaist each other in sets of one-on-one bouts. The winner of those fights goes on to battle the winners of their matches, and so on, until one fighter makes it to the top. that fighter wins the tournament.

Who started the Tournaments?

Rinaldo, a member of the mailing list, actualy had the patience to start the first Tournament (as far as this author's knowledge goes). He has disappeared suddenly from the list, which leaves the mailing list open for new Tournaments.

How does it work?

Each player who enters a Tournament needs to create a character (see below) and submit that character and his Strategy (see below) to the Tournament Master (the person hosting the Tournament). The Tournament Master compares the character's Strategies and makes dice rolls for the characters. He writes down the results (some Masters adding conversation and dramatic detail), and you get to see who wins. While some Masters may make the matches 2 out of three to detirmine the victor, most of the time they will chose a one-match victory for speed's sake (PBEM can be time-consuming with many people). However, the last match of any Tournament will be a two-out-of-three bout.

Characters

The Tournament Master will decide what types of characters are legal, and if home-made Maneuvers are legal (see Running Your Own Tournament, below), by announcing the Tournament Type. Characters in tournaments have to be created to fit the Tournament Type.

Characters may begin play as more advanced characters if the Tournament Master wants to start them out at a higher Rank (see below).

Remember to e-mail your character (and Strategy) to the Tournament master directly, not to the mailing list! Your Strategy, Maneuvers and scores are an important secret.

Each character sould also include the following things, beyond the normal game scores:

Player's Personal Information

Make sure to include your club nick name and real name (your first name only will do if you are paranoid!) and e-mail address with your character. if you like, you can include the country and area where you live if you like, in case the Tournament Master wants to make a list of the players and where they are from.

Character Name

Include your character's Name and any nicknames or titles he might have.

Tournament Name and Rank

Each Tournament will have a special name that distinguishes it from the other Tournaments. Make sure to include which tournament this character is entering and include the character's Rank (see below).

Character Description

This is what the character looks like. Make it interesting, but as brief as possible. Three sentences are usualy enough to cover most character's descriptions. Make sure to include the fighter's height, weight, and nationality, as well as his race and gender.

Spoken Phrases

Characters should include any power activation words for certain Maneuvers, and also short phrases that describe what the character will do in the following situations:

1. The character's opening phrase (what he says before a fight begins), if he says anything at all.

2. What the character will say when he strikes an opponent, causing 4 Health or more, if anything.

3. What the character will say when he receives 4 or more health from a single attack, if anything.

4. The character's victory phrase and pose, which is what he will say and do if he wins a tournament match.

Character Scores

Of course, the player must send his character's game scores to the Tournament Master as well, listing how he spent his Freebie Points.

Freebie Points

Characters should have a seperate, new score that shows how many Freebie Points the character has spent on the character.

Strategy

Each character in a Tournament must have a Strategy - a list of moves he will make, in order, 20 Maneuvers long. Most Tournaments don't last 20 turns, but if the last turn is reached, Time Up is called and the character that scored the most damage to his opponent wins the bout.

Remember to e-mail your Strategy (and character) to the Tournament master directly, not to the mailing list! Your Strategy, Maneuvers and scores are an important secret.

Strategies can be as simple as "use a fierce punch each turn" or very complex. Some things to remember when designing your Strategy are:

1. What will your character do if your opponent is Dizzied? (If you do not include any description of this in your Strategy, it is assumed that you will NOT attack your opponent.)

2. Is there any time you will Abort to a Block Maneuver? If so, under what circumstances? When will your character Abort to Move or another Maneuver that can be used to dodge projectiles? After Aborting, where will your Strategy continue?

3. If the majority of your maneuver use Chi or Willpower, what will your character do if he runs out of Chi/Willpower?

4. Will your character use another Strategy or begin with a diffrent Maneuver if the characters end up at the end of the current turn in the same hex? In adjacent hexes? One hex between them? More than one hex between them? (see the example below)

5. If your character has a Combo attack, make sure to point out that your character is beginning a Combo in your Strategy.

Example Strategy:

Mr. Bad Boy's Strategy

1. Block

2. Fierce Punch

3. Block (starting Combo)

4. Dragon Punch

5. return to step 1

Dizzied:

Attack using Roundhouse Kick

Aborts:

If attacked by any Maneuver that can strike multiple times, Abort to Block, then return to step 1

If attacked by a projectile, Abort to Jump, then return to step 3

Chi / Willpower

If Willpower drops to 0, place Fierce Punch in place of Dragon Punch

Exceptions

At any time, if there is two or more spaces between the characters, Mr. Bad Boy will Block, starting again with step one of his Strategy. If on the following turn there are again two or more spaces between the characters, this exception still applies.

Character Rank

Each character will be created according to his Rank. Tournament Ranks begin at Rank 1-9, World Warrior or Master, depending on the Tournament. The player must spend his freebie points in a way to meet the requirements of the Rank, as listed below. Once the character falls within the minimum requirements of the Rank, he can spend his remaining freebie points on extra Maneuvers and Combos if he likes. The amount of Maneuvers and Combos are the only areas in which the character may go beyond the normal Rank boundries.

Rank 1:

Characters are created as per the normal game rules with the normal beginning character amount of points.

Physical Stats: Usualy 10-11 dots total, no Attribute over 5

Techniques: 7 to 9 dots total, no Technique over 3

Maneuvers: Usualy 4 maneuvers which don't require other maneuvers as requirements and are avalible to low-technique characters (make sure they meet these Maneuver requirements!).

Combos: A two-maneuver dizzy combo is common. If the character doesn't have this combonation, adding another simple maneuver to his list is approriate.

Chi: 1-4

Willpower: 3-6

Health: 10-12

Rank 2:

Characters create normal fighters, but have 37 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 10-11 dots total, no Attribute over 5

Techniques: 7 to 9 dots total, no Technique over 3

Maneuvers: Usualy 4 maneuvers which don't require other maneuvers as requirements and are avalible to low-technique characters (make sure they meet these Maneuver requirements!).

Combos: A two-maneuver dizzy combo is common. If the character doesn't have this combonation, adding another simple maneuver to his list is approriate.

Chi: 3-4

Willpower: 4-6

Health: 10-12

Rank 3:

Characters create normal fighters, but have 79 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 10-12 dots total, no Attribute over 5

Techniques: 12-14 dots total, no Technique over 4

Maneuvers: 5-8 maneuvers of varied power, or 9 maneuvers if the character has no combos

Combos: The character will probably have 2 combos, probably all dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-5

Willpower: 4-6

Health: 10-12

Rank 4:

Characters create normal fighters, but have 107 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 10-12 dots total, no Attribute over 5

Techniques: 13-18 dots total, no Technique over 5, rarely a Technique above 4

Maneuvers: 5-9 maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have 2-3 combos, some of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-6

Willpower: 4-8

Health: 10-14

Rank 5:

Characters create normal fighters, but have 110 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 10-12 dots total, no Attribute over 5

Techniques: 14-21 dots total, no Technique over 5

Maneuvers: 6-9 maneuvers of varied power

Combos: The character will probably have 2-3 combos, some of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-6

Willpower: 4-8

Health: 10-14, but usualy 12 or higher

Rank 6:

Characters create normal fighters, but have 173 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 13-14 dots total, no Attribute over 5

Techniques: 14-21 dots total, no Technique over 5

Maneuvers: 9-10 maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have 2-3 combos, some of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-6

Willpower: 4-8

Health: 12-17, but usualy around 14

Rank 7:

Characters create normal fighters, but have 197 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 13-15 dots total, no Attribute over 6

Techniques: 17-21 dots total, no Technique over 6

Maneuvers: 11-12 maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have 2-3 combos, all of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-6

Willpower: 6-8

Health: 14-17

Rank 8

Characters create normal fighters, but have 250 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 13-15 dots total, no Attribute over 6

Techniques: 17-25 dots total, no Technique over 6

Maneuvers: 13-17 maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have two combos, most or all of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 6-8

Willpower: 6-8

Health: 12-19, usualy around 15

Rank 9

Characters create normal fighters, but have 300 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 15-17 dots total, no Attribute over 6

Techniques: 19-25 dots total, no Technique over 6

Maneuvers: 13-17 maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have two combos, most or all of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 8-9

Willpower: 7-9

Health: 12-19, usualy around 18

WORLD WARRIOR

Characters create normal fighters, but have 400 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 15-19 dots total, no Attribute over 7

Techniques: 25-30 dots total, no Technique over 7

Maneuvers: 10-18 maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have 3-4 combos, most or all of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-10

Willpower: 8-10

Health: 20

MASTER

Characters create normal fighters, but have 500 freebie points to spend, instead of the usual 15.

Physical Stats: Usualy 18-25 dots total, no Attribute over 8

Techniques: 30-35 dots total, no Technique over 8

Maneuvers: 20 or more maneuvers of varied power.

Combos: The character will probably have 3-4 combos, most or all of which will be dizzy combos.

Chi: 4-10

Willpower: 9-10

Health: 20

Altered PBEM Maneuvers

The following Maneuvers have been altered by the Street Fighter Mailing List to make them playable in the Tournaments, without the use of Combat Cards:

Mind Reading* (sf 129, modified for PBEM tournaments)

The fighter can read the thoughts of his opponent, possibly predicting moves

and reacting far easier to those actions.

Focus Maneuver

To Learn: First the character must learn Telepathy {focus 3}, then Mind

Reading {focus 4, telepathy}

Power Points: kabaddi, ler drit, aikido, baraquah, lua, silat 3, any 4

System: the Mind reading special maneuver is not played as a combat card.

Instead, the player announces his intent to use this maneuver between turns.

The character spends one Chi and chooses one opponent as the target of this

power. The two characters make a resisted Willpower roll.

If the mind-reading character wins the roll, the victim's action becomes

one difficulty number greater than it would normally be (Difficulty 7 in

most tournament cases). If the mind-reading character wins the resisted roll

by five successes (indicating Phenomenal Success), the victim's action is

increased by two (Difficulty 8 in most cases). In no case will the

difficulty be raised above +2. The victim must be within a number of hexes

equal to the mind reader's Wits + Focus.

If used outside of combat, the mind-reading character can gain information

this way, at the Storyteller's discresion (more successes equal more

information). the victim will not realize his mind is being read unless the

roll botches.

Modifiers: cost: 1 chi, speed; none, damage: none, move; none

Training Notes:

Some rare practitioners may continue on to learn Mind Control (This is an

incredible maneuver, and learning it can take years. First, the practitioner

must learn Psychic Vise {focus 4}, and Mind Reading {focus 4, telepathy

(telpathy requires focus 3)}. He may learn Psychic Vise and Telepathy/Mind

Reading in any order. Then he is finaly prepared to learn Mind Control

{focus 5, psychic vise, mind control})

Zen No Mind *(sf 131, modified PBEM version)

The character waits, and then chooses between three pre-chosen maneuvers

Focus Maneuver

To Learn: {focus 3}

Power Points: tai chi chaun 2, kung fu, thai kickboxing, ninjitsu, aikido,

baraquah (called No Ego), jeet kune do, ju jitsu, silat 3, any 4

System: The Player chooses this Maneuver in combonation with another

Maneuver. That Maneuver will act last in the turn, unless it was a Block

Maneuver or any other Maneuver that is concidered a legal Abort (such as

Jump). The Maneuver gains +1 Speed if it was a Block Maneuver or a legal

Abort Maneuver. If the Maneuver is not a Block Maneuver or a legal Abort

Maneuver, the character's roll(s) are concidered to be at -1 Difficulty

(usualy Difficulty 5), but gain no Speed bonus. This applies to the first

roll only; if the Maneuver allows multiple strikes or other rolls of any

kind, they are made at normal Difficulty levels.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Other Modifiers: See above

Running your own Tournament

Tournament Battlefield and Positions

The Ring

A Tournament playing field is like the screen of a television set when playing the old, two-dimensional Street Fighter video game - two dimensional, with a field equaling 15 "hexes", each numbered 1-15, from left to right. Two characters face off against each other, character A and B.

The Ring is actually infinite, and characters can move into hex 16, 17, 18, etc., or into a hex beyond 1, to hex 0, -1, -1, -3, etc.

Beginning Positions

Character A begins in hex 7 and character B begins in hex 9, with one space between them (hex 8).

Tournament Specifications ("Specs")

When running a Tournament, the Tournament Master must detail the following Tournament Specifications, also called Specs, so the players know exactly what to expect from the upcoming fights.

Tournament Types

There are ten types of Tournaments. Only one can be chosen for a particular Tournament, and must be chosen by the Tournament Master. All characters in the Tournament use the same types of Maneuvers.

Books Only Freestyle Tournament, Unlimited

Books Only Freestyle Tournament, Limited

In this type of Tournament, only the Maneuvers from the White Wolf books can be used, and must be used exactly as they are in the books, except for the altered PBEM Maneuvers above. No Weapons are allowed. Characters cannot be used with the special Cybernetics and Animal Hybird Backgrounds, but any other Background, including Elemental, is legal.

Books Only Duelist Tournament, Unlimited

Books Only Freestyle Tournament, Limited

In this type of Tournament, only the Maneuvers from the White Wolf books can be used, and must be used exactly as they are in the books, except for the altered PBEM Maneuvers above. Weapons are allowed. Characters cannot be used with the special Cybernetics and Animal Hybird Backgrounds, but any other Background, including Elemental, is legal.

CHAMPS Tournament, Unlimited

In this type of Tournament, the CHAMPS rules for creating Maneuvers, Styles and Backgrounds are used. Point costs and corrected "CHAMPS versions" of the Maneuvers are used over the original Storyteller books, but all other rules from the Storyteller game remain the same. Weapons are allowed.

CHAMPS Tournament, Limited

In this type of Tournament, the CHAPS rules for creating Maneuvers, Styles and Backgrounds are used. Point costs and corrected "CHAMPS versions" of the Maneuvers are used over the original Storyteller books, but all other rules from the Storyteller game remain the same. No Weapons are allowed.

Books Only + Web Page Specific Tournament, Unlimited

In this type of Tournament, only the Maneuvers and Backgrounds from the offical White Wolf books can be used, and the Maneuvers, Styles, Backgrounds, etc. from a specific web page. Weapons are allowed.

Books Only + Web Page Specific Tournament, Limited

CHAMPS Web Page Specific Tournament, Unlimited

In this type of Tournament, the CHAMPS rules for creating Maneuvers, Styles and Backgrounds are used, but players are not allowed to create new Maneuvers, Styles or Backgrounds. Instead, the Tournament master has a web-page with all the new creations possible listed on it, and those are the only additional items that a player may select for a character. Point costs and corrected "CHAMPS versions" of the Maneuvers are used over the original Storyteller books, but all other rules from the Storyteller game remain the same. Weapons are allowed.

Of course, the Tournament master should make sure that all of the Maneuvers, Styles and Backgrouns fall within CHAMPS boundries.

CHAMPS Web Page Specific Tournament, Limited

Of course, the Tournament master should make sure that all of the Maneuvers, Styles and Backgrounds fall within CHAMPS boundries.

Character Types

The Tournament Master can prefer only certain character types if he likes however, limiting them to gothic monsters, human only, characters from action movies, or whatever. A Tournament with Character Types of "Any" allow the player to use his imagination and come up with nearly anything. No matter what type of characters are allowed, they must still fall with the rules of the Tournament Type.

The Tournament master is always free to disallow a submitted character, requesting that the character be modified or replaced.

Tournament Size

The Tournament Master must have an even number of characters to hold a Tournament. He can accept characters until a certain date, or limit the number of characters, accepting them on a first come, first accepted basis. The Tournament Master may include one or many non-player characters to meet his number of fighters. Non-player characters must meet the Rank Requirements of the Tournament.

Rank

The Tournament Master must decide on what Rank the characters will begin. The same Rank will apply to all characters.

Winning a Tournament

Primary and Secondary Bouts (The Fair but Long Way)

The Tournament Master will set the fighters against one another in one-on-one bouts. Each winner of a bout will continue on to fight the winners of the other bouts in what is called the primary bouts, and those winners will face the winners of the other bouts, etc. until one fighter remains as the winner of the Tournament.

Each loser of the first bouts also face the other losers of the original bouts in what are called called secondary bouts, until two fighters remain. Winners of the secondary bouts are allowed to re-enter the Tournament during the second primary bouts. The losers of the second primary bouts face one another until two fighters remain, again in secondary bouts, and the winners are allowed third primary bouts, etc.

When four fighters are left, the losers of those two bouts face each other for third and fourth place. The winners of those two bouts face each other in the last match of the Tournament, which is always a two-out-of-three fight. The loser wins second place, the winner becomes the Tournament Champion.

The disadvantage of this type of tournament is that it can take a very long time to complete over e-mail. The advantage is that it's fair, and an unlucky roll that would put a character out of a One-Fight Elimination Tournament won't make a player fustrated. Unless the fights are near an end, he's most likely still in the game.

One-Fight Elimination (The Quick Way)

In this type of tuornament, fighters face off in fights, and the losers of those fights are out of the tournament. The winners of each fight face off against the other winners. The last fighter "standing" wins.

The disadvantage here is that strategy can mean less, and dice rolls are more important. An unlucky dice roll can mean you are out of the game. Also, fighters that lose in opening fights are in for a long wait before their players get to fight again.

The advantage is that this type of Tournament is easier to keep track of, and is much quicker to complete.