Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[joncleaves]

I for one think it is a great idea.

[Mark Stone]

Since Jon first posted to this list about how we can better recruit new members,
I've been giving the matter a lot of thought. I have a suggestion that I hope
Scott Holder and others deciding tournament matters will consider.

Here's my situation: I live in Northern California a good distance from any
major urban area (3 hours to San Francisco, 3 hours to Fresno, 2 hours to
Sacramento, 1 1/2 hours to Modesto or Stockon). Casual evening or weekend games
are tough, but I'm more than willing to make the trip for a tournament,
especially a one day event.

Unfortunately, our area doesn't have a lot of tournaments. We used to have a
strong contingent of 7th tourney players, but many of them followed the pattern
I did, disappearing for a number of years and maybe coming back. The result is a
group that is dispersed and disorganized. That's a shame, because these veteran
tournament players could be some of our best spokespeople, and best teachers for
new players, particularly if we took a more active role in organizing
tournaments.

Playing at Historicon in the NICT is a priority for me. There are many things I
enjoy about our hobby, but the NICT has always been a high point for me. The
problem is, from my area, it is hard to qualify. I have spent all my tournament
time at East Coast tournaments (Cold Wars, Fall In, etc) over the last few
years.

I end up in a self-defeating cycle: because there are few tournaments available
to me, I'm reluctant to commit a weekend to gaming when I'm not playing and
trying to qualify. Because I, and others like me, don't commit to organizing
tournaments, there are few tournaments available to me....

So it occured to me that part of good outreach would be making it easier, not
harder, to qualify for the NICT.

What are the risks? Well, I suppose the risk is that we'd have a watered down
tournament where a sub-par player advanced too far, or where a sub-par player
made someone else's path to the finals to easy.

This strikes me as a pretty small risk. When I look at the tournament scoring
system we use now, compared to what we used when I started tournament play in
1986, we've made huge strides forward. I think we have the best tournament
scoring system of any group of gamers. Looking down the roster of recent NICT
winners, I have no complaints. These are all top caliber players, guys who can
and do win it all on any given weekend. So I think the risksk of skewing the
NICT results with a watered down field are pretty small.

And look at the flip side. While we all have our contentious moments in
tournament play, I think the NICT has been remarkable for its sportsmanship and
friendliness in recent years. It is an excellent showcase for what and who is
admirable about our hobby, and it should be a showcase to more people. We would
have better outreach if we had more people at the NICT, and we would have higher
visibility at an important convention (Historicon) if we had a larger crowd in
attendance.

So here's my suggestion: let anyone who organizes and referees (but does not
play in) two or more qualifying local tournaments also be qualified for the
NICT.

This would have many benefits: it would get our best teachers (those serious
enough to want to play in the NICT) more involved in organizing events. It would
generate more local events. All that would be a huge positive step for local
outreach. And it would increase attendance at the NICT. While it would create a
non-competitive path for getting into the NICT, I still think on balance it
would bolster attendance at the NICT in a positive way.

Were we to make this change, I would organize at least two local events
immediately. And I would come to Cold Wars next spring out for fun, not out for
blood needing to qualify. Without such a change, I won't be active on the local
level, and local outreach will continue to suffer.

Let me know what you all think.


-Mark Stone

[joncleaves]

In a message dated 9/5/2002 18:11:38 Central Daylight Time, Dlauerman@...
writes:


> This is staring to sound like a prolonged slam on poor Mark,

Yes, it is....
Mark's idea is still a good one and i would encourage him to work it with
NASAMW. I'll be putting something like it in our Fifth Horseman proposal.

Jon


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Dave Lauerman]

--- In WarriorRules@y..., Mark Stone <mark@d...> wrote:
.
>
> Here's my situation: I live in Northern California a good distance
from any
> major urban area (3 hours to San Francisco, 3 hours to Fresno, 2
hours to
> Sacramento, 1 1/2 hours to Modesto or Stockon). Casual evening or
weekend games
> are tough, but I'm more than willing to make the trip for a
tournament,
> especially a one day event.
>
> Unfortunately, our area doesn't have a lot of tournaments. We used
to have a
> strong contingent of 7th tourney players, but many of them followed
the pattern
> I did, disappearing for a number of years and maybe coming back.
The result is a
> group that is dispersed and disorganized. That's a shame, because
these veteran
> tournament players could be some of our best spokespeople, and best
teachers for
> new players, particularly if we took a more active role in
organizing tournaments.
>
SOOO, Mark, where 've you been at the last 3 Warrior events in NoCal,
all 3 of which were announced on this very list ? In particular, you
were missed at the 3-round FW event at ConQuest this past weekend.
One of the reasons for putting that event on was the hope that enough
turnout would encourage full-scale Warrior events to be run, as a run-
up to reinstating the kind of regular tournament circuit with 4-6
annual regional events we had in NoCal in the lar 80's and early
90's.Unfortunately, 8 guys said they'd come, 6 showed up, and
apparrently the rest decided to stay home and complain about the
scarcity of Warrior events. Do I sound bitter? This is the third time
I have tried to get things started. Response has been tepid. People
SAY they want events, but are unwilling to make showing up any sort
of priority.
This is staring to sound like a prolonged slam on poor Mark, which
is not my intent.Mark is a good guy, and an excellent player. The
point is that if you want a tournament schedule and are not willing
to do the work of organising one, you might think about making
attendance at other people's events a higher priority. High turnout
breeds enthusiasm, which in turn breeds higher turnout.Low turnout
leads players to decide they are flogging a dead horse, and leads
organisers to think about switching a more popular hobby,like macrame
or beanie babies.
There will be a Warrior tourney circuit in our area when people
decide they want one enough to start showing up. When Mark sets up an
event, I'll be there.-dave lauerman

[Dave Lauerman]

--- In WarriorRules@y..., Mark Stone <mark@d...> wrote:
.
>
> Here's my situation: I live in Northern California a good distance
from any
> major urban area (3 hours to San Francisco, 3 hours to Fresno, 2
hours to
> Sacramento, 1 1/2 hours to Modesto or Stockon). Casual evening or
weekend games
> are tough, but I'm more than willing to make the trip for a
tournament,
> especially a one day event.
>
> Unfortunately, our area doesn't have a lot of tournaments. We used
to have a
> strong contingent of 7th tourney players, but many of them followed
the pattern
> I did, disappearing for a number of years and maybe coming back.
The result is a
> group that is dispersed and disorganized. That's a shame, because
these veteran
> tournament players could be some of our best spokespeople, and best
teachers for
> new players, particularly if we took a more active role in
organizing tournaments.
>
SOOO, Mark, where 've you been at the last 3 Warrior events in NoCal,
all 3 of which were announced on this very list ? In particular, you
were missed at the 3-round FW event at ConQuest this past weekend.
One of the reasons for putting that event on was the hope that enough
turnout would encourage full-scale Warrior events to be run, as a run-
up to reinstating the kind of regular tournament circuit with 4-6
annual regional events we had in NoCal in the lar 80's and early
90's.Unfortunately, 8 guys said they'd come, 6 showed up, and
apparrently the rest decided to stay home and complain about the
scarcity of Warrior events. Do I sound bitter? This is the third time
I have tried to get things started. Response has been tepid. People
SAY they want events, but are unwilling to make showing up any sort
of priority.
This is staring to sound like a prolonged slam on poor Mark, which
is not my intent.Mark is a good guy, and an excellent player. The
point is that if you want a tournament schedule and are not willing
to do the work of organising one, you might think about making
attendance at other people's events a higher priority. High turnout
breeds enthusiasm, which in turn breeds higher turnout.Low turnout
leads players to decide they are flogging a dead horse, and leads
organisers to think about switching a more popular hobby,like macrame
or beanie babies.
There will be a Warrior tourney circuit in our area when people
decide they want one enough to start showing up. When Mark sets up an
event, I'll be there.-dave lauerman