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Thursday, September 1, 2016

What You Missed, Tournaments of the Void 7

What you missed
 Grimloch Presents: Tournaments of the Void 7
by Michael "Vuel" Durocher

The Event Holder Team that has been running Tourney's of the Void has spent the last several years building a concept for what one-day tournament event should be. The usage of public parks can often deter from an event in some opinions, but it allows for the Eventholder's to have a minimal cost for content that they provided. It's a worthwhile trade off as long as the Event can provide, and Tourneys of the Void always provides a good time.

The Event itself provides participants with a full day of tournaments, both combat and several puzzle quests, a unique bear pit that pushed different concepts of fighting styles, as well as a scavenger hunt and plenty of food.


For the non-combat focused individuals, there were Sudoku puzzles. Void Glyph deciphering, which detailed more history of the enigmatic Void and its role within the Realms Cosmology. A massive scavenger hunt that took up most of the surrounding woods. I believe there were some other non-combat related options going around. But I'm a fighter and my focus is on murdering people, so I didn't really pay attention, so my apologies if I missed something.

The tourneys were a standard fair, most of which counting OotL. There were a few new fights introduced that were more fun than expected. There didn't seem to be any clear cut fighter dominating all the points, although Drike of Invictus did take a good share of points to further help him lock his place as a fighter to not be trifled with.

For the unique tournaments, there was "The Hydra" which relied on three individuals learning how to move together as they are literally bound by the weapons to their hands.  And of course I have to mention the tourney of "EPIC SWING!" which prompted lots of laughs and some killer photo opportunities (And maybe a Chocobo themed video coming in the near future.).

The multitude of Bear Pits (Aptly named Void Pits here) provided a different set of rules every time it was opened. One was the ever favorite Illegal Weapons Combination, another was kill shots only, and competitors even found themselves turned into Kobolds for one of the pits. These pits seemed to change their mechanics as certain criteria was met. Either a competitor had to run through seven wins in a row or the pit lasted as long as the current individual tournament running lasted. At the end of the day, Sir Tao was the overall winner of these Void Pits.

Its important to note that all of the tournaments, Non-com puzzles, Scavenger Hunt,  and even Void Pits awarded Tickets, which could be entered into one of three possible auctions going on. The auctions offered a plethora of different prizes, including gold towards the Bronze Forge, pouches, weapons, Blackout card decks (Which are really cool) and even something magical and sharp.

I would be remiss to write a What You Missed and not mention the food. A unique theme of Tourneys of the Void, besides the overall point system which the Void tracks, is the fact that the Staff Provides a different kind of food every year.  Besides the standard fair of drinks and salty snacks the EH's really go all out for the food they provide for a one day. A few years ago it was a custom barbecue, followed by a Pizza Bar one year and in another year there was a build your own burrito bar. This year the staff set up a build your own BLT luncheon, which if you enjoy Bacon (You know who you are.), they more than adequately provided. Well worth the cost of the event in my humble opinion.

The day capped off with the Void Championship Tourney. A gauntlet style fight where everyone who placed, and earned Void points throughout the day. Had to face off against everyone else in a roundabout combat, where each competitor fights everyone else once, and the person with the highest kill record wins it. Then is named Champion of the Void. This year it was Drike taking first, killing all the other combatants and cementing himself as Champion of the Void for this year.


So after all is said and done, what did you miss? 

You missed a damn good time. The Staff for this series put their hearts on their sleeves and really made a solid effort. Providing content, food and an enjoyable experience, for anyone who is willing to attend. Even those who aren't combat focused, it's an event I highly recommend people attend because it sets the proverbial bar for what a one day tournament event should look like.