Belts of the Eternal Flame

Kyle "Sir Kazmar" Brennan

 

Photo by Jesse Gifford

1. What year were you awarded your white belt?
2010 (Feast of Leviathan). I helped out with plot planning and
execution. What?! Things don't always go as planned! This was the year
Rob and Panther worked the bar and told stories (they do that wherever
they are, they don't need a bar/inn). Syruss was extremely helpful on
the NPC front (thanks a lot, buddy).

 2. Who administered "the punch" and-- be honest!!--did it hurt?
Rob Scarlett punched me, Eldritch held my arms back, the punch impact
was loud (people gasped)...but it was dispersed evenly over my manly
muscles. I punched Rob back, naturally.

3. Whose belt did you wear until you got your own, and how was this

significant for you?
I wore Sir Aeston's belt, it was relevant because he had recently
trickled various leadership opportunities my way. I'm going to take a
moment to stroll down memory lane; here are a couple early memories of
Jason as a youthful player and budding leader.

At a different LARP (Lak World), he was playing a courageous sea
captain who would run head first into battle, even when the odds were
against him! He'd start conflicts with a battle cry and just wade into
the fray. Oddly enough, he had a hard time rallying folks behind his
cause. You see, we were marooned on an island and he wanted folks to
pool their resources together to build a boat. Unfortunately, a "dark
gray" politician convinced folks that we'd never finish the boat
before the winter and would be better off building a fort to survive
the weather. My take away from this was two-fold (1) he was a
dedicated/entertaining player and (2) you gotta try things, even if
you fail.

There may have been an occasion where Sir Aeston accused a few
individuals I associate with of a horrendous crime. And he did this
while outnumbered, in a dark secluded area, without demonstrating
fear. They were totally innocent, but I digress. You know that Paladin
we've all bumped into, the one that gets into trouble for doing silly,
dangerous things because it's right? He nailed it and I'll never
forget his gumption. It may not have worked out exactly as he
expected, but I'm certain it was a memorable experience for him, too.

 4. Please describe your own belt's heraldry.
It's the Southern Wastes symbol, a goblin's silhouette in front of a blood moon.

5. Why did you chose that heraldry to represent you?
Various members of the Southern Wastes mentored me during formative
years. For better or worse, they helped shape me into the person I am
today.

6. Who did the artwork on your belt?
I did (FYI, it's much easier to tape a stencil onto leather and then
burn in the artwork through the stencil).

 7. What do you remember most about your knighting?
Folks said nice things (Randy spoke a few words, I have a copy of
Mike's long-winded speech, Jason was too kind), and some buddies who
used to play made a special appearance that day.

Also, while getting belted, it felt heavy.

8. What does being a KoEF mean to you?
To strive to be a model person and better oneself.

To have achieved peer recognition of prior game service, as well as
gained their confidence in future game endeavors.

Photo by Doug Fisher

 

Photo by Casey Lemay

Where are they now- Chris "Xanthus" Bennett

Chris “Xanthus” Bennett’s first event was Tournaments of Creathorne 1997. He played regularly through 2002, and semi-infrequently through 2004. He also helped in the sadly failed attempt of the Southern Realms chapter in Oklahoma City.

His character was a member of multiple nations including Thorne Valley and concluding in Achoria “Viva la Empire!” He was also a priest of Xaos in the Church of the Five Ladies.
When asked about in character achievements he said, “I don't know of any specific IC achievements I can really mention without incriminating people, but having (at the time) one of the few Interventions in the game after the spell system change was pretty cool (I learned a lot from Nate Carr in that respect, one of the best intervention casters I knew)”. He added, “I liked to think that I made a bit of a difference when it came to my contributions to the game. Be it NPCing, helping with feast holdings and so on for a few of my friends events, and with helping get the Southern Realms off the ground with Cole Wichman and Woody Woodworth down here in OKC”.

He stated, “ My most memorable times at Realms were events like Creathorne, North South War and Queen of Hearts, the biggest events of the year, at least at that day. Storming Myth Drannor, fighting in a huddled bunch with my friends in Thorn Valley when surrounded by dark elves, storming the castle at N/S War and of course all of the wonderful friends that I've sat around camp fires with.”

He has been living in Oklahoma City for the last 8 years with, “my best friend and the love of my life Sabrina on a dare between us, eloping and moving to OKC because we couldn’t handle being apart. It was the best hasty decision of my life. We have a five year old son named Tobias and a pitbull named Khaleesi”.

He currently works in the IT field, most recently for Dell within the Enterprise group, and is working on VMWare certifications. He also work as a freelance writer for the game company Dreamscarred Press (authors of the Pathfinder RPG supplement Ultimate Psionics) and has published my first book with them, Path of War (that we previously told you about in “Happenings on the Emerald Path). He is currently working on Path of War: Expanded and Psionics Augmented: Soulknife. His current hobbies are playing and running Pathfinder games, attending a local Vampire LARP, and spending a lot my free time hanging out with his family, cooking and writing.

Speaking as someone who remembers Chris as a bit of a bitter, sulky, dark youth, it has been amazing to watch his life from a far and see him grow (I suspect thanks to the influence of his wife and son). He’s turned into not just a pretty great grown up but also an optimistic and positive one.

He says he’d, “love to visit soon, but not sure if I can make it all that way up there or not. I’m planning on attending GenCon this year to pimp my book and see the sights, and if I can make it back to New England, that’d be more the better.”

And he closed by saying, “The only other things I’d like to add or share, is that you all should appreciate the Realms. It’s nearly impossible to recreate the magic of the game we all love anywhere else. It takes patience and hard work, pure love of the game and a willingness to let people be people and not hold that against them, and most importantly, the ability for everyone involved to check their egos at the door for the sake of the game. That’s a hard combination to get, and I love and miss the Realms terribly for this ability. The Realms will always hold a special place in my heart, and I’m glad that I was a part of it for a short time.”

What You Missed - Feast of Highbridge III

[Editor's note: all photos by Jesse Gifford]

This was the third occasion of the University of Highbridge's Open Class Day and Feast, and this year again it can be stated most certainly that a good time was had by all. The format followed the previous years - a full afternoon of classes followed by a feast that was guaranteed to make the hungry students and professors full - or bust.  The list of classes, taught by many different members of the greater Realms community, was posted well in advance of the day so that interested students could peruse the offerings and have ample time to register  their preferred selections.  There was a wide variety to chose from, so everyone was sure to find something that piqued his or her interests.  Topics included economics, Realms fashion and garb, casino game theory and dealing, marshalling, tea and tea ceremonies, history, questing skills, and combat tactics, as well as a number of classes geared towards different aspects of spellcasting such as ethics, support casting, and progression. In addition, the Knights of the Realms Challenge was also being run as a class. A dayboard was provided during the afternoon  which included light snacks and a selection of dips, butters, and breads.         

Gathered by the dayboard

Students hard at work

As the afternoon wound down into early evening, classes started to let out.  Hungry students and teachers made their way down to the dining area, eager to relax and socialize with each other and anxious for the epic amount of food that they would soon face.  In keeping with the Highbridge tradition, the meal was to consist of light tea fare and savory pies as an appetizer, followed by a salad, an entree, and a dessert.  Having recently returned from Danaan, however, Mistress Tria's  sense of time and order was a little, ahem, altered. Because of this, all the course were actually served in reverse order.  Imagine everyone's surprise then when dessert was served first! They were able to overcome their misgivings, however, as the dessert was Boston Creme French Toast - pastry cream sandwiched between two pieces of cinnamon French toast, coated in chocolate ganache.  A uniquely delicious confection and I'm glad it came first so I had plenty of room for it. 

Dessert is the first course

 

Socializing between courses

 Therefore, due to Mistress Tria's (un)fortunately altered timing, the entree course was served following dessert. This consisted of a Create-Your-Own pasta bowl. Each person was given a card listing various options for pasta, toppings, and sauces, and could pick as many - or as few-  as he or she wanted. Sauces (all made in Tria's kitchen) included marinara, Alfredo, and teriyaki sauces, as well as a roasted garlic oil and an onion gravy. Toppings included a variety of meats, cheeses, and roasted vegetables.  Helping to prepare the dishes in the kitchen, I can say that there were definitely some interesting creations going out to the guests, and everyone seemed to be enjoying their orders. 

Pasta with meatballs, sausage, chicken, mushrooms, basil, white sauce, mozzarella

 

 The salad course was a Santa "Fae" salad which was a mixed vegetable and bean salad with spicy peppers and cheese tossed in a cilantro-balsamic vinaigrette dressing, served with fried zucchini chips. The next course, savory pies, included a steak and ale pie and a macaroni and cheese pie. As the final course, a variety of light tea bites were served - various teas, along with cucumber sandwiches, peanut butter and chocolate-hazelnut sandwiches, and toffee  brittle.

 

This hat was making rounds

Of course, Aeston's hat must also make it's rounds

 There are a few things that must be noted. First, while there was no cherpumple, Mestoph (of The Charge of Mestoph's Appetite fame) did in fact receive a special dessert of his own from Mistress Tria - instead of pies inside a cake, he was given cakes inside of pies, much to his amusement and delight. Mayhap there will be a new song next year. 

Mestoph's special course

 Also, all those who were registered with the University as receiving the Professor level of dining were given a special token, with which they could obtain access to Highbridge's famed Tea and Cheese Cart. Making it's rounds throughout the afternoon, the Cheese Cart contained a wide variety of wondrous cheeses - rare, fancy, bold, and everywhere in between.  But the cart was more than just the cheese- there were also specialty meats, chips, breads, dips, spreads, and a beverage. During the final course of dinner, the cheese cart became the tea cart, and boasted a variety of items in addition to the light tea snacks already being served. Access to the Tea Cart allowed you access to the following:  cinnamon rolls, tea cakes, spice cookies, and turkey and brie sandwiches. 

The Professors' cheese cart!

 So that's what you missed -  a nice, long, and fulfilling day. There were plenty of interesting class options to chose from, and plenty of time to relax and enjoy each others' company during the feast that followed the classes. Mistress Tria certainly made good on her promise to provide the feast-goers with a full-to-the-point-of-rupture stomach, with different courses of unique and delicious food.  Sounding fun? Then I suggest you try to make it next year,  you won't be disappointed!

Stay on Target - Realms Archery Part 3 by Carol "Charwindle" Eddy

PART 3: THREAT ANALYSIS

In a standard Realms war maneuver, a decent bow will have the range of the entire active field.  That means from the moment "lay on" is called, each and every enemy combatant is a viable target.  That's a lot of people you can shoot.  The aim of this section is to give some guidance on your target priorities.

(1) Know the battle pace.

An armored field battle is fast paced: you will die before you fire all your arrows. This means you want to shoot back to back as rapidly as you can On the flip side, an armored castle battle is slow paced: you will run out of arrows long before you're dead. In this case, you want every shot to count, and count fully, or you will "lose" the efficiency war with the enemy archers. Every arrow you fire at them that does not hit is an arrow they can fire back to kill. Extrapolating further, every arrow you fire at them that hits, but does something ineffectual - taking the leg of a pikeman, which is rapidly healed, for example - garners the same result.

In a line battle, you have less luxury of choice.  By default, you should shoot at the easiest targets to hit that present themselves to you.  This will narrow your options in the line to those closest to you; field positioning becomes vital. You will want to place yourself in a position that (1) offers many enemies close by, so you can fire arrow after arrow with no down time as you search for a viable target, and (2) provides a thick buffer between you and the enemy in the form of many friendly troops, which will give you more time to fire off your arrows and have an effect on the battle.  Essentially, you want to be right in, or right behind, the thick of battle.  Archers have a very low rate of fire compared to melee weapons.  Putting yourself in this position means you will be maximizing your rate of fire, every arrow will strike an open target, and you can maximize your contribution by providing it to the greatest number of your teammates in the middle field.  Additionally, because there is so much melee combat, few enemies will have the chance to focus on you.  Many enemies will not even be able to attempt a block because they will not see the arrow coming.  (More on this in the next session, Field Positioning.)

In a bridge battle, which does not have the same breakneck pace, you have the luxury of choosing your targets more carefully.  In general, as an archer, you want to weaken the biggest threats on the enemy line, which allows your friendly line to successfully push forward.

(2) You are playing the support role: choose targets that pose the largest threat to your team.

The general rule of thumb is this: shoot the longest weapons first.  In theory, following this maxim, your target priority would be:
archer > pike > 6' > 5'/4'6" > spear > florentine > shield > other.

The reality is slightly different.  One, you should not be targeting enemy archers unless a golden opportunity presents itself - ie, the archer is obviously not looking at you, and you have enough firepower (friendly archers) that you can burn through their armor and kill them with one volley.  Archers make poor targets in unlimited combat for four reasons:

1. They're mobile.  If you hit an armor and peel away a point of armor (or armored cloak), they will respond by immediately taking cover and getting the situation repaired.  It is difficult to kill an archer outright because they are not trapped in by the crush of melee bodies or required to hold a certain part of the field.  They will move somewhere else without affecting the heart of the battle.

2. They have low rate of fire.  Taking out an archer will help because they will not be able to harass your own line, yes, but a lone archer is not going to turn the tide of battle in the same way an aggressive pikeman or florentine fighter can mow down enemies.  The change will be incremental at best.

3. Archers will never cause a push.  This reason is closely related to #2.  While an archer can be a deadly and effective addition to any team, they are completely unable to charge, counterattack, or turn the tide of battle with a sudden aggressive move.  Archery may have the longest range, but it is also the most passive weapon combination.

4. Archers are the most likely to see the shot coming.  Because they themselves are looking for long-range targets and not at all concerned with close combat, they are already looking farther away than the average melee fighter, and are more likely to see your arrow coming.  Firing an arrow at an archer who is looking at you is, basically, a wasted shot: an archer will not be standing in melee range of an enemy, so when they focus on you, they will not open themselves up to getting struck by a sword, unlike a fighter enemy who not only has to contend with your archery, but also with the enemy line he is currently engaged with.  (A note: the best time to shoot an archer is when he is focused on aiming at another enemy, arrow to the bow and attention pointed completely in that direction.  This is also one of the reasons an archer should spend the minimum amount of time possible lining up a shot.)

If, in a bridge battle or choke point situation, an enemy archer is proving particularly effective, you might find it worth your while to target their bow. Bows can be repaired via repair item, but dedicated support casters would rather spend that spell keeping fighters up.  Breaking a bow is an effective way to take an archer out of combat for longer than just shooting them. If the archer repairs the item by hand, it will take them out of combat for a ridiculously long time.

Dropping archery from target priority, you are left with:
Pike > 6'6" > 5'/4'6" > spear / florentine / archer > sword/board > else.

If you do not know your opponents well, this is a good baseline to use.  It is always a good idea to shoot a greatweapon wielder. If he is slow on his feet and you are fast, you can peel 2 points of armor or even kill him.  On the flip side, it is usually a waste to shoot a shieldman in a line.  He will be able to secure a repair long before you get a second and third shot.

Because in a choke point you can choose your targets, the best option is to locate all of the enemy greatweapon wielders in the line, and then ~pay attention~. A s soon as they get struck by one of your team's pikes, put a second hit on them.  Yes, it is a brilliant and lovely thing to wait for a call of "armor 2!" before shooting and killing.  However, a good enemy pikeman will rotate off the line as soon as he loses a point of armor.  By shooting him immediately after the first blow lands, you will strip him of both points and give one of your pikemen - who has a higher rate of fire than you do! - a golden chance to bring him down.  (Coordinating archer fire from 2 archers also works here. Unlike casters crouching behind the enemy line, front-line pikemen can often be shot from multiple angles, making it easier to coordinate fire.)

(3) Controlling pace – eliminate aggressive fighters.

If you do know your opponents well, you will be able to refine your threat analysis.  A more aggressive target is always a greater threat than a passive target, because killing them buys you more time.  As an archer, time is your most precious commodity.  You will find that it is better to kill a very aggressive 5' than a passive 6'6", for example, or (in a line) to kill a fast-moving florentine fighter over a more cautious 5'.  In general, I have found you may shift a passive fighter down one category and an aggressive fighter up one category on your threat analysis.

In this way, in a chokepoint battle, an aggressive florentine fighter is an equal threat to a passive 5' fighter - but never more of a threat than a pike or a 6'6".

(4) Casters.

You will notice that casters are not mentioned on this threat list.  That is because casters are targets of opportunity.  They will often be hunkered down behind the enemy lines.  If you have an open shot on an active support caster, take it; if they have to spend the time getting their armored cloak back up, they are vulnerable to a push. If they do not spend the time to restore their armored cloak, they are just begging to die at the next opening you can shoot them.  A shot at an active caster is always worth it.

On the other hand, don't bother wasting arrows on people standing aimlessly in the back field.  It may help when you break through, but it won't help you to break through.  You are feeding the other team arrows they can use against more appropriate targets.

There are of course exceptions to this rule - but they are just that: exceptions.

To recap:
1) Shoot the longest weapons first (excluding archers),
2) Shoot aggressive fighters before passive fighters, sometimes even in defiance of Rule #1,
3) In an unlimited line, your shots are better spent towards the center (targets are not moving as fast / are not as aggressive); in a limited line, your shots are better spent on the flanks (slows the speed of battle),
4) Always take a free shot at a support caster;
5) Resist the temptation to shoot at an idle backfield.

The longer you spend time as an archer, the more you will learn to prioritize your targets for very specific and particular circumstances.  An article that tried to cover all these possibilities would go on for years and involve a fair bit of sheer hypothesis: my only advice is, follow the general rules of thumb when you go out on the field, and then - through trial and experience - perfect your own threat analysis by observing the ebb and flow of battles of different paces and different force compositions.

What You Missed - Festival of Pi(e)

What you missed at the Festival of Pi(e)
by Ed "Tuilli" Drummond 
(photos and captions by View staff)

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The other pie was fantastic, top kudos to the staff.  There was, in fact, too much pie which was wonderful and magical!  My top marks go to Rebecca Pezzetti for her outstanding meat pie that I may have eaten too much of (I am guesstimating I had in excess of a full pie with that one alone).

 

Pies for days

 

The other side of the pie table

A couple of people tried to take a “slice” at one another in the numerous games that were present thanks to Jester/Dustin.

A small selection of what was available

There was a pie eating contest where someone had just a bit too much pie.  The winner was Vesper.

The contestants going at it

 There was a mighty pie battle in which everyone lost.  

There were goblins who stole a recipe for a pie.  They attempted to make said pie (out of adventurers), but us adventurers were able to get the recipe back to Sir Tao (not sure exactly why he wanted a pie recipe that may have called for adventurers as an ingredient, but I try not to judge much).  

Rillan of Grimloch won the pie-baking contest for his meat pie.

I don’t understand why Phoenix did something that was not pie-related, but she did manage to recover a holy relic of (insert goddess here, Hilt of Tyche maybe?  I can't remember) from (insert character here) who had kept it hidden for a long time. I’m sure I could throw a pie joke in there somehow...

Ender, Phoenix, and the hilt

All in all, a great event at a great space.  Thanks to Sir Tao and his crew for pulling together an awesome event.

Plenty of gambling to be had

Shooting craps

The poker tourney....Rillan seems to be doing well

Kitchen staff is hard at work

One half of the auction table

One of the highlights of the auction - the chance to play Deal or No Deal

A Simple Event, A Profound Idea- by Angela "Phoenix" Gray

This past Sunday, Folkestone ran a simple tournament event at WPI. The subtitle was "back to basics," reflecting on the fact that we focused on combat and combat alone. It was low frills: decorations consisted of two banners. Snacks were not intended to be elaborate (though Liz Butler did bring some yummy mini cupcakes in honor of Mathias' birthday). There was one modest prize. The individual tournaments run were all basic limited individual combat.

Considering the above, it might be easy to dismiss this event as overly simple and miss the level of thoughtfulness that went into many of the decisions around it. It is possible that you didn’t notice the few simple changes to the typical tournament format, but they were made for a specific reason that I would like to bring to light.

The reason is that I have come to the conclusion that, as a broad generalization, newbie tournaments are negative for our game. There are of course exceptions. In particular I love that one is run at Queen of Hearts, to give those who are newer a chance to represent their team when they would be unlikely to be an entrant in other individual competitions. I also like the fact that at the same time the best in our game are inspiring others, newer players are being given a chance to compete in a new player tournament at Order of the List.

This might be a shocking opinion to hear from me,  as I ran a 6-event newbie tournament series three years ago. It was through doing so that I began to notice a potential problem with them, and have come to believe they shouldn't exist as a part of most tournament events.

I feel like newbie tournaments mistakenly giving the impression that new players belong in one ring and veterans in another to the detriment of both groups.  For the new players, we build in an intimidation of fighting the best when in reality it would provide newbies with an opportunity to get to know them and to learn about combat from them.  Many, many players seem to come in, fight in newbie tournaments, and then when they "age out" of those stop fighting completely because they've never reached the point of mentally feeling ready to be "in the ring" with the vets.  Our segregating them and providing a playing field where they can "be competitive" also implies that the point and value of fighting is winning rather than bettering yourself through participation- that it is better to be a big fish in a small pond then dive into the ocean.  

On the other side of the coin, veterans lose the opportunity to get to connect with new players.  Many countries regularly look to new players for growth. Many veterans stay interested and energized about the game through connecting and passing on their passion to newer players. Additionally, newer players benefit when they are exposed to a variety of people and ideas before forming official ties, be they national or knightly. The more they get to connect with vets the more likely that they are hearing a diversity of opinions and the more opportunity vets have to make sure their countries and tutelage is considered by new players before they form lasting commitments.

Fighting with new players also often seems to bring out the best in our vets.  At the moment I can only speak for what I saw Sunday, but it seemed as though many people went out of their way to be friendly, encouraging, and to have good combat  etiquette. They also had their combat skills challenged a time or two by the unorthodox newbie or got caught off guard when someone they'd never seen before was better than expected.  There were some genuine upsets and those are good for the vets. They can help keep them from mentally or physically stagnating.

The one aspect of newbie tournaments I would have initially said were valuable were some of the non-coms: trivia, learning about currency/heraldry/nations, scavenger hunt searches to meet people. However, upon more consideration, this too segregates people.  A lot of people come into game thinking they are only interested in specific aspects and are far into their careers when they decide to learn new things. Feeling that you are able to keep expanding your interest and knowledge in game can be valuable in retaining players as it is a great way to prevent burnout. Yet in the same way that newbie combat tournaments give the impression that they don’t belong in the combat ring with veterans, specifying that learning about in game topics is intended for newbies prevents a veteran from starting with the basics later in their career. I think those tournaments could benefit from being divided into rounds of increasing difficulty or having basic, mid-level, advanced level non-coms run.

There is an additional question about new player tournaments. What really is a new player?  We say length of time, but we know it is isn't that.  A new player who makes it to practices every week isn't the same as one who walks in off the street. A new player who events once a month differs from one who does so twice a year. We have newbies that have played for a decade and those that move out of that stage in under two years. We know them when we see them, but we look for a more objective way to allow or disallow entry.

I don't think we generally should or need to be segregating, but we should recognize that motivating new players to get in the ring with vets can be hard, and put a lot of thought into how to do so. Some conscious choices we made in that direction were to put the event in a location with a significant body of new players, and to offer nothing but combat and to be VERY clear on that would be the case in advance.  We wanted new people to come but we wanted them to come prepared to fight and to avoid the well-meaning distractions of games, non-combat tournaments, and even role playing. While all of those things have value, I truly believe a core element of our game is combat and everyone should be able to be in it without fear and be able to appropriately take their hits. Unless medical issues prevent them from doing so, everyone should be able to  combat NPC at at least a base level of proficiency. It is wonderful that EHs recognize the variety of interest and abilities of people that come to game, but sometimes I think it is appropriate to communicate the message that combat is an important part of our game and if you want to be fully involved in the Realms you should be participating in it.

(As an aside, I understand that the preceding statement is strong, and I also know that people will point out that you can be involved in combat via group battles, casting, and questing. In my opinion practices or controlled tournament events are where you can best learn combat basics and most importantly to correctly call shots, and those that avoid them because they don't fit their character or aren't what they enjoy the most frequently miss the basics and become overly dependent on one weapon style.)

The second thing we tried to do was to make it easier to sign up for all the tournaments then be selective. It was new, there were a few bumps, but basically if you wanted to selectively sign up we made you write out your cards. If you wanted to compete in all the tournaments being run, we let you sign up on a list then took care of writing the seven cards needed for you.

We also provided a motivation for newer players to sign up for every tournament, in the form of a free weapon, not for winning but for fully participating.

We were clear on expectations during reading of the rules. We expected controlled fighting. We expected vets to remember new players make mistakes and if they did get angry to pull themselves. We were VERY ready to pull anyone if they were "mad or uncontrolled" and to talk to them if they had crappy etiquette. We were also clear with new players that they would make mistakes and people would tell them if they did.  That said, everyone was awesome and I'm sure that was primarily because we have amazing people, BUT I also think upfront clarity on behavior not being acceptable makes it less likely to occur.

The final thing we did was to call out and publicly recognize the newer players who did the best. I’m not saying there was an expectation that they'd win overall, but it is important to note excellence among those who are newer to combat, and increase visibility for those who do well so they can help inspire others.

We do plan to make this an annual event. My hope and intention is that this model will be adopted by others, and ultimately influence the number of new players joining the ranks of tournament combatants.

An Atypical View