Okay, I've caught a glimpse of this stuff before, but I don't really know exactly how it works. I'm assuming that it's not as simple as write a crackish story and let 'em loose. So what're the small details? Limitations, undocumented feautres 
and such? And is it only open to members of a certain group, or can anyone just mosey along and drop an entry?
ETA: Nevermind. Shoulda Googled first. But for those who are not in the know yet, here's the good stuff that I dug up. Mike's pretty definitive in what he does/doesn't want.
PS: Don't blame me for the excessive page breaks. That was Google's doing, not mine, and I didn't want to waste a bunch of time removing the suckers.
and such? And is it only open to members of a certain group, or can anyone just mosey along and drop an entry?ETA: Nevermind. Shoulda Googled first. But for those who are not in the know yet, here's the good stuff that I dug up. Mike's pretty definitive in what he does/doesn't want.
PS: Don't blame me for the excessive page breaks. That was Google's doing, not mine, and I didn't want to waste a bunch of time removing the suckers.
Quote:It's already that time of year again: time for you to post the teams
who you want to go up against the nasty Challenges that the challenge
team has come up with over the year. The idea isn't to walk all over
the Challenges; rather, the point is to see how well you can rise to
the challenge, and to have fun doing so.
"Winning" or "losing" isn't important.
I'll say that again, because not making it clear caused some hurt
feelings in past years:
The point is to see how well you can rise
to the challenge, and to have fun doing so.
"Winning" or "losing" isn't important.
Those of you who've played this in years gone by already know that
there are rules for the Challenge.
First, here are the general rules.
I've come up with three Challenges (Easy, Medium, and Hard,
relatively
speaking). Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to recruit a
team of three characters to help you take on one of the Challenges.
(The smart move here is to not accept the mission, but how much fun
would that be?) If you want to have your team go up against two or
three Challenges, or put together two or three teams (one for each
Challenge), that's okay.
(Mike's note: This "Omake Challenge" will be one challenge, to kind
of "set the table" for his New Year's Challenges to come.)
(Astute readers will realize that there's a fourth participant in
each
team - the person who put the team together. Depending on the team
and
the Challenge, this may be important.)
(Mike's note: I have used this to my advantage in several
situations. This IS a self-insert challenge, unless you plan on
standing on the sidelines and letting your team do all the work, but
that's no fun!)
On New Year's Day, I will post the Challenges, along with the teams
that I saw posted for each Challenge.
In some previous years, Blade would then judge which teams were up
for
the challenge. However, that caused many hurt feelings in the past,
mostly among people who thought the idea behind the New Year's
Challenge was to try to win against somebody. Therefore, I've
decided
in advance to continue Rob Kelk's idea that every team fails the
challenge unless you can convince me otherwise.
You have one week after I post the Challenges in which to write a
short
fanfic telling me how you and your recruits handle each scenario.
(That's a better deal than the FFML's "One-Hour Challenge"...) Once
your fanfic has been posted, preferably to rec.arts.anime.fandom, I
get
to critique it. (Followups to the post announcing the challenges
will
be set to rec.arts.anime.fandom to make it easier for everyone to
post
there, unless I forget.)
The critiquing rules are simple:
(1) If any of the characters act out-of-character and I spot it, you
lose.
Period. If you think I’m wrong, then prove it with canonical
evidence.
(2) If you don't address the challenge that I give you, then you
lose.
(Examples of not addressing the challenge include, but aren't
limited to, spending all of your time on a side issue, or getting
your recurits to try to bribe the judges instead of solving the
problem at hand.)
(3) I reserve the right to stomp all over the munchkins who pick
"power" teams. I might not do this at all, but I reserve the
right to do it.
(4) An entertaining story with questionable tactics will be looked
upon
more favourably than a boring story with excellent tactics. An
entertaining story with excellent tactics will be looked upon
most
favourably, of course.
Second, here are the specific rules, expanding on assumed points in
the
general rules.
Unless otherwise stated in a particular Challenge, the Challenges
take
place in a close analogue of our world where magic and psi powers
work.
They're still unknown, but they work. (Table-top roleplaying gamers
might think of the worlds described in "GURPS Cabal" or "Mage: The
Ascension" here. The setting isn't either of those worlds, but it's
similar.) You can't send your teams to Pallet Town or Kami House or
Hinata-sou, because they don't exist here. You can send them to the
Vatican, if you think that it'll help (or if you just want to pray
for
a miracle), because the Vatican really does exist. If you choose to
visit Miami, you end up in the city in Florida, not the one in "Miami
Guns".
The characters get whatever gear *_that they own_* that they usually
wear or carry. (For example, the "Urusei Yatsura" character Shutaro
Mendo gets his wad-of-cash-big-enough-to-fund-a-corporate-takeover,
because he always carries it around with him. He doesn't get his
family's private helicopter, because that belongs to his family, not
to
him.) I may be lenient on this when a character has a mecha or
hardsuit issued to him (such as a Knight Saber has); convince me.
However, when the gear itself counts as one or more characters, the
"extra" characters have to stay at home. (Thus, picking Chibi-Usa
from
"Sailor Moon SuperS" doesn't give you Pegasus for free, and picking
Katsumi Liqueur from the second half of "Silent Mobius" doesn't give
you Grosspoliner for free.)
Omnipotent characters, or those near enough not to matter, are
disallowed. If you take a character that can do anything, then
there's
no challenge to rise to. (Repeating Rule One again: The point is to
see how well you can rise to the challenge, and to have fun doing
so.
"Winning" or "losing" isn't important.) Appendix One, below, has a
non-exclusive list of characters near enough to omnipotent to be
disallowed; I reserve the right to add to the list. Appendix Two,
also
below, has a non-exclusive list of characters that, while not uber
enough to be banned, have been brought to my attention that may be
added to the banned list at a future time. I repeat, Appendix Two is
NOT BANNED, however, based upon their use, they MAY be moved to the
banned list at future date if I see evidence that they should be
there.
Characters should come from anime or manga, while some video game
characters are acceptable. (No, you can't take Gina Diggers - "Gold
Digger" is a North American comic, not a manga. Yes, I know
Antarctic
Press had a poster in the January 2003 Newtype USA; unless Texas
became
a Japanese protectorate when I wasn't looking, that still doesn't
make
their products "manga" despite what they claim.) I’d prefer if you
chose characters from anime or manga, however I can make exceptions
for
videogame characters, as long as they are Japanese in origin (in
other
words, Japanese inspiration came up with the character, not an
American, if the character is an original. Japanese
reinterpretations
of real or fictionalized characters, such as Dracula, Frankenstein,
or
the Mummy are acceptable while the origials are not.)
In addition, the “Same Character Rule” this year is now going to be
properly defined. If you wish (for some unknown reason) you want 2
or
3 instances of the same character, there are set guidelines. The
original instance of this rule was when Ethan Hammond asked for
Atsume
“Nuku-Nuku” Natsume from both the OAV and TV continuities. After
review, this exception is allowed because although both have the same
origin, they’ve had different lives, and are essentially different
characters in different continuities. If, however, someone asked for
Son Goku from Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT, this year
officially it would not be allowed, since it is the same character,
just with different amounts of experience. Tenchi Masaki from Tenchi
Universe and the OAVs would be allowed, while Tenchi Masaki from the
OAVs and GXP would not. If you have a question, e-mail me and I will
do my best to answer you in a timely fashion.
While it would be nice if the characters you choose would be able to
work as a team (with you or each other), it isn't required. However,
keep in mind that you'll have to write a fanfic with these characters
to show that you should win, and writing any character out-of-
character
is an automatic loss.
While it would be nice if you take a team made up of characters from
three different stories, you may pick all three from the same show if
you wish. (Yes, you may choose three "Z Fighters", or all three
Gunbusters, if you really want to. Don't think that I haven't
planned
for that, though.)
Since there's more anime available than there is time to watch it, I
can't possibly know who every character is. Be sure to clearly
identify the characters you choose, and provide capsule descriptions
of
who they are and what they can do. Don't assume that I'm familiar
with
the characters, even if they're ones we often talk about on the
newsgroup or are well-known (like Akane, Akane, Akane, or Akane).
Repeats from previous challenges you, yourself have entered are an
exception. You’ve told me about them before, and unless something’s
changed, I shouldn’t need to be told again.
Also, you have to state from what part of what continuity you are
taking your recruits from. (There's a world of difference between
"Ranma 1/2"'s start-of-anime Saotome Ranma and end-of-manga Saotome
Ranma, for instance.) If you fail to do this, then I will assume you
want the first appearance of the character, from the anime if there's
still any question. (THIS IS A CHANGE FROM 2004'S RULES.)
All characters are to act in character. The only exception is that
they won't try to kill you or try to take over the world as soon as
they show up. They may change their minds just *after* they show up,
of course...
Was that clear?
No? Okay, here's an example, from the 2004 Challenge:
Hand-of-Omega decided to try the Easy Challenge, and chooses for his
team The Gentleman (from "Read or Die"), Rin (from "Please Save My
Earth"), and Eriol (from "Cardcaptor Sakura"). I make sure that he's
specified from when in each series he wants to take these characters.
On January 1, the challenge givers announced that the Easy Challenge
is
to have all three of the team members agree on a plan of action in a
particular situation.
Blade, with his knowledge of "Please Save My Earth", decided that
there's no way that Rin would agree to anything proposed by either of
the others, and the others probably wouldn't agree to any plan
proposed
by Rin. At the time, Rob Kelk agreed.
Hand-of-Omega wrote this short fanfic to show how the team he
assembled
would be able to succeed:
Rob Kelk read through the fanfic, decided after some thought that the
solution proposed would just barely work, and overruled Blade's
decision.
Hand-of-Omega won the 2004 Easy Challenge.
Good luck, everyone. You're going to need it...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Appendix One: The Banned List
Characters that are near enough to omnipotent to be disallowed from
all
future New Year's Challenges
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since merely being listed here can be seen as a spoiler, the
character
names are listed in ROT-13. The anime and manga names are in clear
text.
Ah My Goddess: Oryyqnaql, Xnzv-fnzn, Uvyq
Akira: Nxven, Grgfhb
Dragonball Z/GT: Furaeba (n.x.n. Fura Ybat),
Cbehatn
Excel Saga: Gur Terng Jvyy bs gur Znpebpbfz,
Anorfuva
Princess Tutu: Qebffryzrlre, Snxve
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Nxvb, Nagul, Qvbf
Sailor Moon: Dhrra Freravgl, Arb-Dhrra
Freravgl
Slayers: Gur Ybeq bs Avtugznerf, Prcuvrq,
Funoenavtqb
Superbook: Tbq, Wrfhf, Gur Qrivy
Tenchi Muyo Ryo-ohki: Gbxvzv, Gfhanzv, Jnfuhh
The Flying House: Tbq, Wrfhf
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Unehuv Fhmhzvln, Lhxv Antngb,
Elbxb Nfnxhen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Appendix Two: The Restricted/Watch List
Characters that could potentially tip the scales enough that they
might
be added to the banned list in future challenges, or ones that I feel
will give a hidden loophole to solving a challenge. Being on this
list
is not a banning, but a warning that using them will gain my utmost
scrutiny.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since merely being listed here can be seen as a spoiler, the
character
names are listed in ROT-13. The anime and manga names are in clear
text.
Dragonball Z/GT: Qraqr, Xnzv, Theh
xxxHolic: Lhxb Vpuvunen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
----
So there you go.
Mike