IK Racing - Questions Need Answering

[Fuin Elda]

So I am looking to bring back IK racing, however we are going to do it differently on here as often people wanted to play but couldn't so here is the idea for NuPlaza Racing.

The season will be a year long with two months off, one month for the race championships and a race PER month held in a different kingdom every month. (Currently Lothlorien is held in Imladris, and Isengard is in Fangorn unless we have a request for that to be moved or those kingdoms start existing)

Proposed Changes:

Instead of a single week the racers will have the ability to race over the course of a month with 15 turns per racer (giving people the chance to participate more)

There will be no set teams.

You will not need to sign up specifically for a race with a team, you just need to show up and participate.

Every kingdom will be able to participate in ALL the races (I know this will make it difficult for the moderator which is gonna be me likely season one but I'm insane we all know that)

The only restricted race is the Championship race, in which only those that got in the top three slots will have a chance to race in that race.

The Championship race will be held in the Kingdom that has the most racers IN that race. (not sure if this is a change or not I can't honestly remember)

What will be staying the same -

Movement will be decided by Dice D20, and D6.

There WILL be RP challenges with the D20.

Animals will be doing the racing - IF kingdoms are staying with their originals that is up to them (except Rohan because apparently the only thread found involves rats there and I know those are Isengard not rohan I think you were raccoons I honestly don't remember)

Colours - For the EASE of the moderator of the race Kingdoms will be required to post in a specific colour that colour will be up to the kingdoms, but there is a good chance that they will be the same as old Plaza if that's what kingdoms want.

We will also likely hold a trial Race in October or November. To test and see how well it works and how much planning I need to do for Season 1.

IF you have comments questions or would like to nominate your kingdom for the test race please feel free to post! (also you're welcome to say why you'd like a particular schedule more than others.)

[Gwai]

Glad you’re bringing it back!!

We were definitely raccoons

[Dwim]

This sounds great, Fuin!

I for one will be there to race for the Shire, and would like to nominate us to be in the practice race. We were coneys of course, but if there are other Shire racers going to take part, I guess we can decide as a group whether we want to remain with coneys or choose a new animal for the new Plaza.

It doesn't seem like our old kingdom colour is an option on the new forum. This one (BF0080) looks to be the most similar to the shade of purple we had.

As for the schedule, I voted for a November championship race because I still consider January a holiday month and often find myself without much time for the Plaza then.

[Fuin Elda]

@Gwai hahaha Imladris MAY end up losing a member so they can race as raccoon then lol As I am not 100% willing to take away a previous kingdoms animal.

@Dwim Would love to have you! And will take that into consideration for the Practice I am going to be going to kingdoms and asking for thoughts on colours (i'm going to go through and get the closest matches I can find as well. Nor sure why I thought Hobbits were a brown sort of colour but I will double check and make the post in the Shire shortly.... Going through the kingdoms in order Imladris/Lothlorien were just done as Lothlorien is still part of Immy for now.

[Silky Gooseness]

Admin hat off here (as it usually is, to be honest):

- I don’t really mind about the schedule because I’m unable to plan that far forward into the future - haha
- I personally prefer short snappier races of a week or two weeks to a whole month, I feel like racing drags otherwise which is the opposite of how it should be. Just my 0.02p, it’s very much up to you as TR
- fine with colour coding which totally makes sense but please can it be simple for us poor suckers who post on mobile

[Lirimaer]

This seems like a chore. I'll leave the voting to folk who actually like racing

[Fuin Elda]

Admin hat off here (as it usually is, to be honest):

- I don’t really mind about the schedule because I’m unable to plan that far forward into the future - haha
- I personally prefer short snappier races of a week or two weeks to a whole month, I feel like racing drags otherwise which is the opposite of how it should be. Just my 0.02p, it’s very much up to you as TR
- fine with colour coding which totally makes sense but please can it be simple for us poor suckers who post on mobile

Yeah understandable honeslty if you wanted to show up for just the last two weeks that's fine... 15 days that's all you need. cause it'll be 15 rolls.

And I am going to put the color codes for each area up in the beginning of each thread so you can either type or click once on mobile (I'm going to be testing how hard racing is on mobile) on my phone as racers will ONLY need to post in a single colour. And use a bit of Bolding is my plan for the post formatting for racers. IF that is too difficult or too much let me know I'll see if I can find an easier way of doing it. But I operate on a pixel 4 so I have a pretty sizeable screen to play with.

[Winddancer]

If there are not going to be any kingdom teams (prolly wise as some kingdoms are more active than others) then why kingdom specific animals?

[Fuin Elda]

because while there are no set kingdom TEAMS people are racing for a specific kingdom. (Yet to decide if people can chose to race for another kingdome while actually being from a different kingdom.)

[Silky Gooseness]

I think that would be quite a fun idea as many of us have different characters. Hell I’ll race competing against myself if nobody else shows up

Also thanks!!! from a solely-mobile poster

[Winddancer]

because while there are no set kingdom TEAMS people are racing for a specific kingdom. (Yet to decide if people can chose to race for another kingdome while actually being from a different kingdom.)

Might have to as there might be a couple of kingdoms with no participants :(

[Dimcairien Luiniel]

For some reason I don’t think I ever participated in IK racing on old plaza, but if I do, I would be happy to represent Lorien (I think they were foxes) as that was my original kingdom and at some point I’m likely to take my shiny phial back. I think there’s only 2-3 active people who wear the Lorien icon.

[Fuin Elda]

@Winddancer
@Dimcairien Luiniel

Indeed Lothlorien is the one I worry about the most for participation which is why I am hoping to do a test run to see how many people actively participate - I did a member search based on ranks, which let me tell you not so fun as everyone is apparently a registered User. So had to write down ranks and kingdoms and just manually tick them off for the first 5 pages.... everyone but Lorien had more thn 5 members by page 5.) Isengard is the other that seems to have very few numbers buts that would make sense given the lack of a kingdom but it had better numbers.

The test run should give me a chance to make adjustments as needed for the actual season.

[Wamba_the_Fool]

Animals will be doing the racing - IF kingdoms are staying with their originals that is up to them (except Rohan because apparently the only thread found involves rats there and I know those are Isengard not rohan I think you were raccoons I honestly don't remember)

Oh wow, I actually remember racing a rat... That's a blast from the past!

[The Good Hunter]

Here’s a thought I thonked. There’s simply isn’t enough parity on NuPlaza to make kingdoms works. Instead, throw everyone in a pile who wants to participate, select captains who then do a draft and select their teams. From there every racer, regardless of kingdom, picks whatever they want to race. Less restrictive and more open, much like NuPlaza. It worked brilliantly for WS, I see no reason it wouldn’t work with racing.

[Winddancer]

Or ignore kingdoms/teams completely and just have people compete against each other.

[The Good Hunter]

I think that idea is just as good!

[Androthelm]

Seconding (thirding?) @Vampire Bob and @Winddancer to say that given how few of us there are especially in some kingdoms it might be a good idea to just play person against person.

[Moriel]

I'm a fan of both these ideas, either teams picked by draft (which could lead to highly entertaining IC shenanigans with people from all over forced to work together on a team), or a total free for all.

[Dimcairien Luiniel]

@Moriel The idea of a draft is appealing. It would certainly lend itself to some friendly (or not so friendly) intra-team rivalry.

[Fuin Elda]

@Winddancer @Vampire Bob @Androthelm

I am against drafting for one reason... once the teams are set nobody else can join and I absolutely hated not being able to join in mid race/midseason if all the races were 'called'. The last issue is not one but I I feel we're going to have more an more people coming in so making it a more open IK competition when it can be seems more fun to me?

I'm more apt to the free for all where anyone can choose which 'kingdom/animal' they are racing for. I don't think I would actually want to force anyone to have to race for just their own kingdom, I've got the hobbits that are super excited about having their coneys back tagged on this question in their own animal colour thread as if they are okay with a free for all with animals - they are of course welcome to stay with rabbits if they want the entire time even in a free for all.

I am still a fan of kingdom colours just because most people DO like racing for a particular team and that makes it pretty easy for me to tell who is on what team at a quick glance even if they don't have a set animal

[Winddancer]

I am still a fan of kingdom colours just because most people DO like racing for a particular team and that makes it pretty easy for me to tell who is on what team at a quick glance even if they don't have a set animal

You mean they like racing for a particular kingdom? As there wouldn't be a team?

[Moriel]

@Fuin Elda Why wouldn't people be able to join midseason if teams were drafted? I don't see why they couldn't just join existing teams. But this problem goes away if we go with the free for all option

[The Good Hunter]

In regards to drafting... snooze you lose? Maybe make the season shorter so that doesn't happen, simple as that. Also, let people make observation and cheering posts, that way they can be a part of it. Simple again. I think if we move away from the kingdom/animal thing it would be best because we are so small and everyone posts everywhere nowadays. And what's so bad about everyone, regardless of kingdom/team picking their own animal? What if I want Jorgy to race one time then switch to a craban the next race? I'm not a fan of colors because I'm colorblind and don't give a rat's hindquarters about color

[Moriel]

@Fuin Elda I think we're lacking input from across the board in this thread due to all of the individual kingdom threads and the discussions happening there. Perhaps you could remind everyone in those individual threads to come here and give their opinions on whether we should do kingdoms/drafts/no teams, so that all the relevant structure discussion is happening in one place?

[Fuin Elda]

Attempting to redirect here for certain the OP did state this was for schedule and basic mechanics type stuff so it's already IN the OP on that note just reminding them on that portion for the threads that have active people.

[Drífa]

I will represent KD and the Badgers ( Snails). If we do have colors, I choose foo.
Now if any other dwarves have an opinion, please come forth. I would love to hear them.

I am ready to play! Let the racing begin!
We can have practice rounds to start. There is at least one member from each Kingdom interested, right?
If a team /kingdom has only one racer, they can post more than once depending on how many team members there are participating in other kingdoms.
If a kingdom does not have a team, a player, they do not get represented. Maybe they will man a team later.
If all goes well, after a few practice races, we can look into a schedules, etc...
A toss of a coin can decide which kingdom hosts the first practice match.

My two cents.

[Zôrzimril]

I loved racing on OP! I think it was one of the first things I dove into after I came back in 2009.

After reading all the many threads, I do have a few thoughts:

• We did a practice Word Sleuth match with members from all kingdoms split into two teams, and it went really well - much credit to @Dimcairien Luiniel for that! She might be a good person to ask advice from in terms of how she managed it all

• The question of a year-long schedule seems premature to me. The plaza hasn't even been around for a full year yet. I would suggest that everyone get a shot at trying out NuPlaza racing before committing to anything long-term. Participants could perhaps determine their interest after trying out a new system in a practice match

• If, as the OP proposes, there are no set teams, participants just need to show up, and anyone from any kingdom can participate in all races... why does each kingdom even need to vote on colors or animals now? Could we not just give it a try before diving into the who-plays-what-and-in-what-color questions (if we dive further into those at all)?

Since format is such a point of discussion here, I would suggest that we should prioritize voting first on the format of a practice match. From there, do the practice match and assess the benefits and drawbacks of whatever the members decide (woo democratic spirit of NuPlaza!), and maybe talk about a longer schedule. Some options for a "What format should we race in?" poll could be:

• Kingdom-based teams (if this is even viable, based on the number of interested parties from each kingdom)

• Teams assigned or "drafted" after a sign-up period

• Free-for-all - in it to win it for yourself and yourself alone

I would also suggest deciding on the format question in a centralized place (whether this thread or another in AM), since it seems like discussion got a bit scattered with the kingdom-based threads (and 3 kingdoms unfortunately have no responses yet)

[Dwim]

I don't really see the problem with having kingdom based teams (or kingdom not-teams) as Fuin proposed in the OP. The main argument against it seems to be that certain kingdoms may not have any or enough participants. But the beauty of having all kingdoms racing against each other in the same race is that it actually doesn't matter if a kingdom has no one show up. It doesn't affect the race or the competition in any way. If were doing individual races such as Lorien vs Mordor, then of course there'd be an issue there. But Fuin's proposed format actually seems to be quite forgiving. Any kingdom member can jump in at any point.

I feel like the issue of set animals or choose your own animals is less important. However I am a hobbit at heart therefore I will stick to tradition by arguing for set animals for each team for the sake of camaraderie and simplicity in a race which will already be chaotic enough as it is. But either way, it's definitely a minor thing and whatever the decision is, it won't deter me from playing.

[Eriol]

I think the simplicity of Fuin's method will work and, I believe, that if there's a chance it doesn't this will be revealed by the test race itself. I would like to nominate it being hosted in Imladris. I voted for having the hedgehog of my kingdom and the color teal.

[Fuin Elda]

@Zôrzimril
1. I don't think two teams will work as well for racing just because of the nature of it it was of all the IK things one of the more popular due to how easy it was to participate in vs say Debate, or Lore or Poetry etc. But if the test doesn't work then I'll probably look into doing two 'teams'

2. This is probably true with the year long thing but honestly if it gets people excited about it then why not? Posting this has gotten a FAR greater response than me posting about it in the IK planning.

3. Mostly for what Dwim said, I felt it would give just enough of the Original flavour and add a sense of comraderie to it. IS it 100% necessary? No, is it something that's going to be tested to see if it helps me in the actual moderating of the races for the sake of who races where for the winners to count towards the championship games.... yup (honestly my brain as I've mentioned is not what it use to be... I do need certain cues now to fully comprend things... and I have been officially told it will not get better to get my coping methods in place. Colours is one of them (animals is more the comraderie bit)

My original Idea and I'm not sure if this is clear (maybe you guys will see what I'm meaning when I actually post it in the test in what 5 6 days???? October 1st and go OHHH yeah that makes sense never mind lol)

But they are 'kingdom based' for the home team. but it is basically a free for all, beyond that. And if no body from the home team shows up then nobody from the home team can wins simple as that.

I don't want drafts or sign ups or things like that as I am happy to have people jumping in and trying to 'catch up' racing. And then we won't be telling people that possibly are just registering and (hopefully) seeing a bunch of people having fun with ALL the other kingdom members and wanting to play being told 'you should have signed up sooner.'

Honestly I think the test race will show if a lot of these issue that are being brought up ARE going to be issues

And I know the colours animals are possibly premature, but they are only 24 hours in at this point and have gotten a decent response AND because they were in kingdoms and more people pay attention to kingdom threads than annoucements (always have no matter the forum) I figured it couldn't possibly hurt.

[Silky Gooseness]

If we’re doing the test match in October, which seems sensible, just a head’s up that we will be Hallowe’ening by then so people may want to choose other “animals” or things if they want to play as their Hallowe’en character just as a one off for an October session?

[Fuin Elda]

I was thinking halloween costumes on animeal actually because that would be HILARIOUS LIttle hedgehog running around dressed as a spider.

[Dwim]

Dressing up our animals in Halloween costumes sounds incredible! All for it.