[Announcement] Outplay 2023 Final Judgements

[Bhelogan]

Entering into the Outplay 2023 finale, we have two competitors. Let's review their stats and see how they break down:

First, we have the veteran competitor, having won Outplay in 2019. With a join date of April 2012, a post count of 7155, averaging 1.73 post per day, and an impressive RPXP 14491, we have Qiksilv! Quicksilv plays an engineer from earth known as Samuel Adams.

Second, we have the young upstart, joining in Januray 2023, a meager post count of 743, but an impressive 3.40 post per day, and a quickly growing RPXP of 2801, we have squirmonkey! squirmonkey players the Counselor from Mars, David Albright.

Purley by the numbers, this looks like a lopsided match. A 1st round knockout would not be a surprise in the least. As every sports fan knows though, the numbers don't tell the whole story. That is why we play the game!

To see how things turned out, we turn to the judges:

OOGM Note savoylen had a family emergency that kept him tied up this week. As a result, we are excusing him from posting judgments, however, he was in agreement with the end result.

[rhaiber]

Round 4: An Invenstigation The ship lurched to a sudden halt as it made impact with the ground once more, tossing its occupants about in such a manner that they were hard-pressed to avoid being injured ... well, injured any more than they were already. They barely had time to process the full consequences what was going on around them when the rear hatchway of the vessel flew open. The muted clanks of magnetic boots echoed down the hallway of the craft as they approached the bridge. They were here. The colony's armed space marines, a force to be reckoned with. A company of uniformed soldiers in sleek, imposing armor flooded the room, fanning out to take positions surrounding the current occupants of the bridge and leveling their plasma rifles menacingly to cover everyone. At the head of the group was a familiar figure, the diminutive officer who had delivered crew evaluations for the simulation. ""Hands where we can see them!" they barked out in a voice that might've been a bit too delicate to command respect ... were it not for the dozen or so plasma rifles that hummed with energy, the barrels glowing faintly. "President Perez is hopping mad at the whole lot of you guys right now. She was this close to charging in here and liquidating all of you herself. Lucky for you, she sent me instead to sort our who's responsible for this mess. Now, someone or something on this ship has been transmitting audio of everything that's happened over the past thirty minutes or so, and I'm actually of the opinion that at least one of you should be rewarded for keeping this dookie-storm contained. So here's how i see it:..."

Investigative Report on 'The Incident' squirmonkey as Counselor David Albright Criteria Score Comments Enjoyability/Creativity 10 David has been so fun to read throughout the entire competition, and this conclusion to the story felt so complete and satisfying. That fact that you both collaborated so closely on everything made it just that much sweeter. You write an amazing villain. Hats off to you. Clarity, Formatting, Technical 8 I found myself going back and forth a lot more with the rolls in David’s posts than Sams, having to remind myself what CN we were rolling against, counting up successes for myself and looking for the presence of crits. The math always worked out in the end, but iIt would be helpful if that was all explicitly laid out in the summaries. I was also a little thrown by Day 2, when David made a humanity roll with job training justified as an attempt to fake a panic attack, when the real mechanical action for the round seemed to be searching for weapons. It left the tast of trying to justify gaming the system. Other than that, it is clear by now that you have mastered the mechanics of the Outplay system and figured out how to take advantage of them to drive the story, as evidenced by your exquisite breakdown in the planning thread of how the results of the final roll would play out. Also, the back-and-forth with Bhel to verify the validity of your actions was an excellent example of how players and GMs should work together.. Grammar/Writing 10 If there are any issues with grammar or syntax, I didn;t spot them. Plot Advancement/Character 9 This week started a little shaky for David’s character. The intense xenophobia felt a little sudden and the transition from machiavellian plotter to action hero was jarring, but boy did you finish off strong. David’s descent into mania was a terrifying pleasure to behold, and he truly took his place as the central character of the story. Day 5 was an incredible conclusion to the anti-hero’s journey that tied everything together for him in a satisfying little bow. GRAND TOTAL: 37   Detailed Daily Breakdown Day 1 - Mechanically, I always appreciate when a player describes their actions, but leaves the results open-ended for a GM’s adjudication, and this post does that excellently: it tells us both what David says and how he says it without stating how the aliens react. Even better, the post provides a very plausible explanation for why this marginal success might not have worked well (possibly even producing complications, since David had trouble hiding his rage, even though he “knew he should have stopped there.” That being said, I was a little surprised to see David losing control of his emotions here when he has been the coolest and most collected character up to this point. I know there was some justification with mention of a sort of xenophobia, but that didn’t come up the last time he interacted with aliens (in the simulation), so it still felt a tiny bit out of character.. Day 2 - Nice display of situational awareness recognizing that a bounty hunter’s ship must have weapons somewhere. I’m a little confused on the roll though - is it being used both as an attempt to create a diversion and to search the ship? Those feel like two very different actions. Your job training might apply to the first based on your justification of faking a panic attack, but I don’t see how that would help with a search. Is the search a separate action to be performed next turn? Are you hoping to get it as a no-roll freebie? Also a minor technical note: maybe I am misremembering, but I feel like in past rounds your roll summaries were a bit clearer and explicitly called out your CN, making it easier to verify your successes. Splitting the party is a tough choice to make. Will it pay off?. Day 3 - This is a stellar post. Taking some time in the final round to think back on previous rounds is always a solid idea, and here David is thinking back on all of his spectacular failures and what he has learned from them. Fantastic stuff. My only critique is this: I know that we are dealing with a colony named New Eden and that David is our resident cultist, but I can’t decide if “Begone from my garden, Serpent,” may have gone just a little bit over the top. Day 4 - I know it’s silly, but I just love that you took the time to edit your image to remove the glasses and add the black eye. This post also does a fun job of pulling out all the stops with full recognition that it will be your penultimate post of the whole competition. It totally raises the stakes of the game. At first, I wasn’t totally certain about David’s sudden transition to action hero, but on a second reading, I realised that David is still trying his best to solve things his way, attempting to reason with his adversary in the middle of a tense and dangerous standoff. Day 5 - Woah…. I mean woah … This week started off slow for David, but had such a strong finish. Aside from the carefully coordinated mechanics of this finale, you found a way to make call-backs to half the other players who were already eliminated. David’s rant was pure BBEG gold, and the zealot dying as a result of his own actions while praying that his sacrifice will still serve the cult’s agenda was an excellent trope to use. Qiksilv as Samuel Adams Criteria Score Comments Enjoyability/Creativity 10 Sam continues to make me smile every time I read his chapters in the story. He is such an amazingly relatable and compelling everyman caught up in circumstances way bigger than he ever wanted. This week we got to see him try out some new roles, being the voice of reason by negotiating with hostile aliens and talking down the equally hostile doctor. Seeing him as a fish-out-of-water was a risky challenge, but you managed it artfully. Clarity, Formatting, Technical 9 I love that these post summaries are always the clearest and easiest to follow. Amazing job detailing all the circumstances leading up to your rolls to justify the potential outcomes while still leaving an opening for GM adjudication. There were a couple spots where minor glitches with formatting interfered (incorrect links, the dice roll-edit kerfuffle), and I am still trying to figure out why you didn’t make any rolls on the final day. That being said, when you do roll, you integrate the mechanics so artfully into the narrative that it flows seamlessly for the reader Grammar/Writing 9 There were a couple minor errors with syntax, but nothing that got in the way of readability. Plot Advancement/Character 9 Sam was probably the most consistent and well defined character in this competition. Everything he does is so believable based on what we know of him. His motivations are clear and relatable, and his individual voice is so clear and unique. It felt a bit like he gave up the spotlight at the end of the week though, letting David become the focus of the story. I know this was a result of the intense collaboration you guys did to create a compelling and satisfying story, but it was a bit of a risky move for the final day of a competition.. GRAND TOTAL: 37   Detailed Daily Breakdown Day 1 - This post shows great awareness. It brings attention to the implied warning in the aliens’ comments about the humans having ‘no clue what this ship is.’ There is also a callback to the previous round’s action of modifying the ship’s crew records. The idea to try to lock the aliens out of control is a nice creative twist - this is a reasonable action since the other attempt was successful, but the increased difficulty is acknowledged since this attempt is trying something new (even if it is related) and it is being done without the same tools or assistance as last time. I also love that along with acknowledging those difficulties, you left the outcome open for GM adjudication despite your relatively high success on the roll. I’m a little surprised you gave up all opportunity to interact with these rather important NPCs though. Day 2 - Ouch, the old “I didn’t change the roll, but it got flagged when I edited other stuff” problem. This is forgivable, but a word of advice for the future, when you put labels in your dice tags that are long or use punctuation marks (like your “Please play nice - Humanity”), the forum gets sensitive and picky. It’s best to keep dice tags short and sweet, and keep your descriptive text outside the tag itself. There was a nice recovery from more or less ignoring the aliens last turn to jumping in and ordering them around. This was so perfectly in-line with Sam’s character as a crew chief. Once the situation becomes a clear engineering issue, he assumes command and doesn’t care what anyone else has to say, especially since he is now surrounded by non-Wrenchers. Day 3 - Very minor typos: dropped letter, misuse of semicolon. “Well, as much of a friend as Bob was at least.” is a great call-back. Sam’s no-nonsense attitude of just doing whatever it takes to get these aliens out of his hair is fantastic. Not thinking you needed a roll to negotiate with a potentially hostile alien would've been a bit of an overreach, so I’m glad you corrected that by putting the roll in. Day 4 - This post felt a bit like treading water. Bhelogan established an urgent dilemma: the ship cannot survive in space and it’s in no shape to land; we need a mid-air transfer. Then it seems like Sam is trying to let the air out of that urgency by suggesting he can just fix the landing gear? More generally speaking, David’s preceding post ratcheted the tension up to an 11, but rather than building off that energy, this post spends most of the time reacting to the things that happened beforehand. It might’ve worked if you guys had posted in reverse order, but as it stands it feels like a bit of an energy drain. Another small typo: “Sam put raised both hands.” However, I do really like that you are differentiating Sam’s tactics from David’s - pointing out that the two are using opposite negotiation tactics, and especially recognizing the unexpected role-reversal. The last two paragraphs totally sold this post; I just wish we’d had more of that. Day 5 - “Sam had once gotten two bags of chips from one token at a machine and tried to put one back.” ← This may be your best line of the whole competition. Coming after the grim assessment of all the other dangerous characters, it reminds me of ”You cowboy around with the Avengers some. Guys got, what, armor. Magic. Super-powers. Super-strength. Shrink-dust. Grow-rays. Magic. Healing Factors. ... I’m an orphan raised by carnies fighting with a stick and string from the Paleolithic era.”the opening to Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye series. Sam’s planning in this post was clear, rational, clever, and creative. Story-wise, I’m not usually a fan of PvP, but turning David into the real villain here was heavily foreshadowed by squirmonkey from the very beginning, so this totally worked for me. And from a meta-perspective, the final day of the competition is the right place to pit these two against each other. From a mechanics perspective though, I was a little surprised to see you put up a final post w/o any rolls at all. Are we just assuming that Sam’s plan to use the alien tech to do something he hasn’t done with it before and time everything perfectly to catch David off-guard, while wordlessly communicating that plan to two aliens he just met in a subtle enough way that David won’t catch on – all that is easy-peasy lemon-squeezy and needs no rolls? Oh, and a minor formatting hiccup: you link to the planning thread actually took me to Paramount movies for some reason?

[orcbane]

Judmentary:
Two excellent sets of PbP writing, gameplay, and collaboration. I am astounded.

Squirmonkey:
You took us on a wild ride with David and it was spectacular. There was never a dull moment. I love this conclusion for him, and it was an especially skillful use of character development. We saw the, ahem, many faces of David over the course of this competition, and this big finale really tied a lovely bow on the whole thing. I liked your use of just the right amount of visual interest. And, of course, that shiner was really something special.

Qiksilv:
I enjoyed each of these posts and admire the talent you put on display. You adjusted to feedback and kept upping your game week after week. At times I felt like Sam disappeared into the background, but in re-reviewing I found he'd just been doing his ultra-competent thing, not going after the spotlight, and carrying the story forward thanks to your excellent writing. You were also a role model for excellence in formatting with the Summary section.

So, here's how it goes:

 

Enjoyability: Squirmonkey 10 / Qiksilv 10

 

Technical: Qiksilv 10 / Squirmonkey 10

 

Writing: Squirmonkey 10 / Qiksilv 10

 

Role: Qiksilv 10 / Squirmonkey 10

It is my opinion that you should both be named the winner of this competition. Not only did you both rise to the challenge and excel and individual players, you exemplified the single greatest quality in PbP roleplaying during this final round: truly collaborative storytelling.

Your work together in the spotlight and behind the scenes elevated this hobby beyond what is typically seen and into the realm of art. Even in the face of winning/losing, you worked together to tell a story that achieved more than either of you could have told by approaching this as a zero-sum challenge.

Players and GMs should take note of the work you've done here and try to repeat the success you were able to achieve together. No matter how the other judges score things, you are co-champions in my eyes.

20 years from now, newer members of this forum will be sick of me talking about how I was there when Qiksilv and Squirmonkey changed the way people play PbP RPGs.

[Retry]

Round 4 - Final Judgement The writing and collaboration put on display during this competition is something all pbp players should aspire for. The whole swath of players who have participated in this competition have woven a fantastic story! Everyone should be proud of the time and effort they have poured into their posts.   Samuel Adams Enjoyable & Creative Clarity, Formatting, & Technical Grammar & Writing Moved the Plot / True to Character 10 8 9 10 TOTAL: 37 Feedback Sam has displayed the nearly impossible task that we judges often put forward prior to the competition: Find a way to elevate others while shining brightly yourself. Samuel has displayed this throughout the competition and then some here. He kept a level head when faced with a tsunami of unknowns. When David started to unravel you push the narrative forward while providing a stage for squirmonkey to play on as well. Bravo! Placing the tag errors aside, I feel the "if needed" spoilerbuttons on Day 4 felt unnecessary. You were performing an action, you've even listed above them what actions you were performing. You also only rolled 2d when laying out reasons for rolling 3d. The last part of Day 4's post really helped set the scene for the finale and the intro to Day 5 was my absolute favorite. It really hammered home the contrast between the four separate individuals on the stage! You also played your cards right in holding things until the tension broke to delve into pseudo-pvp for the entertainment value. Be proud of the work you put forward this week! A minor note: I don't know if it was a joke or not to have a link lead to paramount - but due to my profession red flags went up when I hovered over the link and saw it as anything but rpgx.   Counselor Albright Enjoyable & Creative Clarity, Formatting, & Technical Grammar & Writing Moved the Plot / True to Character 9 9 9 10 TOTAL: 37 Feedback David came into this week perfectly primed to finish his villain's arc, and I was so ready for it!! While it might seem odd for him to delve into physical altercations, given the situation and the degree of stress he was under its understandable. I had a solid laugh at the image change starting on Day 4 to reflect the events that had happened! David certainly held the spotlight this week as he grew into the antagonist of our story - which, given that the company he was among is really quite interesting. A corrupt politician and a murderer - yet its the xenophobic counselor that is portrayed as the true antagonist of our story. Outplay always finds ways of delivering these fun stories! Funny enough, his monologue on Day 5 was the weak point for this week to me. It was his shining moment and the words were all right there - it just felt... a bit lacking compared to the days prior. Day 3 you can feel the tension build and then break as he lunges. On Day 4 you can feel him take control of the scene before laying out his demands. When placed next to Day 5's monologue the formatting didn't lean into the message as much as the previous dialogue of the prior days did. How could have that gone better? A bit more emphasis in the words / white space / breaking it up with descriptive action. Try giving it a verbal read and watch how you might pause or gesture to add emphasis to the words and ask "how can I translate that into text?" Something I honestly feel you've been doing all competition long, it just seemed absent here so I had to mention it. That aside, you did a stellar job donning the mantle of "story antagonist." Be proud of the work you've put forward for this was quite a memorable game!

[Bhelogan]

And, tallying up the scores the results are:

Yes, that is correct! We have a tie score! This year, we have co-champions, Qiksilv, and squirmonkey! Congratulations to the two of you, not only for making it to the finale but for writing such a collaborative narrative together that our judges were so impressed with the collective work that a single winner was impossible to determine. Were this an earlier elimination round, I would serve as a tie-breaker vote. In this case, though, I happen to agree with the judges.