Core Coliseum's blog listings.

How Many Fights Could an Arena Host if an Arena Could Host Fights?

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:32:16 -0500

Yes - that's right people: ONE THOUSAND!

The Core Coliseum, responsible for continual fights since 2003, just hit ONE THOUSAND FIGHTS since becoming a group (we're well over 6000 fights grand total though).

Even more noteworthy - we had a breakout week this week and have 13 fights running at this very moment!

Thanks to everyone who has been involved throughout the process and just to be clear: WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

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Results of the 2nd Annual Prestige Competition

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:08:35 -0500

Results of the 2nd Annual Prestige Competition of the Core Coliseum

While we didn't see any newcomers into the fray of the competition, I still enjoy holding these competitions. Giving everyone an opportunity to really work out something they had never thought of before - I hope - is a great way to keep the Core Coliseum fresh and exciting.

There were 3 participants this year, so there's only a prize for 1st place.

Several of the contestants were truly notable either in their creativity (coming up with something that really hadn't been done before), and others sported backgrounds that were exciting and interesting - even for short entries.

I am excited to announce that the winner sported a full 16 out of 20 points. This entry fell short mostly on accuracy points due to a calculation error, but otherwise was a fine addition. With that said, The Hunter is the winner! Congratulations Uknits!

My full notes about the other entries will be included in the Comments thread for the competition.

Thanks everyone for participating. Expect next year's competition to, once again, push the limits of creating things for the CoCo. See you next year!

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Announcing the 2nd Annual Prestige Competition of the Core Coliseum: Gladius Edition!

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:53:35 -0500

Announcing the 2nd Annual Prestige Competition of the Core Coliseum: Gladius Edition!

Ever wanted to try out that monster race, but didn't know how you would earn enough credits to give it a real try? Have you ever embraced your inner hydra? gargoyle? or wight?

Well this is your chance! Just submit your character design according to the rules and guidelines below and post it to the Official Entry Thread.

Specifics

Create an ECL4 - ECL20 character with no class levels. Although any ECL up to 20 is allowed, bear in mind that most of the activity in the CoCo is at a much lower ECL. Creatures can have more than the minimum racial hit dice. Templates are allowed.

Rules

All characters must abide by the rules of the CoCo. Each character is permitted up to 20 credits-worth of items or options. The credit cost of starting at a higher ECL is waived for this competition (for example, many exotic races start off at a higher ECL and thus cost credits; this cost is not to be considered in the 20 credit maximum). If you exercise the option for credit-costing equipment, make sure you note the appropriate cost in the entry.

Submissions may be posted from Thursday, 22 September 2011 until 13 October 2011, 9AM EST (2PM GMT). Any submissions received after that date will not be considered for scoring.

Each player may submit up to two entries, but only the highest scoring of the two will be evaluated among the rest of the entries.

Judging

TelinArtho will be the sole judge of this competition.

Scoring

Scoring is handled in three categories

1. Creativity: This competition's focus is on ideas that haven't been done in the CoCo before or that are putting a new spin on an existing idea. Up to 10 points can be earned in this category.
2. Accuracy: Incomplete characters will earn a 0 in this category. Sheets without errors will be given a full 5 points. Errors shall subtract up to 1 point each (though typos and the like will only be a fraction of a point).
3. Background: Characters should have backgrounds to give the character some personality and an idea of where he came from. Focus is on quality, not quantity however, so be concise. Up to 5 points can be earned in this category.

Winners

Up to 1/3rd of the entries will be winners, with a maximum of 3 winners no matter how many entries are presented (for example, with 3 entries, only one will be the winner; if there are 50 entries, only 3 entries will be winners).

1st prize: Addition of the character to the active roster with all 20 credits-worth approved. In addition the player earns 5 credits to spend as s/he wishes. The 1st place winner will have a Reputation tag applied to the character that gives a +1 bonus to Leadership scores

Additional winners will each gain 3 credits to spend as they wish. They can also activate the winning character for 5 credits at any time in the future (with the 20 credits-worth of special equipment or UA material).

Alternative Winner Prizes

If the winner(s) desire that s/he wants to start the winning character at a lower ECL, the winner can do so and the character can gain the exact credit purchases used by the winning character in the new character's career for no credit cost (or, in the case of the non-1st place winner(s), they can start the character for 5 credits).

Exceptions

TelinArtho is not permitted to enter this competition as a contestant. He already has too many characters and really doesn't need an excuse to make more.

[sblock=Previous Annual Prestige Competitions]
1st annual: Create a Prestige Class character Submission thread, Comment and Questions thread
[/sblock]

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Happy Early Birthday Core Coliseum

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:56:14 -0500

The Core Coliseum turns 8 years old on July 28th. I haven't been here since the very first days, but I have been here for the better part of that time. Caterane was the GM when I joined and MindWandererB took over after him. When the CoCo was all but dead, I took over back around January 2009 and we had a hard fight. We started back with the 3.5 arena where the 4e one had pretty much failed, but by August, we closed the 3.5e arena for non-participation and the 4e arena was going well.

Then the board restructure came in and the Core Coliseum became a group. As a GM and owner of the group, I had a lot more control over the forums than I had before and the addition of the wiki looked like a great benefit.

However, the huge amount of work that would be needed to get things up and running was taxing and it was several weeks before we really had the bulk of the material moved over. Heck - I still haven't had the time to clean up the bad formatting for the rules pages in the wiki. Its on my list, but that list is very long.

Still, the last set of pairings in the forum was on August 13, 2009. The first set of pairings in the group was September 10, 2009. We missed about 2 weeks in there - so that's not too bad.

In the first year as a group, we had participation all over the map - either in Gladius or in Sagaris - and we saw some faces come and others go. I praise the long-term players and a look forward to the new players in our midst.

In that first year, we managed over 300 fights though. That's not a huge amount by the old numbers (estimates put the total of fights for the entire history of the CoCo somewhere around 5000 fights), but given how rocky our participation has been, I was happy to have it.

Overall, this second year as a group has come along nicely and we're well on our way to beating last year's numbers by a small(ish) margin. The first year was 331 fights; so far in the second year, we're up to 319 and there's still about 2 months left.

So what's up and coming with the CoCo?

Well, even though we only use a core number of resources, that doesn't mean we don't try to keep things interesting around here. Lately, we've been engaging in a couple of competitions to try to either come up with something new or to try to expand on what we've already got.

From the 1st Annual Prestige Competition in September (yes - the 2nd annual competition will be coming soon!), to the Design a Monster Arena Team Contest in December, to the current Map Competition, we have tried to just give a little more variety than you might have seen in previous viewings of the CoCo.

Also, I rather liked the short challenge idea (Weekend Challenge to Build a High Defense Character), so that might be making a couple of more appearances in the short and long term.

So what can you do?

Really, the best thing to keep the CoCo going is to participate and to find more players. Still, if you've already activated 2 characters or teams this week, asked all your friends to join and even posted to link to the CoCo a couple of times, there's still more to be done.

I'm always looking for ideas that would help improve the relationship of the CoCo to the players, especially for newer players. If you see something that is just making things too complicated, or just puts new players off - let me know. If you can think of some great avenue for advertising, such as CoCo on Facebook, please, see what can be done about it.

New contest ideas, ideas for cross-polenation with other groups or other forums will always be welcomed.

For all of you who have ever participated in the CoCo, thank you for your time. It was a pleasure to have you while you are here, have been here, etc.

For anyone who has never tried it - it doesn't take a lot of time and could be just what you never knew you were looking for.

Good fighting everyone - see you next time!

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The Map Competition of the Core Coliseum

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:37:57 -0500

Announcing the Map Competition of the Core Coliseum!

The Core Coliseum, between Sagaris and Gladius, have a total of 12 maps in play. However, Gladius hasn't had any new maps in several years and the only option for Monster Arena fights (in Sagaris) is the Monster Arena. As such, it is time to get the artists, cartographers and weirdos out for a quick Map competition.

Specifics

Create a map for use in one or more of the arenas. It is unlikely that a map would be so universal that it could be used in both Gladius and Sagaris, but maybe it is possible. Having one be that flexible is not required though. Note that the idea here is to have a map that is both new and features things that other maps do not.

Rules

Regardless of which arena it is built for, the arenas all must be symmetrical on both the X and Y axes. Random position on the map should not benefit one player or another. In addition, each proposed map should have some interesting feature(s) about it, while keeping it simple enough that a pitlord would not be unduly put out for running fights on the map.

For Gladius, take into account that lighting is going to be a factor on all maps.

For Sagaris, it is recommended that the floor tiles are two-tone - so that it is easy to add in the Map Feature of the week in higher levels. Likewise, if it is designed for monster use also, the map should be navigatable by large critters.

Otherwise, it is encouraged to just be creative.

A map need not be presented with image(s) - an ascii map would be an acceptable submission.

[sblock=Example Ascii map]

10- - - - - - - - - - -
09- . . . . . . . . . .
08- . . . . . . . . . .
07- . . . . . . . . . .
06- . . . . . . . . . .
05- . . . . . . . . . .
04- . . . . . . . . . .
03- . . . . . . . . . .
02- . . . . . . . . . .
01- . . . . . . . . . .
00- - - - - - - - - - -
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1

Key:
- : wall
. : open square

[/sblock]

All submissions must include descriptions on how the features of the map work.

Number of Submissions

Each user is allowed to submit up to 2 maps for each city (Gladius and Sagaris) for a total of 4 maximum submissions. You need not be an active participating member of the CoCo to submit an entry (though the winners receive rewards that are only usable in the CoCo).

Deadlines

The Map Competition opens immediately (6 July 2011) and will remain open 3 weeks (27 July 2011, 11:59pm EST).

Judging

TelinArtho will be the sole judge of this competition.

Scoring

Scoring is handled in two categories
1. Creativity: This competition's focus is on ideas that haven't been done in the CoCo before or that are putting a new spin on an existing idea. Up to 10 points can be earned in this category.
2. Ease of Use: Part of the competition is making a map that is easy for the pitlord to use and for the players to write tactics for. Up to 5 points can be earned in this category.

Winners

Up to 1/3rd of the entries will be winners, with a maximum of 3 winners no matter how many entries are presented (for example, with 3 entries, only one will be the winner; if there are 50 entries, only 3 entries will be winners).
1st prize: 5 credits
Additional winners will each gain 3 credits to spend as they wish.

All maps that are deemed acceptable for the use of the CoCo will be added to the rotation of maps.

Exceptions

TelinArtho is not permitted to enter this competition as a contestant.

Submission Thread
Rules and Questions Thread

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