balmung The Grindstone - Saturdays at 10 PM EST (9 PM Central)

[YesGood]

Fresh sheets of parchment can be found posted upon the market boards of Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'dah respectively. Each is thin, scribed eloquently in a bold, lilting hand. The characters appear in deep crimson ink upon its face, begging to be read:

 

The Grindstone

 

 

The Grindstone will be holding an official Blood Match tournament for its fighters every Saturday. Any and all are invited to spectate, as the events will be free to the public. We request only that those who attend are respectful of our fighters. If you are not, you will be asked to leave.

 

In order to participate in this event for prestige, please contact Sigyn Shieldbreaker of the The Grindstone in Ul'dah or arrive no later than half-past the ninth evening bell. Up to sixteen contestants will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

 

Any who seek to participate in our sparring matches are also welcome to find us on any other evening at the site where we will hold our competition-- Outside the city of Ul'dah in Central Thanalan in Fesca's Wash. If you are interested in joining the Grindstone Linkshell, ask for Sigyn Shieldbreaker, Dhatura Inoxia, Lizbet Sharpe, or for any available Overseer to procure a pearl.

 

An entrance fee of FIVE hundred gil is required in order to participate-- the collective amount will be presented to the respective Champion.

 

RULES:

1. All weapons and armor are allowed.

2. Non-lethal shots to the groin, extremities, or to the head are allowed.

3. Any use of magic whether passive, defensive, beneficial, or offensive is currently NOT allowed.

4. Death blows are not allowed. By entering the tournament, you hereby agree to the Overseers preventing you from committing such an attack by any means necessary, even if it means your death.

5. Overseers WILL be respected and treated as a temporary form of authority by all spectators and combatants in regards to the tournament itself.

6. If a winning combatant in a bracket refuses healing, they will be refunded their entrance fee and removed from the tournament.

 

 

Time:

Saturdays at 10 pm EST

(Time Conversion)

 

Location:

Fesca's Wash in Central Thanalan.

 

The Bridge

 

Events:

 

Official sparring tournament for the Grindstone. A minimum of four participants per event are required in order to hold that event.

 

Journeyman: Free-form* (Temporarily Closed)

-Fight proceeds until an opponent concedes, physically or verbally.

 

Journeyman: Roll-based 

-Fight proceeds until THREE successful strikes have been placed on the abdomen, a ring-out, pinning, or physical/verbal surrender.

 

 

Requirements:

-All armor is allowed and may be used as extraneous weapons.

-All weapons are allowed.

-Accessory weapons should be moderated.

-Magic is NOT allowed during matches.

-Entrance fee of 500 gil (flexible).

-If you intend to enter the event, please remain outside a party so that you can join a party with your opponent from tier to tier. This way if any issues arise, the Overseers can enter your party and assist as needed.

-Before the event, please go to http://rolz.org/group and use your character name and room name: Grindstone-- wait for your room number which I will give you after we begin organizing ICly.

 

For more information regarding our rolling system and IC rules, please see our directory page.

---

[YesGood]

EVENT: 10.09.13 @ 10 PM EST

 

As usual, our tournament will be on tonight. <3

[Fen]

Will try to be there!

[Lost River]

Fine, Fine. I'll be there.

 

 

AS LOST RIVER! Muahahahaha.

 

 

No seriously, probably as Senah so Healkitty can be useful in group situations.

[YesGood]

Fine, Fine. I'll be there.

 

 

AS LOST RIVER! Muahahahaha.

 

 

No seriously, probably as Senah so Healkitty can be useful in group situations.

 

We can get you recruited today then!

[Lost River]

Of course, everyone needs Healkitty in their party. I was told she was positively adorable.

[YesGood]

Tourney should be started in under an hour. If my little man goes to sleep well then I should be on in thirty to forty five minutes. If you're interesting in entering, I hope you'll be on around then so we can get the formalities outta the way!

[Dravus]

It's a shame that magic is forbidden, since it eliminates a large pool of potential combatants right off the bat. I've seen a fair few tournaments hosted in numerous MMO's and they all seem to share that rule to some extent. Is it a rule put in place for the sake of 'realism' or 'fairness'? I'm curious as to the reasoning behind it.

 

Perhaps a seperate category for magic wielding combatants could be created? It's something that has always rubbed me the wrong way, admittedly - it's a fantasy game and I'm fairly certain a magic user is capable of holding back and avoiding causing serious injury in a training match.

[Fen]

Hey, running a wee bit behind, but I will try to be there! It may just be a bit late, like, 10, 15 minutes after the official start.

[YesGood]

It's a shame that magic is forbidden, since it eliminates a large pool of potential combatants right off the bat. I've seen a fair few tournaments hosted in numerous MMO's and they all seem to share that rule to some extent. Is it a rule put in place for the sake of 'realism' or 'fairness'? I'm curious as to the reasoning behind it.

 

Perhaps a seperate category for magic wielding combatants could be created? It's something that has always rubbed me the wrong way, admittedly - it's a fantasy game and I'm fairly certain a magic user is capable of holding back and avoiding causing serious injury in a training match.

 

First off-- The Grindstone is an FC that caters specifically to the physical arts. Strength of arms, speed, reflex, mastery of weapons, etc. I, personally, have played magic wielding characters in combat RP in previous games where the magic was far more forthright and the matches were not friendly whatsoever. I know it can be done. But usually there is an air of superiority that goes with magic, higher levels of skill and the knowledge that you should only use it when you must go on the offensive rather than whenever you feel like it. I believe that there are plenty of groups that do cater to magic users, even if it isn't for the purpose of combat, which leads me to my next point.

 

Yes, 'a magic user' may be 'capable of holding back and avoiding causing serious injury in a training match'. Many of the entrants to the tournament and to the shell itself are young individuals and you cannot put an age restriction on how quickly someone becomes proficient with magic. One wrong move and you might light someone up. The competitors aren't allowed edged weapons, they have to fight with peace binding, padding, wood, or blunted weapons. There isn't really a legitimate explanation for a magic user on what you expect them to do about blunting a spell that wracks your body with pain or freezes you in place. Siobhain, the leader of the Grindstone, is not a magic user. Like some, she even distrusts certain types of magic users. She cannot really judge nor would she really be fair in judging how a magic user's potential will operate. For some, like white mages and conjurer's, -not- allowing healing, as is a requirement in the fight, would work to their heavy disadvantage. (Not to mention the lore reasons why their participating even in friendly tournaments may not look so good considering they're supposed to be -very- elite, -very- rare, and -very- serious.) Similarly, there would have to be extensive rules about familiars and the use of mediums such as staves, rods, and the like. Siobhain would have to say they're not allowed to physically strike with those tools (I suppose blocking and such would be acceptable) otherwise she would be forced to allow the physical combatants to use as many extraneous and environmental weapons as possible which is currently prohibited.

 

So. While a magic user is welcome to train with the Grindstone, there is absolutely no cause or reason to open the existing tournament up for them and risk putting anyone at more or less of a disadvantage by having to proceed with the rules.

 

Thus far? One person has shown any kind of interest in using magic for the fights and he was more than happy to go in with his bo staff and not employ any magic use. I haven't had any complaints about that rule. In fact, I do not recall ever having seen you at one of our matches so perhaps you haven't seen how complicated it can be already despite all my efforts to smooth things down.

 

If more interest is generated for these magic users, I am perfectly fine with seeing about starting a separate tournament. But you have to understand we have over 80 members and our tournaments are usually well populated (30 something people are online and a good portion of them are at the tournament now), which is great, but any more matches than we have now and everything is going to be -very- difficult. We run a max of four at a time and when eight people enter (nine including the champion) even when we use the /roll system (which not everyone wants to do) we're talking three to five hours of roleplay.

 

I would require many more volunteers than I already have.

 

And to reiterate-- this LS caters to physical fighters. I've written it -everywhere-. -That- is the niche I elected to fill. If there is someone out there who would like to start a magic-oriented Grindstone, I cannot say no but I will ask you to please coordinate with me for tournaments in the event that we overlap for some reason.

[Lost River]

But even such, everyone needs healers. So you can always apply as a healer. My healkitty Senah did.

 

 

While Lost River continues to go on with her anti-hero self.

[K'dath]

The problem is magic is a completely different animal. They can't really compete on a realistically, quantifiable similar playing field. There's a system in place, and nothing about playing a caster class using magic works within that system by design. You have to have a completely different system set up for just the people playing these classes, and then, taking into account the different types of casters and everything they can do and regulating it into what is and is not acceptable. THEN ontop of creating a completely separate set up to accommodate this radically different type of combatant, you have to decide how the two interact and what the special rules for physical vs caster is going to me.

 

And all that is just technical. It's not accounting for character or for taste.

 

It'd be very silly to go to one of these as a mage and complain about being excluded. It'd be like a mathalete going to a strong man competition and complaining his demographic isn't being represented. You can go back to the math-olympics and compete, or you can quietly spectate and take notes while you plot the unmaking of those oppressive melee-class jocks. 

 

TL;DR Fighting is complicated.

[YesGood]

10.9.13 New Champion: Shae'ra Rah. Winnings: 10,000 gil. (Yes, real gil. ; )

 

Thank you to those who donates as well as to our dedicated spectators. <3 We even had Aleister who decided to set up shop there and gave Nalaise the great idea that we should invite individuals who play crafter characters and merchants to peddle their wares during the tournament and get some side RP in!

[Gharen]

There a tourney tonight?

[YesGood]

There a tourney tonight?

 

Yep. Already started.

[Gharen]

Kinda figured it had. =) was just subtly promoting it.

[YesGood]

Lol!

 

---

 

This just in. 10.13.2013, Sindl Arahn is our current champion! 

 

With enough healers by Wednesday, a Blood Match may occur then.

[LandStander]

I'll be damned. Didn't know Sindl had it in him. Congratulations to him!!

 

I wish I would have been able to show up. Sadly Denn's big mouth got the best of her and she already got into some tussles before hand ; ;

[Gharen]

I really hate missing out on these, I seriously need a new job.

[YesGood]

Lmao. It's alright, Denn. Soon we'll have blood matches which'll be even more up your alley. And Gharen, jobs are moar important.

[Fen]

Sorry, Interweb's still out. HOPEFULLY it'll be back by the next tourney, but if not, I'll obviously have to miss, again... *dying*

[Navisse]

I only caught the tail end of this last night but really enjoyed myself. I'll be sure to show up on time for the next one.

[YesGood]

Sorry, Interweb's still out. HOPEFULLY it'll be back by the next tourney, but if not, I'll obviously have to miss, again... *dying*

 

You're good, Fen! Don't worry about it.

 

And Navisse, I wanted to say, your character is absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely. ^.^ I look forward to seeing you again.

[Navisse]

D'aaaw, thanks. ^^

[LandStander]

:3!!...dont tempt Denn like that Sio! There will be so many crotch punches! The population of Eorzea will plummet as all the males of the current generation lose their ability to reproduce.