Reindeer Games 2003
Some of you may recall last December’s text-sim-style silliness that I dubbed Reindeer Games, pitting the Odds versus the Evens in a reindeer draft. Thanks to the two hardy participants who did the drafting, it flew for awhile. But it lacked the punch of a true simulation…
…so this year I give you
Reindeer Games 2003. Urges to call it Front Office Reindeer (FOR) were duly resisted.
Here’s the concept: It’s Odds versus Evens, starting with a reindeer draft, then followed by a dramatic, head-to-head competition hauling toy-laden sleighs in a grueling, ten-stage event. Each stage will include a take-off, flying, and a landing. There will be tough coaching decisions to make, involving deer placement, weather, endurance, and even reindeer-enhancing magic. Effectively managing your team of reindeer will be essential to victory.
For this absurd competition to succeed, I need some festive, holiday-minded folks to take it semi-seriously and contribute. I will do my best to make it an entertaining, competitive experience, but it won’t fly unless you guys chip in for your teams.
The Reindeer
There are a total of 30 reindeer in the draft pool. Teams include eight reindeer at all times (total of 16), and the other 14 remain in the pool as replacements. Once a deer is off a team it is a free agent an can be drafted by either one again. Each deer is rated [1-9] in the following skills:
Take-offs
Landings
Speed
Power
Maneuverability
Navigation
Snow
Teamwork
Endurance
Magic (1-3)
Normally, a 10-sided die-roll will be made against each rating to obtain a positive or negative result. Example: rating is a [6], and a roll of 8 is made, the results is –2. The exceptions are the Endurance and Magic ratings. Endurance is reduced by one for each stage the deer is active (and restored by one for each inactive stage, up to the original rating); if it reaches negative numbers the deer’s other ratings drop accordingly (-1, -2, etc.). Magic represents the total number of re-rolls the deer can have in the game (team must declare which rating to re-roll in advance, and then gets the best of the two rolls).
Gameplay
Victory will be determined by the combined total of stages won and overall score (worth 3 stages).
Each stage goes as follows:
1. Weather is declared for the current and upcoming stages (WSUCougar).
2. Announce lineups (Odds/Evens) - Each team must always have exactly eight deer. A draft prior to Stage 1 establishes the initial teams, and during this segment of stages 2-10 each team may draft as many replacements as they wish (each deer which is swapped out from the previous stage costs the team a –5 score penalty). Each team may also announce any Magic they wish to utilize for take-off. Deer positioning is irrelevant except for the two lead deer, who will add navigation results to flight and double results to all other ratings. Your lead deer are very important!
3. Take-off results are computed (WSUCougar), and each team given a numerical score for the stage as well as overall.
4. Each team declares any Magic they wish to utilize for Flight (Odds/Evens).
5. Flight results are computed (WSUCougar), and each team’s stage and overall scores updated.
6. Each team declares any Magic they wish to utilize for Landing (Odds/Evens).
7. Landing results are computed (WSUCougar), the winner of the stage is declared, and each team’s overall score updated. Endurance ratings are reduced for all active deer.
Take-offs:
Ordinarily a blending of the team’s take-off, speed, power, & teamwork ratings. Weather and endurance can modify. Due to the gradual reduction of toys in the sleigh, power is more important in early stages, and speed is more important in later stages. There is a sliding scale of relative importance for power/speed (1st stage = 75/25%, 2nd stage = 70/30, 3rd/4th stages = 60/40, 5th/6th stages = 50/50, etc.).
Flight:
Ordinarily a blending of the team’s speed, power, & teamwork ratings, plus the navigation ratings of the front two deer. Weather and endurance can modify. Due to the gradual reduction of toys in the sleigh, power is more important in early stages, and speed is more important in later stages. There is a sliding scale of relative importance for power/speed (1st stage = 75/25%, 2nd stage = 70/30, 3rd/4th stages = 60/40, 5th/6th stages = 50/50, etc.).
Landings:
Ordinarily a blending of the team’s landing, maneuverability, & teamwork ratings. Weather and endurance can modify.
Weather:
You will get a weather report for the upcoming stage at the beginning of the current one. In other words, prior to take-off, you will know what the weather is like in both the current and upcoming stages.
The weather for each stage will be one of the following:
1. Clear (flight speed result doubled; navigation result halved)
2. Overcast (no effect)
3. Rain (take-off & landing result doubled)
4. Fog (flight speed result halved; navigation result tripled; maneuverability added to flight and result doubled for landings)
5. Snow (navigation result doubled; snow rating added to take-off/flight/landing)
6. Blizzard (flight speed result halved; navigation result tripled; snow rating doubled and added to take-off/flight/landing; maneuverability added to flight and result doubled for landings)
* * * * *
I'll field any questions, and then we'll announce the 30 reindeer and get down to drafting.
Odds and Evens, initially I will use individual posts for coaching decisions, but if you want to establish a rule (like a coaching decision must be seconded by another player) that's fine with me.