36 replies to this topic

[Jarl Dane]

In the Northlands the nights are getting longer and the days are getting colder. Snow stirs on our mountain tops and threatens with each passing sunset to push further into our chilly valleys.

The winds have changed and winter lays siege to the last bastions of our failing fall.

For the soft people of the south this is a time of worry and death. A time to fear and cower, a time to whisper unanswered prays to weak wine gods. But we are not of the south.

Just as the Æsir find strength in the knowledge of their Doom, so too do we find strength in winters angry adversity. Instead of bowing before the cold and giving into the inevitable chill, our blood runs hot in defiance with the passion of life. We sing, we feast, we raise up sacred tress in the likeness of the Yggdrasil and we defy the Winter and its Frost Giant minions with our every warm breath.

And it was in this way that we hardy Norseman tamed and took ownership of the Winter. It is our time now. We fear it no more than a man fears a tame dog. To celebrate our victory, our mastery of the dead-months, we hold Yule.



Thus I blow my mighty horn and call upon all Norse Denizens of both the Inner Sphere and periphery to heed my words. FRR and JarnFolk alike, along with any worlds or peoples who still hold true to the Old Ways of the North.

We should not let Yule pass us by unnoticed. We should not let it slip beneath the cracks of time, uncelebrated, unheralded, unheeded, unknown. It is our sacred duty to remember and do glory by Yule, to prove our mastery of this season to all outsiders. To give rightful honor to the Æsir and heroes who've gone before us.

Therefore I propose a tournament to span the entire FRR.

The Tournament: A Work in Progress
We'll have 8-16 committed four man lances. Each lance will be made up of a light, medium, heavy and assault BattleMech. We'll hold matches on December 7th, 14th and 21st. It'll be a single elimination tournament. I hope to have enough mechs for us to be able to do a 48 man sync drop, but if we have to..we can just do 24 sync man drops for all the teams.

Other than limiting the 'Mechs to one of each class I have no inclination to add any other restrictions. But If people want to push me I could be talked into other things.


Let us battle, bleed, sing and earn glory before the snow-covered gates of Asgard this season!

Though I do not wish that. Yule belongs to none of us, and should instead be shared by all of us. We shall hold a tournament this December. Nothing too complicated or taxing, but something that involves us all.

If you wish to take part in it, if you wish to properly honor the Northern Gods and earn fame for yourself and your war-band, please respond to this message. Or even if you are a Lone Viking with no brothers of battle, worry not for all warriors are welcome. Please get in contact with me.

We are the FRR and this is our season. Let's show everyone how well we own it.



-Jarl Dane of the Isengrim

Edited by Mech The Dane, 15 November 2013 - 11:25 PM.

[Malzel]

Ouch, bro. When we were talking about the Bloodsmoot, you brought this up, and I remember saying we'd be interested in it. We just need dates, times, and rules.

[Jarl Dane]

You guys never responded to my post in your embassy, where I asked you about this and another thing we could do together. I think I posted it up on Monday, and as it is now Friday, I figured you weren't interested. I don't know why you didn't get back to me - but I couldn't wait any longer to do this post. The Yule Tournament cannot be stopped!

I didn't want to make firm rules, times and dates until you and other units had a chance to generate input. I wanted everyone to be involved in the entire process.

Although, based off of what the SoR have told me. I am leaning towards a Saturday evening 4v4 tournament taking place throughout December. Units would be allowed to enter up to three 4 man teams, and people without a unit could be put together into them. Not sure if we'll do a weight limit or just make the 4 mans be composed of all four mech classes.

All of this, though, is subject to change. Just building ideas and working with what I've heard.

Edited by Mech The Dane, 15 November 2013 - 11:28 AM.

[Malzel]

Looking at a calendar, Saturdays seem like a good choice because they miss all the important dates. A lot of our players are family men, though, so it'll just come down to who's on vacation with the family and such. We probably wouldn't know for sure until we could get a hard schedule of who fights when, so our guys could tell us if the "1st RDR" nights were good for them. Just an unfortunate reality of the holiday season.

One mech of each weight class could be an interesting way to try and create a "non-meta" environment, but I'd be equally fine with a set weight limit. I would just expect any set weight limit to produce lances of 2 lights and 2 heaviest-mechs-possible, because I'm a little cynnical.

[Surtr]

I should be able to do most Saturdays in December except those the weekend before and after Yuletide itself (out of town). We have gotten around 10 folks interested so far. (the reason we hadn't responded, gauging interest)

[Jarl Dane]

Alright. I'm messaging leaders from other FRR units. I'll see what they say as well.

[Abivard]

The shieldwall leadership does not play MWO, they do not like to devote resources to MWO, nor do they want members playing MWO. They haven't had a MWO section on their webpage for over 6 months.

[Jarl Dane]

What's the use of a shieldwall if there is no FRR to shield!?

I'm sure they'll all come back when CW Launches and this game actually has a purpose. Then we'll have old SoR members everywhere! Maybe.

Anyways, Abivard, I've seen you around - we've played a few games - would you want to be a part the Yule Tournament!?

[Damon Howe]

Abivard, on 15 November 2013 - 04:24 PM, said:

The shieldwall leadership does not play MWO, they do not like to devote resources to MWO, nor do they want members playing MWO. They haven't had a MWO section on their webpage for over 6 months.

Mech The Dane, on 15 November 2013 - 04:28 PM, said:

What's the use of a shieldwall if there is no FRR to shield!?

I'm sure they'll all come back when CW Launches and this game actually has a purpose. Then we'll have old SoR members everywhere! Maybe.

Anyways, Abivard, I've seen you around - we've played a few games - would you want to be a part the Yule Tournament!?

Mech, Abivard left the Skjaldborg over 4 months ago with smiles and warm wishes from us. Though our focus has shifted from solely MWO to a much broader community, MWO is still our main game; that has not changed.

As per this tournament, I know not what our membership will decide. The idea itself is not new, but its appearance is somewhat sudden. We have several dedicated companies that could easily field a tournament team, and many players that combined could form teams of their own; on paper. However, many of our members already dedicate much of their free time hanging out and playing with the greater community. A tournament would take up even more time, time that many of us don't have. As per our leadership, Dihm has been inactive for some time due to the stresses of his job, and Skwisgaar and the other main officers are juggling the best they can with their own RL issues and the 'Borg. This isn't an easy time of year to plan a tournament - trust me I know, I tried last year (in-house tournament mind you, but still).

Regardless, this is not a smack or "No" to Isengrim; I think the idea has plenty of merit on its own and would probably be a smashing good time. The Shieldwall will respond more concretely in due time - I'll bring this up at our Company Meeting on Sunday and see what the other officers think. We may field a team or two, we may not; it's not up to me to decide. I will give this tournament the benefit and put it forth with the best bravado I can muster to my fellows, and we'll go from there.

TL;DR

We read the offer, we're talking about it, if it isn't coming from Dihm, Skwis, Trev, Myuu, Flessar, or any other designated spokesman, consider it hersay.

Thanks for the idea and doing your best to gather support for it. It is good to know the FRR has many active and trigger-happy space vikings ready to fight off an alien invasion from beyond the periphery, however unlikely that is.

Edited by Damon Howe, 15 November 2013 - 07:32 PM.

[8Ball-]

C'mon Abi, give us a break. I thought we were friends? Seems as CW gets closer, the more people are getting active. Hell, we may field a team or two, who knows. Trying to set up an actual tourney is tough in the present condition of the game. Mech, keep the info coming. Be nice to see what you come up with.

[tattaki]

God be with us Thor! VRGD participation (commanders on holiday)

[Jarl Dane]

Damon Howe, on 15 November 2013 - 07:19 PM, said:

As per this tournament, I know not what our membership will decide. The idea itself is not new, but its appearance is somewhat sudden. We have several dedicated companies that could easily field a tournament team, and many players that combined could form teams of their own; on paper. However, many of our members already dedicate much of their free time hanging out and playing with the greater community. A tournament would take up even more time, time that many of us don't have. As per our leadership, Dihm has been inactive for some time due to the stresses of his job, and Skwisgaar and the other main officers are juggling the best they can with their own RL issues and the 'Borg. This isn't an easy time of year to plan a tournament - trust me I know, I tried last year (in-house tournament mind you, but still).

Yeah a tournament now isn't the easiest, but the Isengrim on their own have enough people for scheduled 24man sync drops. If I had to I could do the entire thing on my own, in-house and it would work, probably. I am not here to lean on anyone else, and I believe the task is possible. I understand it is a hard time and such a tournament will have to be pretty bare-bones. No bells and whistles and everything in between. Lots of room for people to not show up, for teams to possibly disappear. It's got to be a tournament on the run, where you adjust to the constant changes instead of letting them drown you.

With all your busy folks, I am sure you could find at least 4 SoR members will to participate, who have enough time to do it. I think that much is doable for you, and hopefully all the other units as well.


The more people involved the better. All the FRR competing in lance combat until one lance rises to the top just in time for Yule? Sounds awesome to me. It should be different enough from the meta stuff to be exciting and new. While we'll be able, as a community, to acknowledge some of our best players and the best lance team.

It would be a little boring if 6 Isengrim lances competed only against themselves. I mean, it'd still be fun, but boring. But imagine lances from all, or most the units competing. Each jockeying for the top..

I like the way it sounds and I hope it happens.

tattaki, on 15 November 2013 - 08:37 PM, said:

God be with us Thor! VRGD participation (commanders on holiday)

i sent a message to Dungeon Keeper earlier, I'd really like you guys to be a part of this.

Edited by Mech The Dane, 15 November 2013 - 09:25 PM.

[Jarl Dane]

The Tournament: A Work in Progress
We'll have 8-16 committed four man lances. Each lance will be made up of a light, medium, heavy and assault BattleMech. We'll hold matches on December 7th, 14th and 21st. It'll be a single elimination tournament. I hope to have enough mechs for us to be able to do a 48 man sync drop, but if we have to..we can just do 24 sync man drops for all the teams.

Other than limiting the 'Mechs to one of each class I have no inclination to add any other restrictions. But If people want to push me I could be talked into other things.

Edited by Mech The Dane, 15 November 2013 - 11:25 PM.

[Jarl Dane]

Alright. The SoR and the 1st Dragon are, I guess, discussing participating. Unless we have the tournament around noon (Eastern time), it'll be too late for the VRGD (unless we have some true russia heroes willing to play around 3/4am GMT).

The Black Crusaders asked about the dates and now I am waiting on their response.

Neither Roenn of the 168th or Gevurah of the 1st Hussars has read my PM yet, so waiting on them as well.

I think somewhere out there is a FRR unit called the Ooski Irregulars (I've ran into them in a few games) even though they don't appear to have a forum presence I'll try to contact them.. there are also a few units on the Kungsarme page the 1st Dragon's host, so I'll contact them as well. If anyone else knows of any other secretive FRR units - please let me know.

Our first match will be the 7th of December.
I'd like to have 4 man team registrations in by the 1st of December.

[Dihm]

Hey Abivard! The MWO section is member's only and contains 10 forums, plus sub-forums.

Past experiences with tournaments (including our own internal attempts) have given us a general "ehhh, let's wait and see" feeling towards them. They haven't gone overly well and some might classify them as "dumpster fires". Our Company Captains are always more than willing to sign up to represent us, should they and their members (or members from other companies) be interested. We'll put out the call and see if there are bites.

Many of us are waiting on community warfare, because we have a sever dislike for the existing "meta game" of MWO, which is identical today as it was when Open Beta started. Our members are active in MWO and will become more so as promises that were made about game functionality finally see the light of day.

We have broadened our scope beyond MWO, not in place of.

I'm curious who was contacted that said we wouldn't be interested or that we can't field 12 man groups. If you have questions in the future, please feel free to take them to our leadership. Skwisgaar, MostlyHarmless, Trevnor, or myself would be more than happy to answer queries.

Edited by Dihm, 17 November 2013 - 01:30 PM.

[Jarl Dane]

Dihm, on 17 November 2013 - 01:26 PM, said:

Hey Abivard! The MWO section is member's only and contains 10 forums, plus sub-forums.

Based off of what Damon said Abivard was a member..

Quote

Past experiences with tournaments (including our own internal attempts) have given us a general "ehhh, let's wait and see" feeling towards them. They haven't gone overly well and some might classify them as "dumpster fires". Our Company Captains are always more than willing to sign up to represent us, should they and their members (or members from other companies) be interested. We'll put out the call and see if there are bites.

Don't really know anything about your past experiences with tournaments. I've ran them in other games and I've ran one recently in this game. There is lots that can go wrong, but if its done right - even partially right - it can be a lot of fun. Eitherway you never know if you don't try =D

Quote

Many of us are waiting on community warfare, because we have a sever dislike for the existing "meta game" of MWO, which is identical today as it was when Open Beta started. Our members are active in MWO and will become more so as promises that were made about game functionality finally see the light of day.

Shouldn't be too much meta in a four man fight made up of all four different weight classes.

Quote

We have broadened our scope beyond MWO, not in place of.

I'm curious who was contacted that said we wouldn't be interested or that we can't field 12 man groups. If you have questions in the future, please feel free to take them to our leadership. Skwisgaar, MostlyHarmless, Trevnor, or myself would be more than happy to answer queries.

I was told you would have a commanders meeting yesterday to decide if you would participate or not. How should I interpet this ambigious response? If you really really want to not bother - could you at least find four guys willing to give it a try? Four people to represent the SoR, I think that should be possible.

I know this game has its problems and I am not asking you or anyone else in the SoR to suddenly start playing MWO again. If you read up I even anticipated some of what you said in my response to Abivard. Meta is annoying and CW is non-existent and the game is the same grind over and over - so why bother?
But that is why events like this tournament are crucial, they mix it up a bit. It's Yule, why not help us do more than the usual grind? Why not try to experience this game in a different way then the one we've all experienced many thousands of times. Yeah, it could be a dumpster fire, but so what? Not like anything else is going on in the game right now.

I am not asking for legions, I am just asking for some sort of sanctioned support and at least one lance to participate.

Edited by Mech The Dane, 18 November 2013 - 05:30 AM.

[Malzel]

We've made the announcement to our guys. We'll fill out as many lances as we have interest, and we'll get a list to you on or before Dec 1.

[martino2k6]

Did anyone try to contact Vhetra or KVLTCLUTCH? We've been sleeping a bit at the 5th with not much game activity recently, but you should contact these guys to see if they might not be able to find 4 people that would be interested. I'm personally out, as I'm in Europe and Christmas time is just generally bad due to all the holiday/family obligations.

[Jarl Dane]

Malzel, on 18 November 2013 - 05:22 AM, said:

We've made the announcement to our guys. We'll fill out as many lances as we have interest, and we'll get a list to you on or before Dec 1.

That is awesome. I'll do my absolute best not to let you guys down.

martino2k6, on 18 November 2013 - 06:21 AM, said:

Did anyone try to contact Vhetra or KVLTCLUTCH? We've been sleeping a bit at the 5th with not much game activity recently, but you should contact these guys to see if they might not be able to find 4 people that would be interested. I'm personally out, as I'm in Europe and Christmas time is just generally bad due to all the holiday/family obligations.

Hey thanks! I just sent them both PM's and hopefully they'll get back to me. Too bad you can't make it, but it understandable - the times really aren't very good for European players.

Edited by Mech The Dane, 18 November 2013 - 06:41 AM.

[Grim DeGrim]

I'm in. Love the idea. I'm be willing to help organize those Free Lance FRR Pilots looking to prove their worth to Odin!

If you're interested in playing, but do not have a unit or 3 mates, leave a message here or send me a mail through the forums.


GRIM