As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

FLASH DUEL: Are you OK? BUSTAH WOLF!

InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
edited May 2012 in Critical Failures
Flash Duel!

Flash Duel is a simple, fast card game for 1 to 5 (though we will only be playing the 1v1 version of the game, and we will be running a tournament bracket of 20 players!) players that simulates sparring matches amongst Fantasy Strike characters practicing for an upcoming tournament.

A more detailed overview may be found here: http://www.sirlingames.com/pages/flash-duel-overview

The Rules

The rules are quite simple. Each player has a hand of five cards, each card has a number on it ranging from 1 to 5. On your turn you may take a single action, and that action can be a move, a push, an attack or a dashing strike. You move, or push, or attack a distance equal to the number on the card that you played. The strength of your attack is equal to the number of copies of a card that you played (so you could play two 3 cards to attack an opponent three spaces away). If you attacked your opponent than they must respond. Against an attack they must block by playing an equal number of cards of the same value that you played for your attack (you block an attack of two 3s by playing two 3s). Against a dashing strike you may block or retreat, when you retreat you move back a number of spaces equal to the card you discard, but you must spend your next turn recovering. If a player fails to block or retreat, they get hit and they lose that round. Assuming you haven't won yet, you then refresh your hand to five cards and then it is your opponents turn.

That's the basics, the full rules may be found here: http://www.sirlin.net/fd/rules

Meet our duelists!

This game has 20 (!!!) characters with three powers each. The power cards for each character can be found on this page: http://www.sirlingames.com/pages/flash-duel-card-images

Here is a list of the names of each character in the same order that their powers are presented.

Character 1: Grave Stormborne, the Wind Warrior
Character 2: Jaina Stormborne, the Phoenix Archer
Character 3: Master Midori, the Mentor Dragon
Character 4: Setsuki Hiruki, the Ninja Student
Character 5: Garus Rook, the Stone Golem
Character 6: Jefferson DeGrey, the Ghostly Diplomat
Character 7: Valerie Rose, the Manic Painter
Character 8: Max Geiger, the Precise Watchmaker
Character 9: Lum Bam-foo, the Gambling Panda
Character 10: Argagarg Garg, the Water Shaman
Character 11: Sirus Quince, the Flagstone Chief Magistrate
Character 12: General Onimaru, the Wartime Strategist
Character 13: Troq Bashar, the Well-Meaning Beast
Character 14: Bal-Bas-Beta, the Clockwork Guardian
Character 15: Master Menelker, the Deathstrike Dragon
Character 16: M. Persephone, the Nox Oracle
Character 17: Gloria Grayson, the Hopeful Healer
Character 18: Gwen Grayson, the Doomed Wanderer
Character 19: Vendetta, the Undead Assassin
Character 20: Captain Zane, the Blood Guard Anarchist

When you sign up, pick a character as well. Once you have picked a character no one else can pick that character. Hopefully we'll get twenty players in on these thing and we can see how far they can rise in the tournament ranks.

How play will work on the forums

Players will randomly be seeded into a single elimination tournament bracket. How many points you need to score to win (best of 1, best of 3, best of 5, etc) at each level of the tournament will be determined by how many sign ups we get, I want to make sure that things get done in a relatively timely fashion.

I will randomly determine who gets to pick if they go first or second for the first match of any bout. If the bout consists of multiple matches the loser of the previous match will chose if they go first or second.

For each turn the following information will be presented in the following format:

Player A's position: Space # 1-18 and color
Player B's position: Space # 1-18 and color

Cards in Player A's Hand: #
Cards in Player B's Hand: #

Cards Remaining in Deck: #
Cards in Discard: # of 1s, # of 2s, # of 3s, # of 4s, # of 5s (the discard is public knowledge and may be checked at any time, so this is for convenience).

Player A's unused powers: X, Y, Z
Player B's unused powers: X, Y, Z

On your turn you will post to the thread the action you want to perform, either using a power or one of the standard actions. Using the following format is nice, but not necessary, but please use the following color coding:

Move X spaces forward.
Move X spaces backward.


Push X spaces.

Attack X spaces away with Y cards.

Dash X spaces forward and then Strike Y spaces away with Z cards.

Block with X Ys.

Retreat X spaces.


Example: On my turn I Dash 5 spaces forward and then Strike 3 spaces with 2 cards.

The board:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

or
1 & 2 Dark
3 & 4 Light
5 & 6 Dark
7 & 8 Light
9 & 10 Dark
11 & 12 Light
13 & 14 Dark
15 & 16 Light
17 & 18 Dark

Please make sure your move is legal! (Feel free to PM me any questions about the legality of a move before making it if you are unsure).

If necessary (due to powers or if you attacked, etc) the opponent will have an opportunity to respond. I will then PM you your new hand of cards and then we will move on to the next player.

I plan to run one match at a time, if people are prompt with their response we should be able to finish several matches in a day. I am currently planning on allowing players a 24 hour period to place their moves, if no response in given in 24 hours you will be eliminated. (I'm open to suggestions on this, I just want to keep things moving).

Anyway, sign ups are open! Grab a character while the grabbing is still good!

If there is anything I forgot (expect some edits to the OP) or if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Sign-up List:

1. Evil Multifarious - Garus Rook, the Stone Golem
2. Lucedes - Setsuki Hiruki, the Ninja Student
3. Elldren - Gwen Grayson, the Doomed Wanderer
4. visiblehowl - Master Menelker, the Deathstrike Dragon
5. Arch - Bal-Bas-Beta, the Clockwork Guardian
6. B:L - Jaina Stormborne, the Phoenix Archer
7. Egos - Vendetta, the Undead Assassin
8. Tayrun - Master Midori, the Mentor Dragon
9. Kisidan - Grave Stormborne, the Wind Warrior
10. xiears - Max Geiger, the Precise Watchmaker
11. Darian - Sirus Quince, the Flagstone Chief Magistrate
12. blahmcblah - Jefferson DeGrey, the Ghostly Diplomat
13. towndrunk34 - Lum Bam-foo, the Gambling Panda
14. mindspork - General Onimaru, the Wartime Strategist
15. Hensler - Captain Zane, the Blood Guard Anarchist
16. Harlon - Valerie Rose, the Manic Painter
17. acidlacedpenguin - Argagarg Garg, the Water Shaman
18. ObiFett - M. Persephone, the Nox Oracle
19. admanb - Gloria Grayson, the Hopeful Healer
20. Bedlam - Troq Bashar, the Well-Meaning Beast

Bracket:

http://challonge.com/paflashduel

Inquisitor on
«13456737

Posts

  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    I'll sign up for this - I'd like to be Garus Rook, the Stone Golem.

    Never played it but it looks interesting.

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Garus is a beast, he turns 1s (which are already a strong card) into downright monsters.

  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    I cannot even parse any of this right now but because its you I'm interested

    fuck gendered marketing
  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    Inquisitor wrote: »
    Garus is a beast, he turns 1s (which are already a strong card) into downright monsters.

    yeah i was looking at all the characters, and it was between him, the bull dude, or the dragon guy with the unblockable card on dark spaces.

    i like my unblockables.

  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    Can an opponent retreat past Onimaru's Clockwork Soldier?

    vRyue2p.png
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Can an opponent retreat past Onimaru's Clockwork Soldier?

    No, you can not retreat past Onimaru's Clockwork Soldier (you could retreat to the same square as it, but not past it). That means that if you were on the same square as the clockwork soldier and the enemy performed a dashing strike you would have to block it, because you are not allowed to retreat in a situation where you can not move backwards at all. (Which usually only happens when you are standing on your start space).

    Which makes it a right nasty power.

  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    Alright, I'm leaning towards him, then.

    Just to clarify, at the end of a round, the characters stay in the same position right? They don't get reset to the starting positions?

    Also, can a push be blocked by non-ability cards?

    vRyue2p.png
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Alright, I'm leaning towards him, then.

    Just to clarify, at the end of a round, the characters stay in the same position right? They don't get reset to the starting positions?

    Also, can a push be blocked by non-ability cards?

    At the end of a round (after a hit has been scored or a winner has been determined by other means) players go back to their starting squares, all special powers are refreshed, the deck is shuffled and new hands our dealt. Nothing carries over from one round to the next (with the exception being one of Sirus Quince's special powers).

    Edit: Whoops forgot the second question. A push can not be blocked under normal circumstances.

    Inquisitor on
  • LucedesLucedes might be real Registered User regular
    i'd like to play as Setsuki Hiruki.

    never played before, probably not the best choice, oh well~

  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I think I will sign up with Gwen

    Elldren on
    fuck gendered marketing
  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    Hmm, okay, on second thought I think I'll go with Master Menelker.

    vRyue2p.png
  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    A push would effectively be "blocked" by a move on your turn

    fuck gendered marketing
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Ooh, you guys are snatching up some of the ones I really like (I think Master Menelker might be my favorite right now, but, I need to play more games before I can really be sure. Heck, there are some characters (like Gwen) that I still haven't got a chance to play yet.)

    And don't worry about never having played before, I don't think anyone who has signed up so far has actually played the game before. I myself will just be running the show and not playing myself, so you don't have to worry about my considerable Flash Duel prowess *cough cough*

    Inquisitor on
  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    Inquisitor wrote: »
    Ooh, you guys are snatching up some of the ones I really like (I think Master Menelker might be my favorite right now, but, I need to play more games before I can really be sure. Heck, there are some characters (like Gwen) that I still haven't got a chance to play yet.)

    And don't worry about never having played before, I don't think anyone who has signed up so far has actually played the game before. I myself will just be running the show and not playing myself, so you don't have to worry about my considerable Flash Duel prowess *cough cough*

    I like him because he's defensive and offensive. Plus he has an unblockable attack, and then a special ability that can drastically reduce the opponent's ability to block an attack.

    Although frankly it would almost just be worth taking him so I never have to worry about my opponent blowing up any of my abilities. :P

    vRyue2p.png
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    I am in, but I can't decide between the clockwork Golem or the master of time or the water shaman

    Hmmmm

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Yeah, I feel like he is a real fundamentals character. You are basically a two power character and you turn your enemy into a two power character, so the situation is simplified to a degree, and then as you said he has defense and offense. The result is a pretty flexible and adaptable game plan. Of course, it also means you game plan isn't always going to be as clear cut as it will be for some character. Like EM's Rook for example, he wants 1s and he wants to be next to his opponent, this makes his general game plan straight forward, but also predictable (of course the assumptions of your opponent can always be exploited).

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    I am in, but I can't decide between the clockwork Golem or the master of time or the water shaman

    Hmmmm

    The Clockwork Golem is interesting. His rocket punch is solid and his steam vent can help him get in (dashing strikes can quickly get momentum going in one player's favor), and his last power (I forget the name) is tricky but you can try to basically 'solve' for a win near the end of a game. It's worth noting that special abilities that push (like Jaina's Charged Shot) don't require you to be adjacent to the enemy to push like a normal push does.

    The Water Shaman is VERY defensive. One of my friends loves him, but that friend has always been drawn to defensive characters and alternate win conditions so, it figures.

    I haven't seen the master of time hit the table yet but he seems really neat. Clearly taking two turns in a row is always nice, and extra cards are always nice. Rewind time is very strong as well. You go through the deck pretty fast in this game, and the game ends when you go through the deck, so being able to reset the deck when the game was going to end unfavorably for you is always good times.

    I know, I just gushed about all of the characters, this probably didn't help you decide at all.

  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Suggestion: When you post the character's position, make it bold, and color it black if they're on a dark space, white if they're on a light space. You'll have to put the color in regardless, because some people use different color schemes (so, for example, the default color is off-white for me using the blue/grey color scheme, but I think it's dark blue or something for people using the default color scheme).

    Hi I'm Vee! on
    vRyue2p.png
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Inquis, out of those three, pick one for me and sign me up buddy

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Suggestion: When you post the character's position, make it bold, and color it black if they're on a dark space, white if they're on a light space. You'll have to put the color in regardless, because some people use different color schemes (so, for example, the default color is off-white for me using the blue/grey color scheme, but I think it's dark blue or something for people using the default color scheme).

    Ah yes. Great suggestion. I should also give you guys a little table of what squares are light and dark for reference, I'll go add that to the OP.

  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    Also, a suggestion for future tournaments: it seems like a lot of the fun of this game is playing with different characters. I think the choose-one-character single-elimination-tournament format is a good idea for the first playthrough, but in the future maybe think about letting people choose, say, 3 characters before each match, ranked according to preference, and then automatically select the highest preference characters for them in such a way as to prevent mirror matches.

    Actually, that seems maybe overly complicated, but some mechanic for changing characters between matches seems like it could be fun in the future.

    vRyue2p.png
  • B:LB:L I've done worse. Registered User regular
    Jaina <3

    10mvrci.png click for Anime chat
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    Inquis, out of those three, pick one for me and sign me up buddy

    Well, you listed the Clockwork Golem first so I'm going to sign you up as him.

    Arch - Bal-Bas-Beta

    Also: Glad to have you aboard B:L

    VH: I do agree that a good bit of the fun in this game is playing the different characters, when I do another one of these maybe you'll have to sign up as multiple characters and play each round as a different character, or something, who knows. But yeah, you are right, for the first time I wanted to try to get as many different people and characters on board as possible.

  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    I really wish I could understand this.

    steam_sig.png
  • EgosEgos Registered User regular
    you're only taking 5 players right?

    if you are taking more, I'll take Captain Zane because I just like his title.

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Egos wrote: »
    you're only taking 5 players right?

    if you are taking more, I'll take Captain Zane because I just like his title.

    Oh no my friend, I am taking 20 players. We are going to ride this crazy horse into the sunset.

    Edit: I have now edited the OP to make this more clear.

    Inquisitor on
  • EgosEgos Registered User regular
    Actually if I can , I might want to go with Vendetta ..like his look better

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I really wish I could understand this.

    Let me see if I can help ya DUE, the game really isn't too bad.

    Here's a nice video series that really covers most anything you could need to know:

    Kind of long, this review also covers how to play the game decently well and is a little quicker:

    If you give either of those a watch and then give the rules a read I am sure you'll be able to duel with the best of them.

    Handy link to the rules: http://www.sirlin.net/fd/rules

    Edit: Egos: No problem, I'll switch you over to Vendetta. Everyone feel free to switch as much as you like, though, obviously you can't switch to a character someone has already called unless they agree to it.

    Inquisitor on
  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Can I sign up as Midori please.

    Tayrun on
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Tayrun wrote: »
    Can I sign up as Midori please.

    I am more than happy to sign you up.

    Anyway guys, I gotta go hit the sack. I'll be sure to check up on the thread as soon as I get back from class tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to sign up, post any questions, or send me any PMs you might want to. Hopefully we'll get a full roster right quick and we can get this show on the road!

  • KisidanKisidan Registered User regular
    I am totally in! I'll sign up as Grave Stormborne, the Wind Warrior

    Never done one of these things over the interwebs before (and only played Flash Duel totally wrong IRL) but I want to learn to get better at this game.

    The answer lies in the heart of battle.

  • xiearsxiears It isn't sexual Strictly confectionalRegistered User regular
    I'm up for this (my first PBF game here on PA, and a complete beginner when it comes to Flash Duel as well).

    Reading through the rules now, I'll sign up as Max Geiger.

    steam_sig.png
  • DarianDarian Yellow Wizard The PitRegistered User regular
    Suggestion: When you post the character's position, make it bold, and color it black if they're on a dark space, white if they're on a light space. You'll have to put the color in regardless, because some people use different color schemes (so, for example, the default color is off-white for me using the blue/grey color scheme, but I think it's dark blue or something for people using the default color scheme).

    White is awful and unreadable on the default forum settings. Try gray instead for that, please. And standard text is already black on default, but locking the color in would be good. (Come to think of it, black wasn't very readable on the old forum theme. Might want to choose a different dark, as well.)

    Recommended colors, copied from the first page of the PbP Index thread:
    MrBlarney wrote: »
    I was actually just thinking about what X11 web colors would be good to use under both the default new-forum scheme and the Stylish old-forum schemes, and came up with the following list of 15. Some are more readable than others on each of the schemes, but overall, they might make for a good rule of thumb?

    red
    brown
    chocolate
    darkorange
    goldenrod
    olive
    limegreen
    forestgreen
    darkcyan
    darkturquoise
    dodgerblue
    mediumorchid
    deeppink
    crimson
    gray

    Photobucket image (made in GIMP, not a fair comparison)

  • DarianDarian Yellow Wizard The PitRegistered User regular
    Also, Signup as Sirius Quince

  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    Inquisitor wrote: »
    Yeah, I feel like he is a real fundamentals character. You are basically a two power character and you turn your enemy into a two power character, so the situation is simplified to a degree, and then as you said he has defense and offense. The result is a pretty flexible and adaptable game plan. Of course, it also means you game plan isn't always going to be as clear cut as it will be for some character. Like EM's Rook for example, he wants 1s and he wants to be next to his opponent, this makes his general game plan straight forward, but also predictable (of course the assumptions of your opponent can always be exploited).

    it's entertaining how you can see Sirlin's Street Fighter background really influencing the way these characters play. I can see parts of it even without playing the game.

    Rook obviously wants to close in and be able to dashing attack with those 1s, or move into point-blank range and force your opponent to move away or risk your unblockable attack with 1s, and this means they want to stay far away from you. This means you control their movement, to some extent, but it also means that you can use their eagerness to escape to bluff them into the corner or force them into a position where you actually do have cards to attack with. Reminds me of Zangief threatening the Spinning Piledriver when he's up close and forcing people to backdash or jump to avoid it, and using his Lariat or his Banishing Flat to punish them for avoiding it, if he guesses right, and getting plenty of damage from the fear of the command grab rather than actually landing it.

  • blahmcblahblahmcblah You pick your side and you stick - you don't cut and run when things get ugly. Registered User regular
    Awesome! Signup as Jefferson DeGrey.

  • towndrunk34towndrunk34 Registered User regular
    I'd like to play, please. doesn't seem TOO complicated.
    thinking either Lum Bam-foo or Sirus Quince. If anyone takes one, i'll have the other.

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Okay, the roster should be correctly updated.

    towndrunk34: You are right, the game isn't too complicated. Darian had already taken Sirius so I signed you up as Lum Bam-foo. : D

    Speaking of Sirius, one of his powers tends to be the source of a decent number of questions so I figure I'll try to clear things up a bit right now:

    Political Prowess: You only exhaust the ability when you use it to set aside a card from your hand. You do not use the power in any way when you decide to return a set-aside card to your hand. This means that returning a set aside card to your hand does not count against the 1 power per turn limit. This means you can return a set-aside card even while you are recovering. You may only return ONE set aside card per turn, no matter how many set aside cards you have. Set aside cards stay set aside from one round to the next (meaning over the course of several rounds Sirius can amass a decent stockpile of cards).

    I believe that covers most questions that come up with that power. Anyway, let me know if you have anymore questions or if I got anything wrong on the sign up list.

  • mindsporkmindspork Registered User regular
    Hell it looks fun. I'll give it a try.

    In like Flynn with General Onimaru, the Wartime Strategist

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    mindspork wrote: »
    Hell it looks fun. I'll give it a try.

    In like Flynn with General Onimaru, the Wartime Strategist

    Excellent choice! Probably my second favorite guy in the game. Of course, I just love samurai in general, so, I might be biased.

Sign In or Register to comment.