1) To participate in Contest Of Marvels II, you must be willing to at least commit yourself to give each character on your list at least a short paragraph explaining why you believe he/she should advance into the next round versus their opponent for that week. (Such circumstances as to why you might not get up a debate are acceptable; such as, prior to debating, letting Wiegeabo or Phaedrus know you will not be available for a select amount of days to participate due to whatever reason....or, maybe it's so lopsided of a match-up, you willingly conceed defeat.) Due to the length and time needed to commit to this contest, we will allow this season for those who wish to participate to have a select number of characters if that is their desire, with a minimum of 10 characters. (With 512 characters, I think this is a good number that nobody would be overwhelmed with this contest.)
2) That said, I want to make one point clear. Those who decide to select a limited amount of characters are eligible for the grand prize of the contest...but, any other prizes given out will only be eligible for those who commit to a full roster. (This is important, because prizes are determined by winning percentage...and, those contestants with only 10 characters would probably have a better winning percentage and take the "best record" of Round 1 & 2.) There are usually 6 prizes given out for this contest. Best record of Round 1, Worst Record of Round 1, Best Record of Round 2, Worst Record of Round 2, Grand Prize Winner, and Runner-Up Grand Prize.
3) Characters - (To be discussed at a later time, after all other rules are agreed upon)
4) Locations - Locations this year will be determined before hand. And, each location shall be placed in a given week before brackets are determined. This will ensure that everything is completely random.
5) Debating - Debating will be a little different this season. We will keep the same schedule of matches being posted on Friday. Debating can be done as soon as ALL MATCHES are posted. The first debate that is posted by you, though, cannot be a debate of your opponents debate. You must tell in at least a paragraph why you believe your charaacter can win his/her match. Afterwards, written sparing will be allowed to counter-debate your opponents argument. (Again, keep it civil. No name calling!!!) Only those who own characters may debate. (No help can be given by other people, in or out of the contest.) If a person has a question about your character or debate that seems pertinent, they can ask it. (i.e. If you mention a weapon or power your character is going to use, someone can question whether it's in that character's ability to have it.) Decisions about the validity of a debate will be determined by JH or Phaed if a problem arises. If the problem involves JH or Phaed's character, then the opposing person will make the decision. (i.e. If someone argues JH is incorrect in a point of his debate, it will be up to Phaed to make the decision whether it's allowed.) Finally, the major point that will be different this year: Once voting begins on Tuesday, debating is over. No matter how much you might want to make another point, you cannot. But, voters can make a brief statement (usually a sentence) saying why they might have voted for a character.
Also, a character can only use the resources that would normally be available to him/her. The Thing would be able to get information about a match from the Fantastic Four's data base, but Spider-Man wouldn't necessarily have that at his disposal.
6) Voting - One matter will change about voting this season. Still, once you make your decision, it will be final. But, if you vote and realize you mistakingly voted for the wrong character, I think it should be allowed for that person to change their vote. Since debating will officially end when voting begins, the chance someone can be swayed differently is greatly reduced, and I think it's fair to say we'll trust our voters to be honest when they say they made a mistake. Again, all votes must be based on reading all debates and coming to your own conclusion with all the information given. Please, do not vote for a character solely because you like them or don't like them. Also, make the same consideration for the participants in the contest.
7) Victory - A new rule this season to eliminate any confusion, any victory is not an argument for future victories.
Added rules by JH:
One thing I do want to expand on though is the mention of resources. Your example of Thing using the FF database as a resource, but Spidey can't is fine, but I want to make a little closer line in regards to teammates. Thing cannot use a doohicky made by Reed unless it was specifically made for the Thing. If Reed's made some telepathic blocker, the Thing cannot go and use it because his teammate used it, it's Reed's resource not Thing's. Also, just because you're on a team, doesn't mean everything that team has is at your disposal. Example... Gambit cannot use Cerebro because he's not telepathic and he's never used Cerebro... but he could probably use a smaller, less effect, hand held cerebro unit, as those can be used by any X-Man (main X-men, not the offshoot X-Characters or students and such). Basically what I"m saying is, use common sense on resources and if you aren't sure about something, just ask. Comments questions?
I think we decided to outlaw all Infinity Gems, so I just wanted to mention that again.
We also have to make an official decision on the labling of characters and what versions we are using. Last season I put a "commonly known as" rule into play, and while I think it worked pretty good, I think it may be best to do something a little more detailed and definate. Some characters were hard to judge on the common rule, such as Drax who was evenly intellegent and dumb, so it's hard to call. I kinda like the idea Phaed threw out there of all characters being their Current version unless otherwise noted (and I get the feeling we'll have a lot of noted characters, so don't worry about if you don't like a current version). But do note that if a person is specified as a past version, he won't remember the things that's happened since. Example: If we want Juggernaut as the unstopable Cytorrak Juggernaut, back in his badguy days, he won't remember, nor will he have resources for, his X-Men days. He's the bad guy and that's where it stops.
Additional rules added:
I don't see a big problem with the disputing of debates. With all the matches last season, I think we might have had 10 instances or less where a debate was brought into question.
Yes, it needs to be noted that a tie will be a re-match the next week, and if a tie happens again, it will go to Sparta's thread. If two contestants have fought the previous week to a draw, they will both have a knowledge of the other's tactics and powers, of course...which might just effect the outcome of the rematch. But, that's just the way things work out. With Sparta's thread, each contestant will have an set date to PM Sparta with your debate on why your character should win the match. If you do not get your debate to Sparta in time, the match will still be posted on said date.
I think the dropping out of participants will be handled the same as last year. If someone drops out, their characters will remain unowned until the round ends. At that time, characters will be dispersed. If an odd number of characters remain, those with the least amount of characters will have a shot at an additional character before those with more characters in their roster. (Although, any participant can also waive the right to receive more characters or willingly concede to missing the chance to get an additional character if the odds will leave someone out of dividing characters evenly.)
