The Playoffs! -- Rules of Engagement posted by kza

Again, because I’m a geeky gamer at heart and am stimulated by needlessly complex rules, I present the following guidelines for determining the results of the playoffs:

The player who has been selected to start the round (in this case, me) will make a post, entitled “Round XX” (whatever number it is.) That person will, on the same post, discuss the pros and cons of both story seeds. (Since this process is done by post, it will inevitably become fragmented; thus, I suggest that the first and second posts have all the relevant information to start.)
When the first player puts up the first post, the second player will put up a post with the same information: the pros and cons of both story seeds.
When that’s done, the first player has two choices: he may either post again, or make a choice. If he decides to post again, then he may post on anything he wants, relevant to the story seeds in question: pros, cons, questions, generally spitballing of the story ideas, etc. When that post is up, the second player my then also either post again, or make a choice.
Making a Choice: When one of the players feels he knows without a single doubt which is the best story idea, he will contact the other player offline and tell them that he’s made his choice. The other player has two options: he can make his choice as well, or say he’s not ready. If he’s ready to make a choice, see #5 below. If he says he’s not ready, then the player who made his choice and contacted the other one must make a new post. (Thus, throwing the “Post or Choice” option to the other player.)
Both Players Have Made A Choice: If a player has contacted the other player offline to make a choice, and the other player is ready to make his choice as well, then both players will reveal their choices simultaneously to each other. If both choices are the same, then the first player will make a post indicating that a winner has been chosen. If they are different, then the first player will make a post indicating that each story seed has a “sponsor”, and that everything just got harder :-)
And then both players will go back and forth, making posts, trying to make the best case for his favorite story seed, and hopefully will come to an agreement. (This is the only thing I’m not really sure about — if you have some ideas for tiebreakers, I’d like to hear them.)

IN SUMMARY:

Player One makes a post about the pros and cons of both story seeds.

Player Two makes a post about the pros and cons of both story seeds.

Player One and Player Two continue to go back and forth, making posts about the story seeds, until one of them decides to make a choice.

If a player makes a choice and the other player doesn’t want to make a choice at that time, or has a different choice, then the player who initiated the choice must immediately make a new post.

A NOTE ON PROS AND CONS

Generally, the pros can be anything you want — whatever gets you excited about the story seed, as well as ideas on how to expand the seed into a larger story. Cons, though: since these are fragile, wee little things, I don’t think they can really take any sustained criticisms. So “cons” should be more like “misgivings”, probably phrased as questions: How would this work? I don’t understand this — can you explain it? Something like that.

What do you think? (I’ll be working on the first battle post as you think about it — it’ll probably take a little bit of time.)

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