FOFCs Greatest Athlete
 

While running my World’s Greatest Athlete dynasty, I was asked by thealmighty if I could make it interactive and allow the FOFCers to compete. Well, while sitting in traffic on Friday I came up with a series of tables that should allow me to create decathletes. The building of the tables will take some time and effort, so I’d like to make sure the interest is high enough to justify the time.

The only real decisions to make revolve around how aggressive you wish to be with your jumps and throws, and how many attempts you’re willing to take (too many attempts result in fatigue affecting subsequent events). It won’t be difficult or time consuming.

If you would be interested in competing in a decathlon please sign up.

If anyone would like specifics on how to play or how the player cards will be created before signing up let me know. I was planning to save myself the trouble of writting it all out until I knew I had enough interest, but then I began to think that some people might not sign up without more specifics.

I'll do it.

Hey i'll hump in!

Count me in...

Oh, I want to play.

im in

Bah, this is an exercise in futility. It is already established that I am the greatest ever! :p

I'm in.

I will give it a go.

Although my rekigion forbids it what the hey IM IN TOO.

I'm In Three.

Meeeeeee!

sure! why not

You know I'm good to go.

OK, that's enough to justify building the work! If you haven't already signed up feel free to do so. I want to take a moment to discribe how I plan to create each players skill card:


First a few background facts:

- Each player has a column (or set of columns) for each of the 10 events with possible rolls ranging from 10 - 39.

- There is a 1 in 6 chance of rolling in the 10s, 2 in 6 of rolling in the 20s and 3 in 6 of rolling in the 30s

- The field events (minus pole vault and high jump) are divided into 3 columns, safe, average and aggressive - players annouce which column they will use prior to their attempt

- The cards are based on templates where injuries are preset, as are some "NG" (no good) attempts.


Now My Plans:

- I have created a 5 skill types that players will attach a point value to: Speed, Power, Endurance, Athletic Ability and Technique.
- Each player will have 375 points to assign to the 5 skills (not to exceed 100 points in any 1 skill)
- Each event is divided into the percent of the above skills needed to be successful.
- The players ratings in each skill will be combined with a table for each event to determine the players event score
- The event score will check against a table to determine if the player is an A, B or C level performer in the event.
- The player will then have his card populated with “weighted random” results based on their level. (I know that sounds cryptic - but I'll explain below)

Populating Player Cards:

In an effort to populate the player cards:
- I divide the existing players into A, B, and C level performers for each event (5 athletes in each group)
- I then put all 216 possible outcomes (3 dice) for all athletes into a column for each event - divided by level - call it the total outcome table.
- Then I'll generate a random number that will reference the total outcome table - for every possible non-template (minus injuries, auto fouls, NG) result in the player card.

Because we are using the existing cards divided up by ability in the event I've created a weighted probability that if you're skills say you are good in an event, your results should be good, but because the cards will be populated by random checks against the total outcome table we can have significantly different cards between players in the same level. If you are an A level performer, but your random check against the table only references the bad outcomes of the 5 decathletes used to create that table your card will not be any better or as good as a B level player, but the odds of that happening are lower because the table being used to generate the card has fewer bad outcomes - Hince the "weighted randomness".

I know all that sounds confusing so I'll try to explain it quickly and in plain English. To make sure I'm referencing results accurately - I'm using the existing player cards, but I want to make sure the results are weighted correctly so I'm referencing all possible dice rolls rather than just the 30 on the cards. I'm splitting the existing players into 3 levels to create different weighted results (a, b, & c), and I'm allowing the FOFCers to "Pick their Poison" by assigning points to the different skills, which will determine which level they fall into.

OK maybe that wasn't so short and quick. Maybe I should shut up now before I confuse people so much they start begging out. :rolleyes:

If you have any questions or suggestions, or if you'd like me to confuse you more with excessively verbose explanations, just pipe up.

By the way: don't post your point totals by skill here: I'll have you PM them to me instead. I'd hate for someone to win by looking at how others alloted their points and then doing just the opposite.

I'm in... will send PM....

-Chas

sent PM

I'm going to add 1 more rule to submitting skill points (and if any who have already submitted want to make changes you may). No skill may have lower than 50 points allocated to it.

I'm in...will send in PM late tonight

PM sent earlier today.

Pmed earlier too.

Just an update, I have PMs for:

- Chas
- Travis
- SirFozzie
- ntdeacon
- Al Mighty
- Kingfc22

I have another update on the dynasty. I've built 8 of the 10 tables and in the process I realized all the templates are not the same. I want to pass this along so you can consider it when assigning your skill points (anyone who has submitted can make adjustments if they wish).

The only 2 events that I've noticed a deviation from the template are high jump and pole vault. In those events not only do the average results go down, but the chances for a foul increase as the levels decrease. So C level players will have a harder time getting a successful result (though hardly impossible).

I will assign the event templates randomly to those signed up to play. Here is how I'll do it:

- I will assigning a number (1-5) for each of the existing decathletes making up the level.

- Then I'll roll a random number and the result will be matched to the decathlete and that persons event column (template) will be used for the FOFCer I rolled for.

I will be finished with the tables, shortly - so get your skill points in.

Tables are finished.

If I've confused anyone - please feel free to ask a question.

Travis just sent me the following PM:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The answer is you can absolutely do this. Feel free to create as elaborate a background for your character as you want. Also feel free to interject, trash talk, pout, conduct an interview, etc. The more interaction the better.

In fact, email me your characters info and I'll post it for each athlete prior to the start of competition.

Thanks for the question Travis.

Name: David Yellope
Nationality: Great Britain

My guy's pretty much an all-rounder. He has to hope the big guns falter in their off events or him to post a personal best in a couple events

Name: Marvin Mello
Nationality: United States

Signed a 15 year endorsement deal with Mello Yello last year. The massive amounts of sugar and caffiene running through his system make him really fast, but he does tend to tire quickly.

Name: Deacon Palmer
Nationality: Malawi

Winner of the Pan-Africa Games Decathalon 5 years running. Is brother of Prime Minister William Palmer

OK, I have 7 entries (complete with skill stats) - the 6 listed above, plus albionmoonlight.

Of the people that signed up to play earlier I'm still waiting on stats from:

MrBug
JeffNights
JeeberD
Blade6119
SFL Cat
Vexroid
PilotMan
Chemical Soldier

Plus anyone else that would like to get in.

If you missed the note about skill points, (and I don't know why you would've...it was only buried in about a 2000 word, convoluted post :rolleyes: ) I need 375 points distributed between: speed, power, endurance, athletic ability and technique. Each category can have between 50 and 100 points.

I'm holding off on creating cards for the players that have already submitted their stats to make sure the % deviation I have set for A, B, and C level holds up under additional data. So get those stats in - so we can get on to the fun stuff and you can stop reading my confusing explainations.

Name: Persimmon Pflaggstettler
Nationality: New Zealend

Though not the most athletic of competitors, constant attention to detail and persistance make this competitor a challenger in and out of the Pacific Rim.

I try and get you something late tonight or tomarrow.

obviously, PilotMan's character is Russian :D

Name: David Gonzalez
Nationality: Mexican

This well-rounded athlete learned his trade jumping fences to cross the border. He learned stamina, speed and how to jump high because of this.

The funny thing is that is what I was thinking. The subconcious works in strange ways.

Vladislav Ivanov
Russia

Vlad is the Russian national champion and is a product of the great Russian training program. He was selected at a young age for track and field, and has blossomed ever since. He has been accused of using performance enhancers but denies everything and has tested negative in every test that he has had. He like many of his countrymen is a little rough around the edges, but physically he is an imposing force.

I now have 10 entries but there are still several who signed up initially to play that haven't sent in their skill points. I've PMed them to make sure they realized I'm waiting on information before I start. Hopefully, we'll get a quick response and be able to develop your player sheets soon.

By the way, the bio's have been great and we have a nice international mix

Brendan A Eckberg is aformer Swedish rugby player turned decathlete after being banned for life from the Swedish Rugby League for sucker punching both an opponent and a ref in the same match.

Al Mighty is the Ireland national champion, which is to say that noone had ever heard of him before he burst onto the scene at the NCAAs. He had a standout performance for Notre Dame, brought on perhaps by the fury he feels each time he dons the green and gold- he actually hates Notre Dame, the arrogance and lousy attitude, but a scholly is a scholly, right?

Unfortunately, he was too drunk at the NCAAs and was kicked out of the meet with one event left while leading the field by 1000 points. This led to his being expelled from Notre Dame, adding more fuel to his already stoked fires.

Al is on a mission- and when he figures out what that mission is, he will be something...somewhere...doing...whatever.

StanGunner
I will try to make me pappy proud!

Darius Lesgettham was known as the fastest man on snowshoes and able to spear an animal at 200 feet. Upon hearing that skills like these (well, without the tennis rackets on his feet) could be used to achieve fame and fortune (and chicks without hair on their legs), Darius decided to begin the pursuit of his new noble dream...

Vex Elli
American

OK, I've got 16 entries, and I'm going to start building player cards today. If you're interested in joining and haven't done so already - PM me your skill points (explained above).

I could also use character names for Chemical Soldier, Vexroid and SFL Cat - since everyone else has created real names.

Everyone - I am currently creating the player cards and a thought occured to me:

How much information do I make available to you about your own player card, and how much information should be available to each of you about your opponents?

I have a couple of ideas.
- I can email you a copy of your player card to view
- I can tell you what your skill level by event is
- I can let you know max heights/distances/speeds etc.

As for your opponents
- I can tell you which level they fall into for each event
- I can only tell you which events they excel or do poorly in
- We can make all cards available on all players

I'd appreciate input from you on this one.

I would suggest just doing a preview (similar to your previous thread), and providing a "look" at each athletes' two or three best, and two or three worst events.

-Chas

I'd like to know as much as possible about myself, and have a vague sense of the others (i.e. what events are their strongest and weakest).

I'll ditto the max about self information and an overview for others.

So my vote would be for our characters information being PM'd to us (as detailed as you wish to make it) then a general overview to start the actual thread that talks about each athlete's positives and negatives.

It's in the post above yours:)