The Rules of the Brawl:

The Tavern Brawl is a community-run team tournament where Mercenary Bands face off against each other in matches and try to finish the Round Robin with the best record in order to advance to the Playoffs and eventually the Finals. A Mercenary Band is comprised of five Heroes, represented by one of each class (Fighter, Ranger, Wizard, Cleric, and Thief). Each Mercenary Band may only have one of each Hero represented.

Any Brawler (that means you reading, the pilot) may only have one dedicated Hero at a time for the Tavern Brawl tournament. The selected Hero may only join one Mercenary Band. 

Every week, each player will participate in a 3-game asynchronous match versus a player from another Band. The Band results will be tracked and the best teams will advance to the playoffs at the end of the Round Robin!

Recruiting:

Anyone may volunteer to be a Daredevil (Leader) of a Mercenary Band. The Daredevil will compete in the Brawl and recruit 4 other unique players (Brawlers) not involved in any other Bands. Recruitment will be done during a draft event in a snake draft style, with each Daredevil taking turns to choose available players from the player pool, with the draft order determined via randomization beforehand. More details on the draft will be provided after the participating players have been finalized.

Heroes will start the brawl at level 3, with as close to 0 XP as possible, gaining XP and leveling up as they proceed in the Brawl. Brawling Heroes may not be used to play games outside of the Brawl until the Tavern Brawl season is finished. We recommend creating a brand new Hero for this event and leveling it up to level 3 in preparation. Note: You need to have the full version of the game as you’ll be required to level your character up past level 3!

Each Mercenary Band must have a unique name assigned to it, as does each Hero taking part in the Brawl. Players are more than welcome to provide a background story for their Heroes and/or Mercenary Bands, although this is not mandatory. Check out the dedicated Roleplay-channel for this on the Realms Rising discord server!

Brawl Format:

The Brawls will take place weekly, and after the winner of each match reports the results, they will be updated on the Tavern Scoreboard. Each Brawl will consist of ten players (two Mercenary Bands consisting of five heroes each) who pair up into five individual matches. 

 

Below you can see an example round between two teams from Season 1 of the Round Robin-style Tavern Brawl tournament to get an idea of the format (The Hand won this Round 4-1):

Determining Matchups:

After Bands are paired up against each other, Merc Band 1 will elect their first Hero for Match A. Merc Band 2 then decides on which of their Heroes take Match A. Then in response Merc Band 2 elects a Hero for Match B and Merc Band 1 elects one of their Heroes to Match B, and so on back and forth until all the pairings are completed. 

  • Each Match is a set of 3 games. 
  • All 3 games are played in every match, and whoever wins more games will win the match. 
  • Players must play out the third game even if the match has already been decided (this allows all heroes to earn more experience and helps with tie-breakers). 
  • Players are not allowed to concede before turn 11 so full XP is always awarded.

If there is a problem finishing all 3 games, contact the Brawlmaster for a ruling.

Results must be entered into a Google Form for tracking results 

by the Winner promptly at the end of their match

Please take screenshots of your match-results in case there is a dispute or misunderstanding in the results posting. Failure to provide proof of outcomes upon request could result in a draw or loss for the game/match.

Playing Out Games:

Matches are played in asynchronous games, with the paired players (Brawlers) challenging one another for a total of three games. The players can choose to play all 3 games simultaneously or consecutively after the previous game finishes, as long as the players can finish all 3 games within one week. The “default” format has players play their tavern brawl match games one at a time, unless they both agree to play multiple games simultaneously. In some cases, playing all games simultaneously in order to finish within the time limit should be considered.

Both Brawlers are responsible to finish their Match (3 games) within one week. Failing to do so will result in a warning for both players involved, and it will be at the discretion of the Brawlmaster to declare a winner of the Match or declare the Match a draw. If the Brawl would result in a draw because of this happening, the two Daredevils face off in a single winner-takes-all-realtime-game. Players that receive multiple warnings may be excluded from current and/or future events after discussing the issue.

At the end of the week, all Brawls are tallied and those Mercenary Bands emerging victorious out of the majority of their matches take the win. During a season, each Mercenary Band will have to face every other Mercenary Band of their group in a Brawl once (Round-Robin-Tournament). At the end of the season, playoffs will be held among the leading Mercenary Bands, determining this season’s champions. The number of playoff-spots will depend on the number of overall teams participating.

Dealing with scheduling issues:

Brawls can pause for a week, if the majority of the Daredevils agree on it and the Brawlmaster does not have any objections.

Brawlers are fixed for each season. In special cases like sickness or vacation, a one-time-substitute can be brought in. This has to be brought to the attention of the Brawlmaster asap. The substitute Brawler will have to provide a Hero of the same class and level as the Brawler that is absent.

Additional Considerations:

Each Daredevil is responsible for their team’s timely report of results.

Any problem that can be solved between players in agreement can and should be settled in that way. If no agreement can be found, players should contact the Brawlmaster to resolve the issue. 

The ruling of the current Brawlmaster on any rule or any aspect of this tournament is final.

If the Brawlmaster is competing in the event:

Whenever a decision has to be made concerning a situation where the Brawlmaster is directly involved, the decision will be made by a council of those Daredevils, whose teams are not part of said situation.

Discord Communications:

As noted above, Discord (a free communications service) is not required to participate in the Brawl, but it makes communicating with teammates and following along with the league action much more interesting! Join the Realms Rising Discord and check out the channels dedicated especially to the Brawl. All Daredevils must be part of the Realms-Rising-Discord for organizational reasons.

A special note on fair-play and code of conduct:

– This is supposed to be a fun event for the community, so be nice to one another. Everyone can get salty for having bad luck but try not to be a sore loser or a bad (gloating) winner. Friendly trash talk and jabs are absolutely okay of course, but keep it civil. Any form of verbal abuse will not be tolerated.

– If you feel like you have been treated unfairly, or have any suspicions, talk to the Brawlmaster first before doing anything else.

– Don’t use your Brawl-Heroes outside of the Brawl until the current season is finished.

Work to complete your games in a timely manner. If a game times out it will be at the discretion of the Brawlmaster to declare a winner of the match.