I had a short chat with Will Jones about RPGSports, the online competitive D&D event which was announced recently, and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about how the contest, which starts on November 10th, works.
Is RPGSports a team event, or is it geared at individuals?
It’s a team event! There are 16 players total with 4 on each team. A lot of these folks are from competitive eSports backgrounds and are newer to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, but boy have they been reading up! It’s been great to see the teams come together and support one another. Experienced players have been taking the time to sit down with the newer ones and give them advice. They’ve been getting together for practice games and honing the craft. The format may be competitive, but the team work we’ve seen before the game has even begun has made me incredibly proud to see.
What's the basic format of RPGSports? Do characters fight each other, or do groups compete against each other to achieve some sort of goal?
In this first tournament teams compete against one another in a Team Deathmatch style game of 4v4. We’ve heard a lot of requests to run “Dungeon runs” - eg. racing through the Tomb of Horrors to see which team can get through fastest. Different formats are absolutely on our radar for 2019.
What sort of challenges might participants be expected to face? What would the victory conditions look like?
Aside from facing off against the other team, you can expect to see deadly traps, environmental hazards and more. There’s an element of strategy in looking for & disabling traps, while evading the environmental hazards that enter the game as time passes by. The primary win condition is to eliminate all 4 enemy PCs at the same time. If there’s no winner at the end of the match time, we look to other statistics that our analysts are tracking to decide the winner, or can even go into overtime.
You mention a $5,000 prize. Is that the only prize, or are there smaller prizes also?
It’s winner takes all, I’m afraid! Oh, and the winning team gets a big gaudy trophy too. We had to have a trophy. Aside from that though we are sending all of the players dice, shirts and other swag just for taking part.
You changed name from DnDSports to RPGSports recently. What other RPGs do you plan to include?
The table is very open for other TTRPGs to be added to our roster. If anything, it’s a matter of narrowing down some of the games which would work best for RPGSports, rather than having to choose from a small selection. The audience have already suggested dozens of RPGs, but right now we’re focused on getting this first event right before planning too far in advance.
Is RPGSports a one-off event, or an ongoing thing?
We plan for this be an ongoing tournament format in 2019. We’ve been overwhelmed with requests to play and get involved, it’s been incredible. There are even gaming stores interested in taking part in some kind of larger league. All of this is obviously very exciting, but it’s not something we want to dive into without proper structure. You can expect to hear more details from us in the coming year!
When using 5E D&D, do you have a list of pregenerated characters? How many, and what classes and races are covered?
There are 15 Pregenerated characters which have been limited to PHB content for this first tournament. One of the reasons for this is to not overwhelm some newer gamers, while the other is for balance. Giving our team control of the pregens has allowed us to make sure there’s no super overpowered meta build!
The format also features a pick/ban phase which allows teams to ban out a potentially powerful class.
We’ve got a good range of the races & classes in there, and it’s up to the teams to assess which Pregens are the best and how to best utilise their toolset.
Do you already have participants? How would a potential competitor enter?
For this first tournament the participants are already selected for the event, but in the future we definitely see an application process being put in place. Again, that’s in our 2019 plans but we definitely want to make this accessible to the general public.
Is RPGSports a team event, or is it geared at individuals?
It’s a team event! There are 16 players total with 4 on each team. A lot of these folks are from competitive eSports backgrounds and are newer to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, but boy have they been reading up! It’s been great to see the teams come together and support one another. Experienced players have been taking the time to sit down with the newer ones and give them advice. They’ve been getting together for practice games and honing the craft. The format may be competitive, but the team work we’ve seen before the game has even begun has made me incredibly proud to see.
What's the basic format of RPGSports? Do characters fight each other, or do groups compete against each other to achieve some sort of goal?
In this first tournament teams compete against one another in a Team Deathmatch style game of 4v4. We’ve heard a lot of requests to run “Dungeon runs” - eg. racing through the Tomb of Horrors to see which team can get through fastest. Different formats are absolutely on our radar for 2019.
What sort of challenges might participants be expected to face? What would the victory conditions look like?
Aside from facing off against the other team, you can expect to see deadly traps, environmental hazards and more. There’s an element of strategy in looking for & disabling traps, while evading the environmental hazards that enter the game as time passes by. The primary win condition is to eliminate all 4 enemy PCs at the same time. If there’s no winner at the end of the match time, we look to other statistics that our analysts are tracking to decide the winner, or can even go into overtime.
You mention a $5,000 prize. Is that the only prize, or are there smaller prizes also?
It’s winner takes all, I’m afraid! Oh, and the winning team gets a big gaudy trophy too. We had to have a trophy. Aside from that though we are sending all of the players dice, shirts and other swag just for taking part.
You changed name from DnDSports to RPGSports recently. What other RPGs do you plan to include?
The table is very open for other TTRPGs to be added to our roster. If anything, it’s a matter of narrowing down some of the games which would work best for RPGSports, rather than having to choose from a small selection. The audience have already suggested dozens of RPGs, but right now we’re focused on getting this first event right before planning too far in advance.
Is RPGSports a one-off event, or an ongoing thing?
We plan for this be an ongoing tournament format in 2019. We’ve been overwhelmed with requests to play and get involved, it’s been incredible. There are even gaming stores interested in taking part in some kind of larger league. All of this is obviously very exciting, but it’s not something we want to dive into without proper structure. You can expect to hear more details from us in the coming year!
When using 5E D&D, do you have a list of pregenerated characters? How many, and what classes and races are covered?
There are 15 Pregenerated characters which have been limited to PHB content for this first tournament. One of the reasons for this is to not overwhelm some newer gamers, while the other is for balance. Giving our team control of the pregens has allowed us to make sure there’s no super overpowered meta build!
The format also features a pick/ban phase which allows teams to ban out a potentially powerful class.
We’ve got a good range of the races & classes in there, and it’s up to the teams to assess which Pregens are the best and how to best utilise their toolset.
Do you already have participants? How would a potential competitor enter?
For this first tournament the participants are already selected for the event, but in the future we definitely see an application process being put in place. Again, that’s in our 2019 plans but we definitely want to make this accessible to the general public.
