This report is going to be a bit shorter as I update projects in motion and highlight administrative updates to the ACC on the backend/coding side of things.

And yet, somehow, it became a big report. Oops. Lots of information to be found here as usual. Please make sure you read this report before submitting or asking questions. Thanks.

Reminder: While the Character Sheet System was designed for all kinds of fiction-related activity in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, it is my dual-job as a member of the Voice team and Combat Master to assist with the development of the System in all of its functions. The ACC pays closer attention to smaller details and intricacies of the CS System, while Fiction and Run-Ons have a bit more flexibility in the differences between +1 in a Skill and +2 in a Skill. As such, my answers to questions may vary when it comes to ACC/non-ACC use.

ACC - Yearly Combat Master Review

So...this is a bit overdue as I’ve been busy elsewhere, but I did want to update the Brotherhood on how the ACC has grown over the past year or so that I’ve been running it. Originally, Sarin, Mav, and Shad tasked me with a few things, and I invented a few of of my own as well. Here is a link to a stub from my Combat Master Application where you can see some of my ideas that I had proposed back then. I’ve always kept these in the back of my mind, but it’s humbling to look back a year later and see where you started from. Here are some of the milestone projects I highlighted as needing improvement.

1. Character Sheet 2.0 Revamp - Completed
2. Species Wikipedia - Completed
3. Lightsaber Forms 2.0 - Completed
4. Weapons Selection Guide - Completed
5. Updated ACC Qualification Exams - Completed
6. Updated ACC Guide -- Completed

Beyond projects like these, one of the larger challenges proposed was to make the ACC more of a household name and more accessible to the membership. To make it less niche, and to have more members using it as a platform.

My strategy for this included the following:

1. Create Clear, Consistent, Transparent Documentation of Data

My main task as CM is to interpret the data available (the new canon material: movies, books, comics, and other source books) and make decisions and calls (with approval from the Voice, DGM, and Grand Master) on how best to integrate into our current Character Sheet System.

To that end, we have seen all of the pertinent information needed for understanding the Character Sheet System into two transparent locations: our Wikipedia, and the Character Sheet Database --known more commonly as C-D4WG. Skill and Force Power tables are neat and organized. Guidelines are updated regularly to keep pace with adapting changes. When someone points out something off, it gets fixed right away or in a timely manner.

All of this information is easily accessible to members of the Brotherhood, giving us an element of consistency that prevents misinformation that could lead to members not enjoying an activity such as the ACC. On top that, if a change is made, you guys are told about it. There are no hidden rules out secrets that only certain people know about the CSs/ACC. Everyone has access to the same information, and therefore we create the most level playing field as possible.

And while I may not have all the right answers all the time, the least I can do in my position is give you guys some kind of consistency across the board.

2. History for the ACC

One of the things Sarin had mentioned was wanting to build history for the ACC. With the closing and then re-opening we were given a clean slate to work with, so to speak. To that end, what I’ve tried to do is add more of a fictional meaning/grounding to the ACC Events and competitions. Rivalries was the first huge step for this. This involved making a “no-kill” clause so that members could focus more on a “I’ll get you next time, Gadget!” type of character-story building. We saw Rivalries form between prominent ACCers like Selika and Turel. We then added a fictional narrative to an otherwise simple Tournament which yielded positive feedback for the most part. Promoting these competitions in reports and on Telegram (announcing individual matches) also provided positive feedback.

To help continue with this approach, I have a rough outline of a Wikipedia page for the Grand Master’s Invitational Tournament. More on that in my next report, and you can bet that Rivalries and the Journeyman Tourney will get their own historical pages as well.

3. A Platform for Everyone

The biggest complaint about the ACC in all of its iterations has always been that it is a “niche” activity that only a small portion of the club engaged in, or at least a small group that had positive feelings towards it. With that in mind, we’ve maintained a diverse Judging staff for the ACC, while also bringing in members from all different units and backgrounds to work on Development projects. CS 2.0 was as much a club-developed project as it was a Voice/CM project. The discussions on TG raged for hours, and the information mined from those discussions helped give us what we have now.

Easier and quicker means of Qualification for members. A second Exam that teaches you HOW to read an ACC match. Quick turn around times on matches. More in depth detail on Grading/Feedback on a given ACC match. Better language used to communicate. Understanding of people’s time constraints with the focus on “finishing” matches instead of letting them time out or fade. We created the Funderdome halls for more “fun” kinds of matches like Dance Battles. We are adding more Venues for members to explore in their fights. We are slowly progressing with Scenario-based prompts within the ACC to give members yet another way to explore competitive head-to-head writing. All of this, and more, are ongoing efforts to make the ACC a universal platform for the DB.

To that end, I’ve made it a point to do all of the things I’ve mentioned above. Each project helps work towards this overarching goal.

4. Metrics

While I’m not disillusioned to thinking that everything has been perfect, the general feedback I’ve received over the past year points to major progression. I really don’t like numbers, but they can be very useful when you need to analyze how things have progressed on a core level. To that end, I wanted to share some stats with you guys that James was kind enough to pull for me.

1. As you can see, we significantly increased the amount of ACC matches from 2014 to 2015, with a larger percentage of those matches being completed!

2. We’re only 4 full months into 2016, and we’re floating at a healthy +50% match completion.

Here’s to the continued growth of the ACC as a Brotherhood platform! Thank you, everyone, who has participated, competed, written and critiqued things over the past year. None of this happens without each of you putting the time in. Any feedback, please send things over to the acc hotline: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaking of growth and awesomeness, James has been hard at work making auto-magic and coding fixes for the ACC. After meeting him in person the other week, I can fully vouch for the fact that he is not only a Code Monkey extraordinaire, but also a really awesome human with a great family and THE cutest little kid ever.

Coding Tweaks

• Fixed issue with Elo scoring being calculated (More on this below).

• Venues not active/in use will no longer show up on the selector when creating a Custom match. (This is mostly a YAY for the CM, but also good for people who set up matches through direct challenge.)

• Markdown will now translate to Qualification Pass/Fail emails. (This makes giving detailed feedback easier for the ACC Staff as well as making it easier to read for the members taking the exams. YAY.)

• Email Notification / Match Close Out mechanics updated. (More on this below)

• Enabled the ability to filter/search Character Sheet Administration pages. (This makes things 100x easier for us to deploy and make fixes from the administrative side of the database. Thank you James <3)

Elo Rankings

This has come up a few times, so I’ll talk about it really quickly. The ACC does not have a “Society” like the GMRG or Shadow Academy. There were ideas for it originally, but it was ultimately decided that the ACC would roll into the Fiction Society Inquisitorius.

What we do have is the Elo Rankings. Don’t ask me to actually explain how Elo is calculated. Anytime it is brought up, James links me to a super complex algorithm—

—yes, that one. Like I said, it uses a fancy algorithm to determine your score based on number of matches and victories.

That said, here are the current Top 5 Elo Ranked ACCers in the Brotherhood.

(Come back, Shad. I miss u.)

ACC Match Extensions

So, for anyone that has been involved in the ACC over the past year, you probably have talked to me on the side or through email if you’ve run into time-constraints in real life. People get sick, busy, and otherwise indisposed.

Here is a technical breakdown of how Notifications will be sent out:

1. At match start/opponent post: "The match has started"/ "X has posted" mails (already in place)
2. A reminder mail halfway through their deadline that they're at the 50% mark (already there)
3. Reminder mail 24 hours prior to deadline, asking them to respond within that 24h if they want an extension, reply-to header set to ACC staff mailer
4. At time-out moment, match automatically closes, and won't be reopened unless in special circumstances

This is to prevent giving the MAA staff more things to deal with when adjusting CI’s based on a match being reopened. The coding does allow for matches to be reopened, but we want to take a firm stance on making sure that matches get extended before this happens. I only want to have to re-open a match if it is an emergency scenario.

So, in short, when you see the 24 hour warning email, make sure to reply with your wishes to extend a match. If you do not, the match will end in a Time Out and I will not reopen it unless there is a very, very, good reason provided.

While I’m easily accessible on Telegram, email still remains the quickest way to get administrative action handled. By doing this, it also allows one of my staff to assist with a task, ensuring maximum turnaround time on requests.

ACC Grading / Qualification Exam — New Policy Reminder

Just to reiterate what I stated in my last report, the ACC Staff is now working under the following policies in regards to turn around time.

• ACC Matches (outside of organized Competitions) will be graded within 10 days of completion. If your match takes longer than this time period, contact the ACC Staff to follow up.

• ACC Qualifications will be graded within 72 Hours of being submitted. If your Qualification takes longer than this time period, please alert the ACC Staff immediately to follow up.

• If you have questions regarding Character Sheet Mechanics and how they relate to Character Builds and usage in the ACC, please make sure you are emailing [Log in to view e-mail addresses]

Martial Arts Forms / Guide ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯

After a long discussion by both the ACC Staff and Voice Staff teams with the Grand Master, we’ve narrowed down the final steps for the updated Martial Arts Forms 2.0 implementation. We’ve decided to, in accordance with other changes to get more in line with Canon, adjust some of the forms into more noteable means. Verdanaian, for example, has been changed to Sliding Hands. This is the Star Wars version of Akido (reversals/defense) mixed with some Tai Chi. Each form will have a mention of what real-life form they most resemble. Each will also include (as with Lightsaber Forms) buzzwords associated with writing each form.

This is my outline design for how I want the Martial Arts Forms to be presented. Once completed/approved, these will be converted to to the Wikipedia and incorporated into the rest of the Character Creation Guide, which was also recently cleaned up and updated (with more to come!).

Once completed, I’ll talk more about the changes we’ve made. For now, continue to operate using the existing Hand to Hand documentation. Thanks!

Aspects

So, I’ve been working on Aspects for the DB Character Sheet system since they first were developed. I have written or revised more of them than I can count. To that end, I decided to update the “Aspects” stub on the Character Creation Guide. You can view the updated article here which should help with creating or writing Custom Aspects for your character.

Venues Update — ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯

I’m almost done with the pre-existing Venues that have been sitting in my inbox for a while. Thank you to A’lora for setting these up, I’m just proofing/editing them before throwing them into the database. This should be completed shortly within the next two weeks. I’ve had some awesome volunteer work from member K’tana (Oh, haiii) with making sure the venues are proofed to the best of their ability before publishing.

(There will always be typos or small things that slip by. If you spot something, send me an email and politely point them out. It will get updated/fixed in short order.)

Here is an example of a new venue based on Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Jakku: Fallen Starship

When submitting an ACC Venue, make sure you include the following.

1. [Planet Name] - [Area/Venue name]
2. Describe what the venue would like in a travel catalogue. You want to touch on the climate, temperature and weather patterns, as well as other unique elements like landmarks or formations like caves or temples. What kind of things would you run into on said planet? Wild life (Rancors, Loth cats, R.O.U.S) and dangers (quicksand, poison ivy, dark energy)?
3. Do not include language like “you notice that you are not alone as footsteps appear behind you.” We are working on Scenario Venues separately, and want to keep Venues as objectively descriptive as possible.
4. Include images that help display what the Venue looks like. Credit your source. (A’lora will convert the images into our Unified Template and cite the source for proper image credit).

All Venues will be reviewed by the Combat Master before being published. You can find a list of our current Venues here.

Other Development Projects

Here is a quick snapshot of the other projects I am overseeing and working on:

• NPC Examples Character Sheets (like Finn) -- Work in Progress
• Non-Force User Disciplines -- Work In Progress

The Journeyman Tourney is underway, and has completed its first round! Here are a few words from the mastermind behind the Tournament, Alaris Jinn!

I am absolutely thrilled with the results of these matches so far. These Journeymen are performing absolutely admirably. We’re seeing well written matches, great justification, strong descriptive writing, and interesting endings. The Sweet Sixteen saw only two Timeouts, which is setting us up for a great second round. I am very proud of our competitors.

Those of you who have made it to the Elite Eight: congratulations! I cannot wait to see what your bring to the table in the second round. To those who did not, I want to thank you so much for participating in this event. I was very impressed with the work you brought to the table. You are proving that the future of the ACC and the Brotherhood at Large is very, very bright.

Congratulations to you all and I’ll see you again at the end of the next four matches!

-Alaris Jinn

As Alaris mentioned, only two matches ended as a result of Time Outs. This is the nature of timed events like the ACC. Time management is a big deal, and there is a difference between things we can control, and not control. As we get closer and closer to Vendetta/War season, it’s important for everyone to get into the habit of deadlines and timetables.

In the interest of transparency, for example, competitor Talis had a family emergency arise that forced him to travel where he did not have access to a computer or technology. He used a second extension (beyond the allotted one extension you are granted) that was approved by his opponent and myself (the Combat Master). In this case, we allowed the match to play out.

The second round will launch tonight following the posting of this report. A separate news post will be thrown up to discuss the matches in play.

Tips will be moved to the later half of the reports (meaning you should really read the news/updates on projects first). This week, I will reward the people who used the [Log in to view e-mail addresses] mailer to ask their CS/ACC related questions by answering them here. Clan Scholae Palpatinae wins the award for “listening to Wally’s requests”.

Cyris asks: Repeatedly in Force Power descriptions I see the mention of exhaustion. Is this a physical or mental exhaustion? Endurance obviously covers physical stamina, but I see no mention of mental stamina in the likes of intellect or resolve. As I am creating a character who relies heavily on amplification +5 to support his frail body through combat, I am trying to figure out how to best maximize his endurance

Answer: I’m going to try and break down some general misconceptions here, I think, by reminding people of how the Core Attributes work.

Endurance is not just stamina (like a meter). It is also the rate at which your physical attributes (Might, Athletics) wear down over time and under strain.

Resolve is the rate at which your mental attributes (Intellect, Perception) wear down over time and under strain.

Using the Force takes a toll on both the mind and body. When we say exhaustion, it is probably more mental than physical. Yoda is the perfect example of using Amplification to support a "frail" body. Yoda isn't anymore physically slow or tired after fighting Doku, but you can see that he clearly was using the Force and it made him tired.

The problem is that everyone is looking for Hit Points and Mana. We do not do Hit Points or Mana. So, most of the time we’re asking that you use your best judgement to create a realistic suspension of disbelief. There is no ONE stat that governs anything. That's the point.

If you’re asking me at gunpoint for a blunt answer to how the Force would tax a person, I tend to lean towards mental straining and look at a combination of Resolve (how long your mind can keep your Intellect and Perception a float), Intellect (form plans, strategy, coordinate, figure out how to get out of a trap), and Perception (surroundings/being able to react to them).

Lexiconus asks: Say if I were to use Suppression at +4 and be a Defender Discipline, could I use Control Self on others in a harmful way? E.g. Xantros is on the ground and Lexiconus comes over and starts to make his heart skip beats, causing panic attacks, or cause his lungs to shut down. Is that a possibility at this level?

Answer: Synergy effects "Allies" only. Hence the term "Synergy" as its a support-mechanic for willing teammates connected through the Force . This would prevent exactly what you were trying to do.

Reiden asks: Who is the best Doge? Blade-doge, or Wally-doge?

Answer:

Art by Zehsaa Hysh

You can find an archive of my previous Combat Master reports HERE. These reports contain a lot of helpful information, so if you’re a new or returning member, I’d suggest leafing through them.

ACC Links

• Species Wiki
• Disciplines Wiki
• Aspects Wiki
• Skills Wiki
• Force Powers Wiki
• Feats Database -- CDawg

ACC Exams

• ACC Combat Studies
• ACC Qualification Exam

That’s all for now. Look for the next news post announcing the start of Round II of the Journeyman Tourney!

In a fit of selfishness, I had a new commission done of Marick in his Combat Master attire. It also features the ghost/spirit of his former Cythraul, Kira.

The artist is OlenMinko on Deviant Art and she does amazing quality work at a very afforadble rate. I highly recommend contacting her if you’re looking for character art!

Anyway, that’s all for now.