Welcome to the Baptism of Fire, your nation’s first experience in World Cup football! Electrum and I are thrilled to be hosting the landmark 75th edition of this tournament, and couldn’t be more excited to host each of your soccer teams in our own countries. The Baptism of Fire is a very special competition, and we’re looking forward to hosting you all.
The Baptism of Fire, or BoF, is unique because no nation may enter it more than once - ever. Thus the BoF serves to give newcomers a chance to earn a very small rank-boost before entering the World Cup qualifiers for the first time, but more importantly, it gives them a chance to experience sports roleplay on the NS forums and learn the ropes.
This is the ‘In Character’ (IC) thread for this cycle’s BoF, where you’ll get information on nation's rosters, the host countries and venues, and the results. It’s also where you can post your own roleplays and rosters! On the other hand, ‘Out of Character’ (OOC) chatter will happen in the world cup discussion thread. That’s where you can discuss the tournament and ask questions - otherwise, feel free to telegram myself or Electrum.
Format
The Baptism of Fire will consist of a single-round robin group stage leading into a knockout bracket starting with a round of sixteen. In the group stage, if teams are tied on points, they will be separated based first on goal difference, then head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference, and finally, if the teams are totally even, an IC coin-flip. When the group stage ends, we will take a one day break before moving on to the knockout rounds.
Each day, both Electrum and I will post an RP cutoff. This doesn’t mean that you can’t post after the cutoff, it’s just to mark when roleplays will be counted, since roleplaying the tournament will provide a bonus that boosts your team’s performance. To understand RP bonus, you need to know that we are using a program called a ‘scorinator’ to create the results for the tournament. Scorinators create realistic results using three inputs: roleplay, ranking and randomness. As all teams start with the same rank, the only difference in scores comes from roleplay and randomness. The scorinator we’ll be using is called xkoranate.
Everyone is highly encouraged to RP. The more people engage with the tournament and with their competitors, the more fun the whole thing is. So don’t worry about writing for a grade, just have fun! All your posts before one cutoff will be counted as one for the purposes of RP bonus, and we will weigh quality over quantity.
Introduction to Roleplay
The #1 best resource to learn how sports roleplay works is the Guide to Sports Roleplaying. That’s the first place to look if you have a question that isn’t about this tournament specifically. If you have a question that’s not answered there, again, feel free to send us a telegram or ask on the WCDT.
The first thing you’ll want to do for this competition is to post a roster. A roster provides information about how you’ll be participating in the tournament - your style modifier and roleplay permissions. It also includes information about your team so that your opponents know who they are writing about.
There are two critical pieces of OOC information to put in your roster. The first is your style modifier. Your style modifier is a number from -5.000 to +5.000 which describes how your team plays, whether it is more defensive or aggressive respectively. A highly defensive team will allow fewer goals, but will also score fewer of its own. An attacking team will score more often, but also have a weaker defense. There’s no advantage to picking one or the other, but you can let us know what you would like your style modifier to be.
The second important thing to put in your roster is roleplay permissions. These are usually in a box, and usually a list of yes/no statements, something like:
My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Godmod scoring events: Yes/No
RP injuries to my players: Yes/No
Godmod injuries to my players: Yes/No
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes/No
Hand out red cards to my players: Yes/No
Godmod other events: Yes/No
Godmodding means roleplaying rare/unrealistic scenarios whether it's a half-pitch bicycle kick or the ref accidentally kicking it in. You may also decide if you want to allow your opponent to roleplay player injuries or give them cards without your permission. The final overarching godmodding permission is a catch-all to describe the amount of realism you’re aiming for. Do you want to allow events that are highly unlikely in real life?
The IC portion of your roster is all up to your imagination. Who plays on your team? It’s good to provide at least names and positions for your players, but you can go so much deeper, providing as much background as you like about your players and anyone else on the team. Rosters often cover teams’ kits, starting formations, home stadiums, and whatever else you’d like to add. Information about your nation itself can also be nice, if there’s something people should know that probably won’t come up in a roleplay otherwise.
For sample rosters, please see this thread from the last World Cup.
Once you've posted a roster, you can start to post roleplays! Roleplays can be anything you like, although ideally related to the tournament somehow. Match reports, stories, video essays, drawings, collaborations - anything goes!
Draw
Groups A, B, and C will play in Reçueçn and groups D, E, and F will play in Electrum.
Group A
Brookstation
Qzvarkian Qaz
Shreekaristan
Innovative
Central Antarctic Peninsula
Group B
Kannap
Revlona
Atheara
Galeanna
Talkasa
Group C
Marigred
Gergary
Sendhang
Tolanka
Bunkaiia
Group D
Naufre
The united states of sonindia
Aut-Ves-Nat
Eshialand
Islands Of Ventro
Group E
Deniria
St Trinians
Srednjaci
Istoreya
Le Choix
Group F
Grandistania
Bigtopian Isles
Sahuarita
Montaña Verde
Suimede
Schedule and cutoffs - all days and times are in UTC (North Americans, this is the night before.)
Reçueçn will cut off at 01:00 UTC and Electrum at 09:00 UTC.
Matchday 1 - 17th April
Matchday 2 - 18th April
Matchday 3 - 19th April
Matchday 4 - 20th April
Matchday 5 - 21st April
Break day - 22nd April
Round of 16 - 23rd April
Quarterfinals - 24th April
Semifinals - 25th April
Break day - 26th April
Third place playoffs and final - 27th April
Good luck!