~ Bards ~

Description

This a very simple game where you can battle against other Bards for control of the #1 ranking or battle against the Mighty Computer to accumulate points and hone your skills.

A player can win by either killing their opponent (meaning that their opponent's HP is 0), or by their opponent surrendering.

If the battle is going awry, it is often best to surrender. You will lose points by surrendering, but not as many as if you are killed. If you happen to surrender when your HP is low and you get killed during the same turn that you surrender, then unfortunately you are killed in battle and your surrender is not recognized.

Playing against the Computer is not as easy as it may first appear. First off, the reward is only 4 points for winning. This is because you are fighting against a Computer for goodness sakes - you are expected to win! But, don't let that fool you. The Computer is no mindless fool. The Computer can often play very cleverly, and has been known to bring a Bard's score down to zero because the Bard underestimated the machine. Also, please note that the Computer never surrenders, but will fight to the death each and every time.

Killed by Computer - 10 points deducted.
Surrender to Computer - 6 points deducted.
Win - 4 points gained.

Killed by Opponent - 10 points deducted if your score is similar, less points deducted if your score is lower, and more points deducted if your score is higher.
Surrender to Opponent - 6 points deducted if your score is similar, less points deducted if your score is lower, and more points deducted if your score is higher.
Win by a kill - 10 points gained if your score is similar, more points gained if your score is lower, and less points gained if your score is higher.
Win by a surrender - 6 points gained if your score is similar, more points gained if your score is lower, and less points gained if your score is higher.
Double surrender - No points gained or deducted for either player.
Double death - 5 points deducted from each player. This is also true if the other player is the Computer. Although deducting 5 points from the Computer is actually quite a joke!
Deception - It is worth pointing out that when 2 opposing Bards are at very different levels skill-wise, and one defeats the other in battle, no points will be gained or lost for either Bard. This is to prevent a devious Bard from using his Bard powers to create other versions of himself, then defeating those lesser versions while he himself continuously becomes stronger. For such Bards there is a limit to that kind of madness and a price to pay in the end!

Defensive Moves

Shield - Doesn't defend against magic, but perfectly timed against a regular attack will cost the attacker 4 HP.
Disrupt - Rendered useless against a regular attack. If used against a magic attack, it will cause the magic attack to backfire upon the caster, costing him 6 HP. When a healing is disrupted, a player cannot gain HP.
Heal - Heals you for 1 HP. You can still get disrupted or take damage during the turn in which you are healing, so it not wise to heal too often. The maximum amount of health you can attain is 22 HP.

Offensive Moves

Attack - Deals 3 points of damage to opponent.
Magic - Deals 4 points of damage to opponent. When both Bards use magic during the same turn, the magic spells cancel out and no damage is done.

_{A note about challenging...}

When challenging an opponent, keep in mind that an open challenge can be accepted by any Bard in the system. A specific challenge to a Bard, however, can only be extended to one of the top Bards who's name appears on the list. Also, when in a battle, an opponent has 4 days to make a move, otherwise that opponent will be automatically forced to surrender by the system.

Sometimes you will not be able to accept an opponent's challenge. The reason for this is because you are already in too many games. Finish one of your battles and then you will be able to accept the challenge. In regards to making challenges to other Bards, whether it be an open challenge or a specific challenge, you will only be able to make these kinds of challenges if your are in less than 3 battles. This is to prevent a novice Bard from using up all his battles in challenges to other Bards. This is actually a good thing because if other Bards are taking their sweet time (as some of them most often do), you will still be able to challenge the Computer and gain some experience that way.