FAQ

"OCT" is short for Original Character Tournament. In an OCT, participants enter an original character and a comic beginning their story into the tournament you’ve chosen.  

In each round of the tournament you will be matched with another participant and their character. Both contestants then draw a comic (or write a story/whatever is allowed in that specific OCT) where their characters interact or fight. 

Usually one of them wins and continues onwards in the tournament, with the entries being judged by the judges/host(s) of the tournament.

This is just a basic description of what an OCT is. Rules on characters, media types, and tournament rules can vary greatly.

A more in-depth guide about OCTs by ChaosComposer can be found here. 

Hosting can be very different to competing but can be just as rewarding! It can be difficult, and having some knowledge of how OCTs are run will help when constructing your own and finding judges.

Make sure to have clear presentation. Making information about your tournament easy to find will help potential competitors see if they're interested, and help with keeping things organised.

Currently we haven't got any extensive resources about organising a tournament, but you are more than welcome to ask on the Newscast Discord.

Started in 2021, the OCT Newscast was made by TophatGeo with the intent to document previous Original Character Tournaments and provide people a resource to find up-and-coming tournaments to join or help with.

Check the OCT Newscast resource section of this page for more info on what we do and where you can find us.

You can find a list of the OCT Newscast Resources on the About Page and the OCT Archive Page

The Newscast's Open OCT List can be found on Currently Open Tournaments Page. The Discord and Bluesky are also updated with brief information about new tournaments, but this page has the most amount of detail.

The folks over at Open OCTs also have a database and spreadsheet for open tournaments.

Oculama and Entervoid also host OCTs and original character battles.

Unfortunately due to "OCT" being a commonly used acronym outside this community and Original Character Tournaments being on splintered different social media sites, it can sometimes be difficult to find tournaments through a Google search. 

Make sure to spread the word to others if you're running a tournament! Word of mouth can be incredibly powerful!