The Masters' Rules

The Tournament Director, goldfinger0303, may act other than in accordance to these rules, if he judges this to be the best course of action.

If a certain situation is not provided for in these rules, a unanimous agreement between the players and the consent of the Tournament Director will be sufficient to act as the players wish.

Games:

Each player plays seven games, meeting every other player exactly once and playing every country exactly once in the process. The games will be called “[Year] Masters Round[Round Number], Game [Game Number]” and start on or around the first of each month. Each game will have a 36 hour phase length, will be of winner-takes-all type and will have a buy-in of 5. If there is something incorrect in how the game is set up, it should be cancelled and restarted, and will not count towards the tournament. In order to ensure that games start on time, players may be forced into the games by the TD. All games will start out as gunboat so that negotiations cannot happen until countries are switched. Once countries are shuffled and press is enabled, the game will remain paused and it is up to the players to unpause it.

Each player is responsible for ensuring he/she is able to play in the game at the scheduled time. If they are unable to pay the bet, then they may be disqualified from the tournament, and a replacement found to compete it in their place.

If a player is unable to continue playing in the tournament for some reason other than a lack of points, they should email webdipmod@gmail.com to let me know, and then can be removed from the tournament and replaced. If any player simply drops out without warning, unless there are extenuating circumstances, they will be disqualified from the next iteration of all tournaments. A second drop-out offense will lead to the player being banned from playing in tournaments run by the WebDiplomacy Site again.

Substitutions will happen immediately if a player requests to be removed from the tournament, so as to keep play competitive. Any solos achieved by a player who has not had control over his country for the full course of the game will only be rewarded with 0.5 points. Substitutes shall not have to pay the 50 point entrance fee other players do.

Pauses:

If a player will be unable to play for a week or less, they may request a pause, stating when they need it until. All other players must grant this pause. If it is of an urgent nature, contact the TD who will force pause the game. When the date of return has been reached, players should un-pause within 48 hours of the first time they log onto the site. If a player requires a pause for longer than a week, the other players have the option not to grant the pause, and so the player should find a sitter. In the case of moderators, because they need another moderator to sit their account, if they need a longer pause, they are entitled to it.

If a player requires a pause over when a game is due to start, they should email webdipmod@gmail.com to warn me of the fact. However, due to the length of the tournament, delayed starts are frowned upon and players are encouraged to find someone willing to sit their account.

NMRs:

If a player NMRs, no matter what the circumstances, the game should be continued from the position reached, unless everyone in the game wishes to roll-back, restart the game or perform some sort of rectifying operation (e.g. replaying the turn with an agreed set of moves for the NMRing player).

Under no circumstances will wait-for-orders mode be enabled throughout this tournament. After an NMR, the game will be paused and the offending player will be contacted by the TD. If in two phase lengths (3 days) the player has not responded, they will be removed from the tournament. If a player NMR's, they will be docked up to 10% of their points for each offense. Multiple NMR's is grounds for removal from the tournament, at the TD's discretion.

Under no circumstances will the TD pause a game before an NMR.

To encourage quality substitutes, if they take over a small position (>5 SC's) and are eliminated from the game, they will message the TD before their final disbands phase. They will be removed from the game and the original player (who was removed from the tournament) will be subbed back in so that the loss and GR penalty falls on them.

To help prevent NMR's, Reliability Ratings (RR) will be used to screen incoming participants. Anyone with an RR above 95% will automatically be allowed in. Those with an RR between 90% and 95% will be screened. Those who have an RR below 90% will not be allowed entry to the tournament, unless absolutely necessary.

Draws and Stalemate Lines:

If a 17 centre or more stalemate line has been held by a player or group of players for 2 years, they may email webdipmod@gmail.com, and providing the stalemate line is valid, they may demand a draw in the game.

Scoring:

Points will be scored by solo wins only, each solo scoring a single point. The position is determined by the number of points a player has at the end of the tournament. If there is a tie, it is broken first by who you won solos against - looking at the sum of the points of the players beaten in the solos, a higher position being awarded to the player who beat better opposition (This is represented by the "Strength of Schedule" category) - and then by seeing how many draws each player has achieved.

Civil Disorder:

If a player enters civil disorder, they will be kicked from the tournament, and suspended from the next iteration as explained above. The games will be paused and the player replaced by a new entrant.

TGM Champions' Trophy Qualification:

The two highest positions in the Masters’ will qualify for the TGM Champions’ Trophy.

Points Awards

As an added incentive, there will be a Points award to be handed out as follows. Each participant in the tournament will pay a 50 point entrance fee to fund the prize pot.

1400 -- Champion

700 -- 2nd Place

350 -- 3rd Place