1: The world isn't set in any continuity of YGO. Anime, manga or otherwise, this is a completely separate universe. Therefor, there's way less restrictions on what cards are plot-important and, thus, allowed to be wielded by the player characters. Still, there's a few ones we think are important to leave out;
The God cards, the Wicked Gods and the Sacred Beasts. These cards are gods, anti-gods and corrupted gods respectively, and we believe they were a big enough deal to be a big deal in this universe too. Deal. Big deal.
Z-Arc: The Dimension Dragons are all regular cards, but their fusion has a legendary status in this world. It's unbelievably rare, and the few who hold a copy have a hard time summoning him.
Exodia: Exodia and his variants are more like a collector's item in this world. The few that have it don't like to play it, preferring to use a deck more tailored to them.
2: Duels are scripted and in a 4000 LP format. You will be expected to write up a skeleton first (here is an example from one of Ammokkx' past RPs) and then either write out the full duel via PM, Google docs, Pirate-pad or play-by-post in the thread.
3: If one of the dorms is taken, nobody else is able to play that dorm. However, if multiple people compete for the same dorm before one of them is accepted, we pick the best one instead of the first one.
4: There won't be a set decklist, but you will be expected to give use at least a theme for your characters to follow and some example cards to make that theme clear.
5: Each player will be allowed to create up to 6 custom cards, but this is a player-locked number. If you give all your customs to your main character, you would not be able to make more for your NPC's. Also, you will be allowed to use Anime cards as long as you get permission from both Satoshi and Ammokkx. This is per individual card, not a general permission.
6: Both OCG and TCG cards can be used, and only cards that are banned on both lists aren't allowed to be used.
7: Links, Link related cards and Cyberse monsters are not allowed.
8: Turbo, Action and Speed Dueling are not a thing as of right now. We might consider Turbo and Action dueling if there's a high enough demand, however.
You third years in your final year it's time to prove yourself! Will you go pro alongside your friends, or will the competition surpass you?
The academy has existed for a hundred years now. It started as a simple, modest academy founded by Hideo Haseo, with the idea that friendly competition would improve people's will to become better duelists. He was right, as his legacy has made the academy successful even long after his passing. Show the world and the academy you are strong by taking said world by storm. When you graduate to become a professional duelist, don't forget the most important thing: enjoy yourself and hold no grudges!
Academy Rules
Dorm rules
Each dorm has a strict hierarchy and individual leaderboards. There is a strict ‘worst’ and ‘best’ duelist that transcends year of admission. From the bottom rank to the 6th rank any member can duel each other freely to gain or lose rank in a sort of ELO system, however, the top 5 becomes a strict hierarchy. Number 5 is the vanguard which the 6th ranked player at that time will have to beat to get admission in and become the next number 5. From there on, they have to beat each following rank to become champion. The third years are ranked in a separate bracket from the second and first years.
The ELO system refers to a point system where if you lose in a ranked challenge with your own dorm-mate, you lose points while the winner gains some. The more of a gap in skill, the less severe these points will shift if the one with the higher ranking wins. Of course, if they lose, the gain and loss would be huge. At the start of the year, the top 5 for the third years is decided by the 5 duelists with the most points at the end of the last year. If there was a tie, those duelists would have to duel each other until a winner is decided to determine their ranking.
Being inactive and not dueling causes you to lose points over time, however, this does not apply to the top 5 as they are not calculated with a point system (but the 5th best would start to be in case of a defeat, where they take over the points of the one who defeated them). The principal may issue a forced challenge, however, and refusing these causes you to suffer heavy penalties.
First and second-year students are not allowed to go outside of your dorm during nighttime without surveillance of at least a third-year student.
You have to wear your dorm uniform at all times unless you have an agreement with the teachers not to. Those who do not have an accessory with their dorm's emblem on it to easily identify them.
You can make use of your dorm's special privileges freely but are forbidden from partaking in other dorm's luxuries unless the academy needs to use it.
General
A global leaderboard is kept to track each dorm. Each dorm is assigned a rank with its own points, with all of them starting on equal ground. When one member of a dorm beats a member of the other in a ranked challenge, their ranking within their own dorms calculates a total that affects global ranking. Winning with a huge difference will make little impact and vice versa. People from higher years are also affect the system more than lower years. Ranked challenges have to be announced verbally, so the Duel Disk can record the challenge and have it count officially. For ranked duels between the top 5 of each dorm, it will always have to be a public duel that people watch for it to count. The lower end of the top 5 usually gathers the least amount of spectators while the champions garner the most, though this can vary depending on the charisma of the duelists.
There is a set 'Tournament' era within the academy, which happens about three times a year. This is a week without classes where students are encouraged to duel en masse, with each day featuring matches of the top-ranked duelists of each dorm. Changes to rankings are doubled within this period, with them serving as ‘exams’. Based on a duelist’s performance and the dorm’s overall ranking at the end of this period, students are awarded grades. The top 3 dorms also get accommodated depending on how successful they were, with preferential treatment going to them.
The Synchro and Xyz dorms share accomplishments with the dorm they are allied to. Ranking changes are shared between the two, so if one does poorly the other goes down as well. However, allying with a dorm usually leads to a great boon. Synchro and Xyz can't get first on their own, but they're rewarded by having both it and the allied dorm reach the top 3. Ranking in the top 3 for the first two exam periods with both allied dorms would give each of them a small %, a permanent boost to any further (positive) ranking changes. This means a lost duel will count for less and a won duel will count for more. This % doesn't go away if you break off the alliance for the next season, but both dorms get one so if you break an alliance they can apply the boost to another dorm and help them climb. The boost to rankings isn't very extreme, however, so it doesn't cause a massive imbalance and snowball effect. It's just something that makes it a little easier, but nothing you can rely on.
The end-of-year prize for Synchro and Xyz is that, if they manage to place second or third, they have admission to go to the same pro league as the winners...'s relegation tournaments. They'll have to prove themselves as a team in a separate circuit first to prove themselves as being worthy of the title of pro team, but this chance is still somewhat better than what the losers get (which would be starting from complete scratch). Winning at the end of the year will also give them and a possible allied dorm a prize pool of cards, with most of the split going to the winning Xyz or Synchro dorm.
Locations
Harmonia is set on a remote island off to the coast of Japan. It's not too large, but houses enough space to accommodate a student and teacher population of about 500 people. Most of the students who go here are Japanese and do speak the language, but it's not unheard of for a foreigner or two to sneak in. Foreigners aren't looked down upon in Harmonia, and their inclusivity is known world-wide. Locations on the island include:
Right at the center of the island is the big bad academy itself, Harmonia United! It’s length and three-story layout make it incredibly imposing at first glance. It has two towers on either edge, one black and one white, easily adding another story with their length. The academy itself has a multitude of facilities, though most of them are classrooms of some kind. The classrooms themselves are each dedicated to one particular subject. The third floor houses all of the teacher’s facilities, as well as the principal’s office at the very center. Students are generally not allowed to go up to the third floor without permission.
Each dorm is scattered around the island in a place best suited for them, there to enjoy the island’s luxuries. They are not unreasonably far from the academy at the center, but they are far enough to give each of them their own space to enjoy their remote parts of the island. Each dorm also has a special perk or facility dedicated to them. Each dorm also has access to a Duel Terminal machine, situated in the lounge. There, students can hone their Dueling skills with simulated duels against a virtual opponent.
Located to the north-east of the academy is a large, rocky cliff housing the Wind dorm at the top. Due to being the highest part of the academy there is a large staircase built off to the side of it to get up there, and the dorm catches the most wind out of any part of the island. Due to this, a windmill farm was placed near the Wind dorm to supply the academy with excessive energy. Due to the high amounts of it, a theme park was installed near the Wind academy containing various aerial-themed rides, from tornado-shaped shakers to jet-modeled roller coasters. The wind dorm itself is made up of a lot of round shapes to show the twisting ways the air can blow.
Off to the east of the academy, in between a cliff and a forest, is a large waterfall. The water dorm is placed next to it and the flowing river that escapes from its mouth. It’s one of the more relaxing locations of the academy, with the Water dorm being simple, but spacious. This space is needed for their in-door pool, which has three smaller pools dedicated to bubble bathing, a long tube slide and a moving, oval pool. The main pool is olympic-sized and has some of the best swimming equipment available. Their fresh water also gives them access to “Tropical Tuesday”, a weekly event where the dorm gets served various fruity and non-fruity drinks.
To the south-east of the academy is a large, open forest which houses the Earth dorm. The Earth dorm has a path leading to and from it so students don’t get lost on their way, but wandering into the forest can lead to you going missing if you’re not careful. Due to nature’s blessing, Earth is home to some of the freshest food in the entire academy, with home-grown vegetables and fruit being easily accessible. They are the most well-fed of the entire academy. Their dorm’s interior is made up almost entirely out of wooden furniture of excellent craftsmanship.
To the south-west of the academy lay the ruins of an ancient, long-forgotten city. Spirits roam the haunted landscape at night, kidnapping travellers to make them never be seen again... or at least, so the ghost stories go. The dark dorm is built central to these ruins, and the tall but broken down buildings cause the entire building to be in constant shade. It’s easily the most eerily silent out of any area in the academy, which lends itself nice to the local library. The Dark Dorm has a wide variety of books and students of the dorm can stay in it as long as they like, reading to their heart’s content.
To the far east of the academy is a skyscraper building laden with fancy lights as if it came from New Vegas. It’s home to none other than the Light dorm, who’s built into this multiple-story central of commerce, right on the top floor like a penthouse. The building contains shops of all kinds and every Light dorm member gets a discount in them, as well as having generally having the most luxury goods out of any dorm. They’ve got foreign chocolates, the newest phones, you name it! Their style is also out of this world, with the Light dorm being dressed the best out of any single dorm.
To the north-east of the island is a large, imposing volcano. Seeming like it’s on the verge of erupting at any moment, it houses none other than the daring Fire dorm. They’ve got easily the hottest, most heart-burning location and this reflects in their architecture: Spiky shapes and a floor that can’t decide on which height it wants to be make it the most uniquely laid out. Near the volcano is a hot springs, which Fire dorm students have free access to. In contrast to the energetic students inside, it’s the single best place in the academy to relax and bathe. The Fire dorm also have Fiery Friday, a weekly barbecuing event where the Fire dorm gets to enjoy some of the spiciest meat this side of the earth.
The white tower to the left main building is dedicated to the Synchro dorm. The first three stories house an incredibly variety of technology, from large computer rooms to generators to process the academy’s power supply. The actual dorm is at the very top floor, laden with wiring and machinery at every turn. It gives off an incredibly futuristic vibe and the students have access to the most top-notch dueling gear money can buy you, for free.
The black tower to the right of the main building is dedicated to the Xyz dorm. The first three stories are actually a giant arcade, housing every kind of video game imaginable. Unlike the other dorms having only a singular Duel Terminal, the Xyz dorm not only has multiple of these but also a giant simulation room. In that simulation room students can face off against a holographic opponent, making them have the best dueling training out of any dorm. The actual student facilities and rooms are located at the very top. The paint job makes everything look very galactic and out-of-this-world.
To the very north of the academy, in between the Fire and Wind dorms, is a large open plains. On this plains the academy decided to build a large, colosseum-like building. Housing no less than 30 small fields and two very large ones at the center, this impressive arena is the go-to place for both official and unofficial duels. The audience seats are built in alongside the walls, two bars are installed along both entrances and there is a retractable roof that makes the academy able to choose whether or not it wants to duel in open air or inside when it’s raining. This is where the official duels take place, as well as where individual students are tested on the smaller fields.
To the south of the academy is a large harbor and storage area. This is where shipments from outside come in, as well as the place where students set off or arrive. There are a large amount of rowing boats available at one of the buildings, as well as fishing equipment. Under the surveillance of a teacher Students can decide to go fishing on the sea, though it is usually the Water dorm students who make active use of this.
Character Sheet
You can use the code inside of this hider as a baseline for your character sheet or edit it into a different form. All we ask is that you have clearly filled out all the sections, even if some are named or ordered differently.
Also, we will not immediately review character sheets. We will wait a week after this thread goes up and then go through them. This makes it so people have a fair shot at contesting the spot for a certain dorm if they want it. After this week period is up, however, the first person to be accepted will get the spot. In the event nobody was accepted but two or more people had competed for the same spot, we'd let both try again before reviewing.
[center][b]Name[/b]
[b]Age[/b]
[b]Appearance[/b]
[b]Personality[/b]
[b]Dorm[/b]
[b]History[/b]
[b]Deck theme + list of example cards[/b] [h3][b]Name of deck + optional colouring[/b][/h3] [hider=Examples][b][color=f7941d]Monsters[/color][/b] Either an entire archetype + 3 non-archetypal monsters or at least 8 monsters.
[b][color=39b54a]Spells[/color][/b] At least 5
[b][color=9e005d]Traps[/color][/b] At least 5
[b]Extra Deck[/b] Either an entire archetype or 3 non-archetypal monsters. [/hider]
[b]The 4 NPC's[/b]
[hider=Remaining top 5][hider=2nd best] -Description-
Gravitational Barrier Type: Field Spell Effect: When an Armor monster you control declares an attack on an opponent's monster, you can have the attacking monster gain 200 ATK for each face-up card on the field.
Alright, after a bit of fiddling around I got all the stuff I had written up into the CS format. And so, I present to you, the first potential Fire Dorm crew:
-Name- Hikaro Machi
-Age- 18
-Appearance- Machi stands at 5'11", sporting a fairly toned bodybuild and a slouching walk that just screams "carefree". He has fairly short but messy orange hair, with a matching pair of somewhat bushy eyebrows directly above his emerald eyes. Machi is usually dirty and somewhat rough in appearance due to being a bit rowdy, and his uniform never looks that great due to him both not really caring and the fact he messes it up by doing stupid things, like wiping away barbecue sauce with his sleeve. When forced to dress decently however, he can still appear as a decent looking young man; Though perhaps he'd look more off because it's not normal for him at all.
-Personality- Machi can be described as confident, and overly passionate about dueling. When he's not stuffing his face, he's testing his deck and forming new strategies, before testing them out on the fellow members of his dorm. His loud and rash nature can be a bit irritating to some, though he's generally a friendly guy: Unless you get on his bad side by being stuck-up or a general prick.
He'll gladly throw himself into a situation if he sees something that doesn't stick right with him; usually someone with a superiority complex is enough to pull Machi into trouble by adding himself into a fight or dueling to knock his opponent down a peg. He has a strong dislike for people who shoot down others due to their own cockiness, and tries his best to make them get lost when they cause an issue.
Picking fights aside, Machi is seen as a bit of an idiot due to his general upbeat nature and carelessness, but is respected by his dorm for his talent as a duelist. He's also friendly with the majority of his dorm; Annoyed by severe laziness like Kien's, though still finding him hilarious and incredibly smart. Terrified of Sinata's bursts of aggression and confused by their American student, Erin. Despite being the champ, many of the people in his dorm honestly help keep him on track, though of them do it by making him regret his mistakes more than anything. In return, he tends to pull them into any stupid ideas he has. They're a mess of a crew.
-Dorm- Fire
-History- Machi grew up in a family of four: His parents, himself, and his younger sister were a small effective system in a middle-class household. Years before Machi had been born even, his father was a paleontologist: Studying fossils of the past, and meeting the love of his life who was but a simple tour guide on a school trip to an excavation site. Once Machi was born, he was introduced to everything prehistoric; His father decorated his room with fossils, most of his attire and toys were dinosaur themed, and over time the man tried to get his son as interested into paleontology as he was.
While the boy considered it all to be fascinating, he also easily got bored with everything that was involved after digging up the fossils. Scientific observations just weren't for him; He had other aspirations instead. During his childhood he became fascinated with dueling; Investing in his own card packs and building whatever he could out of what he had. Especially the dinosaur cards.
He was pretty good, too: By the time Harmonia Duel Academy had even been put in his head, he was already able to outplay most of his friends, though he found himself oddly on par with his younger sister who had also gotten into the game. Despite being younger, she could read her brother like an open book, and more often than not crushed him in duels.
His love for dueling, along with the fact most of his friends were trying to pass the exams, caused him to decide to try and get into Harmonia United. His father wanted him to strive towards paleontology, but Machi wasn't enthusiastic about spending his life staring at bones. With his mother's consent, and his father caving in and allowing him to pursue what he wished, he was off; Saying goodbye to his parents and little sister, swearing to write, while also telling his sister to also take the exams once she was older.
He told her to keep practicing, too. As he swore to get a lot better before they dueled again.
His exams could have gone better; He wasn't the dumbest kid around but he wasn't terribly smart, either. His dueling managed to place him in the top five, ranking as the fourth best exam duelist behind a surprisingly laid back kid in third; Nari Kien. Who had also proven to be extremely intelligent in his prior tests, as well. Though neither of them were the best of the best, they were exceptional; And ended up in the Fire Dorm together, too.
Machi's first year was fun, more than anything. He was a bit careless, but managed to place himself as one of the better duelists of his first year; Managing to beat Kien and a third year student before losing to the best student in the dorm at the end of the year: Marouki Sinata, a first year like him, in an absolute blowout. He wasn't angry, or disappointed, he had a lot of fun with it; And was determined to change things around during his second year.
Which he did; Along with the help of Kien. His fellow second year student helped him learn and become much better over time; He worked hard on his strategies, he ate all the leftover barbecue after Fiery Friday, and despite harsh competition, the positions changed: Sinata ended up pushed back to third that year, though she mostly went unopposed with the students below her.
It left Kien as the best student of the dorm that year, with Machi in second after managing to get Sinata back for his loss at the end of the first year by kicking her down the ladder to deny her passage to the title of champ. This lead to the finals being between Machi and Kien, which ended up being a very close and drastic duel; Kien's mind playing around Machi's strategies that he helped build himself.
But Machi held out.
Whenever Kien thought he won, Machi pulled himself out of defeat barely. By the end of the duel, Machi had only 400 Life Points left to Kien's 2200, before landing a devastating direct attack. Making him the champion, and leaving Kien blasted back down to second place.
One thing bothered Machi; And it was Kien's field during his direct attack. He had two cards set, and neither of them had triggered during that final turn. It was possible they were bluffs; But he knew Kien. That guy thought long and hard about the decisions he made, and he planned a lot. He has had a sinking feeling Kien let him win that duel, but he has never managed to ask Kien to confirm it. Despite how much it bothered him, he left it be. Not wanting to insult Kien as both a friend and duelist he respected.
Machi is now going into his third year as the newest champ of the Fire Dorm; Not yet realizing just how much his actions mattered now. He had a bumpy road ahead of him, and the only people he had were his dormmates to keep him from falling off the path and screwing things up.
Spells: Fossil Dig Rekindling Big Evolution Pill Clashing Souls One For One Shrink Tail Swipe
Traps: Gozen Match Survival of The Fittest Hunting Instinct Debunk Kickfire
Extra Deck: ‘Jurrac’ Synchro Monsters Grenosaurus
The 4 NPC's
Kien is a overweight young man prone to laziness and ignoring responsibility. Despite this, he still manages to be one of the highest ranking duelists in the Fire Dorm while also keeping a high exam rating. He joined Harmonia Academy at the same time as Machi and Sinata, being the third best duelist in their entrance exams and was in the top percentage of the written exam. He approaches the academy carefully, and never stresses himself to do something. This method has done surprisingly well for him; He has remained near the top of the dorm for the majority of the time he's been at the academy, and currently seems reluctant to give up the number 2 spot in Fire Dorm.
There are rumors that Kien threw his match against Machi last year, but he has never confirmed or denied it: Instead telling people if they think they can beat Machi, to go for it; They can find the answer themselves.
Appearance: Kien is a bit of a butterball; Round in appearance, and kind of stubby in the limb department. He has shoulder-length curly black hair, and ocean-blue eyes that constantly are fighting the urge to close up for a nap. His cheeks are somewhat chubby, and his chin dribbles a bit, though generally he looks fine. His complexion is decent, and he keeps himself pretty clean compared to Machi.
Deck: Toons
Sinata is certainly... An individual. Usually considerate and kind, She has proven herself to her dorm that she is not a duelist to be messed with; Having joined the same year as Machi and Kien, she was much more situated: Having blown away expectations for first years by becoming the highest ranking duelist on the leaderboard; Knocking Machi down when he tried to compete with her the first time, though falling short during her second year as Machi and Kien both surpassed her. She considers them both rivals and dedicates hours of each day trying to build up the perfect strategy against them both to take her to the top during their third year; Whatever it takes to get it done, it will happen.
When she gets excited, she's surprisingly loud and aggressive. You can most often see this in duels, though when she gets mad, she scares the Fire Dorm boys into running for miles. Despite being above her, Kien and Machi are very afraid of her due to the fact she's not afraid to knock them upside the head for being idiots.
Appearance: Sinata looks fairly innocent at first glance; Often seen with floral design accessories and generally cutesy in her slim but fit appearance. She has straight chocolate brown hair that goes past her shoulders, and crimson eyes that can probably stare directly into your soul when she's pissed off. She's a master of shifting between quiet and concerned to loud and rowdy.
Deck: Battlin' Boxers
Despite being in the top 5, Otoishi has a deeper passion outside of dueling; Music. He's a guitarist that is always practicing his riffs when he's not dueling, and tends to go off on rants due to his own casual view on the academy lifestyle and how some people 'ruin his jam'. He's by far the most chill and passive of the Fire Dorm members, though has explosions of passion that occasionally reveal the potential that brought him as far as he's gone.
He tends to look for flaming hot duels to fuel his muse of song-writing, and constantly insists to the others that Fire Dorm ought to start a band with their top 5 best duelists. If not only because it'd be totally awesome and intimidating to the other dorms that they were such a unit. He has faith his dream will one day come true.
Appearance: Otoishi is lanky, though has a bit of a gut. He has long unkempt blonde hair, and hazel eyes. He's got a bit of scruff growing on his chin, somebody probably needing to remind the guy to shave, though otherwise he generally looks fine. He prefers loose clothing, though keeps his uniform in decent shape compared to Machi.
Deck: Symphonic Warriors
Kotone is perhaps what people would refer to as a 'worrywart'. She can end up sweating bullets at the smallest of situations, and has a bad tendency to lose faith in herself. Through motivation from other students, she's managed to pull herself barely into the top 5 of her dorm with the potential to do much more, from what she's been told at least.
She's a very soft and sweet girl, who has a hard time trying to push forward knowing the fact it'd potentially hurt the others. Though they motivate her to try and do it, and she refuses to let the strength they lend her go to waste. So she tries her hardest, up until the very end. Or at least until the pressure eats away at her to the point she can't properly play anymore.
Appearance: Kotone is of average height, her personality not allowing her to make much of a presence most of the time. She has shoulder-length layered pink hair, and a pair of sensitive but observant yellow eyes. Kotone is probably the most clean and neat of the entire top five, always trying to ensure things are nice and neat before she starts her day. With skin like silk and a cute posture, she's certainly not the type that seems to be pro duelist material.
@Deluge Alright, one thing that springs out immediately is that you have second years in your top 5. First and second years have their own brackets separate from the third years, so while it may very well be possible that some second or first year duelists are better than your top 5, officially they wouldn't be in the top 5. Considering the winning dorm's top 5 students all go pro if they win, it'd be awkward for a second or first year to end school early like that.
Watching your threads. The more I look at this type of RP, the more they look the same.
It's been a year and still nobody uses the newfangled blue cards.
Because links suuuuuuuuuuck.
Killing any and all deck variety for the sake of shoehorning in a poorly thought-out mechanic which was supposed to slow down the game and only ending up accomplishing the opposite? No, thanks.
Watching your threads. The more I look at this type of RP, the more they look the same.
YGO RP's do tend to be kinda samey. Comes with the territory, though.
<Snipped quote by KOgaming>
Because links suuuuuuuuuuck.
Killing any and all deck variety for the sake of shoehorning in a poorly thought-out mechanic which was supposed to slow down the game and only ending up accomplishing the opposite? No, thanks.
Don't talk about my link babies like that, you meanie. Personally I'm loving Extreme Force format, as it's actually given us access to some neat cards that make more rogue decks viable, while also applying nerfs to the best decks and some degenerate strategies. Admittedly, yes, MR4 does hurt a few decks (RIP Madolche) but I have a much easier time playing Ancient Gears at my locals in MR4 than MR3, as MR3 presented boards that just made me wanna quit the game with how broken and utterly unfair they were.
I think the game's in a good place ATM as we don't really know what's good this format and that's leading to a lot of experimentation. It's certainly a slower format than we're used to, and though it might not be as slow as some people might want, it's still a good improvement because of the banlist. I love old school Yugioh as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy the current game.
Though people have the right to like and dislike what they want though, and it's understandable why people dislike Links. It was understandable when people treated Xyz/Pendulums/Synchro the same way. Hell, I -still- hate pendulums, and never was a huge fan of synchro though I never had an issue with it. Fusions are love, fusions are life.
@Deluge Not really intent on making a full-scale argument over Link monsters in the thread, but my two cents on the subject matter can be summed up in a few key matters.
-I already hated it when Xyz had generic as sin summoning requirements, but Link take it a step further. Most link monsters can use anything under the sun as materials, making them so splashable it hurts.
-I really, really dislike gimping the extra deck and Pendulums for Master Rule 4. The game's already gone through a huge load of changes in MR3 and taking it a step further in MR4 makes the core experience so vastly different that I wouldn't enjoy the game even if I tried to.
-Konami's card design has always been an issue outside of Links, and while this doesn't have anything to do with the ED method itself, it shows just how bad things have gotten when they felt the need to introduce an entire mechanic just to rectify mistakes only to get screwed over by other cards they've made in the past.
Also, a general point as to why it's bad for RPs:
-Keeping track of the board state in a written form gets very messy, very quick.
And while I'm on a roll anyway, concerning Vrains:
-Vrains has some of the most boring duel writing I've seen in a long while. The show isn't bad by any means, but seeing a predictable Playmaker win after shitting out 5+ links in a duel isn't fun. Extra Deck Vomit already had shaky footing when Reiji did it, and he only got away with it because it's novel and he didn't duel often. Meanwhile, Yusaku does it nearly every duel, heck, his summon count only goes up each episode. By the end of the series he's going to have shit out more Extra Deck monsters compared to all other protagonists combined. That's not fun writing. It's stale and repetitive.
-Konami gotta make dat moni by making us require new cards
-On the positive side, a lot of the big hitters are being killed off. Dandylion/Level Eater/Gofu are all gone now, so rip free tokens. They kept Grinder Golem at 1 for some reason, probably because they hate us
-If everything is scripted there's not much to worry about concerning the board, though I see your point.
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't be personally opposed to Link Monsters but Master Rule 4 is like having to breathe through a gasmask in terms of writing. I may or may not be making my character use Broken Abyss and I may have NPCs that use other decks where it sucks to have MR4 in play (Hello, Ghostricks!) but having to be sure you have the correct arrows in play to go for more than one ED monster is just busybodying I don't need. Imagine if one was trying for like a Sophia play, that would be crazy to try to keep track of already, without having to add Links to the affair as well.
N.B. I am writing a character, I was just at work all day yesterday. Bear with.
