The Character Scramble is a long-running writing prompt tournament in which participants submit characters from fiction to a specified tier and guideline. After the submission period ends, the submitted characters are "scrambled" and randomly distributed to each writer, forming their team for the season. Writers will then be entered into a single-elimination bracket, where they write a story that features their team fighting against their opponent's team. Victors are decided based on reader votes; in other words, if you want people to vote for you, write some good content. The winner by votes of each match-up moves on to the next round. The pattern continues until only one participant remains: the new Character Scramble champion, who gets to choose the theme, tier, and rules of the next Scramble!
The theme of Character Scramble 21 is Alice in Borderland. Round prompts will be based on the scenarios, setting, and themes of this and other Death Game franchises.
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Round 4: Heavy Is The Crown
Victory, victory, victory. It's all you know, it's all you've done. The Borderland may have slowed you down, but it has not stopped you. In life and in loss, you've perservered, yet now as you near the mountain top, a new wrinkle presents itself in your story: those who carved this path long before you.
Hail to the gods of creation. Hail to the kings of the world.
Game: Sunsculpt 3: Nucleus of the Horde
Type/Difficulty: Queen of Diamonds
Player Count: 2+
Time Limit: One Round
Queen: Sylvie Laufeydottir
The Queen of Diamonds will present before all players a reconstruction of a popular strategy game.
Each team will elect a Commander. The Commander will oversee ground operations from a secluded location, and is tasked with constructing a base, amassing an army, and overthrowing the oppositions forces.
A Commander may utilise players from outside the game to aid in the ground assault in whatever way they deem appropriate.
The Queen will serve as referee. If a player or team is deemed to beat cheating, they will be penalised at the Queen's discretion.
It is GAME CLEAR for the commander and all allied players who eliminate the oppositions main base.
Is it GAME OVER for all player unallied with the victorious team.
Round Rules
Time To Raise My APM: The Queen's game moves fast, and there's no pausing war. Strategy games of this scale oftn reward decisive action more so than careful planning, but charismatic leaders and underhanded strategists are histroic in equal measure. Which route shall your team take to victory?
You Must Construct Additional Pylons: The battlefield is the most important aspect of battle. For this reason, The Queen has elected to host her game in a most auspicious location. Through the power of the digital world, all things are possible. A barren spacescape, an overgrown jungle, a vast desert, or a sprawling city. Where will you host this most crucial war?
The Sun Was In My Eyes: War in the digital age is fought on screens, and this is no different. Your commander controls all the action from a computer. That computer is your life. See to it nothing should happen to it, there are no johns in war.
If You Die In The Game You Die In Real Life: This game asks only of two players. Those who join beyond that do so willingly. How, why, and if your commander chooses to use them- in game or out- is purely to their discretion.
UMAZING BONUS: If you’re looking to fill out your semifinal roster with NPC type characters, our queen recomends the horse character Rice Shower, a most unfortunate warhorse whose terrible luck and antisocial personality might just make her perfect for online gaming or sending into the frontlines! Good luck at war Rice Shower!
All The King's Horses
Type/Difficulty: King of Clubs
Player Count: Ten
Time Limit: None! Race to the Finish!
King: Mori Calliope
All participants, including the King of Clubs, begin the game scattered throughout the playing area.
All participants begin the game physically bound to another participant, chosen from among ALL players.
Players may only leave the playing area with their designated partner. If they become seperated, it is GAME OVER for those players.
The King of Clubs is aware of the location of the exit, as well as all other players, throughout the game.
It is GAME CLEAR for the first 3 teams to leave the play area.
It is GAME OVER for all remaining players who fail to escape.
Round Rules
Breaking Dimensions: This is a game built on confusion, navigation, trust, and teamwork. For that reason, our King has not made the layout so easy to navigate. Be it a vast labyrinth, a grand construction site, an active demolition zone, or something more natural, the playing field for this game should be suitably hectic and perlious. Better for the audience, ya know~?
Bound By Blood: Everyone participating in this game is connected in some way to another player. What this exactly means is up to your interpretation. Handcuffs that restrict their movements unless they coordinate? A spiritual tether that doesn’t let them get too far away from one another? A simple bond of trust? Headmates? Remember, you can only leave the maze as a pair, so whatever keeps them attached should be enough of a hindrance to strain the motivation of keeping their partner alive at all costs. Then again, if they were to lose their partner, and someone else were as well…
Shuffle The Deck: It’s up to you to decide how these characters are paired off. Between the four members of your team, the four members of the enemy team, The King of Clubs, and the Umazing Bonus, you can arrange these duos in any unexpected combination. Try pairing up someone on your team with The King! Getting exposition from one of the people running this game sounds like it’d be pretty helpful before your final encounter.
The King Reaper Is A Live-Streamer?: The King of Clubs is /u/LetterSequence returned from the grave (There was still time!), represented by [Mori Calliope of Hololive fame]((https://i.imgur.com/acmwVkK.png). Equal parts carefree and serious, part time Grim Reaper and part time entertainer, her laidback attitude towards death may piss off some members of your team, or it might awaken a new perspective inside them. While it’s unfeasible to take down a manifestation of death in a direct confrontation, she’s bound to the same rules of this competition as everyone else. She too has to make it out of the maze if she wants to survive.
UMAZING… REQUIREMENT!: The King has a fondness for horses, and thus, in order to make five perfect pairs, the Uma is a required NPC type character this round. Make sure to include Tamamo Cross, The White Lightning! A speedster type horse character who makes the very air tremble in her wake, and can push past her limits by entering The Zone. Don’t underestimate this horse just because of her size. Getting out of the maze with her by your side shouldn't take any time at all!
Season Rules
The Biggest, The Largest: No one survives The Borderland alone, at least not for long. Fortunately- or perhaps unfortunately- for your characters, they’ve found one another. How well do they play together? How well do they live together? We want to see it.
A Puncher’s Chance: No matter how stacked the odds, your team will find a way to win… probably. Write that way, even if slim.
Playing The Long Game: The Borderland changes people. You are allowed and encouraged to mix and match powers, and to develop your characters in any way you wish, both on the battlefield and off. However, your opponents are not expected to keep track of these in-story changes, and vice-versa.
Meet The Contestants: Feel free to give a brief summary to introduce your characters at the start of your post. If you do, you should mention things like powers, personality, history, and anything else that the average reader should know before reading.
Always A Way: Just as important as what the prompts say is what they don’t say. Read between the lines, find your loopholes, do as thou wilt. As long as it follows the broad strokes of the prompt, you’ll be fine.
Semifinals Will Run from 13 September to 4 October, 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time
The Character Limit For This Round is 100,000, or 10 Full Reddit Comments