Hello and welcome to the third edition of my roulette!
ForewordI’ve ran two of these before, in 2015 and 2016, and both were a lot of fun for me—and hopefully for the participants too—and I’ve discovered a lot of incredible music thanks to you guys. A lot of people who still frequent GMD board and play roulettes were there for my second one, as we had something close to 18 players, later culled down to 12. Now that three years have passed since that, there are a lot of new faces on DTF and in the roulette crowd as well, and I hope you guys will give this one a shot.
That being said, I’ve learned a few lessons from those two roulettes. Last time especially, I was a little too nice to a lot of songs I didn’t end up quite digging, and ended up not quite using a full scale of scoring—probably being too excited for this thing happening so fast after the first one (for those who don’t remember, in 2014/2015 you had to wait for the best part of the year to get to your turn running one of these). The themed rounds were perhaps a little too specific, too.
Roulette Structure and ExplanationDespite the issues above, I felt that format was good, and I didn’t want to modify it too much. The most important part is that I’ll have to be stricter on the songs this time. I feel like this won’t be that much of a problem on my end, but you should know this beforehand. Because of this, there’s no point to compare your song scores with the first two roulettes. I know there was a running joke that anything that’s equal 7.5 and above was “good”, but truth is, almost all the songs ended up getting up 7.5 and above last time. I’ll work on that this time. Which basically means, as Chad is fond of saying, get your big boy pants on and don't be offended with the scores.
Still, there were some problems with the format too. I remember being a bit too music-fatigued for Rounds 5 and 7 (and with the preliminary rounds in last roulette, that made them 7 and 9 respectfully), as they were open and Round 5 also allowed people to send longer songs. To fix this, I’m going to use an optional theme-system for each round of the main competition except the first two; eliminate the rounds with longer length-limits and introduce the special abilities thing which will give people some options; and the final part of the roulette will be changed to the play-off system, which may not be entirely fair, but at least it’s quite interesting to watch and, hopefully, to host. Here’s how it’s going to work in detail, and if you’re too lazy, you can skip this part to the shorter explanation below that (not recommended):
0. Sign-upsEveryone is welcome to sign-up and play. That means if we get 20 players in the first round, so be it. I don’t really want to turn anyone away, and I’m always bummed when I’m too late to secure a spot in a roulette I really wanted to play in.
Important: the sign-ups will be open until
Saturday evening (February 2nd, let's say 11 P.M. GMT).
1. Culling RoundsThe general idea behind those is that I won’t be able to handle 20 players, give or take, for the whole duration of the roulette—that’s simply too much music for me. I commend people who are doing album roulettes, but I don’t think I can digest such a huge amount of content in a week. Unlike my second roulette, this time everyone starts their roulette journey here. There are two culling rounds, and after the second round, the players with the lowest scores are eliminated until only 12 players remain in the competition.
Twist: several invited players will have immunity from being eliminated at this point. Those are either the people I trust enough to know our musical tastes align well, or the people who I’d like to surprise me with the music they’re into. The way the immunity will work depends on the number of players:
- if there are 15 players or fewer, people who have immunity can’t be eliminated after Round 2; the person next to them on the scoreboard is eliminated instead (the amount of players in Round 3 can’t be higher than 12);
- if there are 16 or more players, people who have immunity can’t be eliminated after Round 2 (see above), unless they are in the bottom 3 of the scoreboard, in which case they’re out anyway, immunity be damned;
The scores received in the Culling Rounds will still be counted towards you final score. The players who have immunity don’t know who else has it, and no one knows the exact number of immunity PMs I sent out. That means it’s in your best interests to impress the hell out of me in the first two rounds, just in case the person below you on the scoreboard is immune to elimination.
2. Main CompetitionAfter the eliminations are done, 12 players remain to compete in the roulette. The main competition features five rounds. The rounds are essentially open with a fixed length-limit. However, there will be optional themes provided for each round. After Round 7, the players with the lowest scores are eliminated until only 8 players remain in the competition. Obviously, immunity for the previous eliminations doesn’t work here.
Themes: You can choose to participate in the theme for each particular round. The highest scoring themed song in each round will get an additional point to its score.
3. Play-offsThis is where you face each other. Each round has a specific format to it, which will be explained in a bit. The previous scores factor into the seeding (the 1st place is matched against the 8th place, and so on). The winner of each match-up proceeds to the next round, unless only one participant remains triumphant.
Here’s the short version of what’s written above, with the length limits and optional themes and scoring for each round:
Sign-ups: free for all, everyone who joins before the deadline is in
Culling Rounds:Round 1: Open Round (length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 2: Open Round (length limit: 10 minutes)
Elimination point: 12 highest-scored players remain, except that may not be quite the case (read the
Twist part in section 1)
Main Competition:Round 3: Open Round w/ optional theme: songs from 2018 (length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 4: Open Round w/ optional theme: ballads (length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 5: Open Round w/ optional theme: songs from before I was born (anything up to February 1993) (length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 6: Open Round w/ optional theme: songs with lead female vocals (length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 7: Open Round w/ optional theme: songs with substantial amount of growls (length limit: 10 minutes)
Play-offsRound 8: Greatest Hits Round (read below)
Round 9: EP Round (read below)
Round 10: Album Round (read below)
Round Details and ScoringRounds 1 – 7 will be scored out of 10. During Rounds 3 – 7, you will be able to get bonus points if you send the best themed song in each Round (1 point for each best song). The scores reset after Round 7, affecting your seeding in the play-offs, and then reset after each Round (classic play-off system)
Round 8 requires each one of 8 remaining participants to send a number of songs from the same band, essentially making it a Greatest Hits compilation. The idea is shamelessly stolen from Puppies’ roulette, only I don’t want it to be too long, so the requirements for this are as follows: all songs should be by the same band, the minimum length of the compilation is 30 minutes, the length limit is 50 minutes, and the songs should come from at least three different albums.
Round 9, aka EP Round, requires each one of 4 remaining participants to make an EP for me. You have to use at least three different artists, and each one should at least feature one full “song” (intros and outros doesn’t count). The minimum length is 30 minutes, the length limit is 40 minutes, as it seems to be standard now. Each EP will be scored out of 20. The flow matters greatly here and will be scored separately out of 5. Stealing this mechanic from Puppies and adapting it for the elimination system, the best EP name from each pair of contestants will earn you an additional 1 point (could be just how the name rolls off the tongue or if it’s tied to some story—in other words, it’s simply the matter which one I’ll like more).
Round 10, aka the Album Round, requires the two remaining participants each to participate in this Best of 3 competition. You have to send three albums for me, either one at a time, or all three in a bunch, specifying the order. The first albums from both of you will clash against each other, and the one I like better will earn you a point. Then the second albums will do the same. Whoever wins two of these album battles, wins the whole roulette (standard Best of 3 system). The length limit for this round is 80 minutes. The albums will be scored out of 10.
TastesWell, a good way to measure my tastes is to look at my recent
Top 50 list of DTF discoveries (also included in “Relevant links” at the end of my post, as well as my first Top 50). But here’s a quick rundown of my favourite bands as of last few years for you if you don’t want to check the Top 50 lists. Draw your own conclusions:
Progressive metal: Ayreon, Beyond the Bridge, Haken, Leprous, Seventh Wonder
Power metal: Avantasia, Kamelot (up to Silverthorn), Blind Guardian, Helloween, Sonata Arctica (up to The Days of Grays, also Pariah’s Child isn’t that bad too)
Classic metal / hard rock: Rainbow (Dio material and 1995, not big on JLT), Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Primal Fear
Progressive rock: Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson, Riverside, IQ, Karmakanic, Phideaux
Older progressive rock: Jethro Tull, Marillion (not a big fan of Rush, Genesis or King Crimson)
Acoustic stuff which could also be progressive rock: Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits, Arstidir, Bjorn Riis, iamthemorning
Growls: Agalloch, Opeth, Insomnium, Ne Obliviscaris, Amorphis
Special AbilitiesWhen you receive your PM from me, you also receive your "set" of special abilities. The "set" will usually consist of one or two of them, and you will probably be able to only use one. I won't disclose the actual things the abilities do, although you're welcome to do it in the thread should you so desire. But here are the names:
Time Shift
Alter Reality
Sympathizer
Raise Hell
Steven Wilson's Wave of Depression
Ragequit Generator
Invincible
You Like it Long
Wordsmith
Fall ApartThose are meant to be a fun addition to the game (well, except the one that grants immunity, which was already written into these rules, so there's that). They may give you an advantage once during the roulette, but that's it: most of these abilities are only usable once.
Other Rules and Information- Best method of submission is to either provide a file or a YouTube link for the song; failing that, give me the song’s name and I’ll look it up. Do not use Spotify which requires me to use VPN which in turn screws up my mobile phone traffic usage;
- Anything scoring 7 and higher is banned for the rest of roulette;
- Songs (or albums in case of Round 10) by the same band is allowed, but they have to be different ones; reserving bands for future rounds isn’t allowed;
- Everyone has one or two special abilities described in your PM. I tried to make them fun and not gamebreaking, but we’ll see how it goes;
- The special abilities can overrule the rules written in this thread. If in doubt, ask the questions either in thread or via PM;
- I will confirm your participation (and send out your special abilities) via PM. You might have to wait a day for a PM as I'm not very active here when I'm on my phone;
- I probably forgot a bunch of stuff, so I will be adding it as we go along.
Relevant LinksRoulette v1Roulette v2Top 50 Albums v1 - OverallTop 50 Albums v2 – DTF DiscoveriesI think that's about it? Have fun, and let's make it a fantastic experience!