Introduction

What time is it you ask? Pro Bowl time! There are also some ongoing events in the run up, but, you know, PRO BOWL!

Pro Bowl VII: 2023

Once again it is Pro Bowl time, though a bit earlier this year due to the tentative Vendetta schedule this fall. This year's event marks the first time that the entire Brotherhood will be participating, from the newest neophyte to the crankiest elder. This year will also mark the return of the Frog-dogs and Rotworms, along with a new team on the playing field: the Loth Cats! Members across all clans will be divided between the teams to compete for victory.

As a special note: The organizers of the event would recommend to the membership that they might want to have Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop pre-loaded before the start of the event. For… reasons.

Overview

Pro Bowl 2023 is a three-week, multi-event competition designed to test each and every member of the attending units. An opening event will determine which order our teams will have in a Draft-style event led by the Pro Bowl organizers. The teams will alternate their selections until the entire roster of all attending units are split between them, with equal parts of each clan ending up on each team. Once the roster is set, the three teams will battle it out in a series of events spread over the course of three weeks. Events will include the standard fare of Fiction, Graphics, Gaming, and Trivia, along with some less common events designed to help test each member participating. We're aiming to provide a nicely rounded offering when it comes to the competitions on offer, with nearly all of the events set for individual entrants aside from one small group fiction.

Schedule:

The Pro Bowl will be running during the month of July, with our prologue week event starting July 3rd. Then, we will have three single week rounds following that with the entire event ending July 30th. Full week by week breakdowns are as follows:

• Prologue: July 3rd - July 9th
• Week One: July 10th - July 16th
• Week Two: July 17th - July 23rd
• Week Three: July 24th - July 30th

Scoring:

Something that has been carried over from Pro Bowls past, is an emphasis on showing up. Every member, every entry will contribute to the overall score of each team, and lead one of them to victory. Contributions big and small up and down the roster, just like the 53 man roster of an American football team, are meaningful! This can be seen in the Pro Bowl scoring system:

Each individual will earn five points per event they participate in. Participation is defined as a valid submission for an event. Simply signing up for an event or uploading an unqualified submission will not count. You have to put in the effort in order to receive the reward. Participation will earn 5 points.

Additionally, the top three individuals in each event will earn placement modifier points. First place will earn 4 points, second place will earn 3 points, and third place will earn 2 points, and all other entries will earn 1 point. Events themselves will have modifiers based on their perceived difficulty/level of effort required. For example: the modifier for fiction will be 3, the modifier for gaming/graphics/poetry will be 2, and no modifier will be added to puzzle/trivia/flash events.

Grading formula: (Placement Score * Event Modifier) + Participation = Event Score

At the end of the competition, the individual scores for all three weeks will be added up, and the top three individuals will earn crescents for the overall competition. Total scores for both teams, including the Prologue Week event, will determine the victorious team.

Members will get more points for placing, but the biggest way you can contribute to your team's victory (and bragging rights over your opponents, be they from other Clans or your fellow Clan-mates) is just being active.

Brotherhood Competitions

At the moment there are several competition/competition series that are running throughout the Brotherhood that I thought merited some call outs here. Plagueians and members of both Taldryan and Vizsla have a few active events on the books that I'd encourage everyone to check out:

• Kote Ky'ram: In Memoriam: There are still a few days to get in entries for this event hosted by Clan Vizsla (it closes on the 10th). There's a good mix of various events across the nine competitions within.
• Taskmaster (DJB Edition): Our recently vanquished friends in Tally (sorry not sorry :D) are hosting a competition series across three weeks (week one ends this Thursday!). There is even an ACC task to be completed withing as well!
• Star Wars Video Game Cover Grand Prix: One of our own, Aleister Mavros, is once again hosting his puzzle Grand Prix this year. Heats seven and eight are live right now, so there's still time to get in and mix it up to compete for the Grand Prize. (I see what I did there…)

Brotherhood News

Here is the news

• Galactic Happenings Four & Five - The ones where people are up to things.
• HM #7: Ships, Speeders, and Torturing Your OCs - The one with new courses to take.
• Voice Suppementals: Shani, Gamorrean, & Dowutin Added - The one where Idiris is sadly not talking about Chani, Gamora, or Downtown Abbey.
• May the Fourth 2023 Final Results - The one with Socks's competition results.
• Combat Master Report #5 - The one with mo' societies, mo' problems.
• Exarch Report 07: It's...May - The one with charts on top of charts.

In Closing

Another year, another Pro Bowl awaits. I have a feeling that this year's Bowl will be the best yet!.

Keep on Adapt, Ascend, Availing out there, everyone!