ZEN Thread

[Matt_Black]

Not much decision to it, really. Man O' War had the title, but had ascended to Main Event. He is in the feud with Pink Spider, Kalliope, and Trevor, current tag champs. So, Comedy match fatal four-way with War, Pink, Train, and Dazzler. Train's in it because with his stamina, he can't go very long, but with Comedy matches they don't need to go very long. The idea was that War and Pink are so caught up in their feud they're not available to break up the pin. Since Dazzler had already been Conceptual champ, I decided to give it to Crazy Train.

[Pimpasaurus]

Honestly I never even would have thought to Use Crazy Train before reading this thread but now I can see him being a kinda Toru Yano character and just getting wins through pure shenanigans.

[HiPlus]

Honestly I never even would have thought to Use Crazy Train before reading this thread but now I can see him being a kinda Toru Yano character and just getting wins through pure shenanigans.

 

That is a great comparison of the two guys. Crazy Train is never going to be your Main Event guy, hell not even your Upper Tier guys. In a comedy style promotion he can help fill the need to comedy matches. It is good to see in this case it has resulted in a championship run

[Matt_Black]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="HiPlus" data-cite="HiPlus" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41368" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>That is a great comparison of the two guys. Crazy Train is never going to be your Main Event guy, hell not even your Upper Tier guys. In a comedy style promotion he can help fill the need to comedy matches. It is good to see in this case it has resulted in a championship run</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Regarding "Upper Tier", he was actually Upper Midcard. (I'm going to have to abandon that; signed that PPV deal and began hemorrhaging money).</p><p> </p><p> See, Crazy Train is kind of perfect for ZEN.</p><p> </p><p> 1) Since he was on RAW, he's got exposure that a lot of other guys you might look to hire don't have. So, provided you're at Small or even Regional, he'll debut at Midcard status.</p><p> 2) His pop is good enough to ensure that his good-but-not-great angle skills don't cause him to get overshadowed by other people he's in angles with. Speaking of those guys he'll probably be in angles with...</p><p> 3) Let's take a look at some other guys on the roster who are good in Comedy matches- Damian Dastardly. Halloween Knight. Devilfish. Cyanide. Pumpkin Jack. Shaolin. Pink Spider. These are all guys who are at the top of the card or close to it, and they're all solid hands in the ring to boot. So, when you're continuously in matches with guys who are both very popular and skilled enough to cover up your flaws while you're in a match that highlights your strengths, you're going to do pretty well.</p>

[HiPlus]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Matt_Black" data-cite="Matt_Black" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41368" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Regarding "Upper Tier", he was actually Upper Midcard. (I'm going to have to abandon that; signed that PPV deal and began hemorrhaging money).<p> </p><p> See, Crazy Train is kind of perfect for ZEN.</p><p> </p><p> 1) Since he was on RAW, he's got exposure that a lot of other guys you might look to hire don't have. So, provided you're at Small or even Regional, he'll debut at Midcard status.</p><p> 2) His pop is good enough to ensure that his good-but-not-great angle skills don't cause him to get overshadowed by other people he's in angles with. Speaking of those guys he'll probably be in angles with...</p><p> 3) Let's take a look at some other guys on the roster who are good in Comedy matches- Damian Dastardly. Halloween Knight. Devilfish. Cyanide. Pumpkin Jack. Shaolin. Pink Spider. These are all guys who are at the top of the card or close to it, and they're all solid hands in the ring to boot. So, when you're continuously in matches with guys who are both very popular and skilled enough to cover up your flaws while you're in a match that highlights your strengths, you're going to do pretty well.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Well looks like I was well and truly sleeping on him as a pick for ZEN. As I thought he could just be an entertaining midcard guy long-term. But you make a good point about his initial pop, and the fact other guys can hide his flaws during comedy matches.</p>

[Matt_Black]

For your first big show for a small company, that's not a bad score at all. I usually try to set things up as Car Crash/ Steal The Show/ High Spots (one of those, not all 3 in succession), followed by Comedy, then the Main Event (which, if you've already got a match with Storytelling, go with Spectacle if it's going to be 16+ minutes and it features guys with Good Psychology). Don't even try for Comedy matches with CWA or Vertigo. Of the guys you have on the roster, these are the ones you should be using for Comedy matches- Pink Spider, Shaolin, Dastardly, Man O' War, Stoppard, Halloween Knight, Cyanide, Devilfish, and possibly Pumpkin Jack (he might not have as good a Comedy score at the beginning, can't remember off-hand). Snark is going to get to that point eventually too.

[HiPlus]

I don't mind the long posts James. It is cool to get insight. Also awesome to see you bring in the HeamoGoblin and Lone Shark. Especially interested in how Reed goes for you. I wouldnt stress running a second show unless you really want to, APW should comfortably outdo you until you build some more talent up.

 

Lots of new talent debuting which is cool to see. Are you happy with how the roster is now? Planning to cut a few more guys, or bring anyone else in?

 

Also IIRC F.E.A.R is a four man stable. I forget what it stands for though lol.

[HiPlus]

Tonight I ran my first ever Way Of The Future Show. This might be the last post I make on this thread, because I'm thinking about moving these recaps to the "What's going on in your game?" thread, where they would be a bit more appropriate. On the pre-show, I had Lothar Prellinger squash Quick Silver, which helped him gain enough popularity to almost be lower-midcard status. I kicked off the show with my highest-rated segment yet (a 60!), which was just HK telling everybody the rules of the show, which are pretty simple:

 

1. Anyone who wins 3 matches in a row can opt to join the main ZEN roster.

2. If you lose one match, your score is reverted to 0, and you must win 3 matches before being eligible for the call-up.

3. If you win 3 matches and have a tag team partner who has not reached 3 wins, you can stay for them, but you are still eligible to compete, and you will still revert to 0 if you lose.

 

After that, Booster Boy beat Ferdy Lloyd in a High Spots match that did pretty poorly. That's not a surprise, given Lloyd's experience. After that, the debuting Surfer Dude Lucas defeated Buckminster Snark in our Comedy match of the night (and our actual match of the night). Lucas is really good for somebody who has only two years of experience. He's definitely getting a big push.

 

Then, we had Blue Flea get an upset victory over Bruce Strange, despite Mister Hyde distracting Flea several times. After the match, Mister Hyde was so angry that he decided to beat the daylights out of Strange, ending their team. I'm planning to accentuate Mister Hyde's strengths by booking him as a Braun Strowman wrecking machine-type guy. You can tell me if I should fire Bruce Strange, because I'm on the fence right now.

 

We cut to the backstage area after that, where Blue Flea tells White Wasp he wants to be his sidekick. To the surprise of at least a few viewers, White Wasp accepts! I'm going to have them team up under the name of Insect Armada. Also, Blue Flea's Sidekick gimmick is doing better than his Underdog gimmick, which is good. In the main event, White Wasp defeated Azazel in a match which I really hoped would do better, scoring one point less than the Lucas/Snark match. After the match, Lothar Prellinger challenged White Wasp on the video screen. I'm going to run Prellinger and White Wasp as a comic book-inspired feud, though I forgot to give Prellinger the "Comic Book Villain" gimmick. Oops!

 

After the show, I had several main roster guys complaining that they were not booked, so I decided to do a brand split to prevent that from happening again. Any advice is welcome, as I'm really having fun playing this save and would like to continue!

 

I definitely want to follow this more. Have you thought about a diary, if not or you want to focus on the what's happening in your game. I will try and follow it there.

 

Good to see Lothario Prellinger getting a decent push and eventually facing one of the top guys on the brand. Hoping he strings together a quick three wins.

 

I like the rules and the fact a Tag-Team partner isn't bought up along side their teammate. Could cause divided between teams. I also love the tag team of Wasp and Flea as well as their Tag-Team name. It is awesome.

 

Surfer Dude Lucas is an amazing talent, one of the better unsigned Australian guys. I have him in my diary at the moment, and even when losing matches he looks good and impresses. He is one of the must signs in Australia region. You have some of my favourite talents so wouldn't mind seeing more.

[Gungner]

<p>I'm guessing it's really hard to grow outside of Australia? And getting a TV-deal or event deal probably isn't possible until a few years in.</p><p> </p><p>

Edit: Do any of you add a weekly event or two perhaps, on top of that monthly big event?</p>

[Matt_Black]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Gungner" data-cite="Gungner" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41368" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm guessing it's really hard to grow outside of Australia? And getting a TV-deal or event deal probably isn't possible until a few years in.<p> </p><p> Edit: Do any of you add a weekly event or two perhaps, on top of that monthly big event?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I do two weekly events, and have gotten to Regional status by April or May. From there you absolutely can get a broadcasting deal. The question is whether or not you should. And the answer is- no, at least not right away. Between the poor time slot and the increased production values, you will bleed money.</p>

[LloydCross]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Gungner" data-cite="Gungner" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41368" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm guessing it's really hard to grow outside of Australia? And getting a TV-deal or event deal probably isn't possible until a few years in.<p> </p><p> Edit: Do any of you add a weekly event or two perhaps, on top of that monthly big event?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Frankly, it's hard to grow into Australia (As in East Australia, since the spillover from NZ is only 10%). Australia Options let's you get some minimal popularity gains in the other regions even though the PPV buy numbers will be trivial.</p><p> </p><p> I was doing weekly events and airing them all on PPV and that was the best I could come up with for gaining popularity outside of NZ.</p>

[lghikas]

<p>Started up a game with Zen...roughly 4 months in...although taking a slower approach to the game than I normally do. I'm going to stay at 1 event a month for the time being but will probably switch to 2 a month some time next year.</p><p> </p><p>

My current plan atm is to try to milk most of the starting stories for some time here while only running 1 show a month.</p><p> </p><p>

I like the idea that I've seen a few people do and get an agreement with APW and have Halloween Knight try to feed some of them to Pumpkin Jack...eventually I'd have Knight disappear and then some Mirror Universe shenanigans.</p><p> </p><p>

Cyanide and Devilfish should eventually lead to a stable war between a new FEAR and some kind of Sea/Water Superfriends group. I thinking with Manny and possibly Huge de Aske.</p><p> </p><p>

The Tag Titles will probably not change any time soon...I kind of want to hold a King of Harmony(Trios) type tournament that would lead to whoever dethroning them.</p><p> </p><p>

Woodchuck is on the look for a long term tag team partner. So while she has a ton of friends they just don't click with her in the ring. This will hopefully allow me to stretch this feud out with Pinkie and The Vain...while giving them a couple of wins and than find someone who clicks with Woodchuck either creatively or chemistry wise.</p><p> </p><p>

Trying to keep my roster relatively small atm altogether I am up to 31ish...I did sign The APP...Hugh de Aske...The Affliction...along with White Wasp and Black Flash. And have a handful of names shortlisted and ready to sign.</p><p> </p><p>

Some of the Dojo graduates will probably just job in pre shows for a few years or unless something comes to mind for a character for them.</p>

[Matt_Black]

I've gotten back into ZEN (all this free time on my hands), and here's a question- does anyone sell the venue or dojo? The former is much too small considering where you start in 2016, and the latter is inactive.