Once upon a time, in a realm far beyond the train tracks next to the lavish Collective, there was a village nestled away in a valley. It was peaceful, with rolling meadows and bubbling streams, but it was also a village under an unspoken rule: never slow down and always keep up with the PACE!

The villagers, made up of a collective of paladins, wizards, clerics, rogues, barbarians, rangers, and bards, had lived for generations with an ancient understanding that if they ever slowed down their pace, Rath the Relentless Dragon would awaken and kill them!

The dragon wasn’t like any other mythical beast. It wasn’t bound by a fiery roar or scaly wings. This dragon was born from the magical and maniacal minds at Stern Pinball. It slept deep within the heart of the mountain, but its slumber was a fragile one. If any of the villagers faltered and didn't keep up the PACE with the rest of the group, the dragon would stir and awaken.

The key to keeping the dragon asleep was simple: the village had to keep fighting and moving forward. As they traveled throughout the village and honed their skills and crafted their wares they did this with a sense of urgency that bordered on obsession with leveling up! Even in their free time, they kept busy, taking brisk walks, dancing in the streets, and racing to finish chores. The PACE of the village never slowed.

But one day, something unexpected happened. As the villagers were embarking on their next journey they stumbled across a dark dungeon. With no choice but to enter the depths of the dungeon, the villagers were faced with new challenges. At every turn in the dungeon they would encounter various traps and monsters and for the first time in living memory, the villagers were forced to slow down their PACE and when they did, a deep rumble echoed from within the dungeon. It was the dragon stirring.

"Keep up the PACE!" one Ranger elder shouted, his voice cracking with urgency. "The dragon will wake if we don't move forward!"

With the PACE being too difficult to maintain for many of the villagers, the dragon would finally awaken. One by one, as the slower and weaker villagers struggled to keep PACE, the dragon would wreak havoc on them and shriek "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE"!

As the dragon proceeded to kill off the weak, the stronger villagers continued to press forward and keep up the PACE. All they had to do was hastily make way their through the dungeon avoiding the dozens of traps and fending off any Owlbears or Kobolds that stood in their path. In the end, only 4 villagers would emerge from the dungeon unscathed as they were the only ones who could keep up the PACE.

In doing so, the 4 remaining villagers were stunned to see Rath the Relentless staring at them as they exited the dungeon. The only way out at this point was to defeat the dragon! Each villager would get their shot at battling Rath, but only one would emerge victorious and be crowned the Grand Champion of the Stern Army Dungeons & Dragons Pinball Launch Party event! Will it be you??


******* ALL NEW PACE MATCHPLAY FORMAT! ********

WHERE - Delaware Pinball Collective

WHEN - March 29th

TIME - 5PM Start

COST - $5 for MEMBERS, $30 for NON-MEMBERS

PRIZES - Cool D&D Themed Trophy and swag along with Stern Army D&D swag!

REGISTRATION: Register for this event any time using the following Match Play link Registration is now live!

REGISTRATION URL: https://app.matchplay.events/tournaments/180591

FORMAT: Stay ahead of the pace to avoid being eliminated from the race to the dungeon exit!

QUALIFYING: PACE group match play format with final 4 playing a 3-game set on D&D

If you're at or ahead of the pace at the end of each round then you stay in the tournament for the next round. If you're behind the pace then you get knocked out.

Each round you are awarded points for your score in your 4-player game:
1st: 7 points
2nd: 5 points
3rd: 3 points
4th: 1 point

If you’re in a 3-player group:
1st: 7 points
2nd: 4 points
3rd: 1 point

Balanced pairings (you'll be grouped with a variety of other players)

Round: Pace
R5: 20 points (this may be adjusted*)
R6: 7 points more than the previous round (27 points)
R7: 7 points more than the previous round (34 points)
R8: 7 points more than the previous round (41 points)
R9: 7 points more than the previous round (48 points)
R10: 7 points more than the previous round (55 points)

* We may adjust the initial R5 points pace based on the number of players we have. If we make an adjustment it will be announced at the start of the tournament.

Once there are 4 or fewer players remaining, we move the the Final phase.

Finals format will have all 4 players playing 3 games on D&D with 7/5/3/1 scoring.

In this new PACE format, everyone plays at least 5 rounds. Most people will play 6 rounds. Players will need to average 4 points per round to get to play the 6th round.