Masque

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Masque is not precisely an Original Character Tournament; it was an Anonymous Character Tournament, held by Deviant ART's BlackLillian that was announced November 2009 and began in February 2010. The artists were represented solely by the character they entered, not by their name, history, or reputation. On top of this, if one of the artists got unmasked before they were knocked out of the tournament it gave them a penalty in the judging (Judges identities were also a secret). Contestants were to send in their auditions after uploading them to sites like imageshack or other untraceable links, and the final roster was instructed to create accounts with their character's names so they could upload further entries on those.

The premise was every character was to come to the Usher Manor, a sprawling, ramshackle estate. Their arrival was up to the artist, no force on the grounds compelled them to come against their will. Once they were on manor grounds, they could not leave. Attempting to walk out the gate resulted in the gate moving progressively further and further away the closer you get; the walls grew too high to climb, the forest too thick to pass through. The characters are trapped until the end of the tournament. Once the tournament has been won, they were to be free to go – assuming they’re still alive.

A contestant was allowed to enter up to four characters in a team, but each round one should be doing the majority of the fighting and to win a round you only need to take down one character. Artists were also allowed to team up and collaborate an entry if they wanted so it could be easier to hide their style and keep from being unmasked.

The final round is still in progress.


Tropes used in Masque include:

Contestants: (In order the roster was announced)

Note: While most of the audition located on the deviantart accounts link to their next audition pages for those with more than one, some however do not. Try checking their gallery for more.