Ahead by a Century: A History Side Event

[ErikC]

This year I have been working on Ahead by a Century, a history side event of predominantly open-level questions. My aim is to have a mix of interesting and novel approaches to famous areas of history alongside more straight forward questions on important parts of less explored areas and periods; players will likely notice other commonalities across the set. I also aim for very few questions to get dead in a good field of people who enjoy history.

Currently, the questions I have written are roughly:
50% World history,
35% European history,
10% North American history, and
5% Mixed history.

Period wise, expect a mix of eras, with a little more modern and truly ancient (before Greece/Rome) content than usual. As one writer, I have tried to write on a variety of kinds of history, but things will still be shaped by my preferences as a writer and player. Players may notice some other priorities I had that I won't describe until the set is clear.

I currently have over 120 tossups, and I plan on writing 7 (maybe 8) packages to be available in July or August. The current plan is to mirror the set in Canada following the Mac Vanity weekend in August and incorporate feedback before other potential mirrors, including an online mirror pending available staff. Let me know at erikchristensenplan [at] gmail.com if you would like to mirror this set this summer or fall!

[naan/steak-holding toll]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

[ErikC]

As I'd gotten a bit carried away with modern history and some redundancy, I'm spinning off some of the modern history I wrote for this set as a separate unnamed one-off pack that should be available around the same time I complete the seven packages of the main event.

[Gene Harrogate]

This was a good set! While the distribution departs enough from an average tournament to give it that side event flavor, there was a good amount of breadth that any history-interested audience will find enjoyable. The difficulty is well controlled as far as single-subject side events go and there are lots of fun and novel ideas.

[Stinkweed Imp]

packages

[ErikC]

We ran this in Toronto! After a positive reaction and some minor changes, I think this set is ready for mirrors anywhere for free (organizers may charge a fee for running this as they would like). I'll keep this off the archive until further notice. I suggest playing this with Penn Bowl or another tournament with a strong field. Let me know at erikchristensenplan [at] gmail.com or PM me on Discord or here to organize a mirror.

I also plan on running an online mirror of this in the future, but I'd like to do that in the winter semester at least and encourage people to play this IRL.