1. Where did this idea come from?

The best of the not ranked was an idea originally created by myself, out of curiosity to see how people would take a few characters who had no chance to be ranked. The tournament offically started on the RPG Duelling League forums on September 2nd, 2004, running through seven very successful incarnations spanning a year's time. The idea was simple. Take fighters who for whatever reason had not been ranked in the Duelling League, and pit them against each other. It was a mix of generic fighters (Onix), characters who would be ranked in the near future (Eliwood), and ideas considered too outside of the normal duelling league's standards. (Alucard). Many characters have gone onto DL success from a simple Not Ranked start. Masaji Kato, TimeLord, Chaos, and Charizard are just some of the countless fighters who had their starts in the Not Ranked arena. All standard DL scalings and rules apply here. No voting on matches if you can't vote on both fighters. Even if you can't vote on a single match for the week, send in a vote anyway and tell us. ^_^ Half the reason to run this is to test new ideas for the Duelling League.

2. How is this different from the DL proper?

Think of this as a looser, more open format. If you have an idea you want to see in, suggest it in the comment's box. It might very well appear in the next week! Make sure what you're suggesting is from an RPG.. Champions automatically upgrade, and fighters can be used in back to back seasons. Once a character is ranked in the Duelling League, they can't be used here, unless they are booted. Rankings are decided by the admins, so they may be different than the duelling league's rankings, when and if a character makes the transition. Champions automatically upgrade, and there are no season diamonds, bios, or numerical rankings.

3. Who's running this?

superaielman and Dark Holy Elf are co-admins of this project, with Halbarad providing coding. We can be contacted at the Duelling League forums, and through AIM and email.

superaielman: AIM, Email

Dark Holy Elf: AIM, Email

4. When will this open and how will it be run?

November 7th, 2005. It will run based on the RPGP model, with four prelimary weeks. It'll last as long as fan interest is here, which will hopefully be for a long time.

5. I saw something here that I'd think would be a good rank for the DL. Can I suggest it for the actual site?

Yes. We have rankings every other season, unless otherwise noted. Suggest it on the actual DL when the time comes, and argue your case! One of the best ways to convince the staff that a game needs in, is for the fans to take up its case and argue for it.