How MAX-J works [An OOC Guidebook]

MAX-J is something of an oddity here on the IRON ROAD boards. While it has a much longer history, in its current incarnation it's not quite a fully-fledged promotion or sister fed, and it's also not quite a subdivision of IRON ROAD. This guide is meant to help anyone visiting this forum understand how MAX-J operates from an out-of-character perspective to provide some context to how we do business.

Let's get started.

MAX-J is an experimental concept that I refer to as a "semi-cooperative, quasi-competitive sub-fed" of Iron Road Pro-Wrestling. Because this is an unusual term, let me break it down for you what I mean.

MAX-J was established in 2017, a project initially created by Kevin with the 2017 J1 SUMMIT. After a few of months, we had the idea to run MAX-J concurrently on a once a month schedule to supplement Kevin's LION'S ROAD Pro-Wrestling, mainly to give him a week or so break in the writing department without all the handlers having nothing to do. That's when I took over the project, giving life to some of the main characters and providing jet fuel to the stories that we had developed. Pretty soon we realized that MAX-J needed its own forum and in July 2018 it became its own standalone property on its own forum. From that point, MAX-J ran continuously until mid-2019 - with Kevin taking back over the last couple of months - and then shut down its doors for a few years.

Today, MAX-J is a way of imagining the future of pro-wrestling. MAX-J is essentially a brand that is owned by a sports media conglomerate known as the 4536 Group. MAX-J doesn't hire wrestlers as much as its sponsors them (kinda like Nike hiring athletes to wear their shoes). Native Japanese or permanent residents are known as "ambassadors" and are the lifeblood of the brand's connection to its domestic audience. However, MAX-J also has a program known as the GLOBAL HEROES partnership where it sponsors foreigners throughout the world and will at times bring them into the country to work shows, often fighting against the brand's ambassadors. Additionally, MAX will partner with existing pro-wrestling promotions - such as IRON'S ROAD - as well as other companies to promote its product.

Likewise, MAX-J also does not "own" any of its championships. The brand has a partnership with a fictional sports regulatory body known as the All-Japan Sports and Wrestling Commission (AJSWC). This organization has a licensing agreement with MAX-J because it meets rigorous standards for sports and athletic competition. The AJSWC must approve all title defenses. As a result, the MAX-J often feels the need to make decisions with this relationship in mind, not wanting to get on the organization's bad side.

Lastly, as a part of this "re-imagined" form of pro-wrestling, MAX is something of a hybrid between works and shoots, the latter most frequently occurring under the company's "sport form" rule set (see more below). This is not pro-wrestling plus MMA but more like pro-wrestling plus submission wrestling that is a tad more permissive regarding strikes (though fighters are protected in a way that renders knockouts difficult). The "sport form" rules serve more as a check on a character's conditioning, level of training, etc. While the rules significantly limit what fighters can do, performing well means a lot to MAX-J in part because the AJSWC values the presence of high-quality athletes on the MAX-J brand. While gimmick matches (e.g., ladder matches) are very uncommon, niche athletic contests (e.g., chessboxing) occur from time to time.

The roster is a combination of characters that are handled by users on the forum as well as what are essentially non-playable characters whose vitality are fleshed out by yours truly. In practice, most of the native/ambassador characters are deployed by me and most of the foreign/GLOBAL HEROES characters are handled by others.

The biggest reason we do this is because, frankly, there just aren't enough people out there who want to handle a Japanese character. And, hey, I get it. E-fedding is at its heart a literary community and it tends to be an English-speaking one and most people probably just don't feel like they could do justice to such a character. This practical constraint creates an issue where, in the absence of NPCs, we simply wouldn't have enough Japanese wrestlers to create the vibe that we want to create.

This actually winds up working out really well because we can create something of a Ambassadors/Natives vs. HEROES/Foreigners dichotomy that really has been a theme at the heart of Japanese pro-wrestling for decades. So, instead of handled characters competing against one another, the tendency is for them to compete against the native characters. So, the handled characters - even rivals - often wind up needing to work together. This helps give MAX-J a much different story context than what you see in IRON ROAD.

I will have more to say on this in the "Judging (a/k/a how winners of matches are decided)" section, but needless to say that the NPCs in MAX-J are not all jobbers. Think about them instead as difficulty levels in a video game. Some guys are easy mode, some are medium, and some guys are hard. And this will shift as individuals' stories change.

What made MAX-J unique among efeds was, and still is, the perspective from which we tell the story. MAX-J is told from the perspective of an English-language sports channel called ENSOU! TV in what is essentially a combination of Japan's GAORA TV and ESPN's Sportscenter program. From a narrative perspective, this means that most of the in-ring action takes the form of a sportscaster narrating a quick series of highlights to tell the story of the match. Exceptions are sometimes made for title matches, which are sometimes broadcast in their entirety. Between shows, news and updates are communicated via a Sportscenter-esque program known as SPORTS LIGHTNING NEWS and sit-down interviews may be broadcast via other platforms.

There's a few reasons why we opt for this narrative model:

1. It allows us to squeeze in more shows. Because shows aren't as long, we can simulate wrestlers doing multiple shows touring around the country or a week of round-robin style tournament action.

2. It's not as taxing on the writer(s). Most of the show is written by me for the sake of continuity (though I will ask Kev to write title matches from time to time because he's damn good at them but also because having a different narrative voice distinguishes the live results feel from the sportscaster recap). Some of this is for flow, but a big reason is that MAX-J is based in Japan. I've had the good fortune and honor of spending a decent bit of time in Japan and can speak/write enough to get myself out of a jam or ask questions. I'm not an expert by any means, but I think my ability to imagine and realize MAX-J is hard to replicate. And, as a result, I don't like asking others to write. Additionally, because I don't live on an island with nothing but free time on my hands, efficiency is the name of the game.

3. It allows me to more creative control + freedom to establish context and highlight key details. One of my complaints about match-writing is that oftentimes the in-ring storytelling is good (typically being told from the perspective of the live broadcast team) but the environment of actually sitting in an arena is lost. I like to spend a lot more time on that experience. I view the crowd as a composite of a character itself. Additionally, because most of the ambassadors are NPCs and I usually take on the responsibility of fleshing them out so that they are interesting to readers.

Most matches in MAX-J are conducted under the traditional pro-wrestling rule set with victory attainable by pinfall, submission, technical knockout, referee stoppage, and countout. Matches can end via disqualification, though this is considered a no contest.

However, one of the unique characteristics of MAX is its endorsement of a stripped down rule set known as the "sport form" rules. While these are shoots, they are not MMA. These rules are considered "stripped down" because so many moves are restricted. As a result, the matches tend to resemble a grappling session of sorts. While victory is important, it is not the be-all/end-all. The primary purpose of the sport form rules is to demonstrate to ownership and the audience that the fighters are in shape, take training seriously, etc. 

The "sport form" rules emphasize the shoot-style elements of pro-wrestling and differ from traditional pro-wrestling rules in the following manner:

- Each match is fought over a maximum of three (3) five-minute rounds.

- Each fighter must have a corner-man accompany him to the ring.

- Fighters cannot excessively utilize the ropes (e.g., use them to climb or launch aerial attacks)

- Within-round decision are rendered by submission, referee stoppage/Technical Knockout (TKO), or corner stoppage. If a decision is not reached within the time-limit of the match, the decision will be rendered by a panel of three judges.
- The only strikes that are legal are open-hand strikes and kicks with the top of the foot (meaning that elbows and knees are banned). 

- Fighters must wear kickpads that cover their legs from below the knee. Fighters do not wear gloves.

Tag team matches can be fought under a modified version of the sport form rules, encapsulated best here.

Matches fought under sport form rules are subject to modified judging criteria (see below).

Because MAX-J includes a significant number of NPCs who are credible wrestlers competing against handled ones, MAX-J uses a judging system that, from a technical perspective, doesn't distinguish between NPCs and handled characters. As a result, we decide matches in a very different way than they are decided in IRON ROAD - which hopefully will give the results a different feel and allow for some distinct dynamics. Overall, I think judging in MAX-J tends to feel just a bit less predictable (by design).

MAX-J has "writing windows" that are specified over a duration of time, either meant for a particular show or event or something in between. While there is no technical requirement to post anything during a window, doing so will have benefits for your character (more below).

Before getting into HOW matches are decided, let me put this in bold, capital letters: NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS ARE NOT JOBBERS. THEY VARY IN ABILITY. DON'T COMPLAIN IF YOU LOSE TO AN NPC.

OK, now that we've got that out of the way.

The MAX-J Judging System typically has five components:

For NPCs, this is determined by me and generally managed in between shows based on a character's story. Skill level is holistic and not something that changes rapidly. This is not something that changes madly between shows. Brock Lesnar isn't jacked one night and an anorexic mess the next, right?

For handled characters, I generally rely on Kevin's assessment to help me out with this since he has a much better feel for the pecking order and where he thinks characters are headed.

Some characters shine in distinct moments. For instance, if you recall many of the great tag teams of old, oftentimes neither wrestler individually would shine in singles competition. They were much better in a team. Additionally, you might get a character who actually performs poorly in some circumstances, maybe a young guy who gets nervous during main events. These specific skills capture this dynamic by adding/subtracting a little from a character's overall skill.

For NPCs, I keep a log of their specific skills. For handled characters, once again I rely on Kev's assessment.

Some characters may be a little better at competing under the sport form rules (e.g., your character is a former MMA fighter). While we may allow some small advantage under that rule set, you can request to skew your fighter much more in that direction. Doing so, however, will come at a cost. If you choose to skew your fighter significantly more towards sport form, this will somewhat limit your overall skill level, meaning that in matches fought under the typical pro-wrestling rule set, you will be a little behind. 

For NPCs, I usually estimate this either randomly or from the news updates that I provide prior to a show. For instance, if you see a lot of stories being run that a particular wrestler has looked great in training, maybe their training is paying off (or maybe I'm trying to bait you into thinking that and it's a ruse), that might be a sign that they'll do well.

For handled characters, this will increase the probability that you will win - though it will not guarantee it. Basically, we expect at least one piece of writing within each "writing window" that we establish. I base the scoring of this off of the RPs we see in conjunction with Kev's assessment. I will also ask for outsider advice to get a third/fourth opinion.

This characteristic is generally not included in matches fought under the sport form rule set. This reason is because the quality of RPs or judges' feelings about characters really should not be affecting how a wrestler performs in a shoot.

One of the core judging principles of MAX is that those who judge matches ain't gospel. I believe they generally get in the ball-park, but I don't like to assume they always hit the nail exactly on the head. To reflect this, we add a little randomness to all of the above. How much really depends on how certain the judges feel. Some judges may view a character as being one who is capable of under or over-performing. Others may view a character as very dependable and feel very confidently where they are ranked. It really just depends.

Where this has a noticeable effect is on matches where the judges scores are very close. Instead of some kind of arbitrary tie-breaker instituted by the judges, If a match is close, I would rather see the judges have less power (not more). Said another way, if it's a coin flip between two characters, then it would be better to literally flip a coin than grope for a tie-breaker. The more daylight between two characters in terms of score, the less uncertainty exists on the part of the judges, and the less this effect will be felt.

Sport form rules generally have higher levels of uncertainty because it is a shoot, not a work.

MAX-J is meant to be fun and have a different feel compared to IRON ROAD. While it's unlikely your character will be terrible in IRON ROAD and insanely awesome in MAX-J, it's not out of the realm of possibility to over-perform in one or under-perform in another. This is a good thing and it's one of the reasons why we try to quantify a bit more of the judging in MAX-J, so the storylines of IRON ROAD aren't simply reproduced here.

Additionally, MAX-J is not meant to be a resource drain on either handlers or writers. At the same time, we want people to be excited to explore this universe and contribute to the story with their own writing. So, there's a balance. At the end of the day, we don't want to stress you out and we don't want you to stress us out. Presumably you wouldn't have joined an efed if you didn't want to write a little, so we don't ask for much.

Also if anyone wants to be a jerk, I have the discretion to not include you anymore in the action, vacate any titles your character may hold, etc. It so rarely comes to that sort of thing, but if it does, consider yourself prepared.

And that's it. Reach out if you have any questions on the maxjapan channel on the IRON ROAD discord.