Advanced Duelmasters is a limited access game, i.e., one which is not available to the general public. When you receive this packet you are one of a small number of players who are eligible to participate. The game is available only to those players who have champion level characters from the Duelmasters game system. It is an advanced level game for characters (and players!) of exceptional ability.

Next turn you will receive one replacement rollup sheet for each of your characters who has been selected for Advanced Duelmasters. You will use these rollups to replace the gaps in your original team created by those characters leaving the team for Advanced Duelmasters. With these rollups provided, your team should be back up to its full complement of five warriors. It is the natural cycle of the game that as characters grow to exceptional ability, they advance to new challenges and new opportunities while behind them a new generation rises up in their footsteps. The characters of the new generation will, in turn, seek to make their mark upon the world of Alastari as their legendary forerunners have done.

I. Characters in Advanced Duelmasters may increase their attributes (except size) past the normal maximums of 21 to as high as 25 points for any given attribute. Furthermore, due to the excellent facilities and conditioning techniques available in Advanced Duelmasters, the first three increases in any given attribute are made with no increase in difficulty. (It is as easy to learn the third point as it is the first.) An example, Megatough Warrior started with a 18 speed on his initial rollup. During Megatough's career as a gladiator in the regular Duelmasters games, he managed to increase his speed up to 20. Knowing how difficult it would be, Megatough never attempted to train a third point of speed. Once transferred to Advanced Duelmasters, Megatough can again begin training his speed, up to a maximum of 25, and his first point trained in Advanced Duelmasters, his third point overall, going from 20 to 21, will be at the same chance of success as it was originally for him to go from 18 to 19. Thereafter, his training attempts will become increasingly more difficult as in Basic Duelmasters. The difference in ability for each point in an attribute above 21 is very significant. Those attributes with values higher than 21 are considered to be in the range of the "superhuman."

The same learning opportunity is mirrored in learning skills. Because of more adequate training facilities and the overall level of competition, characters in Advanced Duelmasters receive significantly increased chances to learn skills.

II. The second important change which applies to Advanced Duelmasters from the very start regards weapons suitability. All characters in Advanced Duelmasters receive new in-depth character overviews which discuss aspects of your character that were not as strongly emphasized in Basic Duelmasters. The Advanced Duelmasters character overview brings to light some of those tendencies and natural inclinations which make each character unique. Working directly with the unique aspects of your character becomes a strong focus in Advanced Duelmasters. The Advanced Duelmasters character overview, in addition to covering those items on the regular Duelmasters overview, also lists any favoring tendencies which your character has displayed: favorite weapon, favorite fighting range, etc.

As you know, in regular Duelmasters a warrior must meet certain ability criteria in order to effectively wield a particular weapon. In Advanced Duelmasters a warrior is trained to be well suited to use his favorite weapon, regardless of his abilities. For example, while it normally takes at least a 9 strength, 11 wit, and an 11 deftness to effectively wield a scimitar, Megatough Warrior is well suited to use it even though his abilities are 17 strength, 9 wit, and 15 deftness. This is the case because he naturally favors the scimitar.

III. All warriors in Advanced Duelmasters have been gifted with limited immortality. They will never age while on the Isle, and if slain in combat they will be resurrected on the following turn. Due to this immortality, there is no need of a Dark Arena in Advanced Duelmasters, nor is there opportunity to bloodfeud. Neither Dark Arena challenges nor bloodfeud challenges are allowed in A.D.

IV. The Class Ranking system for Advanced Duelmasters, while similar in structure to that used in Basic Duelmasters, differs in terms of the amount of recognition points needed to be ranked in any given category. The ranking categories and recognition point ranges for each category are as follows:

Primus is slightly different from the rest of the Advanced Duelmasters arenas. Warriors are ranked not according to their recognition points, but according to their seat in the arena. The Primus ranks are as follows:

In Primus, warriors may only challenge warriors in their own class or one class higher. Obviously, the Lady's Protector is an exception; this warrior may challenge only warriors ranked as one of The Lady's Challengers. In addition, for the Primus arena only, when two warriors fight, the winner and the loser switch seats.

V. At present, there are eight Advanced Duelmasters arenas. The Talahya arena (DM 100) is the original A.D. arena, and the Crysalis arena (DM 106) is the slow turnaround A.D. arena. Warriors from all four regions can fight in arenas 100 and 106 (provided they are not Primus inductees). There are four regional arenas, Free Blades (DM 103), Darkholm (DM 104), Andorak (DM 105), and Lirin Kiv (DM 107). These four arenas only accept warriors hailing from cities in their region. The Home Guard arena (DM 101) is meant for veteran warriors. Primus (DM 102) is where the best warriors compete. It is an honor for your warrior to be qualified for Primus, but the very best warriors are inducted (i.e., if they choose to fight, they may only fight in Primus).

VI. Approximately two turns after each Mail-in Grand Tournament, there occurs the A.D. Split. Each manager of A.D. warriors will receive a sheet stating which arenas their warriors are eligible to fight in. Non newly-invited warriors may not transfer from arena to arena except at this time (when a warrior is newly invited to A.D., his manager may transfer him directly to his regional arena (DM 103-105, 107) by submitting the A.D. Arena Selection Sheet for that warrior.) Warriors may only transfer to arenas that they are qualified to transfer to (i.e., a brand new warrior may not transfer to Primus or Home Guard, and a warrior from a Delarquan Federation city may not transfer to Andorak).

These changes distinguish Advanced Duelmasters from the Basic Duelmasters games. What really distinguishes A.D., however, is the level of competition arising from the group of players and warriors participating. The warriors and managers who are legendary throughout the land are all to be found in A.D. Advanced Duelmasters is quite simply a gathering of the best players and the best characters. For this reason alone the Advanced Duelmasters games are the most exciting happenings in the world of Alastari.