What follows is a set of rules for a game I have been working on for awhile now. Time to play test it. The first game will have four players but I have three volunteers already so if you want the fourth, speak quickly.

Welcome to Alacrityville - the capital of the great and wondrous Alacrity Empire. Stretching from Sea to Sea, the Alacrity Empire has grown and prospered over the last 500 years and will continue to do so until the end of time. But unfortunately, there has been a sad passing in the Empire and the Grand and Wise Emperor Decimus Binkley succumbed to a childhood illness at the age of 75. His imperial Majesty did not have a son but mercifully decided to avoid a civil war through adoption of his favourite cat - Bill.

To celebrate his Imperial Majesty Bill the Cat's coronation, 100 days of celebration have been declared with free food and gladiatorial games. There will be fun and frivolity for all with free bread and beer plus every Thorsday is pastry night!

In this game you are a newly recruited (enslaved) gladiator for the games celebrating the crowning of the new emperor. The people of Alacrity (called Al's) are famous for their love of blood sports and gladiatorial combat. Being a gladiator is a better life than most slaves in Alacrity, in that you can at least die to escape your life, but in the end you are a slave and your life is not yours to command anymore. You have a patron who bought you and will use you to make money.

There are four ways out of the arena. You can die - that's the easy one and trust me - many of you will die (don't get too attached, you can always create a new one at 0 level). You can earn coin to buy your freedom. You can win games and advance in training to become a valued asset of your patron with all the perks. Finally you can woo and awe the mob to build prestige, become a celebrity of the games and a professional showman.

This is a simple set of rules I developed in an attempt to simplify the online game process. Combat is very easy for the GM to resolve and determined within a few die rolls and there is an objective of winning the game. It is meant to have a board game feel to it but that does not mean there is no room for roleplaying. You can write long posts about your character and their struggles to survive or you can simply play the game to enjoy the combat and try to win. The other aspect of this game is that if RL gets in your way of posting, you can simply put your character in with a basic strategy and I can run with it for awhile.

There are four classic races in Alacrity (Human, Dwarf, Elf and Half-orc) but the Al's are predominately human. Al's are very non-biases when it comes to race or genders in all aspects of life and entertainment so there are both female and male gladiators.

All warriors have 4 stats:
Strength - Physical strength
Stamina - Ability to keep moving and fight
Presence - How you look and project yourself to the mob
Agility - How quick you move and react
All abilities start at 0, Max score in any one skill is +2. Max total for all skills combined is +3. Lowest total score -3.

Every player picks one weapon, armour, and a race. None of these can be changed later, once you choose to be a Dwarven heavy axe wielder in medium armour - that is what you are stuck with for the game (unless you die). Al's like consistency and training is costly. Give yourself a "fighting" name to be called by the heralds and as much of a background as you choose to make up. Three pages of discourse or "was farmer, got captured" are equally acceptable.

Weapons Light: Advantage: 2 attack every other round, better chance to hit, Disadvantage: Lower damage, parry not very effective
Long: Adv: Reach allows attack one square away Dis: Middle of road for attack and defense
Heavy: Adv: Great damage Dis: lower chance to hit

Armour Light: Adv: full movement, split moves Dis: Armour has little Soak
Medium: No real adv/dis. some Soak, -1 step penalty
Heavy: Adv: Great Soak. Dis: -2 step penalty and lower dodge

Race and Stats Special abilities are usable once per battle and are in lieu of an attack
Human +1PRE, -1STA
Special Ability: 2nd wind - regain 5 hp
Dwarf +1STA, -1AGL
Special: Steadfast - Increase Soak by 5 hp
Elf +1AGL, -1STR
Special: Blur - +5 to defense rolls in a round
Half Orc +1STR, -1PRE
Special: Berserk - Add +5 to damage for one round

Combat: based on a d12 Initiative rolled with AGL bonus
Light armour gets +1 on initiative and heavy armour gets -1.
Whoever gets highest total goes first and declares who they are attacking and then picks an attack. Defender picks a defence.

Attacker rolls their attack and defender rolls defence. Defence roll give a certain amount of protection (amount subtracted) from the damage if hit is successful. If attack hits and damage is done, then SOAK of the armour is rolled to see how much is taken from the damage (STA bonus applies to SOAK). Armour gives a SOAK chance based on light, Medium or Heavy and it is rolled as well. Damage ranges from d3 to 2d6 plus bonuses.

The arena is setup like a checkerboard and movement is based on the squares. Movement rate is 5 squares per round but armour slows this down. You can move and attack once per round (or attack and move). Only Light armour wearer can split their movement rate to move attack and move again.

Three kinds of attack: (STR) Basic (better chance to hit, less damage)
Finesse (middle chance to hit with middle damage)
Hard (Least chance to hit but big damage)

Two kinds of defence: (AGL) Dodge (best chance, least effect)
Parry/Block (low chance and greater effect)


Special Attacks - open to all races, (usable only one per battle, no combos)
Precise (+1 to attack and damage)
Fast (roll twice for attack, take best)
Charge (roll twice for damage)

All warriors start with 20 hit points. Additional HP can be earned if you follow the training Path.

Movement - As stated before, Movement rate is 5 squares per round but armour slows this down. You can move and attack once per round (or attack and move). Only Light armour wearers can split their movement rate to move attack and move again. If you are wounded pass half of your hit points, you also suffer a -1 penalty to your movement. Note you can nly attack an opponent in a square adjacent to you unless you are using a long weapon, then you may attack from one square away.
Fumbles/Critical - If you roll a 1 on an attack, no matter what bonuses you have, you fumble. This means you lose all attacks that round if you have not attacked already and you automatically fail on all defence rolls. Critical is if you roll 12, modified or not and it means you do the maximum damage of the weapon.
Flanking attack - Toe to toe fighting, you cannot flank an opponent, however if dealing with multiple opponents and you are not engaged with an enemy during your turn, then you can choose to flank attack an enemy fighting a team mate. When you do, then you get a bonus of +1 on your attack. Note this applies to enemy teams as well.
Riling and pleasing the Mob - The mob's cheering, booing or screaming in anger can effect what happens in the arena. If you are following the Prestige path, then for every 3 levels you have (so once a 3rd, two times per battle at 6th etc), you can choose to work the crowd before an attack. You can choose to give yourself a bonus of +1 on your attack (cheers) or a -1 penalty on your opponent (booing). Repeating attacks - The crowd gets bored with gladiators who attack the same way, every round. If you attack the same way for more than three rounds in a row, you have a 50% chance of the crowd booing you for a -1 penalty. The chance increases but 10% and additional -1 per round.

Advancement and Levels There are three paths to success in the arena and any one can lead to winning the game. The three paths are Training, Prestige and Money. After each battle you will receive advancement points (AP). You get 1 point if you are alive at the end (yay!). You get 1 point for any opponent you killed (final blow only). You also get to add any presence bonus here or if you have a penalty - it comes off. You can follow all three paths if you choose but only one reaching 70 AP or 10th level is enough to win.

Training is the path of working hard, being a good gladiator, doing what you are told so that in the end your owner will elevate you to the status of a trainer or a member of his personal staff. To achieve this you must reach 10th level through your AP on the Training chart below.

Prestige is the path of glory and celebrity through the love of the mob and playing to their whims. If you reach 10th level in prestige, you become so popular that you can leave the games, go on tours, entertain senators and rich people and be paid for just being there.

Money is simply that - cash. You trade your AP for silver pieces and you need 70 silver pieces to become a free man.
Training/ Prestige/Money Chart (everyone starts out as 0 level, money does not have levels)
Level AP needed 0 0
1 3
2 6
3 10
4 15
5 21
6 28
7 36
8 45
9 55
10 70

Training gives you 2 hp for every level of advancement you attain. Prestige gives you the ability to "rile" the crowd and cause penalties to your opponent's attack. Money does not serve you in the arena and there are no levels.

The random events in the game give you or take way money, prestige and training. Or it may do absolutely nothing. You may exchange two points of any path to "buy" one point of another. So if you got a windfall of 4 coins in an event and you were following the Training path - you buy training for 2 to 1. Note, once you reach a level threshold, you cannot spend the points to lower your level. So if you spent 15 to be 4th in Training and decided you wanted to get prestige instead, you can only spend the points you have above 15 and 21 which is the next level. So if a Prestige follower had 19 AP and decided to switch to the money path - he could only spend 4 of his points (19-15=4). The longer you go, the hardest it is to switch paths. The exception to this is money which you can spend as much as you have at any point.

Game Play Your character will start in the arena, given your starting positions and be told what or who you will be fighting. It could be animals or humanoids or other gladiators. Very rarely are monsters are used because they tend to attack the crowd and the mob gets upset about that and the senate has to actually do work, so it is very rare. You will be on a team usually, with the other slaves owned by the same master, but that can change in the later games. Al's like theatrics so sometimes you will fight a bunch of elves that have black pitch poured on them and called Drow - whatever gets the crowd going wild. Don't even ask what they do during Minotaur night....

Combat is fought in a series of rounds until one team or opponents are slain or dispatched. You are then taken away to your master's villa where you receive healing and care. Remember you are a valuable commodity so they need you healthy, but emphases on the commodity as long as you are valuable. After the battle is over, you receive your advancement points which you can allocate to whichever advancement path you choose. (See Advancement Levels)

At this point the GM rolls on a 100 item list of random events that occur to each player before or during their next battle. Of the 100, 20 are Prestige, 20 are for Training, and 20 are for Money (of these 20, 10 are positive and 10 are negative). Of the final 40 events, 20 are neutral and will not have an effect on the player, 18 directly impact their person) and ability to fight (9 good and 9 bad) and finally 2 instantly kill your character (you may create a new one at 0 level). A random event is rolled for each player and applied to the character for the next battle.

Roleplaying - Optional Rule Roleplaying in the game can be fun if the players want to play a "role" in the arena such as the noble hero, the dastardly villain or the desperately seeking escape fugitive. Good roleplaying is rewarded in the form of Fortune Points. Players get 1 point whenever the GM feels the player has done an exception job of roleplaying a scene. The FP can be used by the player to ask for "do-over" rolls on defence rolls and events only. So your random event has left you dead on the streets? - use 1 FP to get a new roll. Did not get the defence roll on the potentially deadly hit - use an FP to re-roll the defense. Only 1 FP point is allowed per battle or event - no rolling until you are clear.

I'll take your 4th spot

Human, light armor, long weapon. Arena name Spartacus.

Thracian soldier who leads a mutiny against Alacritian General Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, after being lied to about safety of family. Captured the next day, he is condemned to die in the gladiator arena and is shipped to Alacrityville, a center of gladiator training. Senator Alacrity commutes the punishment from death to slavery. The prisoner's true name unknown, Lentulus Batiatus, the owner of a ludus in Alacrityville , suggests the name "Spartacus" noting well the Thracian's seemingly raw talent, Batiatus purchases him for training within the walls of his ludus under the tutelage of the doctore (or instructor) Oenomaus, a former gladiator and fellow slave

You got a drone watching me from Texas Tann? That was rather fast!

Okay Olan, Robert and Lance, you are up.

Nay just a satellite drones are way to expensive

Added some background to the first post above.

You are not in Rome Spartacus. This. is. ALACRITYVILLE!

My character shall be Luksima the elf.

Typical else appearance: pointy (not banana, I hope) ears, long blonde (almost white) hair, icy blue eyes. Lithe and lean.

Luksima is an elven hunter, far from his homeland, who found himself robbed, beaten, and sold into slavery. He burns to be free of his shackles, but knows full well that his life is most likely already over, that he is simply playing out the string until he feels the final embrace of darkness.

Ah hell. I wanted that fourth spot. Picked a bad time to go fix lunch.

I'll be following anyways. Looks like fun.

*evaporates*

...for some reason, right off the top of my head, I'm coming up with:

"Frella the Fishwife"

Human, female. Dark, roughly-chopped hair; sea-green eyes, and deeply tanned skin. Fights with a trident and net (a la a Retiarius-type gladiator).

Frella was, in fact, a fish wife in her previous life on the shores of some far flung island. When her village was raided and destroyed, however, she was taken as a "prize" and eventually found her way into the arena when her captors original plans for her didn't quite pan out the way they had hoped. Frella is an angry, vengeful woman, and she fights like it.

Edit: Same type of armor common to the Retiarius, as well, please - a loincloth held in place by a wide belt and a larger arm guard extending to the shoulder and left side of the chest; fights without the protection of a helmet.

rofl... that's amazing.

... I have no idea why, but that jumped in my head almost immediately. I couldn't NOT go with it!

...and found the following image http://lanista8.deviantart.com/art/Retiarius-Character-Test-116001917
(not actually embedding the image due to very mild nudity, but very much what I envision given Frella's description)

The choices of weapons are outlined in the rules. Trident would be long and based on the picture the armour is light. Nets are not an option in the game.

...wasn't 100% sure the net would be allowed but figured I'd throw it out there just to be sure. Long weapon/light armor it is.

In the interest of a more diverse play test (since I notice both Tann and Olan are going with light armor and long weapons) how about i switch things up a bit with Frella?

Let's put her in medium armor (which I'm guessing is the equivalent of chain, correct?) and a heavy weapon (like a warhammer?)... Same description and background. Doable?

Actually, I'm going light/light... so we should get some variety here.