Help Me Build a Hunger Games-Inspired Arena

Queen_Dopplepopolis · Aug 15, 2011

At the upcoming DC Gameday, I'm planning to run a Hunger Games-inspired Dread game.

If you're not familiar with the Hunger Games, the only thing that you need to know to participate in this brainstorm is that a bunch of kids have to fight to the death in an arena that is deliberately built to be a hazard to the participants. The arena is as much an enemy as the other combatants - an intelligent, active force trying diligently to maximize carnage.

So, I'm working to design an area. I know that I want the arena to be a large puzzle - something that the characters can (should they choose to work together) "figure out" to gain an advantage (in one of the books, the arena is divided up into 12 sections (like a clock) and each hour a different section of the arena erupts in bloodshed. It's awesome.).

I plan to have the arena mapped out in detail. As the PCs explore different areas, they'll receive sections of the map. They can, should they choose, share that info to create a map of the entire arena over the course of the scenario.

Finally, I know that I want the arena to be brutal. This game, while based on the Hunger Games, is going to be played by adults. So it can be extra-deadly. Extra brutal. Extra dark.

So, creative and brilliant minds of EN World: Who has ideas for me?!

Dannyalcatraz · Aug 15, 2011

1) Dire Mimics running loose...errrr...laying in wait as objects or parts of the arena.

2) Pressure plates that trigger weapon launches

3) At least a few pressure plates that release something into the arena that changes the environment for a few rounds: a noxious gas, a flood of water, even something as simple as a 3' deep ultrathick mist could be hazardous.

4) Walls that shift or are shiftable.

5) All the weapons available are cursed in some way.

6) Invisible walls...that shift.

Dannyalcatraz · Aug 15, 2011

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Quickleaf · Aug 15, 2011

4 statues are in each "corner" of the arena, each wearing a different grotesque mask: (1) a leering werewolf with ram horns and a sigil branded on it's forehead, (2) a large lipped androgenous mask with feathered wings instead of ears, (3) a Japanese-style cross-eyed oni mask with a man's head inside it's maw, and (4) an Aphrodite-like mask with a terrified expression and two clawed hands covering the mouth.

In the center of the arena is a sacrificial altar with a corpse chained there and monstrous vultures/bats/wyverns picking at it. Around the altar are four pillars with human sized masks mirroring the ones on the large statues.

< Falling asleep here, will finish the death puzzle tomorrow >

Gilladian · Aug 15, 2011

For those who haven't read Hunger Games - arena is a bit of a misnomer - think of an arena several miles across, where the watching is all done electronically (or via scrying in DnD terms). There are trees and streams, could be a lake or a seacoast, etc... BIG.

How about lots of plant monsters? All those things like the bunny on a stump, assassin vines, etc... whose names I can't remember right now. Whipping willows, giant venus flytraps, that sort of thing.

Remembering that the watchers could send gifts to the competitors, maybe "fake gifts" that are dangerous or cursed. Cure potions that also slow down or confuse the drinker, that sort of thing.

Queen_Dopplepopolis · Aug 15, 2011

Also keep in mind that this is a modern game that I'm running using the Dread RPG (which uses a Jenga tower for conflict resolution and is amazing).

There are definitely some fantasy elements, but it's a post-apocalyptic modern world.

Dannyalcatraz · Aug 15, 2011

Post-Apoc? Well instead of cursed weapons, substitute sabotaged/booby-trapped weapons.

Like petting zoos have vending machines that give you goat kibble, you can have less-than-lethal weapon emplacements that can be operated for short periods of time by viewers who pony up the cash to do so. They won't kill, but they will affect the game.

Croesus · Aug 15, 2011

Dannyalcatraz said:
Post-Apoc? Well instead of cursed weapons, substitute sabotaged/booby-trapped weapons.

Also, you can have weapons/items that require various components to work, and the components are located in different areas, or with different players. The latter could create interesting dynamics - a character needs the power cell that another character has. Do they cooperate, or does one attempt to kill the other, so he/she can have both components?

Likewise, items that require specific knowledge to use. One contestant may know how to use a medical kit, but someone else has the kit, who has allied with another contestant who has been wounded, who has a vital clue to an area stocked with supplies, guarded by another team of contestants, who have rigged the area with traps...