1001 Cool Combat Locations

[Blue Prussian]

#202: Combat=Chess

I don't know if it has been posted already, but having the combat on a chessboard where the characters act as designated pieces is pretty interesting. Each character has confined movement, such as that of a bishop, or a knight, etc...

You could add conditions to the situation by saying that bishops (for example) can only use divine spells (and nothing else), or requiring certain pieces to use certain weapons, or have certain armor. You can also make up various consequences for the PC's losing the game. If their particular piece is taken/defeated, they could end up in some other room/dungeon, or they could find themselves as a new chess piece, fighting for the opposition against their former team. In that situation, they could be compelled to battle their adventuring friends, or devise a way to make their own team lose. There are several inherent possibilities that come from the chessboard......

 

[333 Dave]

203: A factory, but in pitch blackness. Darkvision or listen checks to avoid geting crushed by a widget maker. Possibly use a Robo-Rally board instead of a regular battlemat.

 

[shadow]

If you want cool combat locations look no further than your typical Japanese console RPG. There are so many examples of crazy combats I could go on for ever I'll try to name a few:

Final Fantasy 2 (4): In a high tech, futuristic tower (Tower of Zot/ Bab-il)
-On the moon
-Inside a giant mecha (the Giant of Bab-il) Especially the part where you had to fight the CPU and defense system to destroy the giant.
-A crazy interdiminsional warp space (the final battle with Zeromous)

Final Fantasy 3 (6): A haunted train (the Phantom Train)
-Free Fall (happens twice in the game)
-In an underwater trench (Serpent Trench)
-An island floating in mid-air
-On an airship
-On a raft in the middle of a raging river
-On an opera stage during the middle of a performance (Battle with Ultros)
-In a dream (Cyan's dream in Doma castle)

Final Fantasy 7: A high tech power plant
-A train graveyard with piles of scrap metal and abandoned train engines and cars
-On an elevator
-Speeding down the highway on a motorcycle fighting of enemies also riding motorcyles
-A gladiatorial battle arena
-A surreal Escher-esque maze (Temple of the Ancients)

Wild Arms: Another surreal maze/palace
-An Orbital Space station (Marduk [sp?], the final dungeon)
-An interdimensional warp space (Final Battle with Zek-Tuvai[sp?])

Legend of Dragoon: An active volcano
-A place full of zones of reverse gravity randomnly scattered about. (Valley of Corrupted Gravity)