Game of Death

[seasong]

Points

Note: There are no teams. Only one gladiator may be left standing at the end, and points are by individual. You may ally with others in the game, but remember that only one person may survive at the end.

Each kill: 3 pts. (kill thief: 1 pt, or 0.5 pts for a coup de grace)
A coup de grace kill: 2 pts (replaces kill pts, above).
Suicide: -2 pts.
Each round you survive against 2:1 odds: +1 pt.
Each round you survive against 3:1 or 4:1 odds: +2 pts.
Each round you survive against 5:1 or greater odds: +3 pts.
Performance: +1 pts, add +1 per 10 you exceed DC 20 by.

Each round spent neither attacking nor performing: -1 pt.
Changing targets before current opponent is dead: -1 pt.
(does not count if fighting multiple opponents)

Last Gladiator Standing: 10 pts, option for champion fight.
Winning Champion Fight: 10 pts.
Losing Champion Fight: -5 pts.

Kill thief: If a character has been reduced to 10% of their hit points without any help from you, and you swoop in and kill them, that's a kill thief. You still get points, but not nearly as many.

Coup de Grace kill: Target is helpless (paralyzed, held, unconscious, etc.) and you use the coup de grace rules. You may choose to do normal hit point damage instead, in which case you get full points.

Performance: A performance must be USELESS to count for points. No buffing, no drinking potions, etc. You can boast of your prowess, dance on someone's corpse, pose for the audience while death incarnate charges towards you, etc. If there are NO THREATS TO YOU while you are performing, you may only perform for one round; thereafter the audience loses interest, and you are considered to be "not attacking". Note: Charging at a target for one round, performing for one round, charging for one round, performing again, etc. will not work. The audience is not THAT stupid.

Not Attacking: If there are no targets near you, and you spend the round on a double move towards a target, this is counted as an "attack", even if you do not reach the target by the end of the round. A round spent attacking, charging, double moving towards a target, or performing does not cause loss of points.

Champion Fight: This is a CR 14-17 monster (to be revealed when the arena opens) which the last gladiator standing may choose to fight. If so, the gladiator is given one round to buff/haste/heal/invis/etc. before the monster is unleashed into the arena.

Other possible modifiers: Showmanship may net you a +1 point bonus on a particular kill. This only works once per particular type of "showmanship", and must impress me personally. I made the gain low so that it would be difficult for this to skew the game results - just think of it as a minor award in addition to the game.

 

[Starman]

I'd definitely be game for this. Now I need a character concept. Hmmm....

Starman

 

[seasong]

RUNNING THE GAME

1. Create your characters (see above guidelines).
2. I will provide the arena map at that point.
2a. Choose where you wish to appear.
2b. Send me what you wish to do in the prep round.
3. The game will begin (see below).
4. I will post what happens in a round.
5. Everyone will e-mail me their turn (24 hour deadline).
6. I will request clarifications or alternate moves where needed.
7. I will update with what happens that round (1-3 days).
8. Start over at #5.

OOC Discussion

Please keep all OOC discussion public. I would prefer that there was no silent or secret planning. There's nothing I can do to stop you, but I can and will ask you to behave yourselves.

Game Beginning

Characters have ONE PREP ROUND before being teleported into the arena to prep any spells. Unless you can prep them in that single prep round, you will have no buff spells, no magical effects (such as from candles of invocation or incense of meditation), etc. Characters appear in the arena fully equipped. Hit points are at full, resources are full, etc.

Each player CHOOSES where on the map they will appear. They do this with no knowledge of where the others will choose to appear. You can not appear in the air - the location must be on the ground. If two players choose the same X,Y coordinate, each will be moved one square in a random direction (the original square they were both trying for will remain empty).

All characters appear in a puff of smoke. Invisible characters will remain invisible, but everyone will know where they started out due to the puff of smoke. Each character has a different color of smoke, and will have been seen prior to the tournament starting, so there will be no complete unknowns.

I will roll initiative when the characters appear in the arena. We will then use that initiative order from that point on (with changes per the rules for refocusing, etc.). Initiative results will be publicly displayed, as will changes in initiative.

Basics

Deadline for each round for all characters is 24 hours after I make my post. All actions will be processed at the same time. I expect to spend 1.5 hours on this (10-12 minutes per character), so expect each round to take 1-3 days, depending on my work schedule and personal life. If I can get a groove going (M-W-Sat, for example), I will, but there are no guarantees (note: this is 3 rounds a week, so should be plenty fast!).

If a player misses a round, I will act for their character, based on a policy of cowardice. This will hopefully keep you alive for that round, but will also cost you points!

Is it unfair for me to give you a 24-hour time deadline to decide what you want your character's one round action is, and then take up to 3 days to calculate the results of all actions for 8 people? I certainly hope not.

Each square on the map will be 5' to a side. Moving one square diagonally in a round is treated as a 5' step; moving two squares or more diagonally is treated as 15' per 2 squares. Locations are defined as X, Y (height if applicable). X is horizontal; the X numbers run along the top of the map. Y is vertical; the Y numbers run along the left side of the map. Height is used for flying characters, characters on raised or lowered sections of the arena, and characters who are underwater. When specifying a movement, you should give BOTH a distance/direction AND the final coordinate you expect to end up at.

All natural d20 rolls will be posted. Saves and whatnot will be rolled whether or not they are needed by the particular character. The amount of damage a character suffers (after DR, resistances, etc.) will be posted.

If you send an action which is not physically possible (using a feat on a target that is no longer there, for example), I will send you a reply explaining the issue and asking for clarification and/or a different action. This will occasionally slow the game down, and I ask for patience - I would rather get it right than get it fast in most cases.

Controversial Issues

These are topics which I feel need to be aired prior to the game, so everyone starts on the same foot. They are primarily based on various arguments that broke out during clockworkjoe's game, that I feel were unnecessary.

Nerfing: I've pointed out every nerf I could think of that is needed in the House Rules & Clarifications section. I will try to catch any additional ones during the period of time that everyone is creating their characters. I will do my absolute best to make sure that anything that needs nerfing, gets it before the game starts, so you know the rules going in.

It is possible that I might nerf something mid-game. If something truly qualifies for the Smackdown title (near-guaranteed 200 hps in one round), I will allow it ONCE and then nerf it. I don't mind if you find a tweaked out rule that I didn't consider, but I don't want the entire Game of Death to devolve into a series of boring smackdowns. In return, you will get a bonus +1 point for the smackdown.

So... go ahead and try to get a smackdown in, but have a backup ready when I take it away.

Complaining: You can e-mail me, or post in the public forum (I prefer public, incidentally). In both cases, it will follow this procedure:

1. You present your complaint.
2. We discuss it.
3. I will listen to your arguments until I feel you've made your best case, or until the deadline looms.
4. I will make a decision, and post the decision publicly.
5. ARGUMENT STOPS.

Also, anyone who complains a LOT will be asked to leave the game. My philosophy is simple: someone who is constantly complaining is NOT ENJOYING THE GAME, and we both need to just move on. If you feel this is oppression, feel free to oppress me in return by kicking me out (by quitting) or not joining my fascist regime in the first place.

Anyone who refuses to shut up after the Referee has made the final judgement will also be asked to leave the game. You either trust me as referee, or you do not trust me as referee - and I will not adjudicate for someone who does not trust me. Period.

For the rules lawyers, what is a LOT of complaints? Basically, if you complain more often than not, that is excessive. If you complain 3 out of every 5 rounds, that is excessive. If the main thing I remember when looking back over your posts is complaints, that is excessive. If you complain every time your character suffers, that is excessive. If you complain for other people, that is excessive.

So if some of your complaints are "little gripes", keep them to yourself - save your energy for the real complaints, the ones you are willing to risk being asked to leave for.

Also, I will ask everyone to PLEASE REFRAIN from naming names on this - it applies to ALL of you equally, and I will take personal attacks very poorly. This is just an attempt to lay out the ground rules ahead of time, and to establish that yes, I will lay the smack upon those who don't follow the rules (i.e. - that I am a Fascist GM ).

 

[clockworkjoe]

Just want to ask a few questions about this:

1. Is Quest/Gaeas any different from normal?

2. How do you define surviving against the odds? Since each man is against all others, wouldn't that mean that everyone is fighting the same odds?

3. Isn't fighting with two shields pretty weird?

 

[cool hand luke]

private questions

can we send you some questions in private about characters?

Are you going to review all the character sheets for accuracy?

 

[JDragon]

Seasong,

Thank you very much for putting everything that you can think of out for everyone to see at the begging, it should make life good for all of us.

Do you have any idea what the dead line is going to be on characters yet?

Also, regarding the Kill Thief rule, would my kill on Landerin in CWJ's game have been considered a kill thief in your game? (I'm playing Harsel in that one)


JDragon

 

[seasong]

1. Is Quest/Gaeas any different from normal?

"While a geas cannot compel a creature to kill itself or perform acts that would result in certain death, it can cause almost any other course of activity."

"Note that a clever recipient can subvert some instructions."

Note also, that, since only one person is allowed to remain alive at the end of the combat, telling a person to "not attack me" is fundamentally an act that would result in certain death.

Unless you can point out some particular abuse that I'm unaware of, I see nothing wrong with the spell, and do not have any house rules regarding it.

2. How do you define surviving against the odds? Since each man is against all others, wouldn't that mean that everyone is fighting the same odds?

Hm, I could write that better . Surviving 2:1 odds means "two people are directly attacking you that round". If you survive that round, you get a point. Note that people with cohorts may inadvertently give other people more points this way .

3. Isn't fighting with two shields pretty weird?

So are half-dragon halflings slinging meteor storms. And honestly, the idea of (for example) using a pair of small round shields as a kind of brass knuckles with protective qualities is neither far fetched nor physically that difficult.

I would require some consistency and physical plausibility (so no dual tower shields, probably), but no more than I would from a half-dragon, meteor-storm-flinging halfling. As in all things, it depends on the campaign, and the GM.

 

[seasong]

Re: private questions

cool hand luke

"seasong at texas dot net": Ask me anything you want. If I feel it warrants commentary publicly (i.e., it is a "will you include this?" question), I will strip your name and references to you from it first.

I am going to review character sheets with pen and paper, microscope, fine toothed comb, and anal-retentive streak a mile long and wide. I may still miss something, but it won't be deliberate.

Since you asked, I am going to go over yours particularly thoroughly .

JDragon

Deadline isn't set, because right now I'm still soliciting comments on the character creation process. When I am confident that I've got a complete set of rules, usable by everyone, I'll set a deadline. With that said, you can start sending me ideas whenever you want, and that may even help me revise the listed rules...

Kill Thief: Depends on whether Landerin was at 10% of his total hit points or not. I don't know what the REAL situation was, because clockworkjoe hasn't revealed such, yet .

 

[seasong]

Additional note on the kill thief rule: If two people are attacking someone at the same time, collectively reduce the person to 10% or less of their hit points, and then one of them kills that person, that is not a kill thief.

It's a reason to beat each other down instead of teaming up.



Seriously, the kill thief rule only applies when someone comes in at the last second, after having contributed nothing to the fight, and takes out the losing party. The crowd will boo, Hethas will frown, and fewer points will be awarded.

 

[Number47]

If I don't have Savage Species, where can I go to get CRs? It seems important in quite a few places here.