Urgent!

[Morrus]

My game starts in about 45 minutes, and I'm unprepared!

Tonight will be a gladiator match between the PCs and three other teams, free-for-all. The module presents it as an empty arena. Boring!

I very quickly need an idea for an exciting, interactive set-piece battle. In the past, I've used an arena filled with water with sharks in it, a ship in the middle and both teams starting no platforms 30 feet from the ship on opposite ends; a clockwork tower with large horizontal cogs continually rotating, moving PCs every round, while a large pendulum swings back and forth knocking people off; a weird hill set-up with ravines, tramploines and jump DCs.

I need something exciting for four teams within the next 45 mins or so. Help me, EN World, you're my only hope! Throw your ideas out and I'll grab what I can for them before I start play.

Thanks guys!

 

[ThirdWizard]

Deadly plants. They can't move, but don't get too close!

In my PS game, Razorvine is almost a staple of arenas in Sigil and the lower planes.

Magical barriers, anti-magic zones, traps, anything randomly or purposefully arranged in the arena. Dispelling screens, fireballs going off, blade barrier swirling in the middle of the ring, forbiddance hedging out certain alignments from certain areas. Magical darkness, magical light, cloudkill. Wall of Force.

Constructs that attack anyone who gets to close to them. Hey, it worked for Robot Wars!

 

[Kaladhan]

Inspired by a Tournament Adventure in Dungeon Magazine, have them fight on an hexagonal version of minesweeper. When they step on a new area, a number show up, indicated the number of mines in the adjacent hexagons.

Have them fight a gang of halfling this way, armed with slingshots and other ranged weapons that inflict very few damage. This should motivate them to walk accross the mines.

 

[sjmiller]

Chariots and mini towers to race around and avoid
Various pedestals with ropes or chains between them (requiring balance checks and with a falling potential)
One word: Rollerball
A huge arena with various pits and spear traps that activate at random.

If I knew where my notes were at home I could have someone send me more ideas, those are what I could come up with now.

 

[smilinggm]

Build a chess board fill all the white squares with Various traps, Pits, Lightning sand, Expolsions, what not. Then cover the entire area with regular sand. Make it look standared and dull. They are expecting somthing crazy, put them off thier guard. Then let the teams move onto the board, let combat go for a round or two, then activate the traps. Then the fun begins. NOt only is the combat the hazard, but the entire areana is the threat also. Just a quick thought.

 

[Mark CMG]

Inpenatrable darkness.

 

[Mark Hope]

Have some effect that makes the floor of the arena so hot that the combatants take damage whenever they are not moving (in game terms, have them take heat damage each round that they don't move more that 5 feet). I recall a DS game that had an arena with an obisidian floor that heated up to ridiculous temperatures during the day...

 

[Rykion]

An arena inside the cone of a volcano, mostly filled with lava. There are small platforms floating above the lava. Each platform can safely hold one person, but starts to sink with two. They sink really fast with 3 or more. Lots of jumping, the threat of falling or be knocked into the lava, and ganging up on a single target can be tough.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Boring, nondescript sandy arena? Or lair to a deadly LANDSHARK?!

(or possibly another burrowing type creature).

J from Three Haligonians

 

[maddman75]

You've done one ship - how about two? Each team has a ship with ballista and catapult, and they're just close enough to attempt boarding action across narrow 2' planks.

Undeath match! There's a necromancer on hand, and whenever a gladiator falls he is animated as a zombie. The zombies attack whoever is closest, regardless of teams.

Chariots! Two teams are equipped with spears and shields, while the others are given chariots and bows.

Storm the gates! A small castle is set up in the middle of the arena, and one team has possession of it. Its really just a tower with a gate, but the other three teams are fighting to be the first one with a man over the wall. They have grapples and ladders, but will it be enough?

Crossbow deathmatch. Super-charged magical crossbows fire disintigration beams! They are activated with the arcane word 'insta-gib'.