Arena Combat

We do not do live action boffer style combat but many sessions will have gladiatorial style one on one combats. There are several ways that the winner can be determined but the players physical skill is never considered. This is because we want Gateway to be an escape where we have the freedom to create a wide range of characters without having to actually have the skills or abilities of the roles we choose. Having to actually be good at boffer fighting to play a skilled warrior would eliminate that option for many players.

Arena Master

If an arena will be available during a session an Arena Master will be introduced during setup and you will be made aware of where the arena will be. If you are interested in participating, check in with the Arena Master.

NOTE: Whoever serves as Arena Master earns 5 banked experience and our gratitude. Their character may also keep whatever registration fees they collect.

Arena Events

The Arena Master will be able to tell you what the events of the day are and what participation entails. Common events include:

Showdown - After an initial registration time of 1 hour, participants will be matched by the Arena Master against others with the same number of black beads. If there is no entrance fee, the winner gets a prize of 3 gold, the loser 1 and the Arena Master 5 silver. If there is an entrance fee (usually 5 silver) the Winner gets 5 gold and the loser nothing (the Arena Master keeps the fees).

King of the Hill - There is an initial registration time of 1 hour. Registering costs 2 silver (which the Arena Master gets to keep). The first two opponents are chosen at random from the initial list. After that, challengers are chosen randomly from the initial list but when that is exhausted, they are taken in order from the list of those who registered after the initial registration time was over (including those who already fought and want to fight again, with a additional registration fee each time). When a participant defeats their opponent they receive a prize of a number of gold equal to the number of consecutive fights the defeated opponent participated in before they were defeated. Similarly, when a fighter is taken out they receive a prize equal to twice the number of rounds they survived (so someone taken out in their first fight gets no prize but if they made it through 3 fights before being taken out in their 4th they receive 6 gold).

Tournament - Arena Masters are welcome to structure these however they like.

Arena Masters may want to recruit an assistant to help them register participants.

NOTE: Prizes are collected from the house (the Barkeep or Gatekeeper.)

Arena Resolution

There are several options available to the participants. Before each battle, it is up to the two players involved to consult with the Arena Master and decide how the battle will be resolved. If consensus cannot be reached in timely fashion, paper rock scissors is used to break the deadlock and the winner chooses the method that will be used. Whenever possible consensus is preferred.

A different style can be chosen for each fight, even within the framework of something like a tournament.

A note for the Arena Master: Get all of your participants in all of the fights in a round of fights to decide before resolving any of them so that you can do whatever setup that may be required before a single fight is presented THEN gather an audience and present the fights.

Dramatic - Armed with foam weapons, the participants face off from opposite sides of an arena chosen by the Arena Master whose size and dimensions are easy to see. When the Arena Master tells them to “Lay On” (or whatever catch phrase suits them - even a simple “FIGHT!” will do) the participants close in and begin to act out their battle IN SLOW MOTION. If either participant moves too quickly (fast enough that blows could actually hurt) the Arena Master will call “SLOW”. If they have to warn someone in this way three times they forfeit the match. This style of resolution is about playing to the onlookers. The Arena Master should take the role of a fight announcer with dramatic descriptions that punctuate the action. The slow motion fight and the crowd response will dictate the winner. This is often obvious enough that one of the participants will choose to lose, acting out surrender or defeat but when this doesn’t seem to be happening the Arena Master can help guide the resolution “the tall beaded axeman staggers as blow after blow drives him to his knees” and so forth. This is NOT a good choice for competitive people but can be a whole lot of fun. Remember - Slow Motion and give them a good show!

Simple - Before the fight is presented to an audience the Arena Master has both participants roll a d6 three times. They then begin to act out each of the 3 “sorties”. If they decided the result would be “open” they know the outcome in advance and just act them out. If they decided the result would be “blind” only the Arena Master knows and as each sortie is acted out will declare a winner. In either case, the Arena Master decides so wins ties bases on the abilities of the fighters and two out of three sorties wins (so if one fighter wins the first two, the third isn’t needed).

Hard Core - Before the fight is presented to an audience both participants and the Arena Master need to go to one of the Expedition rooms and resolve the fight as though it were a Battle on an Expedition. Treat both participants as if they were unwounded and track any wounds they sustain during the fight separately because they will be healed once the fight is over (a character who starts a fight with two wounds is treated as though they were unwounded for the purposes of the battle and when the fight is over any damage they took during the fight is removed and they go back to having the same two wounds they walked in with). Any healing that happens during the fight only applies to the damage being tracked for the fight - not their actual wound status. For this fight Defense for both characters is always 8. Play until one character is defeated. Once you know the outcome, when you present the fight the participants act out the fight in slow motion as they would with the Dramatic option, but they know how it ends - all they have to do is act it out :)

Disputes

Sometimes characters will want to resolve conflict with combat. They can do this by finding a Moderator who will take them to an unwarded live action area (usually outside or somewhere with a lot of room). This is the way to do things like duels. They can be resolved in any style but because of the stakes are often Hard Core. No one involved gets any experience (including the Gamemaster). Unlike Arena Battles, the participants will take actual wounds and could actually be killed.

IMPORTANT: These kinds of fights are ALWAYS consensual and must serve plot points that are important to both characters. They must never be en expression of actual player hostility. If you have an actual issue with another player please talk to the Staff. Character drama can be a good thing. Player drama often ends very badly.