ARENA: Rules (Fri Sep 17) From: srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner) Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 16:05:54 +0000 (No major changes if you're a veteran player.) ARENA RULES 1 Introduction ARENA is a game of gladiatorial combat. Two characters face each other in an arena and fight for ten one-minute rounds. Each round has ten combat segments. Combat ends after ten rounds or until one characters is unconscious, dead, or surrenders. If both characters are standing at the end of ten rounds, a panel of three judges will vote to select a winner. 2 Characters Characters have N attributes. These attributes define the char- acter's physical and intellectual abilities. Each attribute has a scale of 0-9. The attributes are: Physical Notes STRENGTH The heavier a weapon, the more strength is re- quired to wield the weapon. SPEED A fast character will get more attacks than a slow character. STAMINA Characters with low stamina will exhaust them- selves more quickly and recover more slowly. CONSTITUTION Characters with high constitution are able to sus- tain more damage before succumbing. AGILITY An agile character will have more opportunities to attack. New characters start out with 12 attribute points to distribute amongst the N attributes. Every tenth win in the Arena, the character will receive another attribute point, up to a maximum of 30 attribute points. 3 Tactics Character behavior is controlled by three variables: Variable Notes Combat Style General fighting style. Attack Vigor How vigorously to attack (0-9). Defense Vigor How vigorously to defend (0-9). Combat Style controls the character's general fighting style. Attack Vigor controls how vigorously the character tries to at- tack. At a level of 0, the character will almost never launch an attack. At a level of 9, the character will expend a large amount of effort to create attack opportunities. Every attack made (whether successful or not) costs the attacker some stamina. 1 Defensive Vigor controls how vigorously the character works to defend himself. At a level of 0, the character does not defend himself at all. If his opponent attacks, only lucky chance will prevent the character from being struck. At a level of 9, the character devotes maximum energy to stopping his opponent's blows from landing. The higher the level of defense, the more quickly a character will become exhausted. Generally, a character should be able to sustain a level of ef- fort (Attack Vigor + Defensive Vigor) somewhat higher than his Stamina. For example, a character with STAMINA=3 should be able to maintain an average level of effort of 3-5 over the course of a combat. Of course, many factors can affect how quickly a char- acter becomes exhausted. The combat styles currently available are: COMBAT STYLES Name Notes Barbarian The character rushes in to the attack, favoring offense over defense. He increases his chances of landing a blow, but at the same time he may open himself up for a counterattack. Elephant The character follows a slow and steady fighting style, hoping to use his strength to gain an ad- vantage. Neutral The standard duel style. The character balance offense and defense and does not attempt any dan- gerous or tricky maneuvers. Parry The character uses his weapon as a shield, trying to parry away his opponent's blows. Possum The character feigns exhaustion, hoping to lure his opponent into a hasty and unwise attack. This is a dangerous tactic because an opponent who is not fooled by the pretense will gain an advantage. Rabbit The character tries to dance away from his oppo- nent's blows. This also reduces his chance to land an attack. Snake The character bides his time, passing up attack opportunities hoping to find a chance to strike a more than normally effective blow. Turtle The Turtle is a defensive style. The character huddles away from the attack, taking no risks and hoping to avoid injury. Wasp The character tries to dash in and land a quick blow, like the sudden unexpected sting of a wasp. If he is unsuccesful, he may open himself up for a counterstrike. 2 4 Strategy The strategy of a character controls what style and levels of vigor a character uses during each round of combat. Strategy is declared using the following format: <round | condition>: <style> <attack vigor> <defense vigor> For example, the strategy to fight all ten rounds using the neu- tral style at an effort level of 5 for both attack and defense would be declared: 1: neutral 5 5 2: neutral 5 5 3: neutral 5 5 4: neutral 5 5 5: neutral 5 5 6: neutral 5 5 7: neutral 5 5 8: neutral 5 5 9: neutral 5 5 10: neutral 5 5 Since it is bothersome to declare all ten rounds individually, a shorthand is provide for declaring a range of rounds: 1-10: neutral 5 5 This shorthand can be mixed with individual round declarations, i.e.: 1: neutral 5 2 2-8: neutral 2 5 9: snake 5 5 10: barbarian 9 0 The character may also declare strategies for use during special battle situations. These situations are: BATTLE SITUATIONS Situation Notes WINDED Running out of energy. WOUNDED Halfway dead. CRITICAL Three-quarters or more dead. O-EXHAUSTED Opponent apparently exhausted. O-WOUNDED Opponent apparently wounded. O-CRITICAL Opponent apparently critical. This table also shows special strategy precedence. The lower in the table, the higher the precedence of the special strategy. So if a fighter is winded and his opponent is critical, the fighter will use his O-CRITICAL strategy if he has one, otherwise his 3 WINDED strategy if he has one, otherwise his normal strategy for the current round. To declare a strategy for a special situation, use the strategy desired in place of the round, i.e.: 1-10: neutral 5 5 O-EXHAUSTED: barbarian 8 2 To turn off a special strategy, use the keyword ``none'', i.e., O-EXHAUSTED: none removes any O-EXHAUSTED strategy. 5 Commands ARENA uses a fairly simple orders format. Each order sheet starts with a NAME command, followed by any number of other com- mands. The available commands are: COMMAND SUMMARY Command Notes NAME name Identifies the character. DESCRIPTION description A string describing a character. ATTRIBUTE name value Sets the value of an attribute for a character. CHALLENGE name Issue a challenge to the named character. CLEAR Clear all existing challenges. BUY item Purchase the named item. SELL item Sell the named item. WEAR item Wear the named item. WIELD item Wield the named weapon. STRATEGY Define the strategy for this character. [ strategy lines ] * END INSULT Add an insult. RETIRE Retire this character from the Arena. Case and white space are ignored in commands 4 5.1 NAME The NAME command is used to identify the character for whom you are submitting orders. The NAME command must be the first com- mand in the order sheet, and only one NAME command can appear in each order sheet. (This means you must submit orders for differ- ent characters separately.) If the name given is new, a new character will be created. How- ever, there is a limit to the number of characters you can run. If you are at the limit, trying to create a new character will fail. Non-printing characters in names will be ignored. Examples NAME Dirk Create a new character named "Dirk". 5.2 DESCRIPTION The DESCRIPTION command is used to provide a one-line description of a character. This description will be used in output from fights, etc. The description should be one sentence ending in a period. Examples NAME Dirk DESCRIPTION A one-eyed man with a limp. 5.3 ATTRIBUTE The ATTRIBUTE command is used to set the value for a character attribute. Once a character attribute is set, it can only be in- creased, never decreased. New characters have 12 points to dis- tribute amongst the various attributes. Attribute points not used remain in the character's possession and can be used at a later time. Examples NAME Dirk ATTRIBUTE STRENGTH 6 ATTRIBUTE STAMINA 3 5 ATTRIBUTE CONSTITUTION 3 This creates a new character named Dirk and gives him the follow- ing attributes: Name: Dirk STRENGTH: 6 SPEED: 0 STAMINA: 3 CONSTITUTION: 3 AGILITY: 0 Supposing that Dirk won 10 fights in the Arena and earned another attribute point, the following commands: NAME Dirk ATTRIBUTE STRENGTH 7 would raise Dirk's strength to 7: Name: Dirk STRENGTH: 7 SPEED: 0 STAMINA: 3 CONSTITUTION: 3 AGILITY: 0 5.4 CHALLENGE The CHALLENGE command is used to issue a challenge to another character. If the character accepts the challenge (by issuing a challenge to your character) the two characters will immediately proceed to the Arena and fight each other. You may issue up to ten CHALLENGES per character. Any additional challenges will replace previous challenges on a first-in, first- out basis. (See also CLEAR.) Note that your characters may not challenge one another. You may challenge a character who does not yet exist. This is convenient for setting up an immediate fight between new charac- ters. As a special case, you may issue an open challenge. When you is- sue an open challenge, the Arena organizers will attempt to match your character against another open challenge of roughly similar skills. To issue an open challenge, use ``CHALLENGE *''. Examples NAME Dirk CHALLENGE Dr. Pain 6 This causes Dirk to challenge Dr. Pain. If Dr. Pain replies with a challenge to Dirk: NAME Dr. Pain CHALLENGE Dirk the two will meet in the Arena. NAME Dr. Pain CHALLENGE * This causes Dr. Pain to issue an open challenge. Upon seeing this, the Arena organizers will look for another character with an open challenge with roughly the same record as Dr. Pain. If they can find someone, the two will fight. If not, the open challenge will stay on the record until someone suitable is found. 5.5 CLEAR The CLEAR command clears all of a character's existing chal- lenges. Examples CHALLENGE Dirk CHALLENGE Dr. Pain CLEAR CHALLENGE Bert The CLEAR command wipes out the earlier challenges to Dirk and Dr. Pain. The following challenge to Bert is not affected. 5.6 BUY The BUY command is used to purchase an item from the Arena store. Each character starts with 75 gold and can earn additional money in the Arena. The Arena pays 10 gold to each combat winner and the crowd, if impressed by a fight, may throw money. Currently the only items available for purchase are weapons and armor. See Appendices A and B for listings of armor and weapons. Examples BUY misercorde A misercorde is a type of sword. 7 5.7 SELL The SELL command is used to sell an item back to the Arena store. Naturally, the Arena store makes a profit on these transactions; typically this is 20%, but may be slightly higher or lower. If you sell an item that you are using, you will stop using that item, even if you own another item of the same type. Examples NAME Dirk SELL misercorde Dirk sells his misercorde back to the Arena store for about 80% of what he paid for it. If Dirk was wielding a misercorde, he isn't after this SELL command, even if he owns another miser- corde. 5.8 WEAR The WEAR command is used to wear an item. If the item is armor, the character will put on the armor after first removing any ar- mor he is currently wearing. If the item is a weapon, the char- acter will hang the weapon on his belt, where it will be avail- able should his first weapon break. A character may wear only one weapon at a time. Trying to wear a second weapon replaces the first weapon with the second weapon. A character may wear only one armor at a time, unless the second armor is a shield. Note that anything worn (or wielded) burdens the character, and may affect how fast he reacts and how quickly he tires. ``WEAR nothing'' can be used to remove all worn items. Examples NAME Dirk WEAR augment mail WEAR small shield WEAR dagger WEAR bullwhip Dirk puts on a suit of augment mail (normal mail with strips of leather put through the links) puts a small shield on his shield arm, and puts a dagger in his belt. Then he changes his mind and replaces the dagger with a bullwhip. 8 NAME Dirk WEAR nothing Dirk removes his armor, shield and backup weapon. Use ``WIELD nothing'' to remove the wielded weapon. 5.9 WIELD The WIELD command selects a weapon. The weapon selected will be used as the primary weapon in the character's next Arena battle. Note that a character may drop or break his primary weapon. If he has a secondary weapon available, he will draw that weapon and WIELD it. ``WIELD nothing'' can be used to remove the primary weapon. Examples NAME Dirk WIELD Bec-de-corbin Dirk wields his Bec-de-corbin, a type of polearm. NAME Dirk WIELD nothing Dirk unwields his Bec-de-corbin. 5.10 STRATEGY The STRATEGY command is used to describe a character's fight strategy. See the Strategy section above for more details. Examples NAME Dirk STRATEGY 1-10: neutral 5 5 O-EXHAUSTED: barbarian 8 2 END Dirk prepares to play it safe unless his opponent becomes ex- hausted. 9 5.11 INSULT Each character maintains a list of ten favorite insults to use during combat. The INSULT command adds an insult to this list. If the list already contains ten insults, the oldest is dropped. To use your opponent's name in an insult, use ``%s''. The %s will be replaced at battle time with the opponent's name. Examples NAME Dirk INSULT Your mother was a hamster! INSULT If I had a face like that I'd wear a full helm. INSULT Hey, %s, your shoe is untied! Dirk will use these insults at appropriate times in his next bat- tle. If he uses the last insult, the %s will be replaced with his opponent's name. Note that you can only use the opponent's name once per insult. 5.12 RETIRE This command retires a character, dropping him from the Arena and making his slot available for the creation of a new character. Examples NAME Dirk RETIRE Dirk, his career as an example over, retires. 6 Submitting a Turn ARENA is completely automated. It is handled by a mail server at arena@sun-dimas.aero.org All mail to this address will be treated as ARENA order sheets. To begin playing ARENA, send in an order sheet with a NAME com- mand to create a new character. You will automatically be sent a turn report. Errors in your orders will be noted. Turns are processed approximately once per hour, so don't expect to get a turn report back immediately. For problems with ARENA, send mail to: 10 srt@sun-dimas.aero.org 7 Miscellaneous Notes o ARENA has facilities for banning players. If you are discov- ered cheating or abusing ARENA, you will be banned from play. Excessive play could be considered abusive; please do not send more than one order sheet per character per hour to the ARENA. o ARENA enforces certain rules of conduct amongst the gladiators. In particular, gladiators will not be permitted to take part in obviously one-sided battles. o ARENA news, rumors, and standings will be posted sporadically to rec.games.pbm. o Armor and weapon values shown in Appendices A & B are taken from The Palladium Compendium of Armor and Weapons, available from Palladium Games. 11 APPENDIX A Weapons The following weapons are available for purchase from the Arena store: NAME Type Length Mass Dex Parry Attack Damage Price Broad Axe H 0.60 2.20 1 2 C 3 58 Battle Axe H 0.80 2.10 1 2 C 3 60 Bearded Axe H 1.40 2.30 1 2 C 3 57 Pole Axe P 2.10 2.40 1 2 C 3 56 Beaked Axe P 2.30 2.90 1 2 T 3 51 Main Gauche K 0.50 0.50 1 2 T 1 24 Club H 0.60 1.30 0 2 I 2 41 Bec-de-Corbin H 0.60 1.50 0 2 C 2 38 Mace H 0.70 2.00 0 2 I 3 61 Cat-o-9-tails H 0.80 0.50 0 1 I 1 24 Cudgel H 0.80 1.00 0 3 I 2 48 Morningstar H 0.80 2.30 1 2 I 3 57 Pick H 1.10 2.60 2 2 C 3 54 Flail H 1.60 2.50 1 2 I 3 55 War Hammer H 0.70 2.10 1 2 I 3 60 Lucerne Hammer P 2.90 2.40 1 3 T 3 56 2 Headed Axe H 0.80 2.80 1 2 C 3 52 Dirk K 0.20 0.40 0 1 T 1 27 Poignard K 0.30 0.30 0 1 T 1 33 Stilleto K 0.30 0.30 0 1 T 1 33 Cleaver K 0.30 1.30 1 1 C 2 41 Misercorde K 0.40 0.30 0 1 T 1 33 Machete K 0.60 0.90 1 1 C 2 51 Aclys M 0.30 0.30 0 1 I 1 33 Trident M 1.80 2.10 1 2 T 3 60 Bullwhip M 2.50 1.40 2 2 I 2 40 Staff M 2.80 1.40 1 2 I 2 40 Voulge P 2.10 2.40 1 3 C 3 56 Fauchard P 2.10 2.90 1 3 T 3 51 Halberd P 2.20 2.80 1 3 T 3 52 Spetum P 2.30 2.30 1 3 T 3 57 Glaive P 2.30 2.90 1 3 T 3 51 Scythe P 2.40 2.40 1 2 C 3 56 Guisarme P 2.50 2.60 1 3 T 3 54 Awl-Pike P 3.20 2.70 1 2 T 3 53 Pike P 5.50 3.50 3 2 T 2 28 BoarSpear Sp 1.50 2.00 0 2 T 2 34 Pilum Sp 1.90 2.10 1 3 T 2 33 12 Javelin Sp 2.10 1.70 0 2 T 2 36 Harpoon Sp 2.10 1.90 0 2 T 2 34 Lance Sp 4.00 3.70 2 2 T 3 47 Baselard Sw 0.50 0.90 0 2 T 2 51 Badelaire Sw 0.50 1.40 1 2 C 2 40 Backsword Sw 0.60 1.30 0 2 C 2 41 Cutlass Sw 0.60 1.40 1 2 C 2 40 Epee Sw 0.80 0.90 0 2 T 2 51 Foil Sw 0.80 1.00 0 2 T 2 48 Broadsword Sw 0.80 2.00 1 3 C 3 61 Longsword Sw 0.80 2.80 0 3 C 3 52 Scimitar Sw 0.90 2.00 1 3 C 3 61 Rapier Sw 1.00 1.00 1 2 T 2 48 Small Sword Sw 0.70 0.90 0 2 T 2 51 Bastard Sword Sw 1.00 2.10 1 3 C 3 60 2-Handed Sword Sw 2.00 4.30 2 3 C 4 66 KEY Type Hafted (H), Knives (K), Miscellaneous (M), Polearms (P), spears (Sp), and Swords (Sw) Length In meters. Mass In kilograms. Dex Relative indication of quickness of weapon. Parry How useful for parrying. Attack I = impact, C = chop, T = thrust Damage Relative amount of damage. 13 APPENDIX B Armor The following armors are available from the Arena store: Name Chop Thrust Impact Dex Mass (kg) Price Small Shield - - - - 2.00 15 Large Shield - - - - 4.00 25 Thin cloth 1 0 0 0 1.30 2 Medium cloth 1 1 0 0 2.50 6 Heavy cloth 1 1 1 1 3.70 21 Soft leather 1 1 1 1 3.70 16 Hard leather 2 3 1 1 5.00 32 Cuir-bouilli 3 5 1 1 5.00 59 Quilt 1 2 2 1 5.00 28 Padded 1 2 3 1 5.00 37 Woven cord 2 3 2 2 5.00 42 Cloth ring 3 3 1 1 7.50 42 Soft Leather ring 3 3 1 1 7.50 37 Hard Leather ring 4 5 1 2 10.00 51 Quilt ring 3 4 2 2 10.00 47 Studded cloth 1 1 1 1 6.00 18 Stud Soft Leather 1 1 1 1 6.00 18 Stud Hard Leather 2 3 1 2 7.50 33 Soft Leather Bezainted 5 3 1 2 7.50 56 Hard Leather Bezainted 6 5 1 2 10.00 70 Cuir-bouilli Bezainted 7 7 1 2 10.00 90 Quilt Bezainted 5 4 2 2 10.00 60 Hard Leather Jazeraint 6 4 1 2 10.00 65 Cuir-bouilli Jazeraint 7 7 1 2 10.00 90 Wood Jazeraint 5 4 1 2 10.00 56 Bone Jazeraint 7 6 1 2 15.00 75 Metal Jazeraint 8 8 1 2 20.00 86 Mail 6 2 1 1 20.00 48 Double Mail 7 4 1 2 22.00 65 Augment Mail 7 5 1 2 22.00 68 Bar Mail 6 3 1 2 20.00 55 Combined Mail 7 5 1 2 22.00 65 Wood brigandine 6 5 2 3 13.00 64 Bone brigandine 8 7 2 3 15.00 88 Metal brigandine 9 8 2 3 22.00 92 Laminated 9 9 1 2 20.00 94 Cuir-bouilli lamellar 7 7 1 3 10.00 90 Wood lamellar 6 5 1 3 10.00 65 Bone lamellar 7 7 1 3 13.00 82 14 Metal lamellar 9 8 1 3 18.00 92 Plate 11 11 1 2 25.00 113 Ribbed Plate 12 12 1 2 25.00 126 KEY Cut Relative indication of protection from cut attacks. Chop Relative indication of protection from chop attacks. Thrust Relative indication of protection from thrust attacks. Impact Relative indication of protection from impact attacks. Dex How much a suit of armour inhibits movement. Mass Mass for a typical full suit. Notes o Thin cloth is equivalent to linen, medium cloth is equivalent to denim, and heavy cloth is equivalent to two or three thick- nesses of medium cloth. o Soft leather is equivalent to a modern day leather jacket. Hard leather is approximately equal to five millimeters of leather. o Cuir-bouilli is leather which has been boiled in oil. In this condition it can be moulded into the desired shape and upon dry- ing becomes very hard. o Quilt armour consists of two layers of cloth between which cot- ton or some other such material is sandwiched. Padded armour usually consists of a heavy layer of felt from four to eight cen- timeters thick. o Woven cord armour bears a resemblance to modern macrame. o Ring mail is simply metal rings sewn onto suitable backing. o Studded armour, sometimes called pourpoint, consists of metal studs fastened to a suitable backing. o Bezainted armour, named because of its resemblance to a type of medieval coin, consists of metal discs secured with studs to a suitable backing. o Jazeraint armour, also known as scale armour, consists of scales of various sizes sewn or riveted onto a suitable backing. o Mail consists of small interlocking rings of metal each of which are individually made and riveted together. o Double mail is a variation of normal mail only the rings are thicker and closer together. o Augmentened mail consists of normal mail with strips of leather 15 put through the links. o Bar mail is similar to augmented mail only that small bars are put through the links. o Combined mail consists of small plates of metal interspaced with sections of normal mail. o Brigandine armour consists of scales riveted inside a leather garmet and then backed by another layer of leather. o Laminated armour consists of metal strips which are overlapped and articulate on each other. o Lamellar armour, also known as splint armour, consists of a se- rious of splints or scales laced together. The size of the splints depend upon the portion of the body it is to cover. o Plate armour consists of large pieces of metal which are either worn over other armour or are attached to on another by a series of straps, lacing, buckles or screws. Ribbed plate is a variant of plate but with many artistic ribs which serve to deflect blows. Up