Blood Pit: More Info From: mcgeorbr@ucbeh.san.uc.edu Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 09:02:31 +0000 I received a bunch of mail about my Blood Pit post, so I decided to post the info for everyone. I will liberally quote from the review by Stewart Wieck (unauthorized of course) that appeared in White Wolf Magazine, issue #37 (no cover date, but it just came out last week). * To play Blood Pit, you need an IBM Compatible Computer and a modem (I'm not sure why it has to be an IBM Compatible...) * There is a $10 startup charge - this gets you a full color rules book, a disk with the program needed to play by e-mail, and a coupon for $10.00 of free play (which covers 10 free turns). * The address is White Wolf, 4598 Stonegate Ind. Blvd., Stone Mountain, GA 30083. The phone number is 1-800-454-WOLF (for credit card orders). I called the 1-800 number this morning and got a recording saying that the entire staff was at GenCon, and they would be back this afternoon (8/25). * The player becomes a manager of a team of 5 warriors; warriors are created based on an initial random rollup. * Starting rollup has 55 points assigned to strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, presence, and size. 16 points may be added with no more than 7 going to a single attribute. * Races include human, dwarf, half-orc, elf, halfling, and half-elf. * You give your warrior strategies by assigning numbers to triggers, activity levels, fighting styles, aiming points, and defense points. * Activity level is a number between 0-9 and indicates how hard the warrior is working. * Each warrior can fight in the 15 fighting styles (!) and even change styles during the fight. The styles are: total kill, parry, lunge, bash, slash, strike, wall of steel, engage and withdraw, sure strike, calculated attack, defend, counterstrike, opportunity throw, decoy, and martial arts. * Triggers are preset conditions that are used to change strategies instead of going on a minute by minute basis. For example, trigger #43 is activated when your warrior has sustained moderate wounds and you would list the strategies that you would like to implement when this happens. Most triggers are related to wounds and fatigue but others are for unique situations like when you lose your weapons. * Aiming and defense points determine how much time and effort you spend on attacking and defending certain areas. * Their are 9 armors, 6 helms, and 40 weapons. * Fights have text to cover 1 to 2 pages; newsletters (with player input) are issued every turn. * Training consists of filling 3 training slots for training a characteristic, training a weapon skill (it appears that you have skills in individual weapons, or increasing a non-weapon skill (examples given are dodge, feint, brawl, or charge). * If you don't like a rollup, you can send it to the monsters. * Did I mention 20 cents per fights (I still can't get over that)? * I will reprint the last paragraph verbatim: Blood Pit Update: The version of the game discussed in this review is only offerred by White Wolf via e-mail. There is a playtest version with many more options. The playtest currently has new races, including vampires and werewolves, and extra rules for magic. This new version can still be played by mail. Most of the action takes place in the regular e-mail pits. Games are played there every day, and rivalries heat up quickly, but the playtest is a good opportunity to try the other options once you get your feet wet. The playtest version is still being debugged, but when the process is completed, it will be the only version of the game running. I'm still a bit confused about some aspects (such as the everyday part - maybe that's how they make their $), but I've heard enough to give it a try. I'll post a review when I start playing. Bruce McGeorge mcgeorbr@ucbeh.san.uc.edu Referenced By Up