In the distant and increasingly amoral future, a new sport is sweeping the nation(s). Travel through time and space, accidentally invented by a broadcasting company, is now being used to draft gladiators into teams in the present day from all over the past. Legions of samurai face off against bands of vikings and wild west bandits, musketeers battle ancient charioteers, famous painters duke it out with bewildered cavemen.
A new season is just beginning, and YOU are the manager of a new gladiator team. Can you find the ultimate team and claim victory?
So, basically, warriors from all over space and time (though not more recent than the set official date) are drafted into teams, drugged and brainwashed not to panic, and fielded against eachother in bloody matches, accompanied by cheery commentary full of bad puns and crowd-pandering. You are the manager - you choose, train and field the gladiators, negotiate trades, pick coaches and tactics, etc etc.
I don't really know! If I end up making this myself alone, then singleplayer, though there are audience participation elements. If someone else does it, or someone co-GMs with me, all bets are off. It would work just as well as a multiplayer game.
While you can't personally play your gladiators, you have updates of 1-3 turns in a match where the game will 'pause', and you'll be able draw back wounded/dying gladiators, do sponsor stuff, or change tactics. The skill of your coach/trainer determines the amount of tactics you can have at one time.
There are different kinds of matches, from simple beatdowns-until-time-runs-out, to more tactical capture-the-point, protect-someone, etc etc matches, to surviving against hordes of cheap engineered genestock fighters. The sky's the limit.
For players, kills give points, as do substantial assists, as do battles survived, while wounds and such take away points. For teams, victories give points, defeats take them - really quite simple. Special rewards or penalties might also be applied based on combat performance. Rise to the top of the league and beat the everliving shit out of everyone else.
I'm still working on this, but; each gladiator has a variety of stats, proficiencies and weapons. If they survive their matches, these might increase. The stats are;
*Strenght (Determines damage bonus, physical strenght, toughness etc. checks)
*Speed (Determines turn movement speed, iniative, various speed and quickness checks)
*Stamina (Determines fatigue resistance, number of attacks (maybe), various exhaustion etc. checks)
*Agility (Determines dodging, as well as various jumping, dexterity, agility checks)
*Acclimatization (Determines learning and blending in in special matches)
The checks are 1d100 rolls, where you need to pass a certain number determined by the difficulty. Your stat is added to the roll.
Then there are various weapon proficiencies that make it harder for your opponent to dodge, and armor proficiencies that... uhh. I'll get back to you on that.
Finally, there is weapons and equipment, which have different damage values against armor and health, etc, and sometimes special effects like Bleeding or Stun. I'm not really sure how to handle damage yet, so I'll skip combat. Likely there will be a basic HP and Armor Point system, though, with armor being penetrated without wasting damage on it sometimes.
Folks can also become sponsors and bet on games and gladiators, as well as send them gifts, boosts to stats, equipment, etc. with the money they win. They can also spend to revive a fallen gladiator they really like. If singleplayer, they can represent stock holders or business partners in the team.
Enjoy the rambling mess. Really, I should only have shared the basic idea.