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[Sadist]

EDIT: This originally started out as a RTD but I wasn't satisfied with the way it worked out so I started work on revised rules which are stated here. The posts before that point are from when I tried to make it work as a RTD and are left here for historical reasons.

EDIT (help wanted): Details here (EDIT: changed link)




After reading through numerous RTDs, I have wanted to create my own RTDs which will outshine all others that have come before.

This will not be one of them.

Due to my past history of not finishing what I set out to do, I have decided to try something a little less ambitious - the End of the Road Arena.

EDIT: Bout 2 rules include a new character sheet format. The old one is left here for historical value.

Spoiler: Story (just a reason to explain why you are beating on each other) (click to show/hide)

  Someplace implemented a drastic method to deal with crime and dissent - death by torture for the accused without trial. This caused dissent so widespread that the torture chambers wouldn't be able to cope with the workload unless they increased processing speed through methods such as (gasp) relative-mercy killings, so the powers-that-be came up with a solution.

  Since then, those accused of crimes have been offered a choice - a slow and painful death in the torture chambers, or to die in the End of the Road Arena for the amusement (and pacification) of the crowd. The torture chambers have since been able to devote the appropriate resources to their duties.

  The combatants are already marked for death - if their opponent doesn't kill them, the guards will carry out the sentence. The only hopes left for the combatants are that their last moments will be glorious and that their deaths will be fairly painless

Spoiler: Rules (Bout 1) (click to show/hide)

  1. The combatants are authorised to choose one melee weapon to take into the arena. Weapon specifications are to be defined in your choice (ie you can choose to specify just about anything, including weight distribution and length, but if you describe your weapon as a "standard Polish Gongoslieger Spear" I'm not going to do the research to find out what it is even if you include a link, this is actually to help me interpret the information, not laziness. For entertainment value, the link will be shown to others so that they can comment on how far off the result was). I recommend that you explain the purpose of any details (such as the weighting) in game-affecting terms or you might not like the interpretations I come up with.

1a. While I won't restrict people from taking a lightsaber into the arena, they might not find it as effective as they hoped against their medieval opponent (read that as: trying to use a weapon that your opponent has no chance against will see your weapon nerfed, possibly killing you in the process). No armor.

  2. The combatants are regular (except for their lack of gender...) humans, incapable of magic, regenerating lost limbs etc.

  3. The combatants have their capabilities sorted into three characteristics - Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. I'll describe them more once I have assembled some game data. For now, suffice it to say that any of them can help and lacking any can hurt your chances for slightly-less-short-term survival.

  4. All moves must be sent to me by PM. This is partly to avoid cluttering the thread, partly to keep the other player from seeing your move and posting a 'If they're doing that, I change my action to...' amendment and starting a cycle of annoyance for me, partly to provide a certain degree of anonymity (unless I stuff up, only your character's name will be mentioned), partly to keep your stats hidden from your opponent (which could have strategic uses). I will post the moves as part of the turn resolution.

5. Feel encouraged to write verbose and branching moves. By 'branching' I'm referring to stuff like 'Watch my opponent, if(...) else (...)'. While I could probably take advance orders from a player who expects to be gone for a turn or two, I expect the fatality rate will make such planning of dubious value.

6. Think of each turn as an indeterminate amount of time, probably lasting less than three seconds. For each turn, you can give a number of actions which your character will try to accomplish in the turn, though if they run out of turn-time, or lack the required limbs/body systems, they will be penalised accordingly.

7. How the rolls are evaluated - I have something in mind, but until I have something that has been proven stable through repeated applications, I won't spell it out here (nor am I likely to show the rolls, since it will be confusing if the format changes every round). Suffice it to say that the actions you take, the way you phrase them plus any bonuses or maluses will affect the outcome.

8. The GM's decision is final. Even if you think your custom-balanced sword should have whipped around your opponent's parry and decapitated him, maybe your character didn't do it right, or rule 1a came up for some reason, or THE GM WAS WRONG AT YOUR EXPENSE. Regardless, complaining about it is not going to fix things.

Spoiler: Character Sheet (Bout 1, outdated) (click to show/hide)

  Apply for a position in the game by sending me a PM with a filled in character sheet. You have 100 points to distribute among your stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence) on a point-for-point basis (ie if you put 10 points in Strength, you will have 10 Strength).

  Name:
  Weapon:
  Strength:
  Dexterity:
  Intelligence:

  First move:

Two players at a time, although if I actually prove up to this, there will be a high rate of turnover.

Note that this is a brutal game, with first-turn death a possibility.
Also note that there are no guarantees of enjoyment, humor et al, including the implied guarentees of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, although the spelling is usually right.




Sorry, I did this offline and tried to set it up so that you could read it in small pieces at a time, then I came here and found out that apparently you can't nest spoiler tags. So, this is a big wall of text warning.
Edit: Did some subsectioning using CODE and QUOTE tags but it's still not the level of formatting I was aiming for.

Spoiler: Bout 2 Rules (depreciated due to lack of coherency) (click to show/hide)

 

  Character Sheet:
    Character Details:
      Name: Character's name here.
      Strength: How much of their Strength they will use without making a conscious effort.
      Dexterity: How much of their Dexterity they will use without making a conscious effort.
      Intelligence: How much of their Intelligence they will use without making a conscious effort.
   
    Weapon Details:
      Weapon name: The term used to describe the weapon.
      Weapon length: What range the weapon can and should be used at in SUs.
      Weapon skill determinants: The impact of each statistic on attacking with this weapon.
   
    Pre-Battle AI Settings: Stance, Mobility, (disabled AI options).
    Role-Play:
    Starting Actions:
 

 

  Example filled in character sheet:
    Character Details:
      Name: Example_Dude.
      Strength: 30.
      Dexterity: 30.
      Intelligence: 40.
   
    Weapon Details:
      Weapon name: Wooden beam.
      Weapon length: 100.
      Weapon skill determinants: 50% Strength, 20% Dexterity, 30% Intelligence.

    Pre-Battle AI Settings: Offensive Stance, Mobile, (no Stance Change, no Stand up from ground).
    Role-Play: Example_Dude didn't care anymore. Whatever cruel twist of fate had landed them in this death match, there was no going back.
   
    "Hey, you! Hurry up and pick your weapon already!".
   
    The Armsmaster was growing impatient. Example_Dude stopped musing and looked around for something that looked like it would do the trick.
   
    Then it saw it: where the arena had had some work done on its ceiling, there was a pile of building materials which hadn't been cleared away yet. Near the top of that pile was a wooden roof beam that was fully as tall as it was. Example_Dude was inexplicably drawn to it.
   
    "How about this?" asked Example_Dude.
   
    The Armsmaster looked thoughtful. "The rules say you must fight with something off one of the Racks. I know...".
   
    The Armsmaster pulled the lumber from the pile and balanced it across the tops of two Racks.
   
    "Now hurry up and pick a weapon from the Racks!" the Armsmaster said a bit louder.
   
    Example_Dude smiled.
   
   
    Starting Actions: Move to 100 SUs of my opponent, then perform an Offensive Feint (50% Intensity) while ignoring my opponent's actions, followed by an Attack (50% Intensity) while ignoring my opponent's actions, then fully reenable the AI and let it deal with the rest of the turn.
 

 
 

  Time:
    Time is measured in time units, or TUs. Each action takes a certain number of TUs to execute then recover from. Fractions will be discarded.
 

 

  Space:
    Space is measured in space units, or SUs. These do not relate to any real-world measurements but as a rough guide you can think of your character as being 100 SUs tall. Fractions will be discarded.
 

 

  Strength:
    Strength can be considered as the ability to exert force and to withstand pain.
  Dexterity:
    Dexterity can be considered as determining coordination and speed.
  Intelligence:
    Intelligence can be considered as the ability to develop plans, change plans and interpret information, including information relayed to them by their senses.
 

 

  Base TUs to perform action (Complete = when the action is considered done, usually when calcs take place. Recovery = when the action is 'finished' and a subsequent action may be initiated)
   

Code: (Attack:) [Select]

Complete=(100*Intensity), Recovery=(100*Intensity).   

Code: (Offensive Feint:) [Select]

Complete=(50*Intensity), Recovery=(50*Intensity).   

Code: (Defensive Feint:) [Select]

Complete=(50*Intensity), Recovery=(50*Intensity).   

Code: (Stance Change:) [Select]

Complete=(50 - (25*Intensity)), Recovery=5.   

Code: (Defend:) [Select]

Complete=(75*Intensity), Recovery=(75*Intensity).   

Code: (Move:) [Select]

Complete=(SUs_to_cover / (100*Intensity)), Recovery=5.   

Code: (Pick up item (only works at 0 SUs distance):) [Select]

Complete=0, Recovery=10.   

Code: (Stand up from ground:) [Select]

Complete=(150*Intensity), Recovery=5. 

 

  What the AI can and can't do:
    When active Intensity is >= 100%, AI is disabled.
    AI can change stance unless stance changing is disabled.
    AI will act offensively or defensively based on the character's stance. If it thinks the situation justifies it, it will change stance (probably at 100% Intensity) and re-evaluate.
    When interpreting a player's orders, the AI will try and do what it thinks is in line with the orders. For example, an order like "wait for my opponent to feint an attack, then attack(100%) before they recover" will result in the AI looking for offensive movements from the opponent and attacking when it 'thinks' (as determined by an AI_Intelligence roll) the opponent is feinting, even if it means changing stance, or if the opponent was really attacking.
    When asked to 'wait' for a circumstantial trigger before an action, then when that trigger triggers, there will be a small delay equal to 10% of the Completion time of that action because it takes time to interpret circumstances and react. This does not apply if the wait was for x TUs to pass.
    The AI does an AI_Intelligence roll for anything that depends on the character's perceptions. Success will result in a correct interpretation (eg that that 'attack' is just a feint) while failure will result in an incorrect interpretation (eg that a feint should be defended against). Note that if the AI is instructed to interpret something a certain way (eg "interpret next offensive movement as a feint") there will be no AI_Intelligence roll.
    Whether the AI moves or not is affected by whether it is told to be mobile or stationary. It can change this setting unless explicitly told not to.
    When evaluating a player's instructions, the AI will do an AI_Intelligence roll under some circumstances (eg when it is not clear whether a condition has been satisfied). Failing the roll means drawing the wrong conclusion.
    When moving, the AI only assesses the situation every 5 TUs because it's harder to react quickly when you're moving. As an exception, instructing it to reach a set distance from a stationary object (eg "stay at least 10 SUs for lava pools") will not be affected due to pre-planning.
    The AI will not feint at all unless it is given a guideline on when to use it (possible AI roll necessary).
 

 

  Intensity:
    At present, Intensity combines both concentration and force (ie how much of your mental and physical being is involved). Because it takes concentration, a penalty is applied to AI calculation of

Code: (AI_Intelligence Penalty) [Select]

(Intelligence*Total_Intensity). It is possible to do some actions simultaneously (eg Move and Attack) with

Code: (Available_Intensity) [Select]

(Intensity set for the actions by player or AI) spread between them but if

Code: (Total_Intensity) [Select]

(combined Intensity of the actions in progress) exceeds 100% then all actions are penalised by the equivalent of

Code: (Penalty) [Select]

(Total_Intensity-100%) until Total_Intensity is 100% or below. When describing your actions, you should include an Intensity% with each action.
 

 

  Intensity used on stats:
    All characters are capable of realising a value of 100 in any stat, with the 'base' values representing what their lives have taught them to use without having to concentrate. It is possible to boost these base stats by devoting Intensity to them. The bonus is

Code: (Bonus) [Select]

(Base_Stat + ((100 - Base_Stat) * Intensity)). This bonus is applied before the AI's Intelligence roll penalty, so this won't give you better AI.
 

 

  Combat:
    The weapon skill determinants of the weapon belonging to the first character to 'complete' an Attack or Defend determine the percentage of each character's stats used in the three 'clash calcs'. Each 'clash calc' consists of

Code: (Clash Calc) [Select]

((((character1_modified_stat_val * Action_Intensity) * Possible_Range_Penalty) - (TU_penalty)) versus (((character2_modified_stat_val * Action_Intensity) * Possible_Range_Penalty) - (TU_penalty))). The range penalty if a character is not at a weapon's designed range is currently determined by

Code: (Range Penalty) [Select]

((Actual_Range / Designed_Range) without exceeding 1).
    The totals of the calcs are then added up. Pain and damage are then dealt according to

Code: (Pain and Damage Calc) [Select]

((character1_Total_Calc_Vals * character1_Multiplier) - (character2_Total_Calc_Vals * character2_Multiplier)) with each character taking a turn as character1. The multiplier is based on the number of calcs won (1 = 100%, 2 = 200%, 3 = 300%). In the case of a draw in a calc, neither character is considered to have won it. If a character is defending then they do no damage to their opponent and the calc goes

Code: (Pain and Damage Calc) [Select]

(((attacker_Total_Calc_Vals * Attack_Intensity) * attacker_Multiplier) - ((defender_Total_Calc_Vals * Defend_Intensity) * defender_Multiplier)).
 

 

  Pain:
    Pain is usually a result of being attacked. When it is inflicted, the victim gets a chance to resist it with a roll of

Code: (Affecting Pain Calc) [Select]

(Pain_val - victim_Strength), with the result being dealt as a delay in TUs before a new action can be attempted (while this does not stop actions in progress, the delay is at 50% Intensity which may cause penalties).
 

 

  Stances:
    The two stances are offensive and defensive. In addition to affecting the actions of the AI, they also give a bonus during their related activities and a penalty during their opposed activities of 5% to stats after Intensity but before other calcs. There is no neutral stance. Note that there is no TU cost to adopt your stance at the start of the match.
 

 

  Mobility specifiers:
    The two specifiers (stationary or mobile) tell the AI whether it is allowed to move or not.
 

 

  Unarmed combat:
    This might be properly implemented in a subsequent version of the rules. Right now:
      1. Effective unarmed range is 0, instead of considering how long your arms and legs are.
      2. A punch shouldn't be as effective as a sword slash but I haven't got the penalties in place yet.
      3. Currently no penalties when blocking a sword with your hand.
      4. Broken limbs etc also not implemented, which reduces wrestling, although a quick Strength1 versus Strength2 calc will probably be enough to determine if you can pick them up or not, which will effectively disable them unless you put them down or maybe slam them for a potentially effective attack (if they let you get that close they probably deserve it).
      5. Weapon skill determinants are identical to the percentages of your base stats.
 

 

  Offensive Feint:
    If the opponent's AI is allowed to defend, this forces it to make an AI roll of

Code: (Feint Defence Calc) [Select]

((AI_Intelligence - (feint_Intensity / 2)) versus (random(1 to 100))) to resist defending against the feint.
 

 

  Defensive Feint:
    If the opponent's AI is allowed to attack, this forces it to make an AI roll of

Code: (Feint Defence Calc) [Select]

((AI_Intelligence - (feint_Intensity / 2)) versus (random(1 to 100))) to resist attacking against the feint.
 

 

  General rules and advice:
    Turn length is going to be 1000 TUs this time around. It is almost certain that the situation will change between you giving your orders at the start of a turn and when you will be able to do so again. In other words, the AI's actions could be of more consequence than your own, so try and 'program' it well.
    Turn submissions must have an action section (ie your orders for the next turn) and may have a 'role-play' section, preferably with the role-play section italicised and the action section either bold or plain. I intend to post the role-play section each turn but will be withholding the action section. This is due to the concern that it would be impractical to perform sneak tactics like picking up sand to throw at an opponent at a later time.
    With regard to role-playing, bear in mind that you should probably avoid drawing attention to any plans that you are not quite sure you will implement that turn before the other player can react to them. Also bear in mind that you (the player) don't know anything about your character's history before they entered the arena so no reminiscing about events before picking out a weapon for the arena bout. I'm sorry that that seems limiting but I'm currently thinking up a back story for the world and having role-plays that don't fit it would be senseless. I may modify your role-play if I see a possible problem but I really don't want that sort of situation. For what it's worth, what I can tell you is that the arena has multiple Armsmasters who help you pick out a weapon, plus due to the wide variety of different battlefields in the arena the place is constructed of various types of materials and it is plausible to find just about anything somewhere in it.
    Due to the considerable changes to the rules, I'm going to allow you to submit two character sheets. If the first two combatants die in the first turn (with non-fixed-length turns, there might be ten or more attacks per turn and my analysis shows that a one-hit kill is possible in some circumstances. Also, pain can mean that the first blow decides the match, with the opponent unable to mount an effective defence) then I'll automatically put your second characters in for bout 3.
    If you perform an action for which I haven't set up a rule, I will either try to adjust the action towards an existing rule, do a 'temporary rule', or say that it is impossible (eg trying to do a kick further than 0 SUs will be ruled as impossible even though it sounds reasonable, because as I mention elsewhere unarmed combat isn't properly implemented yet).
    When the match starts, the characters will be 150 SUs apart. While you won't get an unwieldiness penalty this time around, having a weapon longer than that will put you at a disadvantage, especially if they advance.
    I'm guessing I won't get around to implementing a map for this bout but I'll accept commands like 'head for the nearest weapon rack' or 'stay at least 1 SUs away from lava (as a special treat I'd even have the AI check that it isn't about to fall into the lava each SU instead of every 5, unless the AI is disabled)'.
    Remember that your character can do more than one action at a time, within reason (eg no Attack and Defend, nor Attack and Attack). Bear in mind that the AI may add actions as appropriate, so you might want to leave some Intensity for it to work with.
    While there may not currently be a penalty for doing multiple actions, bear in mind that five actions at 10% Intensity each are unlikely to be as effective as one at 50%.
    A lot of the calculations have no random component. This is partly so I can test the balance without 'random noise' in the results, partly so that a good strategy stands a better chance than 'hoping for a 5 or 6'.
    There is no need to have a weapon's skill determinants match what one might expect from such a weapon type. For example, a sledgehammer which involves 0% Strength in its determination is legal this time around.
    There is a difference between "When the enemy feints, attack" and "When the enemy makes an offensive movement, attack". Both of them imply waiting (and the accompanying delay before reaction) but only the first has an AI roll.
    Telling your character to 'do action1, then do action2' does not require the AI to be enabled to work, nor does it have a reaction delay, due to being pre-planned.
    Fractions are generally discarded, so for example a feint at 51% Intensity will take as many TUs as one at 50%.
    Wielding two weapons with one hand each is not currently supported.
    Weilding one weapon with two hands is currently flavor only (ie no bonuses or maluses).
    Characters start the match with 100 hitpoints. At present a player with 1 hitpoint left will fight as well as one with 100, due to no 'lasting maluses' being implemented such as for limb loss.
    There are currently no bonuses or maluses relating to relative height (eg you standing, opponent on ground) so beating a fallen foe is slightly more complicated than you might think. To make things slightly fairer, grounded opponents cannot move without standing up.
    Each combatant has a coloured holographic tattoo projected on them for reference during the match. Its easier than coming up with nicknames for them all the time.
    No throwing of weapons. Certain cases, such as close range throwing of sand (which doesn't count as a weapon due to lack of damage) are not affected by this rule.
    As a test rule, it is possible as a free move to attempt to figure out either your opponent's Base Statistics or its weapon's. Success will be determined by your Intelligence, though I haven't worked out the formula I'll use yet.
    Since it may not be apparent, both combatants are naked (this is socially acceptable). They also have no combat experience, with everything they know about using their weapon learnt between picking it out and entering the battlefield, thanks to the helpful Armsmasters.
    It is not necessary to wait until your opponent is in range before starting an Attack or Defend action. Just rememver that the calcs are done once the completion TUs have elapsed. Also, an opposing AI with enough Intelligence might Move out of your range then move back in and attack before you recover.
 

  I suspect it will be a while before I modify the rules unless something game-breaking comes up. The time and energy it took just to get this down was a lot more than I had intended it to take though I hope the result works out to be fairly good. Most of the effort that I had made up until halfway through Sunday (today being Monday) ended up being of minimal use because I tried explaining how everything worked before getting the formulae to a satisfactory point.

  P.S. Well, I had to cut some stuff to get this ready in time, in particular this isn't as people-friendly as I'd hoped but I think the information you need is there if you look for it. If you don't understand something or you think you've found a contradiction/gross imbalance then send me a PM (observers included).
 

[inteuniso]

 Sounds cool

  Name:Tanis
  Weapon: Heavy two-handed sledgehammer, with spike on end of handle
  Strength: 50
  Dexterity:20
  Intelligence:30

  First move:I watch my opponent carefully, while slowly circling, holding the hammer low.

[Pillow_Killer]

Name: Ligith
  Weapon: Whip
  Strength: 10
  Dexterity: 80
  Intelligence: 10

  First move: Ligith stays back, avoiding combat for a while, observing combatants for a while.

[Dwarmin]

Name: Orange
Weapon: Medium length Scimitar, hilt heavy to allow better parrying
Strength: 20
Dexterity:  30
Intelligence: 50

First move: Attack quickly, forcing the enemy on the defense. Strike with precision.

[Jetsquirrel]

Name: Rocky
  Weapon: 2-handed gaint maul
  Strength: 6
  Dexterity:3
  Intelligence:1

  First move:Make a warcry! charging at mah enemy and trying to smash it into pulp with mah hammar!

[Sadist]

The first two combatants have been selected. I'll update the rules but I'll draw atttention to two points that influenced my decision:

• 4. All moves must be sent to me by PM. This is partly to avoid cluttering the thread, also to keep the other player from seeing your move and posting a 'If they're doing that, I change my action to...' amendment and starting a cycle of annoyance for me. I will post the moves as part of the turn resolution.

  Apply for a position in the game by sending me a PM with a filled in character sheet.

  The part that I want to draw attention to is the one that says PM. Apart from the reasons quoted above, it also allows you a certain amount of anonymity (in that I only intend to use character names, not screen names) and it hides the numeric details of your character so that your opponent has to work out an appropriate strategy by using turn-resolution-dialogue to infer your strengths and weaknesses in relation to their own. What really narrowed the choices down (and unfortunately is what kept the one person who PM'ed me out of the first round) is:
• I thought at the time that there would be confusion about this but I really wanted to go to bed and decided to hope it was clear enough.

  You have 100 points to distribute among your stats.
  
    Name:
    Weapon:
    Strength:
    Dexterity:
    Intelligence:
  
    First move:

  the distribution of points is meant to be 1 point for one Strength, Dexterity or Intelligence, which will add up to an absolute numerical value. At least noone tried to put points into Name, Weapon or First move .

Rule update, then rolls, then calculations, then narration, then calc adjustment and back to rolls... with possible interruptions from Real Life.
I'll try to get a move up today.

[Sadist]

Move: Ligith stays back, avoiding combat for a while, observing combatants for a while.

Move: Attack quickly, forcing the enemy on the defense. Strike with precision.

"People of Someplace! Our next two combatants have entered the arena!"
  "Which will die first for our pleasure? Which will die second for our justice? As long as these criminals pay for their crimes, WE...WIN!"
  *error Cannot find CrowdCheers.wav*
  "First up we have some scrawny villian with a whip from the East Entrance. Let's show them some support."
  *crowd boos and suggests varied activities which Ligith would not willingly engage in*
  "From the West Entrance, its opponent!"
  *Some of the crowd strained their throats previously, but the rest of it raises their volume*
  After the crowd quiets down (five seconds later, they've got another dozen or so combatants to heckle before the next intermission), the announcer resumes speaking:
  "Are you ready? Let the fight... begin!"
 
  The commentator starts its dialogue (punctuation added to make it more intelligible):
  "The match just started and The Sword charged straight at Whippy like a wild animal. Whipster seems to be keeping their distance from the flashing blade without much trouble in spite of its opponents' aggressive velocity but wait! (Second rolls here) The Sword runs at an oblique angle and tries to slash The Whipster before Whippy can change direction but doesn't quite get close enough before slashing so the Whipster doesn't even have to defend. (Third rolls here) Whippy spots a chance to counter attack and takes it! (Fourth rolls here) But Whippy miscalculates and instead of lashing its opponent ends up wrapping its whip around Pointy's torso! (Fifth rolls here) But Pointy just won't stop! Now Whippy is Whipless on the ground and Pointy has come to a stop several meters away. What will happen next?"


Status:

 

Spoiler: Ligith (click to show/hide)

Sore Hands.
Weaponless.
On the ground

   
 

Spoiler: Orange (click to show/hide)

Has whip wrapped around torso.
Slight whiplash on torso.
Not Weaponless.

   

I'll do a little 'behind the scenes' rantbreakdown (not blow-by-blow, but possibly of interest(Edit: so it was blow-by-blow after all, at least you can choose not to read it)) between this and the next turn but I plan to take a meal break possibly followed by work so it might not be today.

Oh and mention any errors you see (including any accidental use of 'he' instead of 'it') and I might correct it or you as I deem appropriate.

I predict this ending next turn.

[Sadist]

When I first thought up the system I was going to use, it didn't have statistics, it was just going to be each combatant getting a 1d6 rolled for them, with a difference of 3 being enough to end the match. Then I thought 'sure, the player characters are going to have less chance to develop personalities than the average goblin in most RTDs, that doesn't mean that they can't have something to differentiate them from each other other than their weapons'. So I gave them statistics, three to keep things fairly simple, thinking that they would allow a bit of personality while having mostly flavour effect rather than changing the game on me.

I'm still laughing at myself over that.

The statistics were supposed to only require a couple of changes to the rules, maybe add a couple of rolls per turn, not require more than a couple of modifications to the relevent calcs.

First rolls:

  Ligith: 5
  Orange: 4

This was the 'traditional' roll of the 1d6 for each player. In this case it had little effect - basically it just meant that neither of them failed, so they didn't end up failing without 'external factors'.

Analysis of the combatant's intended actions indicated that Ligith was on the defensive and Orange was on the offensive, so I figured that Orange could be considered to be trying to break through Ligith's defence. I didn't end up rolling for Orange to come up with a plan (though I might in future, especially if it looks like a deviation from their original action), so I rolled against its Intelligence to see if it could pull it off (I'm currently thinking that Intelligence should affect a character's ability to 'think on the spot', also to determine how well they interpret information that their senses bring them).

Second rolls:

Roll against Orange's intelligence: 72(roll) vs ??(Intelligence): Orange had a strategy to overcome Ligith's evasive tactics but did not implement it correctly due to incorrect interpretation of distances

I should probably have done rolls involving both character's Dexterity to see if Orange could move fast enough but since I had a mental image of Ligith moving backward I figured it wouldn't be able to get to full speed anyway - that and I figured Dexterity would be overpowered if one could just 'evade' all day.

After the outcome of that roll I figured that the turn was about out of time, although if Ligith was opportunistic enough it would counter-attack so I figured I should do an Intelligence test before ending the turn, even if it was almost certain to fail.

Third rolls:

Roll against Ligith's Intelligence: 8(roll) vs ??(Intelligence): Roll was to see if Ligith was smart enough to change strategy and mount a counter-attack, which it is.

Up until this point I'd only been doing single rolls to determine outcomes, even though I'd initially planned to have all three stats play some part in almost every action. While I was getting my second wind, I resolved not to skip rolls in the future (as often).

Fourth rolls:

  Roll against Ligith's Dexterity: 8(roll - randomness allows this) vs ??(Dexterity): Roll was to see if Ligith was fast enough to counter-attack, which it is.
  Roll against Ligith's Intelligence: 16(roll) vs ??(Intelligence): Roll was to see if Ligith was accurate and effective, which it wasn't.

The idea behind this was, while I figured that the whip was primarily dependent on Dexterity to be wielded effectively, it would also require an ability to perceive distances which meant an Intelligence roll. As a result of the Intelligence roll, I decided that the whip would either overshoot or undershoot. Since my mental image was of Ligith taking a step to keep in range (and since I wasn't sure how long the whip was) it was an overshoot, so the whip ended up wrapped around (the still-charging-in-the-not-quite-right-direction) Orange.

Fifth rolls:
 
  Roll: Ligith's Strength vs Orange's Strength: ((45(roll) + ??(Ligith's Strength) = ??) vs ((50(roll) + ??(Orange's Strength) = ??))): Roll was to see if Ligith's grip on its whip would keep against Orange's pull. It didn't.
  Roll against Ligith's Dexterity: 95(roll) vs ??(Dexterity): Roll was to see if Ligith lost its balance. It did.
  Roll against Orange's Strength: 2(roll) vs ??(Strength): Roll was to see if Orange was able to compensate for the lack of resistance after pulling Ligith's whip away. It did.

I should probably have given Ligith another Intelligence roll to let go of the whip before being pulled off balance but I failed mine. Some of these outcomes would have been quite different if I had taken the difficulty of a challenge into account when rolling (as opposed to making each roll 1 to 100), although considering how Ligith ended up when it decided to change strategy with its low Intelligence, it worked out OK this time.

Well, when you're ready PM me your next turns and I'll get to them when I get to them.

[Sadist]

Ligith attempts to distract sword(GM: I assume you mean Orange) by throwing a handful of dust into his face, then disarm him.

First, Back away slowly

IF he charges THEN execute wide sweeping slashes until he is driven back or killed.

IF he does not charge, OR retreats from combat with me, remove the whip THEN move forward into a sweeping attack pattern as above.

Assuming he does die, I will behead him, at which point I will throw his head into the crowd and say "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"

The commentator takes a breath and continues.
  "Instead of pressing its advantage, Pointy seems to be afraid of its weaponless opponent and is backing away slowly, leaving the whip to fall on the packed sand. Whipless seems to be taking heart from this and has just stood up and is slowly advancing with its fists raised in front of its face. If this keeps up (First rolls here) The Swordsperson has stopped retreating and adopted a stance suitable for a lunging strike in case Whipless makes a grab for the whip - (Second rolls here) but The Pugilist advances so that they are within lunging distance! (Third rolls here) Cutlass moves in for the kill but The Pugilist jumps back (Fourth rolls here) while uppercutting the air - no wait! The Pugilist must have been carrying sand in its fists since it got up, because it just managed to throw some in The Swordsperson's face while jumping back from its blade. Pokey must have closed its eyes in time, as a quick shake of the head seems to have affected a full recovery. How long can they keep this up?"

Status:
  It has occurred to me that making the status viewable to the public is potentially compromising to the players (especially if I get this to the point where they have to worry about bonuses and maluses frequently), so I'm going to start sending them via PM (along with notices of turn completion) and wait until their characters are dead before editing them in. I may make an exception if the status has nothing of gameplay consequence, or post 'edited' status showing only information visible from the turn commentary.
 
Public Status:
 

Spoiler: Ligith (click to show/hide)

Weaponless
 

 

Spoiler: Orange (click to show/hide)

Has Sword

Private Status:
 

Spoiler: Ligith (click to show/hide)

Sore hands
Weaponless
Has one fistful of sand

 

Spoiler: Orange (click to show/hide)

Slight whiplash on torso
Has Sword
Small amount of sand in eyes

[Sadist]

  I have just copied the moves for turn 3 and will post the turn when I get it done, which will take a bit longer than the first 2 for a few reasons.

  The last couple of nights have been less than satisfactory sleep-wise which I believe is reducing the quality of my performance to a lower level than usual. Fortunately most of this work has been out of view working on some experimental rules for the second bout. I originally intended to spend maybe 2 hours working up a couple of rule changes but have ended up with a mess of new rules (a conservative count puts it at 13) which frequently clash, contain ambiguity or have balancing issues - and I have yet to get some of the ones I was looking forward to down on virtual paper.
  Since some of the rules that I will insist on keeping change the character sheet, move structure etc I will be needing previous submissions to be reworked. I intend to give the potential players notice no later than the completion of turn 3 of bout 1 once I have confirmed the rules to test out.
 
  One of the experimental rules that I intend to at least partially implement in this bout involves the combat calculations - up until now, an attack has worked something along the lines of 'win these two (or more) rolls to hit for noticeable effect, unless your opponent succeeds with their dodge roll - or their block roll, or their avoid-injury-anyway roll' which means, since there has only been success and failure (ie the degree of success or failure hasn't been a factor) the chances of an effective blow have been unrealistically low. I intend to change that.

  Some of the rules that I intend to work on and introduce for bout 2 (which may or may not need balancing mid-bout):
   

Spoiler: A distance system (click to show/hide)

That part in the first turn where Orange ended up 'several metres away' bothered me (aside from me misspelling metres) because it was meant to justify Orange not being able to slash Ligith in the same turn, yet that ground was effectively covered by Ligith within two seconds in the second turn without running, so I figure something a bit more regulated is in order. This will impact on combat, as not all weapons have the same effective ranges, though I doubt I'll get around to implementing bonuses for positioning yourself behind your opponent this time around.

   

Spoiler: Intensity (click to show/hide)

This will drastically affect the way actions resolve. While it is giving me trouble to bring it to a state suitable for guinea pigs players, good use of it should make such turn-arounds as a character with 20 Dexterity outperforming one with 90 practical.

   

Spoiler: Arena types (click to show/hide)

I intend to choose from one of the following for the second bout:
  An unspecifiable type of stone floor with scattered lava pools (throwing of players not implemented)
  An ice floor, with some parts being thinner than others (would make the bashy types interesting but I think having characters struggling to walk without falling down would be detrimental to the game)
  A cement floor with weapon racks (holding weapons) scattered around
 

   

Spoiler: Defined Actions (click to show/hide)

As things stand, I think that the reliance on me interpreting player intent and the combat situation results in a detrimental level of randomness, so I intend to specify some actions with standardised procedures to keep me within reason and help players better predict the outcome of their actions. The list of defined actions will be small for this set of rules, so some on-the-spot activity will likely take place.

   

Spoiler: The AI (click to show/hide)

So far, the AI has basically consisted of watching for a change of circumstances during the turn, then doing an Intelligence roll to adjust the action away from what was originally planned by the player. There will be methods to influence or turn off the AI for each action, though some will probably be in an incomplete form.

   

Spoiler: The commentator (click to show/hide)

The commentator that has been narrating bout 1 will die mysteriously because I hate it. I haven't decided if there will be a replacement commentator or if a change of narrative technique is called for.

Well I'm guessing that anyone who looks at this will be heartily sick of this, so I'll just say that I expect to have turn 3 up before Tuesday.

[Pillow_Killer]

This is simply great. Such an amount of factors for an RTD definetly gives game a great deal of atmosphere, and actually makes players plan their actions, which is a nice change from normal RTD's. This is awesome, just like You, get well soon D=

[Sadist]

Sand! SAND?!

Oh wait, run forward and kill the unarmed man with my sword-sweep, sweep, sweep the legs!
 
Be wary of any tackling attempt.

My character is on notice for anymore sand based attacks!
 
OR chase him around in circles till the guards decide to shoot us both with crossbows. I assume eventually the crowd will get bored.

Realising He's loosing (GM: I'll interpret that as losing) the fight, Ligith charges Orange in a desperate attempt to disarm him and impale him with his own sword.

GM's note: The combatants really are genderless, they're not called 'it' just for dehumanisation.

Spoiler: Narration (click to show/hide)

  "It looks like The Swordsperson has had enough and is going in for the kill! It charges towards Sandy and Sandy also charges! The Sword slams on the brakes and ducks down to slash Pug's legs out from under it | but Dukes manages to jump over the blade and collides with Pointy hard enough to knock them both over, with The Pugilist on top! The Pugilist makes a grab for the weapon | letting sand that was in their other fist drop in the process. | The Pugilist wrests the sword from its owner's grasp, The Pugilist is armed again! The Thief lifts the sword and points it at its former owner's chest | The Victim tries to push its opponent off but The Pirate stays steady and plunges the sword, hard, through The Victim's chest.
  * crowd cheers *
  All the fight leaves The Victim as The Victor twists the blade, then pulls it out and ends the bout by cutting The Defeated's throat. The Victor lets the sword drop to the ground and looks to the sky with tears in its eyes until the guards finish its Salvation with crossbow bolts."

Spoiler: After the match... (click to show/hide)

  The commentator was instructed by one of the stage-hand robots that its presence was called for in one of the meeting rooms. The commentator felt the guilt and fear that it usually felt when something like this happened, then reassured itself that it was probably just that someone in administration had summoned them by mistake again.
  That often happened, something to do with the computers having issues that caused the odd digit of an ID code to be mixed up on occasion. They had been replaced frequently but the issue never went away so administration had just decided to wear it, although there was a theory-
  The commentator's thoughts stopped as it arrived outside the meeting room. Feeling heartened, the commentator headed inside-
  The commentator almost faltered as it saw the crimson robe of a Priest Enforcer. That had happened by mistake once before too and the commentator had almost broken down at the sight then. Now, it was just a bit shaken and continued to a seat.
  The Priest Enforcer spoke: "You are 0G45SB49F2?"
  The commentator nodded an affirmative, thinking. Do they know?.
  The Priest Enforcer spoke again: "You know why I am here."
  The commentator nodded guiltily. This was it...
  The Priest Enforcer stated "You have been exposed to forbidden literature. This forbidden literature."
  The Priest held up a book titled "WWF: The Complete Blow-by-Blow."
  The commentater started crying, all the guilt and fear washing over it.
  The Priest waited a little while then said "Tell me everything."
  The commentator bawled "I...I read of these...beings who c-called themselves Men a-and were referred to as 'him' l-like our Creator, Lord-"
  "Poor soul, this book of evil has truly devastated you, hasn't it?"
  "Y-yes, it seemed so unbelievable, y-yet I couldn't stop-"
  "You studied what the book called 'commentating' and shaped your life around it, didn't you?"
  "Y-yes, I read it when I was newly emerged a-and I thought of n-nothing else-"
  "I see, so your soul has been subjected to attack for all that time?"
  The commentator closed its teary eyes and nodded.
  "Don't worry, we'll make everything better." The Priest said reassuringly.
  "Really?" The commentator whispered without opening its eyes.
  The Priest smiled. "Really." It said.
  The commentator sobbed "I-I knew what I should have done but I-I was afraid..."
  The Priest stood up, then moved over next to the commentator and placed a hand on its shoulder.
  "It's not easy for the Afflicted like yourself to seek help on their own, which is why we are here to help you."
  At this point a second Priest entered the room.
  "My brother-of-the-cloth here will take you to the nearest Salvation Chamber. There we will save your soul."
  The commentator stood up, with the help of the second Priest. Through the tears, it said "Thank you."
  After the commentator had gone away with the second priest supporting it, the first Priest looked at the book in its hand. Then, with a thought, it set the book alight.

Status:
  Orange
  Ligith

Character Details:
 

Spoiler: Orange (click to show/hide)

  Strength: 20
  Dexterity:  30
  Intelligence: 50
 

 

Spoiler: Ligith (click to show/hide)

  Strength: 10
  Dexterity: 80
  Intelligence: 10
 

[inteuniso]

You have really given thought to this. Thanks.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

I might have to drop out of this. It seems awfully confusing and I can't keep up.

[Sadist]

As I thought might happen, it looks like the new experimental rules might be a bit too complicated for RTD players (who I gather are 'casual' gamers). So I thought I'd bring a few relevent thoughts up:

• With the new ruleset having less of a random element than most RTDs, I thought it might be appropriate to have it take place in another forum, probably the Forum Games and Roleplaying forum.
• I could hold matches between opponents of my own creation to demonstrate the rules. Since I figure it might be considered egotistical to do it off my own bat I'll only do it on request (only one request needed because I am egotistical).
• I could work on a hybrid version which had a (relatively) simple player interface yet still gave me a stable base when it came to executing the turn. Possible reasons this might not be desirable would be the downtime while I implemented it and that I would probably have my time divided between the hybrid version and the complex version which would probably lead to longer update times.

None of the listed choices are exclusive. Tell me by PM or post if you have an opinion on any or all of them.