An IntroductionWhat is this?A Fight to the death! Dwarf, Human, Elf, and countless other creatures locked in Mortal Combat!
Arrows Flying! Swords Slashing! Blood and Guts Spread Across the Arena Floor!
To what end?Countless Riches? No
Honor? Glory? Fame? Perhaps
To be recognized as the strongest, fastest, or cleverest? Most Assuredly
But most importantly, to earn the title:
CHAMPION OF THE ARENAYou'll be the best! Songs will be song about your skills in the ring! Your name will never be forgotten!
At least until the next tournament...
Who came up with this?It wasn't me, I assure you! In fact, it was our lovely friends at the SomethingAwful forums who deserve the credit.
One Bard, in particular, deserves high praise indeed!
He is the Founder of the Fight, the Mediator of Discord, the Grand Master himself!
Vox NihiliWe are but feint imitators in comparison
What Format Will the Tournaments Take?There are many possibilities: Single-Elimination, Double Elimination, Round Robin, etc. It could be Team based, or a Free For All!. The format for any particular tournament will be decided by the Arena Master beforehand.
How many people can join a tournament?It Depends on the format and how much interest there is! However, typical sizes are 16, 32, or 64.
How do I join?It's easy! Usually you'll just have to post a message declaring your interest, and include your Gladiator's name and race!
I don't know much about Dwarf Fortress. What race is best? What Weapons and Armor should I use?Only the base essentials are provided in the thread. Since this is competitive, its up to you to figure out whats best. Feel free to ask any questions in the thread or on the forums. A good source of information is the Dwarf fortress wiki found at
http://df.magmawiki.com.
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Overview and Rules
These Rules( including the point system ) were originally developed by the esteemed Vox Nihili at the SomethingAwful forums
The Arena Master The Arena Master runs the tournament. His or Her duties are extensive. They include, but are not limited to, the following: Maintaing and updating these rules, recruitment, running the battles and writing commentary, and settling all disputes that may arise in a just and timely manner. It is essential that the Arena Master remain fair and unbiased. I, Josephus, shall humbly serve in as the Arena Master for this tournament, and pray that my brain doesn't fry under the strain..
Joining as a Gladiator Before the start of a tournament the Arena Master will decide on the tournament format, including whether or not a gladiator's skills and equipment will be known to all or kept secret. The first is called a Open Tournament and the latter is called a Blind tournament. The tournament format will also dictate the number of gladiators who may join, or at least a series of upper limits. For example, in a single elimination tournament typical sizes are 16, 32, 64, etc. In order to join, all you must do is announce your intention to join in this thread, along with your Gladiator's name and race. If its an open tournament, you will need to post your skills and equipment purchases in the thread before the start of the first match, while in a blind tournament you must send them directly to the Arena Master.
In the event that too many Gladiators wish to spill their blood, the Arena Master may, at his or her discretion: extend the joining period, deny entry outright to the extra combatants, or call for a battle royal to decide who gets the final spot in the tournament. It's first come first serve*, so sign up as early as possible.
*In future tournaments, gladiators who fought in the preceding tournament will have the right-of-way, and a non-random seeding system may be implemented.
About the Tournament The subsequent post will lay out the details of the current tournament, including whether or not it will be an open or blind tournament, what system it will follow(Single-Elimination, Round Robin, etc.), whether or not its a team game, etc. If there is something that is not clear, please ask.
The Arena The fighting will take place in the center ring that can be found in arena mode. Constestants will be placed opposite each other, on the east and west sides of the ring.
The Version The newest version of DF will be used assuming combat and other relevant game mechanics weren't broken. The same version will be used throughout the tournament. The version being used for the current tournament will be listed in the Tournament overview in the next post.
The Races The most important decision you'll have to make before the start of the tournament is what race your gladiator will be. Which race you chose will determine what equipment you can use, how much damage you can inflict, grant you special abilities, or even extra limbs.
Your race will also determine how many points you get to spend on equipment and skills before each round. This is mainly for balance reasons, but also to represent smaller creatures cleverness.
The most important distinction between the races, besides the points they receive, is their size. Size effects the amount of damage they will inflict*, and their ability to knock their opponent over. Gladiators that have been knocked over have a nasty tendency to get pulverized(unless they are wearing some nice armor), and is thus a position you'll wish to avoid. Thus, the ability to dodge out of the way is often a crucial skill for smaller players to have. For this reason, races classified as "tiny" get a 20% reduction in the price of dodging skills while races classified as "huge" must pay 20% more.
*smaller creatures can generally match their larger counterparts in slashing and stabbing attacks, but bigger opponents are much better at bashing and punching
Some of the more fanciful races have different or extra appendages compared to your average humanoid. This may allow them to wield extra weaponry or armor, but it also may mean they can't use certain items. These differences are listed under the special abilities category.
All creatures have attributes that can affect their performance in battle: Strength, Agility, Toughness, Endurance, Disease Resistance, and Recuperation. Your creatures attributes are determined by the amount of skill they have, but are distributed randomly. However, many of the different races have innate modifiers to certain attributes, which may give them an edge in battle.
Races may also have special abilities. For instance, many of the animal-like races can bite in unarmed combat.
Points Points are the life blood any worthy gladiator. The way you spend them will determine your success in the ring.
As stated in the previous section, the amount of points you get to spend before the tournament depends on your gladiator's race. If you manage to win a match, you will earn the same amount of points to spend on the next round. You do not have to spend any points to heal yourself.
You may spend points on Equipment and Skills, which are summarized below.
Skills Your gladiator can purchase skills before the start of each round. Skills can be upgraded as many as 14 times, the first level being Novice and the last being Grand Master.
The first level of each skill is assigned a base price, and the price of each subsequent level is equal to the base price of the skill multiplied by the level of the skill you are purchasing. For example, if your gladiator was a Level 2("Adequate") fighter and wished to purchase the 4th level, it would cost 3 * 3 + 3 * 4 f= 9 points. 3 is the base cost and does not change, multiplied by the levels to be purchased. Note that the cost is cumulative: you must buy all the preceding levels!
What each skill does is fairly self explanatory. Please go to the Dwarf Fortress wiki or ask on the forums if you are unfamiliar with any particular skill.
Equipment As you've probably surmised, your gladiator will be able to purchase an assortment of equipment, made out of various materials, to wield in the arena. Equipment can be divided up into two categories: Weapons and Armor.
Note that you cannot make weapons, shields or bucklers, out of leather.
You may sell back equipment before each round for half its original value. You may NOT sell skills back.
A longsword has a base price of 24; if its made of of steel, which has a "cost multiplier" of 4, the total value will be 96 points.
Materials Materials have gotten complicated in Dwarf Fortress of late. In terms of combat, though, materials have 3 primary properties: Weight, Edge, and Stopping Power. [I take no credit for this chart, its taken directly from the SA thread]
Weapons Weapons and Shields(including bucklers), are held in your gladiator's hands. Depending on the race, it may take one-hand or 2-hands to wield any particular object, or they may not be able to wield it at all. Please look at the Race table for a summary. Unless you are fighting unarmed, you should try to use all your hands in combat. Once again, if you have any questions about the abilities a weapon or piece of armor, please feel free to ask, but check the wiki first.
Bows come with 35 free arrows and Crossbows with 35 free bolts and are the same material as the ranged weapon.
ARMOR Generally, you can only wear one of any type of armor. Think in terms of body parts, and test your combination out in dwarf fortress to see if it works. If you (or I) notice a problem after the current round is underway, it can't be fixed until the current round is over. For example, you can't wear both leggings and greaves or low boots and high boots at the same time. There are two exceptions though: you may wear a leather cap under a helm, and you may wear a (non-leather) mail shirt under a breast plate. Gloves, Gauntlets and boots come in sets of two. Also note that shields take up a hand-slot, and aren't worn as such. Shields may also be used as weapons and are dependent on the Misc. object skill.
Google DocumentAll the rules and spreadsheets are available as a Google document. Check it out here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmCZedymX32wdDBVX3hXMHUzamo5WkRfX2pDQjVQNWc&hl=en&authkey=CKC3xsAO If you find any errors please tell me.
Conclusion That *should* cover everything. A summary and overview are covered in the next post. In the future, there will be an additional History section where past tournaments will be recorded, and perhaps a gladiator history as well space permitting. What follows is a history of the rule changes. Right now, it only shows the modifications I made to the SA rules.
Rule ChangesFrom SA 2nd edition
-Divided all the point values by 5. I think its easier, and also gives our version a different look.
-Reduced Dodging penalty and bonuses to huge and tiny creatures respectively from 25% to 20%. I did this to remove the fraction that popped when I divided everything by 5, but also because tiny creatures get waay more points than huge ones.
-Your leftover points are now doubled for the next round! Two reasons: 1. It gives you another choice. You may endanger your gladiator in the current round in hopes of being stronger in the next. 2. Left over points often are of the fractional form. Doubling them may make them whole for the next round.
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Topic: The Bay12 DF Gladiator Challenge Tag Tournament #2: Championships! (Read 49135 times)