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| Remember this? Some of you got really excited. |
Crawl! no. 13: Deathmatch is still a work in progress. At the time of this writing, it's at the beginning of its 4th major re-write. I have been struggling with issue for several years, this was because several factors, which I rather not go into details, but simple motivation and inspiration is enough. When it was first announced, back in September 2017, it was going to be simple. It was basically going to be a toolset for creating random arenas, their traps, and features. A possible "gladiator" class, some new weapons, and arena specific rules. There were also several submissions that fit the theme that were in consideration. The idea was the PCs are sucked away from their normal day, into some cosmic battle arena, that's curated by some weird malevolent power or powers. This power was going to be left vague, so they could be one of the PC's deity or patron, The main system I was developing, and the meat of the issue, was a series of random tables that determined their appearance after being dragged through cosmic space into the arena. The table was a Personality check, and the I expected the players to elaborate and describe what their appearance in the arena looked like. I was hoping for ideas like like "asleep in bed", "on the john" for "poor" appearances, or if the player rolled well enough, they could've describe favorably, or the PC could have been totally ready for it. This was the beginning of the time I was really wanting to lean into collaborative and emergent story telling. I wanted to give the player a cue to work with, and have them describe how they're introduced into an arena. If they rolled poorly, they could describe their character as "appearing in a flash, with their pants around their ankles in a squatting position" or favorably, "my PC was totally expecting this, and I'm wearing my best outfit and everything". It sounded cool, but it looked like this:
...And The Crowd Goes Wild!!!
Presentation, Reception and Reputation
Presentation and Reception -- Upon entering the arena, the crowd can cheer ecstatically, or jeer with pure disdain. The response is determined by a Personality check on Table XX-1: Presentation & Reception. This will determine how impressive or disappointing their entrance is. This can result with a favor or blessing from the audience or sponsor. Or the opposite may happen, resulting with pure disapproval or a curse for the duration of the match. The check is made for each competitor, it’s very possible they all get favorable responses, or they can all get poor ones.
Table XX-1: Presentation and Reception.
Roll Result
1 or less Immediately hated or ridiculed, the spectators get hostile, and the sponsor may show contempt with a curse or condemnation.
2-4 Mocked and booed, Spectators and sponsors are wary. Hostility is likely.
5-9 Disinterest and boredom from the spectators and sponsors.
10-14 Some cheers from the spectators, a lukewarm response from the sponsors, but interest nonetheless.
15-19 The spectators go wild, and they have the attention of the hosts. A spectator may express their joy with a minor boon or blessing.
20+ The spectators are ecstatic! The sponsor may bless the competitor with a great boon or favor.
Optionally, independent of allies, there may be spectators that feel sympathetic to the disfavored combatant, especially if they’re losing. If a fight is clearly one-sided, these compassionate types may bestow a minor boon to even the odds. With the judge’s discretion, the losing PC may make a Luck check, success means they receive a minor boon from pity.
Then it went into a system where throughout the game the characters can earn boons or banes from their performances, showboating, etc. It was basically a fame system that granted you perks and shit, ala XCrawl.
Reputation -- if deathmatches are regular affairs in your campaign, a Reputation Bonus may be earned for any victors in a deathmatch. This rating is indicated by a die type. For the first match won, this die is a d3. When, or if, a third match is won, this die will go up one step (+1d) in the dice chain. On the sixth successful event, it will go up another die (+1d), etc. (See Table XX-2: Reputation Die.) This bonus die is added to the Personality check on the Presentation & Reception table. Judges may modify the roll due to location or moods, e.g. the locals may not be familiar with this particular champion, or the audience may be extra excited or upset from an earlier match.
Matches Won Reputation Bonus Die Type
1 d3
3 d4
6 d5
12 d6
24 d7
48 d8
+24 +1d etc.
Boons and Blessings
Chanting name! Motivating chants or even songs.
+1
+1d
Free re-roll. Free roll even if no roll is allowed (eg. allow a save even if there’s “no saving throw”.)
Spell cast in their favor.
Temp hp.
Attack spell in their favor.
Healing. hd or ability points.
Magic Items or weapons.
This was as far as I got, you can tell it trails off into a brain dump list. I didn't like it. I was also working on XCrawl, and it made no sense to reinvent the wheel. So I scrapped it. There were also some lists of random areas ideas, and some notes referencing Enter the Dagon and Spell duel stuff. And so it went back to the drawing board. No one heard from me again for a couple years. Those were miserable years to say the least. The misery wasn't because of this crap sub-system, mostly outside crap.
To be continued in Part 2.
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