Arenas

[Saint Faucet]

Are there any plans to include arenas in any towns?

I ask because I've thinking about attempting to put together monthly martial arts tournaments for any takers and I wouldn't want any 'fans' jumping in after a match has finished to kill off the victor (though admittedly, it would be pretty funny to have an irrate bettor yelling "You just lost me my life savings!" as he charged the duelist). I also figure that some people are going to want an area where they can have uninterrupted duels without traveling far into the wilderness.

So please consider adding in a place that could be rented out for both property to fight on and guards to keep the peace outside the duel/match. Thanks.

[Lordosis]

Well, I had just typed out a long response here when IE decided to crash. THANKS, MICROSOFT!!!! OK, I'm done venting. Let me see if I can remember what I was saying.

You want Arenas? You got 'em! It sounds like a good idea to me. How about if we do some things differently than other games. We could actually require that pariticpants sign up for each battle. That way they's know exactly who they were fighting against, so they wouldn't have to worry about ninja PKs as much. And what if battles are NOT to the death by default. I'd like people to be able to participate in tournaments without worrying about death penalties. Of course, we'd have city guards to help enforce these rules.

We could have NPC hosted tournaments every once in a while, but I like the idea of player hosted tournaments a lot. You could save up some money for the rental fee, go rent out the arena, then go advertise your tournament. Of course, the way to get people to show up would probably be to offer prizes. But I'm sure you could charge an entry fee corresponding to the value of your prizes.

I'd like to support player events in-game as much as possible. I hated how in other games, all player events were virtual. They were just in your imagination. And of course, they were rarely well organized since there was no in-game support for them.

[Ruadin]

Here's a twist on the Arena fighting idea.

Why not have the participants stripped of their equipment (which goes to storage) and given standard equipment which won't give either participant an edge over the other. It then becomes purely a skill contest.

[Saint Faucet]

Thanks, Rich. Arenas would be greatly appreciated.

I like Ruadin's idea of stripping the fighters down to basic, equal gear. Maybe an item check room could be added (sort of like a coat check room, only for all your gear)?

[Slitherrr]

Hey, I'm seeing where this is going, and I'm liking it a lot. It'd be great to come home after a long week of adventuring to watch a nice violent pit duel, and even root for the returning champion or cheer on the challenger. And the player-sponsered tournaments is a nifty idea, I want to see how much that can be developed, of course, there are also NPC's that'll support said tournaments too (especially in early release, before anyone has any money to rent out the arena, hinthint), so..

[Lordosis]

Yeah, we could have a "item check" room. If you think weapons and armor really should be standardized in duels. Maybe it could be done either way, as long as both parties agree. What might be pretty cool is if both duel participants could each risk some of their items and the winnner would get all of them....

[Dyson]

You could have it both ways-

People could sign up for different sorts of fights- IE, "standardized" equipment or "bring your own."
Rich, would a duel menu system be too hard to program in? This could be expanded for all sorts of things, from races to Wizard's Duels (magic only). For the run of the mill pit fights, you could have standardized equipment, but some places might specialize in "bring your own gear" so no one can complain that they lost because they didn't have their magic sword.
Here's how I envision a menu breaking down:
First box (check 1)
Type of Duel:

1. Duel until ye sufferest Grievous Wounds (ie, 1/2 your life is missing)

2. Duel until thy Death

3. Duel until first Blood is Spilt (first successful hit is scored)

4. Duel until ye est knocked Unconsciousness (knocked out)

Second box (check 1)

1. Standardized Weapons & Armor (stripped down before entering, giving weapons and armor)

2. Use thy own Weapons & Armor

3. No Weapons or Armor

Third box (check 1)

1. No Magickal Spells or Powers allowed

2. Limited Magickal Spells or Powers Allowed (clicking this brings up a sub-menu; IE, you could have a Conjouror's duel, with the participants only being allowed to summon creatures to fight for them)

3. No Magick

Fourth box (check all that apply)

1. Winner recieves awards from the Crowde (donations for the "pot")

2. Winner recieves awards from the House (awards put up by the organization holding the duel)

3. Winner recieves the Defeated's Equipment and Armor (this could be modified into sub-divisions; in ancient England, some duels only let the other knight take the Horse of his opponent, some duels for for only Armor)

4. Winner recieves the Defeated's Land and Subjects (this would be reserved for the highest of Duels, perhaps a Champion selected to defend the a Kingdom against a rival Champion, Mortal-Kombat style. :) I'd like to see this if there are deamons or intelligent Undead)

[Lordosis]

Dyson, that's exactly the type of thing I had in mind. Programming it is so easy that it's not even worth talking about. It would take longer to decide exactly what to put on the menus than it would to program them.

[Dyson]

That's really great; I'm glad to hear it. Also, Rich, I'd just like to say that you're the most open programmer I've ever heard talk about what's easy and what's not. In any of the public forums I've read, the AC and UO (i don't know much about EQ-sorry :( ) programmers all act like they can't divulge their secrets to us mere players. It's one of the elitest things that really pissed me off about MMRPGS so far.

By the way, is the Info@brickhouse the e-mail we should be using to contact the company, or is there a different one?

[Slitherrr]

Hey, I've noticed there's another journeyman. Dyson = rule. Arenas = rule. On to the meat and bones.

Speaking along with Dyson's "duel until knocked out," how are you guys going to handle knockouts? Is it like EQ's "Death's Door" routine, or will some attacks be more likely to knockout than others, or both? And I heard monks somewhere, I think in that thread that Rich closed up, yes please! Go monks, go unarmed combat! That class was the only thing that kept me playing EQ as long as I did (feign death was so FUN to play with!) Combine with neato stuff like Vulcan Neck Pinches and etc, and I'll be a happy man no matter how Arcanity turns out, and since it's going to be turning out awesomely anyways, you're looking at a future very very happy gamer.

[Dyson]

Oh, cool. I didn't notice the Journeyman rank.
Fun. Slitherr, I hearby challenge you to a duel, whenever the game comes out and our characters get to a sufficient level of ability. :)

I think you're right about the game; the very fact that the developers are taking this much interest in our opinions for once will make for a very satisfactory gaming experience.

[Cynycal]

it'd be awesome to like build an arena in the middle of a castle that you build or something and train your warriors or whatever there...

[Wrentia]

Since some of you were chatting about it....

-Wrentia

[UBIK]

aah ha! i knew there was one a way back!!

[George]

Rich was able to log on the net long enough to type:

>Internet Explorer is a piece of crap
>Well, I had just typed out a long response here when IE >decided to crash. THANKS, MICROSOFT!!!! OK, I'm done >venting. Let me see if I can remember what I was saying.

Talk about great timing just as I was going to type this post my IE explore just shuts down all 6 GURPS threads I was reading. Now I have to open each one again and try to remember where I left off. Funny thing is that all the deja.com pages crashed but this one stayed open.

Anyway, I have been in the same situation that Rich mentions. What I learned to do after the 3rd time I lost a long message because my computer crashed it to open a Word document, name it X and place it on my desktop. On this X document I type my long post and hit alt-f-s (save) after every paragraph. It takes about 10 seconds or less to open a document, name it, save it and return to writing.

This way you can write to your hearts content, save regularly, and check for spelling errors, the cut and past the whole thing to the Alternity Message board. It takes a few extra mouse clicks but its well worth the effort. I haven’t lost a long post in ages even thou my IE crashes on a regular basis. :)

Does anybody else do this?

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Wow, the arena suggestions sound great. Nice to see you guys are back online. Cynical, Nice to see you back.

[Mantis the Torched Soul]

Some suggestions for an interesting arena fight
1:Spiky bits for throwing opponents at like in soul reaver
2:fight over spike/lava pits on wooden logs or at least over raw sewage if death is a problem e.g.:

\___________/ \__________/ \__________/


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------
3:the-clan leaders/arena crowd should be able to vote on the fate of the loser as in the film gladiator.
4:mage fights use set powers from different elements like fire, water, earth, in a scissors paper stone type fight e.g.:
sindel casts "fire blast" against thandors "wall of thorns".

hmmm maybe ive gone a bit over the top




[Edited by Mantis the Torched Soul on 02-06-2001 at 12:45 PM]

[Romulus]

oh man, whats a collisiem fight without the emperor(in this case "whoever is in charge") giving the thumbs up or thumbs down, according to what the croud wants. i can hear it now... LIVE LIVE LIVE, or DIE DIE DIE

[Romulus]

forgot to mention my ROYAL RUMBLE idea, the occasional multi-person battle, 30 men*, only one survivor(and jackpot winner) *excuse me PERSONS

[karoo83]

I'm guessing you're a real gladiator fan... but not a bad idea... I personaly like having a duel over a pit of spikes.

[Rend]

All the cool gladiator type idea i'm sure could be used. Just find someone to put up the money to sponser such spectacles.

[BelDragos]

The guilds could sponser some events offering apprenticeships or memberships as prizes.

[Xylenix]

All of this sounds like an awesome idea! But you have to consider the possibility of foul play. What are the limits on fighting?? Ie- can you bite? scratch? kick someone in the balls? as well, is there any possible way to cheat in duels? Either programmed in or not??

And for Romulus-- It could be possible to set up pankration style fightings....

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Aye, I would love to see Arenas fully supported in game with CM events and events put on by guilds or Gods. Need a new avatar for the War god? How better to select him/her than a battle royal?

[Kintoun]

Wow ya with the combinations of punishment for wrong-do'ers and throwing battles with prizes, this would be easily the best arena that any game will ever see. BHT just needs to make some ingame code that will handle a lot of the arena. Like a sign-up list for people wanting to join the upcoming battle royale, and even having NPC's being able to run the entire arena when there are no PC's there to throw an event.

[Indigo]

I like arena fighting.. actually any excuse for a social event:) Just make sure that the spectators cannot heal or interefere with the contests in the arena.. including giving them items.

[BelDragos]

The Arenas can also be uses to settle grudges and challenges.


(If Morte and Kintoun hadn't settled their differences they might've ended up in an arena to end it.)

[Kintoun]

Hahah if anything, me and Morte will be watching each others back in the arena, taking on anyone who dares to enter!

[BelDragos]

Like I said, if you hadn't settled your differences you might have ended up in the arena.

[Dyson]

Bumping this back up to the top... I'd like to hear the input some of our newest members might have. How about it?

[Talka]

How about weekly Arena battles and tournaments? Some of the CMs or whoever are assigned to hosting a large "Royal Rumble" as somebody said, maybe twice a week. Another is assigned to a tournament, once a week, with different rules every time (no magic, magic, no weapons, teams, solo, etc..) The winner(s) would get a sword for 2 weeks, until its taken from your inventory automatically. The sword could be either a good one, or a bad one (like the wooden sword given to a freed gladiator) as show.

Sorry that this post is a little sloppy, but I'm in a rush.

--Talka

[vilk]

I like the idea of weekly or bi-weekly, CM-inspired arena tournaments, but instead of a crummy sword that disappears after two weeks, how about shots at such ingame perks as discounts at blacksmiths, recognition and, even better, titles of nobility? Sure, "A Knight's Tale" was a pretty substandard movie, but who here WOULDN'T think that rising through the ranks by jousting would be a cool thing to roleplay?

Don't respond if you don't think it's a cool idea so I can maintain my point. Thank you. ;-)

[Rend]

Yes more interaction in arena battles will cut down on needless killing. People that feel that battle is the way of income can earn in the arenas as opposed to killing travelers. Guilds/ Gods/ and other organizations can get involved by offering awards and sponsering events.

[Kintoun]

This was something that was discussed before. A few of us noted that players can do all of these events without the need or interaction of CM's. A player can host the event, provide services (maybe an entry fee to help pay for the event) have prizes, and have goods for sale. This could have even been done in EQ... but there was always the problem of players who flooded the arena not disrupting the fun. Well in Arcanity this won't happen as easily since there can be hired bouncers who prevent anyone trying to ruin everyones fun. By playing in a persisting, VERY balanced (I hope Arcanity get it perfect) Player vs Player environment we can roleplay much easier, and host events without too many spoils.

[Dyson]

Right on, Kintoun. I personally am of the notion that in-game events are some of the best things about MMRPGS, especially when they go well (but sometimes its fun when the occasional tournament gets turned into a riotus bloodfest... :) ). I really like Vilkàs idea of having Title be used as prizes; perhaps it could be combined- ie, certain very prestigious titles would afford you discounts in certain cities, due to respect.

This might be better suited to a new thread, but maybe titles could have their own ratings, 1-10, the lowest being just nice things to add to your name and the highest causing NPCs to bow to you. Of course, the numerical rating itself should be hidden from players, but instead just be in-place for the game mechanics to imply levels of prestige.

Ack, bit convoluted, Im tired. Anyway, vivà Arenas!

[Rend]

You could have specific battles for guild hall members to compete in. Winning them for your guild would not only boost your popularity in the guild, but also give the guild more respect and maybe some kind of control over something. ie. in dune when House Atriedies gains control over Arackis (sp?) from Harkkonen because they have the stronger House.

[Talka]

What I;m saying is that the CM's should be there not only to do their own events (which i'm hoping are good), but to help the community with it's own events. If the CM's were involved in holding weekly, and bi-weekly tournaments, it would probably inspire the community to hold its own events.

--Talka