Armageddon Arena: 2089

[LordRahvin]

I was thinking of a fairly interesting campaign-type based on Götterfunke's idea of a contest between Warmeks as a way of demonstrating effective WarMek designs.

What if we did a gladitorial arena thing, wherein PCs played gladitorial combats each session but were sponsored by people online using virtual money?

For example, a few of us on these forum play in a sort of online contest where each week we design a new Warmek design for our respective factions with a budget assigned by the Master of Games, who determines budget, scenario, and odds. We can all place bets with our respective budgets, and the winning faction gets a certain percentage of all bets.

The actual games themselves would be played out in real life roleplaying sessions in people's games by one or more Master(s) of Games. Each player would represent a mercenary who would not be allied with a faction (at least at the start) but would have to be bought and bidded on based on their online bio, game statistics, their arena history, and how much they're willing to work for.

Budget would have to be allocated to designing new WarMeks, betting on current Games, and hiring the Warmek pilots. There may also be prize money and entrance fees setup by the Master of Games. At the end of each Game, the Master of Games will post a summary of the Game and the results and we'll setup for next week's Game. Also, more detailed information on the session may be purchased by your faction and the results transmitted in private emails, so that you could get more detailed information about the Mekpilots.

Bets, odds, new scenarios and Warmek designs each week, depending on Mekpilots for negotiated pay, acquiring intel assetts over time to make your decisions, constantly watching your resources and earnings... I love the idea.

Whether you want to enter the Games and design your Warmeks to compete for prize money, you just want to occasionally sign on and bet on a match with your virtual money, or you want to volunteer your own gaming group as a Master of Games, this idea could involve a lot of us working together without requiring everyone to put in the same amount of dedication (the major weakness of other online games).

I would be willing to be the first Master of Games if enough people here are interested. It would be cool. I think you guys could have fun with it, and my players will get to try out lots of cool WarMek designs and build experience over time if they survive. My gaming group has four players, which gives us 1-3 Games each week. Since this isn't something that would need every player every week, it'll be pretty easy to recruit another 3 or 4 players as the game progresses.

In order for it to work, we'll need plenty of online factions. So let me know if you are interested.

Participation Level:
-- Corporation (one of many corporations that will be betting in the Arena based on information on this forum. Starting money will be determined randomly.)
-- Major Player (one of the Marmek Industry corps and governments. Starting money will be significantly larger that standard corporations. Expected to compete in arena events by submitting warmek designs, managing funds, and selecting scenarios. Bonus starting money for excellent bios and arena discounts/rewards for sticking with your theme over time.)
-- Master of Games (right now I think we should only use one gaming group, but if this goes well, it would be a good idea to recruit at least two more Masters of Games to insure plenty of warmeks, scenarios, and fun. If you and your players are interested in deticating your weekly gaming sessions to this project, let me know.)

 

[psyclonejack]

Umm,

Kewl Idea, but should you throw out a dollar limit, tonnage limit? Or at least some catagories. That way you don't have 15 Ton Scout mechs fighting 150 ton mechs?

PsyJack

 

[LordRahvin]

Each scenario will have different rules. I'm writing them up now; I just didn't want to barrage too much information at once on the specifics. I'll work out the specifics though if you'll like the general idea.

Herre's some bits from the first draft of the SCENARIO section:


SCENARIOS

Each week, the Master of Games will introduce a scenario. The Disclosure rating will also be posted, "None", "Partial", or "Full". The first few scenarios will be full disclosure scenarios, meaning that Factions and Gladiators will be given plenty of information about the scenario before they enter battle, make bets, or even design WarMeks. If the Disclosure rating is lower than "Full," that means that some information has not been given out. This information may or may not be relavent to the success of the Gladiators on their mission. Intelligence Gathering rules may be used to acquire more information about the scenario, but this should be done very early in the week to ensure enough time to create Warmeks or make your bets. If a Faction has hired a Gladiator for the scenario and that Gladiator has been selected to perform, all information about the scenario that the Faction has will be shared with the Gladiator before entering battle.

Most scenarios will be Combat Scenarios, but the Armegeddon Arena is designed to provide maximum variety and versatility for purposes of entertainment, proper wartime simulation, and challenge for Gladiators and WarMek designers. That means that scenarios could be radically different from week to week. For example, some scenarios will be "last man stands" scenarios, while others may be point-based objective scenarios that could potentially be won even if your Gladiator and Warmek are destroyed. Some scenarios may emphasise speed, or stealth, or particular weapons, or terrain, or odd weather conditions... or whatever the Master(s) of Games could think of. Natural and artificial hazards may be involved. Some scenarios may even be "surprise scenarios" where points are awarded for objectives that the Gladiators aren't told about until long after the scenario has started.

Scenario disclosures will be posted every Monday. All, WarMek designs, Mercenary offerings, and bets are due in on Thursday. By Friday, no more information will be accepted by Factions, and everyone will be informed of which WarMeks and Gladiators will be involved in the scenario. Each Sunday night, the results of the scenario will be posted.

---

Other sections that have been worked on are the INFORMATION GATHERING section, wherein Factions are able to purchase additional information about the Gladiator's and the players who control them; a FINANCES section which details how bets are made and what kind of limitations apply for each type of expenditure; a CONDUCT section which details what kind of monetary penalties will be put on factions that ignore certain regulations or sponsor Gladiators that break scenario rules, and a BRIBERY section that allows a Faction to spend money to ignore certain rule infringements (such as Warmek budget limits...) or otherwise bend the scenario in their favor.

-Lord Rahvin

 

[LordRahvin]

There apparently wasn't enough interest in such a game. Oh well. I'll continue to writeup the rules and guidelines, and maybe try again in the future when there are more people on Arm2089 forums.

 

[Lane Shutt]

There apparently wasn't enough interest in such a game. Oh well. I'll continue to writeup the rules and guidelines, and maybe try again in the future when there are more people on Arm2089 forums.

Gladiatorial games is a cool idea but not quite fitting for 2089.
The problems I see are:
The Arena would have to be huge to allow for weapon ranges and tactics.
Assault Mechs would dominate except in team play.
Higher budget would tend to have major advantage.


What would be cool and fit the A:2089 setting is an adventure based on Götterfunke's idea. The players would be attending the
annual Trade Show, held in a neutral country, when something goes wrong.
Did somebody (even the players) steal a new piece of gear on display?
Was a designer kidnaped or did he defect?
Did GreenWar attack in retribution for the growing nuclear devastation?

 

[LordRahvin]

Armegeddon Arena need not actually take place *in* an arena. I'm sorry for any confusion there. It's just a simple concept of placing budget and design limits on Warmek factions, then having those designs in some kind of competition. In some cases, this could be seen as some kind of duel in a fight to the death, or in other cases it may involve completing particular mission goals.

As far as not quite fitting in Arm2089, I agree that an "arena" campaign doesn't capture a lot of the cool world flavor that Arm2089 is based in. However, it does allow us to use the full range of combat options, advancement options, and design options that the Arm2089 rules give us, and I thought it would be a cool way to involve lots of Arm2089 fans in an online game.

Lane Shutt, I can't help but think your objections were made without even reading the propsals above. I'll try to address them briefly:
--Gladiatorial games is a cool idea but not quite fitting for 2089.
I kinda' agree here. Nevertheless, I think we could all have a lot of fun designing new WarMeks and testing them out.

--The Arena would have to be huge to allow for weapon ranges and tactics.
Again, no physical "arena" would have to be involved. Just any environment where actions could be recorded. Each scenario could be held in a different corner of the world.

--Assault Mechs would dominate except in team play.
I did mention that there would be all kinds of scenarios. I even gave some examples of scenarios. The whole point of Armageddon Arena 2089 is to test out and try out all kinds of WarMek designs, based on the scenario of the week. In a scenario where you scored bonus points for scanning the enemy, for example, a lot of stealth meks may get to be tested. In another scenario, aerial bombardments might regularly take place against all parties, and the winners would score points for shooting down aircraft early while fighting duels against one another. There are all kinds of things we could do... I'm just thinking of basics here. The first scenario would be probably be of the "capture the flag" variety. Every week would be different, with lots of different WarMeks.

--Higher budget would tend to have major advantage.
There are budget restrictions in play. That's kinda' the whole point. It's a contest for factions to design the best WarMek and pit them against one another. Every scenario will have different budget, weight, and technology limits. For example, one week we might have a $6M(35T) limit, while next week we could have a dramatically different battle in a $160M(100T) limit.

As I said, I'm writing all the rules and guidelines now. Hopefully those will clear up any and all confusion.

 

[Tarc70]

It sounds like you guys are trying to run a tournament similar to Solaris VII in Battletech. I would check out those rules and that may give you some more ideas on how to do it.

One option to utilize this for games is to use a victor goes the spoils. Cash prizes of X and if your guy wins he gets ammo reloaded and repairs for free. If he/she loses then you get nothing. No cash prize no repairs no ammo. This could be a lucrative event or a costly one.