Need some gladiatorial inspiration

[Ilium]

My campaign world has a pseudo-Roman decadent empire, and I've long wanted to get the PCs into some nice Coliseum-type gladiator fights. I think I've come up with a way to corral a bunch of 12th-level characters and force them into the stadium, but now I need some cool/memorable opponents.

I'm thinking I'll need three fights total, as that should be about how long I want them to take to get out of this mess. They will have full access to their spells/equipment, but the will be without a primary arcane spell caster. For this week's game, the group will be:

1) Dex-based fighter (archer/twf) with a smidge of spellcasting (two levels of duskblade).
2) Dwarven fighter with big axe
3) Monk/tattooed monk
4) A divine caster (either a druid or a favored soul, depending on if the player is planning to switch characters this week or at a later date, either will work).

I figure the first fight will be with a large number of fairly easy opponents (orcs and goblins, I think, for campaign-specific reasons).

The last fight should be with a small number of big nasty monsters. Maybe giants or even dragons, neither of which have made an appearance yet in the campaign.

So, any suggestions for cool opponents and/or cool terrain to have in the stadium would be greatly appreciated. The best would be if you could point me at a map of a coliseum that I could use (either free or otherwise).

Thanks!

 

[Crust]

I recommend Tito Leati's "Champion's Belt" from Dungeon issue #128. The link is below. You can download the PDF for $5 or order the magazine for $7:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/products/issues/ageOfWorms/v5748btpy7xt5

The module (one of three in the mag, another being "The Fireplace Level," a fantastic module by Eric L. Boyd) lays out a days-long arena contest involving other NPC teams primarily. I think it's an absolutely incredible module. The arena information alone is extremely valuable. It provides a great foundation of data that can be easily tweaked or built upon.

The link below is the online supplement PDF for issue #128. You'll have to scroll down to find the issue. It's free, and contains a map of an arena along with its lower levels. Great maps.

http://paizo.com/dungeon/resources/downloads

Aside from that, use what you know. If you've seen movies like Gladiator, Conan the Barbarian, 300, or any other fantasy/swords and sorcery/ancient world movies, you have your inspiration. For example, when I ran "Champion's Belt," the first team I threw at the PCs was a group of six fighters, each one a member of the city's riot police, mastered in the use of the shield phalanx (total 300 influence). Once the PCs broke up the bunch, it was curtains, but their initial effect was a lot of fun. Take what's inspired you and apply it.

Also, are you planning on running these games as a tournament-style contest ending in the crowning of a champion (which is how "Champion's Belt" is handled), or will your games be a weekly, year-round thing where the PCs involvement will be short and ultimately forgotten in the great scope of the games? Think about how your arena games function in the community, and I think the ideas will flow from there.

 

[Ilium]

This is great stuff, Crust, thanks! You know I almost bought that issue a few months ago. I guess I'll have to now.

I didn't want to make my initial post too long with all the background, but in fact the situation is kind of weird, so the question of how the fights fit into the campaign is...odd.

I couldn't come up with a good way to wrangle the PCs into the arena in a way that fit both the story line and the world, so I'm having them "dream-napped." They've become pretty famous, so an evil warlock, using an artifact from the empire's arcane heyday, will snatch them in their dreams and put them in a "dream arena."

Nobles and others in the Imperial city of Ilium pay big bucks to attend these matches in their own dreams, and the organizer doesn't run the risks usually involved in getting dangerous people and beasts. I'm thinking that anybody who "dies" in the arena will have consequences in the real world but not actually die. Probably negative levels and/or fatigue. Of course enough negative levels will kill you eventually anyway...

The PCs will have to figure out how they've been roped into this mess and break the bad guy's magical connection that allows him to hijack their dreams. I'm not sure how he's doing it yet, though, so I don't know how they're going to break it.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Go for some of the more uncommon monsters in the MM (though I concede that common is relative). For the sake of sanity, unless you have some means to prevent the contestants from massacring the audience, stick to melee types.

Hydras
Trolls
Purple Worm
Golems
Zombies (aka last weeks contestants)
Owlbears
Behir
Displacer Beast
Otugyghghtga (the monsterous pile of feces)

Eseentially, anything that is not in its own subsection (dragons, giants, demons, elementals). Also, Hydras and Trolls make a great deal of sense for a colleseum fight due to the regeneration (makes the fights last longer for the audience).

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Ilium]

Lord_Zardoz: Thanks for the suggestions. Zombies (and all undead) are off-limits for campaign reasons. The PCs destroyed all undead in the world at the conclusion of the huge plot-line we just wrapped up.

Hydras could be very cool and very appropriate! Displacer beasts and trolls have already figured prominently in the game, so we'll skip those, but hydras, owlbears and otyughs would all rock. Thanks!

 

[Crust]

I like the dream idea. It allows infinite possibilities.

You might work in some elaborate illusions for the PCs to repeatedly disbelieve. The constant will saves might give the impression that they know they're dreaming, but the swords and talons and flames still hurt, and the fear will certainly be real enough. The inability to wake up is fearful enough.

The dream also allows the possibility of playing with time. How long did the PCs sleep? One hour? A week? A century? A millennia? That could also have a very interesting effect on the PCs and the players, sort of a detached awareness of what happened, much like Robert E. Howard's Kull short story "The Striking of the Gong," where Kull swoons at the sounding of a distant gong and embarks on a seemingly eons-long mental journey of enlightenment with some cosmic entity... only to regain consciousness moments later, his allies crowding around. To them, Kull had simply swooned for a moment. Kull's experience was far different. To his friend Brule, he said, "...there is no such thing as time, nor space; for I have traveled the longest journey of my life, and have lived countless millions of years during the striking of the gong" (Kull: Exile of Atlantis, pg. 132). Awesome short story, and only 4 pages!

Go with the dream, and squeeze as much out of it as you can.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Gladiatorial bouts were as much about showmanship as anything else...

Consider a Bard or Rogue/Any Warrior Class(/Blade Dancer?) combo who wears spiked/bladed armor and has twin spiked/bladed shields. Good defense, a weapon that won't kill quickly and will be extremely bloody. Lots of Charisma and Perform (Dance).

 

[Ilium]

Thanks, Crust. I think it'll work out well. Danny: Good point about the showmanship. I read rules somewhere about working the crowd. I think it's in Complete Warrior. I'll have to brush up on those. At least some of their adversaries are here voluntarily and will definitely play to the crowd.

So I went ahead and bought the issue of Dungeon (gotta love the internet). I'm giving it a quick once-over now. It's worth the money just for the stat blocks of opponents, but is kind of lacking in the map department. I'm still in the market if anybody knows of a cool arena map that includes weird stuff like platforms, pits, etc. Thanks for all the input!

 

[Arkhandus]

Unfortunate that we don't have logs of the T13K Arena battles.....I'm not sure if I even saved any session logs from my hobgoblin Corvus' battles. Those were usually team matches, and the opposing stable usually threw monstrous foes at us. Hook horrors, mummies, dire animals, etc.

One of my ideas for an Arena match I was going to run was a cage match.... With a handful of Chokers in the cage, crawling along the ceiling and walls of the cage while lashing out with their long arms.

Other possible idea.....a team of goblin rogues.

 

[Ilium]

Cool. Funny you should mention the goblin rogues. I recently introduced a goblin NPC who is a former arena gladiator. He's got rogue levels and uses dual punching daggers.