Any way to make boxing matches more exciting

[Torment]

Yeah, so in one of the taverns I made in my homebrew, I have a boxing ring. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for some adventures and good old fighting for money. So basicly anyone have any idea where I could find some combat system more exciting beyond the roll-hit-damage-roll-miss-... I guess tumbling around like some monkey would be somewhat exciting, but doesn't really fit in my vision of boxing.

thanks alot for the help

 

[Darklone]

Simple. Get Grim Tales from Rattybane and allow all those nice Brawler feats.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

You mean more exciting than real life? Because "roll attack - roll damage - roll attack - roll damage" is about as exciting as "jab - body shot - other person's jab - another bodyshot."

Of course, I am intentionally being obtuse here. But boxing is not the worlds most entertaining sport. Now, UFC may be more up your alley ... but then you're going to get into grappling rules.

 

[rgard]

Yeah, so in one of the taverns I made in my homebrew, I have a boxing ring. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for some adventures and good old fighting for money. So basicly anyone have any idea where I could find some combat system more exciting beyond the roll-hit-damage-roll-miss-... I guess tumbling around like some monkey would be somewhat exciting, but doesn't really fit in my vision of boxing.

thanks alot for the help

Do it as a LARP.

 

[RangerWickett]

Buy a copy of one of the latest boxing video games and make each other's characters, then duke it out in /that/ game.

Play the Rocky theme while running the fight.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

In the strictly game mechanics realm, Top Secret SI had an interesting combat system for hit placement that used a D10.

Basically, it was something like...

1 Head
2 Left Chest
3 Left Chest
4 Abdomen
5 Left Arm
6 Right Arm
7 Left Hand
8 Right Hand
9 Left Leg
10 Right Leg

I used it one time for a paladin in a knife-fight. Worked pretty good.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Basically, it was something like...

Yeah, because when I aim for the head I don't mind hitting the left leg.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Buy a copy of one of the latest boxing video games and make each other's characters, then duke it out in /that/ game.

So the player who runs the 5 Str 5 Con wizard but is a master on the Playstation beats the crap out of the epic-level boxer? Uh, no thanks.

 

[Infiniti2000]

(In a Nail-like posting scheme, let me at least offer a suggestion...)

I kind of agree with Nonlethal Force. I think what you're missing is not mechanics but a lack of description for the mechanics. Real boxing scores up tens of hits and no matter how you slice it IMO, it'll get boring unless you're watching real action. You can therefore lesson the number of hits, but you need to make each one fairly memorable. Let each opponent describe the attack and offer circumstantial bonuses or even penalties (reusing a description, bad choice, etc.) for how well he does.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Aside from the suggestion of requiring each particpant to describe his round of action, you could try an abstract "offense vs. defense" grid, and modify damage based on the results.

Something like:

                Head
Left Chest  Center Chest  Right Chest
Left Gut    Center Gut    Right Gut

The defending player can choose to defend in three ways: (Head, Center Chest), (All Chest), or (All Gut). Alternatively, you could allow the Defender to choose one area to protect, plus one up-down adjacent area per point of Dex bonus.

The attacker can pick one area to attack. (Or you could allow the Attacker an additional area to attack -- not necessarily adjacent -- for every 2 points of Dex bonus.)

Attack rolls are as normal, but damage depends on the area's defense (and whether an undefended headshot hits).

Hitting a defended area, including the head -- Half damage
Hitting an undefended area, except the head -- Full damage
Hitting an undefended head -- Double damage

This can play out very quickly, especially if you give the Attacker and Defender each a set of cards representing the various areas. I completely understand what's meant by the tedium of "attack, damage, attack damage," but I think I'd enjoy trying a boxing match with this.

BTW, the idea for this comes from my memory of the old Top Secret hand-to-hand fighting charts; I saw it again in the Highlander CCG. I'm sure it goes back before that, and probably exists in some supplement today. The specifics are mine, though.

If anybody tries it out, let me know.