Gladiator Critical results

[Ironmaul]

Ok guys, here are the critical results I started for Gladiator. Where it says Metal, Leather and None, these are the areas of the body that are armoured.
I think that we should determine the type of fight that is to be fought if it is to the first blood/wound then the death results should not occur. Tim you mentioned when a member loses a slave in a fight they will possibly have no money left to buy another one and will have to create another account. Well I thought that from a certain level the only fights that can be fought for those members are to the first blood until the member earns enough denarii to afford another slave. Then he can continue fighting in the first blood fights but earn less money as the slave is more XP, or advance to the next level of combat which will include the death criticals but less than the next higher level advancement which would be to the death. I think this approach would work and not leave a member broke, what do you guys think?


Crush Death:  Closed full helm: Your weapon collides in to side of foes helm with such force it breaks his neck with a sickening crunch.
Pierce Death:  Open visor helm: You drive your weapon into foes face; he stands for just a heartbeat and crumples to the ground. The young ladies love you and want to bare your children.

Slash Death:  Downward strike cleaves head in two; your weapon is stuck for two rounds.
Slash Death:  Clean swipe sends foes head flying from his shoulders; his neck stump is a fountain of blood and the crowd is chanting your name. Don’t you feel loved?
Slash Death:  Backhand strike bites into foes neck and the blood spurts profusely from the wound and the crowed roars with excitement! He tries to stop the flow, but it is pointless and soon expires.
Slash Death:  Your weapon slashes into foes lower back and severs spine as he tries to avoid your attack. You finish him off by decapitating him.
Slash/Pierce Death:  Weapon slides off greaves and finds its way between foes breastplate joints; he jerks his body sideways reefing the weapon from your hands and begins to cough up blood. The poor sucker will fight you off until he dies, which is in about round.
Slash Death:  “HAZZAR!” The crowd roars as your weapon makes a deadly arc and your opponents intestines spill out on the sand; he is desperately trying to put them back in; go on, be nice and finish him off!
Send your weapon through his vitals; he looks into you eyes and says, “Ouch!” then slides off your sword dead.
Pierce Death:  You impale your foe just below the neck; his expression is of shock as he looks at the shaft protruding from his body, then his eyes roll back into his head and he expires, your weapon is stuck.
Pierce Death:  Sweet victory as your weapon impales through chest and into heart

Metal:  Blow snaps straps and buckles and armour falls off.
Metal:  Open a large wound under foes armpit and sever muscles; his arm is limp.
Metal:  Blow to foe chest concaves armour and sends him toppling over and knocking the sense out of him.

Leather:  You make a long and deep diagonal slash down foes back cracking ribs in the process; foe is face down and loses his weapon and is at your mercy. Mmmm, I wonder what his chances are?
Leather:  Your weapon slices off fingers and sends foes weapon flying. He won’t be picking his nose with that hand for a while.
Leather:  Tip of your weapon slices through tendon and he drops to one knee.
Leather:  Foe ducks in time but you manage to take the top of his ear off.

None:  Slice into side makes a nasty crunching sound as ribs break and makes a mess inside; foe drops backwards and groans in agony.
None:  Your weapon connects at the elbow and dismembers his sword arm; the crowd yells with pleasure.
None:  Your opponent falls like a lumberjack fells a tree; the wound is deep to the hip and he will not be getting to his feet. Well done!
None:  Blow bites into skull but he is still standing; he will have a very bad migraine for quite some time.

Stun:  Closed full helm: Clang goes foes helm and makes his ears ring; he stumbles back but manages to stay upright.
                  Open visor helm: Bust the strap and send helmet flying; foe shakes his head and spits blood and tooth, he looks mad.

[ttsgosadow]

I was brainstorming about the same thing yesterday - my solution involved the reason why this arena is becoming so popular. The arena has been silent for way too long and a few wealthy men have pooled together and drew up a plan - they would recruit gladiator-managers who can buy and equip slaves to let them fight in the arena. To make this possible they give each 'new recruit' a thousand dinarii to let him start this career. Because they are quite desperate to keep competition up, they are sponsering managers who go out of bussiness because of an untimely death of their gladiator.

But I like your solution better - it should be clear that fighting to the death is rewarding - but ALWAYS involves the death of (at least) one of the gladiators. Fighting for first blood, unconciousness or death are the three degrees we should handle (I think). This will be very hard to do against monsters - fighting against monsters should always be to the death. But there are quite some 'lowly' monsters that have a very small chance to kill your gladiator. Maybe even banning that out for some of the weaker ones.


For the critical flavour texts: I love em! . We need to think about a format for them though. I will include a flavour text of the type I would like gladiator to generate.

"The arena is opened. Tonight there is a fight between two gladiators to the death.
In the east corner stands a Dwarf gladiator wearing a Gladius and a Heater/Target shield: Borg the Slayer. The Dwarf moves into the arena, his dark eyebrows hiding his eyes. *grunt* he says, as he does remind you of the last wild boar you saw.
He licks his sword as he approaches his enemy. "You will see death today!"
In the west corner stands a Human gladiator wearing a Kurki: Palidus ictus. A pasty faced crook from the sqalid end of town, he got caught steeling wine from a warehouse and now he must earn his freedom.

The gladiators approach eachother and begin taunting.
Borg the Slayer: "Your face will find itself freed from it's shoulders today. "
Palidus ictus: "If I can't live in freedom I will savor the joy of seperating you from your blood."

Then the action begins. Palidus ictus charges the Dwarf and swings his Kukri at his head. It was to slow though, and it is easily avoided. Borg the Slayer looks his opponent deep in his eyes and takes some time to place a blow to Palidus ictus' shoulder. Unprotected by a shield the Gladius bite deep, numbing the Human's arm. A yell comes from his opponent.

Palidus ictus has his left arm dangling useless to his side. In an unguarded moment he strikes Borg the Slayer. Not wearing a helmet Borg the Slayer takes the weapon right at his face, turning it into a bloody pulp. Borg the Slayer pays the ultimate cost for freedom as he falls lifeless to the ground.

Seeing his opponent beaten, Palidus ictus throws his hands into the air and roars. The crows goes wild.
"You are my hero!"
"Next time do a Dragon!"
"Long live Palidus ictus!"
It isnt long before his owner comes onto the field, chains his hands and feet and drags the victor from the arena. Today Palidus ictus has earned his fame."

[ttsgosadow]

And a representation of how that text could be generated:

<opening_sentence>The arena is opened. Tonight there is a fight between %num_gladiators% %type_of_fight%.</opening_sentence>
<introduction>In the east corner stands a %gladiator_1_species% gladiator wearing %gladiator_1_weapon% %gladiator_1_shield% %gladiator_1_armor%: %gladiator_1_name%. %gladiator_1_introduction%</introduction>
<introduction>In the east corner stands a %gladiator_2_species% gladiator wearing %gladiator_2_weapon% %gladiator_2_shield% %gladiator_2_armor%: %gladiator_2_name%. %gladiator_2_introduction%</introduction>

<start_of_fight>The gladiators approach eachother and begin taunting.</start_of_fight>
<taunting>%gladiator_1_name%: "Your face will find itself freed from it's shoulders today."</taunting>
<taunting>%gladiator_2_name%: "If I can't live in freedom I will savor the joy of seperating you from your blood."</taunting>

<start_fight>Then the action begins.</start_fight>
<state_of_gladiator></state_of_gladiator>
<attack_action>%gladiator_2_name% charges the %gladiator_1_species% and swings his %gladiator_2_weapon% at his head.</attack_action>
<result_of_attack>It was to slow though, and it is easily avoided.</result_of_attack>

<state_of_gladiator></state_of_gladiator>
<attack_action>%gladiator_1_name% looks his opponent deep in his eyes and takes some time to place a blow to %gladiator_2_name%' %attack_location%.</attack_action>
<result_of_attack>Unprotected by a shield the %attack_weapon% bite deep, numbing the %gladiator_2_species%'s arm. A yell comes from his opponent.</result_of_attack>

<state_of_gladiator>%gladiator_2_name% has his left arm dangling useless to his side.</state_of_gladiator>
<attack_action>In an unguarded moment he strikes %gladiator_1_name%.</attack_action>
<result_of_attack>Not wearing a helmet %gladiator_1_name% takes the weapon right at his face, turning it into a bloody pulp.</result_of_attack>
<fight_is_won>%loser_name% pays the ultimate cost for freedom as he falls lifeless to the ground.</fight_is_won>

<end_of_battle>Seeing his opponent beaten, %victor_name% throws his hands into the air and roars. The crows goes wild.</end_of_battle>
<crowd>"You are my hero!"</crowd>
<crowd>"Next time do a Dragon!"</crowd>
<crowd>"Long live %victor_name%!"</crowd>
<exit>It isnt long before his owner comes onto the field, chains his hands and feet and drags the victor from the arena. Today %victor_name% has earned his fame.</exit>

[ttsgosadow]

Looking at this it is clear that there will be several different kinds of texts. Also the texts are dependant on some things, like location.

The types of texts with other factors that should be filled in for it.

- opening sentence
type: could be first_blood, unconciousness, death, monster, grand melee.
text.

- introduction
text.
Note: the introduction is always followed by the introduction as entered by the owner of the gladiator in the gladiator intro.

- start_of_fight
text.

- taunting
type.

- start fight
type.
text.

- state_of_gladiator
dmg_min.
dmg_max.
location.
text.

- attack_action
weapon.
dmg_done_min.
dmg_done_max.
location.
text.

- result_of_attack
attack_weapon
has_shield.
location.
text.

- fight_is_won
type.
text.

- end_of_battle
type.
text.

- crowd
type.
text.

- exit
text.

Certain variables should be put into the text by the script that generates the text. Putting it between %% will tell that to the script.
- %num_gladiators%: the number of gladiators in the fight.
- %type_of_fight%: the type of fight that is fought
- %gladiator_#_species%: the species of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_weapon%: the weapon of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_shield%: the shield of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_armor%: the armor of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_name%: the name of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_intro%: the intro of gladiator #
- %loser_name%: the name of the losing gladiator
- %loser_species%: the name of the losing gladiator
- %victor_name%: the name of the winning gladiator
- %victor_species%: the name of the winning gladiator

[ttsgosadow]

I think I need to work on the variables - as sorting out who is which should be done by the script.

I want to replace

- %num_gladiators%: the number of gladiators in the fight.
- %type_of_fight%: the type of fight that is fought
- %gladiator_#_species%: the species of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_weapon%: the weapon of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_shield%: the shield of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_armor%: the armor of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_name%: the name of gladiator #
- %gladiator_#_intro%: the intro of gladiator #
- %loser_name%: the name of the losing gladiator
- %loser_species%: the name of the losing gladiator
- %victor_name%: the name of the winning gladiator
- %victor_species%: the name of the winning gladiator

with

- %num_gladiators%: the number of gladiators in the fight.
- %type_of_fight%: the type of fight that is fought
- %gladiator_species%: the species of a gladiator
- %gladiator_weapon%: the weapon of a gladiator
- %gladiator_shield%: the shield of a gladiator
- %gladiator_armor%: the armor of a gladiator
- %gladiator_name%: the name of a gladiator
- %gladiator_intro%: the intro of a gladiator
- %attacker_species%: the species of the attacking gladiator
- %attacker_weapon%: the weapon of the attacking gladiator
- %attacker_shield%: the shield of the attacking gladiator
- %attacker_armor%: the armor of the attacking gladiator
- %attacker_name%: the name of the attacking gladiator
- %defender_species%: the species of the defending gladiator
- %defender_weapon%: the weapon of the defending gladiator
- %defenderr_shield%: the shield of the defending gladiator
- %defender_armor%: the armor of the defending gladiator
- %defender_name%: the name of the defending gladiator
- %loser_name%: the name of the losing gladiator
- %loser_species%: the name of the losing gladiator
- %victor_name%: the name of the winning gladiator
- %victor_species%: the name of the winning gladiator