The Campaign Builder's Guild

GRIMDARK GLADIATORS
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war... STREAMED TO YOU LIVE 24/7!

Grimdark Gladiators is a game in which players take the part of gladiatorial managers in a decadent and corrupt futuristic (and yet, oddly anachronistic) society that resembles a sci-fantasy Greco-Roman civilization.
It is is inspired by the "Grimderp" genre (that is, grimdark that is so grim and dark it is absurd and silly) much more than anything serious, and should be considered quite tongue-in-cheek.

The Game thread is here (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,210046.html).
The Introduction/Rules/Rosters thread is here (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,210042.html).

Please post comments, suggestions, gladiator ideas, and such in this thread.

Er. Ma. Gerd. This is guhlouriousssss.

My gladiators are going to be All Style, No Survivability. Sheer suicidal spectacle.

Very awesome!  Count me in.

Ideas for gladiatorial teams, just off the cuff:

- Effete elegent alien sadomasochist amazons who specialize in weird weapons and take a lot of gruesome trophies.

- Vatgrown pit-slaves genetically engineered for maximum brutality (lots of extra limbs, augmentations, implants, grafts, etc).

- Orks (or their equivalent).

- A team of condemned criminals hoping to earn their freedom by fighting.  Like Suicide Squad only gladiatorial.

Question: will their be mactches against animals (alien beasts or whatever)?

Here's all the names I came up with so far in IRC:

The Pain Jockeys, Brutilator, Frenulus, Psychomotor, Brainwreck, Wisdom Tooth, Mr. Kissing, Tussie Mussie, Dogpound, Captain Wax, Kaiser Miser, Soft Mama, Roteye, Deadthing, Daddy & the Autoboys, Pin & Needle, A.W.O.L, Thumper, Peace Addington, Bandwagon, Wastenot, Eyesore, Frenzy, Gorepool, Mastadon, The Good Doctor Zechariah, Ten Blessings, Moot, Borealis, A Tender Lady, Carionetta, Chester Melancholy, Axewound, Blister, Totus Floreo, The Bad Seed, Hard Candy, Technobabble, Sweet Spot, Jackanape, Urchin, Uctthuzibbea, Tiny Screaming Thing, Sturm/Drang, Deathbed, That Bastard, Strange Eons, Vanquished, Warcrime, Fusillade, We Three Kings, The Fustigator.

As you can see, I'm totally pumped.

Excellent names and team concepts. :D

Quote from: SteerpikeOrks (or their equivalent)

Like you did with Underdeep, I am going to express an aesthetic preference towards filing off serial numbers-- the idea of space orks (especially with the k spelling) is kind of a 40K thing in my mind. So let's call them Greenskins. (But they can certainly be a toothy and somewhat dim-witted race with a penchant for wanton slaughter. That fits right in!)

Quote from: Steerpikemactches against animals (alien beasts or whatever)?

Definitely! PvP is far from the only option.

SA, I'm obliged to add Dead Dreamer and the Hatewhales.

Red Matter, Toothsome, Gnawbones, Double Decker, Rapekid, Nappo & the Whistler, Cryptid, Modus, Protobiont, Meateater, Squeezes Gently, Precursor, Ergo Sum, Baby Chew, Ravenoid, The Elders of Axxxxa, Firemarshall, Beastly-Beastly, Mezzo Piano, Unknown Quantity, The Duke of Aldebaran, White Masque, Cattleclysm, Scrivener Thoob, Antiman, Grapnel, Weep, Hushnow, Morsel, The Diluvian, Dead Dreamer, The Hatewhales, Cannonbull, Gristle, Lachryma, Psych Viper, Short Fuse, Glass Giant, Gloombox, Grimstone, Tammy Ache, Slime, Madcap, Booster, Breachload, Lazerblade, Blight Knight, Ghoulash, Voidking, Carcino, Mickey Bonesaw, The Execution Cube.

Like I said in IRC I very well may play and if I do at least one of my gladiators is going to be a huge guy with spiked gauntlets that punches the shit out of everything. I was thinking of calling him Iron Fist. Other names I've thought up for characters include:

Quicksilver, The Undertaker, Phaedros, Lord Violence, Sibilance, The Verdant Prison, Skandor, Iodire the Gutripper, Deathstalker

I'm probably not going to use this idea, but if we're going for maximum weirdness here, you could have a promoter whose team is made up entirely of other-dimensional versions of themselves.

Right off the bat, the system looks promising. The whole Active Stat thing interests me a lot and I'm curious if there'd be a reason not to choose the gladiator's strongest stat. Like would there be a mechanical difference between a move utilizing Brutality versus the same move utilizing Weird?

Basic equipment is obviously covered by the four stats, but will there be any chance of managers getting their hands on special gear to give their fighters an edge?

Quote from: SuperbrightThe whole Active Stat thing interests me a lot and I'm curious if there'd be a reason not to choose the gladiator's strongest stat. Like would there be a mechanical difference between a move utilizing Brutality versus the same move utilizing Weird?

Yes, and that's where it becomes interesting tactically. There will be moves that, as a side effect, set the AS to be a certain stat. If your gladiator is weak in that stat, you're stuck with it until it can change again-- so you have to consider carefully if and when to use these moves, or if you even want them in your repertoire at all.

Quote from: SuperbrightBasic equipment is obviously covered by the four stats, but will there be any chance of managers getting their hands on special gear to give their fighters an edge?

Yes, I plan on having a simple equipment system to hopefully give some synergy and tactical depth with the moves.

Quote from: sparkletwistYes, and that's where it becomes interesting tactically. There will be moves that, as a side effect, set the AS to be a certain stat. If your gladiator is weak in that stat, you're stuck with it until it can change again-- so you have to consider carefully if and when to use these moves, or if you even want them in your repertoire at all.

Awesome! I can't wait to see what some possible moves will be.

As to whatever the game's economy turns out looking like, there should definitely be some sort of betting option. Especially if you can bet even bet against your own fighters in matches where you're hopelessly outclassed.

Character Concepts

-A huge and powerful member of the People, the strange ape-men from the far strange jungle-worlds of the Edge
-A cowled and hooded stranger from a harsh desert-world, who fights with a bow, a great long whip and a short stabbing spear and drinks the blood he spills
-A cold and cruel noble; a former executioner for a petty planet-fiefdom, he let his sadism get the better of him and was banished for making 'art' of the governor's favourite concubine
-A squat and bandy-legged elder, a consummate survivor whose dirty tactics and devious mind make his long-knife and ageing bones more than a match for younger fresher gladiators  

Borg drones. All 100% identical. Totally replaceable. Exist solely to perfom their designated functions. No personalities, no identities, no souls. Resistance is futile.

I've posted a bunch of stuff (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,210042.html)!

It looks amazing!

Thanks!

I will be adding more abilities and moves of course (suggestions are welcome!) and hammering out some of the mathematical oddities with the help of a small Lua program I threw together to help simulate some of this stuff... but we should hopefully be able to begin rather soon!

Just for planning purposes, what do you picture the difference is between the Light and Heavy classes for Ranged/Melee weapons?

I think the main difference is 2 extra slots and 2 dice sizes for damage. There may be some Brutality moves that require a heavy weapon or Style moves that require a light one, but I'm not sure about that yet-- the main one is that it's just a convenient way to demarcate the two "starting points" for weapons.

Should this be posted in the other thread?

[ic=Chester Melancholy]
Regard: his limpid eyes and languid flesh, his querulous quavering singsong. These polished guns of his, ancient as the faithless days before Empire: fueled by heathen art they disgorge melodie and uncommon colour but spit no fire or steel or maiming light. Chester Melancholy stepped into this age from a former time of plenty and promise and his form is beautiful and soft and his armament is a fragile anachronism. He survives as a novelty, so he cannot survive for long.

Brutality: 2
Style: 6
Mind: 3
Weird: 4

Fame: 0
Record: 0-0

Abilities: (23 pts)
Archaic Elegance (poise) 5
Faltering Phantasms (arcane arts)

Moves: (?)

Weapons:
Pastel and Alto (Light paired quickshot ranged)
Autokinetic glamer (1 armour)[/ic]
[ic=Jackanape]
Behold this ailing fat thing: our gluttonous Empire and the greyeyed debauchees who are its People. In the heartlands we make a game of death and that game is sustained by the miseries of a thousand-thousand worlds. Holocausts incomprehensible and decimations; purging out of sight and memory entire errant generations of humankind. Always there are fools to challenge this monstrous, damnable hegemony. When they fail (they always fail) we bring them to the Grand Circuit with its unblinking lights to prove for once and all the fault in their philosophy. This here is such a man - this Jackanape. He fought the empire valiantly and foolishly and lost.

Brutality: 5
Style: 5
Mind: 4
Weird: 1

Fame: 0
Record: 0-0

Abilities: (24 pts)
Desperate (combat focus) 3
Resolute (endurance) 3
Resourceful (tactician)
Seasoned (poise) 5

Moves: (?)

Weapons:
Bright-edged heirloom (Heavy melee)
Reactive forgeplate (2 armour)[/ic]
[ic=Cryptid]
Beneath the Empire's great ecumenopolises lie superannuated wastes: lost nations and coalblack stagnant seas where once were cities. Those that live there are separated from the common stock of humankind by kilometers and millenniums, scuttling blind or with giant gleaming eyes, bellowing noise at old gods likewise transformed by time into profane shadowed parodies. Cryptid crawled out of his abyss and beheld the Empire; the People, gazing back in their horror, sought to kill him. He has fought them all, with desperate strength, without pause, gouging, gorging, roaring his way toward the unending bright of our Colosseum, where at last he will surely die.

Brutality: 7
Style: 2
Mind: 3
Weird: 3

Fame: 0
Record: 0-0

Abilities: (?)

Moves: (?)

Weapons:
Tooth and claw (Light tenacious toxic paired melee)
Scabrous and analgesic flesh (1 armour)[/ic]

Not quite yet. Once the abilities and moves lists are more complete, then definitely.
I like those concepts, though! I will focus my efforts on creating abilities/moves that might help flesh them out.

Then I'll post my own concept too.

[ic=./CCUSeries/3300/DELTA/DOCUMENTATION]
MagnaTOR Syndicate standard Cybernetic Combat Unit, model CCU3300/Delta,
serial number MT0891240678029

The MagnaTOR CCU3300/Delta units are formidable combat drones designed for versatility and efficiency. The organic components for these cybernetic systems are grown from cloned samples harvested from the same original humanoid specimen kept in permanent cryogenic storage. These cell samples are placed into biotech tubes for embryonic formation and accelerated growth. In a time of approximately 83 standard hours they've reached optimal state of physical maturity, at which point they are extracted from their tubes and their unnecessary organs are removed, to be replaced by superior cybernetic, bioelectric and occultech components. Memory implants and cerebral enhancement chips are inserted into their brains, providing the advantages of absolute obedience, tactics-formulation algorithms, and low-level access to paranormal invocation routines. The units come standard-equipped with a basic exoskeletal power-armour and a pair of weapons.

Brutality: 5
Style: 0
Mind: 5
Weird: 5

Fame: 0
Record: 0-0

Abilities: (25 pts)
Combat Focus 8
Endurance 5
Fierce Attack
Tactician

Moves: ()


Weapons:
AnomaloTech AT-52 Telescopic Energy Rod (Light Melee Weapon)
Supercharge Plasma Rifle (Quickshot Heavy Ranged Weapon)
[/ic]

Here's a WIP manager and his quartet of gladiators: The Crimp-King & the Knaves-Tetrad


[ic=Xulepe-Quinze, Crimp-King of the Caprizant Roulette]<more to come>[/ic]



"Death? I do not fear death. The radiance of Khobal-Yb-Shabbit protects me. But its light does not shine on you, infidel. Naught but eternal darkness awaits your soul."

[ic=Y'hudh-M'qqaba, the Knave of Clubs]The current Knave of Clubs is Y'hud-M'qqaba, or at least a reincarnation of the being so formerly named. The original Y'hud was a zhid, an alien hermaphroditic race hailing from a perennially war-torn interstellar crossroads. Shaped like hairless, hyperbolic rat-faces attached to verminous tails, zhids have been historically feared and mocked for their occult-practices. These practices include not only their worship of the comet Khobal-Yb-Shabbit, but also their priests' ritualistic summoning and possession by otherworldly entities from beyond the Void. The original Y'hud was one of these void-possessed priests who gained widespread renown as the zhid's theocratic-military leader during the Shemiotic Uprising.  

During the Shemiotic Uprising, Y'hud led the zhids to rebel against the local imperial governor. Recognizing the superior numbers and technology of the governor's mercenaries, Y'hud's forces employed guerilla tactics, occult-empowered assassins, and ancient temples fueled by blood-sacrifices and otherworldly artifacts. With each revolution of the world's irridiated moon, Y'hud's victories and victims increased in number and prominence. Embarrassed by the governor's incompetence and tired of wasting resources to quell a seemingly-inconsequential insurgency, the emperor sent an ambassador to broker peace with the zhids. Yet, before the treaty could be implemented, a schism of rivals zhid-priests betrayed Y'hud, revealing the location and wards of his temple-fortress to the governor even as they clandestinely withdrew their support. Besieged and betrayed, Y'hud and its followers held off the governor's mercenaries just long enough to perform a mass-ritual. At its completion, the souls of the governor and the seven traitorous priests were set aflame and cast into the void, to eternally follow and burn in the wake of the god-comet Khobal-Yb-Shabbit. The cost of this vengeance, however, were the lives of Y'hud and its disciples.

Since then, various cults have arisen in honor of Y'hud's deeds. Among these, the Hashmon'im, or Scions of the Hammer, have sought not only emulate their venerated prophet-general, but to resurrect it. Recovering the physical remains of Y'hud-M'qqabba by their own power, the Hashmon'im, however, were forced to seek outside aid in obtaining the rare and incredibly expensive materials to perform their resurrection ritual. Seeing an opportunity, the Crimp-King offered his prodigious resources to obtain enough resources to perform the ritual not once, but twice. In return, Quinze asked for Y'hud to serve as his next Knave of Clubs, arguing that their beloved warrior-prophet would surely win the Grand Circuit... and if not, they would have the resources to raise Y'hud's shade once more. Unable to otherwise procure the ritual's materials, and believing that Y'hud's presence in the Grand Circuit would generate widespread publicity for the plight of the zhid race, the Hashmon'im agreed. Their pact made, the zhid occultists waited till the radiative light of their god-comet crossed their homeworld's zenith, and at the appointed moment, invoked the void-spirit of M'qqaba, binding it once more to the skeletal body of Y'hud.

Although enraged at the circumstances of its rebirth, Y'hud-M'qqaba has nonetheless accepted its situation, seeing it as an opportunity to resume its crusade. Thus, the Knave of Clubs seeks to free not only itself from the games, but its entire people from the Imperium's oppression. Any infidel that stands in its way shall taste the pitiless hammer of its zeal.[/ic]

[ooc=Stats & Moves]STATS
Brutality: 5
Style: 0
Mind: 5
Weird: 5

MOVES
<coming soon>[/ooc]



[ic=EKT-IV, the Knave of Diamonds]The Extropic-Kathexis-Terminus, Quaternary Manifestation (known by its abbreviated moniker of EKT-IV) is a relic from a now-lost age, a time when the future still gleamed with promise and progress. During this disinherited era, a pseudoscientific cult emerged, obsessed like so many before it, with the prospect of cheating death. Spread over myriad worlds, this cult  attempted, and largely succeeded, in distilling the consciousness of its members, replicating them in a digital subspace that became known as the Ilium Proxy. Overtime, these replicants began to merge, transforming into a gestalt of sentient, subspace logarithms and pseudosouls. This synoptic sentience, which called itself PiYAMA-RADu, was largely immortal and free from frailties of flesh, but not altogether impervious to the passage of time or exigencies of external reality, for the Ilium Proxy, which hosted PiYAMA-RADu, required occasional maintenance for its crystalline capacitors, nanotransitors, fission catalysts, and similar structures. More rarely, these structures, and the automatons that repaired them, encountered exceptional threats from the outside universe. To address these threats, the subspace overmind channeled its collective psychic energy into a construct-champion, the Extropic-Kathexis-Terminus. Although this projection comprised only a portion of PiYAMA-RADu's sentience, it included nearly the totality of its survival instincts, martial memory, and aggressive impulses. Four times, Piyama-RADu awakened the EKT. During the first three occasions, the EKT neutralized the threats to the Ilium Proxy and subsequently reunited its essence with the greater overmind. The fourth manifestation, EKT-IV, was not so fortunate.

EKT-IV was empowered to defend Ilium against the Akhaioí, a chthonic race of asteroid-sailors. The Akhaioí attacked Ilium to reclaim the Svarana, a unique crystal that they worshipped as a god-queen. Its beauty and power had tempted Ilium's automatons to steal it to restore the subspace's failing power systems. So enraged at the theft, the Akhaioí attacked en masse, and EKT-IV was charged to lead the much smaller number of constructs in the defense of Ilium and the Svarana. In the ensuing war that consumed a decade, countless Akhaioí and Iliumites perished. Seeing the destruction and the overwhelming number of the chthonic invaders, EKT-IV challenged the Akhaioí to decide the Svarana's fate by single-combat. Initially, the Akhaioí sent Aias-Tlamunus to duel EKT-IV. After an entire sidereal day of combat produced a stalemate, however, the Akhaioí sent another champion, Calcaneus the Cursed. Calcaneus won.

But Calcaneus did not let EKT-lV perish in peace, but trapped its tattered essence in a hexed chain attached to his meteoric chariot, thus preventing it from returning to the PiYAMA-RADu. Bereft of its champion, and all its martial skill and combativeness, Ilium was broken and the Svarana was reclaimed. The Akhaioí then departed, leaving PiYAMA RADu in ruins, a gibbering, senile overmind trapped in a crumbling subspace reality.

Eventually, the cursed chain was interred in the imperial archives. There it -and EKT-IV's psychic essence- remained, until the Crimp-King learned of the entity's legend and brazen gamble. Using the chain and other archives as a template, Xulepe-Quinze replicated EKT-IV's essence, and used it to empower the current Knave of Diamonds. So reborn, EKT-IV fights not merely for victory and freedom, but for the chance to finish its purpose. Whether that mission ends with repairing and reuniting with PiYAMA-RADu, or euthanizing the senescent overmind is unknown. Both destinations, however, share the same initial path: slaughter and survival in the Grand Circuit.[/ic]

[ooc=Stats & Moves]STATS
Brutality: 4
Style: 2
Mind: 7
Weird: 2

MOVES
Imbued with the collective martial training, aggression, and tactical acumen of the once-hyper-intelligent PiYAMA-RADu, EKT-IV is a formidable warrior. Additionally, its nature as a subspace-psychic projection possessing a construct  grant it a number of preternatural abilities, both psionic and technotheurgic.
<coming soon>[/ooc]



[ic=St. Lahyre, the Knave of Hearts]coming soon[/ic]

[ooc=Stats & Moves]STATS
Brutality: 2
Style: 6
Mind: 6
Weird: 1

MOVES
<more to come>[/ooc]



I will have your blood. I will have your pain. I will have my revenge.

[ic=Holgarr-Pikke, the Knave of Spades]The current Knave of Spades is Holgarr-Pikke, an infamous space-piratess known more commonly as the Ogress of Calmar-Quadrant and the Gorger-of-Cradles. Before her thirteen centuries of cryogenic imprisonment, Holgarr, along with the other Corsair-Dansers of Jut, terrorized the Imperium, stealing entire freight-liners, sabotaging worm-gates, and sacking far-flung spaceports. Yet, Holgarr gained particular infamy -and the Imperium's undying enmity- for her penchant for kidnapping, torturing, and eating children -and her viral telecasting of these atrocities.

These crimes, allegedly committed in retaliation for her own son's death by imperial hands, culminated in Holgarr's attack upon the imperial crypt-planet of Turonensis. There, the Ogress not only looted the military tombs and hadron-fraked the planet's core, but also captured a half-dozen imperial courtiers who were presiding over a mass-internment of casualties from the unrelated Vasconia-Pyreen Wars. Among these captives was the second daughter of the then-reigning emperor. In response, the Imperium ordered nearly its entire fleet to rescue the courtiers -or at least see that Holgarr 's reign of terror came to a permanent, painful end. Although the Ogress evaded her hunters long enough to broadcast three more 'meals', the imperial cyber-witches eventually hacked Holgarr's telecasts and subsequently divined the location of her hidden base. As the imperial forces set up their blockade and prepared to assault en masse, the Gorger-of-Cradles partook of her last supper, a final sacrament and sermon punctuated by the screams of the emperor's scion. Upon seeing the grisly aftermath, Holgarr's enemies decided that death would be too merciful, and too short, a punishment. Instead, Holgarr was cryogenically frozen, even as imperial inquisitors and bounty hunters tracked down, captured, tortured, and murdered not only all the remaining Corsair-Dansers, but every last member of Holgarr's species. Each and every moment of torture and execution was recorded -and subsequently uploaded into Holgarr's mind. Thus the Ogress slept, her body frozen, but her mind locked in a never-ending, ever-repeating nightmare that was all-too real, all-too final, and all-too inescapable. Thirteen centuries passed, and the mind-rape continued, undimmed and unrelenting.  

Then came the Crimp-King. Some claim Quinze won Holgarr's 'freedom' in a game of chance with none other than the emperor. Others suggest that the current emperor -long-removed from Holgarr's original nemesis- grew bored with a torture he could not witness for himself. Others yet whisper that Quinze's agents hacked Holgarr's prison, subverting the techno-witchcraft to transplant her mind directly into the Knight of Spades, and that her body remains, a mindless husk entombed in ice. Regardless of how Holgarr escaped her icy torment, one thing is clear: the Ogress is awake -and after a millennia-long slumber, she is ravenous with a hunger that can only be sated by blood, pain, and death. Lesser, or perhaps more sane, minds may have shattered under the unceasing-cycle of tortuous images, but to the Ogress, they have been but whetstones sharpening the sword of her vengeance. And after thirteen centuries, her blade is very, very sharp.[/ic]

[ooc=Stats & Moves]STATS
Brutality: 6
Style: 3
Mind: 5
Weird: 1

MOVES
Before her imprisonment, Holgarr-Pikke was renown and feared for her prowess as well as her cruelty. Single-handedly, she wrestled Beharus, the void-titan, shattering his stygian blade with her bare hands and ripping his still-screaming head from his iron-sinewed neck. Countless other foes similarly fell to her savage blades, brute strength, and bloodthirsty fists. Like a predatory beast, she senses fear, pain, and weakness -and feeds on each like dark mana. No mere brute, the Ogress is also remembered for her cunning, her skill as a pilot and techno-hacker, and her morbid showmanship.

<more to come>[/ooc]

That art rocks.

Damn Rose those are awesome!

Thanks for the compliments, SA & Nomadic. My apologies for posting an incomplete roster. I'll try and rectify that as soon as possible. :)

Very nice!
But a tough act to follow... hopefully it won't scare people away. :D

I have posted a big update to the rules thread (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,210042.html).
I think that now there is plenty to build a character on!

I'll flesh this one out sometime soon, but in the meantime, enjoy the system-straining implications of this spell-slinging she-berserker.

[ic=Fight Hag]

Brutality: 5
Style: 0
Mind: 5
Weird: 5

Hit Points: 40 + d10
Initiative: 0

Fame: 0
Record: 0-0

Abilities: (25 pts)
Arcane Arts
Berserker
Natural Weapon
Versatile

Moves:

Weapons:
Talons of Iron (Paired Natural Weapons)
CroneTech Kinetic Wards (2 Armor)
[/ic]

Interesting character. I will be curious about the moves you choose with those abilities.

How did you get 45 HP?
25 base + 5 from Brutality + 10 from armor = 40. Where did the other 5 come from?

Game thread is up! Let's get this going. :D