GLADIATOR GAMES

Guide to the Gladiator Games ...

I've put together a list of some of the more commonly held games and their rules, so that people can refer to them if necessary. I will correct and/or add to the list if people make suggestions. Listed after the rules for the games are some general rules on games etiquette. If you are a newcomer to the games, scan down to games etiquette FIRST.

General Games Etiquette ...

• When the Host arrives, stop talking and all actions which are perceptible (includes laughing, playing instruments, readying weapons, etc.). Try to assume that if the Host wants your input, they will ask for it.

• Hosts include, but are not limited to: Vernox, Jax, & Jowls. Elders which might be around to watch the games or help run them include, but are not limited to: Dune.

• old Games hosts we all loved: Jiffy, Tasem, Garun, Elgan, & Ethalis.

• If you have questions, raise your hand to the host (type "raise hand to Milene"), and wait for them to call on you, and then ask your question. Pay attention to other people's questions, and try to make sure it hasn't already been answered.

• Send your familiar west, if you have one. There is a room in there for that purpose, and they won't be lonely. Random wolf howling isn't productive in a room full of people.

• Extinguish all lights. It's not dark anywhere in the arena area, and flickering lights just add to the noise.

• During the team selection period, try and keep the talking/socials to a minimum. Unless you are a captain, or providing clarifying information (as in "Balmoran was picked already"), try to save your socials for a time when people aren't trying to keep track of something.

• Never ever spam a social. Laughing repeatedly in a room full of people is just annoying. One laugh is enough for people to get the impression that you thought it was funny. More just scrolls the screen, and may cause people to lose important information.

• Obey the basic game rules.

• Attacking the enemy before the Host tells you to is illegal. For the purposes of the games, removing a disguise is considered an attack, as is pushing someone down.

• Be respectful to the Elders and your fellow players. In the heat of battle, it's not uncommon for a player to fly off the handle, and get into personal heated arguments with other people. Remember that it is a game, and if you step over the line try and apologize when you have calmed down a little. Try not to hold grudges, and try to refrain from personal attacks. Even if you do not like another player, or even an Elder, try and be civil to them. When players get mean, it tends to sour the entire games experience, even for people who are not involved in the altercation.

• Listen to your captain. If the captain delegates authority to someone else, listen to them. Even if your captain has a foolish plan, you are more likely to succeed in the games if all of your team is on the same page.

• Do not harm the other team(s) before the game has started. "Harming" includes revealing disguises, pushing down, and any action against another person which has a game effect. Harassment might also be considered to be harm, under certain circumstances. In some games (particularly emperor, champions, kingdoms) you will end up waiting with the enemy in the same room during the countdown to fighting. Leave them alone until the game starts.

Basic Saturday Night Rules ...

• * No - Trans, Harmful Prayers, Pick pocketing, Dispelling, Disarming, following other teams.

• * Make sure you GUISE with one letter different.

• * ONLY 1 pre-summon Familiar at start.

• * Remember - REPORT DEAD when you die ~~ Turn off your DEPART triggers!

• * On a final note: Captains REPORT when your team wins.

• * NOTE: Rules subject to change towards the end of the match when games end in a stalemate.

The following rules exist in some games, or are sometimes called during the course of the game :

• NO ARMOR. This refers to the wearing of any type of armor, and does not refer to armoring spells, which are legal unless otherwise specified. Jiffy likes to call "no armor" games; most elders do not. NO HIDING. This does not refer to the blending spell, unless so specified.

• BLENDING FOR THIEVES ONLY. This means that only thieves can cast any spell which puts someone into hiding. It also generally means that there is no hiding.

• NO HIDING OF ANY KIND. This does refer to the blending spell, as well as regular hiding. • NO HEALING. This refers to anything which can give you health. First aid, lay hands, healing spells, and healing potions are all illegal if this is called.

• NO PRAYERS. This refers to the command PRAY, and does not refer to other effects which may look like the person is praying: lay hands, divine spells, etc.

• NO UPSTAIRS. This means that players are confined to only the three by three grid that makes up the bottom area of the arena.

• NORTH ROOMS ARE NOW OFF-LIMITS. This means that the three north rooms of the three by three grid are no longer enterable.

• SOUTH ROOMS ARE NOW OFF-LIMITS. This means that the three south rooms of the three by three grid are no longer enterable.

• CENTER ROOM ONLY. That means that all players must enter the center room of the arena, and stay there.

• NO FLYING. No form of flight is allowed, whether magical, natural, or psionic. Any players flying must land, and stay on the ground.

• NO PSI CONFUSE.

• CENTER TAC ONLY. This generally means that the game has dragged on with one player tac dancing to escape another. It means that tac movement is no longer acceptable, except to get to the center tactical rank as soon as possible. You can find out what tac you are in by typing "STATUS," which will tell you you are either in the center of the arena, or forward or backward a number of UD's.

• NO USING FAMILIARS TO ATTACK/ATTACKING FAMILIARS. This is a common rule. It is generally best to leave beloved familiars outside the arena to avoid accidental attacks.

Various Gladiator Games ...

The following guide was written by the player of the character Cagliostro. Many thanks to him for letting us post it here for your reference.

Team Games ...

• These are the most commonly held game event. The Host selects a number of captains. The Host then selects what order the captains select their teams in, usually by random lot. Each captain then selects their team, alternating with the other captains, with the order reversing.

• The captains will pick their team by saying, "Syntrik, go west," or something similar, after which the picked teammate will go through the door, and then head in that direction. The picked teammate should try and remain in the room, unhidden, so that anyone who is putting together a list of their team will know that they are on it (getting killed by one's own team can be embarrassing). When the captain comes in, the team should quiet down to discuss strategy.

• The goal: To kill everyone on all the other teams, while still having some members of your team alive.

Spy Games ...

• Spy games are identical to Team Games, except that after the teams are selected, and waiting in their corner, the Host comes around and secretly selects a Spy from each team. The Spy is secretly working in the interest of another team, though the only people informed of that by the Host are the Spy themselves, and the captain of the team they are really working for.

• The goal: To kill everyone on all the other teams (including the person spying on you), while still having some members of your team alive (including the person spying for you).

Emperor ...

• In Emperor games, the Host selects two captains, who then pick their teams as in team games. One team is the "West" team, and the other is the "East" team. The teams congregate in the west room and the east room, respectively. The Host selects a minimum and maximum number to be sent north and south, and informs the captain of this.

Example:
Gravakiv's team is in the east room. Jiffy, the Host, tells Gravakiv to send 2-5 people north and south. Gravakiv decides to send two weak characters to the north, and five strong ones to the south.

After each team has sent some characters off to the flanks, the Host announces the "countdown". At this point NO ONE should move until they hear 'GO!'.

After the countdown, usually two minutes, both sides move east or west one step and fight each other. You cannot leave the room you are in until the enemy is entirely dead. If you finish the enemy, and you are in the north or south room, you can then go into the center room to assist your teammates there. At no point can anyone leave the center room. At no point can anyone leave the north or south room except to assist the center room after all enemies in one's own room have been finished.

The goal: To kill everyone on the other team, while still having some of your team alive.

Kingdoms ...

In Kingdoms, teams are selected as in the other games. After the captains join their teams, they assign each player a number from 1 to 9 (if there are 8 members on the team, 1-8, etc.). The Host then assigns a room to each number, such as "all 1's, to the North Room". The players then proceed to the room the Host has assigned their numbers to.

After everyone is in the correct room, everyone in the room with any given player is on another team. After the host counts down, the player then must fight the other people in the room with him/her. If a player defeats all enemies in the room they are in, they can move to another room, but only by going north, east, south, or west.

Example:
Gide, the deadly forester, is assigned to the southwest room. After he defeats his puny foes, he looks around to the other rooms he can see. He would like to help his good friend Rylek, who is being slaughtered by the dastardly Kithrael in the center room. But he can only go north or east, and cannot go to the center room until he has cleared one of those other rooms.

At any point in the game, if a player has killed all members of other teams in a room, they may move to an adjacent room, if it is north, east, south, or west. A player must stop in any room with an enemy in it. Some people will win rooms and join their teammates, and eventually one team will defeat the others.

The goal: To kill everyone on the other teams, while still having some of your team alive.

Champions ...

In Champions, teams are selected as in the other games, except that when picked players do not proceed into the arena, but into the observation room, where they advance or retreat to a certain tactical rank to keep track of which team each person is on. When the teams are selected, the captains assign numbers to the people on their team, as in Kingdoms.

Important: These numbers are secret, and should not be said aloud, but only whispered to teammates.

After all the teams have been so numbered, the Host announces certain numbers, and if a player's number is called, they proceed into the center room of the arena. The portion of each team so selected then fights a battle in the center room, until one team is triumphant.

Example:
Prosapia is on Claudia's team. Claudia tells Prosapia he is number 4. Larkan, the Host, announces that 1, 4, 5, and 9 should enter the arena. Since Prosapia is 4, he goes in, and joins up with numbers 1, 5, and 9 from his team in attempting to kill the enemy.

A series of such battles are fought, until it has been determined that one team has won.

The goal: To win a larger number of battles fought than the other teams.

Killfest ...

Killfest games are unusual in a number of ways. Teams are selected as in Team Games, but there the resemblance ends. In Killfest games each person has an unlimited amount of "lives". When a player is killed, they report dead (name), where the name is filled in with the person they believe most contributed to their death.

Example:
Claudia uses her psionics to confuse Laston, who is then kicked to death by Rally. Laston then would type either "report dead Claudia", because he believes the confuse did him in, or "report dead Rally," because Rally did the actual damage to kill him.

One should NOT report dead multiple times. If one is not resurrected in a timely fashion, one should report dead again, but make it clear that one has already reported it, so as not to mess up record-keeping. After being resurrected, the player should re-enter the arena, presumably to kill or be killed again.

After a time limit expires, usually 20 minutes or so, the game is over, and everyone should stop fighting. The Host then tallies the kills and deaths on each team. Each kill gives a team 10 points, each death loses a team 5 points (with an additional 5 points lost if the dead player does not report a killer or blames his own team for the death).

The goal: To get the highest point total in the time allotted. The MVP (Most Valuable Player) and MKP (Most Killed Player) on each team are also given small extra awards.

Jaxfest ...

This is a relatively new variant of the killfest, designed by Jiffy, the Newt. In this variant there are no multiple lives, but you still report dead with the name of the person responsible for killing you. Only kills are tallied for each team, and otherwise it is fought like a team game. Each team gets 10 points for each kill, and 5 points for each teammate who survives the round (as in team games, it is fought until only one team survives).

The goal: To get the highest point total over a period of three "games".

JAX DARKLORD

Race Games ...

In Race Games, the Host selects the teams, based upon the races of the combatants. They might decide to put all San Elves and Psycians on one team, and all Dragons and Secians on another. Besides the selection of teams, Race Games are identical to Team Games. There are also occasionally Class Games or Religion Games.

Free For All (FFA) ...

In a Free For All, each player fights for themselves. Anyone is a potential enemy.

The goal: To be either the last alive, or very close to it (prizes are sometimes awarded for second and/or third place).

Three-man / Pick-your-own-team ...

Popular among stronger players, in this game the players arrange themselves into teams of three people, and then enter the arena. There are sometimes level limitations to prevent the three strongest players from forming a team together, but the teams still often end up extremely unbalanced. The advantage of this and the FFA from an Elder's point of view is that they do not have to do as much work as with the other games.

The goal: To have at least one of your members survive to be the last or second-to-last team alive. Prizes are sometimes awarded for third place.

center Death ...

Center Death games are identical to Team Games, except that when the Host calls "Center Death", all teams must go to the center room and stay there until someone dies. Once someone of any team dies in the center room, teams are free to move about as they choose.

Round Robin ...

Four teams are selected, as per Team Games. After the teams are all in their corners, the Host has the teams face off against each other in one-on-one matches. So each team faces each other team, one-by-one, in a battle to the death.

The goal: To win more of the matches than any other team.

Ork Fishing ...

Ork Fishing is played in the regular arena, but the downstairs area is pumped full of water. All players must deposit or surrender their money before the game. Aquatic orks appear in the arena, carrying loose coins. Players kill the orks as well as each other, and gather the coins. If a player dies, they "report dead," and after a pause, they are resurrected to fight again. Pickpocketing is legal in this game. Three teams play, and are selected as per normal Team Games.

The goal: After a time limit expires, the team with the most silver wins.

Tasem War Games ...

Tasem's War Games are played in a different arena than most of the games. In this arena, there are three different keeps, each with two ways of entry, the front gate and an underwater entrance. In the center of each keep sits a Mascot, who is an Elder which the team assigned to that keep must protect.

While your Mascot lives, you may "report dead (mascot name)" and be resurrected to defend them longer. When your Mascot dies, however, you lose the ability to get resurrected (if you reported dead before the Mascot died, you will still be resurrected that last time). At that point if one dies, one reports dead in the normal fashion, and will be called away by the Host.

The goal: To kill the other Mascots, and keep your own Mascot alive. After two Mascots have died, there is a short time limit after which the remainder of the two teams with dead Mascots must try to kill the remaining one. If they fail, the team with the surviving Mascot wins. If they succeed in killing the last Mascot, then the three teams are restored to full health and fight a one-room brawl to determine the winner.

King of the Hill (KoH, KotH) ...

Played on a mountain slope arena, this game is a masochist's delight. Generally it is played as each man for himself, though there are team variants. The essential goal is to

a) climb a steep hill with many chances of falling down
b) find a hidden flag on the hill
c) get to the bottom of the hill in one piece
d) ready the flag
e) wave it

In practice, this only happens occasionally. A more likely scenario is: person A finds the flag, person B kills person A, and takes the flag, person B tries to go down the hill and instead plummets to their death, person C waiting at the bottom gets the flag from person B and readies it, person D kills person C, person E grabs the flag, goes one room away, readies it, and returns to wave it.

Note: searching the flag (and only the flag) off of a dead player is legal in this game only.

The game is played multiple times, and the flagwavers are rewarded.