Deadly Tournament Reaches Bloody Conclusion

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Tournament Melee expands the rules of Melee into a single-elimination tournament. The complete rules for this tournament are provided at the Tournament Melee Rules page.)

(FPW - FANTASY NEWS WIRE - December 30th, 2000) Yesterday in the cold winter fortress of Sir Barcardi, 8 ruthless gladiator owners met for a deadly contest of Tournament Melee. Each of the owners randomly selected 2 fighters, who were outfitted based on strength and dexterity and seeded into a 4 level single elimination tournament ladder. Because there were exactly 16 fighters, no fighter would receive a bye. To win the tournament, a fighter would have to defeat 4 enemies or face his deadly demise in the pit.

Pre game threats and taunts

The Barcardi fortress was prepared to handle the requirements of the tournament and the blood-lusting spectators. At the sound of a gong, a doorway opens in front of the fighters revealing both the arena and the enemy fighter beyond. A random selection of 6 arenas were available consisting of various terrain, from plains to trees, to hills to pits, to scrub brush and rivers. A bowman for instance might be presented with a clear shot or be forced to switch weapons at the sight of trees. Similarly, a sword fighter might be forced to climb a hill or leap over a river. Regardless of the situation, the combatants were forced to act quickly or face doom amid the thunderous cheering and stamping of the crowd.

In the conference room preceding the tournament, the owners loudly argued and debated the merits of the tournament rules. Many of the owners, their brains addled by years of alcohol and other less important thoughts, could not recall the simple Melee rules. Others, emboldened by Game Master experience in their own fantasy world, begged to allow certain special advanced rules, obviously chosen to help further the advancement of their fighters. The tournament commissioner, Dan Becker, fueled by 2 pots of coffee, retorted loudly RTFM!, RTFM!, shorthand for "Read the Freakin' Manual", all the while wondering if anyone ever reads his web site. It was obvious that no one read the tournament rules.

The owners randomly rolled their fighter's characteristics. There was an even random distribution of strengths between 9 and 15. Then the fighters were outfitted with weapons. Some owners opted for higher DX and omitted armor. Others applied leather armor. None opted for chainmail. Some of the notable and unique fighters included Val's Coren Longwood, who was a burly, nearly-naked beserker with Battleax (3D damage) and cloth thong, and Doug's Ratty, a wiry fellow with 15 DX and happy Small Bow that fired two tiny shots per turn. Brian's Z Man also opted for the near-naked look with 2 handed sword (2D - 1 damage) and smily face loin cloth while Kevin's tiny man Pschorr held high a Rapier (1D damage) and fairly good leather armor.

The Fighters
Num	Owner	Fighter	ST	DX	MA	Weapons	Armor
1	Doug	Ug	15	9	10	Morningstar (2D+1)	Sm. Sh. (1)
2	Doug	Ratty	9	15	10	Club (1D), Small Bow (1D-1)
3	Brian	Z Man	14	10	10	2 Handed Sword (3D-1)
4	Brian	Barnacle	11	13(12)	10	Mace (2D-1)	Lg. Sh. (2)
5	Andy	Wulf	13	11(10)	10	Morningstar (2D+1)	Lg. Sh. (2)
6	Andy	Pierre	10	14(12)	8	Cutlass (2D-2)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
7	Val	Krak	11	13(11)	8	Shortsword (2D-1)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
8	Val	Coren	15	9	10	Battleax (3D)
9	Paul	One Ear	10	14	10	Horse Bow (1D), Cutlass (2D-2)
10	Paul	Rock	12	12(10)	8	Broadsword (2D)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
11	Dave	Star Max	11	13(11)	8	Cutlass (2D-2)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
12	Dave	Rillo	12	12(10)	8	Broadsword (2D), Lt. Xbow (2D)	Leather (2)
13	Dan	Pookie	13	11(9)	8	MorningStar (2D+1)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
14	Dan	Gagagore	12	12(10)	8	Broadsword (2D)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
15	Kevin	Hacker	12	12(10)	8	Broadsword (2D)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
16	Kevin	Pschorr	9	15(13)	8	Rapier (1D)	Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)

The Tournament ladder was seeded with each owner having one fighter in the top and bottom half of the ladder. There was a bit of a worry as Kevin was running late, and no one knew where he was. Commissioner Dan made the ruling that if he did not show up by 3 p.m., his matches would become a bye. Suddenly with 10 minutes before the deadline, he shows up just in time to give his men the final coaching before their match.

The first round was won by both strong and fast fighters. Brian was the sole owner to have both of his men advance. Paul and Dave's men were all killed, and they were the first owners to get knocked out of the competition. The other owners had one win and one loss each.

There was much bickering and yelling during the battles, as each fighter took advantage of the random arena terrain that faced them. Once the fighters were joined, the battles became a pushing and shoving match as fighters attempted to push each other into the bottomless pits. However, no fighter was stupid enough to be suckered into the pits. After all, these were seasoned gladiators who were trained well and knew how to fight.

After second round combat, Val's Krak, Dan's Gagagore and Brian's Barnacle and Z Man remained. Having two kills each, all of the fighters were entitled to experience upgrades, and coincidentally, all four upgraded their dexterity. All of the bow fighters were dead by now, and what remained were a short swordsman, a broadswordsman, a 2-handed swordsman, and a maceman. Two were orcs and two were humans.

The Tournament
Seed	Owner	Fighter	Round 1	Quarters	Semi	Winner
1	Doug	Ug	Ug	Krak (+1 DX)	Barnacle	Z Man
2	Paul	One Ear
3	Andy	Wulf	Krak
4	Val	Krak
5	Kevin	Hacker	Hacker	Barnacle (+1 DX)
6	Dan	Pookie
7	Dave	Star Max	Barnacle
8	Brian	Barnacle
9	Val	Coren	Z Man	Z Man (+1 DX)	Z Man
10	Brian	Z Man
11	Kevin	Pschorr	Pschorr
12	Doug	Ratty
13	Andy	Pierre	Pierre	Gagagore (+1 DX)
14	Dave	Rillo
15	Dan	Gagagore	Gagagore
16	Paul	Rock

In the battle of Krak and Barnacle, the fighters met on a hill. They charged and met quickly, neither one having the height advantage. After a long back and forth exchange, Barnacle gave the final blow and killed Krak, much to the cheering crowd's delight.

The gambling was fast and furious

In the battle of Gagagore and Z Man, the two fighters met on a plain board. The fighters met and opted to duke it out blow for blow. Z Man made the first cut, but the damage was light. Gagagore missed three hits in a row by a single dice pip. All the while Z Man, gave Gagagore light 1 or 2 point hits. Eventually Z Man gave a 5 hit blow which caused Gagagore's DX to drop by 2 for the turn. There was another miss, and finally Z Man put in the killing blow.

Thus Barnacle and Z Man met in the final match. Since Brian owned both fighters, he was a little uneasy about letting his two competitors fight each other. However the $5 first prize proved too lucrative to him, and he opted shamelessly to put money and glory above human life and compassion. The two fighters met, and with 2 blows Z Man reduced Barnacle to a bloody heap.

Z Man wins the first Tournament Melee game! The killer of 4 adversaries! The darling of the blood-thirsty crowd! Z Man the pride of all Meleedom!

Return to Tournament Melee Rules.