Post by Trippy Hare on Sept 24, 2006 12:46:55 GMT -5
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Eshathar's Colosseum! Spectators to the left, up into the stands. Competitors, this way please, it's time to begin your training. Forget everything you think you know: about SoE, about IC combat, about RPG's in general. Once you're inside, none of that matters. Now, to make your transition from normal-IC to Colosseum-IC, I've prepared this little training manual especially for you. Read it carefully, as violating rules in the Colosseum will get you killed. Unlike elsewhere in Eshathar, where your permission is required before your character can die, in the Colosseum, nobody's permission is necessary. Keep in mind, that does NOT mean you can kill another character. Kills, experience, levels, and all those goodies are mathematically determined, based on your stats+weapons and your opponents stats+weapons, as well as any skills, spells, potions, prizes, etc.
You saw that right, I said mathematically determined. And no, you don't get to make your own rolls. I have a Random Dice Roller program that will be making your rolls for you. This way, I can rest assured that nobody will try to cheat by rolling a 3 and telling me they rolled a Natural 20. I try to be as fair as possible, and will always roll twice, ignoring the lowest roll...this gives a 50% better chance at a good roll, or avoiding a bad one. There are no Critical Hits/Critical Failures in the Colosseum, not even for Hunter-Killer Bosses or Legends. This is to ensure that a Hunter-Killer Boss with 30 Strength doesn't get a critical hit for 1600 damage on a character.
Does that mean all the technique and skill with the written word will vanish from the Colosseum? Far from it, in fact. Just like at the main SoE game, your posts are to be written in past-tense, 3rd person, as if you are witnessing an event. Posts must be a minimum of two paragraphs of four sentences each to count: a two-sentence post won't count as an IC post, won't earn you any Honor or Glory, and may actually get Honor or Glory taken from you. This new system will only add a few interesting limitations to your posts: for example, if the combat system rewards your enemy a hit against you, and the armor system does not soak it all, you take damage...and your next post should include:
Or something along those lines. I'll explain more about the combat system and posting requirements/limitations later on in the training regimen. For now, you need to get yourself a character, and in this brief Introductory session, I'm going to tell you just how to do that. Behold, the Character Creation Table!
Tier does not affect your character, it merely organizes each point range, so don't worry about it right now. Attributes means how many points you get to divide up among the Attributes described in Week One, which we'll get to shortly. Wealth is how much money you have, which determines what armor or weapons or machines or spells you can buy, as well as how many Glory points you get from fighting. Skills determines how many Skill points you have to start with. Each Skill costs a different number of Skill points, and may have a Renown/Glory cost as well...but for the most part, the more Skill points you have, the more Skills you can buy. Check out the Skillbook for the current list of Skills available.
Karma is the best, and worst, of all of them. Positive Karma can be used to re-roll any roll in the game: including chance to hit, chance to block/dodge, damage dealt to you, damage dealt by you, and what Treasures you win from a victorious battle. Each point in Karma lets you re-roll a single roll. Negative Karma, on the other hand, works a little differently. Remember how I roll twice and discard the lower roll? With Negative Karma, I discard the higher roll. For every 1 negative Karma, I discard 1 high roll.
Now for the Tiers. You CANNOT select all the point values in a single Tier, that's not how it works. Pick ONE bonus from Tier 1, then pick one from Tier 2, then one from Tier 3, then one from Tier 4. You cannot pick the same category twice...no picking 8 Skill points from Tier 1 and 4 Skill points from Tier 2. When you've finished, you should have 1 bonus for each category (Wealth, Attributes, Skills, Karma), spanning all four Tiers.
Here's an example:
Write those down on your Gladiator's bio, they will be important to remember. I'd recommend you read the information coming up in Week One about Attributes before deciding where to put them all. Also check out Week Three for Skill information.
Got all that, soldier? Good, because we're about to start the real fun. Click on Boot Camp, right there in orange next to where it says Colosseum, and report for Week One training immediately! MOVE OUT!
You saw that right, I said mathematically determined. And no, you don't get to make your own rolls. I have a Random Dice Roller program that will be making your rolls for you. This way, I can rest assured that nobody will try to cheat by rolling a 3 and telling me they rolled a Natural 20. I try to be as fair as possible, and will always roll twice, ignoring the lowest roll...this gives a 50% better chance at a good roll, or avoiding a bad one. There are no Critical Hits/Critical Failures in the Colosseum, not even for Hunter-Killer Bosses or Legends. This is to ensure that a Hunter-Killer Boss with 30 Strength doesn't get a critical hit for 1600 damage on a character.
Does that mean all the technique and skill with the written word will vanish from the Colosseum? Far from it, in fact. Just like at the main SoE game, your posts are to be written in past-tense, 3rd person, as if you are witnessing an event. Posts must be a minimum of two paragraphs of four sentences each to count: a two-sentence post won't count as an IC post, won't earn you any Honor or Glory, and may actually get Honor or Glory taken from you. This new system will only add a few interesting limitations to your posts: for example, if the combat system rewards your enemy a hit against you, and the armor system does not soak it all, you take damage...and your next post should include:
"Billy ducked, but not fast enough, and the bastard's club knocked him off his feet."
Or something along those lines. I'll explain more about the combat system and posting requirements/limitations later on in the training regimen. For now, you need to get yourself a character, and in this brief Introductory session, I'm going to tell you just how to do that. Behold, the Character Creation Table!
| ..Tier.. | .Attribute. | .Wealth. | .Skills. | .Karma. |
| 1 | 35 | 250 | 8 | 4 |
| 2 | 30 | 150 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 25 | 75 | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 20 | 30 | 2 | -1 |
Tier does not affect your character, it merely organizes each point range, so don't worry about it right now. Attributes means how many points you get to divide up among the Attributes described in Week One, which we'll get to shortly. Wealth is how much money you have, which determines what armor or weapons or machines or spells you can buy, as well as how many Glory points you get from fighting. Skills determines how many Skill points you have to start with. Each Skill costs a different number of Skill points, and may have a Renown/Glory cost as well...but for the most part, the more Skill points you have, the more Skills you can buy. Check out the Skillbook for the current list of Skills available.
Karma is the best, and worst, of all of them. Positive Karma can be used to re-roll any roll in the game: including chance to hit, chance to block/dodge, damage dealt to you, damage dealt by you, and what Treasures you win from a victorious battle. Each point in Karma lets you re-roll a single roll. Negative Karma, on the other hand, works a little differently. Remember how I roll twice and discard the lower roll? With Negative Karma, I discard the higher roll. For every 1 negative Karma, I discard 1 high roll.
Now for the Tiers. You CANNOT select all the point values in a single Tier, that's not how it works. Pick ONE bonus from Tier 1, then pick one from Tier 2, then one from Tier 3, then one from Tier 4. You cannot pick the same category twice...no picking 8 Skill points from Tier 1 and 4 Skill points from Tier 2. When you've finished, you should have 1 bonus for each category (Wealth, Attributes, Skills, Karma), spanning all four Tiers.
Here's an example:
Bob wants to make a character. He names it Billy. Bob selects 35 Attribute points from Tier 1. He cannot pick any other Tier 1 bonuses. He selects 150 Wealth from Tier 2, and cannot select any other bonuses from Tier 2. He chooses 3 Skills from Tier 3, and cannot pick any other Tier 2 bonus. Finally, he is left with only one possible choice for Karma the -1 Karma from Tier 4. He now has one bonus for each category, and one selection from each Tier.
Write those down on your Gladiator's bio, they will be important to remember. I'd recommend you read the information coming up in Week One about Attributes before deciding where to put them all. Also check out Week Three for Skill information.
Got all that, soldier? Good, because we're about to start the real fun. Click on Boot Camp, right there in orange next to where it says Colosseum, and report for Week One training immediately! MOVE OUT!