Mythras: A Tournament in the World of Dark Sun - Fight 1
Introduction
I've been reading the Mythras rulebook because I wanted to try out another game with crunchy tactical combat after the alternating fun and tedium of running a fight in The Riddle of Steel. This time instead of just trying out one fight I thought why not do a whole tournament with sixteen people (because I'm mad, obviously).
I'd been watching YouTube videos about D&D's old Dark Sun campaign setting and thought it would make a great backdrop for a brutal tournament of mortal combat, so I got some Dark Sun materials from Drivethru RPG and got reading. Athas is a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where abuse of magic has ruined the planet, turning it into a huge desert where civilisation is crowded into city states run by despots, powerful sorcerer kings who keep a tight grip on the exclusive use of magic. Metal is rare and expensive, with most armour and weapons made from cheaper materials. Slavery is rife, halflings are cannibals and the sun will kill you if you venture too far out into the wastes.
I made a list of all the creatures I thought might make fun gladiators, then generated sixteen of them. I'll run the fights one by one and create the characters as I go, randomly choosing weapons and armour for them. Possible weapons range from a rock to an alhulak, a Dark Sun bladed grappling hook on a rope fixed to a short pole. Armour will be randomly assigned to different body parts. It will be brutal and unfair, just like everything in Athas.
Here's the first round of eight:
Fight 2: Armos, male minotaur vs Cottab, male halfling
Fight 3: Grib, male goblin vs Arsidid, male human
Fight 4: Zabupil, male half-giant vs Rizzirni, female gith
Fight 5: Gwoinain, male dwarf vs Thole, male half-giant
Fight 6: Prizz, female thri-keen vs Skriitzin, male lizardman
Fight 7: Zarak, female belgoi vs Borri, male dwarf
Fight 8: Tenubi, male mul vs Grun, male belgoi
There are some Dark Sun specific races in there, and we'll meet them once we get to those fights. This is a grand tournament which will go on a tour of the arenas of Athas, which are all quite different to each other.
Fight 1: Nidu vs Gezu
Our first match takes place in The Natural Arena at Raam. A large rocky ampitheatre formed naturally into a convenient shape for an arena, it is located in the city-state of Raam. The sorcerer queen Abalach-Re watches from a network of caves in the high cliff face next to the arena, black gauze covering the natural windows that she and her templars watch from. Extremely paranoid, Abalach-Re never appears in public and thus no gladiator can appeal for her mercy if defeated.
The arena floor is a large flat rocky surface. On one side is the cliff face and on the other is the seating for the audience, but in between them is The Maw, a huge crevasse in the ground. Several hundred feet long, 37 feet across and 173 feet deep, inside it the sides narrow on the way down and are covered in wild brambleweed, sharp as barbed wire. It would not be good for a gladiator to be knocked into it.
It's a burning hot morning in Raam but it'll be even hotter later. The crowd jeers as the first combatant enters the arena. Nidu is a heavy-set human man aged only 24 but already an experienced gladiator. 181cm tall and weighing 120kg, he wields a trident and a hoplite shield (a round one a bit larger than a buckler). Armoured only with a laminated breastplate of small pieces of flat bone, he wears nothing else but cloth wraps around his pelvis.
Soon after, his opponent enters. Gezu is 39, another human male. He walks in wearing nothing but cloth wraps to protect his modesty, carrying a sabre. Even though he should be humilated, he carries himself with dignity. Perhaps he was some kind of nobleman forced into the arena life years before. He is also a large man, taller than Nidu and weighing in a bit heavier, he is muscular and strong-looking.
They stand 10 metres apart. A horn blows to signal the start of the fight, and the crowd roars in anticipation. Gezu rushes at Nidu and swings his sabre, but Nidu lashes out with his shield and the sabre twists around and cuts a small gash in Gezu's bare chest. A wave of laughter ripples through the crowd. Nidu then jabs at Gezu with his trident but misses, the older man not even needing to dodge out of the way. Gezu sees his opportunity and slashes Nidu's right thigh with his sabre, opening a deep wound. Nidu cries out in pain and falls to the ground.
Thinking he's won, Gezu swings his sabre down in what he assumes will be a killing blow but Nidu manages to get his shield up just in time. The sabre bounces off it and then Nidu thrusts his trident up at the crossguard of the sabre and twists, trying to yank it out of Gezu's hand. He maintains his grip on it however.
Frustrated, Gezu pulls his sword back then slashes at the prone Nidu violently. Nidu again turns his attack against him though, using his trident to jab upwards and force Gezu to gash his own chest open, much deeper this time. Gezu makes no sound but falls flat on his back, passed out from the intense pain.
The crowd is stunned into silence. Nidu's leg is still bleeding heavily, but he pulls himself up onto his good knee, supporting himself with his shield. He looks towards the shadowy windows in the cliff face, wondering if the sorcerer queen is watching today. Then he looks down at Gezu and stabs downwards with his trident, pinning him to the ground, the three prongs of the weapon going right through his body. Gezu coughs up blood once, twice, then lies still.
The crowd goes wild, amazed at Nidu's comeback. A healer runs into the arena and wraps a bandage around his bleeding leg, then a pair of workers lift him to his feet and support him as he limps away, the crowd cheering madly. When he has left the arena another worker drags Gerzu's corpse to the edge of The Maw and kicks it in, where it bounces down the steep sides, the brambleweeds cutting and tearing the flesh until it disappears into the darkness below.
Nidu has 2 action points per cycle and Gezu has 3.
Initiative roll (1D10 + Initiative Bonus)
Nidu: 7 +12 = 19
Gezu: 6 +13 = 19
Tie. The rules say they will act concurrently. I have no idea how this is supposed to work since the whole combat chapter of the rulebook is written assuming the characters have separate turns, so I'm going to re-roll. The rules don't seem to make sense if both of them are taking their turns at the same time.
Nidu: 6 +12 = 18
Gezu: 10 +13 = 23
Gezu goes first.
Cycle 1
Gezu closes the distance to Nidu (1 action point).
Gezu attacks Nidu with his sabre (1 AP)
70% (46% skill): Failure
Nidu parries with his shield (1 AP).
35% (45% skill): Success. 1 special effect.
Nidu uses Accidental Injury.
Gezu hits himself in the chest with his sabre for 6 damage (Minor wound)
Nidu attacks Gezu with his trident (1 AP).
60% (45% skill): Failure.
Gezu attacks Nidu with his sabre (1 AP).
33% (46% skill): Success.
Nidu has no more AP so can't defend.
Gezu hits Nidu's right leg for 7 damage (Serious wound).
Nidu makes an opposed Endurance roll.
82% (48% Endurance). Failure.
Nidu falls prone until his leg can be healed, and can't attack for 2 (1D3) turns. Fighting while prone is formidable, which reduces his skill to half.
Cycle 2
Gezu attacks Nidu with his sabre (1 AP).
89% (46% skill): Failure.
Nidu parries with his shield (1 AP).
15% (22% skill): Success. 1 special effect.
Nidu uses Disarm Opponent.
Gezu makes an opposed Combat Style roll.
40% (46% skill). Success.
Gezu attacks Nidu with his sabre (1 AP).
92% (46% skill). Failure.
Nidu parries with his shield (1 AP).
19% (22% skill): Success. 1 special effect.
Nidu uses Accidental Injury.
Gezu hits himself in the chest with his sabre for 4 damage (Serious wound).
Gezu makes an opposed Endurance roll.
74% (45% Endurance): Failure.
Gezu passes out for 4 minutes and is now helpless.
Cycle 3
Nidu automatically kills Gezu.
My Thoughts
I'm not sure I totally understand the combat rules of Mythras yet but it was really fun seeing Nidu making such a great comeback even though his combat skill was reduced by half and he couldn't even move. Special effects can turn the tide of battle quite dramatically, it seems.
Nidu's right leg is now on -2 HP out of 5 (body parts have their own HP rather than the character having one total HP for their whole body). His healing rate is 2 HP per day, and we'll do one fight per day of game time. That gives him enough time to heal it fully and be back on his feet by the time we get to the quarter finals, but we might find combatants can't heal completely later on in the tournament, and will have to go back into the arena wounded...
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