After having a long conversation yesterday with PCO.Spvnky I have decided to revise my game idea and shift the focus a bit. This is to deal with misconceptions and actually give you a better idea of what the game is about. I will begin by stating that this is not an Arena game. It is never intended to be one and it never will. Are there arenas in it? Yes but that does not make it an arena game. That would be like calling a pirate game a Boat game.

Game Pitch

The Empire reigns uncontested from one side of the world to the other. The news criers claim that not an hour of the day passes without the sun shining on some part of the Empire. Peace is not an easy thing to settle into for a culture driven by centuries of conquest. Turmoil was the only outcome but it was one they were prepared for. Their answer was elegant. An opiate for the masses and a place for the warriors to earn their place. Entertainment, political control, and a distraction from the corruption of the government in one fell swoop.

They created a title - Champion of the Empire -, made sure it came with wealth and status, made sure the Empire was watching, and then let the warriors fight over it. They created media to hype it and new magics to make sure everyone could watch it. Then they let nature take its course. Warriors flocked to the tournaments and the system supported itself. New industries sprang up around this state sponsored sport. As the warriors grew more skilled and more exotic the league grew.

Now 50 years have passed since that founding. A whole branch of the government oversees the sport, enforcing its rules, and controlling events. Schools for fighting exist on every corner. Fighting is the easiest path to wealth for the poor or the lowborn. Make a name for yourself and it could be you endorsing the latest line of fight gear. And for your own reasons you have become one of these young fighters.

---

This game will be Mature for violence and themes but I see no reason to make it Adult. It will use the Pathfinder system with some variant rules to reinforce the themes of the game. This game is heavily inspired by both my experience with modern combat sports and my love of fight movies. This draws just as much from Eastern martial arts movies from Fist of Legend to Ong Bak as it does from Western martial arts movies such as Bloodsport, Rocky, and Warrior. Even some anime influence from shows like Hajime no Ippo and Baki the Grappler. There is even some very small amount of inspiration taken from several of the more popular fight games such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and the like. And just the tiniest dash of League of Legends.

What can I say? I take inspiration from all sorts of places.

On to the game itself. While claiming the ranks to the Championship is a central part of the campaign there will be much more to the game than just fighting. Corruption in the sport, rivalries, school sabotage, and more mixed with more traditional adventures such as dealing with monsters and bandits (read as organized crime). Basically all of the plots of martial arts movies - Eastern and Western - are available to us. Plus there will be the real meat of the campaign. Which is your story. The story of your fighter. Why do they fight? What are their hopes? Their fears?

See... that's what I want to see. That's the story I want to tell. The ups and downs of your characters life. Their triumphs and losses. Their setbacks and their comebacks. I want to see how your character handles fame and wealth and being threatened with losing all of it. I want your characers to have friends and family and real reasons for doing what they do. That's where the drama and the story comes in - not the fights. The fights are fun but the real story is you and how you deal with everything.

And your fighters can be anything. A man-beast from the jungles of the south? Awesome. Last survivor of a clan of ninja? Fantastic. A gutsy, hard nosed brawler from the streets of the urban sprawl? Excellent. A construct built for war and fighting for its place in the world? Works for me. An undead pulled from the grave by black magics or unfinished business? Sounds good. If you can make with the options I give you you can play it.

I want you to love your character, be invested in your character, and be able to have a unique character. Then I want to throw stones at the character and see what happens.

Any takers?
This message was last edited by the user at 23:19, Mon 08 Aug 2016.

YES! All of it. Let's go!

YAY!  I am still very interested....:)

So happy to see more people interested this time. So many choices for characters I'm really excited to see what people come up with.

I posted on the old thread, and I'm still very interested!

Well... since all confusion seems to be cleared up I will continue working on the game. Might take me a few days to get it up. In the meantime are there any questions I could answer? Things you'd like to see in the game? Whatever.

Very very interested and excited!

I like the pitch, inspiration, intent to flesh out characters ... just lacking experience with/desire to play PF. Still, I hope this one works out - should be interesting to watch.

Very interesting idea. Now we only need to know what options do you give us.

@Novocrane - You are more than welcome to lurk once it's up and running.

@kark - I can give you some ideas on that. I don't want to go into the full details here. 25 point buy for Attributes, 20 points to build or buy your race, and starting at 3rd level. There will be a couple of bonus feats to represent having real professional fighting training*. But I am also going to present some new combat feats - and by new I mean translated from d20 moderns Blood and Fist supplement - and some new uses for social skills.

Basically I intend on providing options for everything. If you want a brainy fighter I will give you the options to make it work. If you want to be the fast talking charismatic Muhammad Ali kind of guy I want you to be able to do that. This game is about making the kind of characters that stand out. Unique characters that are vibrant and have their own styles and personality.

* Read that as I am not going to make you buy Improved Unarmed Strike for my martial arts game.

What classes are available? Or are you using a homebrew all-purposes one?

No homebrew classes. I am using first party Pathfinder classes only. Now to preserve the themes of the game I have sorted my classes into Core Classes (ones that work especially well with the focus of the game) and Secondary Classes (classes that work with the themes but are not tied to it). Now all that really means is that you have to have more levels in the Core Classes than in the Secondary Classes. Archetypes are obviously allowed.

Core Classes: Barbarian (UC*), Fighter, Monk (UC), Paladin, Ranger, Rogue (UC), Cavalier, Inquisitor, Magus, Vigilante, Ninja, and Samurai

*Unchained. Though you can play the normal variant if you like.

Secondary Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, Alchemist, Oracle, and Witch

And if you ever have any questions about why I am doing anything please feel free to ask. I do have my reasons for doing things this way but I don't want to bog things down too much.

I see. It is a very intereting idea. I was hoping to play other class but I wish you the best of lucks in your game!

Are you going to be using traits and/or the background skills optional rules?

Never played PF before, but the game sounds awesome!

You know me...
Of course I am in.

@PCO - Traits but not background skills.

@Smithy - I am cool with players new to the system.

I'm interested.

So how long until this bad boy gets started?  I am chomping at the bit....:)

Possibly by the end of night tonight. The rules additions went much quicker and easier than I expected. Turned out to be surprisingly simple. Currently writing up information on the actual fight circuits.

Game is up!

link to another game