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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 providedat the Tournament Melee Rules page.)

(FPW - FANTASY NEWS WIRE - December 30th, 2000) Yesterday in the cold winter fortress of Sir Barcardi, 8 ruthless gladiatorowners met for a deadly contest of Tournament Melee.Each of the owners randomly selected 2 fighters, who were outfitted based on strengthand 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 orface his deadly demise in the pit.

Melee Taunts
Pre game threats and taunts
The Barcardi fortress was prepared to handle the requirements of thetournament 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 ofvarious 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 forcedto switch weapons at the sight of trees.Similarly, a sword fighter might be forced to climb a hill orleap over a river.Regardless of the situation, the combatants were forced to act quicklyor face doom amid the thunderous cheering and stamping of thecrowd.

In the conference room preceding the tournament, the owners loudlyargued and debated the merits of the tournament rules.Many of the owners, their brains addled by years of alcohol andother less important thoughts, could not recall the simple Meleerules.Others, emboldened by Game Master experience in their ownfantasy world, begged to allow certain special advanced rules, obviouslychosen 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 includedVal'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 andhappy 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 clothwhile Kevin's tiny man Pschorr held high a Rapier (1D damage)and fairly good leather armor.
The Fighters
NumOwnerFighter STDX MAWeapons Armor
1Doug Ug 15 9 10Morningstar (2D+1) Sm. Sh. (1)
2Doug Ratty 915 10Club (1D), Small Bow (1D-1)  
3BrianZ Man 1410 102 Handed Sword (3D-1)  
4BrianBarnacle1113(12)10Mace (2D-1) Lg. Sh. (2)
5Andy Wulf 1311(10)10Morningstar (2D+1) Lg. Sh. (2)
6Andy Pierre 1014(12) 8Cutlass (2D-2) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
7Val Krak 1113(11) 8Shortsword (2D-1) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
8Val Coren 15 9 10Battleax (3D)  
9Paul One Ear 1014 10Horse Bow (1D), Cutlass (2D-2) 
10Paul Rock 1212(10) 8Broadsword (2D) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
11Dave Star Max1113(11) 8Cutlass (2D-2) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
12Dave Rillo 1212(10) 8Broadsword (2D), Lt. Xbow (2D)Leather (2)
13Dan Pookie 1311(9) 8MorningStar (2D+1) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
14Dan Gagagore1212(10) 8Broadsword (2D) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
15KevinHacker 1212(10) 8Broadsword (2D) Sm. Sh. (1), Leather (2)
16KevinPschorr 915(13) 8Rapier (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 oneknew where he was.Commissioner Dan made the ruling that if he did not show up by 3 p.m., hismatches would become a bye.Suddenly with 10 minutes before the deadline, he shows up just in time to give his menthe 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 ownersto 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 terrainthat faced them.Once the fighters were joined,the battles became a pushing and shoving match asfighters attempted to push each other into the bottomlesspits.However, no fighter was stupid enough to be suckered into the pits.After all, these were seasoned gladiators who were trainedwell and knew how to fight.

After second round combat,Val's Krak,Dan's Gagagoreand Brian's Barnacleand 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
SeedOwnerFighter Round 1 Quarters Semi Winner
1Doug Ug Ug Krak (+1 DX) BarnacleZ Man
2Paul One Ear
3Andy Wulf Krak
4Val Krak
5KevinHacker Hacker Barnacle (+1 DX)
6Dan Pookie
7Dave Star MaxBarnacle
8BrianBarnacle
9Val Coren Z Man Z Man (+1 DX) Z Man
10BrianZ Man
11KevinPschorr Pschorr
12Doug Ratty
13Andy Pierre Pierre Gagagore (+1 DX)
14Dave Rillo
15Dan GagagoreGagagore
16Paul 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 thefinal blow and killed Krak, much to the cheering crowd's delight.

Melee Gambling
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 by2 for the turn.There was another miss, and finally Z Man put in the killing blow.

Thus Barnacle and Z Man met in the finalmatch.Since Brian owned both fighters, he was a little uneasy about lettinghis two competitors fight each other.However the $5 first prize proved too lucrative to him, andhe opted shamelessly to put money and glory abovehuman life and compassion.The two fighters met, and with 2 blows Z Man reduced Barnacleto 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.

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