ARENA HELP
What is the Arena ?
Game system
Turns and actions
Fighting an opponent
Battle tactics
Gaining levels
FAQ
What is the Arena ?
Arena is a free web game, where you roleplay medieval warriors in a fantasy world of battles and tournaments.
The game is turn-based, and will generate one turn an hour, with a real world hour being a game hour. You are allowed one action per turn for each of your characters.
An action can be a single duel, a tournament phase, a visit to a shop or a tavern (or clinic !), a training, ... You can also bet on fighters engaged in battles.
Characters will mostly be ranked by fame (their legend), but also level, experience, or titles earned in tournaments.
Each user create up to 5 characters, but they will remain independant, not sharing treasure or objects.
Game system
The roleplaying game system used in the Arena is basically Earthdawn, published by FASA. You can find most of the races (with the being replaced by the Halfling), the attributes, the combat and talents principles. However it has been adapted to suit a turn-by-turn environment, and the "disciplines" have been replaced by Careers. You start with an initial career, and along your progress you may decide to switch to a more advanced career, like in the Warhammer rpg system.
Turns and actions
A turn will be generated once every hour. One world hour is one game hour. There is no day and night cycle yet.
Each character can perform one action each turn. An action can be going to the shop buying a weapon, fighting in the tavern or in the arena, studying a new tactic... Most actions require only one hour (one turn), but some will be longer and take a few hours, or even a few days.
Fighting an opponent
When you go inside the tavern, you have the option of trying to provoke another character into a fight. Select one of the characters and click Provoke. You can give a turn at which you want the fight to happen.
The other character is not forced to enter the fight though. He has to accept it, and then be present at the time the fight should occur. If he refuses the fight, or does not show up (or you do not show up), nothing happens at this time.
If the fight is set up some time in advance, other characters will be able to bet on either of the fighters.
When you enter a tournament, fights are setup in advance, and adversaries decided by fate. The fight is supposed to occur at the planned time. You may decide not to show up, as for a tavern brawl.
Battle tactics
The difference between the fight winner and the loser may be decided by sheer force or size of weapons, but it will mostly be decided by the battle tactic used. A tactic is a set of predetermined reactions when your character faces known situations during the fight.
Each character can train any number of tactics, but will study and use only one for a given fight. Of course, a tactic has to be trained and studied some time before the fight. You can change and tweak a tactic to adapt it to an opponent, or to make it more effective.
In order to be able to create a new tactic, you must master some talent, and know about regular battle situations and reactions. You will learn them in the school or the tactic center, in the city. Learning anything also takes time that you will need to allocate before training the tactic itself, and studying it.
Once you know some situations and talents, enter the tactic center and create a tactic. Enter a name for it, then, for each condition you set up, you can select a reaction. When you select a talent in the condition field, this means you will react when your adversary uses this precise talent. For instance, if you select Battle Shout, the condition will be fulfilled whenever your adversary tries to use the talent Battle Shout.You can set up a number of condition/reaction equal to the number of talents you master at this time. If you master three talents, you can set small tactics with three conditions and three associated reactions. When your character evolves, he will learn new talents and thus be able to define more complex tactics.
During a fight, at each round, the conditions are searched through from top to bottom. When a condition is fulfilled, the search is stopped and the corresponding reaction is started. You should then preferably put the more common conditions at the bottom, where they will not cloud up rare ones.
An exception to this rule is the "default" condition : when this condition is found in the tactic during the search, all reactions linked to the "default situation" are gathered, and one is picked up randomly whenever the default condition is met. For example, if you have three talents linked to the default condition, whenever it is met during a fight, one of these three talents will be randomly chosen and used.
Gaining levels
All characters can reach level (or circle) 20 currently.
You gain legend points (experience) after each combat where you harmed your opponent. The experience earned is proportional to the power of the opponent, and to the quantity of damage you achieved. When your experience reaches the required limit, you access a new circle.
At each new circle, the experience you gathered to reach this circle is available to learn new skills and talents. You can learn them in the school. The cost is linked to the rank you will reach in the talent.
FAQ
What should I do first ?
How do I create a character ?
How do I play ?
What should I do first ?
First, I'd like any player to register to the site :) This is not a game step, but you wont access the Arena otherwise. Its very simple, click on Login in the top menu, fill in the "new user" part and click on register. You will receive a password to be used to login to the site. You can login afterwards and change your password at any time on the same page. Access the game by clicking on Arena in the top title.Step 1 Create a character : go on the Character page, and select the option to create. The process is very straightforward and classical. When the character is alive, you can access the other parts, Town and StoryStep 2 Any action you make is linked to a visit or a selection on the town map. Click around, enter the shops, have a look !Step 3 Current actions you can do include buying equipment -in shops- and fighting other characters -in the arena or the tavern-, try them out !
How do I create a character ?
Its simple, head on to the page Character. If you have none, your only option is to create one. If you have one or more already, the link to create another one is at the bottom of the page. You are limited to five characters per user.
Creating a character is quite fast : choose a race, a starting carreer, then enter a name. You also have to decide of his initial attributes. Depending on the race, there is limitations and bonuses.
How do I play now ?
Once you have selected a character, you can decide his futures actions. Head to the town, where you will wander most of the time. When you enter a building, its services are proposed to you. There are shops to buy weapons, armors, a tavern to meet and fight, a school to learn new talents... Click on them to enter, then select your action, or go back to the town.
Each action is written in your planning, on a specific time. Most actions require only one hour, but some can take longer, like recovering from a fight for instance. When you choose to buy a weapon, for example, you can choose to do it as soon as possible (in the next hour), or some time in the future. Simply enter the time where you want your character to go buy that weapon. Check your planning to see what you are going to do next.
Updated 20th 09/2000