Human fighting praised as "Pure Win" ( Modernized Gladiator Fighting)

[Lowk]

Inspired by the topic on horse fighting.

If you were to modernize the Roman Gladiator style fights for today what would the conditions be? Take into account things like rules,setting,weapons, marketing ,performance enhancing drugs and reward.

Heres a little back round on the gladiator to get a proper idea of where it came from. There is alot more info out here but seems like all the basics are here Gladiator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please try and take the topic of moral ethics off the table. The ideal Gladiator would be a consenting adult.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Zerai

Definately wouldn't allow anything modern. As society advanced, it just developed ways to kill people quicker. Thats never fun. Allow only bladed/bludgeoning weapons. Any style allowed. Want to use a Katana? Sure. Mace? np. No projectile weaponry, unless you want to throw your weapon..hmm..might have to think on throwing knives. Armor is a little bit different. I'm ok with allowing anything plated/mesh. Want a kevlar vest? sure. Chainmail? np. No mechanized joints however or anything like that. Armor restricts mobility and even modern polymers won't stand up to a spiked mace so thats not a problem.

Allow as much weaponry as they can carry. No restrictions on it though. So if you have a sword on your back and someone knocks you down and jacks it from you, tough shit. Hide daggers under your armor.

Drugs would be difficult. Roid Rage could make some amusing fighting, but I dunno, it might restrict the pool of available people too much. Though it is to the death, so I dunno. Would have to think on that.

Just to get things started

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Kaosu

Would allow any weapon, but the spear (or its relatives). Armor would only be reserved for low-ranking fights, but optional. Fresh gladiator gets drilled on tactics, counter tactics based on their size and attributes for a unspecificied amount of time. Re-occuring gladiators will get better and better training, until they reach peak, which they'll have to either sink or swim by themselves in order to stay afloat.

There will be different stages for different seasons in order to keep things fresh.
Only high profile fights will be arena based, while off-ranking or mid-ranking fights will fight on different terrain, in order to add a different element to boost viewership ratings and to 'spice' things up.

Criminals would be allowed to fight in order to exchange limited freedom, depending on the severity of their crimes. Call it a alternative option to parole.

Just some thoughts.

yup

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Lowk

Ya know drug use didn't cross my mind till you brought it up. But i think that would be the modernization of the fight. Pump These guys with steroids and whatever performance enhancing drugs they can get a hold of. Then let them smoke a shit ton of PCP before the fight. Think about why does this have to follow traditional sporting event rules when meaningful thing you walk away from the fight with is your life. Shit would get out of control in the amount of pain they could take and damage they would do. I mean out of control in the best way possible btw

yup

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Darph

Why no spears? While they are an excellent medium range weapon, they are absolutely useless up close. Parry, then charge.

No throwing is an interesting idea, but what if someone does it anyways? Kills the other dude? THEN what? It'll happen, people'd rather cheat than lose, and much rather cheat than DIE.

last one

[Zerai]

No idea why no Spear. It's a very limited weapon. Great for range but it can become snared very easy (which would be really bad if you had group fights) as well as the shaft being a good target for grappling. Also once it's parried it leaves you wide open unless you have multiple weapons (duel wield).

I like the idea of having the weapons/armor be controlled by the arena as opposed to the players. Such as you specify what you want in a weapon and they supply it. Cuts off cheating.

#1 thing to consider is the highest paid people in the arena are not the commentators and such, but the controllers of the weaponry. Last thing you'd want is people 'donating' to have things rigged. X-Ray all weapons/armor before entering the ring.

And I'm using this thread because yours was just poorly thought out Vatoreus, sorry~

[Jubee]

Allow spears unless it's Donnie Yen fighting. Then it's just not fair.

I'd like to start the "no armor" bandwagon. It's the same reason NFL fights are stupid and lame. I don't want to see a sword deflect off of a helmet. I want to see that fucker get owned. I could see a bracer or something but I also don't want to see 2 guys in full plate bouncing weapons off of each other for a hour.

And lets get in some goddamn jousting. I don't care if the Knight of Flowers is a faggot, I wanna see him fuck the Mountain up.

[Gahid]

If you introduce steroids into it the whole game is different. Obviously a huge 300lb pure muscle freak is going to want to use different weaponry than a normal person.

Stupid thread makes me stupid.

[GaliemVaelant]

Would allow any melee weaponry in a set agreed upon by the combatants, before the event. Combatants would be told which weapon is chosen by their opponent and would get one chance to choose a different weapon. Combatants would not be told whether their opponent took the opportunity to change weapons. If one combatant goes in unarmed, then all must do so, but weapons would be hidden in the arena. Armor would be allowed, but either the chest or head of all combatants must remain unarmored.

*Fixed

[Lowk]

Without at least a limited amount of armor fighting with any sharp or blunt weapon the fight will realistically be over within seconds.

[Gahid]

Um, galient, everyone would choose a spork as their first weapon and then their real weapon. Your rules suck.

[Zerai]

No Armor is an interesting choice. I think it could be an interesting tradeoff if you limit older style armor. Think about it. There is a reason most of the top end shooters in NHL don't use visors. It limits your vision. Armor is also heavy. So a longer fight, people wearing armor will be more tired. To use your example, think of the later fight with the mountain with the red viper. He was wearing heavy armor but his mobility was terrible, and the fight changed drastically towards the end (despite the finish, that was just his own damn fault for gloating).

Or the knight fight in the castle of the woman with the sickly kid (yeah, vague eh, I read it like 5 years ago, I can't remember it really). Same deal.

[Zuuljin]

I dont think it would work. I really dont think anyone of any real skill would actually participate unless it was someone who's in jail for life and really has nothing to live for. Why would someone with extreme weapon skill, who trained all of their life, go into a battle they may or may not come out alive from?

Take any fighting sport, and I bet you can name on one hand all the people who have gone undefeated. Noone would live long enough to be a "star" in the ring. This isn't the movies. In a battle like this, even the best in the world are bound to make a mistake, and when they do, their dead. With how quickly battles would be over, you would have to go through an insane amount of people just to make it worth your time. How awesome would it be to go to the main event, spend an hour driving there, pay $100 for a ticket, wait for the event, then its over in 5 seconds because the first guy tripped. Ok time to go home! Not. You'd have to have 4-5 battles just to make it through an hour, and at that rate, you'll run out of people to fight in no time.

Back then they had a near unlimited supply of people since they put people in there against their will, but signing up people to voluntarily do this, you wouldn't get near enough people to keep it going.


IMO, a better fight would be pure hand-to-hand, but with absolutely no rules. The first person to get knocked out/tap out loses. And I mean no rules at all. Kick to the groin, breaking arms/legs, throat punches, eye gouges etc etc. That way people still get fucked up, you can see who the best fighter is without being restricted in any way, shape or form, and the people dont die afterwords, so once their broken bones heal, or their eye grows back, they can return to the ring to fight again.

Thats one reason why I dont like MMA or UFC. I feel that as raw as it is, its still too restrictive to really show off who the best fighter is. People always say "Would Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris dominate the (insert style here)?" and the answer is unknown, because in a real fight, you use things you cant use in the televised fights. But put them in a real street fight sort of situation, and who knows, they just might.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Zuuljin

I dont think it would work. I really dont think anyone of any real skill would actually participate unless it was someone who's in jail for life and really has nothing to live for. Why would someone with extreme weapon skill, who trained all of their life, go into a battle they may or may not come out alive from?

If you make the prize of winning great enough you will find a endless stream of people willing to put their lives on the line. What if the top prize was something along the line of notoriety around the world on the level of George Bush or a epic Rock Star, or if you could offer anything to that person on a monetary level. Basically say everything you ever wanted is free now. If i was a murderer on death row a chance to win my freedom going against the odds would be good enough for me. With fame and money also come Bitches, if you were famous and endless bank account the potential of all the sex you could have I could see being a factor in fighting for the death. Just some extreme prize options i guess....

[Jubee]

Think of the buy rates. I've never once ordered a PPV but I'd pay to see a Gladiator style event. Paying $50 to watch 2 Mexicans poke at each other with gloves on is stupid. Paying $100 to watch 2 assholes swing flails at each other is very awesome.