Legends of the Cage Update!

Jan 19, 2021 1:52 am

Hello friends!

I'm here with an update on Legends of the Cage, the combat-focused, legacy-building mixed martial arts roleplaying game.

The game has seen dozens of revisions since I prepared the original draft back in November of 2020. In that time, I've patched up several mechanical flaws and expanded the themes of fighter legacy and promoter advancement.

In today's update, I'm going to take you through the big picture and describe what the game is about what the various roles are at the table.

The Big Picture

Legends of the Cage isn't exactly Dungeons & Dragons With Jiu Jitsu. It's more like a large scale fighting league simulation where the game-runner, known as a promoter (closely related to a dungeon master or game master) acts as an omniscient director of events and manager of the game's economy.

They sanction and set up fights, establish and reward fight purses and bonuses, manage the rankings and divisions in the promotion or league, and act as referee during fights when necessary.

In other words, the promoter's job is to make fighting in a league as fun and challenging as possible for everybody.

They, too, will have the ability to participate in fights when necessary by controlling non-player fighters as well as expand the promotion up by "leveling up." (More on the promoter tier system in the future!)

Human players may represent one or many fighters who participate in a promotion. Their goal is simple: win as many fights as possible to amass wealth, glory, and prestige.

Fights are the heart and soul of the game. Fights have to be fun, provide players a good amount of agency and strategy, and also be a little chaotic and unpredictable at times.

The crowd roars to life when a scrappy underdog puts the champ away in the first round with a surprise head kick. Likewise, they cheer like mad at the end of a vicious display of technical prowess that ends in a fierce draw, setting up the likely rematch.

Fights should be fast, energetic, and allow for all styles of play whether that's crunchy numbers min-maxing or poetic "boxing-over-the-radio" action.

There comes a time when every fighter must retire. Upon retirement, fighters may leave a percentage of their accrued wealth to a brand new combatant. As in real MMA, not every fighter will have a decorated and illustrious career. Their hard work should be rewarded regardless.

I'm still working on how this system can expand to include things like fights camps or gyms or family lineages (think American Top Team or the Gracie dynasty). For now, it serves as a way to promote a championship spirit and reward perseverance against all odds.

Next time, we'll talk about the combat mechanics and the flow of combat.

Thanks for joining me and I hope you enjoy the developments as Legends of the Cage continues to come to life.