Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : MEL_191.ZIP
Filename : MELEE.DOC

Melee!

First, the burning questions: "What is MELEE?" and "Where did it come
from?" and "How did you get here?"

And the answers:

In the early 2000s, shortly after the turn of the century, MELEE was
originally known as the "Sport of Felons." Late in the 1990s, American soc-
iety realized that rehabilitation of hardened criminals--murderers, sociopaths,
rapists and child molesters--was a waste of time, effort and money. By that
time so many people had become victims of serious crime that the expression
"criminals' rights" was almost an extinct term. Then capitalism stepped into
the picture, offering a solution which benefitted everyone to the problem of
overcrowded jails.
Gladiatorial combat as a spectator sport was re-introduced after
eighteen hundred years of dormancy. Convicts who volunteered to enter the
arena stood a chance to win, if they could survive long enough to enjoy it,
assignment to the relative freedom of "The Island," a man-made, floating
isle of 430 acres, anchored several miles off the coast of New Hampshire.
Once there, the only authority the felons had to endure was that which they
implemented themselves--something which made it a highly desirable objective.
While there was no escape from The Island, there was no government or super-
vision either.
It was only a short time before MELEE became bigger business for
bookies than horse racing, dog racing and organized sport combined. Once that
point had been reached it was only another small step before literally every-
one realized there was too much money in MELEE to limit participation to
criminals. At that time limited openings were made for those of the general
public who thought they could live long enough to collect fame and fortune.
It was the perfect answer to a society where life had become so
controlled, so safe, that only death sports could satisfy the publics need
for excitement. For those tired of the psuedo-violence of television's
mediocre programming and bored by the limited "combat" of traditional sports,
MELEE was made to order. In 1997, those who spilled other's blood got executed;
in 2007, they were worshipped.

Now, in the year 2112, MELEE is run by the U.S. Government and the
Warriors' Guild.

To a man (or woman), Gladiators are members of the Warrior' Guild--
a very limited society which has accumulated the knowledge of the ages with
regard to the martial arts. There are only two ways to get into the Guild,
aside from being convicted of a heinous crime. These are by birth, since any
child born to a Warrior becomes a charge of the Guild until his or her
eighteenth birthday (unless they fail the aptitude tests administered at at
the age of fifteen, at which point the failures are refused further training
and put out into the dreariness of the commoners' world), and by being drawn
via a bi-annual lottery.

The Guild has complete authority over who may fight whom, who shall
televise it, and what the winner shall receive. It keeps fights honest, and
ensures that a Blood Match Challenge issued from a low-ranked Warrior toward a
Warrior of more status is never refused without dire penalty. Warriors
who fail to meet such challenges are stripped of their title and fame and
cast out into the streets, there to survive as best they can amid the certain
public derision their cowardice has earned them.

You have been accepted into the Guild. With the membership will come
responsibilities, dues, and other costs which will be made known to you as
they come due. Also come the benefits, among which can be listed: Fame (for
the skilled), Wealth (for the victorious), Excitement, and the Thrill of
besting an opponent on the hot sands of the Arena, in front of hundreds of
thousands of screaming, adoring worshippers.
This is no sport for the stupid, or the clumsy. Every attribute you
possess will need to be maximized if you hope to be victorious in the Arena.
You will need Strength, both to wield your weapon and to bear your armor with-
out being slowed down; Agility and Dexterity, to give you the quickness to
evade another's attack and to launch your own attacks with accuracy; Intelli-
gence, so you can profit from your training faster than your competitors;
Charisma, as it can be the difference between the crowds giving your opponent
the "thumbs up" or the "thumbs down" if he ever gets you down on the sand and
defenseless. You will need to develop your civilization-dulled Awareness, to
you can detect the minor clues which telegraph an enemy's actions; too, you
must build your Endurace, so you can press the attack without tiring too
rapidly, and enhance your ability to withstand pain, so you can continue to
fight long after a weaker Warrior would have collapsed to the sands.
You will need to develop Weapons Skill, and Blocking, Parrying, and
Countering Skills. You will have to select Weapons Proficiencies, and then
learn to excel with your chosen weapon. You will have to select a terrain

proficiency, such as the Beam, or the Mud Pit, or The Cage, since not all
combats take place on the Arena Sands, and anyone who challenges you to a
Blood Match Challenge will have to fight you on the terrain you choose.
You will have to decide what you want out of your armor: protection, or
lightness and speed. You will have to decide how much time you spend training,
and how much you spend fighting on the sands, and how much gold you spend in
hiring the weapons and armor smiths to improve your equipment, as compared to
how much you spend on advanced training and self-enhancement. And all along
you have to retain sight of the goal: to be the best in the nation.

In MELEE, if you fight your way to the top of your own Arena, you will
get a chance to journey to other Arenas, there to fight the Warriors of other
Guilds, in other cities. And throughout your journeys, you will acquire fame
as long as you keep winning, and you will become recognized for your exploits.
And, if you're good enough to become the best of the best, you may even make
it into the national Hall of Fame, compiled of the most famous Warriors to
ever grace the Arena. Then, even after you've aged and retired (or died) your
name will live on, a Hero to a people for whom life's only excitement was
watching you triumph in the most lethal sport ever invented.

The Equipment.
In the following paragraphs, the equipment in MELEE is described for the
uninitiated. Each item of equipment has numerous facets by which it can be
compared to like pieces. Aside from cost (or value), the most important
global variable is Quality. The wise Warrior will always strive to improve
the quality of his equipment, even though at times it's an expensive propo-
sition. Few things are more disheartening, or potentially fatal, than having
one's weapon shatter beneath the blow of a superior weapon....

Equipment Abbreviations.
When you go to purchase a weapon, you will be shown a table which contains
valuable information about each piece of equipment. The information displayed
can go a long way toward helping you, the Warrior-trainee, in selecting the
weapon, armor, shield, or helm that best suits you. A little deduction will
help a lot in figuring out what the abbreviations mean, but for those to whom
deduction does not easily come, the following list of abbreviations are
provided.
Weapons: WS = Weapon Speed WIM = Weapon Initiaitive Modifier
WW = Weapon Weight WDM = Weapon Damage Modifier
WQ = Weapon Quality WPM = Weapon Parry Modifier
WC = Weapon Cost WB = Weapon Balance

Armor: AQ = Armor Quality AF = Armor Fit
AS = Armor Shape ABC = Armor Body Cover Value
AW = Armor Weight AAC = Armor Arm Cover Value
AB = Armor Bonus ALC = Armor Leg Cover Value
AC = Armor Cost

Shields: SQ = Shield Quality SS = Shield Shape
SB = Shield Bonus SW = Shield Weight
SC = Shield Cover Value

Helms: HQ = Helm Quality HS = Helm Shape
HB = Helm Bonus HW = Helm Weight
HC = Helm Cover Value

With perserverence, many of the qualities inherent in a piece of
equipment can be improved, oftimes to the point where a weakness can be
completely neutralized. The result can be a piece of armor whose qualities
are almost unrecognizable in comparison to its off-the-shelf values. Your
only limits are your imagination.... and time.... (few people want to go into
the Arena while their armor, or weapon, is in the shop being enhanced, eh?)

The Weapons.
Everything that the ancients ever learned about the art of weaponsmithing
has been revived now that there is again a call for weapons of exquisite
quality.
Among MELEE afficionados, weapons are described in absolute variables and
relative variables. Absolute variables are those which can be referenced by a
common measurement. These include Weight, and Cost/Value. The relative
variables are much more important to the Warrior who is fighting for his life
on the Arena sands. The relative variables are those whose value is relative
to a hypothetical "average" weapon. If a weapon is less effective than this
hypothetical average weapon, then it is assigned a negative value, and con-
versely, if the weapon is above average in a particular area, then it receives
a positive rating. The relative variables are weapon speed, initiative
modifier, damage modifier, quality, balance, parry modifier, and the to-hit
modifier.
In order to clear this up for the novice, we'll examine a two-handed
sword. At purchase, the sword can be assumed to do more damage than a long
sword, due to its greater weight and leverage, but it will also be slower.
It's lack of speed will also probably give it a negative rating in the area
of balance, initiative, and to-hit advantages. It is up to the Warrior to
determine what he wants out of his weapon. The speed factor is the only one
which never receives negative values. With speed, a lower value indicates a
faster weapon!
It must be noted that with the wonders of modern day technology, the
weaknesses inherent in a particular weapon of average quality can be more than
compensated for, if the Warrior can afford to commission the best smiths in
the land. Indeed, with enough time and money spent on a weapon, one might be
able to hone a two-handed sword to the point where it is superior in all ways
to an average quality long sword.

The Armor.
Armor is rated based upon a number of qualities. Most important among
these are overall quality, fit, shape (armor must be continually repaired in
order to remain serviceable), weight, body/shoulder protection, arm protection,
and leg protection.

The Helm.
Head protection is imperative, and a wise Warrior will protect his head
as soon as he can afford to buy a helm. Helms are rated based on their quality,
shape (they an oft-times take a beating!), weight, and how well they protect
the head.

The Shield.
For the Warrior who choose a one-handed weapon, a shield is a wise invest-
ment. Shields are rated simply on their quality (which determines how long the
shield holds together before its hacked to pieces), weight, and how much they
protect (usually a function of size, although weight can play a part of this).
It is often said that a good sword is something that can be passed down through
the generations, from father to son; but a man can count himself lucky if his
shield lasts through a single drawn-out battle....