NPCs in Kung-Fu Tournaments

[cyst13]

I'm running a game soon for a single player. His martial artist PC will enter a multi-party kung-fu tournament. In the last round, 8 martial artists are tossed into an arena. Last man standing wins.

Question: What is the best way to decide what happens to the NPCs that are not currently fighting the PC. I figure that only one or two of the NPCs will fight the PC to start; the remaining 5-6 NPCs will be fighting each other. But short of actually gaming out fights between NPCs (which would be quite dull for the player), how should I decide which NPCs are still standing (and what their condition is) by the time the PC gets to fight them?

[lemming]

Re: NPCs in Kung-Fu Tournaments

 

Originally posted by cyst13

how should I decide which NPCs are still standing (and what their condition is) by the time the PC gets to fight them?

Which ones do you want to win? What works best story wise? Is there any subplot involved?

[cyst13]

So, essentially just rig it. Is there a good way of doing it that allows the element of chance? I was thinking I might game the fights myself before meeting with my player, record what happens at each phase, and then let the PC enter into the fray whenever he gets clear of his initial opponent(s).

Also, how should presence attacks work in a tournament like this. Is it reasonable for a PC to attempt a presence attack to discourage a particular NPC from fighting him. Could the PC use a persuasion-based presence attack (perhaps with appropriate interaction skill) to form temporary alliances within the arena; hoping to stave off fighting a certain NPC till the end?