xgotghrrl Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Yep you read that correctly. To give some detail, I'm currently running a champions game set during the current Olympic games. I need to come up with an Exhibition Team Sport being put on by the resident Aliens in my game universe: The Pleidian Planetary Alliance. I want something low tech, something that humans would actually be able to play. The alien version of Soccer, Volleyball, or Lacross. A team sport most def. I have a working concept but need some suggestions on fleshing it out and making it more interesting and exciting. Trigonometry: An arena game set on a multi-level mirror image field. The object of the game is to get a discus like object (Not a frisbee) into your opponents goal. However you must do so by making a bank shot of some kind. There are 5 players on each team, four runners and one guard. And that's all I have at the moment. Any suggestions? Love Always Xgoth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport Does the game have to be playable by the PCs? I'm not sure that I could design that well enough. Also, a bit more detail on what exactly the "multi-level mirror image field" looks like would help. One idea I have borrows from a Philip Jose Farmer novel: teleportation gates. There are paired gates on each level and/or side of the field, through which players can move from one to the other, and through which they can pass the disc. To score on the opposing goal, the player has to shoot the disc through one of these paired gates so that it comes out the other - hence your "bank shot." You could make the field divisions transparent so that players on one side or level can follow the action on the other, and see when and where to make a shot. Possible variations include making the gates mobile so that they shift around the field, and requiring the shot on the goal on one level or side be made through a gate on the other. (I know you wanted to avoid high-tech, but the game itself doesn't have to be - just the field.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport I don't remember the author, but in a series in Analog an alien species played a game they called Bagdrag. Played by three teams on a hexagonal field, the "ball" is a stuffed sack, too heavy to be lifted by a single player. Each team has a goal, and dragging the bag over their goal line gets two points. Or two teams may cooperate, and drag the ball accross the line connecting their goals for one point each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport Quiddich from the Harry Potter books would easily be converted to an alien sport. Just make the various balls (Quaffles, bludger, golden snitch) operate via antigrav with computerized controls. You could also put the game on the ground and eliminate the broomsticks by lowering the goals. Call it "Chiddiq." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupus Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport Another option - go low-tech. Let the spectators see the cunning of minds instead of technology, since they prolly spend their own lives surrounded by that stuff. Low-tech's often also easier to follow - too much multi-level stuff and the terrain gets in the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koshka Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport One thing that occured to me is making bank shots worth more points. A novice at the game can do direct throws, they're legal, but you only get one point. Someone who's trained at the game will be going for two-bank or three-bank shots and scoring 4 or 6 points (respectively) per goal. It would be something like American football -- it is theoretically possible to win a game if your team only scores safeties (2 points). It is much more likely that you'll win if your team is scoring touchdowns (7 points). I can't think of too many coaches who would turn down the chance to score a safety, but what they're trying for is a touchdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport Maybe the location you shoot from makes a differance so you can combine "king of the hill" with b-ball...and have that football style of variable value scores....though to fit the genera the game should embody the values of the alien society, so what is the alien society like? What qualitys do they value? For example football puts toughness, teamwork and sacrifice on a pedistal.....baseball puts skill, paticence and precesion...basketball values individual ability, teamwork and explosiveness.....so....what do the aliens value...I seem to remember "bagdrag" being a sport practiced by herbovore herd aliens so team work and self sacrifice were big values of "the game".... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport THought some more about this and had a funny idea...the aliens value self sacrifice and stoic endurance so the game is part king of the hill and to "score you grab and hold extreamly hot cauldrins above your waist the longer you stand the pain and suffer injury the more points. The strategy comes in as how bad an injury to suffer...a more serious injury is more points but if you are too badly injured you leave your team short handed for the king of the hill portion....what to do, what to do......It Might be hard to interest the heros in playing but hey it all in the interest of diplomacy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorWandering 1 Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport I would suggest starting by asking what purpose the Game, hereafter known as skeeball, will have in your game? Will the fate of the universe hang on the result of a do or die skeeball contest or is skeeball more window-dressing say in a gangster story where a star player is being blackmailed to throw the game? Answering this question will determine how detailed you need to be and where you need to focus. If it's window dressing then you need to focus on how the game looks and it's 'alien' nature. If it's poviotal and the players will have an active part in the game (and if it's pivitol to the plot, they should have controll) then you have to get detailed. I wouyld say that the players do nor NEED all the detailed rules but they do need enough to get on with. If it were cricket they would need to know how runs are scored and when to leave the field but they would not need to know all the complexities of the Leg before wicket rule. If yoiu want to get detailed i recommened finding a little known sport and 'alienizing' it. Example take the current sport of team handball and have the players play while riding alien beasts. The best example in print that i can think of it the way Jasper Fford transforms croquet into a contact sport. The game is familiar enough for the reader to picture what is happening but just strange enought to keep you off balance. I think this same familiar/off balance feeling would translate well to a game. Could you tell us something about the aliens and the culture that 'skeeball' comes out of? Do they have capeabilities byond those humans? Imagine how soccer or basketball would change if it was being played by 2 hiveminds or if the players were from a cyborg race where specialized parts could be swapped out in response to the other sides stratagey. I also recommend taking a look on the web at a game called "brainball". This real game involves a ball that moves twords your opponents goal based on how relaxed your mind is. Team brainball would look quite alien. Well that was my $.02. I hope it was usefull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport How about having the discus event on a Mobius strip or a tesseract (sp)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost who Walks Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport You could also take sports from Earth's past, and "reinvent" them, for aliens Examples of ancient sports, that somehow aren't in the olympics... ~Chariot racing ~most real equestrian games ~jousting ~combat sports that are no longer practiced. We still have archery as a n event, but where are the quarterstaffs? Just plain wierd ideas ~a strategy game, similar to chess. The players are the pieces, and must battle for squares. ~Basketball (or any other "ball" game), with the ball controlled psionicly (either telepathy or telekinesis) ~Boxing on trampolines (obscure Prisoner reference) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchman Posted September 28, 2004 Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport I like Bagdrag, and I have an idea for it. Instead of trying to drag the bag to your goal, the object could be to drag it over an opponents goal, thereby making them lose points. The goal would be to score the fewest points by getting the bag over other teams goals while keeping it the hell away from yours. This would encourage co-operation between teams even more. It could also be combined with the regular method (drag it onto an enemies goal, or your goal, and score points, two teams working together score half as much) where you are dragging the bag onto your goal to score points, onto enemies goals to make them lose points, and it would turn into a chaotic mess. Also, though not appropriate for what you are looking for, is Blood Bowl, a game produced by the same people who make warhammer. Think football with Orcs. And knives. And Dwarven Deathrollers. And Trolls....I could go on. I had to bring up Blood Bowl, since it has worked so well in my fantasy games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapsedgamer Posted September 28, 2004 Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport Watch the movie Blood of Heroes with Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen. I have always liked the movie, though it had a really low budget. It's set in a post-holocaust world, and they play a pretty violent game that's a cross between lacrosse, football and a bar fight. It is probably a lot like the Blood Bowl concept the guy before me mentioned. I don't know if you want any contact in the game you are working on, but there were some ideas in the movie that might be useful to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted September 28, 2004 Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 Re: Help me create an Alien Arena Sport over on the traveller boards we had a really warped idea a high tech version of Quidditch played on Speeder Bikes like from Return of the Jedi the snitch being one of the little combat drones Luke trained against in Star Wars. the blodgers could be larger drones also having a snitch that can defend itself would make things more interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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