More character development-driven thread here, this thread’s focusing on the action.

This is the sixth Arena thread bah gawd.

Alright, this is gonna be a bit wordy, but don’t worry, most of it is just me clarifying rules, and adding Examples of Play to help people out a bit.

What is the Arena?

I’m gonna put it quick: The Arena is basically pretend fights online. You put on an Avatar, throw them/it into the thread, and have them fight other avatars to see who comes out on top. Simple dumb fun, worked for over six years, and many more if we count the countless other forums that have similar threads (we ain’t the first, people!)

So getting on with it, The Rules.

• Standard TV Tropes rules apply! I can’t control what will happen if you break these, and most of them apply here anyway (etiquette and such.)
• Play as your avatar. It’s simply easier for everyone to assume your avatar is who you’re playing as, as it should be. While it’s a big big pet peeve of mine, it’s also honestly not THAT severe of an offense, so at most, if someone repeats this countless times, a stern little reminder might be given.
• Be reasonable. If your character’s likely going to take a hit, let him take a hit, please. If Bob Sagat’s getting shot at by a machine gun, he’s PROBABLY gonna take a bullet or two even if its nonlethal. Example: Steve Austin lost track of Geese Howard in the middle of a fight, when Geese suddenly comes up with a kick to the back of the head. In all fairness, it's pretty unlikely Steve’s gonna see it coming, unless Geese gives a warcry beforehand, or another indicator of his presence.
• Ghosting and Autohitting. This is when you either dodge attacks continuously to the point of ridiculousness, or write posts as if your attack is absolutely guaranteed to hit. While normally a pretty easy to understand rule, sometimes there’s a bit of confusion. Let’s take the move Aerial Ace from Pokémon for example. Ingame, it never misses, no matter how evasive the enemy is. Instead, of that, however, you could write that the Pokemon using the move is instead “slicing at an incredible speed”. Still highly likely to hit, but it gives room for the character to dodge if they’re able to. As for ghosting, sometimes characters might do a thing where they turn invincible, example being the Medic and whoever he’s paired with’s Ubercharge. For this, I’d say decide on a post limit for how long it lasts, and don’t abuse it.
• Original Characters: I’m not gonna be super hard on this one, but I’m not gonna be as lenient as before. If you wanna play an OC, notify me first. I promise myself that I won’t abuse this myself, either, since I’ll likely be playing OCs here myself.
• The Fourth Wall Rule: The fourth wall’s always had a bit of negative history in the Arena, but I think I’m gonna be a bit lenient with it in this generation. If you want to have a character who is already an established “wall breaker” character make a quick little remark on the “Almighty nerds who run this showbiz”, go ahead. If this gets out of hand and people start using it to give these characters advantages (Example: Deadpool is facing off against Crocodile. Deadpool suddenly looks at a wiki page to learn that Crocodile is weak to water, before tossing a bucket of the stuff at him.), there will be consequences and I might have to tighten this rule. If anybody uses this to complain about other players unironically, there will be a full ban on this.
• Character Balancing: I’m not gonna make people unable to play characters they like for whatever reason, but if you’re worried that a character might be TOO powerful, message me! We can work out checks and balances together. Example: Bigg Kok 9001 wants to play Superman, but he’s concerned that he might be a bit too busted for the Arena (which, well, he’s right by a wide margin). He messages me, and we work out a few checks and balances to make him a fair character.
• Character Bans: Please no religious figures, unless it’s either a fictional representation (many Shin Megami Tensei characters, as an example), or a sillier take on somebody else (Jesus Christ, except he’s ripped and has guns and smokes, or stuff like that). If, however, you abuse this to soapbox, or even intentionally try to piss off other people about something (Jesus Christ except he’s an insane normal man who gets put down easily), I will restrict this rule further. No one likes a bigot. Characters who fight in an explicitly sexual manner will also be banned. This includes stuff such as Senran Kagura characters, unless you ignore the “they get stronger with less clothes” thing and just play them with their other abilities. I wanna keep this at a relatively low level in terms of sexual themes. When it comes to gore and such though, go nuts.
• Gun Laws: You may only carry a firearm large enough to not be able to be concealed in one’s clothing no this isn't britain. If you’re playing a character that can easily tank attacks that aren’t excessively powerful, then at least let them take SOME damage from those things in this thread. I’m using guns as an example, because it’s a good one. Say John Rambo is fighting off against Goku. In Dragon Ball, characters far weaker than Goku can take bullets without flinching, so for fairness sake, reduce the durability to a semi-reasonable standpoint. You don’t have to have your normally invincible character die to a single pistol shot, but it’s gonna ‘’hurt’’ still.
• Entry “Rule”: This isn’t a rule so much as a suggestion, but if there’s a fight going on, and you wanna jump in, don’t have your entry post be “My Character comes in and attacks Your Character.” Instead, try something more like this: “Quote appears in the Arena, looking around confused a bit, until he sees Reaper maniacally laughing as he shoots at Kirby. Readying his gun, he rushes to assist the puffball.” This helps get your character involved, and gives the other players an opportunity to react to the new guy.
• Mind control! This is a really fun and interesting idea, but it can also be abused. So if you wanna have your character possess someone and make them do something they wouldn’t otherwise, try having some sort of “inner battle” type deal. The exception, of course, is if the player allows it to go through easily anyway.
• This one’s more a suggestion, but I’ve seen this issue crop up anyway. If you’re playing a sniper character, an interesting move I recommend is to give the other players a warning that something is off. A strange glint in the distance, an odd red dot moving around, or even, the sniper takes a shot, but either misses or grazes. This makes a sniper fight go from horrible one-sided to far more entertaining. Now the sniper has to be on the move to keep his target from closing in, while the other character is now aware that someone is after their head, and has to stop them without being taken out by the next shot.
• If the setting allows it, nameless NP Cs may be used as simple props (if you want a psycho murderer to start a fight by murdering innocents, go ahead. If you wanna have someone drain another NPC’s life to get a little energy back, go ahead, within reason of course.) Of course, if this is abused, I might have to remove this, but that’s unlikely to happen.

• Bosses: These are mostly gonna be GM controlled, but if a player really wants to try their hand at playing a boss-like character, gimme a ring. I’ll go over these at a later time. Don’t expect to see them very often.

• Looting. This has never really been a concern in the Arena, so to make it quick: If a character dies, another is allowed to take their stuff, with permission from the player. A character respawns with their stuff if they haven’t been played for a little bit, but if the character respawns immediately after, try playing around with them not having their toys, might be fun.

• If a player has been absent for long enough that the action stalls out significantly, feel free to continue on without them and have your character do something else. Preferable wait time is a full 24 hours.

• no nukes pls

The current setting is a simple freeform city in the modern era. Settings change when a significant number of players want a new setting, and a vote is held on what setting that is. This should take a week or two, which realistically translates to months, but I won’t stop action during the vote. But first, we need to talk about parallel universes.

If anybody has any questions, lemme know. Without further ado…

[1]

edited 13th Jul '17 10:11:23 PM by Trip

Hello! I'm that guy from the spinoff thread that founded the Avatar Tournament! I'll be happy to join this thread and stick to it this time.

A blinding light appears in the middle of a city. As it grows larger, it begins to form into the shape of a man. The light finally fades away, leaving Ryu to ponder his surroundings.

edited 20th Dec '16 2:44:35 PM by Awesomewade

I usually play as ocs, is there a place I should ask about them or should I just PM about it?

There's a small flash as what looks like a catgirl appears in the middle of the street.

Either or

A small girl appears. She's got dark hair with red-highlights, a red dress with a hood, and a scythe.

Iron Man lands near the rest, and flips down his visor. He also has... Captain America's shield!?

It's canon until the next movie, so I'm using the concept now even though he'll never do it in the movies.

-Meanwhile, a man in blood-soaked green armor appears in an otherworldly flash-

This Doomguy is from Brutal Doom, by the way

A small vehicle carrying a water tank drives towards the arena. From the tank, a creature the size of a watermelon leaps out. A slimy, orange watermelon with tentacles. And a party hat. He reaches out from the inside of the truck to grab his sack...

So this is basically my OC, Party Octopus (nicknamed Party). I'll PM more about him later.

edited 20th Dec '16 6:20:19 PM by anza_sb

-...And is immediately greeted with a shotgun blast from the marine-

Caitlyn (the girl form earlier) is still here. When the Marine shoots at the octopus she yelps and covers her ears.

"!!! What the heck?!"

"Whoa, dude! It's just an octopus!"

Iron Man charges up his wrist laser and fires at the marine.

Party quickly dodged with his sack, leaving the truck full of dents. One of his tentacles is now leaking blue blood, though. Retaliating, he pulled out a firework shot from his sack and fired it at Doomguy.

I already PM'd Trip about this, but I might as well be posting it here for clarity's sake: Party can extend his tentacles, has good reflexes, can stay on land for up to 15 mins, and has a wide knowledge of partying, dances and karaoke songs. Party's sack is full of party supplies, like fireworks (dozens of 'em), firecrackers, a paintball gun, a paddleball and some snacks.

edited 20th Dec '16 6:47:33 PM by anza_sb

-The marine pumps the rack and sprints - backwards - into an alleyway. He sidesteps the firework, but in the process Tony's wrist laser hits his chestpiece-

-He stows away the shotgun behind his back and pulls out a rocket launcher out of thin air, firing a salvo of three rockets between Caitlyn and Iron Man-

edited 20th Dec '16 6:47:30 PM by ArmoredFury

Iron Man catches one rocket.

"Whoa, what do think you're doing?"

Then it explodes in his face, throwing him back and to the side.

"That, apparently."

"Gya!-" Caitlyn leaps out of the way- a very long leap compared to a normal human's- and manages to get out of the rocket's path. It hits a wall behind her and explodes, singing her back with the blast. She's prone for now, but while down she reaches behind her. Her tail glows slightly, then turns into a nodachi nearly as long as she is tall.

Seeing Doomguy in the alleyway, Party fired a barrage of six fireworks towards him. One of the fireworks hit the third rocket and both explode.

edited 20th Dec '16 7:01:34 PM by anza_sb

-Doomguy kicks down a nearby door and dive into the room, almost dodging the blast. His armor is further scorched by it-

-Not even ten seconds later, the marine appears on the building's second floor balcony, firing more rockets at the three-

In a building opposite of Doomguy's, someone watches all of this action through a rifle scope. The small red star on his ushanka shines through the window.

edited 20th Dec '16 7:17:56 PM by Skiller2

Mog appears in the Arena due to another miscasted Warp and not ten feet from him, a rocket whizzes by him.

"Oh, my! That was fast, kupo!"

Seeing a conveniently placed building not far from him, he runs his tiny little legs towards it.

edited 20th Dec '16 7:19:08 PM by BlackMageAnolis

On the rooftop of a building, a figure is seated, looking at the ongoing battle, and he attempts to perform scans on the fighters present, fingers tapping on different holographic screens.

Iron Man takes off into the sky. He evades the rockets, blocking one with the shield and watching it ricochet into another building. Then, he draws even with Doomguy, and flies at him, fists extended!

-The woman's scan would reveal that the marine is a registered UAC personnel, is somehow carrying ten different weapons with accompanying ammo, and seems to be jacked up on some kind of drugs-

-Doomguy parries Iron Man's punch with his own fist, throwing the blow with enough force to turn a regular person into mulch-

-Then he draws a double-barreled shotgun with his off-hand and pulls the trigger, point-blank-

edited 20th Dec '16 7:25:51 PM by ArmoredFury

"Whoa, who is that, kupo?!" A feeling of fear coming over him after witnessing the power of the flying armored man, he decides to cast a spell. "THUNDARA!" A flurry of lightning bolts shoots from his fingertips and screams towards Iron Man, though considering how close the two are, there's a chance Doomguy could be affected by the attack as well.

For Mog's scan, he can see he's equipped with a large, metallic spear, carrying a small booklet on his side with a gem embedded in the front cover radiating strange energies, hoisting a blue shield on his back, and carries a small leather bag hanging from his shoulder.

edited 20th Dec '16 7:35:35 PM by BlackMageAnolis

He's kind of incredulous that someone stopped his fist. Then, he pulls up the shield, but the force from blast still knocks him all the way down to the ground. He starts arguing with Jarvis.

He falls before the spell would hit him.

Iron Man's scan just says "yo, dude, cool archives! Mind if I borrow them? Uh, wait, how do I download stuff? Is my voice recording? Jarvis! Get me out of this system!" It's timestamped 2014.

edited 20th Dec '16 7:37:33 PM by ZeroL

If the man scans Glaz, despite not currently fighting, it would show that he is part of the special force unit 'Spetsnaz'. Besides that, he's a very well trained and strengthened normal human.

Glaz moves his scope around the battlefield, looking at various people. The red star on his ushanka flickers as he moves his head.

edited 20th Dec '16 7:35:51 PM by Skiller2