I'm working on a game based on the progression of a gladiator as they worked their way through the Galdatorial Circuit in ancient Rome. They will begin as individuals, captured, imprisoned, and forced into the arena, and then allow them to acquire fame until they have amassed enough reknown that they are requested to fight in the Circus Maximus. There the players will have the first oportunity to test their refined skills against each other in the final showdown to determine who wins their freedom.
My question is, considering half of the game will be players against static encounters, how can I work the combat system? I would like to avoid simply Random Number generation such as dice, but if the concept is interesting I may be able to work with them.
Some interesting ideas to work with here. Has ayone played the Marvel Overpower game that came out about 8-10 years ago? It was a CCG where all the characters in the marvel universe were given four stats and the deck consisted mostly of numbered power cards. You could only use a power card that was equal to or less than the corresponding stat each character had. Someone with 5 Strength could use a Strnegth Power Card with a value of 1-5, but not 6-8.
What if I did something similar to that? There would be a deck of combat cards (From which everyone would draw, thus keeping the number of cards down.) and on each player's turn they would draw a 'hand' of combat cards which they could use on this turn and this turn only. The static encounters would have a hand of their own (Played by one of the other players, thus engaging two players on any given turn, reducing boredom). The Static encounters would have a hand size as listed on their own card (Drawn from a separate pile) which would correspond to the difficulty of the encounter.
While it may not be realistic, the players would choose which encounter level they want to challenge for that round (Which would take the place of their Gladorial owner...they wouldn't want to damage their goods, but at the same time they need to put on a good show!). Easy encounters would have lower stats, Medium would be about equal to a standard gladiator player, and Hard would be a challenge that could only be attempted once the player has gained a bit of fame.
Each encounter would give you a certain amount of fame based on how the match ended and the difficulty of the opponent. Easy encounters grant +0 Fame, Medium +1 Fame, Hard +2 Fame.
I'm not entirely sure about how to do the hits/life system. Perhaps give each competitor 5 hits for the round before they collapse. Once they are collapsed, the gladiator would gain Fame based on the number of the card they use to "finish" their opponent. If it's a close match, they may not have any cards left and are considered to have defeated their opponent with a "1". If the match was a blow-out and they have an 8 in their hand still, and they use that to finish their opponent, they would receive 7 fame (1 of the fame would be required to kill their opponent, while the rest is pure fluff).
The more fame a character has, the greater access they have to better equipment. Thus allowing them to fight against better opponents, gaining more fame.