By Nemesis on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 09:01 pm:

Is it just me, or do the pit fights have a lot in common with the WWF?

Besides the obvious, let me point out that they are both fixed by the people that run it and played out for the sole purpose of entertainment. The really important thing in both is putting on a good show for the audience.

And in WWF they compete to earn champion belts or whatever (i dont really know: dont watch it too much). In the pit fights, they are competing to earn treasure (Mirari, etc.)

Will and Scott, you guys were on the design team for the Odyssey block. Did you have the WWF in mind when you created the Odyssey storyline?

By Merchant of Souls on Saturday, July 27, 2002 - 01:13 am:

Dude it's WWE not WWF.

By Lord Windgrace on Saturday, July 27, 2002 - 02:19 am:

The only thing WWF has that the Pits don't are tables, ladders, and chairs but on the other hand the Pits make that up with spells and stuff making the Pits rock.

By Lord Windgrace on Saturday, July 27, 2002 - 02:20 am:

Oh yeah and the belts heh heh

By Unicron695 (Unicron695) on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 01:53 pm:

And, if you read onslaughts sample chapter, paper plates.

By oldreg on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 07:08 am:

they're not paper plates, they're artworks on sheets of paper, which he uses to cast spells...

By Will McDermott on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 01:11 pm:

We were actually thinking of Magic tournaments (except for the part about fixing the results).

Sabre

By Momento Mori on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 01:56 pm:

I have always seen the pit fighting in the same way as Gladiators in Ancient Rome. The setting is even a colloseum in Torment... i think the author was aiming at that historical stand point not the WW Whatever...

By Scott_McG on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 02:59 pm:

I have nothing against the WWE, but no, the pit fights in the Odyssey block had nothing to do with big-time pro wrestling showcases. Except for the fact that they are both huge, violent, spectacular displays of skill and power, and that description covers just about every mass spectator event.

Will's right, there was the germ of the Magic tournament idea underlying the pits, and I know Rob King really wanted to expliot that idea. In the actual writing (and I think Rob would agree), however, the pit fights turned out to be not very much like a Magic tournament at all. Rather, they became more like what a Magic game would look like if the cards were actual spells and creatures...the tournament brackets, formats, and elimination style matches just didn't translate into exciting battle scenes.

And kudos to Momento Mori, because the pit fights were also intended (from the very beginning) to evoke the life-or-death struggle of gladiators in ancient Rome. We didn't try to recreate an ancient Roman games, but we did strive for that feel of "people are fighting and dying for an audience's amusement."

Plus, they were just a darn cool idea that became even cooler in its execution.

Thanks,

McG

By eidtelnvil on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 12:37 pm:

"Became even cooler in its execution". I suppose that depends on who you ask. The tournaments in Chainer's Torment were very enjoyable, but the Odyssey matches were nothing more than brute force for its own sake. I know that the idea behind Odyssey was to set the stage for the post-Apocalyptic world Otaria now finds itself in, but I would've liked a more intellectual standpoint for a new storyline. Again, I'm not talking about Torment. The matches in that book where very good, and for the most part driven by the political manipulations of the Cabal. But as for Odyssey, we can best sum it up in two words: "Kamahl" and "smash". (posted with apologies to Mr. Bruce Banner).

By Phill on Tuesday, November 05, 2002 - 02:15 pm:

I agree w/ eidtelnvil on this, throw a couple of good necromancers and wizards into the fray, maybe then I'd watch the pit fights.