A maze where you fight to the death

I'll keep my eye on this.

 

For me, the concept is kind of cool, but I have to feel that it would be a little unwieldy to put into practice (at least on a single map). Like Shadow sort of mentioned, Line of Sight is going to be a hell of a thing to manage, and I can't help but feel that there will be certain "archetypes" (i.e. heavy Damage Per Turn or Assassin characters, or otherwise people overloading on Free Commands and mobility) that will, by nature of the statgrind, crowd out the others. Everyone for themselves, everyone wanting to win? It makes sense to basically load your unit up with a kit that lends to them being able to burst down or otherwise outlast the other characters.

Reading the "Further Discussion" spoiler, I do like the idea of the Hunger Games aspect of it. What Cerby mentioned -- not just having a single ultimate goal but providing a variety of ultimate goals -- particularly caught my eye, and it seems like something that would make this appealing.

I think it'd be neat if you created an entire "arena" for the maze that spans several maps that are "stitched together" (for example, like how Shadow was going to construct the Donam Temple for World for Two) as opposed to just one big map. Because one big map seems somewhat inhibiting in terms of the "max size" you can fit in a window. Plus, different people using different resolutions, as well as me being one of those freaks who uses the side postbit. If only the GM has the "master map" of sorts, then all the players are wandering through various rooms with minimal direction trying to find each other... or otherwise set themselves up in the best possible position for when someone else finds them. Then you don't have to worry as much about line of sight and such, either.

Going past the mechanical aspect of it (to a degree), I feel like this is almost something I would prefer to see as an actualized roleplay as opposed to a statgrind. Then it's not just all about having the best kit. Then there can be some semblance of story beyond the original premise -- why are the characters in the maze? What happens to those who "win"? It allows us to implement humanizing aspects of it; do we have bloodthirsty characters in the vein of Careers from the Hunger Games? Would alliances happen between characters? Are the monsters set in the maze by someone? For me, it just seems like a cool concept that is very easily set up and could extend itself without much difficulty beyond the original lens we're looking at it through.

Along those lines, our pals over at Eternal Dream ran a roleplay called "Durn Project" that found all the players scattered within a mazelike setting to begin. It wasn't quite the same, as characters were almost immediately paired up into alliances that were almost prescribed when the RP picked up (and then... it quickly descended into the realm of unexpected twists and general mindfuckery -- definitely worth reading through if you have the time in my opinion). Obviously we wouldn't just be straight up stealing that idea, but it's what came to mind.

So yeah. I feel like we could do something really neat with this. I'd be game, and I feel like I've put my cards on the table, although I'm happy to contribute more to the discussion and build this up some more.

 

I personally think that the multiple maps idea would be preferable from all sides. Maybe it's just me, but constantly being in the dark doesn't sound like a lot of fun from the player side of things. It's also bound to be a lot of reposting a big, blank map if you want all the information to be concealed from everyone. I'm sure there's a way of elegantly handling it, but without being in your head I can only assume what I would do, and that seems like it would be cumbersome for you to upkeep. And it doesn't seem to lend itself quite as well to how I would envision a statplay (EDIT: By this I mean that it would probably be a better online video game roguelike rather than a statplay, as the automation would be a lot easier and there's no fear of perspective).

I'd be interested in hearing more about how you'd plan to handle it for the players and for general viewing, though, before it seems like I've totally written it off (for posterity, I haven't! I just have my own ideas on how I'd personally choose to run it it).

Depending on how many grids you would make to have a multi-map labyrinth span, it wouldn't have to give players a lot of information as to where one another are, either. Although you're right in that it does lend itself a little more towards allowing metagaming, particularly if you choose to keep it as a statgrind.

I don't think I'd be quite as keen on the idea if it did stay as a minimal-interaction statgrind, but I'd still play.

 

I think seeing this become an actual roleplay would be really interesting. As a statgrind or game, it holds no interest to me because of how obvious and limited the meta would be; if you have even half a mind to win, you have to make your Unit a DPT, and the most optimized Units will basically be of the assassin archetype-- burst-oriented, and focused on either high mobility or high range. And at that point the winner would essentially be whichever Unit is a better assassin, it would seem. If it's a roleplay, though, of course, your purpose for participation is completely unrelated to 'winning', but rather becomes developing a unique character in this given situation. I'd be interested to see the dynamics that Units of other roles besides DPT could bring, in this case-- heck, I'd participate just to play a Support character who will inevitably have to realize that they can't go through this ordeal alone.

As for the medium of the grid, whether it's an actual roleplay or not, I'd agree with Eebit that multiple smaller areas seems more appealing. It gives the GM an opportunity to create a handful or more of unique settings or circumstances (somewhat along the lines of the arena featured in Catching Fire, perhaps, or a cohesive setting with different quirks in each area) and also gives the players something much more tangible to interact with.