Festival of Roses

PREVIEW: To help manage expectations, here is a preview of the Grand Melee!


Note: Weapons with the following qualities are banned from this display - Impale, Set for Charge, Vicious, Close Range, Long Range. Animals of any kind are not permitted.

Competing in the Melee: All entrants who wish to compete will need to register their participation on the day by rolling for initiative (Agility [Quickness]) and posting to the official thread.

The Battlefield: The arena is surrounded on all sides with a Boundary, created by the fence and guards. This effectively prevents participants from leaving the melee by accident (potentially harming spectators). This Boundary is ignored for any competitor taking the Withdraw Action (see below).

Competitors start arranged in a circle, facing each other. For the sake of simplicity, assume:
● If your Bulk is 3 or lower, you can close to engaged range as a Lesser Action.
● If your Bulk is 4 or higher, you can close to engaged range as a Greater Action.
● Regardless of Bulk, you can close to Reach range as a Lesser Action.
Helpful diagrams will be supplied at the start of the event!

Detection: All participants in the melee begin fully aware of each other. Stealth and Surprise/Ambush rules do not apply.

Withdrawing: The Grand Melee is not a fight to the death, and participants are expected to bow out before they become unable to fight. It is customary for a participant to leave the field once they have taken their first Wound (i.e. first blood). As a Greater Action, a participant may Withdraw from the melee, leaving the field. It is assumed that the participant falls back to the nearest Boundary. You do not need to roll anything to complete a Withdrawal and can no longer be targeted by attacks, but you are eliminated from the competition and cannot rejoin the battle.

Questions or clarifications can be posted below!

So, all vs all, right? But I imagine no restrictions on grouping up until only a few remain...?

Yep! The Grand Melee is traditionally a free-for-all. It's not uncommon for participants to forge fleeting alliances against one another, only to discard them as the field of competitors narrows. It's up to you how you want to go about things.

Also, as spears are both a melee weapon and close range (cause they can be thrown), are they banned? Or is simply throwing them banned?

Spears are not banned. If you want to throw your spear away in the melee, you're welcome too, but don't expect to recover it.

To that end, I forgot to include the bit about posting your "kit" when you register on the day. Basically, you will have to declare what armour you will be wearing and what weapons you are carrying. I'm not going to put a hard limit on how many weapons that is, unless you make me. Please don't make me.

EDIT: I didn't forget! It was in a different part of the event post, I just didn't include it. For... reasons. At least I didn't forget!

As with the joust, due to the grandeur of the Grand Melee, there will be awards and Glory. However, these will not be granted on the day, but will be handed out after the joust.