I'm kind of new to the game in some ways and so then I like looking at the lore of the world I'd be playing in. While I see there is Urban Brawl, Miracle Shooter and Combat Biker, I don't see many other options for entertainment that the book has set into rules. So it got me thinking, people keep watching violent shows and games with non-lethal attempts being taken. Why not bring in a little more danger onto the trideo? WIth that, I introduce Ultimate Robot Fighting League and please, don't instantly go to Futurama for this.
As it goes, Ares found its line of Duelist line not selling well enough to keep it around much longer. So Marketing came up with a brilliant idea of re-imagining the brand to be less for 'Cheap Security' and more for entertainment value. With the help of research and development, they unveil a slightly taller version of the Duelist with all of the unique armor taken off and instead having plates over major areas. For lack of a better picture, here is a pic from a major movie
It doesn't have to be exactly that, but that was the first they showed with some enhancements. With a basic idea on how the machine should work, Ares made Detroit the test city for the machines, selling them as basic units that looked the same and mechanically had the same stats. What talented riggers, builders or people with enough money could do after buying the basic unit was buy enhancements for the drone similar to ones that could be bought for man. Thus, different weight classes were made based on the amount of hardware the bots were built with. Out of the Box matches are drones with no mods on them and goes Lightweight, Middle Weight and Heavyweight, each of them needing to be registered in the weight class they are in and to a central owner in case they are used not for their original operation.
Through word of mouth, the new drone line was making a huge wave among people that either had too much money or talent to be bored and wanted something new to conquer. It started out in more underground settings, places where 'runners may go to relax. Few rules were in place and matches could go as classes going one up higher for bigger bounties or heavyweights doing wave mode with having several out of boxes' going after them. Looking to make more money, Ares started setting up tournaments to see who is the best of the best and selling tickets to the crowds. Needing ways to make matches last longer, the Ultimate Robot Fighting League was made and trademarked so that only Ares controlled it. Thus old arenas were invigorated for the sport and new ones made to accomodate the sprawlers that were made.
Now, were do us chummers come in? Well, even though the league was made, there are still underground fights that go one. Some of which have large melee weapons to fight other bots with and a couple of dumb as drek trolls thinking they can single handedly beat one(which some can on the lightly modded ones, if they are lucky). So that means money is being transfered around a lot and could be good meeting places. Then if the rigger in the group is low on money, fighting in the underground could get just enough for that new van he was looking at, as long as he wins. Then plenty of fixing fights are in the league(though it is sneakier how they do it) and underground, I mean people do still go into debt even if they are a fighter and sometimes to repay they have to take a dive when told to and if they don't, then they need to be reminded of where they stand. Then with technology still rampant, deckers can either make some money by messing with the fight or even just do it for fun if they are bored. While if you don't get caught, its no big deal, but if someone else is running security on the event and finds you messing with the fight, well... Lets just say that if you get caught, they probably will never find your body.
As for deckers trying to mess with a League sanctioned match, just be warned. This is Ares baby right now, its generating a lot of money off of many different ideas and they do keep security at the events tight. So you must be crazy or that good to try and pull something there.
While Ares is the first one to get this idea rolling, other Corporations are starting to build robots for these matches and are sponsoring teams. While Ares allows them to do this, as it is yet another way to have brands fight against each other, they do like to have their bots win over the competition and have 'lost' people that do mess with the matches if it affects another corporation.
So the idea is you start with the Duelist that doesn't look indistinguishable from others out of the box, but still have a number and owner associated with them which people can mess with if they wish, just don't get caught. You then can buy upgrades however you wish, with each weightclass having the max you can put on before you go to the next and heavyweight being the max that can be put on the drone. Customization to looks should cost money, but shouldn't impact how much a drone can have put on it. While these seem like they are a specialty item, some inventive riggers have been known to use them as the muscle they need on jobs or even a distraction. It all is up to the person controlling the drone on how he wishes to use it.
What do you guys think?
