Orc Pit Fighting

by Avian

When an orc wants something that another orc has (a title, a flash magic item or any such thing) he will usually challenge the other orc to a pit fight. If the challenged orc does not want to elf out and simply give the thing away he will respond by punching the challenger in the face as hard as he can. If the challenger manages to remain upright the challenge is considered to be accepted; if he falls he is not worthy and must leave in shame.
This game is about such a pit fight between to nearly equal opponents.

For two players.

What do you need?

A deck of cards
A D6
Markers for damage (notepaper will do)

Starting the game

The fight starts with the two opponents facing each other nose to nose and comparing the size of their fangs. In game terms this is simulated by each player rolling a D3. If one player rolled higher than the other then his fangs are noticeably longer and he will be the spectators favorite for the first round. If both roll the same then they have fangs of near equal length and nobody is the favorite. Then the first round starts.
At the beginning of each round both players get dealt 5 cards face down and if one is the favorite then he will get one additional card. In the first round the one with the longest fangs will be the favorite, in later rounds the least wounded one will be the favorite. If both are equally wounded then the one with the highest Flair will be the favorite (he's sucking up to the spectators more). More on Flair later - at the start of the first round no-one will have any Flair anyway so it doesn't matter.

What each card can be used to depends on which type of card it is.

Clubs are attacking cards
Spades are defensive cards
Hearts are strengthening or healing cards
Diamonds are cheating and dirty tricks

During the game all of the cards may be exchanged for others except for clubs which may only be played to start a combat.
The object of the game is to knock out the other player. You are knocked out if you take 5 points of damage and you get one point of damage when you lose a combat. There may be any number of combats per round, there does not have to be one but most likely there will at least be one or two.
If there is a favorite then he will start by playing one of his cards. If there is no favorite roll a D6 to determine who goes first.

All cards are played out face up, no matter where they are played to. Each player has a hand of cards, an Out pile and a Flair pile. In addition there is a Deck and a Discard pile. An area of the table is named the Pit, which is where combat will take place. At the start of the game all piles are empty except for the deck. If the deck runs out the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new deck. In the unlikely event that that is empty too both the Out piles (except the two topmost cards in each) are shuffled together and becomes the new deck.
Cards played to the Pit may not be picked up later, but will be discarded once the combat is over.
The game is always either in a Combat state or a Non Combat state and a round always start in a Non Combat state. If will continue to remain in this state until one of the players start a combat by playing a club card and if no-one gets any clubs there will be no combat.
Before each combat starts players will most likely play cards (either hearts, diamonds or spades) so that they may replace their less good cards with better ones. This is called "circling" and will continue until one player is satisfied with the cards he's got and decides to attack or until one player only has clubs, in which case he has no other choice but to attack.

Discarding

If it is your turn, the game is in Non Combat and you only have one card left you may discard it and the round is over.

The different cards

Each suit of cards is divided into three parts: All (all the cards in the suit), Picture cards (Jack, King and Queen) and Ace.

Clubs

Combat
Only the players who have chosen to Attack or Counterattack may play clubs during combat.

Ace - May be played out to the Pit during the Brutality segment (no matter which club cards you have already played) or after the opponent has played the ace of spades (no matter when this happens) to counter it. The opponent must play a valid card if he has not done so already and the combat proceeds directly to the Result segment. No cards played against the ace of clubs has any effect. The player who played the ace of clubs will always get +5 on his dice roll and the opponent gets to add nothing.
All cards - May be played out to the Pit as part of an Attack or Counterattack.

Non Combat

Ace - May be played out to the Pit to start a combat. The opponent must play a valid card and the combat proceeds directly to the Result segment. No cards played against the ace of clubs has any effect. The player who played the ace of clubs will always get +5 on his dice roll and the opponent gets to add nothing.
All cards - May be played to start a combat.

Spades

Combat
Only the Defender may play spades, except that two flush spades may be played as a clubs card if you have chosen to Attack or Counterattack.

Ace - May be played out to the Pit during the Brutality segment or during the Dirty Tricks segment if it is drawn during that segment. If the opponent has the ace of clubs he may play it and the ace of spades has then no effect. The combat proceeds to the Result segment and unless the opponent played the ace of clubs neither player adds anything to his dice roll.
All cards - May be played out to the Pit in defense. If you Attack or Counterattack then two flush spades may be played as a clubs card with a value equal to the lowest spade. This may not be done with an ace.
Example: The eight and seven of spades may be played out together just as if they were the seven of clubs.

Non Combat

Picture cards - May be played out to your Out pile as soon as the opponent has played one of his cards (not the ace of clubs). That card is immediately discarded and it is the opponent's turn once more.
All cards - May be played out to your Out pile to let you draw a card from the Discard pile. The five topmost cards (or all of them if there are fewer) are shuffled, you draw one and the remaining cards are returned to the Discard pile.

Hearts

Combat

All cards - May be played out to the Pit during the Reinforcement segment if there is one. Each player, starting with the Attacker may play out one hearts card in turn until both have passed. The one who has played the single highest card gets +1 Combat Value.

Non Combat

Ace - May be played out to your Out pile and removes 1 point of Damage.
Picture cards - May be played out in any valid way (to the Flair pile, for example) and will let you immediately play another red card (hearts or diamonds).
All cards - May be played out to the Flair pile. If both players have an equal amount of Damage when a new round starts the spectators favorite will be the one with the highest Flair and he will then get one additional card.
May be played out to your Out pile and lets you draw the two topmost cards in the deck. Choose which one of them you want and discard the other.
May be played out to either Out pile (yours or your opponents) and lets you draw the topmost card in the other Out deck.

Diamonds

Combat

Ace - May be played out to the Pit during the Dirty Tricks segment (if you have not played Blank) and will let you discard the D3 lowest cards the opponent has played out to the Pit so far (unless he has played the ace of clubs, in that case it has no effect). This may leave the opponent with no cards, which will be very good for you.
All cards - May not be played if you have more Flair than the opponent (except the ace of diamonds). May be played out to your Out pile and will let you draw the topmost card in the deck. This may then be played out to the Pit as if was a clubs/spades card (whichever is relevant) with the same value (not ace) or you can keep it on your hand for later. If the card drawn is another diamond you may repeat the process until you get a card which is not a diamond. If you choose to play the card it must be valid, e.g.. if you have already played the a nine and a ten then the card you play must be either a Jack or an eight. If you played Blank then all cards except aces are valid.

Non Combat

Picture card - May be played out to your Out pile and lets you swap one of your cards for one of the opponent's. You play the card, declare what you are doing and place one of your cards face down in the Pit. The opponent's cards are shuffled, you draw one and the opponent gets the card you put down.
All cards - May be played out to your Out pile and lets you draw the two topmost cards in the deck. Choose which one of them you want and discard the other.

Combat

A combat starts with one player playing a clubs card to the Pit and announcing that he is attacking the other player. The other player must then declare if he will Defend himself or Counterattack.

Defense

May only play spades cards during the Brutality segment
May choose who's turn it is after a combat has finished. Normally you will choose to have the turn. The original Defender may choose even if you have more than one round of combat (Note: This is not the same type of turn as a game turn).

Counterattack

May only play clubs cards during the Brutality segment, except that two flush spades cards may be played as one clubs card. See above.
The one who wins the combat chooses who's turn it is after a combat has finished. If the combat finishes without a winner roll a dice to see who's turn it is.
If you have no spades or clubs at all then you must play some other card face down. This is called to play Blank and the card counts as having a value of -1 (very bad). You count as a Defender, but you will not automatically get to choose who's turn it is after combat has finished.

Brutality segment

Each player in turn plays out a clubs/spades card to the Pit until both have passed, hoping to get the highest Combat Value. All cards played must be flush, except aces, so you can for example start with playing a ten, then a nine, then a Jack and so on. If you pass then you may not put down any more cards in the same segment.
The Combat Value is the value of the highest card plus 1 per for each of the other card you have played.
Example: You play out a nine, eight and seven and you then have a Combat Value of 9+1+1=11.
Values from ten and up are good while those lower will only win you the combat if you are lucky.

Cards with numbers (2 - 10) are worth their face value.
Picture cards are worth 12.
Aces are special, but if you really insist you may play the ace of spades as having a value of 1.

Reinforcements segment

This segment will only be used if the Combat Values are equal after both players have passed during the Brutality segment. The players may put down hearts cards in turn, starting with the Attacker until both have passed. The one who has put down the single highest card (here a King is worth more than a Queen, for example and an Ace is worth most) gets +1 Combat Value, the other gets nothing.

Dirty Tricks segment

If you have a higher Flair than the opponent then you may not play any cards during this segment.
Starting with the attacked the players take turn to play out a diamonds card to their Out piles until both have passed. Each card played lets you draw the topmost card in the deck. This may then be played out to the Pit as if was a clubs/spades card (whichever is relevant) with the same value (not ace) or you can keep it on your hand for later. If the card drawn is another diamond you may repeat the process until you get a card which is not a diamond.
Cards played to the Pit must be valid, e.g.. if you have already played the a nine and a ten then the card you play must be either a Jack or an eight of any suit. If you start the Dirty Tricks segment with the eight of diamonds (for example) on your hand then this may not be played directly to the Pit, only card who are drawn may be played to the Pit.
The ace of clubs may not be played during this segment at all, except if the opponent plays the ace of spades. If it is drawn it must be kept on your hand.
If you play out a card to the Pit so that you may play out cards that you was previously unable to play then these may also be played.
Example: You have played out the nine and eight of clubs and have the seven of diamonds and the six of clubs on your hand. During this segment you play out the seven of diamonds and get the seven of spades. This card may then be played as if it was the seven of clubs. Later you may also play the six of clubs.
If you played Blank then all cards except aces are valid and if you play out a card to the Pit then the original Blank card is discarded immediately.

Result segment

The player who was attacked rolls a D6 and then the Attacker does the same. The one who got the highest Combat Value may add the difference to his dice roll, but this difference may never be larger than a certain limit.

If one player played the ace of clubs then he will always get +5 on his dice roll and his opponent will never get anything.
If one player played the ace of spades and the other player did not play the ace of clubs then neither player adds anything at all.
If neither the ace of clubs or the ace of spades is played, but if one player played Blank and were not able to substitute this card during the Dirty Tricks segment then a difference of more than five will always be counted as five.
If none of the above has happened then the difference will never be more than four. This will happen even though one player has played the ace of diamonds, causing the other player to lose all his cards, although he now counts as having a Combat Value of zero.

If one player gets more than the other as a result then he has won the combat and the other player takes a point of damage.
All cards in the Pit are discarded regardless of the result.

Draw
If the result is a draw then the combat may drag on over more combat rounds. If none of the players have any cards left the combat is over without a winner and a new round of the game will begin. If you have at least one card left then you must place one card face down in the Pit, the suit of the card signifying what they wish to do. Once both players have put down cards (if they have any) both cards are turned at the same time.

Diamonds - Sneaks away
Hearts - Tries to pull out
Clubs - Attacks again
Spades - Defends himself
Nothing - Counts as hearts

If both put down the same suit of cards and that suit is not clubs, or if one of the players put down diamonds then the combat is over without a winner.
Else:

Clubs versus hearts - Roll for Result again. The value of the cards does not matter (unless it was the ace of clubs), the one who put down clubs adds +3 to his roll (+4 if the other put down nothing) and the other adds nothing.
Spades versus hearts - Roll for Result again. The value of the cards does not matter (unless it was the ace of spades), the one who put down spades adds +1 to his roll (+2 if the other put down nothing) and the other adds nothing.
Clubs versus spades or spades versus spades - This is the start of a new Brutality segment and there will be another round of Combat.

A combat may drag on for several rounds but more than two is not likely as one or both players will most likely run out of cards. No matter how long a combat is, the loser only gets 1 point of damage.

After combat is over

If one of the players has run out of cards then the round is over and the other player must discard all of his remaining cards (which can be quite annoying if you have the ace of hearts but haven't had the time to play it).
If both players have more cards then the Defender chooses who's turn it is. If there is no Defender then the winner decides. If there is no winner either, you roll a dice to see who goes first. If you get the chance to choose you will probably choose to go first, as there is rarely any reason to let the other player do it.

End of the round

The round continues until there is a Non Combat turn where one player has no cards left or has only one card left and decides to discard it.

End of the game

The game ends as soon as one player has taken 5 points of damage. You may not play the ace of hearts in such a situation.

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