“Exnur, you’re the clumsiest thief I’ve ever seen.”
    ‘“Yeah, well, you couldn’t even remember a Forget spell.”
“I know a spell that will make you beg for mercy.”
    “Bah! I will bury my dagger in your back!”
“Posh! You couldn’t sneak up on a tree, let alone me!”
    “Let’s settle this once and for all!”
“Is that a challenge?”
    “Indeed it is! I'll meet you at. . .”

The Dueling Room
Jeff Swycaffer

It is 1:28 on a Friday night (or Saturday morning). Hal, Didi and
Chet have been playing D&D since 6:30 the previous evening.
Chaim, the referee, is in the bedroom, hastily adding onto the 5th
level of his latest dungeon so the adventure may continue. Roberto,
the FAT MAN, and Gerry—the kibitzers—have long since stopped
talking about the election and are now arguing about gold futures
and the dollar overseas.

Surveying the litter of soda cans and candy wrappers, cigarette
butts and scrap paper overflowing the 3 strategically placed trash
baskets, and in his mind’s eye reviewing the depleted contents of the
refrigerator, Chet makes a daring MOVE.

He sits back, stretches, and looks sidelong at Hal. With the
proper proportions of challenge and boredom in his voice, he
speaks.

“Hal, my magician can beat the snot out of your fighter.”

Hal flushes, stung as deeply as he can be. Didi and the kibitzers
whirl to watch the confrontation, as the yen, mark and pound
sterling fall forgotten. In the night sky, a falling star streaks across the
heavens, a celestial portent of Earthly upheavals to come. The cat
sleeps on, unmoving.

“That’s easy for you to say,” Hal retorts, eventually, after regaining
control over his blood pressure. “You with your Staff of Wizardry. <Ring of Wizardry>
Leave that behind, and what are you?” He considers adding a
subtle insult, based on Freudian symbology and a book he knows
Chet has just read, but decides against it.

All eyes in the room, save those of the cat, turn to Chet in
anticipation of his reponse.

“Lock both characters into a sealed room,” sneers Chet, “and
see who walks out.”

Triumph! Everyone who is paying attention can tell that Chet has
scored an important POINT.

“How big a room?” replies Hal weakly. “And how far apart do
we START?’

“We roll for it randomly,” smiles Chet. “From 30 to 180 feet.”

“Can I . . .” Hal begins, stalling for time. “Can I bring my bow
and arrow?’

Chet’s face twists into a grimace. He hadn’t thought of that. The
cat wakes up, realizes exactly what must happen next, and disappears
behind the stereo.

When Chaim eventually comes out from seclusion with the
completed 5th level, he is appalled at the sight of Chet and Hal
strangling each other admist the overturned table and upset chairs. It
happens every week, he muses, and goes to the closet for the fire
extinguisher.

* * *

The peaceful (relatively) solution to such questions of power
would be found within a closed room, sealed against outside interference
or escape from within the room, in which no character class
would have any innate advantage over another class. This room,
available for use in resolving challenges of the sort Chet made to Hal,
is called the Dueling Room. One can be found in any large city.

The Dueling Room is, simply, a room roughly 250 feet by 250
feet in size—which can (and does) CHANGE shape. It has 4 configurations,
and a set of rules for changing from one form to another.

Form 1 is a teardrop-shaped room with no features. It has
sharply sloping sides and a bowl-shaped bottom, with nowhere to
hide.

Form 2 is a complex maze with 3 pairs of teleport systems.
Anyone stepping onto a teleportal will teleport to the location which <teleport without error>
matches that one after a 1-turn delay. During this delay, the
character cannot leave the teleportal he/she is in. There are open
spaces along ledges at the tops of the walls which are useful for
hiding in and pouncing from, and the convoluted passageways
make ambushes inevitable.

Form 3 is a less complex maze, more resembling a cavern with
multiple passages leading through it. In the center of the room is a
large pit which contains a roaring fire. The flames cause 5 pts. of
damage each time they are passed through by a character, and a
character will suffer 3-18 pts. damage per turn if he/she falls or is cast <per round>
into the pit itself. There is a base 60% chance of being able to climb
out of the pit of flames, plus or minus 10% per point of DEX
more than 12 or less than 9.

Form 4 is a shapeless room with no floor. Occupants of this
room, upon being transported to it, will begin to fall (at a normal rate
of acceleration) and will fall for ½, 1, 1½ or 2 seconds (determined
randomly for each occupant separately). Characters who are flying,
levitating, or otherwise negating the effects of gravity do not fall. All
other characters will suffer damage from the fall—and after all nonflying
characters have impacted, the room changes shape to either
Form 1, Form 2 or Form 3.

DUELING ROOM TABLES
(Roll every turn)

Form 1

00-49	No change
50-69	Form 2
70-89	Form 3
90-99	Form 4
Odd Event	30%

Form 2

00-88	No change
89-90	Form 1
91-94	Form 3
95-99	Form 4
Odd Event	35%

Form 3

00-88	No change
89-90	Form 1
91-94	Form 2
95-99	Form 4
Odd Event	35%

Form 4

00-24	Form 1
25-64	Form 2
65-99	Form 3
Odd Event	100%

Length of fall, impact damage (d6) :

Roll of 1	½ sec., 1 pt.
2,3	1 sec., 4 pts.
4,5	1½ sec., 9 pts.
6	2 sec., 16 pts

Odd Events (d20):

1-3	½-die fireball or lightning bolt to both duelists
4-6	3-18 points healed for each duelist (roll separately)
7-12	All magick negated for this turn
13-15	Stone wall appears midway between duelists, remains in place for 1-6 turns
16-17	Anti-magic shell between duelists (invisible and undetectable)
18-20	Absolute, unalterable darkness for 6-11 turns

Dueling Room house rules
The Dueling Room is operated by the Room Master, an impartial
person who oversees various aspects of the encounter.

Each of the duelists is provided with a copy of the room maps, <cf. duelist>
but no duelist may know the position of another until they actually
make contact. All coordination will be done by the Room Master,
who will carefully position characters in reasonable locations after
room CHANGES.

The Room Master is aware of all the conditions of the duel, and of
everything that occurs within the Dueling Room. Minor instances of
cheating will be promptly penalized by a 4d6 lightning bolt—and
there is an immediate and automatic death penalty for killing an
opponent by cheating. The word “cheating” only applies if the
duelists have previously agreed on some rules of conduct (see Rule
changes, below).

A purse of 150 g.p. per level is put up by each participant, to be <$1500>
shared by the winner and the Room Master on a 75-25 proportion.
The 75% winner’s share of the purse may be split between more
than 1 character if agreed upon beforehand, but the Room Master
must always receive at least 25% of the purse. If the duelists wish to
battle with no purse at stake for themselves, the Room Master must
still be paid 500 g.p. before the match can take place. <$5000>

Spectators may watch—and usually are encouraged to do so—at
a cost of 2 g.p. apiece. Proceeds from spectators may be divided any <$20>
way the participants see fit. (There is almost always a good crowd;
however, spectators may be excluded, by agreement of the duelists,
if the Room Master is paid 5,000 g.p.) <$50,000>

Odd Events: In each room, there is the possibility each turn of the
occurrence of an Odd Event. The events can be harmful, but they
can also provide CHANGES in the ebb and flow of a battle, or offer one
duelist an advantage— if it can be exploited quickly and properly.
Note that Room Form 4 will never be the battleground for more than
1 turn at a time, but an Odd Event will occur every time the
duelists are transported to this room.

Weapons: Each duelist may bring 1 magic item of any type,
but only if all duelists have at least 1 magic item to bring; otherwise,
no magic items may be used. Each duelist may bring up to 2
non-magical weapons. Most missile weapons (bows, crossbows,
slings) are prohibited, although throwing daggers is allowed.

The Challenge procedure
Any person may challenge any other person to a duel, for any
reason at all, by filing a challenge with the Room Master and then
delivering notice to the challenged party. After this, the Room Master
will rule on whether the reason for the challenge is sufficient to
warrant a duel—but the challenger is not informed at this time of the
ruling.

Any character who is challenged may refuse to duel, and will not
be forced to fight. However, the Room Master will also rule on the
reason given for refusing to duel. If a challenge made with good
reason is refused without good reason, the one who refused is
assessed an XP penalty of 50 × the square of the total
levels of experience of the parties involved. For instance, a second-level
character who turns down a worthy challenge from a third-level
character without sufficient reason will be penalized 50 × (3+2) ×
(3+2), or 1,250 XP.

Note that it is never possible to decline a duel for a bad reason
when the challenger is 2 or more levels higher than the challenged
party; the difference in levels alone is sufficient reason to refuse to
fight.

If a challenge is refused for good reason, but the Room Master
has ruled that the challenge itself was made without good reason, the
one who challenged is assessed an XP penalty of 25 ×
the square of the total of the levels. For instance, a 3rd-level
character who issues an improper challenge and is properly refused
by a 2nd-level character will be penalized 25 × (3+2) × (3+2),
or 625 XP.

These XP penalties are assessed in the form of
cursed items that the Room Master will somehow manage to get into <cursed items>
the intended victim’s possession.

The other possible combinations of challenge and refusal will not
cause the parties to incur any penalties. These include a worthy
challenge refused for good reason, and an improper challenge
which is likewise refused for bad reason. A new challenge may be
issued by either party to begin the challenge procedure anew.

Acceptance: If a challenge is accepted, the parties involved will
meet on the 3rd day following the delivery of the challenge. Any
rulings by the Room Master as to the reasons for challenge and
acceptance are immaterial, since it has been agreed that a duel will
take place. The party accepting the challenge is allowed to select an
initial room configuration (after all parties have received sketchy
maps of the rooms) to begin the conflict.

Rule changes
Almost every rule outlined above can be changed by mutual
agreement on terms of the battle, which can be arrived at before or
after a challenge is accepted. All parties may wish to fight in only one
of the room configurations; they may wish for the pit in Room 3 to be
filled with green slime instead of fire; they may elect to fight until one
or the other has 10 HP, as opposed to a fight to the death.
Unless stated otherwise, all duels are fatal to at least one participant.
Perhaps a surrender will be accepted; perhaps not. All such arrangements
must be agreed upon before the 1st room is entered. All
rule CHANGES must be approved by the Room Master, but if all parties
are already agreed to a CHANGE there is rarely any problem obtaining
that approval.

Examples
Rutherford B. Loathaur, an abominable Wizard,
has incurred the wrath of Saladh-ed-din, also known as Saladin the
Paladin, who is at 12th level.

Saladin challenges Loathaur to a duel for having turned his liege
lord, Abu-ben-Bubi, into a she-goat. (Good reason.) Loathaur refuses,
but the best reason he can come up with is “I don’t feel like it.”
(Not good enough). There is no duel, but in the next morning’s mail,
Loathaur receives a curse for 26,450 XP (a letter
bomb, of sorts).

Saladin delivers another challenge, stating the same reason.
Loathaur does not want to lose another 26,450 XP,
nor does he wish to leave town, so he reluctantly accepts the
challenge.

On the 3rd day afterward, they meet at the Dueling Room.
Loathaur is carrying a Staff of Wizardry, and Saladin brings a +3
sword. Realizing that the staff is more than a match for the sword,
Saladin puts down the magic sword and brandishes his normal,
non-magical sword instead. Loathaur is thereby required to set
down his staff, since his opponent is not also using a magic item.
Loathaur will still be able to use spells which he may know.

Loathaur asks that the duel be staged until one or the other
surrenders. The Paladin refuses.

Loathaur asks to delete the teleportals from Room 2. Saladin
agrees: no teleporting. Then Saladin requests that Room 4 be
deleted from the duel. The magician, who can fly, says no; room 4
stays.

There are no more issues to reach agreement on. Loathaur sighs
and plunks down 1,650 g.p. (150 × 11th level). Saladin puts up <$16,500>
1,800 g.p. (150 × 12th level) as his contribution to the purse. <$18,000>

After commending his soul to his deity, Loathaur asks that the
duel begin in Room Form 2. The Room Master places his hands on
the controls, and Loathaur and Saladin disappear from sight, to
reappear an eyeblink later in Room 2.

The 312 spectators get their money’s worth.
 

AUGUST 1980