"For thousands of years, advanced alien civilizations have visited the Earth for one purpose: to steal their bravest warriors. For centuries, the cream of Earth's soldiers have been taken against their will to fight, die, and be reborn in arenas throughout the galaxy.
The Game Guilds provide some of the most watched sport in the known universe with matches broadcast in thousands of systems. A perennial favorite of sports fans everywhere are the humans - a primitive race from the far edge of the galaxy.
Over the millennia, the finest warriors of that backwater planet have been brought to the arenas to fight each other and a host of other sentient species and deadly creatures. Even now, thousands of years since abductions began, Recruiters still acquire the best of Human space's warriors for the games.
The humans go on in their tiny light-years bubble of space attacking each others colony worlds, believing themselves the most advanced race in the universe while the rest of the galaxy watches their immortal ancestors fight and die in the Death Fields..."
Welcome aboard,
As I said yesterday in another part of the Forum, I think we do need a place to share points of view, mere speculations or unusual ideas about Death Fields.
While the official disclaimer - read above- is claiming Death Fields factions or teams are fighting all over the galaxy in different kinds of arenas, a silly idea came to my mind while watching at the upcoming Thor: Love & Thunder trailer...
My wife was glad to see the God of Thunder back to his glorious days -you know full of muscles leaving behind his Homer Simpson self, with his legendary UltraBrite smile-.. while I was complaining about the very sillyness of the MCU, taking Stormbreaker as a patent example of. Using the visual of Ultimates Thor's Mjolnir to depict MCU's Thor's new toy named after the weapon Odin created for Beta Ray Bill ... only a Mouse could achieve such a treatment...
As usual, conversation ended with wife saying: "You are such a nerd..." while my mind was already working on some strange iteration.. some kind of revelation: "Ultimates Thor died during the assault of Doom's Castle on Battleworld"... but my mind was already moving away "not 2015 Secret Wars Battleworld but ... 1984's, you silly"
-please place here your favourite hit from that awesome year-
Then I remember when the Beyonder observed the Marvel Universe. Fascinated by the presence of superheroes on Earth and their potential, this entity chose a group of both heroes and supervillains and teleports characters against their will to "Battleworld", a planet created by the Beyonder in a distant galaxy. This world has also been stocked with alien weapons and technology. The Beyonder then declared: "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!"
Reminding you of something? Earthlings taken away from their homeworld to fight each other until death for the pleasure of some alien entity?
That's it... you get it.
Merged from dozens of fragments taken from many planets (including a suburb of Denver, Colorado from Earth) by the Beyonder, Battleworld was designed to provide an unfamiliar environment which nevertheless allowed all contestants to use their powers to the fullest. Many peoples, both alien and human, were brought along "for the ride" by this method. Interesting?
So now let's pretend Battleworld is working as the main stage, the number one arena in the galaxy, the very equivalent of Ancient Rome's Coliseum. While one can spot another arenas all over the Milky Way, there is only one Battleworld, where only major DF teams can prove their might to the cheers of the crowd. Such a world is made for an endless game of Risk, each faction fighting another for control over territories, winning ressources, trainees, weapons to keep going... But they are not alone there, Game Guilds did not only import various environments but complete ecosystems with native fauna and flora (even mega ones.. so yes technically dinosaurs could be spotted from time to time) and inhabitants (innocent bystanders, former teams that won the right to settle there... who knows)...
Here on Battleworld, each DF team develops and grows in campaign style play with members gaining experience and serious injuries along the way. As they continue to gain experience, they may pick up characteristic increases or skills such as Infiltration, Rapid Fire or Weaponsmith, making them more versatile and deadly. You may also send them out to work territories or forage, together with credits earned for successfully achieving certain objectives in scenarios, for example, collecting loot counters during a Scavengers scenario, you may purchase new recruits, weapons, equipment and other rare finds.
Appealing? Just add the fact, lifeforms are not limited to fauna, but sentient beings, inheritors of former DF teams now living on a piece of land won after numerous deeds or as a reward for centuries of successfull games.. or descendants of former inhabitants of biomes, trapped there when Battleworld had been created.. some are now nomads roaming the surface of the planet in order to survive and trading goods with other people... On Battleworld, the sole limit to games is imagination: so expect zombies -mutated or not, irradiated or not- walking endlessly, stalking their next meal.. lizardmen from tropical worlds undergoing ceremonies at the top of their sacred pyramids, or giant Tharks looking for something to plunder...
So now add a touch of The Hunger Games, where sponsors can provide their favourite contestant(s) with medecines, fresh underwears, smokes, whatever...
Actually I think One Page Rules' Necromunda equivalent to be the best rules set.. but choice is all yours...