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Something from a dream a while ago that I jotted down for gaming use....
~~~
The Moontime duel is a magical ritual challenge which can be invoked by a warrior to engage another in single combat at night. It is most commonly used by champions of the "brutal humanoid" races. There must be at least a sliver of a moon in the sky for this ritual to be invoked, and the challenged party must respond to the challenge and move into range* for the ritual to take effect.
Upon the ritual taking effect a bright circle* of moonlight appears around the combatants with a crescent of of darkness down one side wide enough to contain one combatant. The challenger is at the centre of the circle and the challenged in the darkness. All others are compelled* to move out of the circle and not intervene.
The darkness provides concealment from normal, low-light and darkvision but may not affect beings able to see in magical darkness. Each round* the crescent of darkens expands and the area of light contracts. The duel is fought along the boundary - at all times there must be one combatant in the darkness and one in the light; they may only change places by mutual move or by one forcing the other out at the same time as they step in. Early on this provides the challenger space to step back and recover but this advantage rapidly switches to the challenged.
The duel ends when one party is defeated/concedes or is forced out of the circle, at latest when the darkness reaches the far side forcing the challenger out (this does not count as a defeat as the challenged can simply opt to fall back into the darkness and wait. The ritual does not compel the participants to fight - honor and pride dictate that). The circle will run its course regardless.
* the size of the circle, level of darkness and rate of change are all things which can be varied depending on the power of magic/ritual in the setting. Similarly whether the ritual will engage for hopelessly mismatched opponents and whether the stricture on others intervening is magically enforced or simply a matter of honour/tradition (in my original dream the duel was interfered with but the timer ran its course anyway).
~~~
The Moontime duel is a magical ritual challenge which can be invoked by a warrior to engage another in single combat at night. It is most commonly used by champions of the "brutal humanoid" races. There must be at least a sliver of a moon in the sky for this ritual to be invoked, and the challenged party must respond to the challenge and move into range* for the ritual to take effect.
Upon the ritual taking effect a bright circle* of moonlight appears around the combatants with a crescent of of darkness down one side wide enough to contain one combatant. The challenger is at the centre of the circle and the challenged in the darkness. All others are compelled* to move out of the circle and not intervene.
The darkness provides concealment from normal, low-light and darkvision but may not affect beings able to see in magical darkness. Each round* the crescent of darkens expands and the area of light contracts. The duel is fought along the boundary - at all times there must be one combatant in the darkness and one in the light; they may only change places by mutual move or by one forcing the other out at the same time as they step in. Early on this provides the challenger space to step back and recover but this advantage rapidly switches to the challenged.
The duel ends when one party is defeated/concedes or is forced out of the circle, at latest when the darkness reaches the far side forcing the challenger out (this does not count as a defeat as the challenged can simply opt to fall back into the darkness and wait. The ritual does not compel the participants to fight - honor and pride dictate that). The circle will run its course regardless.
* the size of the circle, level of darkness and rate of change are all things which can be varied depending on the power of magic/ritual in the setting. Similarly whether the ritual will engage for hopelessly mismatched opponents and whether the stricture on others intervening is magically enforced or simply a matter of honour/tradition (in my original dream the duel was interfered with but the timer ran its course anyway).
