[37-1642] Martial Arts - Gladiators.pdf - GURPS - sororita

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C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

The word “gladiators” immediately conjures up a host of

violent images. The net and trident. Fans screaming for blood.

Patrician Romans sitting disdainful of the slaves who fight for

the crowd’s amusement.

The world of the gladiator is more than just slaves, swords,

and death. Gladiators were well-trained athletes competing in

a most lethal sport. They were pampered and cared for like

racehorses, driven mercilessly like boot-camp recruits, and

then sent out to kill and die splendidly for the crowds.

GURPS Martial Arts: Gladiators takes you inside the

world of the gladiator. You’ll enter the ludus, where raw slaves

anddesperatefreemenweretransformedintocunningandart-

fulmartialartists.You’llgoinsidethearena,wheretheyputon

the show they trained for. You’ll travel to the Roman streets

and beyond, where gladiators were famed for their fighting

skills, envied for their physical prowess, and wooed by their

social betters.

Now enter the arena, where the blood-soaked sand

reveals the skills of some of the most renowned martial

artists in history . . .

GURPS M ARTIAL

A RTS AND T HIS B OOK

This work is a supplement for GURPS Martial Arts . It

expands on the descriptions of the gladiators from that book

by offering a background history of the arena, several

templates and template variations, and the equipment

necessary for gladiators.

P UBLICATION H ISTORY

Gladiators drew on material in GURPS Martial Arts for

GURPS Fourth Edition and GURPS Imperial Rome for

GURPS Third Edition. Although Imperial Rome proved

inspirational, the history, the styles, and the templates were

generated from the latest research and archaeological data

available. Where these books differ, it is intentional, revising

out-of-date information about the arena.

A BOUT THE A UTHORS

Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

– Captain Oveur, Airplane (1980)

VolkerBachisarelativelatecomertorole-

playing, starting at age 24, though by now he

has accumulated far more experience in it

than he will admit to in polite company. He

holds a degree in ancient history with a spe-

cialization in Roman studies. His personal

experience in combat is limited to being bul-

lied in school. Volker has written several arti-

clesfor Pyramid magazine,butthisishisfirst

GURPS book. He lives in Hamburg,

Germany, with numerous books, and he

works as an English teacher and translator

while pursuing an education degree. Aside

fromroleplaying,hisinterestsincludehistory

(both real and counterfactual), reenacting,

reading, and the culinary arts.

Peter V. Dell’Orto started roleplaying in

1981, with Dungeons & Dragons, and has

played GURPS since Man to Man. He has

been active as a GURPS playtester, editor,

and contributing author since 1996, and he

has written many GURPS articles for

Pyramid magazine.Heisalsotheco-authorof

GURPS Martial Arts with Sean Punch. Peter

is an enthusiastic martial artist. He currently

fights amateur MMA, holds a shodan rank in

Kendo, and trains Kachin Bando. His other

hobbies include fitness, reading, painting

miniatures, Japanese culture, and music.

Peter likes movies about gladiators.

About GURPS

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errata, updates, Q&A, and much more. To discuss GURPS with our staff

and your fellow gamers, visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com . The

GURPS Martial Arts: Gladiators web page can be found at

www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/martialarts/gladiators .

Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibliographies,

and we’re putting them online – with links to let you buy the resources

that interest you! Go to each book’s web page and look for the “Bibliog-

raphy” link.

Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we do our best to

fix our errors. Up-to-date errata pages for all GURPS releases, including

this book, are available on our website – see above.

Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS Basic

Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to that book,

not this one.

I NTRODUCTION

G LADIATORIAL

G AMES

The myth and legends of the gladiatorial games intertwine

with the facts of history. Whether the information is deduced

from inscriptions, graffiti, drawings, or literature, all of it

makesforgoodgaming.(Aglossaryoftermsfoundinthissup-

plement is on pp. 48-49.)

H ISTORICAL O VERVIEW

Like most of the more baffling Roman customs, gladiator-

ial combat has its roots in religious practices. The Campanian

tribesmayhavebeenthefirstintheregiontoforcecondemned

men to fight to the death in funeral games, perhaps as a form

of human sacrifice, and the Campanians are still remembered

in Roman times as the most enthusiastic gladiatorial fans. It is

most likely from them that Roman aristocrats adopted the

habit of including ritual combat to the death in their funerals.

Initially, these games were rare and small scale, part of the

elaborateceremoniesthataccompaniedthefuneralofapower-

ful man. In addition to distributing gifts of food and holding a

lavish feast in honor of the deceased, a handful of fighters –

known as bustuarii (pyre men) – would kill each other before a

cheering crowd. As these events became politicized, their reli-

giouscharacterincreasinglyfellbehindtheirfunctionascrowd-

pleasers, and aristocrats vied with each other to provide the

most spectacular entertainment. For example, at the funeral of

PubliusLiciniusin160B.C.,60pairsofgladiatorsfoughtinthe

Forum Romanum before huge crowds. By the first century

B.C.,the munera (literally“gifts,”originallyreferringtothecer-

emonial handouts at funeral feasts) were often held at arbitrar-

ily chosen memorial days for long-dead relatives during

election season and were regarded as something ambitious

politicianshadtoprovidetheelectoratewith.Lawswerepassed

intermittentlytolimittheexpensepermittedtocandidatesseek-

ing office, but the upward spiral proved unstoppable.

P OLITICS OF THE A RENA

During the Late Republican period (about 200 B.C. to 50

B.C.), candidates for political office often took on huge debt to

finance lavish gladiatorial games as parts of their campaigns.

Providing fighters, gear, and the managerial and choreo-

graphic skills required was the task of a highly specialized pri-

vate industry that sprang up in and around Rome. The cost of

setting up training centers ( ludi ), armories, and menageries;

buying suitable slaves; and employing trainers ( doctores ),

physicians,andentertainerswashuge.Nevertheless,thepopu-

larity of the games justified it: In 160 B.C., the mere rumor of

nearby gladiator fighting emptied the seats of a theater pre-

miere by Terence, an author of great stature.

The presence of a large number of armed and trained men

so close to Rome, traditionally without any form of military

presence, brought risks of its own. Gladiators were used as

bodyguards, assassins, and foot soldiers in factional infight-

ing. Spartacus’ revolt in 73 B.C. left no doubt that armed

slaves also had revolutionary potential. There were some

unexpected side benefits, too: In 105 B.C., the armies of

Marius drafted gladiatorial trainers to drill their unseasoned

recruits in swordsmanship. Despite its risks, the business

thrived and grew.

R OME : I MPERIAL S PLENDOR

Aware of the potential political status and military muscle

an unregulated ludus could place in the hands of potential

rivals, Augustus took control of the major gladiatorial schools

soon after he became emperor, and he regulated the number

andsizeofshowsthatwouldbepermittedinRome.Fromnow

on, the right to hold munera was limited to praetors, and they

were restricted a maximum of two a year and 60 pairs of glad-

iators. Private funeral games, still allowed by Augustus,

peteredoutafterhisreign.Bycontrast,theemperorswerefree

to hold games of any size they chose and used this privilege to

the hilt. Augustus boasted of having held eight grand games at

which 10,000 gladiators fought, and later emperors did their

best to set new records.

G LADIATORIAL G AMES

C HAPTER O NE

At the same time, the haphazard system of Republican

munera was brought under a system of strict rules. Games

continued to be held in improvised or adapted venues until

Titus opened the Colosseum in 79 A.D., but the audience was

now allotted seats according to rank and status. Front rows

were reserved for senators and knights ( equites ), while women

were banished to the rear. Gladiator classes (known as

armatura ) were standardized, their armament regulated, and

the pairings of fighters formally fixed. All this was probably

simplytheoutcomeofimperialcontroloverthegreatgladiato-

rial schools (which independent provincial establishments

copied). It eventually created an empire-wide gladiatorial cul-

ture with its own rules, traditions, and fan culture.

Gladiatorial shows were rare. No more than a handful

occurredinayear–sometimesnoneatall.Despitethisfact,an

impressive capital outlay went into them. The Colosseum

(properly called the Flavian Amphitheater after the dynasty

thatbuiltit)wasoneofthelargestbuildingsinthecityandthe

greatest arena in the Roman world. The compounds of the

imperialgladiatorialschoolssurroundedit,apermanentnaval

detachment was kept on hand to operate its canvas sunroof,

and large numbers of wild animals were brought in from all

over the Empire and kept in readiness for the great day. This

was partly a display of imperial patronage, the kind of luxury

onlythegreatestpowerintheworldcouldofferitscitizens,but

it also reflected the immense popularity of the munera. For

something this important, nothing less would do. Provincial

cities that could easily have improvised a venue for the one or

two small games they held each year often built expensive

amphitheaters for much the same reason.

P ROVINCIAL G AMES

WhilethegamesinRometurnedfromrowdyelectioneering

into imperial spectacle, gladiator fighting spread into the

provinces.IthadalwaysbeenpopularinCentralItaly,butnow

arenassprangupfromGaul toSyria.Wealthytowncouncilors

and newly rich freedmen mostly financed these munera; the

upper class used them to boost their prestige and electability.

The scale of these games was far more modest than in Rome,

withevenarichcitylikePompeiiconsidering35pairsoffight-

ers a lavish display.

Provincial munera continued to be arranged by lanistae ,

private ludus entrepreneurs who rented out their gladiators

and animals for pay. The lanistae purchased or hired and

trained their troupes at their own risk and expense, and they

often traveled long distances to their shows. Few provincial

aristocrats would have had the money to maintain their own

fighters, but when they hired in, they were prepared to spend

large amounts. Being tight-fisted on such occasions was a

major faux pas, and the lanistae would offer all manner of

attractions to impress the public.

A gladiatorial munus was announced months in advance

and drew spectators of people from the surrounding country-

sideandneighboringtowns.Ifeverythingwentwell,thespon-

sor (known in Latin as the editor ) could bask in the adoration

of the cheering multitude. The memory of particularly suc-

cessful games could buoy a political career for decades . This

also meant that unsuccessful munera could seriously damage

not only the sponsor, but also the reputation of a town.

Spartacus and the Third Servile War

Large-scale slave revolts occasionally occurred in the

Roman Republic (they were known as bellum servile –

servileorslavewars).However,onerevoltinparticularwas

larger, closer to home, and more dangerous to Rome than

any previous one had been.

AttheheightoftheLateRepublic’sconquestsin73B.C.,

whenthelifeofaslavewascheapandregularsuppliescame

to Rome from all over the world, a gang of around 70 slave

gladiators escaped from the ludus of Lentulus Batiatus in

Capua. They armed themselves with knives and cooking

spits and plundered a consignment of gladiatorial weapons.

Plutarch, a later historian, writes that they were unwilling

prisoners of war from Gaul and Thrace who plotted to

escape. The plot was discovered by their guards, which led

to a desperate breakout. One of this band of fugitives was

called Spartacus. His name would become legend.

The escaped gladiators took refuge at the summit of

then-dormant Mt. Vesuvius. From this base, they managed

to repel several attempts to recapture them and recruited

more fugitive slaves into their force. The gladiators among

them trained other escapees in combat. This turned a

potentialliability(massesofuntrainedslaves)intoanasset

(anarmy).Spartacuswaseithertheirleaderoroneoftheir

co-leaders, along with two Gauls, Crixus and Oenomaus.

Early on, the rebels experienced success. Rome’s most

experiencedtroopsandbestgeneralswereengagedinSpain

and Asia Minor at the time. The slave army defeated two

Roman expeditionary forces, the first under Propraetor

Claudius Glaber and the second under Praetor Publius

Varinius. Besieged on the mountaintop by the hastily raised

militia force of Claudius Glaber, they used improvised rope

ladders to quietly slip behind his back and destroyed his

army in a night attack. They overcame Publius Varinius’s

force in open battle by a quickly growing slave army then

numbering in the tens of thousands. At this point, one part

oftheslavearmy,undertheleadershipofCrixus,decidedto

try to escape to Gaul. They were cut off and defeated by

Roman troops. Spartacus’ army was luckier. He ultimately

became the leader of a vast rebel force. In 72 B.C., his

followers defeated the armies of both Roman consuls. They

may have come close to threatening the city of Rome itself.

The tide of war turned when Marcus Licinius Crassus

took command of Rome’s forces against the rebels. He bru-

tally enforced discipline and led his legions south in a sys-

tematic effort to trap Spartacus’ army. Eventually, he

succeededinbottlinguptherebelsinBruttium,inthe“toe”

of Italy, by building a chain of field fortifications across the

peninsula, and blocked efforts to escape to Sicily by sea. In

afinalattempttobreakout,theslavearmywasannihilated

by the legions. The survivors, some 6,000 men, were

rounded up and crucified along the road between Capua

and Rome. No further gladiator uprisings are recorded.

G LADIATORIAL G AMES

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