Opinions wanted: Arena Design

[TheAmishStig]

I'm in the process of sketching out a new arena, but am in some uncharted waters so I figured I'd ask for advice.

I've never done a square arena before. In 1x scale terms, do you guys think 18x18 or 24x24 would work better? My gut says one is way too small, and the other is way too big...but the building blocks I'm working with are in 6" increments, so that's what I got.

[josephrey]

Those are the outer dimensions? You could go with the 24x24 and add some garages and pits and back-of-house stuff along the edges. 1. to shrink down the playable area to what you think is appropriate and 2. to give the option for some RPG stuff in the future.

Would doing that work?

[Chernobyl]

18x18 is pretty small, IMHO. that's about 1/3 of a single map arena.

[Parody]

I'd go with 24". The larger size gives you more options for interesting features.

For comparison, Aladdin's Castle is 21" square (right in-between) and it's a pretty tight area to maneuver through.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by josephrey

Those are the outer dimensions? You could go with the 24x24 and add some garages and pits and back-of-house stuff along the edges. 1. to shrink down the playable area to what you think is appropriate and 2. to give the option for some RPG stuff in the future.

Would doing that work?

Those are the dimensions of the arena floor itself...and I love it! Hadn't considered that, it's a good way to do an end-run on the fixed "block" sizes.

Originally Posted by Chernobyl

18x18 is pretty small, IMHO. that's about 1/3 of a single map arena.

That's what I was thinking...18x18 felt way too small, and the fear was that 24x24 would end up being too big. I like to keep 'First impression' convention games fairly intense, to where they're either dogfighting to line up a good shot or the bullets are flying; ambling around idly leads to bored players, and bored players doesn't lead to sold copies and a larger player base.

Originally Posted by Parody

I'd go with 24". The larger size gives you more options for interesting features.

For comparison, Aladdin's Castle is 21" square (right in-between) and it's a pretty tight area to maneuver through.

Wasn't aware of Aladdin's Castle, but that makes a perfect point of comparison. Playtesting with 24" it is, and if it does end up being too big I've got josephrey's idea to fall back on. Thank you all!

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

In 1x scale terms, do you guys think 18x18 or 24x24 would work better? .

A standard map sheet is 21" x 32", so I'd lean toward 24"^2.

A suggestion: With arenas, it isn't the overall size which is important, so much as the length of the lines-of-sight. One example: One of NOVA's older arenas is designed such that every arena gate is out of LoS from every other gate; it then takes 2-3 turns before folks can start shooting at each other, which leads to questions about "which direction is my opponent going to go".

[Magesmiley]

One question is how many players you're going to have.

18 x 18 might be ok if you're only looking at 2-4 players. (The original Harshman Stadium from the pocket box was only 21" x 16") Its probably still a bit tight for 4 players.

If you want to be able to handle more than 4, definitely 24 x 24. I've run 8 in the Rainbow Bay Blast Furnace at conventions and its smaller than that at 1x.

The big thing is to put some stuff in to break up lines of fire a bit (and to make people maneuver).

[Parody]

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

Wasn't aware of Aladdin's Castle....

I highly recommend picking up the Arena Book and L'Outrance and looking through the arena designs for ideas. (Aladdin's Castle and Rainbow Bay are both in the Arena Book.)

[Blue Ghost]

I used to live north of Fresno.

Do you have a link to your map?

[josephrey]

Sweet! Show us when it's done, please!