Valentine's Day has come and gone and I have to say - Where's the love?

The Core Coliseum is always on the look out for new players to join our ranks. Whether your passion is in fighting monsters in 4th edition, fighting opposing characters in 3.5e or pitting teams against other teams in 4th edition, the Core Coliseum has your needs covered. However, we've been plagued with low participation rates for a while now.

What can you do to help?

Well the main thing is to come and be active. You don't have to be active each and every week to be a member - all I'm saying is come and play whenever you do have the time. And let's be serious - the CoCo is a pretty minimal investment of time if you want it to be. 5 minutes to update a character and you are done between fighting weeks.

I, personally, haven't pitlorded 5 or more fights in one week in a while. While this is good (because I'd get burned out pretty quick at that rate), I wish I could say it is because we have a surplus of pitlords and not a lack of players.

If you are interested in the Core Coliseum, but there's something holding you back - let me know what it is. Maybe you are misunderstanding something and I can clarify it. Maybe you have reservations I can quell. One thing is for sure - I can't help anyone be active unless they come to me first!

Here's some handy links within the CoCo that might be of use:

Core Coliseum group

Core Coliseum Wiki

Quickstart Guide for Sagaris (4e) - for 2 character team vs 2 character team fighting

Quickstart Guide for Monster Arena (4e) - 2 character team vs monster teams

Quickstart Guide for Gladius (3.5e) - for PC vs PC fighting

The First Annual Prestige Competition of the Core Coliseum

Overall, I think this contest was a success. It set out to get people thinking about higher level characters and where they would start from and end up at. Each character was a distinct entity and everyone approached the competition with a different perspective that was interesting in its own right.

I look forward to expanding on this competition next year - so stay tuned!

And now - what you've all been waiting for:

Since there were only 4 participants, there is only going to be a prize for 1st place.

With a total of 17 points and with the distinction of having the best background (in this judge's opinion), Hayrol, the Hound of Hell has earned a spot in infamy. Congratulations Eluria and to your creation!

I will post my judges notes as well as the score breakdown in the comments thread.

Thank you to all who participated. I look forward to serving further competitions in the future.

The Core Coliseum's Prestige competition still has no entries. We're only a week in though, so you still have time to get an entry in and show just how masterful you are at creating the prestige character you always wanted.

Here's a link to the previous blog post.

I'm real excited about the possibilities of this contest. Are we going to see the CoCo's first Psion Uncarnate? Or maybe a successful Mystic Theurge? Maybe a new take on the somewhat frequent war minds and red wizards?

The Core Coliseum Monster Arena had a successful inaugural week. We had three fights - two level 1 encounters and a level 5 encounter and despite the pitlords' best attempts, the PCs managed to survive!

But what will happen this week? Who knows! Each of the three teams will be up against a new set of monsters and we'll just have to see how they fare.

If you want to check out the latest section of the Core Coliseum, check out the Monster Arena Quickstart Guide. We'd love to have more "playtesters." As much as gladiators who face life and death each week can be considered "playing" anyway!

But don't fret, if fighting monsters is not your cup of grog, feel free to try your hand in either Sagaris (for 4e arena fights) or Gladius (for 3.5e arena fights). You'll never know how much fun it is until you create some characters and join in on the mayhem!

Core Coliseum wiki

Quickstart Guide for Sagaris (4e)

Quickstart Guide for Gladius (3.5e)

Core Coliseum tavern for all discussions, praises, trash talk and the occasional drink.

Hope to see you active this week!

Tomorrow, 9 September 2010, marks the introduction of the newest arena of the Core Coliseum: The Monster Arena. Catering to arena combatants within Sagaris, the monster arena promises weekly fights so long as there are combatants ready to take on the challenge.

Anyone who has a team in Sagaris can move the team over to the Monster Arena for a single credit cost. Alternatively, a team can be started fresh in the Monster Arena for no charge.

As before, the Core Coliseum allows for 2 active units (single characters in Gladius and teams of 2 characters in Sagaris) across all arenas for free; additional units can be activated for 1 credit per unit per week.

The inaugural fights in the Monster Arena will soon appear. Enter at your own risk!

Core Coliseum wiki

Quickstart Guide for Sagaris (4e)

Quickstart Guide for Monster Arena (4e)

Quickstart Guide for Gladius (3.5e)

Hope to see some new faces in the coming weeks!