Pimp My Game: Animalball Melee

By Mike

Animalball Melee is here! The d20 combat system stripped down to the bare essentials. No magic. No tricks. Just brute warriors pitting strength against skill on the blood-soaked floor of the arena.

The original Melee (published by Metagaming) is 30 years old this year. I’ve never made any secret of my love for Steve Jackson’s original Melee game. Go on… read the original article… I’m positively gushing over it. And I wrapped up that article by saying, “I think there’s a need for a game like this today: simple head-to-head combat without all the bells and whistles, and certainly without all that money-sucking collectible figure nonsense that’s swept the tactical combat game genre of the last few years.”

Well, having thought it (and typed it), I couldn’t get that out of my head. Melee was simplicity made manifest: a tactical combat game that required only two primary stats for its characters—dexterity for speed and skill, and strength for the ability to deal and receive damage. As a teen twenty-plus years ago, my gaming group played Melee extensively; never as an ongoing campaign, but simply for head-to-head matches of pure glorious gladiatorial combat. Could I replicate that same tone and feel in a tactical combat game today?

Using the d20 mechanics under Wizards’ open gaming license, I did exactly that. In detail, the rules are far removed from the original, but in spirit—the simplicity and grit of a quick pick-up game—I think a glint of the original can be seen there.

For players who are familiar with other d20-based Open Gaming products, Animalball Melee will likely be an experience that is simultaneously unique and familiar. The well-known Open Game elements are there, but everything superfluous has been stripped away until there is nothing left but pure physical combat.

And we’re offering it up for free.

Enjoy.