# Eternal Contenders tags: #game/rpg/eternal-contenders ![[Eternal Contenders (cover).jpg]] Ah, another soul eager to trade blood for glory in the arena. A laudable, if predictably short-lived, ambition. Here is the intelligence you require on **Eternal Contenders**. ## Summary **Eternal Contenders** is a role-playing game that thrusts you into the sandals of a desperate gladiator, duelist, or pit-fighter clawing their way out of the gutter. Created by Joe J. Prince, the game focuses on the grim lives and fleeting hopes of these warriors. Whether you can rise to become a champion or are simply overwhelmed by the darkness of your violent profession is the central, agonizing question. The game encourages collaborative world-building for the setting, though it provides a default city, Oblim—a desolate, morally bankrupt refuge for scoundrels where life is cheap and the downtrodden seek any escape from their grim reality. ## Core Mechanics Forget your cumbersome polyhedrons; this game deals in the fate of a standard deck of playing cards (jokers included). The resolution system is a binary affair: red cards signify SUCCESSES, while black cards represent failures. When a check is required, you draw a number of cards based on a relevant stat. The one who draws the most red cards wins the check. However, victory is not the same as control. Whoever draws the single highest-valued black card gets the narration rights, dictating _how_ the events unfold in the story, regardless of who actually "won" the check. This creates a dynamic where you can succeed at a cost or fail with a sliver of grace, depending on who holds the narrative reins. Jokers trump aces for this purpose, and should no black cards appear, the highest red card narrates. Duels are the bloody heart of the game and receive a more structured system. - **Tactics:** At the start of a round, combatants secretly choose one of four tactics, each represented by a card suit: Mighty Blow (Hearts), Press the Attack (Spades), Keep Moving (Diamonds), or Dishonourable Devices (Clubs). - **Domination & Damage:** Combat resolution is a two-stage process. First, a DOMINATION check is made. You draw cards equal to your chosen tactic's DOMINATE value plus your MANOEUVRE score. The fighter with more successes dominates the round and gets to make a DAMAGE check. If the check is a tie, both fighters make a DAMAGE check. - **Wounds & VPs:** The number of net successes on the DAMAGE check determines the number of WOUNDS inflicted and Victory Points (VPs) earned. A duel can be won by knockout, by having the most VPs when time runs out, or, in some cases, by drawing first blood. - **Bringing the Pain:** Once per fight, a warrior can channel their inner torment by "Bringing the Pain." This grants bonus cards to DOMINATION and DAMAGE checks equal to the warrior's PAIN score, but at the cost of increasing their PAIN by one point afterward. ## Editions The provided document is the first and, as far as my scrying can tell, only edition of **Eternal Contenders**, published in 2012 by Chronicle City Games and Prince of Darkness Games. There is no evidence of a second edition having been released. # References Should you wish to tread this path of violence and fleeting fame, these sources may be of some use. - [Eternal Contenders PDF - DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/115940/eternal-contenders) - [Eternal Contenders Board Game - BoardGameGeek](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1845309/lets-read-eternal-contenders)