Arena of Death is a game of gladiatorial combat in a fantasy selling. The Players take on the role of fighters in the arena, pitting these fighters against each other and against fearsome beasts over the course of a variable number of "combats." Each combat consists of one or more Players' characters entering the arena where they meet one or more characters controlled by other Players. The combat lasts until only dead or mutually friend characters remain in the arena. The individual combats can be played as standalone games or they can be played as part of a complete campaign lasting until one Player's character fulfils the victory conditions as listed.
There is a land where the sun dies. Or so the old men say. Off to the west. Behind the mountain wall. Hidden in a shadowed valley. A land of mist and terror. Inhabited by gods, some say. Inhabited by monsters, say others. The tales are not precise. They contradict. They twist and turn through realms of gibbering horror and so stray far from truth. Or so it seems.
Yet ever … ever the old tales speak with a single voice of one great wonder, one unholy marvel. The Arena, it is called. It is, they say, an edifice of gold and gems. And there the lords of that land are wont to recline on couches all draped in finest silks and nibble at sweetmeats in scented languor while others fight and die. For this, it seems, is their diversion, that others shall sweat and gasp and bleed on the sands below while they, the gods, remain untouched above.
This, then, is the tale that is told of that place. Each year many go to seek it, lot the gods pay well for such amusements and men have returned rich from that fabled land. Bui they are few. Most do not return, but die upon the sands of that far place, the victims of its lords. A year, these men must serve to win the riches offered the survivors. A year of fighting other men and pitting feeble flesh against great beasts. 'Tis death, my parents tell me. And hardship in a far and lonely place. So, few prevail. So, few return to spend the treasure of those gods. I understand their worry. I fear this thing, myself. But the land is poor and hard and so I must, I think, go to win great wealth and stake my sword in the Arena of the gods. To find the land where the sun dies.