Gladiator

While jousting is not included very often, we do end up seeing gladiator fights a lot in fiction.  Of course, they are a fantasy version of it that doesn’t really follow the more controlled ones of the past.  Seriously, they had a lot of rules and a referee with the goal being more disarm and surrender than death.  I’ll touch on some of them in these tips because they are interesting.

1. In the past, gladiators were an investment.  They required a lot of money for food, housing, equipment, and training.  So, there wasn’t this casual ‘toss them to the lions’ mentality.  An actual gladiator would be somewhat protected and given chances to fight another day.  The expendable ones were condemned criminals who were thrown in to really sate the bloodlust.  These were usual private affairs for nobles and such.
2. While it is fun to have a giant free-for-all, this can cause some problems.  Remember that a gladiator fight instead on a large battlefield.  It’s in an arena, which keeps everyone contained.  So, you have to be careful about how many combatants you throw in there on top of things like chariots.  Too much and people might visual a large pack of sardines angrily stabbing their neighbors in vain.
3. In reality, gladiator fights were done as entertainment and to earn the host more prestige.  This doesn’t always happen in fiction because people use the fights as a way to put heroes in danger.  There is nothing wrong with this since you can do both.  I mentioned criminals being used to get a private audience cheering for blood.  The same ‘for entertainment’ mentality could lead an arena owner to think a bunch of heroes facing their gladiators or beasts would garner a big reaction.  This would probably work better for the setting since the more public ones had strict rules.
4. Animals weren’t really used in actual gladiator fights.  Sometimes those criminals I mentioned were thrown to beasts for public executions.  Other times, the beasts were hunted in the morning before the fights.  Instead of gladiators, professional hunters went after these animals for entertainment.  This could be another way to throw heroes into danger without having to go full gladiator.
5. Since successful gladiators became celebrities, they should be written as such.  This can mean they are vain, but mostly that they are very well known.  It would also be harder to get an officiant or event host to give them a thumbs down for death.  A loss didn’t always mean death as long as they fought hard and entertained the crowd.  A popular gladiator might have to do less for the cheers or maybe even know how to showboat without getting killed.  Basically, they would be like a modern day WWE wrestler.
6. Gladiators don’t have to be naked or barely clothed.  They can have some armor or a shield, but it can be modified to allow for flashier movements.  Remember, they want to put on a show AND stay alive.  Some of the gear tends to be designed for intimidation as well.  For example, visored helmets that look scary, but might have limited visibility.
7. Finally, you need to think about the matchups.  Gladiators, like any warrior, would typically have a weapon or style specialty.  So, they would be made to face opponents whose specialty can create a fun battle.  There really wasn’t this whole thing about putting small fighters against big fighters for fun.  Hosts typically wanted both gladiators to survive as long as they put on a good fight, especially since the goal was force a surrender, disarm, or knock out.  This led to specific and carefully chosen matchups instead of crush matches.