Into the Pit is a game where players create characters that are forced into group gladiatorial-type combat.  There are only two ways to escape from The Pit: to win or to die.  The game is intended to help players create stories that answer the question, "How much of yourself are you willing to lose in order to win (your freedom)?"

Here's what I have now:

1. There will be players and a GM.
2.  Before creating characters, players and GM must answer these questions to form their own setting and situation:
    In what setting does The Pit exist?  (roman arena, modern day "fight clubs", sci-fi zero-g stadiums...)
    How are the characters forced into the Pit?  (kidnapped, extorted, enchanted...)
    Who is the audience that watches?  Who controls The Pit?
    [I need more questions!]
3.  Restrictions:  -All Pit characters start out with NO combat traits/experience.  They gain those traits by losing      personality traits from their pre-Pit life.
                        -There in no way to escape The Pit except by victory or death.
                        -the player characters are literally chained together at all times (in and out of the arena) during the game.  (what the "chains" actually are will vary with each setting.)
                        -if the characters progress through the combat events, they can eventually gain their freedom.
                       
I plan to publish this game, eventually, as a PDF.

feedback, please? 
chris moore

My first thought was "how cool to have a game about fighting that takes place exclusively before and after the fights, with no fighting in play at all".  That's probably not what you are going for, but it's what your description evoked.  By centering on the sacrifices player characters are forced to choose, you could sort of obviate the need to address the actual combat bits.

--Jason

I like it...perhaps there could be a positioning mechanic where players could create "flashback" snippets reflecting what happened in the pit.
thanks!

I'm with Jason. If this is just a pit-fighting game, why not make it a supplement for D20 or some other existing RPG? How much room for role-playing is there in a purely-combat game? Even D&D has the party structure plus down time between encounters where player characters interact with each other, and there are non-combat encounters occasionally. I see Into the Pit, as defined, as a pure combat game perhaps better suited to tactical wargaming.

I think one aspect of your game design is broken. What happens when a character escapes the pit? Does the character retire? Is this not a disincentive to the player to escape?

We definitely are taking Jason's suggestion.  The game is not about the fighting...that gets narrated pretty free-form.  The game is about what you chose to lose of yourself to win.  And, to answer Adam's question about the endgame, the incentive is that if you DO get through the Pit with something of your former self intact, you get to narrate your "release" and your character's end scene.  More on this at my blog:  yurugames.blogspot.com

thanks for the feedback!!
chris