What Professional Wrestling Can Teach Us About Running Combat Encounters
In the world of professional wrestling, where every slam, suplex, grapple, and high-flying maneuver tells a story designed to captivate its audience, lies an unexpected trove of inspiration for game masters seeking to better craft their combat encounters. Like a well-choreographed wrestling match, combat encounters are an artful blend of pacing, tension, and dramatic moments. In this quest to unravel the secrets behind crafting epic encounters, let’s step inside the ropes and explore how the structured chaos of a wrestling match can teach us how to orchestrate a dynamic, unforgettable battle for your tabletop game.
While not a hard and fast rule, traditionally, any professional wrestling match will follow the Seven Stage Structure. These stages are designed to raise the audience up and lower them down. If done well, tease and twist their emotions into a fever pitch until they explode. Any tabletop combat encounter can follow a similar rhythm. The initial lock-up between wrestlers mirrors the roll of initiative. Characters assess their adversary, position themselves accordingly, stalk the combat space, size each other up, and then go! From there, the narrative evolves into a series of turns, just like the back-and-forth in the squared circle. Tension escalates, reaching a boiling point and then BAM! 1-2-3! The climatic finish and a winner declared! Such pacing, stakes, and pivotal beats transform the mere skirmish into an epic tale of heroism and villainy.
In wrestling, a match has two defined roles: heels (Villains) and faces (Heroes). Start your combat by clarifying to the Heroes how tough and nasty the Villain is. The Villain antagonises the players through trash talk or monologing or, without hesitation, kills a minion or an innocent NPC. Alternatively, or along with, you can have the Villain unleash their most devastating attack, potentially as a surprise, like a chair shot to the head! The more damage you deal at the start of combat, the higher the chances of their hit points being high enough that you won’t completely kill them, but you’ll also be sending a message.
The opening moves of your Heroes that’ll allow them to answer back. This stage invites the back-and-forth where the Heroes retaliate, and you have the Villain answer back with equal attacks, allowing them to remain a threat but ultimately be bested. This is the fun part for the Heroes, and by the end of the round, your Villain should be feeling the need to get a little dirty or creative.
The Villain has been injured by the players, pushed too far, and will now do just about anything to survive or win. They go for the low blow, use an illegal weapon, or some other underhanded tactic to establish that they’re “the bad guy” and do what it takes if they have to. Like all good heels, the Villain should be arrogant in their one-up-manship. This is a great time to have a few pre-prepared taunts or actions designed to get under the Heroes’ skin. They take turns attacking one of their beloved NPCs instead of them or attempt to entrap them behind a wall, keeping them annoyed and in pain.
With the stakes never higher, the Heroes, too, must find the fire inside them they need to survive. They scramble around the environment, maximise their spell use, and let loose with whatever they have left to solve the puzzle that the Villain has become. The Villain gets hurt and shakes it off as best they can, but is clearly getting hurt and sending the message that the Heroes might just have them licked!
Just when we think the Heroes will win, the Villain unleashes an unexpected maneuver that changes the encounter into a puzzle needing to be solved. This is the part where the Villain explores (and changes) the environment in some dramatic way that temporarily nullifies the Heroes. The dragon flies into the air out of reach, the wicked wizard teleports to higher ground and unleashes a flood, the rogue general calls down a rain of fire from their warships, or the mad scientist activates the machine and unleashes a devastating earthquake in the area. Whatever it is, it’s a big, environment and stakes-changing moment that creates a puzzle for the Heroes to solve.
Stage 6: The Final Moves of Doom
The Villain makes a mistake the Heroes can capitalise on, or the Heroes somehow get the upper hand, overcoming the Shut Down. In wrestling terms, this is where John Cena says, “You Can’t See Me!” and shakes his hand in their opponent’s face before unleashing their biggest and best attacks in quick succession. This combat stage is quick and loud, like an explosion, putting the Villain on his last legs.
With a mighty crescendo, the Villain is beaten, escapes or brings the whole environment down on the Heroes, sending them into an escape scenario. Should Villain find a chance to win, this can happen in various ways. They call minions in to shield their escape. They straight-up cheat and flick a lever, revealing a trap door or self-destruct button. Whatever it is, if the Villain loses, then ok, everyone goes home happy. However, should the Villain win, the previous stages have set the tone to ensure the Heroes may be disappointed but hungry to chase them down and get a second chance.
That seems like a lot of stages? Won’t combat drag on forever?
GOOD QUESTION! Here’s the good news! At any point, if the Heroes kill the Villain or the Villain needs to get away, you can always “go home” and cut to Stage 7: The Finish. While the previous stages raise the stakes and emotions throughout the combat, the Finish can always take place and do its job satisfactorily.
In my experience, though, no combat should last longer than 3 rounds. You can streamline the Seven Stage Structure into 3 rounds using only 3 stages, as follows:
Initiative - Stage 1: The Stakes
Round 1 - Stage 2: The Shine
Round 2 - Stage 3: The Heat/Stage 4: The Comeback
Round 3 - Stage 5: The Shut Down/Stage 7: The Finish
Embracing the narrative flair of professional wrestling, game masters can enhance combat encounters using a formula designed to entertain due to wrestling’s ability to evoke emotions and escalate tension to craft epic battles. The stages, mirroring the back-and-forth dynamics of wrestling matches, provide a rhythmic approach to combat, transforming a skirmish into a captivating saga of heroism and villainy.
Your friend in time,
Haggard Clint
titsay