As stated in the other thread, we're releasing Animalball Melee for free download.  Click this link for the downloads page.  Here's the official press release:

ABG Releases Animalball Melee for Free Download!

Animalball Games is proud to present Animalball Melee[/i] for free download.  Written by Animalball Co-founder, Mike Jones, Animalball Melee is a simplified d20 combat engine for quick and easy gladiator fighting.  While it can be used for a full-fledged roleplaying campaign, Animalball Melee is intended for one-shot, pick-up-and-play combats.  An homage to the Fanatasy Trip's original game, Melee, Animalball Melee takes the d20 combat system and boils it down to its bare essentials to streamline combat.  Click here for more inormation about the game.

Click here to go to Animalball's download page and get Animalball Melee[/i].

Animalball Melee author, Mike Jones, stated, "Growing up, I was introduced to roleplaying by two games: Dungeons & Dragons and Melee.  While D&D was great for indepth roleplaying, Melee was perfect for quck battles between several monsters, fighters or various warriors.  It was the perfect blend of simple rules and detailed combat. With Animalball Melee, I adapted the d20 combat rules to try to capture that same quick and simple feel of the original Melee."

Want more information on the original Fantasy Trip Melee?  Mike's written an indepth article about it for Animalball's recurring feature, The Safford Files.

Animalball Games is a small, independent publisher of free, unique games that do not fit the traditional mold of "mainstream" rpgs. When developing its products, ABG heavily depends on the assistance of its online community to give feedback, input and playtesting help. It is ABG's philosophy that the best games are those developed by the gamers themselves.

Neat.  Really, just neat.  I found my old, old copy of TFT Melee not long ago, so this is a cool follow-up on that.

!i!

We play tested this online using webrpg or one of those programs that has the shared map.  We were really happy with how it felt like the original Melee but with the d20 rules everyone's used to.  I ran it with my kids a few times and they picked it up pretty quickly.  It's a nice little pick-up game.