I have a player in a new game I'm starting who wants to play a professional pit fighter (someone who tours around the Empire voluntarily choosing to enter the pits for glory and profit). While I certainly could make up the details, I was hoping some folks more immersed in the background of the game than I could expand upon the details of this particular aspect of Imperial culture for me 8). In particular, I was considering whether there was more then one fighting pit in any given city (like Ubersreik, for instance), or whether there might be several. I imagine that it is a bit like the old Roman model with perhaps one large municipal (public) arena with several possible smaller establishments and "underground" arenas where less savory or less legal fights took place.

If anyone knows any details related to how these are run in the Empire, frequency of fights, structure, crowds, size of prizes, etc. that would all be great to know. Right now all I know for certain is that some participants are criminals forced to fight, some criminals who volunteered and others are freemen who fight for cash prizes. And that some fights, particularly in larger cities pit man against beast.

I ran an adventure which had one guy be a pit fighter in Altdorf for a while. Here and here are the logs in which he did it.

What I did is have many different small "private tournaments" at various bars and the like, you weren't able to kill anyone though as they didn't have a "license". There were three major leagues bronze, silver and gold which allowed death and proper weapons and to enter them you had to pay a (rather high fee). What I did was have a competion at a bar where certain nights of the week the character was expected to show up and compete. If they won the tournament they would be sponsored to enter the bottom of the bronze and they would work themselves up that way, gaining money and glory on the way.

It was really fun having the characters do their actual careers for once, a pit fighter, A messenger for the Ranald Cult, and a clerk for a military warehouse, (his career was forger so he was setting up deals on the side to pilfer from the warehouse). The guys in the day did their jobs and at night (while investigating quests on their free time), went and hung out at the bar cheering their other party member on. It was really organic. They'd even take their in game family/girlfriends and chum along with them like you would irl. Of course that party didn't end well as they all ended up killing each other and murdering said girlfriends in the most expertly interweaved story I have ever done but still that little diversion in the adventure was memorable.

In regards to "lore friendly" pit fighting I really have no idea, I just assumed it is what you make it.

As far as I know, Pit Fighting is illegal, so the character would not be figthing in arenas like the roman gladiators did. Rather it would be more like a bunch of Van Damms movies where he participates in underground fighting tournaments.

I would strongly reccomend that you get a ahold of and read the WFRP2e adventure "Eye Of The Tiger" which is all about illegal bareknuckle fights and the dirty business that surrounds it.

In addition, for some reason I was reminded of an old Clint Eastwood movie called "Every Which Way But Loose" where he plays a truck driver who travels around with his friend/manager and their orangutan and participates in fistfights to earn money. I have not seens it or thought about it in about 15 years, but it seemed to fit your concept, you just need to figure out who gets to play the orangutan

Yeah, I go more for the illegal and underground feel for my pit fighters, though I've never really focused on them in a game. There's an article all about pit fighting in Warpstone 11 if you can find a copy.

I feel that the fighting goes all the way from a spontaneous and semi organised fight outside a pub, a sort of 'lower class duel', all the way to well organised multi bout meetings in abandoned warehouses and sewers. Most fighters simply earn a bit of beer money on the side from their stevedore, bodyguard or other menial regular job, and only a few rise to any sort of fame/notoriety.

The main money to be made is not from the fighting itself but from gambling, and organised crime has a big hand in that, especially the higher up you go in the fighting world. Because of this the sport is corrupt and the most successful fighters are also the ones who know when to take a dive. The career of even the best fighter is often short and unsweet, and only a few will ever manage to get out and retire on their earnings. There are no old pit fighters.

Another aspect is the influence of Khorne. Urban fighter schools are the perfect breeding ground for new adherents to that Chaos god. Small rituals and prayers are made before any fight and a fighter might not even be aware of who he is praying to, just some little-known pit fighter deity, perhaps, or some sort of obscure warrior friend of Ulric or Sigmar? But pretty soon, an aspiring fighter is making blood sacrifices before a bout to help him fight. It seems that any successful fighter needs some sort of divine help to stay ahead of the game.