Combat Nets

The use of nets in gladiatorial combat was for a parody. The gladiatorial Retiarius was a fisherman character and would be armed parodic fisherman's implements such as a casting net, a trident, and a fisherman's dagger. Very little protective gear or any clothing besides a belt, loincloth, and perhaps an arm and shoulder guard. That's not to say these could not be used effectively as weapons or that they were not potentially lethal to the target. Indeed, archaeologists have found gladiator skulls that were punctured clear through by Retiarius tridents. The gladiatorial net was heavily weighted on its rim or corners and had a drawstring that could be retained in the hand to tighten the net. It could cover and entangle an opponent or an opponent's weapons either thrown free or grasped by the Retiarius to pull away a weapon, maneuver an opponent, or pull their feet from under them. The weighted edge of the nat can also be used to 'slice' at an opponent's eyes from a range much grater than the opponent's sword (not thought to be an effective attack but an effective way to make an opponent duck). Retiarius were usually pitted against heavily armed and armored fighters (a parody of a scaly fish). The idea being that the Retiarius would have much more mobility. A Retiarius could jab repeatedly, and not even seriously, at his opponent who would move his heavy shield to block the jabs. A Retiarius could also cause his heavy laden opponent to duck repeatedly (see above) until he tired. In this way, the opponent would become exhausted long before the Retiarius began sweating. Because of mobility issues, the weighted gladiator would most likely discard the net when they managed to take it from the Retiarius (when reversing the Retiarius' attempt to disarm them or after escaping a thrown net). This meant the Retiarius could possibly grab the net and use it again. Roman bookies almost always gave odds favoring Retiarius winners. For a variety of cultural factors, the Retiarius was the least regarded gladiator. Retiarius were technically not even considered gladiator (as they never carried a gladius sword) and were regarded more as rodeo clown. During the reign of Claudius, all losing Retiarius, without exception, were to be killed for the audience's enjoyment (The purposeful death of gladiators was actually somewhat rare). Despite this, enough of the gladiators that filled this role were skillful enough fighters that the role retained the fisherman motif and equipment for hundreds of years while gladiators playing the part of the fish had to adapt from the fish role and instead use better armor and weapons until all that was left to identify them was a tiny fish emblem on their helmets. They also were routinely teamed up to outnumber the Retiarius as much as 2:1 (extremely rare for every other type of gladiator). Originally the opponents of Retiarius had own names, secutors (or rarely murmillos). But opponents of the Retiarius eventually became known as Contraretiarii ("against the Retiarius").

Nets for combat are an established D&D tool of the pen and paper RPG. Though they rarely appear in D&D computer games.