It could be a nice idea.
Maybe the risk is that someone gets in the match, facing an already full-armed enemy and quickly obliterated... but this risk is, at least in part, also of the "standard" 1vs1...
Anyway, a solution for this could be adding the
DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Special_game_options#Elimination_features_outside_Elimination_mode]g_elimination[/url][/b] feature to the menu, to make more easy to the people to know it exists!
Uhm... Wait a moment!
I just realized a thing: something quite similar to what you want
is already possible, without the need of a mod!
g_gametype 1 // Tournament mode
fraglimit 1 // The opponent will change after every kill
g_warmup 3 // Since each match is quick, I suppose the warmup time can be lower than usual (default is 20)
g_elimination 0 // Decide yourself if you want it on or off. Using a single frag for each match, it is not needed (but can be nice anyway).
Do you think this could be enough, for you?
To remove items, you can simply use the g_elimination feature, or manually
disable specific items using the "disable_" hidden variables (that prevent specific items from spawning over their spawning points).
I don't know if "hidden" is the right word, but they are variables that seem not available in the game (if you write "disable_" and press TAB key, you don't find them), unless you manually create them with "set" or "seta" command (for example,
seta disable_item_armor_combat "1" to disable the red armor, and
seta disable_item_armor_combat "0" to enable it back). A list of (I suppose, currently, as OA 0.8.5) available items to disable is
here.
I believe in a next version of OpenArena there will be also a "replace" function, to choose to replace an item with another.
And since the players begin each match (round) with the same arsenal, there is no need for a spawn protection.
Obviously, if what you wanted was to have the leading player to keep his armor and weapons (thus, the advantage gained) from a duel to the next, this system is not exactly what you needed.