Rules, Guidelines, and Judging Criteria

[opaj]

First off, if you haven't yet, go read The Anti-Munch Project.

The posts are organized in this order, starting from this one and moving down post-by-post:

• The Basics
  
• Traversing Carter City
  
• Judging Blurbs
  
• Non-Examples

The Basics

arrow As you all know, every character has been assigned a level somewhere between 1 and 20. I urge you to keep in mind that your level does not automatically mean you pwn all opponents who ranked lower than you. Rather, when two characters are using their abilities directly against each other, two 20-sided die are rolled: one representing each character. The levels of each character is added to their roll, respectively, and the one with the highest number wins the power struggle. A tie can end in one of two ways: if one player is acting defensively, he successfully defends himself. If both are acting offensively, their attacks completely nullify each other.

In the case of two characters combining their powers in one attack, they get one roll, but both of their levels are added to the result.

Note that a character's level only applies to abilities listed in his bio. A level 20 mage can't suddenly pick up a sword and become a level 20 swordsman. If you meet in a contest of brute strength as said mage against a warrior, the warrior will bowl you over.

Also note that, by playing smart, you can completely avoid having to make any level checks at all. Instead of using your sword to block the hammer head-on, why not try to deflect it? A very simple example, but I hope it makes its point.

arrow Ideally, you all should be able to govern yourselves. If you come into a situation in which two characters are meeting head-to-head, feel free to roll your own dice, even.

If you think you need a judge, post a link in the Judge Request thread stickied below this one. A judge should then come and help you, make your rolls, all of that.

arrow A few things I frown upon:

• Teleportation. You can do it, but it's costly, time consuming, and a mode of transportation, not combat.
  
• Godmoding, autohitting, and autohealing. 'Nuff said.
  
• Omniscience/presence. If the stealthy ninja is creeping up on you, and you don't have any abilities set aside for sensing the stealthy ones, that ninja's going to surprise you. If you do have the sensing ability, that's a level check right there.
  
• Mortal woundage. Don't kill an opponent without his player's permission. That said, please, know when to let go and let your character die. This is Gaia; if you love him so much, there are plenty of ways to bring him back.

arrow A few things I smile upon:

• Detail. Don't just say "I hit j00." Say how you hit j00, so that j00 can respond accordingly.
  
• More detail. Try to make clear whenever necessary where you are standing relative to the other characters.
  
• Tracking. Keep track of where you are, and where those around you are. Don't just pop from random place to random place, without any continuity of where you last were.

 

[opaj]

Traversing Carter City

arrow Carter City is made up of dozens of threads, connected to each other by links. Obviously, when travelling through Carter City, you must can't skip locations along the way. Therefore, when exiting one thread, you can only proceed to one of its adjoining threads. For example: you cannot simply exit Industry Row North (in the northern part of town) and appear immediately in The Sprawl (on the south side).

arrow It takes two posts to travel through your standard thread. One to say that you enter and are traversing its distance, and a second to say that you leave the area. This is to allow the possibility of getting intercepted along the way. If someone posts a response to your character before you make your exit post, you have to then instead respond in turn.

arrow The Carter City chapter of Broken City takes place in two four-hour long chunks. As such, it is unreasonable to expect everybody to be present for the whole thing. So, for the sake of continuity, logged of players will be assumed to be in super-stealth, super-defensive mode. No harm can be done to them, but at the same time, their presence counts for nothing. When the player logs back on, he can either reappear where he left off, or at any location where he has a teammate.

arrow To enter Carter City, everyone must take an off-road route to avoid the militia blockades. This means that any vehicle too large to squeeze through dense forest, or unable to take rough terrain, must stay behind. You can take in an aircraft, but I will forwarn you that aircrafts will be destroyed shortly after entering Carter City airspace.

arrow If you simply must pick a fight with the militia blockades, treat them as above-average NPCs. This means that you can control them whilst fighting them, but you will need to take into account their strength and intelligence. I will be looking over those threads later. Don't make them do anything stupid; you pick a fight with them, plan to walk away with quite a bit of energy drain and/or blood loss.

arrow Come early. I will be assigning team starting threads on a first-come, first-serve basis.

arrow Add R66-Y to your friendslist. You'll be getting important updates from him as Part 1 progresses.  

[opaj]

Judging

arrow This is a fantasy/sci-fi RP. While I do greatly appreciate a realistically-portrayed fight, and advocate that whenever possible, my main concern here is fairness. In the real world, if two groups went at it- one with swords, one with guns- and they all had equal skill as tacticians, the group with guns would win because, on the whole, a gun is a superior weapon. The only way the swordsmen would win is through superior tactics.

It hardly seems fair to force superior tactics on two characters that, in level, would be the same. The gun had the advantage of range, so the question is then, how can a swordsman defend himself to get close? The answer is simple.

I'm allowing a sword to block a bullet.

This action would be considered a standard brute-strength act, so it requires a level check against the person who fired the gun. And, other than that, realistic rules apply- unless a character has super-speed, he can't dodge an already-fired bullet, and this again requires a level check. Ultimately, the swordsman is better off playing smart, but it is an option open to him.

This applies to any ability that could conceivably be used to deflect a bullet. Just don't get too out there, okay?

arrow Judges are there to help things along. They will get to make snap decisions whenever there is an argument, to keep things moving along. The important thing is to show respect to all parties involved (and this goes for players and judges). It's all in the hope of keeping things going smoothly.

That said, judges aren't obligated to call someone on something cheap unless one of the players contends it, and are in fact discouraged from doing so. Unless it's really cheap, and blatantly impossible. Blatantly impossible doesn't mean 'not physically possibly' so much as 'not logically possible.'  

[opaj]

Examples will go here.

Maybe.