Due to the reformatting of the Guild, the role play system will also run under another format.
Conditions of Role Play Creation Due to many role plays being forgotten, it is important that the creator of a role play must keep these rules in mind:
All role plays must be formatted to be PG-13 or (only on Gaia Online) with permission of Guild moderators, can include blood and death. -The creator of the role play must be an active user. -The creator of the role play must moderate all activities regarding their role play. -The creator of the role play must set up rules specific for the role play in detail. -A role play can be created without permission, but only if you can guarantee 5 or more members to participate in the role play. -Small scale role plays will be hosted in the Role Play sub forum. -Large scale role plays will be hosted as their own sub forum.
Conditions of Role Play Attendees Due to large cases of inactivity in role plays these rules must be kept in mind:
-If the role play's rules dictate activity, then you must be active to participate. -If you are committed to a role play but have to take leave of Gaia Online or go on Hiatus, then please post in the Absence Thread in the main forum. -Please follow the TOS and the Guild Guildlines. -Joining a role play makes it your responsibility to check on the role play. -All users must use the quote tag at the bottom of their post to inform the other participants that they have posted. -You must have a profile for your character ready before you join a role play -If the role play requires acceptance by role play creator, you cannot join the role play until accepted. Furthermore all changes to the profile must be approved by the role play creator. -If at any time you feel like dropping out of the role play, contact the other members either by OOC or by PM. -You cannot own a NPC character unless approved to do so. -Make sure to credit artwork of your characters if possible (post facto rule, meaning all previous are okay. This ensures Artist credit and also allows others to find the Artist's art.) -Never give out your personal information.
Small Role Play Building Upon creation of a small role play, you must put full details as to what the role play is in the opening post. Also be sure to leave in a spoiler, a list of all members participating. Also include your rules to the role play and suggested post formats.
Large Role Play Building In the case of a large role play being built, a moderator of this guild must be notified. Only moderators of this guild have the power to alter/add sub forums to the guild. The sub forum will be named after the role play with the mark [RP] at the end of it's title.
The basic formula for large role plays is: -A large detailed thread explaining the role play in it's entirety, rules, and suggested post formats. -(A) main location(s) for major events to take place. -A Bestiary for the different Species in the role play, all with detailed descriptions. -A historia, for recording important events that took place. -An OOC (Out of Character) chat thread. -Location(s) spread throughout the role play. -An item index for explaining resources or special items if needed. -A helpful thread with tips for formating or etc and can offer role play training.
Now remember to have fun Role Playing!!
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:37 pm
You might want to add in a rule regarding combat at least. In tier one rping, for instance....you only get a seventy two hour grace period from the last time your opponent posts. If you do not post in that time frame or let them know what is going on, you forfeit the match completely.
You might want to add in a rule regarding combat at least. In tier one rping, for instance....you only get a seventy two hour grace period from the last time your opponent posts. If you do not post in that time frame or let them know what is going on, you forfeit the match completely.
Combat will be dictated by the Role Play Creator: auto hitting, god mod, etc are already banned. This will allow the role plays to easily fall under categories of literacy and role play ability. An easy going role play would be easy for starters and they could advance to another tier of role play later to hone their skills.
Although if the role play dictates activity, then it is the member's responsibility to keep up with the role play and be active. If they fail to do so, it's in the best interest for the role play creator to contact the Guild's moderators to work out the situation.
So it will depend on the role play created.
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:50 pm
Zero Heslin
You might want to add in a rule regarding combat at least. In tier one rping, for instance....you only get a seventy two hour grace period from the last time your opponent posts. If you do not post in that time frame or let them know what is going on, you forfeit the match completely.
Zancuno Heslin
Combat will be dictated by the Role Play Creator: auto hitting, god mod, etc are already banned. This will allow the role plays to easily fall under categories of literacy and role play ability. An easy going role play would be easy for starters and they could advance to another tier of role play later to hone their skills.
Although if the role play dictates activity, then it is the member's responsibility to keep up with the role play and be active. If they fail to do so, it's in the best interest for the role play creator to contact the Guild's moderators to work out the situation.
So it will depend on the role play created.
i would be looking at a minimum of at least 48 hours of post inactivity before a ongoing conflict is deemed "frozen", as people are in different parts of the world so from time to time people generally post on different time lines so some might not beable to post during that time, but i would have to agree with Zero about 72 hours before the party involved can call it quits due to inactivity.
regarding combat though, depending on how things play out, if your in need of a judge/referee to spectate a fight, im open to do it, i generally check all variables and possibility's regarding the use of powers and general combat skills and posting form in other guilds iv been involved with in the past, so im quite happy to watch for foul play if any is suspected... i would probably leave out the character level/ranking system like in Hirano Zan, unless thats something i got planned already?
I personally find things like character level and ranking systems to belong to game relevant rps. Oh, before I forget lemme link you to the ruleset for T1 RP so you have a more valid source than words coming from my mouth. I generally tend to be overly strict however in managing an rp of late. Just ask Kagine or Maeri......they can tell you how I deal with certain levels of ludicrous drama. Which won't necessarily make me any better of a leader to be honest but I do know how to get onto someone about certain things such as ignoring other people's posts or not speaking up to begin with about lag and irl matters which leaves one to question why they bothered signing up to do something to begin with.
Then the matter of realistic logic versus popular logic. Oh how annoying that gets. So if anyone here has any good links to actual combat instructions for swordplay for instance or things revolving around armor I would like to have those to add to my arsenal of resources.
I personally find things like character level and ranking systems to belong to game relevant rps. Oh, before I forget lemme link you to the ruleset for T1 RP so you have a more valid source than words coming from my mouth. I generally tend to be overly strict however in managing an rp of late. Just ask Kagine or Maeri......they can tell you how I deal with certain levels of ludicrous drama. Which won't necessarily make me any better of a leader to be honest but I do know how to get onto someone about certain things such as ignoring other people's posts or not speaking up to begin with about lag and irl matters which leaves one to question why they bothered signing up to do something to begin with.
Then the matter of realistic logic versus popular logic. Oh how annoying that gets. So if anyone here has any good links to actual combat instructions for swordplay for instance or things revolving around armor I would like to have those to add to my arsenal of resources.
while drama is a given, most of the time its more like a game of who's right and who's wrong, which is where good sources like the Ruleset here come in handy along side a characters background and pre-existing powers, skills ect that the person hasn't made up on the spot, though most... say... inexperienced people probably wont care much of large amounts of writing and things they may not understand, sadly, there are a few people out there giving examples and explanations on what makes things fare, like the Do's and Dont's...
here's a copy of a guide from one of the guilds im/was associated with, it might be a nice reference... it was posted in the guild by a friend of mine but i'll leave him out of the quoting, after reading it, i found it to be pretty handy and it even went quite a long way with a couple of us crew (at the time) teaching a couple newcomers on hos to not only improve their posts but make bigger more descriptive posts.
Posted by Srinpai:
And now, for a different kind of class...
Hey hey Listen up! I DID NOT WRITE THIS
The User Known as Hugin the Raven did. He may not have posted much in the guild I was in with him but he spelled out all of info everyone needs to know about combat. IF YOU ARE DOING COMBAT IN ANY GUILD this guy has wrote up what the ******** you need to do. I hope in the future this stops problems in the guild.
-Srinpai, V.C. And Combat Nut
Roleplay 101: Combat
I can see that a few people in this guild aren't really able to do much in the way of proper combat. Now, I've seen some bad examples of fighting recently, and I've seen some good ones. Considering that there should be a few new people coming in sooner or later (hopefully sooner, so someone can read this), I have taken it upon myself to actually write something that will help the community as a whole.
This is my attempt to demonstrate my abilities without having my character's face beaten in time after time, even though that does make for a good laugh once in a while. No, before I get into any more fights that I have little chance of winning, at least for now, I'm going to display how to actually have a realistic, plausible battle between two people with the same goal... winning via words.
Table of Contents:
First Post Who are you and what do you think you're doing?
Second Post What NOT to Do
Third Post The Three Big Questions
Fourth Post Creating the Dilemma
Fifth Post Everybody's Got a Plan...
Sixth Post Epic Combat
Seventh Post Summary
Mistakes Are Everywhere Avoid them by reading this.
I'm staying up late at night right now trying to type this, because of a post I saw earlier in one fight in this specific guild. It wasn't pretty. Matter of fact, it was pretty bad. So bad that it serves as a perfect example of how not to do things, how not to write a turn in roleplay combat.
I'm not going to write it here, for protection of the offending party.
razz
But I will tell you what was wrong with it, and I'm going to tell you how to avoid making the same mistakes.
-Translate this, please!-
That's exactly what the opponent said in the OOC chat of this guild when they tried to read what exactly went on in the post. And those right there are the three worst words to say, because it makes the guy that posted the turn look... and sound... stupid. Now I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence here, but this is exactly the first mistake. Bad grammar and spelling are the two enemies of a good fight, because you can't understand what exactly they intended to do!
Now I'm not saying to put every post through a spell checker. In fact, that's a horrible idea, they suck and they give bad suggestions. What I am saying though is quite simple. Making yourself clear in what you write is the first step to making your fights believable and memorable. So yeah, get with the English.
-Okay, where did that come from?-
This is usually the one question someone asks when they get up from a forced nap, the good kind of question.
This is not that question. This question comes from not making your movements clear.
Say for example you're throwing a punch. You have to be clear on how it was thrown, where it's headed, and what it has the potential to do. If you go OMG I PUNCH YOU AND IT'S GONNA HURT, your opponent will do one of two things.
The nice ones will go... 'huh?' Which is exactly what they should do, because they have no idea where the hell the attack is coming from. This is bad, because it slows the fight down and forces one to re-do their posts. Bad form, Peter Pan. Bad form.
The mean ones will assume you are punching straight forward, at their face, and come up with a brutal counter that can and potentially will knock your teeth in, break a limb, or do something otherwise humiliating. Don't be surprised if you're the one that goes, "Where the hell did that come from," only for them to say, "In front of me. Unless you wanna clarify?"
-Are you actually able to do that?-
Even if you make yourself clear, if a move doesn't seem valid, completely and totally possible by any normal human limits, or the limits of the game you happen to be playing, then one should really consider changing their approach. Because the move will be counted as null and void if you just... can't... do it. I'm not just talking about some move list, I'm talking about the laws of reality, and a wililng suspension of that reality.
If the move you execute breaks the willing suspension of disbelief that we all share when we're roleplaying, is so impossible that you really do have to wonder where their heads are at, then you deserve to be called out on it. Don't try to shoot someone and then toss a punch the next post without some kind of transition as to how you got from point a to point b. Don't make yourself a steel wall of muscle that can't be penetrated by anything but an orbital strike. Things like that, y'know?
That's my two cents... on what NOT to do.
The Big Three Questions you should always ask before doing anything.
Now that I've detailed a few things on what not to do, I'm going to try and explain, in as few words as I can, how to play a proper turn in a combat situation. Now a turn is comprised of a single post, the length of which can be anything from three sentences to quite long-winded paragraphs. Of course, the long ones tend to run the risk of being ostentatious, but they do have the effect of making a move seem more impressive.
And that's when they're done well.
Several actions can be taken during one turn, but each action has to have some kind of general purpose: offensive or defensive.
Offensive turns are aggressive and assertive. They involve forward movement, pursuit, assault, and general methods of dealing damage. How the damage is dealt depends on the game, but the gist of these is that someone is applying pressure. And the general goal of the fight is to constantly be the one applying pressure.
Of course, this can't always happen, and that's where defensive turns come in. When one is on the defensive, they are retreating, taking fire, parrying blows. The pressure and pace is against him or her, and they are forced to think of a creative way to reverse the situation back in their favor without breaking the rules of engagement.
So with these explanations given, here are the three questions one should ask themselves before hitting that reply button and putting in their bid for victory.
Where?
This question is the first one asked. Where are you attacking from? Look carefully, because if you get this wrong you're either going to have to fix the post, or you will get hit. That's just all there is to it. Offensively, there are several directions to attack from, and physics demands that striking from a proper angle will achieve maximum results. Defensively, one must pay attention to where they're being struck at from, because shifting position may be required.
How?
How are you attacking? Just as important as where. Elbow, knee strike, hook, uppercut, shin kick, foot stomp, hammer fist, back fist, some kind of special technique. What are you using to do the damage, dish the pain? Offensively, what one is using is important, because each technique and tactic has different effects. Some of them can produce a decisive end in short order if thrown at the proper angle. Oh wait, I'm repeating myself. And that's good, because it needs to be said. Defensively, how a move is executed determines the proper response to it. Some things can be ducked, slipped, just plain stepped away from. Others, not so easy to defend against. Which brings us to number three...
What?
Offensively, this means, "What will this lead to?" Can it be chained, combined, controlled, slowed, stopped? What are the effects? Debilitating, annoying, cripping, lethal? What happens if it misses? On the other hand, one on the defensive has to ask, "What can I do?" Is there an opening before, during, or after? What can be used to exploit these holes that are left open? Are there any at all?
After asking these three questions, one attempts to arrive at the ultimate point of the conflict. Making it so the defensive answer to the above question consists of only one word.
"Nothing."
The Dilemma You have two choices...
Snap or tap. Pass out or knock out. Get hit, or get penalized.
This is what is called a dilemma, and it's the thing that you are aiming for in a roleplay fight. Putting someone in one of these means you've struck a blow either way, and they're forced to absorb some kind of pain for your clever thinking and sheer bull-headed, never-say-die attitude. One too many of these, and someone is going to lose.
That's the point, after all.
Reaching this point may require several posts of hard work and ingenuity, clever tactics and timing, but it will be worth it for the sheer grin on your face when you land the blow the other guy didn't see coming. Everyone has their own methods of obfuscating their real motives, and thus these methods won't be listed here. Still, putting someone in a dilemma involves several basic things.
Look for holes!
Every move has an opening, a weakness, a flaw. Others, not so much, given the proper positioning. Knowing when to evade and when to go for that beatdown is important. Watch your opponnent's moves down to the inch, because every fight comes down to inches, seconds, eye blinks.
Don't let up!
Make every attack something that will cause dastardly amounts of damage, either by accumulation or by first-hit contact. The more solid, high-percentage moves you connect with, the more the fight goes in your favor. Now it's true that not everyone feels pain. That's sad, because those that don't lack the human body's warning system. Breaking a limb is painful. Getting stabbed is painful. Getting hit in any kind of fashion that penetrates more than two inches is painful. If it isn't, then you can't feel the internal damage, can't feel the bones breaking, and most certainly won't feel it when your system eventually caves in. Either way, keep up the pressure!
Observe your surroundings!
See a wall? Ram someone into it. Something flammable nearby? Light it up. A bit too much dirt or sand in the area? Use it. Everything is a weapon, everything is an obstacle, and everything can be used either for laughs, pain, or humilation. Make the fight interesting by using the whole world as a weapon!
Don't give up!
This is the most important. Sometimes you can win a battle by sheer dogged tenacity. If you find yourself on the ground, do not stop asking yourself what you can do from there. Look around for rocks, sticks, whatever else to defend yourself with. Get some space between you and the other guy if there's nothing you can really do. If you're against the wall, remember that it's just as unyielding of a surface for the foe as it is for you. All in all, the one who surrenders is the one who loses. And if you have to surrender... make your opponnent count how many bruises you gave them!
Taking Hits How to do so with dignity.
Mike Tyson was boxing's knockout expert. He knew how and where to land what punch to achieve a stunning, damaging, decisive end to a fight. And yet one of his best statements is a simple admission of a basic truth.
"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."
What this means is that sure, you have a strategy. Yeah, you have plans, you have a clever trap or something that will most certainly do the intended damage. And then, you get hit, and your plans go out the window. You fall back on whatever you know will work, instead of what you think will work.
What it also means that no matter what happens, you aren't invincible. Think about how messy real fights are. If you've ever seen a UFC fight or boxing match, they are organized chaos. And we're talking about organized. There are rules, there are ways to stop the fight without anyone getting utterly destroyed.
A real fight, on the street, or one of the staged ones in a dojo where one guy faces half the whole class? That's messy. Your plans are equal to a pile of dirt, the sand dunes in a desert... easily destroyed.
Remember this, and you will be careful about how you move, where you step, what you throw, and what you do next. But no matter how careful you are, you can't dodge everything, you will be outsmarted, and you will get hurt. Because this is a fight. It's a fight in a game, but it's still a fight. It's someone attempting to incapacitate the character you put blood, sweat, and tears into.
You will get hit. And you're not gonna take it well.
Every time your character gets hit, you'll feel it like you're the guy you're writing. Those who separate themselves from their characters are doing it wrong, because a proper amount of passion is needed to fully get into the game. The pain will be there, but pain is a fleeting thing. It can be ignored to an extent, it dulls over time.
So here's my advice... get hit once in a while. Let it happen. It makes the fight more realistic and adds to the conflict. Not to mention that when you do get hit, when your opponnent gets close enough to touch you and do damage, they can't just take it back. It's a thing called commitment. The rules of momentum and energy transference are already in effect. Physics will kick your a**, but they can also kick the other guy's a**.
Miss your attacks once in a while, be deliberate about taking one (or a few) for the team. Because every time your opponnent commits, there is a chance to make them exact payment for it. Look for these chances if any of them come up, because once you spot one, it's all you'll be able to see. You can't help but take it, and watch what happens.
Sure, dodging and defending is a more proper method of doing things, because you avoid and/or lessen the amount of damage you take. But as stated... everyone gets hit. Everyone takes damage, felt or not. And everyone can lose. You are not an exeption. Sometimes, the only choice is to take the pain, but that doesn't mean you can't return it, sometimes in the same instance.
So stand up, breathe, and get back in there.
Epic Combat Do the impossible. Break the unbreakable.
"The guy weighs 145 pounds. He's beating people at 155 pounds. Tonight, he beat a guy again who had him... out of it. He was done in the first round. And a guy who people believed had his number, he knocked him out tonight."
Dana White on Frankie Edgar, UFC Lightweight Champion
Bodies smash through walls. Glass shatters at the swing of a punch, from ten feet away. Climbing up the walls and bouncing off the ceiling is nothing. Battle cries pierce the heavens as debris rains from the sky. Punshing, brutal blows that would decimate anyone else wouldn't make THIS guy bat an eye lash.
Pushing the limits of what's possible creates epic combat, the closest thing to an anime battle in written form. It's a recreation of a movie action scene. It's going the distance against someone even the most stalwart, hardened warrior finds intimidating. And the above quote is a testament to how fights the likes of which none dared believe possible can happen in real life.
It's all about being creative. Setting the stage for some chaos.
There are far too many ways to do this, so how it happens is different every time. There are no basics to creating an epic battle, because an epic battle is simply taking the basics to their logical extreme, while keeping in mind the rules of engagement.
Only thing is... when you get hit, you get hit fifty feet away. Anything in your path becomes rubble, and if you meet an object that has far more resistance than you, expect to cause a dent. Geting back up from one of those is a feat to be seen, but if you can still stand, still walk, and still defend yourself, then by all means... do so. Keep in mind however that it must be within one's natural capabilities.
Mid-air combat is something that everyone's seen before. Fighting games, cartoons, the stuff of the imagination. And that's fine, as long as you can actually do it. If you can't, prepare to defend yourself against a far more agile opponent than you. If you can land even half a hit, good for you! You've just become a viable threat. Bad news is if someone like this takes you seriously... well, you know.
Just... be imaginative. Be creative. Go the distance, then go beyond the horizon. But remember, just because you fight like a badass, doesn't mean you're invincible. You can still get hit, and with the stakes this high, there's a high possibility that more than your reputation will be at stake...
regarding swordplay... or more so swords in general then you might like this... i found it to be pretty humorous but also quite accurate even more so if you look at it from a movie or anime point of view in how swords are used. Implausible Fencing Powers Absurd Cutting Power Absurdly Sharp Blade
I personally find things like character level and ranking systems to belong to game relevant rps. Oh, before I forget lemme link you to the ruleset for T1 RP so you have a more valid source than words coming from my mouth. I generally tend to be overly strict however in managing an rp of late. Just ask Kagine or Maeri......they can tell you how I deal with certain levels of ludicrous drama. Which won't necessarily make me any better of a leader to be honest but I do know how to get onto someone about certain things such as ignoring other people's posts or not speaking up to begin with about lag and irl matters which leaves one to question why they bothered signing up to do something to begin with.
Then the matter of realistic logic versus popular logic. Oh how annoying that gets. So if anyone here has any good links to actual combat instructions for swordplay for instance or things revolving around armor I would like to have those to add to my arsenal of resources.
while drama is a given, most of the time its more like a game of who's right and who's wrong, which is where good sources like the Ruleset here come in handy along side a characters background and pre-existing powers, skills ect that the person hasn't made up on the spot, though most... say... inexperienced people probably wont care much of large amounts of writing and things they may not understand, sadly, there are a few people out there giving examples and explanations on what makes things fare, like the Do's and Dont's...
here's a copy of a guide from one of the guilds im/was associated with, it might be a nice reference... it was posted in the guild by a friend of mine but i'll leave him out of the quoting, after reading it, i found it to be pretty handy and it even went quite a long way with a couple of us crew (at the time) teaching a couple newcomers on hos to not only improve their posts but make bigger more descriptive posts.
Posted by Srinpai:
And now, for a different kind of class...
Hey hey Listen up! I DID NOT WRITE THIS
The User Known as Hugin the Raven did. He may not have posted much in the guild I was in with him but he spelled out all of info everyone needs to know about combat. IF YOU ARE DOING COMBAT IN ANY GUILD this guy has wrote up what the ******** you need to do. I hope in the future this stops problems in the guild.
-Srinpai, V.C. And Combat Nut
Roleplay 101: Combat
I can see that a few people in this guild aren't really able to do much in the way of proper combat. Now, I've seen some bad examples of fighting recently, and I've seen some good ones. Considering that there should be a few new people coming in sooner or later (hopefully sooner, so someone can read this), I have taken it upon myself to actually write something that will help the community as a whole.
This is my attempt to demonstrate my abilities without having my character's face beaten in time after time, even though that does make for a good laugh once in a while. No, before I get into any more fights that I have little chance of winning, at least for now, I'm going to display how to actually have a realistic, plausible battle between two people with the same goal... winning via words.
Table of Contents:
First Post Who are you and what do you think you're doing?
Second Post What NOT to Do
Third Post The Three Big Questions
Fourth Post Creating the Dilemma
Fifth Post Everybody's Got a Plan...
Sixth Post Epic Combat
Seventh Post Summary
Mistakes Are Everywhere Avoid them by reading this.
I'm staying up late at night right now trying to type this, because of a post I saw earlier in one fight in this specific guild. It wasn't pretty. Matter of fact, it was pretty bad. So bad that it serves as a perfect example of how not to do things, how not to write a turn in roleplay combat.
I'm not going to write it here, for protection of the offending party.
razz
But I will tell you what was wrong with it, and I'm going to tell you how to avoid making the same mistakes.
-Translate this, please!-
That's exactly what the opponent said in the OOC chat of this guild when they tried to read what exactly went on in the post. And those right there are the three worst words to say, because it makes the guy that posted the turn look... and sound... stupid. Now I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence here, but this is exactly the first mistake. Bad grammar and spelling are the two enemies of a good fight, because you can't understand what exactly they intended to do!
Now I'm not saying to put every post through a spell checker. In fact, that's a horrible idea, they suck and they give bad suggestions. What I am saying though is quite simple. Making yourself clear in what you write is the first step to making your fights believable and memorable. So yeah, get with the English.
-Okay, where did that come from?-
This is usually the one question someone asks when they get up from a forced nap, the good kind of question.
This is not that question. This question comes from not making your movements clear.
Say for example you're throwing a punch. You have to be clear on how it was thrown, where it's headed, and what it has the potential to do. If you go OMG I PUNCH YOU AND IT'S GONNA HURT, your opponent will do one of two things.
The nice ones will go... 'huh?' Which is exactly what they should do, because they have no idea where the hell the attack is coming from. This is bad, because it slows the fight down and forces one to re-do their posts. Bad form, Peter Pan. Bad form.
The mean ones will assume you are punching straight forward, at their face, and come up with a brutal counter that can and potentially will knock your teeth in, break a limb, or do something otherwise humiliating. Don't be surprised if you're the one that goes, "Where the hell did that come from," only for them to say, "In front of me. Unless you wanna clarify?"
-Are you actually able to do that?-
Even if you make yourself clear, if a move doesn't seem valid, completely and totally possible by any normal human limits, or the limits of the game you happen to be playing, then one should really consider changing their approach. Because the move will be counted as null and void if you just... can't... do it. I'm not just talking about some move list, I'm talking about the laws of reality, and a wililng suspension of that reality.
If the move you execute breaks the willing suspension of disbelief that we all share when we're roleplaying, is so impossible that you really do have to wonder where their heads are at, then you deserve to be called out on it. Don't try to shoot someone and then toss a punch the next post without some kind of transition as to how you got from point a to point b. Don't make yourself a steel wall of muscle that can't be penetrated by anything but an orbital strike. Things like that, y'know?
That's my two cents... on what NOT to do.
The Big Three Questions you should always ask before doing anything.
Now that I've detailed a few things on what not to do, I'm going to try and explain, in as few words as I can, how to play a proper turn in a combat situation. Now a turn is comprised of a single post, the length of which can be anything from three sentences to quite long-winded paragraphs. Of course, the long ones tend to run the risk of being ostentatious, but they do have the effect of making a move seem more impressive.
And that's when they're done well.
Several actions can be taken during one turn, but each action has to have some kind of general purpose: offensive or defensive.
Offensive turns are aggressive and assertive. They involve forward movement, pursuit, assault, and general methods of dealing damage. How the damage is dealt depends on the game, but the gist of these is that someone is applying pressure. And the general goal of the fight is to constantly be the one applying pressure.
Of course, this can't always happen, and that's where defensive turns come in. When one is on the defensive, they are retreating, taking fire, parrying blows. The pressure and pace is against him or her, and they are forced to think of a creative way to reverse the situation back in their favor without breaking the rules of engagement.
So with these explanations given, here are the three questions one should ask themselves before hitting that reply button and putting in their bid for victory.
Where?
This question is the first one asked. Where are you attacking from? Look carefully, because if you get this wrong you're either going to have to fix the post, or you will get hit. That's just all there is to it. Offensively, there are several directions to attack from, and physics demands that striking from a proper angle will achieve maximum results. Defensively, one must pay attention to where they're being struck at from, because shifting position may be required.
How?
How are you attacking? Just as important as where. Elbow, knee strike, hook, uppercut, shin kick, foot stomp, hammer fist, back fist, some kind of special technique. What are you using to do the damage, dish the pain? Offensively, what one is using is important, because each technique and tactic has different effects. Some of them can produce a decisive end in short order if thrown at the proper angle. Oh wait, I'm repeating myself. And that's good, because it needs to be said. Defensively, how a move is executed determines the proper response to it. Some things can be ducked, slipped, just plain stepped away from. Others, not so easy to defend against. Which brings us to number three...
What?
Offensively, this means, "What will this lead to?" Can it be chained, combined, controlled, slowed, stopped? What are the effects? Debilitating, annoying, cripping, lethal? What happens if it misses? On the other hand, one on the defensive has to ask, "What can I do?" Is there an opening before, during, or after? What can be used to exploit these holes that are left open? Are there any at all?
After asking these three questions, one attempts to arrive at the ultimate point of the conflict. Making it so the defensive answer to the above question consists of only one word.
"Nothing."
The Dilemma You have two choices...
Snap or tap. Pass out or knock out. Get hit, or get penalized.
This is what is called a dilemma, and it's the thing that you are aiming for in a roleplay fight. Putting someone in one of these means you've struck a blow either way, and they're forced to absorb some kind of pain for your clever thinking and sheer bull-headed, never-say-die attitude. One too many of these, and someone is going to lose.
That's the point, after all.
Reaching this point may require several posts of hard work and ingenuity, clever tactics and timing, but it will be worth it for the sheer grin on your face when you land the blow the other guy didn't see coming. Everyone has their own methods of obfuscating their real motives, and thus these methods won't be listed here. Still, putting someone in a dilemma involves several basic things.
Look for holes!
Every move has an opening, a weakness, a flaw. Others, not so much, given the proper positioning. Knowing when to evade and when to go for that beatdown is important. Watch your opponnent's moves down to the inch, because every fight comes down to inches, seconds, eye blinks.
Don't let up!
Make every attack something that will cause dastardly amounts of damage, either by accumulation or by first-hit contact. The more solid, high-percentage moves you connect with, the more the fight goes in your favor. Now it's true that not everyone feels pain. That's sad, because those that don't lack the human body's warning system. Breaking a limb is painful. Getting stabbed is painful. Getting hit in any kind of fashion that penetrates more than two inches is painful. If it isn't, then you can't feel the internal damage, can't feel the bones breaking, and most certainly won't feel it when your system eventually caves in. Either way, keep up the pressure!
Observe your surroundings!
See a wall? Ram someone into it. Something flammable nearby? Light it up. A bit too much dirt or sand in the area? Use it. Everything is a weapon, everything is an obstacle, and everything can be used either for laughs, pain, or humilation. Make the fight interesting by using the whole world as a weapon!
Don't give up!
This is the most important. Sometimes you can win a battle by sheer dogged tenacity. If you find yourself on the ground, do not stop asking yourself what you can do from there. Look around for rocks, sticks, whatever else to defend yourself with. Get some space between you and the other guy if there's nothing you can really do. If you're against the wall, remember that it's just as unyielding of a surface for the foe as it is for you. All in all, the one who surrenders is the one who loses. And if you have to surrender... make your opponnent count how many bruises you gave them!
Taking Hits How to do so with dignity.
Mike Tyson was boxing's knockout expert. He knew how and where to land what punch to achieve a stunning, damaging, decisive end to a fight. And yet one of his best statements is a simple admission of a basic truth.
"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."
What this means is that sure, you have a strategy. Yeah, you have plans, you have a clever trap or something that will most certainly do the intended damage. And then, you get hit, and your plans go out the window. You fall back on whatever you know will work, instead of what you think will work.
What it also means that no matter what happens, you aren't invincible. Think about how messy real fights are. If you've ever seen a UFC fight or boxing match, they are organized chaos. And we're talking about organized. There are rules, there are ways to stop the fight without anyone getting utterly destroyed.
A real fight, on the street, or one of the staged ones in a dojo where one guy faces half the whole class? That's messy. Your plans are equal to a pile of dirt, the sand dunes in a desert... easily destroyed.
Remember this, and you will be careful about how you move, where you step, what you throw, and what you do next. But no matter how careful you are, you can't dodge everything, you will be outsmarted, and you will get hurt. Because this is a fight. It's a fight in a game, but it's still a fight. It's someone attempting to incapacitate the character you put blood, sweat, and tears into.
You will get hit. And you're not gonna take it well.
Every time your character gets hit, you'll feel it like you're the guy you're writing. Those who separate themselves from their characters are doing it wrong, because a proper amount of passion is needed to fully get into the game. The pain will be there, but pain is a fleeting thing. It can be ignored to an extent, it dulls over time.
So here's my advice... get hit once in a while. Let it happen. It makes the fight more realistic and adds to the conflict. Not to mention that when you do get hit, when your opponnent gets close enough to touch you and do damage, they can't just take it back. It's a thing called commitment. The rules of momentum and energy transference are already in effect. Physics will kick your a**, but they can also kick the other guy's a**.
Miss your attacks once in a while, be deliberate about taking one (or a few) for the team. Because every time your opponnent commits, there is a chance to make them exact payment for it. Look for these chances if any of them come up, because once you spot one, it's all you'll be able to see. You can't help but take it, and watch what happens.
Sure, dodging and defending is a more proper method of doing things, because you avoid and/or lessen the amount of damage you take. But as stated... everyone gets hit. Everyone takes damage, felt or not. And everyone can lose. You are not an exeption. Sometimes, the only choice is to take the pain, but that doesn't mean you can't return it, sometimes in the same instance.
So stand up, breathe, and get back in there.
Epic Combat Do the impossible. Break the unbreakable.
"The guy weighs 145 pounds. He's beating people at 155 pounds. Tonight, he beat a guy again who had him... out of it. He was done in the first round. And a guy who people believed had his number, he knocked him out tonight."
Dana White on Frankie Edgar, UFC Lightweight Champion
Bodies smash through walls. Glass shatters at the swing of a punch, from ten feet away. Climbing up the walls and bouncing off the ceiling is nothing. Battle cries pierce the heavens as debris rains from the sky. Punshing, brutal blows that would decimate anyone else wouldn't make THIS guy bat an eye lash.
Pushing the limits of what's possible creates epic combat, the closest thing to an anime battle in written form. It's a recreation of a movie action scene. It's going the distance against someone even the most stalwart, hardened warrior finds intimidating. And the above quote is a testament to how fights the likes of which none dared believe possible can happen in real life.
It's all about being creative. Setting the stage for some chaos.
There are far too many ways to do this, so how it happens is different every time. There are no basics to creating an epic battle, because an epic battle is simply taking the basics to their logical extreme, while keeping in mind the rules of engagement.
Only thing is... when you get hit, you get hit fifty feet away. Anything in your path becomes rubble, and if you meet an object that has far more resistance than you, expect to cause a dent. Geting back up from one of those is a feat to be seen, but if you can still stand, still walk, and still defend yourself, then by all means... do so. Keep in mind however that it must be within one's natural capabilities.
Mid-air combat is something that everyone's seen before. Fighting games, cartoons, the stuff of the imagination. And that's fine, as long as you can actually do it. If you can't, prepare to defend yourself against a far more agile opponent than you. If you can land even half a hit, good for you! You've just become a viable threat. Bad news is if someone like this takes you seriously... well, you know.
Just... be imaginative. Be creative. Go the distance, then go beyond the horizon. But remember, just because you fight like a badass, doesn't mean you're invincible. You can still get hit, and with the stakes this high, there's a high possibility that more than your reputation will be at stake...
regarding swordplay... or more so swords in general then you might like this... i found it to be pretty humorous but also quite accurate even more so if you look at it from a movie or anime point of view in how swords are used. Implausible Fencing Powers Absurd Cutting Power Absurdly Sharp Blade
I don't think this was what I mean by manuals regarding sword fighting. I was more in the thought process of real life manuals online. The ones that actually teach about the proper fighting stances, grips and techniques viable in real life. Now don't get me wrong, cartoon, movie and anime 'magic' is cool and all, assuming it can be done in real life. In rps regarding realism, in which there are no such thing as super humans and everyone is a human.....this is where anime tends to leave the stage. It all comes down to whether or not you really know what you're doing with the length of metal or wood in your hands. Like how to properly parry, how to ensure you don't lose your balance, things of that nature.
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:29 pm
Zero Heslin
Dilrax Stormpaw
Zero Heslin
Dilrax Stormpaw
Zancuno Heslin
I personally find things like character level and ranking systems to belong to game relevant rps. Oh, before I forget lemme link you to the ruleset for T1 RP so you have a more valid source than words coming from my mouth. I generally tend to be overly strict however in managing an rp of late. Just ask Kagine or Maeri......they can tell you how I deal with certain levels of ludicrous drama. Which won't necessarily make me any better of a leader to be honest but I do know how to get onto someone about certain things such as ignoring other people's posts or not speaking up to begin with about lag and irl matters which leaves one to question why they bothered signing up to do something to begin with.
Then the matter of realistic logic versus popular logic. Oh how annoying that gets. So if anyone here has any good links to actual combat instructions for swordplay for instance or things revolving around armor I would like to have those to add to my arsenal of resources.
while drama is a given, most of the time its more like a game of who's right and who's wrong, which is where good sources like the Ruleset here come in handy along side a characters background and pre-existing powers, skills ect that the person hasn't made up on the spot, though most... say... inexperienced people probably wont care much of large amounts of writing and things they may not understand, sadly, there are a few people out there giving examples and explanations on what makes things fare, like the Do's and Dont's...
here's a copy of a guide from one of the guilds im/was associated with, it might be a nice reference... it was posted in the guild by a friend of mine but i'll leave him out of the quoting, after reading it, i found it to be pretty handy and it even went quite a long way with a couple of us crew (at the time) teaching a couple newcomers on hos to not only improve their posts but make bigger more descriptive posts.
Posted by Srinpai:
And now, for a different kind of class...
Hey hey Listen up! I DID NOT WRITE THIS
The User Known as Hugin the Raven did. He may not have posted much in the guild I was in with him but he spelled out all of info everyone needs to know about combat. IF YOU ARE DOING COMBAT IN ANY GUILD this guy has wrote up what the ******** you need to do. I hope in the future this stops problems in the guild.
-Srinpai, V.C. And Combat Nut
Roleplay 101: Combat
I can see that a few people in this guild aren't really able to do much in the way of proper combat. Now, I've seen some bad examples of fighting recently, and I've seen some good ones. Considering that there should be a few new people coming in sooner or later (hopefully sooner, so someone can read this), I have taken it upon myself to actually write something that will help the community as a whole.
This is my attempt to demonstrate my abilities without having my character's face beaten in time after time, even though that does make for a good laugh once in a while. No, before I get into any more fights that I have little chance of winning, at least for now, I'm going to display how to actually have a realistic, plausible battle between two people with the same goal... winning via words.
Table of Contents:
First Post Who are you and what do you think you're doing?
Second Post What NOT to Do
Third Post The Three Big Questions
Fourth Post Creating the Dilemma
Fifth Post Everybody's Got a Plan...
Sixth Post Epic Combat
Seventh Post Summary
Mistakes Are Everywhere Avoid them by reading this.
I'm staying up late at night right now trying to type this, because of a post I saw earlier in one fight in this specific guild. It wasn't pretty. Matter of fact, it was pretty bad. So bad that it serves as a perfect example of how not to do things, how not to write a turn in roleplay combat.
I'm not going to write it here, for protection of the offending party.
razz
But I will tell you what was wrong with it, and I'm going to tell you how to avoid making the same mistakes.
-Translate this, please!-
That's exactly what the opponent said in the OOC chat of this guild when they tried to read what exactly went on in the post. And those right there are the three worst words to say, because it makes the guy that posted the turn look... and sound... stupid. Now I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence here, but this is exactly the first mistake. Bad grammar and spelling are the two enemies of a good fight, because you can't understand what exactly they intended to do!
Now I'm not saying to put every post through a spell checker. In fact, that's a horrible idea, they suck and they give bad suggestions. What I am saying though is quite simple. Making yourself clear in what you write is the first step to making your fights believable and memorable. So yeah, get with the English.
-Okay, where did that come from?-
This is usually the one question someone asks when they get up from a forced nap, the good kind of question.
This is not that question. This question comes from not making your movements clear.
Say for example you're throwing a punch. You have to be clear on how it was thrown, where it's headed, and what it has the potential to do. If you go OMG I PUNCH YOU AND IT'S GONNA HURT, your opponent will do one of two things.
The nice ones will go... 'huh?' Which is exactly what they should do, because they have no idea where the hell the attack is coming from. This is bad, because it slows the fight down and forces one to re-do their posts. Bad form, Peter Pan. Bad form.
The mean ones will assume you are punching straight forward, at their face, and come up with a brutal counter that can and potentially will knock your teeth in, break a limb, or do something otherwise humiliating. Don't be surprised if you're the one that goes, "Where the hell did that come from," only for them to say, "In front of me. Unless you wanna clarify?"
-Are you actually able to do that?-
Even if you make yourself clear, if a move doesn't seem valid, completely and totally possible by any normal human limits, or the limits of the game you happen to be playing, then one should really consider changing their approach. Because the move will be counted as null and void if you just... can't... do it. I'm not just talking about some move list, I'm talking about the laws of reality, and a wililng suspension of that reality.
If the move you execute breaks the willing suspension of disbelief that we all share when we're roleplaying, is so impossible that you really do have to wonder where their heads are at, then you deserve to be called out on it. Don't try to shoot someone and then toss a punch the next post without some kind of transition as to how you got from point a to point b. Don't make yourself a steel wall of muscle that can't be penetrated by anything but an orbital strike. Things like that, y'know?
That's my two cents... on what NOT to do.
The Big Three Questions you should always ask before doing anything.
Now that I've detailed a few things on what not to do, I'm going to try and explain, in as few words as I can, how to play a proper turn in a combat situation. Now a turn is comprised of a single post, the length of which can be anything from three sentences to quite long-winded paragraphs. Of course, the long ones tend to run the risk of being ostentatious, but they do have the effect of making a move seem more impressive.
And that's when they're done well.
Several actions can be taken during one turn, but each action has to have some kind of general purpose: offensive or defensive.
Offensive turns are aggressive and assertive. They involve forward movement, pursuit, assault, and general methods of dealing damage. How the damage is dealt depends on the game, but the gist of these is that someone is applying pressure. And the general goal of the fight is to constantly be the one applying pressure.
Of course, this can't always happen, and that's where defensive turns come in. When one is on the defensive, they are retreating, taking fire, parrying blows. The pressure and pace is against him or her, and they are forced to think of a creative way to reverse the situation back in their favor without breaking the rules of engagement.
So with these explanations given, here are the three questions one should ask themselves before hitting that reply button and putting in their bid for victory.
Where?
This question is the first one asked. Where are you attacking from? Look carefully, because if you get this wrong you're either going to have to fix the post, or you will get hit. That's just all there is to it. Offensively, there are several directions to attack from, and physics demands that striking from a proper angle will achieve maximum results. Defensively, one must pay attention to where they're being struck at from, because shifting position may be required.
How?
How are you attacking? Just as important as where. Elbow, knee strike, hook, uppercut, shin kick, foot stomp, hammer fist, back fist, some kind of special technique. What are you using to do the damage, dish the pain? Offensively, what one is using is important, because each technique and tactic has different effects. Some of them can produce a decisive end in short order if thrown at the proper angle. Oh wait, I'm repeating myself. And that's good, because it needs to be said. Defensively, how a move is executed determines the proper response to it. Some things can be ducked, slipped, just plain stepped away from. Others, not so easy to defend against. Which brings us to number three...
What?
Offensively, this means, "What will this lead to?" Can it be chained, combined, controlled, slowed, stopped? What are the effects? Debilitating, annoying, cripping, lethal? What happens if it misses? On the other hand, one on the defensive has to ask, "What can I do?" Is there an opening before, during, or after? What can be used to exploit these holes that are left open? Are there any at all?
After asking these three questions, one attempts to arrive at the ultimate point of the conflict. Making it so the defensive answer to the above question consists of only one word.
"Nothing."
The Dilemma You have two choices...
Snap or tap. Pass out or knock out. Get hit, or get penalized.
This is what is called a dilemma, and it's the thing that you are aiming for in a roleplay fight. Putting someone in one of these means you've struck a blow either way, and they're forced to absorb some kind of pain for your clever thinking and sheer bull-headed, never-say-die attitude. One too many of these, and someone is going to lose.
That's the point, after all.
Reaching this point may require several posts of hard work and ingenuity, clever tactics and timing, but it will be worth it for the sheer grin on your face when you land the blow the other guy didn't see coming. Everyone has their own methods of obfuscating their real motives, and thus these methods won't be listed here. Still, putting someone in a dilemma involves several basic things.
Look for holes!
Every move has an opening, a weakness, a flaw. Others, not so much, given the proper positioning. Knowing when to evade and when to go for that beatdown is important. Watch your opponnent's moves down to the inch, because every fight comes down to inches, seconds, eye blinks.
Don't let up!
Make every attack something that will cause dastardly amounts of damage, either by accumulation or by first-hit contact. The more solid, high-percentage moves you connect with, the more the fight goes in your favor. Now it's true that not everyone feels pain. That's sad, because those that don't lack the human body's warning system. Breaking a limb is painful. Getting stabbed is painful. Getting hit in any kind of fashion that penetrates more than two inches is painful. If it isn't, then you can't feel the internal damage, can't feel the bones breaking, and most certainly won't feel it when your system eventually caves in. Either way, keep up the pressure!
Observe your surroundings!
See a wall? Ram someone into it. Something flammable nearby? Light it up. A bit too much dirt or sand in the area? Use it. Everything is a weapon, everything is an obstacle, and everything can be used either for laughs, pain, or humilation. Make the fight interesting by using the whole world as a weapon!
Don't give up!
This is the most important. Sometimes you can win a battle by sheer dogged tenacity. If you find yourself on the ground, do not stop asking yourself what you can do from there. Look around for rocks, sticks, whatever else to defend yourself with. Get some space between you and the other guy if there's nothing you can really do. If you're against the wall, remember that it's just as unyielding of a surface for the foe as it is for you. All in all, the one who surrenders is the one who loses. And if you have to surrender... make your opponnent count how many bruises you gave them!
Taking Hits How to do so with dignity.
Mike Tyson was boxing's knockout expert. He knew how and where to land what punch to achieve a stunning, damaging, decisive end to a fight. And yet one of his best statements is a simple admission of a basic truth.
"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."
What this means is that sure, you have a strategy. Yeah, you have plans, you have a clever trap or something that will most certainly do the intended damage. And then, you get hit, and your plans go out the window. You fall back on whatever you know will work, instead of what you think will work.
What it also means that no matter what happens, you aren't invincible. Think about how messy real fights are. If you've ever seen a UFC fight or boxing match, they are organized chaos. And we're talking about organized. There are rules, there are ways to stop the fight without anyone getting utterly destroyed.
A real fight, on the street, or one of the staged ones in a dojo where one guy faces half the whole class? That's messy. Your plans are equal to a pile of dirt, the sand dunes in a desert... easily destroyed.
Remember this, and you will be careful about how you move, where you step, what you throw, and what you do next. But no matter how careful you are, you can't dodge everything, you will be outsmarted, and you will get hurt. Because this is a fight. It's a fight in a game, but it's still a fight. It's someone attempting to incapacitate the character you put blood, sweat, and tears into.
You will get hit. And you're not gonna take it well.
Every time your character gets hit, you'll feel it like you're the guy you're writing. Those who separate themselves from their characters are doing it wrong, because a proper amount of passion is needed to fully get into the game. The pain will be there, but pain is a fleeting thing. It can be ignored to an extent, it dulls over time.
So here's my advice... get hit once in a while. Let it happen. It makes the fight more realistic and adds to the conflict. Not to mention that when you do get hit, when your opponnent gets close enough to touch you and do damage, they can't just take it back. It's a thing called commitment. The rules of momentum and energy transference are already in effect. Physics will kick your a**, but they can also kick the other guy's a**.
Miss your attacks once in a while, be deliberate about taking one (or a few) for the team. Because every time your opponnent commits, there is a chance to make them exact payment for it. Look for these chances if any of them come up, because once you spot one, it's all you'll be able to see. You can't help but take it, and watch what happens.
Sure, dodging and defending is a more proper method of doing things, because you avoid and/or lessen the amount of damage you take. But as stated... everyone gets hit. Everyone takes damage, felt or not. And everyone can lose. You are not an exeption. Sometimes, the only choice is to take the pain, but that doesn't mean you can't return it, sometimes in the same instance.
So stand up, breathe, and get back in there.
Epic Combat Do the impossible. Break the unbreakable.
"The guy weighs 145 pounds. He's beating people at 155 pounds. Tonight, he beat a guy again who had him... out of it. He was done in the first round. And a guy who people believed had his number, he knocked him out tonight."
Dana White on Frankie Edgar, UFC Lightweight Champion
Bodies smash through walls. Glass shatters at the swing of a punch, from ten feet away. Climbing up the walls and bouncing off the ceiling is nothing. Battle cries pierce the heavens as debris rains from the sky. Punshing, brutal blows that would decimate anyone else wouldn't make THIS guy bat an eye lash.
Pushing the limits of what's possible creates epic combat, the closest thing to an anime battle in written form. It's a recreation of a movie action scene. It's going the distance against someone even the most stalwart, hardened warrior finds intimidating. And the above quote is a testament to how fights the likes of which none dared believe possible can happen in real life.
It's all about being creative. Setting the stage for some chaos.
There are far too many ways to do this, so how it happens is different every time. There are no basics to creating an epic battle, because an epic battle is simply taking the basics to their logical extreme, while keeping in mind the rules of engagement.
Only thing is... when you get hit, you get hit fifty feet away. Anything in your path becomes rubble, and if you meet an object that has far more resistance than you, expect to cause a dent. Geting back up from one of those is a feat to be seen, but if you can still stand, still walk, and still defend yourself, then by all means... do so. Keep in mind however that it must be within one's natural capabilities.
Mid-air combat is something that everyone's seen before. Fighting games, cartoons, the stuff of the imagination. And that's fine, as long as you can actually do it. If you can't, prepare to defend yourself against a far more agile opponent than you. If you can land even half a hit, good for you! You've just become a viable threat. Bad news is if someone like this takes you seriously... well, you know.
Just... be imaginative. Be creative. Go the distance, then go beyond the horizon. But remember, just because you fight like a badass, doesn't mean you're invincible. You can still get hit, and with the stakes this high, there's a high possibility that more than your reputation will be at stake...
regarding swordplay... or more so swords in general then you might like this... i found it to be pretty humorous but also quite accurate even more so if you look at it from a movie or anime point of view in how swords are used. Implausible Fencing Powers Absurd Cutting Power Absurdly Sharp Blade
I don't think this was what I mean by manuals regarding sword fighting. I was more in the thought process of real life manuals online. The ones that actually teach about the proper fighting stances, grips and techniques viable in real life. Now don't get me wrong, cartoon, movie and anime 'magic' is cool and all, assuming it can be done in real life. In rps regarding realism, in which there are no such thing as super humans and everyone is a human.....this is where anime tends to leave the stage. It all comes down to whether or not you really know what you're doing with the length of metal or wood in your hands. Like how to properly parry, how to ensure you don't lose your balance, things of that nature.
oh i know that, they wernt meant to be taken literal but as far as the difference between screen magic and realism goes, it does point out what would clearly be far fetched, if thats the kind of thing you want to avoid and keep rid of
I personally find things like character level and ranking systems to belong to game relevant rps. Oh, before I forget lemme link you to the ruleset for T1 RP so you have a more valid source than words coming from my mouth. I generally tend to be overly strict however in managing an rp of late. Just ask Kagine or Maeri......they can tell you how I deal with certain levels of ludicrous drama. Which won't necessarily make me any better of a leader to be honest but I do know how to get onto someone about certain things such as ignoring other people's posts or not speaking up to begin with about lag and irl matters which leaves one to question why they bothered signing up to do something to begin with.
Then the matter of realistic logic versus popular logic. Oh how annoying that gets. So if anyone here has any good links to actual combat instructions for swordplay for instance or things revolving around armor I would like to have those to add to my arsenal of resources.
while drama is a given, most of the time its more like a game of who's right and who's wrong, which is where good sources like the Ruleset here come in handy along side a characters background and pre-existing powers, skills ect that the person hasn't made up on the spot, though most... say... inexperienced people probably wont care much of large amounts of writing and things they may not understand, sadly, there are a few people out there giving examples and explanations on what makes things fare, like the Do's and Dont's...
here's a copy of a guide from one of the guilds im/was associated with, it might be a nice reference... it was posted in the guild by a friend of mine but i'll leave him out of the quoting, after reading it, i found it to be pretty handy and it even went quite a long way with a couple of us crew (at the time) teaching a couple newcomers on hos to not only improve their posts but make bigger more descriptive posts.
Posted by Srinpai:
And now, for a different kind of class...
Hey hey Listen up! I DID NOT WRITE THIS
The User Known as Hugin the Raven did. He may not have posted much in the guild I was in with him but he spelled out all of info everyone needs to know about combat. IF YOU ARE DOING COMBAT IN ANY GUILD this guy has wrote up what the ******** you need to do. I hope in the future this stops problems in the guild.
-Srinpai, V.C. And Combat Nut
Roleplay 101: Combat
I can see that a few people in this guild aren't really able to do much in the way of proper combat. Now, I've seen some bad examples of fighting recently, and I've seen some good ones. Considering that there should be a few new people coming in sooner or later (hopefully sooner, so someone can read this), I have taken it upon myself to actually write something that will help the community as a whole.
This is my attempt to demonstrate my abilities without having my character's face beaten in time after time, even though that does make for a good laugh once in a while. No, before I get into any more fights that I have little chance of winning, at least for now, I'm going to display how to actually have a realistic, plausible battle between two people with the same goal... winning via words.
Table of Contents:
First Post Who are you and what do you think you're doing?
Second Post What NOT to Do
Third Post The Three Big Questions
Fourth Post Creating the Dilemma
Fifth Post Everybody's Got a Plan...
Sixth Post Epic Combat
Seventh Post Summary
Mistakes Are Everywhere Avoid them by reading this.
I'm staying up late at night right now trying to type this, because of a post I saw earlier in one fight in this specific guild. It wasn't pretty. Matter of fact, it was pretty bad. So bad that it serves as a perfect example of how not to do things, how not to write a turn in roleplay combat.
I'm not going to write it here, for protection of the offending party.
razz
But I will tell you what was wrong with it, and I'm going to tell you how to avoid making the same mistakes.
-Translate this, please!-
That's exactly what the opponent said in the OOC chat of this guild when they tried to read what exactly went on in the post. And those right there are the three worst words to say, because it makes the guy that posted the turn look... and sound... stupid. Now I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence here, but this is exactly the first mistake. Bad grammar and spelling are the two enemies of a good fight, because you can't understand what exactly they intended to do!
Now I'm not saying to put every post through a spell checker. In fact, that's a horrible idea, they suck and they give bad suggestions. What I am saying though is quite simple. Making yourself clear in what you write is the first step to making your fights believable and memorable. So yeah, get with the English.
-Okay, where did that come from?-
This is usually the one question someone asks when they get up from a forced nap, the good kind of question.
This is not that question. This question comes from not making your movements clear.
Say for example you're throwing a punch. You have to be clear on how it was thrown, where it's headed, and what it has the potential to do. If you go OMG I PUNCH YOU AND IT'S GONNA HURT, your opponent will do one of two things.
The nice ones will go... 'huh?' Which is exactly what they should do, because they have no idea where the hell the attack is coming from. This is bad, because it slows the fight down and forces one to re-do their posts. Bad form, Peter Pan. Bad form.
The mean ones will assume you are punching straight forward, at their face, and come up with a brutal counter that can and potentially will knock your teeth in, break a limb, or do something otherwise humiliating. Don't be surprised if you're the one that goes, "Where the hell did that come from," only for them to say, "In front of me. Unless you wanna clarify?"
-Are you actually able to do that?-
Even if you make yourself clear, if a move doesn't seem valid, completely and totally possible by any normal human limits, or the limits of the game you happen to be playing, then one should really consider changing their approach. Because the move will be counted as null and void if you just... can't... do it. I'm not just talking about some move list, I'm talking about the laws of reality, and a wililng suspension of that reality.
If the move you execute breaks the willing suspension of disbelief that we all share when we're roleplaying, is so impossible that you really do have to wonder where their heads are at, then you deserve to be called out on it. Don't try to shoot someone and then toss a punch the next post without some kind of transition as to how you got from point a to point b. Don't make yourself a steel wall of muscle that can't be penetrated by anything but an orbital strike. Things like that, y'know?
That's my two cents... on what NOT to do.
The Big Three Questions you should always ask before doing anything.
Now that I've detailed a few things on what not to do, I'm going to try and explain, in as few words as I can, how to play a proper turn in a combat situation. Now a turn is comprised of a single post, the length of which can be anything from three sentences to quite long-winded paragraphs. Of course, the long ones tend to run the risk of being ostentatious, but they do have the effect of making a move seem more impressive.
And that's when they're done well.
Several actions can be taken during one turn, but each action has to have some kind of general purpose: offensive or defensive.
Offensive turns are aggressive and assertive. They involve forward movement, pursuit, assault, and general methods of dealing damage. How the damage is dealt depends on the game, but the gist of these is that someone is applying pressure. And the general goal of the fight is to constantly be the one applying pressure.
Of course, this can't always happen, and that's where defensive turns come in. When one is on the defensive, they are retreating, taking fire, parrying blows. The pressure and pace is against him or her, and they are forced to think of a creative way to reverse the situation back in their favor without breaking the rules of engagement.
So with these explanations given, here are the three questions one should ask themselves before hitting that reply button and putting in their bid for victory.
Where?
This question is the first one asked. Where are you attacking from? Look carefully, because if you get this wrong you're either going to have to fix the post, or you will get hit. That's just all there is to it. Offensively, there are several directions to attack from, and physics demands that striking from a proper angle will achieve maximum results. Defensively, one must pay attention to where they're being struck at from, because shifting position may be required.
How?
How are you attacking? Just as important as where. Elbow, knee strike, hook, uppercut, shin kick, foot stomp, hammer fist, back fist, some kind of special technique. What are you using to do the damage, dish the pain? Offensively, what one is using is important, because each technique and tactic has different effects. Some of them can produce a decisive end in short order if thrown at the proper angle. Oh wait, I'm repeating myself. And that's good, because it needs to be said. Defensively, how a move is executed determines the proper response to it. Some things can be ducked, slipped, just plain stepped away from. Others, not so easy to defend against. Which brings us to number three...
What?
Offensively, this means, "What will this lead to?" Can it be chained, combined, controlled, slowed, stopped? What are the effects? Debilitating, annoying, cripping, lethal? What happens if it misses? On the other hand, one on the defensive has to ask, "What can I do?" Is there an opening before, during, or after? What can be used to exploit these holes that are left open? Are there any at all?
After asking these three questions, one attempts to arrive at the ultimate point of the conflict. Making it so the defensive answer to the above question consists of only one word.
"Nothing."
The Dilemma You have two choices...
Snap or tap. Pass out or knock out. Get hit, or get penalized.
This is what is called a dilemma, and it's the thing that you are aiming for in a roleplay fight. Putting someone in one of these means you've struck a blow either way, and they're forced to absorb some kind of pain for your clever thinking and sheer bull-headed, never-say-die attitude. One too many of these, and someone is going to lose.
That's the point, after all.
Reaching this point may require several posts of hard work and ingenuity, clever tactics and timing, but it will be worth it for the sheer grin on your face when you land the blow the other guy didn't see coming. Everyone has their own methods of obfuscating their real motives, and thus these methods won't be listed here. Still, putting someone in a dilemma involves several basic things.
Look for holes!
Every move has an opening, a weakness, a flaw. Others, not so much, given the proper positioning. Knowing when to evade and when to go for that beatdown is important. Watch your opponnent's moves down to the inch, because every fight comes down to inches, seconds, eye blinks.
Don't let up!
Make every attack something that will cause dastardly amounts of damage, either by accumulation or by first-hit contact. The more solid, high-percentage moves you connect with, the more the fight goes in your favor. Now it's true that not everyone feels pain. That's sad, because those that don't lack the human body's warning system. Breaking a limb is painful. Getting stabbed is painful. Getting hit in any kind of fashion that penetrates more than two inches is painful. If it isn't, then you can't feel the internal damage, can't feel the bones breaking, and most certainly won't feel it when your system eventually caves in. Either way, keep up the pressure!
Observe your surroundings!
See a wall? Ram someone into it. Something flammable nearby? Light it up. A bit too much dirt or sand in the area? Use it. Everything is a weapon, everything is an obstacle, and everything can be used either for laughs, pain, or humilation. Make the fight interesting by using the whole world as a weapon!
Don't give up!
This is the most important. Sometimes you can win a battle by sheer dogged tenacity. If you find yourself on the ground, do not stop asking yourself what you can do from there. Look around for rocks, sticks, whatever else to defend yourself with. Get some space between you and the other guy if there's nothing you can really do. If you're against the wall, remember that it's just as unyielding of a surface for the foe as it is for you. All in all, the one who surrenders is the one who loses. And if you have to surrender... make your opponnent count how many bruises you gave them!
Taking Hits How to do so with dignity.
Mike Tyson was boxing's knockout expert. He knew how and where to land what punch to achieve a stunning, damaging, decisive end to a fight. And yet one of his best statements is a simple admission of a basic truth.
"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."
What this means is that sure, you have a strategy. Yeah, you have plans, you have a clever trap or something that will most certainly do the intended damage. And then, you get hit, and your plans go out the window. You fall back on whatever you know will work, instead of what you think will work.
What it also means that no matter what happens, you aren't invincible. Think about how messy real fights are. If you've ever seen a UFC fight or boxing match, they are organized chaos. And we're talking about organized. There are rules, there are ways to stop the fight without anyone getting utterly destroyed.
A real fight, on the street, or one of the staged ones in a dojo where one guy faces half the whole class? That's messy. Your plans are equal to a pile of dirt, the sand dunes in a desert... easily destroyed.
Remember this, and you will be careful about how you move, where you step, what you throw, and what you do next. But no matter how careful you are, you can't dodge everything, you will be outsmarted, and you will get hurt. Because this is a fight. It's a fight in a game, but it's still a fight. It's someone attempting to incapacitate the character you put blood, sweat, and tears into.
You will get hit. And you're not gonna take it well.
Every time your character gets hit, you'll feel it like you're the guy you're writing. Those who separate themselves from their characters are doing it wrong, because a proper amount of passion is needed to fully get into the game. The pain will be there, but pain is a fleeting thing. It can be ignored to an extent, it dulls over time.
So here's my advice... get hit once in a while. Let it happen. It makes the fight more realistic and adds to the conflict. Not to mention that when you do get hit, when your opponnent gets close enough to touch you and do damage, they can't just take it back. It's a thing called commitment. The rules of momentum and energy transference are already in effect. Physics will kick your a**, but they can also kick the other guy's a**.
Miss your attacks once in a while, be deliberate about taking one (or a few) for the team. Because every time your opponnent commits, there is a chance to make them exact payment for it. Look for these chances if any of them come up, because once you spot one, it's all you'll be able to see. You can't help but take it, and watch what happens.
Sure, dodging and defending is a more proper method of doing things, because you avoid and/or lessen the amount of damage you take. But as stated... everyone gets hit. Everyone takes damage, felt or not. And everyone can lose. You are not an exeption. Sometimes, the only choice is to take the pain, but that doesn't mean you can't return it, sometimes in the same instance.
So stand up, breathe, and get back in there.
Epic Combat Do the impossible. Break the unbreakable.
"The guy weighs 145 pounds. He's beating people at 155 pounds. Tonight, he beat a guy again who had him... out of it. He was done in the first round. And a guy who people believed had his number, he knocked him out tonight."
Dana White on Frankie Edgar, UFC Lightweight Champion
Bodies smash through walls. Glass shatters at the swing of a punch, from ten feet away. Climbing up the walls and bouncing off the ceiling is nothing. Battle cries pierce the heavens as debris rains from the sky. Punshing, brutal blows that would decimate anyone else wouldn't make THIS guy bat an eye lash.
Pushing the limits of what's possible creates epic combat, the closest thing to an anime battle in written form. It's a recreation of a movie action scene. It's going the distance against someone even the most stalwart, hardened warrior finds intimidating. And the above quote is a testament to how fights the likes of which none dared believe possible can happen in real life.
It's all about being creative. Setting the stage for some chaos.
There are far too many ways to do this, so how it happens is different every time. There are no basics to creating an epic battle, because an epic battle is simply taking the basics to their logical extreme, while keeping in mind the rules of engagement.
Only thing is... when you get hit, you get hit fifty feet away. Anything in your path becomes rubble, and if you meet an object that has far more resistance than you, expect to cause a dent. Geting back up from one of those is a feat to be seen, but if you can still stand, still walk, and still defend yourself, then by all means... do so. Keep in mind however that it must be within one's natural capabilities.
Mid-air combat is something that everyone's seen before. Fighting games, cartoons, the stuff of the imagination. And that's fine, as long as you can actually do it. If you can't, prepare to defend yourself against a far more agile opponent than you. If you can land even half a hit, good for you! You've just become a viable threat. Bad news is if someone like this takes you seriously... well, you know.
Just... be imaginative. Be creative. Go the distance, then go beyond the horizon. But remember, just because you fight like a badass, doesn't mean you're invincible. You can still get hit, and with the stakes this high, there's a high possibility that more than your reputation will be at stake...
regarding swordplay... or more so swords in general then you might like this... i found it to be pretty humorous but also quite accurate even more so if you look at it from a movie or anime point of view in how swords are used. Implausible Fencing Powers Absurd Cutting Power Absurdly Sharp Blade
I don't think this was what I mean by manuals regarding sword fighting. I was more in the thought process of real life manuals online. The ones that actually teach about the proper fighting stances, grips and techniques viable in real life. Now don't get me wrong, cartoon, movie and anime 'magic' is cool and all, assuming it can be done in real life. In rps regarding realism, in which there are no such thing as super humans and everyone is a human.....this is where anime tends to leave the stage. It all comes down to whether or not you really know what you're doing with the length of metal or wood in your hands. Like how to properly parry, how to ensure you don't lose your balance, things of that nature.
oh i know that, they wasn't meant to be taken literal but as far as the difference between screen magic and realism goes, it does point out what would clearly be far fetched, if that's the kind of thing you want to avoid and keep rid of
True. I'm going to keep looking for some sites with the manuals posted online. This way we have them on resource in case someone for instance.....wants their character to be well versed in something then there would be something to back it up. I'm sure we all at one point or another....declared our rpc a master of something but when someone who had irl training within that skill comes along and shows us how little we knew and discredited us in a single session we pretty much were considered sol. By the way, you should visit the youtube channel Skallagrim, you'll learn some things regarding HEMA. He happens to review weapons as a hobby, and does irl sparring.
