The Perfect Fight!

[Cheshiyre]

Struggle with fighting sequences? Want to offer advice and tips for those that are struggling? You are in the right place! Discuss how to roleplay fight scenes here.  

[Different...Very.]

I'm always sketchy about fighting, partly because I've never done it before, and also because I've never fought in my life. sweatdrop I've punched someone, and I've been punched, but never in the same incident. I don't think I've ever read a fight in a book, so I wouldn't know how to write one. How do you know when the fight's over? How can you tell who's more powerful? How do you stop yourself from godmodding? etc etc etc I'd like to see that example.  

[T3rran]

While I'm not a mentor, fighting can become a major problem in RP's, and most of the time, fighting kills the RP, because a lot of people don't want their 'super awesome character' to lose.

So, my tips that I try and use are as follows:

1. In a fight, leave your attacks open ended as much as possible, this gives the other player a chance to do many things, such as dodge the attack, or allow it to make contact.

Example 1A: Shinn back flipped and drew his sword, he didn't think the guy would have so many tricks up his sleeve. Tightening the grip, Shinn charged in, his sword poised to make a lunge. With any luck, the sword would make contact with the guys gut, if not... well, no one can live forever.

Example 1B: Sora wiped the blood from his mouth, the situation was getting becoming more touch and go than he ever wanted it to be. Changing out his magazine with a new one, he flung out from cover and began firing at the guy. Hopefully, his aim wasn't too far off and at least one bullet would make contact.

2. Set limits, or carefully choose which attacks will make contact on yourself. No one likes the overly powerful guy who always dodges. It's sort of like a gamble, do you wish to take this hit now, or face an even worse wound later? Try to space out the wounds properly, as well. And don't forget, you can do what I call a partial dodge, which is shown in Example 2A.

Example 2A: Shinn dodged the first two strikes with ease, and a third without too much more effort. But, the fourth strike caught him unprepared. Shinn barely had the time to do a quick dodge left of the oncoming thrust. The blade was dodged for the most part, missing all vitals, but left a nice clean cut on his side. "That was far too close for comfort." He said, leaping back to put some distance between him and the other guy. He needed to...

Example 2B: Sora had missed all but a few shots, and went back behind his pillar for cover. If he kept missing, he'd run out of ammo, and be killed for sure. Sora slid his magazine from the gun out and began reloading again. However, a stray shot landed itself into his elbow, "SON OF A b***h!" He shouted, dropping his magazine, and falling down. There was no time to lose...

3. This is the biggest one: You can't win them all. Sometimes you gotta take one for the team, and make your character lose the battle. Try to make the battle length realistic, though. Like if both your characters are evenly matched, it's not going to be decided within the first five minutes, it'll take muuuch longer. But if your a five year old fighting a ninja, it's game over for the five year old.

4. One that happens often is your fighting with a god modder who refuses to let their character lose. This is the point of no recovery, and it is best to simply ask them to stop making all the auto hits. For those of you who haven't seen a god modder fight, it's similiar to the below example.

Example of what NEVER to do: Ryo dodged each blow the guy sent at him, "This is pathetic." He said, removing his two handed swords. One in each hand, after all, he had become extremely strong, and they felt just like two daggers, anyway. "I'm ending this fight." With that, he charged in at lightning speed, and using his blades, pinned the other guy against a wall. After that, he took one blade out and rammed it into the guys stomach, effectively ending the fight.

Notice the highlighted red. These are called auto hits, and are rather annoying to deal with. As they cannot be dodged, and they are almost always major attacks that end the fight. The blue highlights are just the god modded character at work. Avoid those at all costs.

And that's all the advice I can think of to give at the moment... did this help anyone? Or should I have kept quiet?  

[Different...Very.]

That was a great guide. smile I liked the color-coding. Thanks, man!

In a guild I'm in, we've implemented a level system for dueling, so that's how it's fair, I guess. You're given a certain amount of dodges and blocks, and your strength increases as you train. So that's how we make it fair, with strength determined with dice and random numbers. I feel I needed to know how to fight without those.  

[T3rran]

Fighting with a dice... that you are on your own. I've seen it done and have a basic understanding, but there is a long formula for it, and it involves stats. It's the oldest form of battling in RPG games, and is still used in games today. It originated in Dungeons and Dragons, and still exists in most RPG games. Such as Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights, Dungeon Seige, The Witcher, Knights of the Old Republic, among others.  

[Different...Very.]

Yeah, it was interesting to set up how long it takes to level up, how much more powerful one becomes, how to make it simple to calculate and all... but I like it. smile  

[Vincent Fiorelli]

Cheshiyre

Struggle with fighting sequences? Want to offer advice and tips for those that are struggling? You are in the right place! Discuss how to roleplay fight scenes here.

Honestly, the only aspect of fighting I used to lack in was weaving plot in the middle of the fight. Whereas fights can be easily fought through a simple description comprised of attacks, defense, and possible movement, it usually makes the entire scene lackluster due to the minor character development in it. And so, I have taken to further enriching fights through letting my characters' personality flow in the battlefield. Dialogues between challenger and challenged - between fighters - help establish some sort of connection between them; a relationship that could either end up in friendship or antagonism.

Now, this is mostly for entertainment. In terms of technicalities, I'll partially repeat what T3rran over there said; attacks -should- be left open ended in the majority of the cases. However, this brings us to the different kinds of posts that can be made in a fight:

Closed. Hybrid. And finally Open.

Closed, as the name suggests, allows the fighter to post as if all their actions had already concluded and their effects occurred to their full effect. Misunderstanding can occur in where the other fighter believes they cannot react to any attack in the post. This is a common mistake due to the manner in which the closed post is written; as long as the other fighter spots the windows in the attacking fighter's post, defense and even counterattacking is possible.

Hybrid is a mix between closed and open. The difference here is that, in hybrid posts, there are certain minor attacks that -can- hit the defender while, generally, a larger attack is left open ended. The defender can then choose how to react to the minor attacks damage-wise, and defend or counterattack against the larger attack.

Lastly, open causes every action and attack to remain open-ended. This means a fighter generally cannot attack multiple times in the same post; attacks are mostly singular in this kind of post. To compensate for this, however, preparations can be made for further attacks with the possibility of releasing two or more simultaneously, if the fight allows it.

Following the topic of fighting, there's also what I like to call the "Three Core Rules of Fighting": No Godmodding, No Metagaming, No Character Control.

What do these three entail?

No Godmodding refers to the complete omission of the acknowledgement of an enemy's attack in respect to damage, power, or other factors. On the other hand, it can occur when the attacker completely ignores the defending character's natural characteristics and parameters, launching an unavoidable and undefendable attack without any prior preparation. The latter could also fall under the restriction known as 'auto-hitting'.

No Metagaming is simple enough; as far as I understand it, this rule forbids the use of OOC information in an IC environment. Suppose character A, let's call him Jack, doesn't know that character B, let's call him Vincent, is a wizard. There are no indications in Vincent's clothing, or even in his weapon of choice, that he can throw magic spells and the like. However, Jack's player knows this, and suddenly Jack miraculously comments on how Vincent is a wizard, taking every measure necessary to prevent him from casting spells. IC, Jack had no means of knowing this until his player 'forced' the knowledge of him OOCly. This is Metagaming, and this rule forbids it.

Lastly, No Character Control could fall under 'auto-hitting', but the situation in which this occurs is more... Specific. The rule pretty much forbids any and all control or manipulation of the opponent's parameters and reactions, whether they are attacking or defending. For example, say I'm swinging a sword in an attempt to slash across an opponent's midsection. I cannot mention that the opponent will be surprised by the sudden movement and that they'd be unable to react in time. I also cannot mention they would jump back or to the sides. I cannot make any mention of how they would react nor downsize their regular attributes in any manner, and I certainly cannot downplay their natural senses. This is called Character Control, and this rule forbids it.

Whether or not this is how you roll in fights, it is fairly helpful to learn how other people do it!