Abdi, read this. Technique 1/Type 1 [T1] combat is a type of textual combat designed with logic, precision and detail in mind. It’s a turn-based style, allowing every player involved equal time and space to post their character’s move. There are four types of ‘turn’ that a player can make in a T1 fight: Prep, Attack, Defense and Connection. The fight is split in to tiers which often consist of some/all of the aforementioned turns. A tier begins when a prep or attack is posted and ends when either a successful defense or connect is posted. Prepping A prep is a turn in which the character prepares to launch their attack. Some special abilities require a certain amount of preps before an attack can be successfully launched. As a player, it is your responsibility to be aware of which abilities require preps and then to adhere to these rules. A prepping move should state clearly what ability is being prepared for use and provide some imaginative description of this process, whether it be an elaborate ritual or a intense concentration etc. Special abilities that do not require maintained focus/concentration can be combined with another turn. For instance, whilst a mage is launching a non-magical attack with his sword, he might be muttering an incantation in preparation for using a special ability later. Specifics must still be provided. If the character receives damage between the preparation and the attack, the most recent prep will be cancelled. Attacking An attacking move should be a detailed account of everything vital to the attack: the stance of the attacker, the momentum or direction of the attack, the method of the attack, and it should hint at the desired outcome. An attacking move must be comprised of one main action, or series of synchronized actions [within the realms of logic please]. Example: Elario_Chinglove braces his right foot against the ground in front of him, screeching like a particularly irritated banshee as he sends his staff sailing down vertically for Crispian_Nohamars cranium, relying on the weight of the sturdy oaken staff in addition to his own strength for the momentum needed to crack Crispian_Nohamars skull. The above move, although containing information about smaller movements of the attacker’s body is centered on one central movement, that of the downward swing of his staff. Defending Like an attack, a defensive move must allow for the defender’s stance, method, and desired outcome. It’s no good simply stating that the character miraculously dodges the attack – it must be a detailed account of how this daring escape is achieved. The defender must be consistent with the position they were in before the attack took place. For instance, if our defender [Crispian_Nohamar] was standing directly in front of Elario_Chinglove with his hands behind his back and his eyes on the ground when Elario swung his staff, that is the stance he must attempt to defend from. However, before he defends he must be seen to somehow acknowledge the attack. After all, he wouldn’t know to defend if he didn’t know of the threat to begin with. Example: Crispian_Nohamar instantly distracted from his train of thought by Elario_Chingloves strangely effeminate screeching, he catches a glimpse of the attacker just in time to save his own bacon. His head and upper body reflexively tilt to the left, causing what may have been a fatal blow to the head to land painfully but not mortally upon his leather-armor clad shoulder. In the above example, Crispian’s player acknowledges that his character was not in the best defensive stance to begin with, and as such appreciates that his character cannot completely evade the attack. Considering Crispian wasnt expecting the attack, it would be unrealistic of him to come out of it without taking a blow of some sort. If Crispian had managed to completely evade the attack, the player of Elario would not be allowed to perform a connecting move and would instead have to RP the resultant events. Example: Elario_Chinglove bends his knees in a last ditch attempt at keeping his balance as his staff strikes air and continues towards the ground under its own powerful momentum, the fine polished oak smacking impotently against the flagstones. However, as Crispian did not completely evade the attack, Elarios player gets to perform a connecting move: Connecting A connecting move is a move that confirms the attacker’s success. If the defender was unable to completely evade the attack, the attacker is expected to spend a turn describing the results of their attack. A connection must describe the initial results of the connection and nothing more about its effects upon the defending character. For example, Elario’s player could not state that the staff whacked Crispian’s shoulder and then bounced up into the side of his head, as that would be two separate attacks [albeit maybe not both intentional]. It is very important not to ‘auto’ in a connection. Although you can state where the blow landed based on the information offered in the preceding attack and defense moves, you cannot state the exact amount of damage dealt upon another character. Such details are reliant upon the information in the previous moves. For instance, a powerful downward thrust of Elario’s staff would obviously cause some bruising and internal injuries when it hits Crispian’s shoulder [although if Crispian is wearing armor of some sort the damage may be decreased], whereas a sword would have cut the flesh and caused bleeding. A connection may also contain preparation for the next attack, such as a change in stance. Usual Prep rules apply. Example: Elario_Chinglove tenses his shoulders to absorb the shock of his staff striking down heavily upon Crispian_Nohamars right shoulder. He lets the staff glance off the shoulder after hitting and swings it back up over his head in readiness for another attack, a victorious smirk mocking Crispian_Nohamars misfortune. In the above post, Elarios attack clearly connects, but it is never stated the exact level of damage that is caused. From this point on Crispians player is expected to RP the character according to the damage which he believes would have occurred. In this instance Crispian is wearing leather armour which may just save his shoulder from being dislocated, but there would still realistically be heavy bruising. As such, Crispian should have less use of his right arm until the wound his healed. There is another type of move that is often used in T1, and it is a variation on the Defensive move: Counter-Attack Rather than simply evade an attack, the defendant may block or counter it with one similarly fluent move. Example: Crispian_Nohamar had been expecting an attack, and had his trusty dagger ready behind his back the entire time. Upon the thrust of Elarios foot, he bends at the knees, his left arm flying up to catch the blow on its bronze bracer whilst his right arm swings round -- dagger in hand -- to swipe horizontally at Elarios stomach. The above move would require great skill on the part of the defendant, and therefore only a character who has an established history of combat prowess could realistically pull it off. Most counter-attacks require a similar level of combat skill, as the combatant is performing different simultaneous actions. As long as those actions can be realistically performed at the same time [i.e. one arm cant realistically be in two places at the same time], the move is valid. It is then up to Elario to decide whether he will defend, counter-attack or simply take the hit. Considering his staff was already sailing down towards Crispian with some momentum, it will probably still cause some damage to Crispians arm, but a move of that ferocity on Elarios part will have left his midriff defenceless [aside from any armor he might be wearing] as his arms are engaged in holding the staff. As such, Crispians dagger would most likely strike as intended. Its not uncommon for both parties of a fight to take some damage, and it is often considered the honourable thing to accept at least some of your opponents hits [if theyre realistic]. As you can see, a tier does not necessarily only consist of three moves. Tiers may overlap or extend beyond the original three basic moves. A T1 combat session ends when there are no more attacks to be made, either because one or more sides of the fight have died, one or more sides of the fight have escaped, one or more sides of the fight have been incapacitated or both parties have reached a non-violent conclusion. T1 TERMINOLOGY Auto. The auto is the least severe of the core roleplay mistakes—one no less severe an infraction than its comrades, however—that occurs when one roleplayer states or describes in his post that an action performed by his own character affects the character of another roleplayer in that same post. thus robbing the other roleplayer and his character the chance to avoid that action. In essence, an auto occurs when one player forces an action, complete in both initiation and result, upon another player. In the event of an auto, the very point of roleplay—collaborative storytelling, as defined here beneath Story—is thwarted, as the collaborative modifier is rendered absent by one player taking charge of the events of the story. A player who makes continuous autos will take sole creative control over key moments in roleplay, including moments in combat, to advance his own agenda rather than the agenda of the story at large. Such a player would be better suited to writing alone than writing with others, and repeat offenders must be ostracized if the validity of roleplay is to be maintained. One of the more glaring examples of an auto is a player initiating an attack in one post, then describing that attack connecting with his opponent (often going so far as to describe the damage done as well) in the same post, thus robbing the other player of the chance to defend against that attack and stifling the collaborative aspect of roleplay. However, smaller, less noticeable autos happen with relatively high frequency, and range from instances of a character spitting mead on an associate in a tavern, pressing a kiss to the lips of a mistress, or even ruffling the hair of a young upstart. (Note that the latter few examples generally occur in situations where the roleplayers are familiar enough with one another for such small instances to occur, and generally are considered passable. Autos of negligible magnitude ought be taken on a per-instance basis, as even the kiss autoed onto the lips of a mistress may deliver poison.) Godmode. Though in some circles of roleplaying, this term is synonymous with the state of continually autoing, we will define godmode here more definitively as the undue placing of any level of power or influence onto a character or roleplayer. An instance of godmoding takes place when, either through autos or not, a roleplayer or character takes control over an event or situation that is neither explicable nor verifiable via roleplay. Roleplays suffer less often at the hands of a roleplayer who godmodes because instances of such misconduct are very identifiable, but the chance of godmodes of slightly subdued magnitude is still high enough for concern in situations with extremely influential characters. Godmoding is destructive to roleplay for roughly the same reason as autoing; it hands undue control of a story to a single player or character, which nullifies the point of roleplaying at all. A classic example of an instance of godmode is when a character in combat displays inexplicable, unverifiable immunity to an attack launched upon him, when that character is able to perform an attack (usually of significant magnitude and destructive capability) without explanation or verification, or when that character either cheats or emerges from certain death without explanation or verification. Lesser noticed godmodes occur when a roleplayer, though his description of details and minutia relating to either the environment, his character, or other characters, simply writes control of a situation into his own hands. Metagame. Unparalleled in terms of infamy is metagaming, also termed crossing less frequently, which is the single greatest detriment to the validity of roleplay ever to exist. An instance of metagaming occurs when a roleplayer takes information he knows and inexplicably places it into the mind of his character during the course of roleplay; the characters validity is immediately destroyed, along with the validity of any situations or events in roleplay with which that character has had any involvement, extending even to the validity of other characters themselves. In this viral fashion, a single instance of metagaming can annihilate roleplay. The boundary between roleplayer knowledge and character knowledge is invaluable to the validity of roleplay as a whole, and metagaming shatters it instantly. Without that boundary, a character is no longer an entity in and of itself, and is instead nothing but an extension of a particular roleplayers interests—an infraction against the very nature of roleplay itself, as the roleplayer is no longer playing a role at all. After the shattering of that boundary, the offending roleplayer will go on to manipulate the story being crafted by the other roleplayers toward his own preference, whether through autos and godmoding or otherwise, which further damages the validity of roleplay by bending the story toward one persons will. A classic example of metagaming may occur during an assassination that has been plotted for weeks by the characters of a story against another character in that story. The assassin follows the damned into a quiet reverie in the forest, and prepares to strike down his target. The roleplayer behind the damned character knows that the assassination is about to take place, as he can see the posts of the player behind the assassin, and is more than likely trading posts with that player. As the assassin prepares to deliver the kill, he explicably makes himself undetectable across every possible medium, making the damned completely blind to his approaching death. However, the person playing the damned character makes his character know what he knows—that the assassin is about to kill him—and so describes the damned suddenly turning around and noticing the assassin.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 03:02:03 +0000
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