Post by Dragon on May 28, 2006 10:39:43 GMT -5
There comes a point in every character's life when s/he has to fight, be it against a vampire, a human, or a wolf (to name a few). When this happens, there are a few rules you are expected to follow.
I've divided this up into sections, "General", "Attacking", "Defending", "One-Action Posts", and "Perfect Characters".
GENERAL:
The two you hear most are "no godmodding" and "no powerplaying". I have included definitions of these, as I understand them.
Godmodding: Controlling another's character without their consent. This applies outside of battle as well, of course, but it is even more important during a fight. Here are a few examples of godmodding…
"The vampire slayer dropped from the roof, and everyone around fled in fear."
This one should be pretty obvious. The controller of the vampire slayer assumes that everyone will be afraid of him/her, and takes over the other people's characters to make them flee.
"He dashed forward, locking his jaws around her throat, blocking off her windpipes and killing her."
The owner of the unnamed "her" should have a say in whether or not her character dies in that situation. This also leaves no room for a dodge. You aren't directly controlling the other person's character, but you aren't leaving any room for that character's owner to do anything.
Powerplaying: Like its sister, godmodding, powerplaying involves your character being "too good". You will often hear me refer to this as "bunnying" (don't ask me where I got the term, that's just what I know it as. Powerplaying is used more often, though). A person who is bunnying has a character that is "too strong", or untouchable. Lets look at one of my previous examples.
"He dashed forward, locking his jaws around her throat, blocking off her windpipes and killing her."
He wins. Simple as that. It is entirely possible that he escapes without a scratch. NO BATTLES ARE WON THAT QUICKLY! In the real world, there are no one hit victories, unless you have a gun/bow, and the person doesn't see you coming so you get a perfect hit.
"She dodged his counterstroke yet again, following with a strike of her own."
This character never gets hit. Ever. Bunnying at its worst. This isn't saying that your character can't dodge; they just can't dodge absolutely everything. I have a few fast characters, for example, so they don't get hit a lot. But they still get hit. There are side effects for every trait, as discussed later under "perfect characters".
Godmodding and powerplaying (bunnying) have a tendency to overlap.
ATTACKING:
WHETHER OR NOT YOUR CHARACTER HITS IS NOT UP TO YOU!
The person being attacked ALWAYS has a chance to dodge. Not giving them that chance constitutes godmodding. If you really want a certain action to hit, speak with the owner of the character you're attacking BEFORE you post your attack. Give reasons why you want it to hit, and if the person says, "no", leave them alone. IT IS NOT UP TO YOU!
Be aware of your surroundings. You can't slam someone up against a tree if you're in the desert, and you won't slip on snow on large city streets, even in medieval RPs (streets that are traveled enough will have the snow melted away from use). How you can attack also depends on where you are. You can't swing a sword in a confined area, nor is it a good idea to shoot a bow in the woods (too many branches in the way. Yes, Legolas can shoot his bow in the woods, but we're not in LOTR, are we?).
DEFENDING:
You get to decide when, if, and where your character gets hit, but YOU MAY NOT DODGE EVERY SINGLE TIME. This makes it very frustrating for the attacker, and it is very simply not possible in the real world. As I mentioned before, I have very fast characters that generally don't get hit because they're fast (and one of them is a coward. Running away generally prevents injury… ^^; ). But they DO get hit, because they can't keep up high speeds forever.
You may block, dodge or parry when defending. Dodging is fairly simple — you just get out of the way — but blocking and parrying require more thinking. For example, you can't block a sword stroke barehanded. Blocking and parrying generally require weapon against weapon, or hand to hand combat to be useful. You aren't going to parry a punch with your sword…
Again, be aware of your surroundings. You can't dodge in a tight area, such as an alleyway, unless you plan to duck… Just common sense, here.
ONE-ACTION POSTS:
You're probably looking at this and wondering what the heck I'm talking about, no? One-action posts, as the name implies, involve only one action in the post, so your character only does ONE THING PER POST. This is generally required for a few actions, so that the other person has time to react. Actions that should be stand-alone include changing weapons — because you leave an opening —, falling down or standing up — more openings —, and my favorite, retreating — you're turning your back to them! If they're not done fighting, you're going to have arrows sticking out of your spine! You can't fall down and get back up in the same post, or draw your sword and swing at your opponent in the same post. Not physically possible.
If you're afraid a fight will move too slow by doing the "one post at a time" thing, than you should schedule a fight for when your 'enemy' is online.
PERFECT CHARACTERS:
Please, please, please don't make your characters perfect. You can't have a super fast, super strong, super smart character. That equals superhuman (or supervampire, or superwolf… What ever you're RPing). For every good trait, have a downside. One of my fast characters, because she's so speedy, is also very clumsy, and is almost as likely to fall on her face in a battle as she is to dodge. The stereotype for really strong people is that they aren't so smart. Super smart people usually aren't very strong. The skills and weaknesses you choose greatly affect a battle.
If anyone is breaking these rules of etiquette, please ask them to stop or to modify their post. If such an action does not occur after asking POLITELY, please alert one of the administrators and s/he will take care of it. (Please don't PM me about abuses of the battle system as I lack admin powers)
Thanks for reading this (or at least part of it ) and I apologize for its longness. If you have any questions, edits, or complaints, feel free to PM me.
I've divided this up into sections, "General", "Attacking", "Defending", "One-Action Posts", and "Perfect Characters".
GENERAL:
The two you hear most are "no godmodding" and "no powerplaying". I have included definitions of these, as I understand them.
Godmodding: Controlling another's character without their consent. This applies outside of battle as well, of course, but it is even more important during a fight. Here are a few examples of godmodding…
"The vampire slayer dropped from the roof, and everyone around fled in fear."
This one should be pretty obvious. The controller of the vampire slayer assumes that everyone will be afraid of him/her, and takes over the other people's characters to make them flee.
"He dashed forward, locking his jaws around her throat, blocking off her windpipes and killing her."
The owner of the unnamed "her" should have a say in whether or not her character dies in that situation. This also leaves no room for a dodge. You aren't directly controlling the other person's character, but you aren't leaving any room for that character's owner to do anything.
Powerplaying: Like its sister, godmodding, powerplaying involves your character being "too good". You will often hear me refer to this as "bunnying" (don't ask me where I got the term, that's just what I know it as. Powerplaying is used more often, though). A person who is bunnying has a character that is "too strong", or untouchable. Lets look at one of my previous examples.
"He dashed forward, locking his jaws around her throat, blocking off her windpipes and killing her."
He wins. Simple as that. It is entirely possible that he escapes without a scratch. NO BATTLES ARE WON THAT QUICKLY! In the real world, there are no one hit victories, unless you have a gun/bow, and the person doesn't see you coming so you get a perfect hit.
"She dodged his counterstroke yet again, following with a strike of her own."
This character never gets hit. Ever. Bunnying at its worst. This isn't saying that your character can't dodge; they just can't dodge absolutely everything. I have a few fast characters, for example, so they don't get hit a lot. But they still get hit. There are side effects for every trait, as discussed later under "perfect characters".
Godmodding and powerplaying (bunnying) have a tendency to overlap.
ATTACKING:
WHETHER OR NOT YOUR CHARACTER HITS IS NOT UP TO YOU!
The person being attacked ALWAYS has a chance to dodge. Not giving them that chance constitutes godmodding. If you really want a certain action to hit, speak with the owner of the character you're attacking BEFORE you post your attack. Give reasons why you want it to hit, and if the person says, "no", leave them alone. IT IS NOT UP TO YOU!
Be aware of your surroundings. You can't slam someone up against a tree if you're in the desert, and you won't slip on snow on large city streets, even in medieval RPs (streets that are traveled enough will have the snow melted away from use). How you can attack also depends on where you are. You can't swing a sword in a confined area, nor is it a good idea to shoot a bow in the woods (too many branches in the way. Yes, Legolas can shoot his bow in the woods, but we're not in LOTR, are we?).
DEFENDING:
You get to decide when, if, and where your character gets hit, but YOU MAY NOT DODGE EVERY SINGLE TIME. This makes it very frustrating for the attacker, and it is very simply not possible in the real world. As I mentioned before, I have very fast characters that generally don't get hit because they're fast (and one of them is a coward. Running away generally prevents injury… ^^; ). But they DO get hit, because they can't keep up high speeds forever.
You may block, dodge or parry when defending. Dodging is fairly simple — you just get out of the way — but blocking and parrying require more thinking. For example, you can't block a sword stroke barehanded. Blocking and parrying generally require weapon against weapon, or hand to hand combat to be useful. You aren't going to parry a punch with your sword…
Again, be aware of your surroundings. You can't dodge in a tight area, such as an alleyway, unless you plan to duck… Just common sense, here.
ONE-ACTION POSTS:
You're probably looking at this and wondering what the heck I'm talking about, no? One-action posts, as the name implies, involve only one action in the post, so your character only does ONE THING PER POST. This is generally required for a few actions, so that the other person has time to react. Actions that should be stand-alone include changing weapons — because you leave an opening —, falling down or standing up — more openings —, and my favorite, retreating — you're turning your back to them! If they're not done fighting, you're going to have arrows sticking out of your spine! You can't fall down and get back up in the same post, or draw your sword and swing at your opponent in the same post. Not physically possible.
If you're afraid a fight will move too slow by doing the "one post at a time" thing, than you should schedule a fight for when your 'enemy' is online.
PERFECT CHARACTERS:
Please, please, please don't make your characters perfect. You can't have a super fast, super strong, super smart character. That equals superhuman (or supervampire, or superwolf… What ever you're RPing). For every good trait, have a downside. One of my fast characters, because she's so speedy, is also very clumsy, and is almost as likely to fall on her face in a battle as she is to dodge. The stereotype for really strong people is that they aren't so smart. Super smart people usually aren't very strong. The skills and weaknesses you choose greatly affect a battle.
If anyone is breaking these rules of etiquette, please ask them to stop or to modify their post. If such an action does not occur after asking POLITELY, please alert one of the administrators and s/he will take care of it. (Please don't PM me about abuses of the battle system as I lack admin powers)
Thanks for reading this (or at least part of it ) and I apologize for its longness. If you have any questions, edits, or complaints, feel free to PM me.