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Advanced Combat Guidelines
by the player of Tor
Note: These guidelines are meant to complement the Combat Rules, and in his writings, Tor assumes that all readers have a working knowledge of these rules.
Part 1, Realism
Though they were not proven in the medieval ages, the laws of physics still worked to their fullest extent in the normal life of the medieval folk. However much physics' right to the throne ends when magic's claim is staked, this changes nothing for those who do not use magic. And those who use magic, usually must master it very expertly to be able to completely evade the rules that apply to us common folk.
Here are the rules that apply to combat, but note that they do not only apply to personal or melee combat ranges, but also intimate contact of any one type.
1. Melee weapons are for melee ranges. This is the main rule of all melee combat. Melee ranges should be counted a maximum of two feet, plus half the length of whichever weapon you are using at the time. This means that you have to walk up to your opponent, a motion that is simple enough, by for example "::Walks up to his opponent::" or something of the like. Also, if there is an obstacle in the way, you won't be able to hit your opponent.
2. Missiles have long range, but range is at a cost of accuracy. Nobody continuously pulls off near impossible feats, you can't expect to hit the eye of a coin every time you aim for it. Miss, every so often, in melee and in missile combat. It adds to realism, and provides for better game play. Bows also break, and they can't be held in for long, all the factors of a bow should be taken to consideration. The more you know of a bow, the better you may handle it. A master of the bow will know all of the bow, and hence the player must know all of the bow, and in turn he can play a master marksman more realistically.
3. Weapons do not harm whilst sheathed. This means you need to pull your weapon, free it from whatever holds it in place, before you slash or beat at your opponent. Of course, you can be my guest and hit at someone with a sheathed weapon, but it will not do much damage.
4. A man or woman can only jump so high, before gravity tends to pull him back down. And everything that goes up must come down. It is unrealistic to be able to flip up into a rafter, unless you have an extremely high dexterity and agility, as the sheer and proper coordination of such a feat would be impossible. Realism is relative, since this is fantasy, but control yourself, when performing these moves. Another good thing would be to go about it with some originality. Characters who can fly gain certain advantages of course, but wings can get in the way too.
5. Be descriptive, tell the other person what you're doing. Let him visualize. Vocabulary doesn't matter, so long as you know what your character looks like, what he's capable of and what his weapon is like. If you say your attack is incredibly fast, that may reduce some accuracy, but it will be harder to parry. That should be taken into consideration. For example: "John: ::Brings his weapon around toward his opponent, putting all his strength into getting it through as quickly as possible::" "Eva: ~Twists her body out of the way~ ~Yet due to the speed of the slash, does not manage to get safe all the way, and the blade grazes her side.~"
6. You can only be so fast, before things like friction and gravity stop you. Proportional to force and mass, if you drop a melon it will only fall so quickly, before it stays at the same speed. The same applies to you, and now we're going to talk typing. The basic rule is that if two attacks are made without the victim managing to counterattack the first of them, then that first attack goes through. However, this means that the faster typist is also the better fighter. Style is one way of nullifying this, but it is seldom enough. Hence, three moves are the maximum of moves that are allowed, without a counterattack. Two of these moves may be an attack, meaning no more than a single blow inflicting damage may be played, between each response of the opponent. If the opponent does counter your blow, then the blow is countered. That is the end of that.
Part 2, Sportsmanship
First of all, these are just guidelines, unless otherwise specified in
the rule. These rules are about the teamwork between two opponents in
the OOC world. Without laws and sportsmanship, there is only anarchy,
and anarchy in the OOC, behind the scenes world, does no one any good.
But don't take them too seriously, these rules differ the good role players
from the bad ones, but don't separate godmoders from the rest.
1. If someone has hurts you, then pucker up and smell the slime. If they've hurt you mortally, then dead, and that's all there is to it. Make a new character, and get on with your life. Some people like to resurrect their characters. That's all right too, but don't do it all the time, we all have to die some time. In any case, no one should live forever. If you're in the middle of a big storyline, then you might want to be resurrected once. But keep it at that, don't let it get tedious. Don't turn it into an institution.
2. The second rule is about accepting damage. Do just that, accept it. Don't whine about how you didn't really deserve it or whatever, it doesn't do anyone any good, and gives yourself a lousy image to others. Take the damage you're suppose to take, there's no shame in dying when it comes to role-play, it tends to happen.
3. "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins," said a very wise man once. You probably all know who. This is true, don't continuously pursue people who don't want in to any of your plots, if someone doesn't want anything to do with you. Don't mix IC and OOC relationships, don't make a character for example; to specifically kill that individual. Fights sometimes happen, this rule shouldn't be taken literally. You can't say someone doesn't have the right to attack you, either, that's not right. There's usually some reason, but too much fighting in role-play makes it tedious. RolePlaying is more than just fighting, a lot more.
5. Use more than one word per attack. Use more than two, or three words per attack. Use many words in every move, to increase style. Don't use "Slashes" as an attack, without anything more. Don't use "Slashes at chest", but use "brings his sword down towards his opponent's chest." Use "attempts to twist himself out of the manoeuvre" instead of "dodges." Be descriptive, tell the opponent what you're doing.
6. Realism, again, realism. When someone strikes you with a blade, it hurts you. When a hand comes off, it causes shock. You don't regenerate in the blink of an eye, it just doesn't happen, and limbs don't grow back on. Or at least seldom do. And if you're playing a creature who no one has a chance at killing or even hurting properly, then you seriously need to recalibrate. Power is only the skill of the player, anyone can make a powerful character. Legendary or mythical creatures won't go here, they have no interest in this place most of the time. Legendary figures won't come here, much less stay here if they do, so keep the power level at a realistic level for your surroundings.
7. This is a rule. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever; not if your life depends on it: Do more than one action per round. It's not fair. Use one action, and one action only. It doesn't even have to be one, I like to spread my actions over several rounds.
8. This is also a rule. Don't post the damage of anyone else, let them post their own damage. Don't tell the effects of anything you do on others. If you're invisible and someone has a good reason of why he can see you, then he can see you. If someone has a good reason for your spell being ineffective, then your spell is ineffective. If someone avoids your maneuver, then it didn't do any damage. Swallow it, and try again, it's not the end of the world, everyone misses every now and then. You are not perfect, you aren't God, and not everything you do will go through the defenses of the next person. Everyone has strength and weaknesses, sometimes, that can be a good thing for either of you, and an equally bad thing.
Magic
This is likely what you've been waiting for. Magic is the center of any successful adventure, it is what makes the medieval world we role-play in special. It's also a chance for creativity and for being inventive. Efficient, but hard to use.
1. As I've said in all the different groups so far, be descriptive. There's so much to magic, there's something called a way of construction for it. There are three main components, that you should describe when using magic. The first of them, is the drawing of energy. What purpose of energy do you draw ? Light magic streams, corrupted magic streams ? Define it, define how you draw it. Many mages use gestures and phrases to help them in concentration on this part. The second part is the shaping of the spell, making the energy do what you want. Describe what the purpose of the spell is here. The third component is the casting, this shouldn't be much, and can in some cases be joined together with the previous move, as the two often go together.
2. This rule is dedicated to summoning. Look at the power of the spell. A spell that instantly incinerates the opponent is for instance extremely powerful. That means that you need to draw a lot of energy, and that takes longer. Thus, you need to use more moves to draw in the energy. One thing, to take into consideration is the spells that take weeks to summon, you don't need to describe. Just don't play your character while 'summoning. Adjust the amount of time used for summoning, to the amount of power required.
3. This rule is for forming the spell. This is the longest stage of the spell, and the most intricate. The part of the spell where the caster fails, and where the caster gets burned. A powerful spell has more power to manipulate, and thus takes longer. A spell that takes a round to summon, takes at least one round to form.
4. The last part of the spell is the shorter part, the one more easy to perform. You won't stress this part much, however. Here, you simply deliver the spell. Weak spells are simple to cast, teleportation spells can take a long time to cast. In the overall length of a summoned spell, it should be at least one move long, preferably more. Though making a cantrip, or mending some armour doesn't take long to fix. Save if the armor is magical, or made from some special material.
5. Have originality when making up spells, and control their power. Use them efficiently. It takes a lot of intelligence to cast a spell, so show that you have it by using the spell properly. A mage won't use a fireball spell if the area is full of torches already, use your environments. And think original thoughts, do what you can with what you have.
6. You become tired from excessive spellcasting, as with psionicism or any other form of energy manipulation. You can only cast spells so many times. Likely, you won't be teleporting around the room ten times, as that person would be driven to madness with fatigue. Use some discretion when casting spells, because you do get tired, and you do get headaches.
7. The second discretion rule is more important. You will fail spells from time to time, and that will hurt. So hurt. Fail spells from time to time, once every so often, once every ten times you cast a spell or so. Of course, you do not fail minor spells, but spells either cast in a quick rush or haste, or extremely hard spells. When a spell dissolves, the magical energies will tear at the caster, perhaps cause a burn or two, but it will likely not kill.
8. The last things to know about spells in FFRP are that
they should not be cast continuously. Show the magical energies some respect,
they are extremely powerful. No one has complete control of magic; it
just doesn't work that way. It also get tedious and boring if you have
complete control of magic and of physical combat. Innate magical abilities
are limited, severely. And other magical abilities, well. Casters are
thought to have spent most of their years reading books and such, only
extremely old individuals that did not age could hold a limited expertise
in both fields.
Don't be a munchkin.
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