NationStates Jolt Archive

I have been playing NS for about a month now, and I have an RP going with Megas right now. It plays off of the Star Wars universe, with me and Megas controling two Sith Lords. The thread is called ATTN Megas: Sith Duel Challange. We're about to get into a lightsaber duel and I was wondering just how the heck I should go about pulling it off. Thanks for the help in advance. :headbang:

*a shadowy figure descends upon Naxder drol, strangles him and ascends into the darkness of the rafters.*

mwah ha ha ha ha......

Well, if anything, the above post would probably be a good example of how not to do it. One thing which is good to remember about post-by-post RP's is a neat little something called "Freedom of Destiny" or in short, FoD.

FoD basically means that you can only write what your character is *trying* to do to when the action in question involves other peoples characers. How would you like it if some smarmy bugger made a post stating how his char (let's call him Bob1) smartly walked over to your character and bloody well chopped his bloody head of, hm?

You can only post what your own character is doing, saying or whatever. How other players involved will react is completely up to them, even though that might be hard to swallow completely.

Each player involved is in controle of his or her chars, and that means *only* his or her chars. Take the example of your two Sith Lords duking it out with oneanother.

Bad example:

Naxer Drol raised his lightsaber high above his head, it's crimson glear making the shadows lining the walls of the narrow hallway they were standing in dance and flicker in the wan light as he charged towards his terror-stricken opponent Mega with a thunderous roar. With the full horror of his doom approaching, Mega could do little but stand paralysed and weep with fear before Naxer's onslaught.

Good example:

Naxer Drol raised his lihgtsaber high above his head, it's crimson glare making the shadows lining the walls of the narrow wallhway they were standing in dance and flicker in the wan light as he charged towards his opponent Mega with a thunderous roar.

Now, what was the difference between the two examples here? In example one the other player made clear how his enemy reacted. How do you know what the other fellow tinks? How fun can an RP be when all you ever really achieve is a flame-war with the other fellow your playing with because he killed your favourite character when you didn't want him to?

What the fantastic art of RP'ing all boils down to in the end is: Mind your own character, and let the other players take care of their own.

Another note is although it's never fun to get wounded in combat, I can guarantee (excuse my english) it's no fun for the other guy either to have his char just standing there making futile attacks at an enemy who always ducks "just in time". I'm not saying your character should loose a foot just because someone poked him with a can-opener; try instead to make the sword glance off his armor leaving a nasty dent, or the searing blaster round singe his temple, leaving a nasty scar or what have you. Make the other fellow feel like he's getting some bang for his buck, eh?

Anyway, thats my two cents. Hope you find this to be of some use.

Thanks for the help Hanseania. As for you Megas, you'll get your's when I next see you.

You're doing a lightsaber fight? Then that'll be difficult to respond to, since unless you havfe energy shields you'll be chopping body parts instead of wounding.

We're not trying to maim each other, so theres gonna be a lot of fast strafing, blocking and counter-attacking.

...
What the fantastic art of RP'ing all boils down to in the end is: Mind your own character, and let the other players take care of their own.
...
Another note is although it's never fun to get wounded in combat, I can guarantee (excuse my english) it's no fun for the other guy either to have his char just standing there making futile attacks at an enemy who always ducks "just in time".


I see we have a master among us. :) Always nice to see that Good Roleplaying(TM) is very much extant throughout the web (although, of course, you have only to see the NationStates forum to confirm that).

Amen to everything above, and I will just add my own two cents about combat:

1. Avoid it. Write around action scenes. Wrap it up, decide before hand who's going to win and who's going to get wounded and how, and then summarize it in one sentence. A roleplay is a written text, not a movie, and you can't write it as if it were. This might seem boring, but in 99% of cases it lifts the quality of the RP.

2. If it's unavoidable, make it short. Make two passes each, three at the most, get your wounds, and move on.

I have seen only a handful of people who can write lots of player to player combat credibly (I will never be among them); even those would agree that combat action is a thing to be used as sparingly as possible.

I can combat it. It's quite frustrating, but it's fun.

Megas and I can handle it...I think.

Well, if anything, the above post would probably be a good example of how not to do it. One thing which is good to remember about post-by-post RP's is a neat little something called "Freedom of Destiny" or in short, FoD.

FoD basically means that you can only write what your character is *trying* to do to when the action in question involves other peoples characers. How would you like it if some smarmy bugger made a post stating how his char (let's call him Bob1) smartly walked over to your character and bloody well chopped his bloody head of, hm?

You can only post what your own character is doing, saying or whatever. How other players involved will react is completely up to them, even though that might be hard to swallow completely.

Each player involved is in controle of his or her chars, and that means *only* his or her chars. Take the example of your two Sith Lords duking it out with oneanother.

Bad example:

Naxer Drol raised his lightsaber high above his head, it's crimson glear making the shadows lining the walls of the narrow hallway they were standing in dance and flicker in the wan light as he charged towards his terror-stricken opponent Mega with a thunderous roar. With the full horror of his doom approaching, Mega could do little but stand paralysed and weep with fear before Naxer's onslaught.

Good example:

Naxer Drol raised his lihgtsaber high above his head, it's crimson glare making the shadows lining the walls of the narrow wallhway they were standing in dance and flicker in the wan light as he charged towards his opponent Mega with a thunderous roar.

Now, what was the difference between the two examples here? In example one the other player made clear how his enemy reacted. How do you know what the other fellow tinks? How fun can an RP be when all you ever really achieve is a flame-war with the other fellow your playing with because he killed your favourite character when you didn't want him to?

What the fantastic art of RP'ing all boils down to in the end is: Mind your own character, and let the other players take care of their own.

Another note is although it's never fun to get wounded in combat, I can guarantee (excuse my english) it's no fun for the other guy either to have his char just standing there making futile attacks at an enemy who always ducks "just in time". I'm not saying your character should loose a foot just because someone poked him with a can-opener; try instead to make the sword glance off his armor leaving a nasty dent, or the searing blaster round singe his temple, leaving a nasty scar or what have you. Make the other fellow feel like he's getting some bang for his buck, eh?

Anyway, thats my two cents. Hope you find this to be of some use.
Yeah, I was going to mention that that was a horrible post, but I didn't have the time. Anyway, yours is exactly what I was going to say so ty.