Forums » Smalltalk » Action in your Roleplay

Here's a question going out to all of you who like action in your RP's. How do you like it? Do you like some form of mechanics in place to ensure fairness? Do you prefer it to be pure freeform? The T1 system? Somewhere in between, or some other system I have failed to mention or accomodate in my list of possibilities?

And do you generally prefer it to have only realistic elements, mildly fantastic (sci-fi and/or fantasy) elements, moderate fantastical elements, or heavy fantastical elements? Perhaps you prefer semi-realistic, where there are no overt superhuman elements but it involves 'Hollywood physics?'

Please feel free to discuss not only your preferences, but why you prefer them, if you like.

For me it all depends on the characters being used. I dont mind using realism all the way up to sci fi. Typically i stick to realism as much as I can with a decent amount of fantasy because those are my favorite.

I free form so the very basic rules apply. No god moding, controlling someone else's character, etc. I do allow meta but it needs to be discussed beforehand.

I will fight with anyone. Even those that will win no doubt. Sometimes i discuss things first because I am willing to lose, depending on the plot.

Ionly free form when it pertains to a story line and will affect the characters permanently. Otherwise I will do more strict rules. Preferably T1 or T2 but i am hella rusty. It's been years since I rather do fighting for a story.



Also, i try to avoid doing fights with extremely advanced players because my knowledge of things is very limited.

Ex: Fighter 1 runs at the speed of light and punches Fighter 2.

Realistically that cant happen because Fighter 1 would die from the force against him. I dont like having to think of things like that so I try to keep it as simple as I can. I like to say "Use common sense" when fighting.

I've got different tastes depending on the genre or lore of the roleplay itself.

When it comes to action, there's so many different types of action that can take place. I'm not a fan of PVP with other writers, because I feel like it somehow always becomes like a situation where one player's character desperately needs to definitely be stronger than the other person's character. I've been guilty of this myself, but I think it comes with this sense of needing to feel like our character is a real tough character that everyone should definitely feel some fear around them.

This is one reason why my husband and I implemented an unspoken rule, but clued in on it on our FAQ page; Your character cannot be the absolute best at anything. Your character can claim that they are the best, there can be NPCs that claim they are the best, but no one else is required to believe this about your character. What is the best is entirely subjective.

PVP alone is something I generally try and completely avoid in a roleplay, because I don't like the feeling of needing to "compete" with someone else's character and I've too often felt like I was writing a story to let someone else have an ego trip.

When it comes to character's combating one another for the sake of the story development, I like discussing things out before hand on who is definitely going to win and to what degree. I don't want there to be a surprise mechanic, sudden chance, or potentially be stuck with a constant back and forth of neither character giving up and no one realistically making it through the fight at all. I'm meticulous, and I want my stories to be enjoyable for me and my writer, so I'm not going to spend it having them duke it out as though it's going to really change the story.

When it comes to characters sharing in the action? I love it a lot more and will add it in a lot of my stories and use it as a development tool for the situation. This I tend to let free-flow, but I will occasionally use dice to change up what I want to happen and see if the story can be a little more organic.

I love action, and I think it can change a story in so many ways.

When it comes to high fantasy, I'll usually free form most of it. Sci-fi, I tend to use more dice. I'm really fluctuating lately.

I'm not actually familiar with the T1 system, but I'd love to learn about it.

At its' most basic, T1 is probably the best compromise you can have to structure a fight without A, heavy mechanics, or B, agreeing on the outcome beforehand.

Before it starts the participants agree on the rules, such as how powerful each individual character is allowed to be, how long the fight will last, a judge if they desire an impartial view (in case there isn't a clear winner by the end, and if they wish even the conditions the judge should use to decide), etc. Basically they work out the ground rules they can all agree to, but nothing else--no predetermined outcome--beyond the rules they establish and a few details I go into on the next paragraph, it is completely freeform.

The first one to post establishes the arena/setting of the RP (including but not limited to any special conditions that take effect after a specified number many posting rounds, like day turning to night on the fourth round, or random NPC's appearing on the sixth), and may or may not also include their character's first post with it too. Every character's first post must include every weapon, power, and skill available to that character--if it's not included in that or cannot be reasonably found in the environment established in the opening post, it cannot be used by them later.

Finally, the action itself, which is the meat of the T1 system, to the bones and sinew detailed above. One of the few hard and fast rules of this system, that nearly all T1 players will agree on and adhere to, is that of opposing actions being detailed in matching length. If character A draws a dagger and throws it at Character B, Character B's defense (whether it be dodging, deflecting with armor or another weapon, snatching it out of midair, or a combination of any of these, etc) to that attack must be at least as long and detailed as the part of their opponent's post that talked about throwing the dagger. The posts themselves do not have to be of matching length--it is only a defense that needs to match the specific attack or attacks that it is opposing.

It is also generally understood, all actions take time in character. If one tries to take too many actions in one post, it is not considered in poor form to interrupt them before their sequence of actions can be completed, if it can be done in a believable manner for the setting and characters involved--but keeping in mind it's still up to players to acknowledge a hit on their own character, the other player is not allowed to godmod/godmode an attack auto-landing.

Now, while those are the most widely accepted rules, there are other only slightly less common, frequently seen rules that most would agree on are among the following.

1. Talking is not a free action and can be interrupted like any other action.
2. Posts must be descriptive, and clear, to avoid confusion. Whatever language you use, try your best to use grammar and spelling that minimizes ambiguity on what your character is doing, while still proving fun to read.
3. A player is allowed to post hypotheticals--where they detail one or more options and what their character will do if such and such comes to pass--for example Combatant B runs at Combatant A with an intent to tackle. If A dodges to the side or ducks, B plans to drop an area of effect attack as they race past. If A stands their ground and braces, B will grapple. If A draws a sword to put in B's path, B will duck and roll under, or bring out their own to deflect it before their bodies collide.

And many more that I cannot recall offhand.

In the end, T1 is more about who knows and understands their own character better, than anything else. Also, needless to say, T1 fighters control only one character per fight. I have never seen or heard of a fight where the players control multiple characters each. Posts can get long and complex enough with just one each, even when just one on one--and many T1 fights are more than just two combatants.

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If you have any specific questions, please ask. And I am sure there will be some other more experienced T1 players than me who would be happy to talk about it with those who are curious, too--I am but a newbie myself, I got all this from a friend teaching me in turn.

This sounds like it makes more sense to be used entirely in tournament based RPs which I avoid like the black plague. It is not my cup of tea, and I don't think the T1 system would be useful in the general sense of action of a roleplay. I really appreciate the detailed explanation though, because it basically answered all of my questions for the use of T1 and what it is in general. It's a complicated system, but I can see why it's so complicated and also what uses it would have in a roleplay.

I just don't think it has any use in the roleplays that I partake in.

Yeah that's fair--I don't get an opportunity to use it much myself, admittedly (see what I said about being a newbie in it ), I just brought it up because I felt it deserved a mention as one of the systems out there that at least at one time saw regular use.

And you are correct, it is very useful in tournament style RP's.

Just realized I asked for other people's opinions, but did not give mine, so here I am rectifying that omission . For me, I like a mix of freeform and planning it out--maybe a little bit of mod/judge oversight to ensure things stay fair and above all, interesting, and the planning in case there's a certain way the plot needs to go, or to ensure things stay fair.

I tend to prefer action in such worlds as superhero settings, or fantasy/sci-fi where the kinds of magic and/or technology are clearly defined, but within those rules, creativity is allowed free reign. I do like some element of chance or mystery on who will win.

So, I used to like only free-form RP where combat is handled via 'defenders choice' (which I think is fairly common). Do I think it reasonable, given the situation, that my character gets hurt here?

This works great when everyone playing uses a good mix of "I win" and "I lose". I've had a couple really fantastic RPs this way. The problem is that I've had a lot of really frustrating ones where there's too much "I win." Ok... well... good job. You defeated the bad guy in 5 seconds. The End!

But yet I keep coming back to these kind of RPs hoping to hit upon that sweet spot (and sometimes do!)

Recently, I've come to really appreciate stricter mechanics and dice and, perhaps more importantly, how do I avoid rolling them! Contradiction? Not really. If I know I've only got about a 50/50 shot of this going my way if I have to fight this thing, well, I'm gonna try really hard to find a solution that tips those odds more in my character's favor. It kind of forces me to get a little more creative.

(I think I also assumed it would be painfully slow to play on forums, which turns out is really not the case if the rules are kept fairly light. I'm currently a fan of White Box. It's basically a clone of the original D&D and pretty minimal as far as rules go. It's freely available, which makes it a little easier to share with others vs some of the other tabletop rulesets where each person would need to own/buy the books.)

It's true, any system you use is gonna be a mixed bag, it's gonna have good points, and bad points, some more dependant on your partner(s), some less. It still depends somewhat on the resources available to you--that White Box thing does look pretty nifty.