OOC Thread

OOC Thread.

Once you guys are done testing the arena, or whatever you are doing with it, will anyone be able to do a match at any time or will there only be one match at a time? Or be able to do like an arena match while there is a tournament going on?

i think it will have tournaments which people sign up for and participate in, so there events that happen over time, not spurr of the moment - i think

Hey DrSane if you want to start a new round while the other people are waiting, I'll volunteer.

Ill give it a shot too if you want

sure ill host, anyone else?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1vjTJTRn48 - listen to this while reading.


You wake up, your journey has been long and tiring, but your faithful steed has borne you through the mountains to this place. Fog flows eerily over the ground, it is impossible to see your feet, and it feels uneven and misshapen. You see a lone horse stand, and tie your companion to it. Jagged trees jut out of the ground around you and form cruel shapes to your eyes. Only the crescent moon lights your way as you press deeper on foot into the forest. A low cracking noise at your foot makes you look down, you see the ribcage of a devoured figure you just crushed. The low blow of the wind through the mountains keeps up a low, haunting wail, like the cry of a banshee. The mist blows in around you, and you walk forward blindly, hands outstretched. The fog shifts away you see before you seven black pillars, encircling the arena. They shift and dance in your vision, and the tug on your soul to this place is stronger than ever, it pulls you further into its clutches, and you step into the circle. You know now that you cannot leave until your tribute is payed. Shambling without will you are drawn to stand by one of the seven pillars, and clutch your weapons, frozen in place, waiting for this hallowed grounds command.

The arena:


The second piller from the left, at its base is a small knight, that is simply for scale and not present.

Special conditions:

-extreme fog, you cannot see the ground, and it is teacherously covered in nameless bones, you will want to test every foot placed, or risk tripping or falling into the murky ground
-The tribute of the dancers, it would be inadvisable to leave the boundary marked by the pillars
-the stone slab in the centre is as tall as a man, it could be climbed on for a great advantage, the mist is thinner around its base.
-this is outside of the RP entirely, use your characters, but dont reference this in the RP (the GM's dont like me bieng supernatural)
-it is technically and arena battle, but the rules are not set in stone, you can do other things than simply fight to the death
-to the death, this is to the death, real sharpened weapons, as i said, this is outside the RP entirely
-no ranged weapons
-cunning will win this battle, not strength

Sorry for the delay, results from round 4 were posted.

As it seems, we're all waiting for others to start doing something, so we can get in some super kick-ass counter move. Although I understand that that looks like the most sensible thing to do in such a situation, one should still take into consideration the character one is playing and that most knights would consider such a defensive stance to be against their code of honour. Being a more valiant fighter would therefore most likely (morally) force you to take the initiative in arena fights as opposed to lighter infantry and archers, that have lower stats and skills and will thus naturally fight more defensively.

That said, I will still volunteer to make a start with taking actions in our fight in order to make things move on.

I think, that Azrael should be the one to move first - well, realistically at least. But I can volunteer before you, Iskar - Marcus can take the initiative.

Great, both your moves match perfectly. I'll see if Azrael does something that affects any of you, then post the results immediately.

Marcus the Shadow Fighter and Iskar wrote:

Azrael's moral code isn't exactly your standard one.

I could explode through the wall and savagely attack someone. But I don't think that would make much sense.

@Kamos: You would be the final boss.


I was going to publish this only at the end, but changed my mind. Dear spectators, here is a description of the fifth round of the current fight. It's the first where there was an actual attack, so you can analyze it and comment as you wish. Also, dear fighters, this one has the grammar mistakes corrected


Please, everyone should read until the endRound 5

To Iskar and Marcus :

Marcus started walking in Iskar's direction, first slowly, then increasingly faster, with his shield raised and his sword hidden behind it. It seemed that the wanted to place the ranger in front of Azrael.

Iskar waited until Marcus was nearer, then turned his body and bolted back to the wall. In a quick movement, he makes a short and a longer jump: the first to place a foot on a recess on the wall, the second to gain momentum and height against Marcus.

Iskar attempts to stab Marcus on the head and outside his shield's protection, in a movement very few fighters would be able to imitate. But he fails. Marcus was prepared for an attack and successfully blocks the strike. But that had a cost.

The impact was so powerful that it shattered Marcus' shield, which wasn't of a good quality to start with. The legionnaire was unscathed, but now had only his sword in his hands.
Iskar lands and rolls successfully behind Marcus' position, also not injuried by the movement (but eating some dirt in the process).

Now Marcus is between Azrael and Iskar.
Both were too busy to see what Azrael was doing.


[My comments:]

Iskar wins the initiative.

Calculations:
Iskar: Sk 1 + 3 ( temporary bonus) + 2 (random result form 1d3) = 6
Marcus: Sk 3 + 1 (temporary bonus) + 2 (random result from 1d3) = 6
RESULT: attack blocked by shield.

Note that in this case the victory was to be decided by the dice, since the Skill of both fighters was the same at that time. I'd like all to see how Iskar's strategy was good enough to put him a equal level with Marcus, a fighter many times more skilled than him. I'll post this publicly when it's over, since it's important for the debate on game balance, and this is the answer: "whatever, what wins battles is good RP". Sadly, it wasn't enough win, though, as it would have been awesome.

Boni:
Marcus is in a defensive position (+1 Sk bonus for defense).
Iskar has the advantage of his spear's range, plus height, momentum and surprise movement. (so I gave him +3 Sk bonus for this attack).

Further note:
Iskar had analyzed the wall and planned that move many rounds ago. Furthermore, his speed (=agility) is pretty high, so it seems reasonable not to give him any penalty for that. I think an average knight trying that would be more difficult.

Yet another note:
If Marcus had won the Skill test (A<B), he would dodge and let Iskar fall horribly to the ground.
If Iskar had won (A>B), he would have obviously hit.


To Pravenstern:

Azrael started walking in Iskar's direction and noticed that Marcus was doing the same - but quicker. Then everything happened fast: as Marcus ran even quicker, the ranger bolted to the wall, gained height and attempted a strike from above. Marcus raises his shield just in time, putting his body weight behind it to withstand the force, and successfuly blocks it. The strike destroys his shield, however, and Azrael saw Iskar landing behind Marcus.

Now Marcus is between Azrael and Iskar.

[My comments:]

I interpreted your attack as a defensive one (would give +1 Skill bonus for defense). Good that Iskar attacked, because it was not clear to me whether you were going to attack or not. If I may, I'd suggest describing your attack intenting (not only you but, Marcus too), like Iskar did. I mean, are you doing a leg sweep with your sword? Bashing with the shield to make the opponnent fall? Throwing sand at his eyes? Attempting to hit his arm as to disarm or disable him? Stabbing, slashing, choping, punching? This helps me calculating the Skill modifiers, which is what actually makes the combat work RP-wise.

CHARACHTER UPDATE:
Now Marcus stats are the following, because without a shield he has become more agile:

WP:2
Skill: 3
Speed: 2

EDIT: corrected grammar mistakes that were getting on my nerves.

Whom or what are we waiting for to continue?

Me, sorry. That was a really long round.

I've PMed you, but I'll post the results here as well:






Since this is a friendly fight, I'll post results collectively, as I did last time, so that all have the opportunity to learn with the others.

MARCUS AND ISKAR (for next actions, see the last line of the calculations tag)

Marcus charges Iskar. Iskar attempts attempts a powerful sweep aimed at Marcus' legs, but Marcus evades.

[Comments:]
Iskar: Making a feint (e.g. going overhead then going for the legs) would have given you +1 Skill for this strike. Else, going for a fast and direct thrust with forward charge would have given you +1 Speed (it's a spear).

Marcus: the spear grabing and consequent counter-attack would be something difficult to do, and it's actually two movements that would be split into two rounds. It worked now only because it was a critical defense from your part (see below). If you had simply blocked, I wouldn't have allowed a counter-attack in the same round, and the next round would start with Iskar having an additional movement (though with his spear locked) before you.

[Calculations:]
Iskar wins the initiative. He is fast. And has a spear.

Calc:
Marcus: 3 Sk + 3 (die roll) = 6
Iskar: 1 Sk + 1 (die roll) = 2

Iskar strikes with 2, Marcus resists with 6.

Marcus, that was a critical defense (Iskar's minimum against your maximum). This means you get to choose what happens and are free to RP that as you wish, but keep in mind that this is not a direct attack (i.e. no finishing moves), but a powerful counter-attack. Since you were already preparing for a dodge, perhaps something along this lines would be more sensible. However, I have no idea what was going on in your head, so, do whatever fits your plans.


AZRAEL

Azrael approaches Marcus. As before, Marcus and Iskar engange in intense fighting. Now, however, things appear to have gone bad for the ranger, who isn't in condition to keeping fighting today.
Azrael and Marcus are now in mutual strike range, although Marcus is facing Iskar, his back turned to Azrael. He certainly knows Azrael's general direction, but not Azrael's the precise distance from him.

[Comments:]
Nothing much to report.


[General comments:]

I've been thinking of putting hand-to-hand combat in future matches. For that, we would use Speed instead of Skill as attack attribute, as an attempt to emulate grappling, punching and disarming. As did the samurai in the battlefield. Most certainly European knights also learned something like that. That would certainly give more opportunities for skinny characters.

At this point I would like to have your feedback in this system - what works well for your and what doesn't. I really like it, and I think it has potential for being used as serious inter-player fighting system, as when Azlanek finally challenges Aranor at the gates of Javiksholm

Round results:


This round will be finished when Marcus posts the exact way in which the defeated Iskar. It's his right, granted by the critical defense. Please make it sensible and remember that it was a spear strike at your legs that triggered it.

Iskar had only 1 WP, lost by whatever happened. This means that Iskar will remain unable to fight for the rest of the fight.

Perhaps it is time for another tourney? jousting or melee wichever the contestants prefer.

Holy crap, I forgot about it again! I'll try to post arena results still today. It's almost over.

Saeros wrote:

Holy crap, I forgot about it again! I'll try to post arena results still today. It's almost over.

This. Made me laugh hysterically.

I'm quite sure my constant forgetting of this is a subconscious thing.

I will use this tourney to win my knighthood.
If I win that is, and if there is someone who agrees to knight me...

Ana will knight Aelos! Then everyone will get to laugh at him

Aelos wrote:

I will use this tourney to win my knighthood.
If I win that is, and if there is someone who agrees to knight me...

Get your grandmaster to do it, he's a duke ain't he?

I'm not sure, but this tourney will take at least 3 months, so by then I'll be sure to know ;-)