Test area (must be deleted later)

I got the PM's as well....

1 everyone writes at the same time with intended actions. --->do you mean the PM or do you want them post what they want to do openly in the thread?

Should not the Dawn and the Eventide have 3 WP?

I think we should,
1. We are higher levels in the Game than the other orders
2. We are from Barclay, and the superior Barclay fighting techniques are passed down from the older knights to our squires.
3. Our armor is heavier, that should attest to our physical attributes.
4. Our undying belief in Astraea instills in us the will to win any fight, no matter the odds. (Courage and heroism!)

Plus, we are sort of at a disadvantage, due to the Dawn being the most Cavalry oriented order.

About bonus:

This is still not fixed. We must solve the combat procedures first, because it is from that that all other things will stem. Only after that we will work on balance.

Ideally, an archery and horse-based competiton would be nice. However, I don't know how to make them work in text-based RPG. They work in videogames, but we don't have the interface to make them work here.

That said: Pendorian games are fair to some extent. If we did a horsemanship competition, it's obvious who the winner would be (Dawn). The same with archery (Silvermists) and crossbows (Gauntlets). So the initial idea was to reduce it to the most basic form of combat.

It is your opportunity to RP and prove that your order isn't a bunch of guys who need horses to fight competently. You can take that as a challenge and prove otherwise to the whole kingdom. Likewise: can you imagine how nice would it be for a Silvermist to defeat an Immortal in close-combat? RP must not necessarily be completely balanced.

Naturally, there will be other games - fighting is just one of them. I'm looking forward to what creative ideas other people have.

@ Psychozoa: I meant PM.

Saeros wrote:

About bonus:

This is still not fixed. We must solve the combat procedures first, because it is from that that all other things will stem. Only after that we will work on balance.

Ideally, an archery and horse-based competiton would be nice. However, I don't know how to make them work in text-based RPG. They work in videogames, but we don't have the interface to make them work here.

That said: Pendorian games are fair to some extent. If we did a horsemanship competition, it's obvious who the winner would be (Dawn). The same with archery (Silvermists) and crossbows (Gauntlets). So the initial idea was to reduce it to the most basic form of combat.

It is your opportunity to RP and prove that your order isn't a bunch of guys who need horses to fight competently. You can take that as a challenge and prove otherwise to the whole kingdom. Likewise: can you imagine how nice would it be for a Silvermist to defeat an Immortal in close-combat? RP must not necessarily be completely balanced.

Naturally, there will be other games - fighting is just one of them. I'm looking forward to what creative ideas other people have.

@ Psychozoa: I meant PM.

oh sorry. Herp Derp.

Edited away . (Requested.)

Sir Azrael eyed his opponents carefully. He recognized Marcus, the Grandmaster of Shadow Legion from the assembly regarding Ursula. The other one was one of the Silvermists but he didn't know his name. Just the presence of a Grandmaster made Sir Azrael wary and he made no move to go towards the opponents, instead waiting for the others to make a move.

Sir Azrael approached Iskar from the side, keeping his guard up. It didn't take too long for him to get to the sprinting distance of the Silvermist who had his back against the wall. He took a small look towards Marcus' direction and noted the Grandmaster's slower approach.

[I'll just copy Saeros post here, as it is already pretty descriptive.]

Quote :

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.

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.

This post comes from Marcus, I'm just copying it here. It describes his imagining of how last round ended:


Swoosh, came the spear down at his legs in a sweeping arc. Fortunately he had prepared for this. Marcus suddenly jumped, unleashing the wild energy he had silently gathered during his initial charge, and came crashing down on the Constable. They both fell down, Marcus on top and Iskar with his back on the ground, and the spear laid useless on the ground behind Marcus. Time to finish the job. The wooden practise sword came down with a satisfying noise as it knocked the Silvermist unconscious. But Marcus felt tired; he had used quite a lot of energy in that motion.

(-1 Speed for one turn)

[I decided to post results directly here, instead of PMing Prav' and Marcus] [But please responde separately as before]

RAW DESCRIPTION TO MARCUS:
Marcus turns around only to find Arzael rushing in his direction. Azrael sword hits with full momentum. Marcus raises his sword a tad too late, and soon feel a hard blow in his ribs. One more and it would be the end of him (you have now only 1 WP).

RAW DESCRIPTION TO AZRAEL:
There it was: you see Marcus jumping over Iskar's spear sweep and finishing the ranger with a downwards strike to the
head. After a *clonk* to the helmet, the ranger falls down, barely conscious. You notice that doing that move has left Marcus tired.

Azrael goes for the torso. Although Marcus does react incredibly fast to that, his attempt to parry is a split second late, and Azrael's sword lands at his ribs, probably breaking some. It was a lucky hit: if Azrael had stepped one foot too soon or swung his sword a blink too late, Marcus would have had the better of it.


[Comments and calculations for your amusement:]

Azrael wins initiative.
Az. attacks Ma.
Marcus: Sk 3 + 2(random die roll) = 5
Azrael: Sk 2 + 1(charge) + 1(sword technique) + 2(random die roll) = 6
Azrael hits.

Marcus said: "walk back and rest a little before engaging the enemy".
But Arzael said "charge". This is the reason I allowed the contact to happen. Had Azrael just said "move toward Marcus", I would have Marcus retreat succeed. Retreating a charge, and while tired, is another story, however.


Hey Pravenstern, keeping the sword behind was neat. You could have also specified your intentions in different ways for more numbers-effect, e.g. "I keep the sword behind to make his dodge more difficult" would have given the opponent -1 Skill to parry you (there's a kenjutsu stance like this with this effect); or "I keep it behind the shield to conceal that it's actually an axe, not a sword", and so on. However, if you had done that without a shield and Marcus had attacked you, you would be exposed and suffer a slight penalty for that.
For your current action, since you did had clear a purpose for that, I gave a +1 temporary to-hit bonus.

Ma.
WP 2 -1 Azrael hits!
Skill 3
Speed 1 +1 no shield -1 tired

Az.
WP 2
Skill 2
Speed 1

Okay, round the following.

Quoting Azrael:
Sir Azrael takes the dirty way of fighting (old habits of adventurer die hard) and kicks Marcus' legs under him. If Marcus falls, Sir Azrael will take a swing to him in an attempt to end the fight.


Quoting Marcus:

The pain momentarily pierced the void he had so carefully prepared for the battle, yet it stood. Ripples of shock, even panic, slid across it, yet leaving his conscience untouched; he was not affected by the pain, although he was aware of it. Unthinking, he flowed from defense to attack, the fluid motions of his sword seeming to strike at Azrael's head first, but then suddenly changing direction and sweeping down at his legs, instead. He dropped to one knee as the practise sword came down at the Grandmaster's legs, attempting to put the man off balance. Either way, this would end the battle.




RESULTS:

No longer tired, Marcus takes the offensive against Azrael. He makes a feint to the head, cleverly using the opponent's shield to block to his advantage, and strikes the Griffon in the leg. Whatever Sir Azrael was trying to do was thwarted by Marcus' lightning speed [develop and RP that at will]. Both participants are now wounded and tired, barely standing, and their next move could be also their last for the day.

[calculations, for your appreciation: ]

M.’s feint: +1 sk.
A.’s sweep: dirty, unorthodox: +1 sk.
Since both are attacks, only one of them will be taken into account (the one from who wins the initiative).

initiative:
Az. 1 (base) + 1 (random) = 2
Ma. 2 (base) + 4 (random) = 6
(note: no particular actions to boost this from either side)
Marcus wins.

to-hit roll:
Ma.: 3 (base) + 1 (context modfier) + 1 (random) = 5
Az.: 2 (base) + 0 (context modfier) + 1 (random) = 3
Marcus hits; normal strike.
(note: nothing fancy at all)

General note: I started using the 1d4 randomizer this round (replacing the 1d3). The reason is to give a better equality range. As it was, a Sk 1 chracter would almost always lose against a Sk 3, no matter how good his RP were.

Draft for myself:
A.
WP 2 (-1: hit!)
Sp 1 (-1 shield)
Sk 2

M.
WP 1
Sp 2
Sk 3

M.
- feints to head, strike to the legs (shield blocking sight). If massive strike, allow M. to cripple A. till the end.

A.
- kicks M.’s legs (consider this as an actual strike). If massive strike, allow A. the combo hit he mentions in the post.
- dirty

ADDENDUM TO THE MAIN RULES (complete set will be published someday in the future):

I'm paraphrasing Pyschozoa: "[F]or the time we should keep it very simple. It should be based more on the RP factor. The ground rules should be set, that is correct but players get a bonus if they come up with good tactics. Not just "I bunny hop towards him and slash wildly around with my Greatsword".

That said:

WP: your constitution.
Speed: how agile you are; how sharp are your senses; how fast you can move.
Skill: how good your are with weapons; how many weapons you are familiar with; how strong you are.

Speed value will be used in movements like: dodging, running, jumping, backfliping for the speactators' amusement.
Skill for all other attempts (to hit, disarm, block, deflect, crush, hack, stab, etc.)

All ranged weapons now use Speed as main attribute.

Spear uses either speed or skill, whichever has the higher raw value (cannot change it afterwards). This is to account for different fighting styles with the spear, a discussion we have had before.
*. No, please don't suggest to take into account also different fighting styles with swords and axes.


From now on, initiative no longer decides who hits, but who hits first. This means that, if two opponents attack each other, both may strike in the same round. It's just that one of them strikes first, and therefore has the effects applied before his opponent's attack (therefore, he can knock down the other before getting hit). This is also too account for momentum.
*. Unless the initiative roll is "massive" (= the final result being too different from each other). E.g. Red rolls initiative 2, while Green rolls 8. Green is so fast that red doesn't even have the chance to start his movement.

Suggested weapons (can choose only one, but may pick up from enemies as well):

- tower shield: heavy, slow. Nearly invincible against ranged. Yes, so heavy that no offensive weapons may be carried together. Teamwork is necessary when wearing this.
- spear: extra range, no shield; speed based.
-2H axe: extra damage; shield breaker.
- shield-and-javelins (6): ranged; may be used as short spear (basically, an unbalanced wooden stick with a metal tip).
- bow (30 arrows): ranged. Riskier than javelin, since you become vulnerabe in close combat. Might need teamwork.
- sword-and-shield: balance of attack and defense.
- unarmed combat is always possible, but will always lose the initiative, and get -3 skill to defend against all kinds of weapons.

Weapons can be taken in any combination. However, since there are no scabbards or bags, you may choose only what you can carry in your hands.


All RP will be taken into consideration. Stating your intentions is good. I reiterate that there are no limits to what you are allowed to do. Just remember that you have spectators, and, therefore, having a noble knight perform dirty fighting, not showing mercy, or using poison might stain your reputation, and your order's. But you can still do it. It's a good opportunity to make your character's personality known throughout the kingdom.

Do you have any suggestions?

Ta da! Round the last! Suspense arises!

Marcus ignores the pain and attempts an evasive roll, trying to get distance and stand up to continue the fight. However, in a surprising display of speed, Sir Azrael bashed Marcus with his shield before the opponent could complete his move, throwing the shadow legionnaire back to the ground. Covered in sand and dirt, Marcus stands up once more, raises his guard, but then falls again, unconscious: the shield bash was too much.

And so, my ladies and gentlemen, this is how ended the last fight in that old, boring, propless arena of Sarleon. Can you imagine? They fought only in the sand! Now things are much more insteresting! To the games, I say!



Initiative:
Azrael: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5
Marcus: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4
RESULT: Azrael strikes first. [= Azrael strikes before Marcus’ roll is completed.]

To-hit #1: Azrael’s shield bash
Azrael: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6
Marcus: 3 + 3 + 0 = 6
RESULT: draw without shield (see below): Azrael hits Marcus (-1 WP). Marcus fall unconscious.

To-hit #2:
None: Marcus didn’t attack (and was knocked unconscious anyway).




Draft for myself:
A.
WP 1
Sp 1 (-1 shield)
Sk 2

M.
WP 1
Sp 2
Sk 3

M.
- rolls away defensively (+2 mod).
- doesn’t attack.

A.
- shield bash + sword strike (2 moves; add sword strike only if very high combat results)

[rules change:
I’ve finally found an actual defensive use for shields: now they serve as a draw-solver. When there is a draw in the “to-hit calculation”, the defending character can leave unscathed only if he has a shield. Otherwise, he gets hurt. Also: draws are useless against axes. This is how the "shield breaker/massive crusher" element of the axe can be applied mathematically (and not subjectively).]



[comment: it was very funny how your posts matched each other perfectly

Marcus said: “... so that he can only reach Marcus by shield-bashing”
Azrael said: “Azrael shield bashes Marcus head on.”

Marcus said: “I roll to the right, away from his sword”
Azrael said: “I take a swing at Marcus’ left side”]