Welcome to Gaia! ::

How to Post in a Fight

1. General Information for Fighting

Fighting on Gaia at first looks very very overwhelming. With people posting blocks, attacks, lunges, parries, and spell usage, people wonder what keeps these fights sane.

First thing to know is the classic "Post before you did, mine goes first" This is pretty much a lie. Although this seems like a sane idea, many people have a slow connection, compared to those with a DSL or other fast connection. This gives people with a better connection an advantage, an UNFAIR advantage. Try to avoid this concept as much as possible.

The second thng to watch for is auto hitting. This is a classic case of "Empales with Pitchfork" or something simular. What I am about to cover is a way to actually do this, but in a fair way.

2. How to work a fight

Many people try to go for an auto hit and kill. Although this is like real life, where it is good to get rid of a person as fast as possible, this is usually handled in a way that many see as unfair.

The first thing to know is that like in real life, you have to get your opponent in a position to where they are having a tough time RPing attacks. This can be done as simple as launching attack after attack at them, or by leading them in hostile terran. There are many ways to do this. Below are some examples of how to do things. Before I start the examples, it is good to know what the two people in the Example are capable of:

Name: Bob

Professions: Samurai

Weapon: Katana

Spells: Fireball

---------------------------------

Name: George

Prefessions: Trained Polearm user

Weapon: Halbred

Spells: Ice Bolt, Lightning Bolt

These are the two people that will be used in these examples. For those who are weapon inclined, a Katana is a sword that has a slightly curved blade. A Halbred is a spear with an axe attachment below the spear's tip, and on the other side of the axe attachment is a spear tip as well.

This following sets of Examples are ways to keep your opponent off guard.

-------------------------------------------------

Bob held his stance as George charged with his halbred, which seemed as if George was going to try to run him through. Bob used his skills as a samurai and side stepped, bringing his katana under George's halbred as he ran by, letting the blade run across the bottom of the halbred's pole as George charged by, the blade heading for his chest.

This shows that Bob is using his stance and concentration on George's charge so he can side step and come out with an attack on his own. In a real life sense, this would be seen as an auto hit, since George is charging, and Bob has side-stepped and came through with an attack of his own, which seems unblockable. Well, on Gaia, almost anything is possible and it is always good to post things as they are happeneing, not as if they did happen. Remember up above that George is a Trained Polearm user. This means that he has most likely been trained to deal with this situation.

--------------------------------------------------

As George charged Bob, he noticed that Bob was no longer in front of him, but rather. beside him, and his blade was running fast up the pole of the Halbred. Thinking fast, George stepped to the opposing side as Bob, and brought his Halbred around, using the Katan's smooth side surface to pivot the spear head in Bob's direction. He thrusted again, aiming for his underarm.

Uh-oh, looks like Bob is about to take one for the team. Notice how the posts, no matter how much it seems that one or the other is going to get hit, are left open-ended, like the ending of Halo 2. This leaves room for the opponent to decide if they are going to get hit or not. If you are playing with someone fair, they know what their character is capable of.

-------------------------------------------------

Bob stood in awe as George moved around his blade, turning his Halbred to yet again face him as George tried for another lunge. Bob brought his Katana blade up, and since it was still under the Halbred being used as a pivot point, brought the Halbred up as well, the lunge barely missing his head. Bob swung his Katana to the side, forcing George's Halbred to hit the ground as he ran up, his katana coming in for another gut cutting strike.

Notice the detail in the posts. Putting much detail in a post helps with saying what your character is doing, in a degree that things are not mis-understood. However, one thing would make thses posts moch better, and that is left and rights. It is important to know what hand the person is holding their weapon, and anything direction related. This makes fights extremely easier.

--------------------------------------------------

He attempted to bring his halbred up in time, but to no avail as Bob's katana cut into his armor and bit his chest, drawling blood. George reeled back and brought his halbred up, going into a stance, ready to continue the fight despite his wound

In this post, George's player knows when it is time to take a hit. With his Halbred being held to the ground by an oncoming blade, George knows there is no way for him to bring up his halbred in time. This is different for every character, since every character has more strengths and weaknesses. If you have not noticed, you need to RP your opponent into a position where they cannot do anything to block or sidestep an attack. This makes RPing easier and more fun. The open-ended aspect of each post shows how action is going on all at once, not just attack, stop, attack, stop, but rather, attack, then whatever is needed next. Also, know when tyour character has taken enough hits before falling. This is a big problem as many people go until they have no arms or legs. Nobody is the true black knight, so try not to be one.

-------------------------------------------------

If you do run into the fool who does things that are questionable.. (Gets head cut off, dosent die, dodges a hail of bullets while both legs are cut off, etc.) DO NOT FLAME THEM!! This is what causes Mods to get involved in ways you would never want to happen. If you do encounter someone of this type, try the following in this order:

* Ask them to re-look over their last post, tell them it looks funny

* If they say it is fine, have them explain how it works and how they did it.

* If they start to get hostile OOC, do not get hostile back. Best bet would be to just drop it and continue. If they do not stop, report them to an ON-LINE MOD or just ignore them and leave the fight. It is not a loss on your part, it is a smart thing to do. It also saves you a headache! whee

-------------------------------------------------

Hopefully this add-on has helped many of you out there get a start into the RPing fighting community. Any questions, please PM me.

-------------------------------------------------

Johto, I'm sad to say that this is perhaps.... one of the only stickies that's useful. ^^; Keep up the good work.