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Kurt S. · **04-14-2015, 08:29 AM**

(04-14-2015, 01:11 AM)Domri Blackblade Wrote: Something I wrote forever ago. I didn't reread it so it may be awful.

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So, after reading someone elseâ€™s post, I figured it would be good to let people in on a little bit of psychology of the mind when it comes to fighters. To be clear, I have been studying various martial arts and Bushido since I was eight years old. I have formal training in bo, sai, katana, open hand, and have picked up nunchaku and tonfa.

While Iâ€™m not going to go into how formal physical training is a huge factor, the thing about fighting is extremely a psychological battle. One of your biggest battles? Your eyes.

When Iâ€™m sparring open hand, I never look my opponent in the face. It is actually for two reasons. One? Where I focus determines how much peripheral vision I can utilize. Two? Itâ€™s unsettling. You give your opponent the illusion that you are disillusioned. It immediately can make them believe you are, frankly, extremely confident.

I participated in tournaments for about seven years and my trick was to always read the face of my opponent. Reading their eyes, if they are frowning, if they are nervous. It almost always played into how I proceeded with the fight. If someone looked very nervous, Iâ€™d immediately go aggressive. If someone looked more or less confident, Iâ€™d find a better balance.

I find in RP people are actually over focused on the aggressive and physical aspects, but the fact is, nerves and psychological standing can determine where a fight goes. Toss in an /e stares just to the left of his opponentâ€™s head.

Also, to toss in, sometimes I find RPers can tend to misread another personâ€™s emote intentions due to inexperience or misunderstanding. For example, if someone sweeps your ankle, that is actually not an opportunity to say you locked legs. A properly executed and successful sweep has one intention and that is to knock your foot from under you. If you miss the ankle and try to sweep higher, then it can become a leverage fight. Grab a friend and give the two techniques a work. There is a pretty significance in difference.

Lastly, one rule I was raised on in training is every action opens you up to be struck and the same goes for your opponent. Donâ€™t just throw one technique and donâ€™t throw one technique then stop and reset. Every time you reset, your opponent resets. The key is to know what hits you can take as a trade off.

If your opponentâ€™s ribs are open for a very hard strike, take that blow to the shoulder. It hurts a lot less to get punched in the shoulder than getting broken ribs. Never let being hit discourage.

BEING HIT IS A PART OF FIGHTING.

You will always get hit. If your character somehow blocks and avoids all of their opponents strikes, it becomes extremely unrealistic. Fighting is a mind game of thinking on the spot. What blow can you take to strike back tenfold. What would be the best course of avoiding? He just opened up, can I take advantage of that? Will I reach? What direction is he moving? Can I use that to take him down? Is he extremely mobile? Can I let him tire himself out? Is he not moving a lot? Can I use that to take him down? Is he overly defensive? Can I use that to open him up?

After you train this questions arenâ€™t spoken in the mind, itâ€™s just like a process done. You analyze the situation in the moment and you act. Itâ€™s all in your brain.

And as always, Iâ€™m always available as a resource for more realistic melee combat. Just toss me a PM. Iâ€™m happy to help out and offer insight. I will say, my studies are more Okinawan and Chinese influenced. I am not the end all be all voice on combat, but I can certainly help you out with a lot of theory if you need.

Alright this actually puts in a whole nother dimension to it that I know for a fact I glossed over/never considered. At the very least I can churn out a lengthier sequence but I still don't get the 'Donâ€™t just throw one technique and donâ€™t throw one technique then stop and reset.' bit?

Is it like, Character A throws a punch > Character B parries it > They both go back to their previous stances instead of maybe Character A staying in place after the parried punch which gives an opening for Character B to capitalize on?

To that point. I want to try and recreate the flow from the Ramona vs. Caex'ra fight, aka Ramona in Coil Turn 21 wearing level 46 gear. I want to know if I was actually doing it right with Ramona. Though this does involve another idea in my head that involves manipulating and redirecting her aether to focal parts or general regions of her body.Â

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(04-14-2015, 02:18 AM)Seriphyn Wrote: Fite me IC and I'll show you

You're gonna wipe the floor with me aren't you?

(04-14-2015, 02:20 AM)Kayllen Wrote: One of the things I've found over the years of RP and reading fiction (both 'fan' and published author, alike) is that no two people write out a fight scene the exact same way. People develop personal styles from the overwhelmingly detailed and accurate description of each footstep to almost abstract and elegant descriptions of stances countering other stances.

I guess if I were to answer your question as concisely as I could I would give it my 'catchall' mantra for roleplay and writing in general: "If you want to write well then read well."

I.e. read other authors who write combat and are even known for it, no less. See if it lets you visualize a fight while avoiding too many 'anime-esque' tropes and so on where physics and bodies move unlike normal bodies and physics =P

Personally I'm a detail-oriented writer when it comes to combat. I want to 'see' the fight in my mind as it's been described to me so it's more like a movie than "John punched Wilson in the head, Wilson groaned and took a few steps back". In reality you don't typically just "Punch someone in the head" or "slash your sword at their chest", you take a stance, you prep yourself, you launch your attack and depending on the simultaneous reaction(s) of the opponent it may or may not land home but even if it doesn't hit there's an action and a reaction and those are equally as important as simply hitting someone or them 'dodging'.

One thing if you want a really good exercise in writing combat is to challenge yourself to write out a combat scene from an Asian Martial Arts film, like Ong Bak or even Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It sounds ridiculous, right? But imagine the effort that it took to choregraph that fight, someone somewhere has already written it thus you can as well =) Write out every detail as if you were the author of the story and rewrite it until you can stand to read it without going 'ugh!'. At that point you'll probably be more competent than most people who consider themselves "Lords of the Dance" when it comes to "RP Combat". Think of it as 'writing action' and you're already ahead of the game.

So, stance>wind-up>attack>reaction instead of just straight up attack > reaction?

But how about when it comes to defensive techniques?

Is it notice tell/wind up> predict opponent action> act on prediction> pray to RNGesus almighty you brought your hands up at the right spot?

Also I think that whole write out a martial arts fight sequence ala Ong Bak might actually help. Just not doing a 15 minute Muay Thai fight though. So when I have the brain power I'll take up that suggestion and maybe use youtube as reference. That works right?

(04-14-2015, 07:27 AM)Warren Castille Wrote: Grindstone.

I was somehow waiting for this plug XD If only my times agreed with it beyond one round. Really wanna try it out, also really scared shitless I'll look like a fool, but that's beside the point. The Grindstone happens on a Sunday my time like 11am, which usually means I've got less than an hour to be there then I'm gone for a few hours because family lunches.

Combat RP: How do I git gud?

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes