A little while ago we had a thread about how to be better at combat roleplay, especially in freeform. There was a lot of good and useful advice in that thread. One thing that struck me, however, was the general assumption that combat is conducted one-on-one in duels with a single opponent - the advice was generally framed in terms of "your opponent" rather than "your opponents," etc.
While we have a number of venues for one-on-one combat roleplay, it occurred to me that works well in the one-on-one might not work as well in the many and chaotic situations in which a fight breaks out between groups, rather than individuals. Sometimes these are planned, but sometimes these are the byproduct of spontaneous RP proceeding as it often does. Somebody finds themselves involved in a fight with someone else, and their friends happen to be nearby. Two groups with reason to dislike each other encounter each other in the street and things get heated. In the event that these scenarios occur with an equal number of parties on both sides, then there's no problem - people split off into duels and that takes care of that.
But there are any number of situations where this gets complicated. One group outnumbers the other, or it's only one man against several; the environment is structured in such a way that only a few people can fight at a time, like a narrow street; some characters may not be trained in the kind of one-on-one combat that would allow for easy pairing, like conjurers; and, of course, it's possible for people to contribute back and forth to each other's attacks.Â
In short, how we address freeform combat RP as individual duels doesn't often address the much-more chaotic version of mass combat RP and how that can be structured in an entertaining manner. And, knowing how often we see mass combat in the game iteslf through things like the MSQ, it seems like a subject worth at least a little consideration.
I have the following questions:
1. How do you address posting order and initiative in freeform mass combat? Who goes first, and how often can they attack?
2. In situations where one group is outnumbered, does the other group allow them to have an edge in terms of how often they can attack and defend themselves for fairness' sake, or does the larger group press the weight of numbers?
3. How do you handle disparities in character strength? The Powerlevel thread shows that some characters consider themselves strong enough to take on much larger groups. Do you take these disparities into account when trying to resolve a mass combat?
4. Do you assign individuals to specific targets to the best of your ability, or do you prefer a more chaotic melee in which it's possible for everyone to strike everyone else?
5. Friendly fire: It happens, and it's unfortunate, but how do you involve accidental strikes on someone friendly when there are very few accidents in freeform?
6. Do you feel some of the difficulties in addressing the above have a cooling effect on this kind of combat RP? If so, how can they be corrected?
While we have a number of venues for one-on-one combat roleplay, it occurred to me that works well in the one-on-one might not work as well in the many and chaotic situations in which a fight breaks out between groups, rather than individuals. Sometimes these are planned, but sometimes these are the byproduct of spontaneous RP proceeding as it often does. Somebody finds themselves involved in a fight with someone else, and their friends happen to be nearby. Two groups with reason to dislike each other encounter each other in the street and things get heated. In the event that these scenarios occur with an equal number of parties on both sides, then there's no problem - people split off into duels and that takes care of that.
But there are any number of situations where this gets complicated. One group outnumbers the other, or it's only one man against several; the environment is structured in such a way that only a few people can fight at a time, like a narrow street; some characters may not be trained in the kind of one-on-one combat that would allow for easy pairing, like conjurers; and, of course, it's possible for people to contribute back and forth to each other's attacks.Â
In short, how we address freeform combat RP as individual duels doesn't often address the much-more chaotic version of mass combat RP and how that can be structured in an entertaining manner. And, knowing how often we see mass combat in the game iteslf through things like the MSQ, it seems like a subject worth at least a little consideration.
I have the following questions:
1. How do you address posting order and initiative in freeform mass combat? Who goes first, and how often can they attack?
2. In situations where one group is outnumbered, does the other group allow them to have an edge in terms of how often they can attack and defend themselves for fairness' sake, or does the larger group press the weight of numbers?
3. How do you handle disparities in character strength? The Powerlevel thread shows that some characters consider themselves strong enough to take on much larger groups. Do you take these disparities into account when trying to resolve a mass combat?
4. Do you assign individuals to specific targets to the best of your ability, or do you prefer a more chaotic melee in which it's possible for everyone to strike everyone else?
5. Friendly fire: It happens, and it's unfortunate, but how do you involve accidental strikes on someone friendly when there are very few accidents in freeform?
6. Do you feel some of the difficulties in addressing the above have a cooling effect on this kind of combat RP? If so, how can they be corrected?
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Current Fate-14 Storyline:Â Merchant, Marine
Current Fate-14 Storyline:Â Merchant, Marine
