5 replies to this topic

[Rytiko]

“I have walked through the gates of Valhalla and fought for a lifetime. I return to you today to warn you that Odin’s eyes cannot see this arena.”

Valhalla, some have called it. Others revere it still, but not as the battleground for their Gods. Most know it as folklore, spoken about in battle-centered cultures. Some, however, know it more intimately. Some have seen it. Some have fought in it. It is their tales that tell the strangest stories of all about the Arena – but the common agreement is that, in this place, the Gods have turned their eyes from them.
The thing is, most of the people there prefer it that way. A warrior’s paradise…

The Battle Arena

1. Exposition
2. “True” Introduction
3. Rules
4. Battle Types
5. Players and Scores (during tournaments)
6. Character Creation Guideline
7. Battle RP Guidelines

Yes, this is largely a copy of Megell’s old Battle Arena, with a few twists of my own. He and I talked about it and concluded that it would be fine if I were the one to bring it back. Hopefully it enjoys a similar success to the old BA.

[Rytiko]

2. Introduction

There are four mountains in the world, scattered among vastly different cultures and scenery, with something far more to them. Several cultures in the past and present have discovered these mountains and explored them to find a large golden arch with a black drape covering the entrance… an enticing portal, but a venus fly trap of sorts to all who dare approach.

Those who have entered were separated from the world they knew, instead brought into an entirely different sort of place. The architecture seems old, yet completely foreign – Onyx steps led downward on a steep incline, winding for what seems like miles, with a gigantic onyx column encrusted with peridot rings every few feet. Each ring seems almost like a watchful eye, staring at whoever descends the stairs.

Aye, the walk alone frightens many. When they reach the bottom though, they have another mile of walkway lined with the same onyx pillars ahead of them before the real fright begins. The sandy trail seems to take days, but eventually comes to its close at a very peculiar site…

A coliseum with an unfathomed size was erected entirely out of stone, with several of the strange peridot circles along the top of the circular arena. Two great gates lay before the adventurer, almost screaming out to them – “Come in, come in! We’re waiting for you!”

Most cannot resist. Many simply don’t want to. Either way, the world entered when the adventurer walks into the great iron gates is something completely different from the one they were used to. Blades slam into each other, combatants sleep soundly in small cots on the inside, but it is the center that catches the adventurer’s eye – A brutal fight rages inside, each party using incredibly high force. Magic is slung around, weapons brandished and prepared to kill…

This place is known, even in legend, only as The Battle Arena.

Key areas in the Arena

Central arena: this arena, despite its simple appearance, is a work of unknown magic. It is capable of complete morphology change, making it possible for several different types of battles to occur.

Infirmary: this place, like the arena, is advanced. Enough so that it can always bring a character back from death, and keep em going! (Just so when you lose a fight, you don?t always need to make a new character.)

[Rytiko]

3. The Rules

-Obey the TOS of this site.
-Be respectful.
-Listen to the fight Judges. These people are chosen for their high degree of logic in fights. ((Though you don?t have to listen to them outside this thread.))
-NO GODMODDING, NO AUTOHITTING
-Stay in brackets when talking out of character Like so: ((Hello, How are you.))
-You do not need to join the arena to fight in the arena. You join so that you can be placed in the rankings. ((a soon to come feature, once I figure out the higharchy))


4. Battle Types

Type 1 :: No weapons can be used by any fighter.
Type 2 :: No energy, Ki, or magicks can be used by any fighter.
Type 3 :: All fighters are rendered completely blind for the duration of the match. Type 4 :: All fighters' equipment, clothing, and item weight triples.
Type 5 :: All fighters are linked together by an indestructable 20 ft chain held around the waist.
Type 6 :: A magnetic field surrounds the fighters, pulling away all metallic equipment.
Type 7 :: A time bomb is set in the ring, which will detonate after five full rounds of battle, unless it finishes before then.
Type 8 :: All fighters are injected with a poison that lowers their physical abilities.
Type 9 :: All fighters have their hands tied together behind their back, with knots that cannot be undone.
Type 10 :: All fighters become completely deaf.

Arena Types

Setting I :: The pit remains unchanged, just a simple hole in the ground, with obsidian walls and a hardy packed dirt floor.

Setting II :: A winter wonderland, to say the least. The ground turns into tundra and permafrost, covered by a layered of powdered snow. Hail, snow, and sleet also fall from the sky at a moderate pace. Temperatures will drop as well, to nearly freezing.

Setting III :: Talk about a weaponmaster's dream! The pit transforms into a miniature Roman colosseum, complete with a sandy floor, and all manner of weapons dotting the walls. Swords, lances, guns, claws, if you can dream it, it is there.

Setting IV :: Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. In all honesty, this is probably one of the hardest arenas to take advantage of. The pit fills completely with saltwater, submerging and threatening to drown both combatants, not to mention the stinging effect salt will have on the eyes and wounds.

Setting V :: It's getting hot in here...Seriously though, volcanos are not the greatest place to fight. The middle of the ring will be drastically reduced to a small 10 meter circle, all the rest of the floor becoming molten lava. The heat is sure to make you work up a sweat, too!

Setting VI :: Now I'm free; free fallin'! No, really, you are, if you make the wrong move. The entire pit seems to fade away, leaving both fighters standing on one of hundreds of small platform that dot the open sky. Be careful you don't fall, though. It's a long way down...

Setting VII :: Welcome to the Jungle! Actually, it's quite unwelcome. The thick foliage is sure to restrict the movement of even the most deft of thieves, and the trees will stop most large attacks. The humidity itself can be enough to stop a man cold. Or hot, as it would be.

Setting VIII :: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Indeed, welcome to Hell! Scorching heats welcomes you, not to mention the brimstone that will make your eyes water. Of course, that won't matter very much. All the combatants will be surrounded in utter darkness, invisible to each other.

Setting IX :: Yay; the light at the end of the tunnel! This is Heaven, alright. Of course, you should be celebrating. Both fighters are rendered invincible (but not invulnerable) so fight like you mean it! Also, the massive amounts of mana in this place will keep you from running out of spell energy.

Setting X :: You wouldn’t like it when it’s hungry. The Arena has a violent nature of its own, attacking with the sand that covers the desert-like setting. Pits of quicksand open at random, and tidal waves of sand will shoot forward from time to time to consume the combatants.

Setting XI :: MORTAL KOMBAT!!! You remember the first movie – a narrow bridge over a massive spike pit. The spikes are thick and sharp, capable of putting a very large hole through anybody who falls into it.

Setting XII :: Who ya gonna call? In the middle of a large abandoned ghost town, the fighters face off with all types of houses, a large theater, and even a small armory as either cover or the stage for their brawl.

[Rytiko]

5. Player Scores/Standing

Not currently applicable.

[Rytiko]

6. Character Creation Guide

Well, to quote someone else on this, I would probably say:

The best way I know to explain it is in percentages.

Most players divide their characters up on three things subconsciously. The three primary statistics for a fighter of any kind is Physical, Mental, Spiritual.

If you are mostly focused on Physical, you will find that your body is a well toned machine, capable of taking a great deal and dishing out just as much. With physical being your primary concern, you'd find that your body won't be affected by magic, where as mental powers would blow you to bits.

Spiritual powers give you an extreme connection to your body and soul without touching any kind of physical training. This gives you magical ability to turn psi fighters into minced meat, but a warrior will turn you into a hackey sack.

Mental power simply means that you are so focused in your mind that you can manipulate the world around you with thought. As such, you can turn the physical fighter into a child at your feet, but because magic is, in fact, intangible, you can't touch it.

Combining this or that would seriously drain that sort of statistic. Like... A Phy/Spi would be able to throw flaming punches, but would crumble under intense pressure of mental power. Spiritual and Mental warriors are outstanding against most things, but a single hit would turn this guy into a grave filler. Mental and physical fighters are great too, but they really can't touch magic. It hurts them. Bad.

Yep.

Also, another thing that this person didn’t mention was that you could develop a ?themed? Character. Such as a drunken master or the like. Whose abilities are all centered around a certain idea.

:: Application Forum ::
User Name:
Characters Name:
Age:
Bio:
Apperance:
Short Description of what your does:
Physical, mental, or magical:

PM me all applications, I will need to review them to make sure your character is fair.

[Rytiko]

7. Battle RP Guidelines

Well this can bring up a couple of interesting issues at first. For starters, in a fight based RP. The purpose of the system is combat, rather then plot, this means that there are a few new rules such as no Auto hitting, logic interruptions and the like. I?ll delve into that in a minute, but first let me introduce you to the most important thing in combat role-plays: what is considered a fair fight.

A fair fight often is when you post an attack, and the opponent posts a response if they are hit or not. A fair fight is logical, makes sense, and has each character as equals until the victor is decided. A fair fight only can come to a victory in one sides favour if the otherside admits defeat.

In a RP fight, typically its not about who has the best abilites, who makes the fastest sword stikes or even who is the most litterate. It?s about forcing your opponent into a logic corner until they have to admit that their character is killed. This ultimately takes a lot of smarts.

However, there are some big No-No?s everyone should be aware of.

AUTOHITTING!
First of all, the biggest issue is that of auto hitting. Auto hitting is a nasty habit that some new RPers out there have. Auto hitting, as the name would imply, is where you actually just strike an opposing character without giving them a chance to block.

For example
N00b wrote:
I draw my sword and slash you across the chest. Your cut in a horrendous fashion and blood goes everywhere. YOU DIE!!!11! Lol OMG!

Well this has the obvious problem of the person who was being attacked had no opportunity to guard to begin with. N00b just struck the opponent and killed them. End of story, this is obviously not fair.

A Good RP would write something like this.

Good RPer Wrote:
I drew my sword, and prepared to slash down vertically, hoping to cut you across the chest. My intent was to kill you in one move.

The good RP here uses the format of preparing for a strike, this is okay, but still it means the person you are attacking has the issue of being able to control how your fight turns out. This means that it gives them an excuse to GodMod. (I?ll explain GodModding in a minute.)

An Excellent RP on the other hand writes something like this:

Swordsman
My character draws his sword, raised it and slashed down, hoping to leave his opponent with a ghastly cut across his chest. If it were not blocked, the opponent would be killed.

This is excellent, not only is it in 3rd person, which increases the format of the post dramatically. But it also has a forum of objectivity. In this post, you attack, but you also give the opponent the opportunity to dodge/counter attack. You lead up to the attack; you don?t actually post its outcome, that?s the defending characters responsibility.

GODMODDING!
Now the counter to auto hitting is GodModding. GodModding is much worse then auto hitting because it is much harder to prevent. GodModding is where, as the name implies, means that you make your character virtually unstoppable, unbeatable, and un-killable.

Now I?m not saying that there is nothing wrong with dodging a hit. In-fact, there is not anything wrong with dodging every hit if you can do it logically based on your character. The problem is when you do this in situations where your character would normally not be able to guard or escape. Let me give you an example

Swordsman wrote:
You are strapped to a navel cannon with an unbreakable chain. I fire the cannon. You are a regular human being. (Thus logically you cannot escape)

Now normally, under anyone?s rules, if you were in this situation you would be blown to bits. However, somehow you manage to escape?

N00b wrote:
I jump of the cannon, using my average human speed and strength; I am unhindered by the unbreakable chains. I survive like always!!!!11! lol OMG! And even though you pulled the cannon as I still on the chains, I bend time with my NORMAL HUMAN MIND, and then escape.

Sigh, I?m not even going to explain what is so wrong with this. (GodModding) I feel it?s pretty self-explanatory. GodModding will be punished ruthlessly, in other words the presiding judge can ?puppet master? (puppet mastering is controlling an other persons character.) your character, post for you, and the report the actual outcome of the fight.

You will be ?unfairly? treated if you attempt to GodMod. So Beware.

:: Logic Interruptions ::
Another Important term you should get familiar with is logic interruptions. Logic interruptions are a sound part of combat where you take what the opposing character did, and use it against them. Logic interruptions are highly important, yet be sparing in the use of them. To many can leave bad blood between two people.

There are three types of logic interruptions:
First, and probably the most important is the defensive logic interruption. This logic interruption is used to defend your character from an attack. Lets say we have a scenario in which one character is a mage, and the other is a swordsman.

The Mage Wrote:
I Prepared my spell, a whirling mass of fire appeared over my head. I slowly spoke the incantations my family had passed down for generations.

?Hello, would you like some candy??

The words, like always, brought a glimmer of a tear to my eye. It took a while, but the fireball began to grow in intensity. Then I released it in a flaming torrent at my foe.

Now, the mage broke no rules in casting his spell. However, that doesn?t mean he is invulnerable to a counter attack.

The Swordsman Wrote:
I watched for a split second as the mage began to cast his spell. The fiery death that soon would be launched towards me worried me. Thus, like any smart man, I drew my sword and attacked him. ?That should end his attack?, I thought to myself.

Now naturally, the mages spell has been interrupted, possibly cancled. This means that his spell besides what he posted in his post would not have the opportunity to be launched. This then means the mage would have to disregard his post after the logic interruption and have to continue with the fight as if he had never completed his spell.

For those DnD buffs, this is very similar to an ?attack of opportunity?.

Next, and most importantly comes the offensive Logic Interruption. This type is used to attack a character, rather then defend you from an attack. This type, unlike the previous one does not change the actions the opposing character took, but rather takes advantage of them. There is not a real issue with this logic interruption, since most people will naturally use it. The main purpose behind this type of logic interruption is that ?I don?t necessarily stand around while you do your thing.? For this example, let?s say to people are fighting on a rooftop, and one jumps off and the other jumps off to follow him. ((Kind of like that dumb matrix scene.))

Trinity Wrote:
I jumped off the building to escape my pursuer.

The Agent Wrote:
I saw the human female jump off the building. I was sure of the pathetic life forms demise, but just to make sure I jumped off the building as well. Hoping to reach towards her and grab her. Making sure my own body would weigh her down, and rocket her to ground even faster.

As the ?agent? jumps to follow trinity, she is still falling, but she still can also perform other actions.

Trinity Wrote:
As I watched the agent jump off the building after me, I drew my gun and began to fire at the location the agent would soon be.

Of course, unlike the matrix, trinity probably would end up getting a face shot on the agent. Thus this would possibly kill the agent.

The final type of logic interruption is Mechanical. This type is almost identical to Defensive logic interruptions. However it is used only after their has been an OOC (Out Of Character) debate. This type of logic interruption is usually used by only a judge, and it is to correct incidences of GodModding or auto hits.

Example:

Swordsman Wrote:
I slash my sword at you, I aim for your neck hoping to get a slice.

1337 NinaJ Wrote:
I dodge your attack by running through the blade. Then I teleport right behind you and throw a million Kunai! Because they have accelerated due to the moon, the kunai hit you with impossible force. Their million-ness cuts you to pieces, I win!!!11! lol OMG!

Swordsman Wrote:
((Occ: you realize that IS impossible under any of the rules of physics, in ANY sense? But relax; I?ll get a Judge to judge the fight.))

A PM to a Judge later.

Judge Wrote:
((I agree with Swordsman on this one 1337, your attack was impossible, thus I will post what would of actually happened in all fairness sake.))
1337 Ninaj jumps back and avoids the swing.

These, in a nutshell are logic interruptions.