The Arena
Fight fair!
Overview
What is the arena? Simply put, it’s the place you go when you want to cream somebody. You can use any character you can think up, and make them as powerful as you want. But there are rules to be followed in order to keep things fair. If you've already read the Persistent World rules, this should all look pretty familiar, but there are a few minor differences.
Guns
My personal favorite. A player can use any gun they so wish, within reason. Desert Eagle? Sure. M249 SAW? Go for it. The front-mounted chain gun ripped off a war chopper? Possible, but you‘d have a lot of explaining to do..
The point I’m trying to make is that if you can logically justify the use of a weapon, have knowledge of how the weapon works, and be able to efficiently explain these things to other players, anything goes. Exceptions would include any weapon too large to realistically be carried by your character, or carrying more weapons than your character could realistically be able to carry. The key words here are “realistic” and “logic.”
You must be realistic in terms of weaponry choice, and you must be able to logically explain that choice.
Magic/Powers
Magic and powers allow for a lot of opportunity to play unfairly. But, if used properly, can make for some extremely intense and perfectly fair fighting. Magic and powers are far too diverse to specify what is alright to use, so instead, I’ll specify what is not all right to use.
Anything that controls another character’s actions is prohibited. By controlling another character’s actions, you are essentially forcing a hit.
Anything that is unavoidable is also disallowed. This too falls under forced hits.
Time control is not allowed, either. With time control, a player can undo their mistakes in combat, undo attacks landed on them, and generally be a wanker.
Teleportation is strictly limited to use by and on the player’s own character. There must also be some sort of warm up and cool down time (or some other measure to limit use) as well, so that a player cannot always escape attacks by simply teleporting away. Dodging one or two hits in this manner is fine, but using it in excess may get you in trouble.
Melee
Writing melee combat is a fine art form. No matter what kind of character you play, no matter if you’re fighting hand-to-hand or with weapons, you must be able to describe every move your character makes. You must be able to describe the angle their fist as it flies through the air, how their body shifts weight as they move, foot placement; anything that you would need to take into consideration in a real fight.
Think in terms of Fight Club rather than Dragonball Z. Once again, the key words are “realistic” and “logic.”
Could your character throw one million punches at the speed of light? No. Could they throw one million punches? Yes. But that would be stupid. Once you have written what action your character has taken, you are locked into that decision. That means that while Person A is throwing one million punches, Person B could be doing anything during that time period, and Person A could not stop throwing punches, since they had written that that is what they had done. Obviously, that would make it very difficult for Person A to defend from an attack that Person B might launch.
There are certain cases, however, where an attack may be written out, but not necessarily launched, fairly allowing the attacker to back out before they are locked into an attack. This is done in the form of an if/then statement.
Using If/Then Statements
Let’s say Person A wants to launch a two-prong attack, but wants to maintain the opportunity to back out of the second part of the attack in the event of a successful counterattack to the first part. This would be done in the form of an if/then statement. I’ll create a very simple example, minus the flair so that you can see exactly what I mean..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Person A
Person A threw a punch at the face of Person B. If Person B were to be hit with the attack, then Person A would attempt to kick Person B straight in the junk.
So now, if the punch doesn’t land, the kick never happens. This allows Person A more versatility, instead of locking them into a long attack which would leave them in a position from which they could easily be counterattacked by Person B.
NPC’s
NPC’s, or non-player characters, are characters which do not represent the player, but are nonetheless controlled by the player. If a player so chooses, they may bring NPC’s into the fight, but certain rules and restrictions apply.
A player may not spawn limitless hordes of NPC’s. Nor may the NPC’s actions be explicitly controlled by the player. A player may direct an NPC to attack, but must intentionally leave the attack ambiguous, describing only what kind of attack the NPC launches. For example, Player A could make NPC A throw a punch at Player B, but could not specify what kind of punch NPC A throws. Likewise, NPC A could be directed to shoot at Player B, but what body part NPC A tries to shoot at could not be specified.
This is done to allow players to easily dodge or counterattack NPC attacks. Without this measure in place, use of NPC’s could result in a severe unbalancing, making situations where a one on one could turn into a five on one with relative ease.
Additionally, while hits may not be forced on players, hits may be forced on NPC’s, but an NPC may not be killed without receiving permission from the player who controls it.
Forcing Hits
Forcing a hit is the act of writing out an attack and the impact. This is the cornerstone of the forums fighting system. A player may not force hits on anther player’s character under ANY circumstance. If Player A launches an attack, it is completely up to Player B if they take the hit. Essentially, the entire goal of forums fighting is to corner an opponent via writing into taking a hit that they can’t logically or realistically avoid. Yet again, the words “realistic” and “logic” come into play.
Do not take excessive measures to escape a hit or bail on the thread. Even if your character dies in the Arena, you can simply bring him back, so losing is not a big deal. There is a winner and a loser in every fight, and it is not necessary to pitch a fit if you lost fairly. It is better to lose gracefully than to cheat your way to victory, and there will be repercussions for people who can‘t handle losing every once in a while.
Fighting Dirty
There are ways to be underhanded without breaking the rules. Things such as traps and poison are perfectly fine to use, but a player must notify his opponent before the use of these items come into play, describing exactly what they are and exactly what they do. This can be done either IC or OOC.
Killing Characters and Character Death
You may not kill another player’s character without obtaining their permission first; no exceptions.
Even if your character is killed, however, you are free to use them again in another thread. This is because there is no continuity between threads in the arena, unlike in Persistent World. Therefore, if your character dies, he dies only in that thread. Furthermore, and for the same reason, a character can be in as many threads as the Player so chooses in the Arena.
Rules Created by Thread Leader
Rules set forth by any given thread’s creator can be stricter or looser than the rules listed here. So long as it’s mentioned in the first post of the thread plainly and clearly, any of the rules here may be added to, bent, or even broken. Just don’t expect anyone to join if you decide to make things too unfair.
Rise!
Now you’re ready to crush all who oppose you. Go, and rise to glory!
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