Arena- The Red Cliffs (Shore)



An arid expanse of firm, gritty sand lying below the heights of a sandstone cliff range. The sea is a football field's width from the base of the cliffs, allowing room to spare for combat.

Battle Theme-

@KOgaming

Want to make the first post? Max could be going for a walk and Zande pops out demanding his possessions. Ta-da, instant scrap.

What the hell is this Skyrim shit? A zweihander is an evolution of the longsword that happens to be really long.

You never elaborated your knife in your character sheet, but I guess you can use it as described.

@Doc Doctor

How's the knife work? What's it made of? How long exactly is it? How good is it at cutting through cloth? How good is it at cutting through armor?

@KOgaming

I specified the length. It can cut through cloth and leather like potty paper, but can't be shoved through plate armor in all practicality. It can pierce chain with a solid thrust. Basically, a sturdy weapon that is best inserted through joints and gaps.

Just kinda nitpicky here. If it's supposed to be a stabby weapon and not a cutty weapon, how come it's got a serrated edge?

@Doc Doctor

But also yeah. What the hell is your dude trying to do? Where is he cutting or trying to do otherwise? Is he even attacking, or just closing the distance?

Zande's closing distance, i'd say. That's what's written in the post, and that's what would be contextually sound.

@KOgaming

Because even a stabby weapon can skin a man or cut a throat if it has a serrated edge.

And unless the post mentions Zande attacking, it's safe to assume that he's not.

Where'd the spray of blood come from? The dude bit himself? What artery in the mouth did he bite? Why do you think cutting yourself anywhere in the head would be a good idea in a fight? Like, have you ever cut yourself in the face shaving? That shit doesn't stop bleeding. How much blood is he losing? IIRC, you can lose 30% of your blood before fainting. An adult male has like 3 liters and most of it is in the spleen.

@Doc Doctor

Again. Please clarify what your character is doing. Also, what position is he in?

I should have added this stipulation at the beginning, but could you stick to third person past tense? It'd make the thread feel more consistent.

@KOgaming

Zande had rushed in and spat blood at Max's eyes as Max launched his punch, so that Max would be too distracted to notice his punching arm getting stabbed. In your post Max reacted to the blood in time and pulled his punch, and so Zande in turn aimed not for the arm but the exposed armpit, left vulnerable because Max would be shielding his eyes with his right arm up. After that Zande intends to grapple Max to the ground with a single leg takedown, desiring to try and achieve full mount.

It's like this picture, but Zande's right arm is reaching up because the knife held in his hand, ideally, would be buried in Max's right armpit.


I'm afraid I need to stick to my tried and true writing style. I see these fights as stories to be written, and I write them out in such a way as pleases my fancy. Otherwise I have difficulty visualising what my character is doing. That's just how I function! If you find what I've written confusing, feel free to ask for more detail.

@Doc Doctor

If you mean my persistant use of the word "would" in my posts, that's actually a very common fight writing technique used to prevent autoing and overextending. For example, if I state *Zande swung his axe", that's assuming the enemy allowed Zande to swing the axe in the first place, and if they had preemptively planned to interrupt my action, I'd have wound up restricting my character's potential responses in addition to having autoed.

As such, I write it out as *Zande would swing his axe*, as that's what my character would do if circumstances permitted it. I take very little for granted (I'm very used to having my actions countered and whatnot) so I use that technique a lot, especially in situations where a little mistake can make a bit difference. Besides, how else would I create setups? Take my first post, for example.

If Max humoured the black guy and got to within ten yards of the rock, Zande would leap out and wave his arms in a menacing fashion.

If I'm describing cause and effect scenarios, I need to use future tense. It's the best way to get things to work out in the way you visualize them, in a world where every certain move may score you a crushed skull.

@KOgaming
Hey, I made a mistake. I thought your elbow was a punch the entire time! Just assume the initial stab attempt was aimed for the armpit, not the crook of the arm and Zande would have ducked for a takedown regardless, so nothing changes, as all of the following would have occurred anyways. Sorry if I confused you about that! You probably thought I was a silly goose, calling an elbow a punch.

On a side note, I noticed that you're giving the "would" style a try. It feels clunky and strange the first few times, I know. It's not a rule that you have to apply it, but some players just find it convenient to apply "would" in freestyle fights, where the future is almost always uncertain. I wouldn't use the word "will", though, unless it's in conversation.

Also, I don't want to seem presumptuous or overbearing, but don't reveal many of your possible responses if you want to catch someone off guard. You describing the possible ways Max could stifle Zande's offence tells me that you're trying to funnel me into a situation that's comfortable for you by giving me reasons to not take various courses of action. I could in turn take said courses of action and then, because you told me what your character would do in advance, turn the tables on you because I know what you can and can't physically do in those situations, which you've given me my pick of the litter to choose from. The punch that scores the knockout is always the one the other guy doesn't see coming. Keep your aces hidden and have a flexible backup plan for every attack you launch, like a cartoon mallet with a spring loaded boxing glove. Any attack that doesn't have a trap or ulterior motive hidden behind it is what we call an "empty move". Try to plan out moves that are "spring loaded".

Sorry if my advice isn't needed, for all I know you may already have figured all of that out and I'm only coming off as an annoying mom!

So again, what the fuck is happening?

Your character wants this, right?;



My character is turning that into this;



Frankensteiner to piledriver.