Now that we're getting into the fight proper, is there anything I should know? For example, if I were to try and swing at Favian, what is allowed and not allowed? Just for reference?
It's mainly just a matter of clearly writing out what your character is doing, and then backing it up with whatever logical points or rhetorical flourishes you'd like to add.
As far as what's allowed, you're limited by what we've already established: the setting and the capabilities/equipment of our respective characters. Everything is assumed to fall within standard laws of biology/physics/etc unless otherwise stated. To break it down:
- Firstly, stick to what your character could reasonably do based on the information submitted before the fight. In this case, Griffon is limited by what a human knight would be capable of: he can run and fight in full plate, and perform any reasonable motion you can think of, but he can't fly through the air or shoot lasers from his eyeballs. Any kind of power or magical ability like that has to be listed in a character sheet or specified prior to the fight, to ensure that players don't just make up new abilities on the spot. In this case, both of our characters are (I assume) unpowered humans, and thus won't be using any magic/cybernetics/whatever outside of the armor and equipment we listed for them.
- Things like techniques and skills are looser: if a character performs an action in a fight, then it's generally assumed that they know what they're doing. For instance, Griffon is a knight, so we can assume he knows how to move around quickly in plate armor and use common medieval weapons. Unless your character pulls out some really wacky out-of-context martial arts move (like if Griffon suddenly started using Chinese Kung-Fu) you don't have to justify them being able to pull it off.
- Actions should be written out clearly, and can't be retroactively altered unless in reaction to something else. For instance, if I had Favian cut at Griffon's body, and you had Griffon counter with a thrust, I can't then say "well
actually Favian never cut at all and did something else entirely." The wording of actions is very important, because you can't contradict your own words later on. The only exception to this is if your opponent interrupts your character mid-action, in which case you can respond to that interruption and change what your character is doing from that point forward.
- Contradicting the
other player in a fight is completely normal, and a prerequisite for victory in many cases. You just want to explain your reasoning when you do. If I write "Favian stepped forwards and punched Griffon dead in the face," you're entirely within your rights to reply with "well
actually Griffon saw the punch, ducked under it, and avoided the blow." It's generally considered polite to give the other player room to respond to actions in this way (e.g. writing "Favian swung his fist at Griffon's face" rather than just "Favian punched him in the face"). Same goes the other way around: if you had a character fire a gun at Favian, and I had him dodge the bullet mid-flight, then you could reasonably point out in your next post how that's humanly impossible and go on to describe the effects of the bullet hitting its target. There's no exact science here, and you kind of have to play it by ear: sometimes it's best to gently contradict someone in-character to keep the fight flowing, whereas other times you need to discuss a key point OOC to find a firm compromise.
There's more stuff I could dig into, but that about covers the basics and I'm getting sleepy now. If there's anything you want me to go into more detail on then let me know, otherwise I'll cover stuff as it comes up. If you end up making any obvious missteps then I'll just point them out here and give you a chance to fix.
