[quote=@Aristo]
So yeah - I'm curious as to how you enforce what flies in terms of hits and so forth. 
Ex. Player A does some 'jumping downward slash' while Player B's back is slightly turned - who's to say Player B can't 'sense the attack coming and roll into a counter jab' ?[/quote]

There must be a logically sound justification to every move you make, so you can't do that just out of the blue. The only way Player B can say they 'sense' the attack without having supernatural senses as an ability in their character sheet is if there was a precedent for that set in the previous posts - say, for example, Player B had their back turned because they were in fact baiting the attack and closely listening to their opponent's approach.

[quote=@Aristo]
How do you stop battles from becoming metagame BS fests? If players interpret the angles or arcs of hits differently in their mental pictures, how do you know what gets through?
[/quote]

You have to make sure there is no room for misinterpretation. But if such occurs, you can discuss it in the OOC. Can't say i haven't seen it happen - i certainly have - but this isn't too prevalent of a problem, especially since it can always be ironed out without much trouble.

Draw a stick figure picture if things get too tough - should last you for a while. :P

[quote=@Aristo]
And then you potentially have it [i]worse[/i] when you factor magic and technobabble into the equation. "Oh no, that magic breath attack has no effect on my shield made of laminated windonium." Or, "I don't care what your backstory is, my char's will is stronger than ten thousand gigawatts, and no blade can pierce it!"  
[/quote]

That is why character sheets in the arena are always expected to have a detailed description of how exactly an ability functions and what results its use is expected to have. 

If windonium is said to withstand the temperature of molten iron for a couple seconds - which would be at around 1600 Celcius - and the magic breath attack is a brief burst of 2000 degree fire, then the windonium shield is expected to work, but be heavily damaged in process. That's more or less how we deal with problem around here.

Backstory is not a relevant source for anything but a characters personal knowledge. If they've never seen a gun before and don't know how to fight against one, that's information related to their backstory. If they're a combat mage and they know what a fireball is, then that's backstory related info too.


Certainly, arguments are unavoidable in the long run, and sometimes, they are only resolved through the help of a third party's judgement - but they're not bound to pop up with every post you make, even in the most competitive of environments. And in the end, if you want to become the best of the best, just keep that all in mind and find strategies that work no matter what complications arise. 

There's no such thing as perfect, and for how vast the possibilities are in roleplay combat, there is a certain price to be paid. As PvP oriented videogames must have constant patches and updates to not spiral out of control, we, also need to resort to OOC talk from time to time. So yeah, the most important rule of them all, i'd say, is to respect your opponent.