MelonHead

Arena Chat Thread

I was mostly trying to come up with a name for the type of sword seen in my character's image. I like the look of it, but the angle kinda makes it hard to tell what it is. I suppose it could be a katana, but I can't tell if it's curved, and a katana is probably too long for what I would need. In any case, her sword is too thin to be most kinds of European things, I think.

@Luminosity

Looks like some kind of straight Japanese sword tbh, as far as I know their sword designs are the only ones with that kind of thin sleek design that also completely disregard hand protection.

Arena Chat Thread

'"wear a lot of metal" or "carry a big freaking shield"' Actually, that's only really true for arrows and a couple of thrown projectiles. It's quite noticeable historically that after the popularisation of the greatest of all ranged weaponry, the firearm, shields and metal became nearly useless overnight. After that tactics and having a longer range weapon than your opponent became more important. Though I guess you could argue by the first world war and the birth of the tank things had swung back round in favour of wearing lots of metal.

Bucklers are parrying tools, and considering the character is a ninja-archetype (I'm guessing here, but throwing knives, very light armour and such tend to suggest this type of character) it would be a criminal waste of a free hand that can be lobbing knives and whatnot to waste it holding a buckler.

In a combat sense a helm would certainly be useful, but awfully conspicuous. They also tend to reduce visibility, make stealth near impossible and otherwise make for an ill-equipped scout or acrobat or particularly a spy.

You're right about the sword though, an old fashioned one handed blade of that kind would be more appropriate than a longsword, but the wakizashi-style blade Luminosity settled on is probably just as good if not better.

Interesting points regardless.

To clarify, I do believe the best option the character has in its current format to protect themselves from ranged attacks is to close effectively using cover and once at suitable range just start throwing knives willy-nilly to offset their opponents aim as they close to melee range.

Arena Chat Thread

<Snipped quote by ImportantNobody>

Hahaa, I and a few peeps would be able to understand him but translating it would be a pain. XD

Though I'm trying to push a story idea I'm considering reformatting and trying out in the arena with the talk about fighting. Not sure if it would work well or possible, namely as it requires a little of story as well as fighting so debating on how to do this actually in my mind.

@Fallenreaper

We're all (at least, most of us at any rate) are RPers first before combat RPers, I think we can handle a little story ;D

I've had a couple characters who were completely incoherent, and one who doesn't talk at all. Always good for leaving your opponent with a 'wtf' on their lips.

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

The issue is that the act of gluing itself to the top of the Mech would probably increase the amount of force its body did take ten fold. If it was not stuck to the top it would probably just have been shunted straight off the front of the Mech, and hurt its ass, however by resisting falling off the Mech its ass had to instead essentially take the 30 tonnes of the Mech's body slamming into the wall. It's hard to describe unfortunately, but I suppose you just have to imagine it like a giant block of wood with a smaller block of wood on top overhanging, it you threw the two blocks at a wall the upper piece would shoot the opposite direction upon hitting the wall, but if it were glued down it would take the full force of the bottom blocks weight and prevent it making contact with the wall until either it broke or the glue broke. I suppose in a sense Slimy did break, but not perhaps as much as would be necessary considering how fat Higan's mech is.

Still, some damage was taken and it -pretty- much makes sense, so no complaints. We'll see what happens next in the wonderful world of Mechs vs Alien vampires.

Arena Chat Thread

<Snipped quote by MelonHead>

Point I was making, in the arena you have the option of choosing your battles. Not an option really in story rp which I feel the point was discarded a bit, but meh, oh well.

@Fallenreaper

You can indeed choose your battles in an OOC sense, but often in an IC sense you cannot. If I was the sort to get into deadly confrontations all the time I certainly wouldn't want to be killed the moment I ran into someone with a ranged weapon, that is what I mean, sorry if I misunderstood your point though.

Black Mountain Tournament: Sigurd vs Gigue

Sigurd, bearing no knowledge of the Hyperarmour and its potential use in the river confrontation, had planned for his large enemy’s defence. It was not unreasonable to sacrifice ones arm to parry an otherwise lethal attack and although one would expect a rational and calm individual to throw their weaker arm, usually the left, into the path of the attack it was often the dominant arm that reacted in times of crisis. Sigurd had guessed all of this, and had stepped leftward appropriately, forcing his enemy to reach further and pressing his advantage on the man’s weaker side. The thump of his great weight slamming into the slightly treacherous ground beyond the stream was audible as he dropped to the ground. Unconsciously, as Sigurd’s battle trained eyes swept the scene he saw the glint of the axe-head poking out of the mud by the stream’s edge where it fell.

As the Northman had always intended, his hand was reaching for an axe as his enemy dropped to the ground and composed himself. Now he had relatively full mobility and could use it, making an axe throw more difficult for Sigurd. With that in mind, more elaborate methods were required to weaken his enemy further before attempting to slay him with a sword. He would come at him fast, using his weight and evident strength to close the distance to a grappling situation. Sigurd led with his shield and his left side, so the man’s first target would probably be the shield, perhaps grabbing it to wrest it from his grip, perhaps striking it to open the line to Sigurd’s body. Sigurd’s side step had the desired effect, gaining him additional time and space to prepare for the charge to come. His pale eyes narrowed. He was not to be disappointed.

The man leapt at him, closing the distance in a single great bound as his body movements revealed his left arm was indeed to be launched at Sigurd’s shield. Sigurd however had his own designs, a single step back on his right foot parallel to the stream and his left to follow, giving Gigue that extra distance to contend with. His hand would fly into open air as the shield jerked back, the edge facing Gigue and revealing in full the axe in Sigurd’s free hand, held aloft and ready to throw. Sigurd’s arm jerked forward violently, as if to launch the weapon full force directly into Gigue’s exposed left side as he stretched across Sigurd’s own body to strike at his shield. However, the act was one of subterfuge, with the axe in hand he had all the power so long as his enemy feared its bite. It was not a threat that could be ignored.

Arena Chat Thread

<Snipped quote by MelonHead>

Then I already, technically fucked up with Trixi and Iron as I don't think either actually have defenses for range weapons hun.

@Fallenreaper

Yep. If you fought someone like me with a more reserved wearing down play-style your characters would be lucky to reach five feet from my own if they disregarded range defence completely. There's a reason why projectiles rule battles.

Hell, you'd come unstuck the moment you ran into someone slightly faster than your character with a bag of rocks.

Arena Chat Thread

@MelonHead Thank you, and thanks for taking time to read/help me out.

3 turns sounds good on the stimulant. For the sword... would shortening it help? I hadn't considered the issue of having difficulty drawing it, since I don't think she'll have cause to put it away mid-fight once it's out. She'd use her free hand for her knives and stuff. I feel like she's kinda vulnerable to ranged stuff regardless of what weapon she uses, I figured that would be more of an armor thing. Could you elaborate? Thought about adding something for her to wear over her torso, but I'm not really familiar with what kind of armor would be able to stop or reduce damage from arrows or similar without slowing her down much.

Again though, thank you reading and giving me feedback, I appreciate it :)

@Luminosity

Shortening your sword would be the simplest solution, or lightening it. The longsword is predominantly a Knight's weapon, designed to be used with decent armour. I confess I use them quite often with shit armour, but I compensate with a shield and usually above average strength combatants. If you wanted a weapon of significant length that can still be realistically handled quickly, a rapier or smallsword or other renaissance dueling sword is the way forward. If you're going for the medieval feel a simple one handed sword would be fine, or even a short sword. Essentially, you want anything you can use in one hand so you're not stuck facing an opponent with both your hands occupying a sword and no protection from ranged threats.

You've obviously decided upon a lightweight combatant, so going for heavy armour is not the answer to your problems. Having a one handed weapon that you can use up-close while your free hand can be used to throw out distracting agents like throwing knives and the like should be perfectly suitable. You'll have to use cover effectively and approach sensibly, but you should still be a lot more flexible than if you were carrying a two handed sword.

The sheath thing is completely up to you, but I believe to draw a weapon that long off your back you'd either have to pull it half-way out and then remove it by the blade (cumbersome, if you're taken by surprise you're dead) or remove the sheath and draw it from it separately which is doable, but slow. Running around with a sword out isn't very convenient for acrobatics or anything agile people like to do, so a quick draw system from the hip or lower back is usually preferable. I think ninjas used some sort of back sheath that swung round over their shoulder and allowed them to draw a blade, but they used shorter swords than longswords.

However, in terms of armour there are pretty simple gambesons and the like that can stop some arrows, and certainly things like thrown knives.

Arena Chat Thread

<Snipped quote by Luminosity>

Careful you don't get stuck in that age old trap of trying to cover too much, not everything should or have to be accounted for in the arena. Namely as you can chose your opponent and determine if they are good fit with their equipment, items and other aspects before you take them on. After all, most arena battles are about the fun rather than winning or being able to take on anything. Many people forget this in the end when it comes to the competition aspect since none of the fight results are plotting out and no one wants their PC to die/lose miserably.

@Fallenreaper

Actually, the last thing anyone has ever done in the entire of history is completely disregard ranged weaponry, you can choose to if you want to die a terrible death, but having a contingency for a ranged weapon is perfectly reasonable. You're right in that having a way of fighting absolutely everything would be unrealistic and fighting through difficult situations is a fun learning experience, but you're already going to be facing tonnes of different types of weapons with different reach, armour piercing, ease of use, perhaps even types of magic. The last thing you want to do is come undone the moment you fight a ranged opponent.

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

If he wins he'll take Slimy's head and mount it on his mantle piece, though the A.S.P would look rather dashing in a Slimy hat.

For all intents and purposes Higan's mech is doing a sort of reverse head-butt into the wall, as he literally threw it backwards into it. I don't know how much force would be required to break the adhesion of your character's mucous, but I believe the force exacted by the Mech's 30 tonnes slamming into the wall at about 20mph (let's say, to be conservative?) would probably be sufficient -if- Slimy's lower body isn't clinging to the Mech, as at least one of its arms aren't in position to.

My most recent post also doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because I either mis-read or it wasn't clear that Slimy was dangling over the front of the Mech, which would mean the moment Higan's chain-gun started firing it would be in the firing line even before he lifted it to scour the top of his mech. Though he couldn't know that, and neither did I apparently, so I guess that's a fortunate factor in the long run.

Regardless, there's not much more I can say about the situation, it wasn't particularly clear what was going on and I'm not entirely sure the physics of the actions hold out, but if none of your character's body is behind the Mech then I suppose the pinning move won't do much, though it's still in Higan's interests to close off his character's rear for his next move, and potentially the tail might get caught from what I read.

Anyway, I guess you might as well post, take whatever is relevant from my post and apply it to what's happening, I'm not going to complain if the Pater's body isn't trapped at any rate.