Post by Moss on Feb 11, 2013 23:12:06 GMT -5
Battling
Obviously fighting can be a very important part of the story here on AFP, and as such the rules surrounding fighting might seem a bit complicated. These rules are an attempt to keep things as fair, balanced, and realistic as possible so please stick with us. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!
The Basics
•The first point about spars are the defenses. Solid defenses (or lack thereof) can make or break a fight. The most important defenses are considered vital. They are protecting the throat, the eyes, the belly, and maintaining balance. These defenses are the ones that will get you docked points from a judge if they're left out, or leave a spar-ending opening for your opponent. There are various ways to protect them including lowering the head, opening the jaws, tucking the chin, squinting or closing the eyes, lowering the body, tucking the tail, spreading out the legs, gripping with the paws, and/or setting the weight back. The more minor defenses include flattening the ears to protect them, raising the hackles to intimidate and protect the skin of the neck, snarling to protect the face, and tucking the tail to keep it from harm.
•Defenses must be reset or mentioned in every post of the spar. While forgetting the minor defenses won't lose you any points, any defense not mentioned is assumed to be open. That being said, realism trumps simply listing out proper defenses. If your wolf sustained a leg injury, obviously their balance is going to be compromised. To reset their balance would be unrealistic, but to mention that they're unbalanced (and what they might do to correct this), is perfect.
•Realism is the most important thing to keep in mind when sparring. Take into account every factor you possibly can when making your posts, including your wolf's stats in comparison to your opponent's, the terrain, the weather, your wolf's experience, their recent injuries, prior training in both the elements and physical fights, etc. Take a look at the following links to learn a bit about wolf anatomy: Wolf General Anatomy, Wolf Musculature Anatomy, Wolf Skeletal Anatomy, Wolf Dental Anatomy. Using proper terminology (even if it's just in an OOC note) goes a long way to clearing up confusion.
•We do not have a set number of dodges or half-dodges or counterattacks or anything of the sort here. The only rule is to be as realistic as possible and do not go overboard on avoiding attacks.
Stats
•The specificity of your character's build isn't just for clarity's sake. It also has quite an important job to do in sparring: making your character's physical strengths and weaknesses obvious. Obviously with the range in heights and weights there will be some characters much taller than others, some much heavier. This is important to take into account when sparring. Generally lighter characters will be better built for maneuverability, speed, and agility. Generally heavier characters are built more for muscle power and endurance. Average characters are, naturally, right in the middle.
•Just as well, lighter wolves are more prone to bone injuries while heavier ones to muscle injuries. Remember to take this into account when estimating the damage your character is taking.
•Please note that just because your character is more stout doesn't mean they're any less susceptible to pain. Know, too, that a lighter character doesn't necessarily have any less jaw strength.
•In your spar posts you should list a set of stats pertaining to the spar. One of these is the spar goal. This, in essence, is the reason why the spar is happening. Likely reasons can include practice, dominance, death, rank challenge, stealing someone, force breeding, etc.
Challenging, Tracking, and Escaping
•Our challenge system is very open-ended. There is no one place where you must go to challenge another wolf to a fight, nor does that wolf even have to show up should you call for them. To make things more character-driven we have both a tracking and escape system in place for spars, as well as a fairly specific way of "locking" spars.
•While anyone is free to call a wolf to a fight in any place they deem appropriate, the one called is allowed to simply not show up. Be aware of your character's personality, though. A noble, warrior wolf is highly unlikely to simply leave a challenge unanswered. Rank challenges work similarly, save that it's generally considered the best form to personally find the wolf you're challenging or call at their packlands. Remember, though, if your ranked wolf doesn't answer the challenge they will probably be seen as cowardly by their peers or alpha and could be demoted.
•If there is an inactive alpha, the admin team will post and "Open to Challenge" notice in the appropriate packlands. Any wolf who wishes to take over the pack can then issue their challenge. This is the only time a wolf is required to appear for a challenge. If the original alpha doesn't heed the call, they default. If more than one wolf answers this challenge, they may fight among themselves for the pack.
•Because there is no requirement for a wolf to show up to a challenge, your character may go about tracking them down. If you've called a challenge and they haven't shown, you can't simply pop your wolf into one of their threads in order to carry it out. You must actively have your character hunt them down. At least three separate threads in three separate territories must be made, with the clear purpose of tracking the fleeing wolf, before the challenger can barge into a thread of theirs and attack. This can be done in a group, but any wolf who joins the final attack thread must have posted in all of the "tracking" threads.
•There are exceptions to this: If the wolf your character is looking for shows up in one of your threads or in the home territory of your wolf. This also doesn't apply if your wolf attacks mid-way through a thread they're already in with another wolf.
•However any wolf at any time during a spar has the ability to attempt to escape. Escapes are very similar spars themselves. Your wolf's stats will be posted and you will have three "moves" to attempt to escape. The attacker(s) must pursue and either stop or pin the fleeing wolf. At the end of the three moves (assuming the escaping wolf keeps trying to escape and the pursuing keeps trying to pursue) a judge will look over the stats and posts and determine if the fleeing wolf was able to get away. Again the idea is to be as realistic as possible.
•Defaulting is still a threat in escape attempts as well. The number of days to reply is reduced to three. Any pursuing wolf that defaults is considered to have stopped pursuing (and my not rejoin the chase) and any escaping wolf that defaults is considered caught.
•If a fleeing wolf is caught they may still try to fight against their pursuer(s). Should the wolf that originally fled (or was tracked) win, they are protected by divine intervention and allowed to flee the scene. This means that if the group that tracked the wolf still want to take them out, they must track them all over again.
•Locking the fight is a mechanism to keep them from getting too out of control. The first attacking wolf is the one allowed to "lock" the thread, while the first defending wolf is the one to set the limit on how many wolves can be in the fight. An example makes this more clear:
Wolf A attacks, his move 1, no one else can jump into the fight since the defender hasn't set a limit.
Wolf B defends/counterattacks, his move 1, notes OOCly what the limit is.
Wolf A defends/counterattacks, his move 2, the thread is locked. If no one has joined the fight by this point, they are no longer allowed to, even if the limit hasn't been reached on either side.
This setup gives a balance of power between the two and keeps everyone who might join the fight at move 1. It also requires them to decide between posting quickly to lock the fight or giving their allies a chance to get in on it.
•While groups are allowed to fight one another, there is a limit to three opponents on either side. This is simply to keep things as easy as possible for the judge(s) down the road and so things don't get out of hand. The exception to this is in the case of a war or raid, where any number of wolves may be in combat at once and locking the fight is not allowed.
Rulebreaking
•Godmodding, powerplaying, and metaplaying rules come into harsher effect here. If used and abused they can and will play a large role in losing. Here are some good basic rules to remember.
Godmodding: Always have your character take damage unless they've fully dodged an attack. Your character will get tired from fighting and use of elements.
Powerplaying: Never make an attack absolute, leave everything open-ended. Use words like tried, attempted, wanted, aimed to, etc.
Metaplaying: Your character more than likely doesn't know what attacks the other is planning. They may be taken by surprise or caught off guard. Unless they've been ICly taught about or encountered them, they don't know the effects of elemental moves their opponent might use. A beginner will be more likely to be taken by surprise or not know exactly what to do, and a wolf with many fights under their belt will be better at gauging another's intentions through their actions. But they are not mind-readers.
