Roleplay Fighting - An Overview Guide

Roleplay Guide to Fighting: Overview

This is going to be a bit more of an overview on fighting in roleplaying, rather than getting into the actual technical details of a fight. I can always do a follow-up blog with more information, or will happily discuss in a thread or PM with anyone interested in more information.

Here are some basic tips for better roleplay fighting:

BASICS

1. Be willing to lose. Be willing to take appropriate damage in a fight. There is nothing more annoying that someone who refuses to take a hit, dodges everything, is impervious to everything, or somehow otherwise manages to evade all the other players’ attacks. It’s not realistic to expect to win every engagement. This will get frustrating very quickly to anyone else writing, especially if your characters are not evenly matched. The outcome and consequences of the fight need to make sense within the context of character motivation, ability, skills, and circumstance.
   
   
2. Especially observe basic good roleplaying etiquette. Don’t take the fight personally. Communicate with the other writer(s) out-of-character to keep things moving smoothly. Stick to the plot outline you discussed originally. Pay attention to what’s happened in previous posts, acknowledge the progression of events in each of your posts, move the plot along some, and leave the next person something to respond to.
   
   
3. This may sound obvious, but READ fight scenes to get a feel for how they’re done. If your character wields swords, read about swordfights. If your character is a mage, then magical battles would be good reading. Research is your friend, use it wisely and it will serve you well.
   
   
4. Learn the basic fighting classes and figure out where your character fits into them. Many of these may not apply to you if your character does not operate in a fantasy setting, but the concept is still sound. In battle, there are positions and roles different fighters take. Know where your character belongs and what their role should be, especially in a group RP.
   
   Reference:
   http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasyCharacterClasses
   
   and
   
   http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/02/the-rpg-archetypes
   
   
5. Play video games. It may sound silly, but you can learn a lot about fighting dynamics and mechanics in a good video game. Whether that’s World of Warcraft, HALO, Skyrim, Call of Duty, Smite, Guild Wars 2, or some other MMORPG, it’s the next best thing to actually being able to DO the fights you’re thinking about writing. You can also learn about how to build a solid team for boss fights (where multiple players go up against a common enemy) and work that into your roleplays.
   
   
   PLOTTING
   
   
6. Determine how this fight is going to advance the plot of the story. Determine how your character’s actions in the fight are going to reveal his/her essential nature and goals. Make the fight unique.
   
   
7. Establish the level of consent required for the fight. Many people are very picky about ‘godmoding’ and will drop a roleplay if they feel the other players are controlling their character (powerplaying), making auto-hits, retconning, or meta-gaming. Know what these terms mean and how to avoid them.
   
   References:
   
   
   http://forumroleplay.com/roleplay-guides/bad-roleplay/
   
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