M.J. Saulnier
Semi-Retired User
My specialty as a writer has always been combat. I used to instruct it, started my own combat group, and I developed my own custom rules for competitive combat based on the Tiered system.
This is a guide to the basics of combat writing for beginners, and those who don’t place a focus on it when role playing. Some things we hear a lot in role playing are complaints about combat situations. I’m here to help you improve your combat know-how to avoid feeling victimized when you lose a fight in convincing fashion. The common reasons for losing fights may surprise you.
I will start off slow, stating the obvious, but I will get into some of the specifics. I promise.
First of all I want to clarify that there are two types of combat. Competitive (often found in 1x1 RPs), and Story Line (a fight that pops up in the middle of a story-driven RP). This guide is mainly for story line combat.
Know your character and their personal limits. One of the main issues in combat writing is escalation. No one really wants to lose. We have this natural tendency to get attached to our characters. We love them, respect them, and generally speaking, think they should win. It’s not easy to carry yourself in a certain way, and then be defeated in front of the entire role play. It’s a humbling experience to be defeated, and it can leave a sour taste in your mouth. So players tend to keep evolving the limits of their character’s combat prowess over the course of a single fight. This often contradicts established facts provided by character sheets. People will invent new abilities to adapt, and demonstrate skills that weren’t mentioned in their sheet.
It’s important that you flesh out your character’s skills, abilities, and limitations, and pick your battles accordingly. But even more important, is that you understand that you won’t win every fight. Sometimes when people end a fight too decisively, we can feel like we were railroaded or victimized by god modding. It’s paramount that we understand that a martial artist, for example, will end most fights quickly. Someone with proper defensive training would logically block, dodge, or counter most attacks from an individual with less intensive training. Sometimes we have to consider the other character, and whether or not our actions actually discredit them, or diminish the logic of their build.
Separating yourself from your character within the narrative can be very difficult. We tend to take everything that happens to our character personally, as if our IC actions are extensions of our feelings toward each other. This is simply not true, and we should all try to break this subconscious practice.
This is the most important advice I can give you in this section. Do everything in your power not to create characters who are supposed to be the strongest in the role play. This is the biggest mistake people make in terms of combat. They subconsciously (or consciously) create padded characters who are designed to maximize their combat skills, covering as many bases as they can without coming off as OP. If you aren’t the best combat writer in the group, it won’t matter. How you use your skills and abilities in combat is what wins fights, not the possession of those skills and abilities. Combat is a fluid animal. If you make mistakes (often writers have no idea what their mistakes were), experienced combat writers will use them to defeat you, and it will feel like god modding. I will get into what those common mistakes are later.
You won’t win every fight. Accept that here and now and you won’t have as much trouble.
It is equally as important to know the limitations of your opponent. Sometimes you won’t be able to avoid a fight, and you’ll have to accept defeat if you can’t win on paper. Some fights will be a slam dunk on paper, whilst others will be evenly matched. It’s important to know the characters, instead of just trying to win because you want to.
If you are playing a character with limited or no combat skills in a mundane role play scenario and you are provoked into a fight you can’t avoid, it’s important to just accept that it’s part of the story now. I know that sounds lame, but it’s a reality of role play. I can’t stress enough how valuable of a tool defeat can be for a character. It doesn’t make you look weak, or pathetic, at least not to a mature player or reader. Defeat makes us feel a little sad for you, and pulls an audience behind that character as the underdog. We want you to overcome and shine by the end of the story. We want you to find your redemption, even if that means you don’t rematch the person who defeated you. It’s not always about fighting. I wanted to remind everyone that defeat isn’t a negative.
Communication is key. Sometimes you won’t have an open line of OOC dialogue with your opponent, but I recommend you try every time. Discuss what’s going to happen and work out a scenario and outcome that makes you both happy. Mature, experienced combat writers will have no problem losing to a good character and opponent. It’s also important to remember that every fight doesn’t have to end with a decided victor. Communication is key here.
It’s always better to work out a fight with the other party, instead of letting things escalate into a real world contest. This is when writers get desperate and personal, and everything takes a sharp left into God Mod Town. Avoid this by opening a line of communication and agreeing on how things will unfold. Sometimes you’ll encounter opponents you’re familiar and comfortable with, and you can wing the fight, but in the average situation, please start a conversation. Your combat experience will change dramatically if you do.
This is the most important part of combat writing, and the most common mistakes players make. It’s usually the reason you get railroaded and feel god modded in fights. We have to remember that a fight is essentially a contest. Both sides are looking to win, and if you make a mistake, it’s usually going to be capitalized on by an opponent who recognizes it. It’s not personal, it’s a fight.
Sometimes people just take things too far, in too dramatic of a fashion. God modding is a very real thing, but it can also be perceived rather than reality. God Modding is defined primarily by a player taking liberties with your character. For example, landing a punch and describing your teeth being knocked loose as you fall to the floor, unconscious. You’ve just been railroaded, and it sucks. That noise just wasn’t fair, or in good practice.
Now consider another situation. You have just squared off with an opponent. The flow of the post order places your action first, so you get to open the fight. You decide to charge in, throwing a labored, arcing right haymaker. Your opponent responds by blocking your right with described ease, throwing a linear, open palm strike toward your throat.
What went wrong? Is this person god modding on me right now? Why so dismissive of MY efforts?
They are not god modding at all, they are just a bit more skilled at combat than you, and they aren't letting you get away with blatant flaws in your strategy and form. I will get into exactly why later. An experienced player will understand the match up and at least try to entertain you. Nothing is more annoying to us than glaring holes in your form, though. It’s hard to resist, and often we’re just trying to help you learn and grow, not humiliate you.
Awareness is everything in combat writing. Every detail you include, or leave out, is a potential hole for your opponent to exploit. Your character may be written as a martial arts master, but if you can’t write one, you will lose fights.
So how can I improve my level of awareness? Details. Combat RP is a contest of detail. Every detail you commit to, is in essence controlling the flow of the fight. Too often people focus on basic attack and defend methodology, and it’s generally why you feel victimized. You’re not using all of the tools in your kit.
So you threw a punch. What kind of punch? Hook? Cross? Jab? High, low? Fast, labored (we all get gassed, eventually)? Closed fist? Open palm? A punch can come in many different shapes and sizes. These details are what establish known facts, and prevent your opponent from capitalizing on your actions, resulting in what feels like railroading. We have to remember that for serious or experienced combat writers, this is very much a sport, and you have equal opportunity to control the fight.
And it goes both ways. Always be aware of what your opponent is doing, and how they are doing it.
Physics will vary depending on the role play and genre, so I’m not going to get into that. It’s important to adhere to the established physics of the setting. If you’re doing an anime style RP, running along walls might be a viable option. But if you’re doing a slice of life RP, you might want to keep things a little more grounded.
Remember when I gave you a scenario where you might feel victimized?
You have just squared off with an opponent. The flow of the post order places your action first, so you get to open the fight. You decide to charge in, throwing a labored, arcing right haymaker. Your opponent responds by blocking your right with described ease, throwing a linear, open palm strike toward your throat.
What went wrong? Is this person god modding on me right now? Why so dismissive of MY efforts?
This is not god modding, it’s an issue of technique. You threw a sloppy strike that is objectively easy to block, avoid and counter. So what is the skinny on technique? It’s surprisingly simple once you get into it. The main thing to remember is Linear vs Arcing.
Much like a real fight, strategy is everything. Pick your actions wisely, and thoroughly think them through, making sure to include all of the necessary description needed.
Sweep the Leg
Footing is almost always an opening, particularly if your opponent has done nothing to describe theirs. It’s a great way to keep your opponent off balance and control the pace of a fight.
Given what we’ve gone over about awareness and vulnerabilities in posting, sometimes your best offense to wait for a good opening. You need to be wary about just defending everything, though. This is a big problem in combat writing, and it can irritate your opponent on a real world level, and be misconstrued as disrespectful conduct. I will touch on responsibility and “bouncing” in the last section.
One scenario where this philosophy can come in very handy is when you are outmatched, and being bombarded by a bigger, stronger, or more skilled fighter. In this circumstance, it is more acceptable to repeatedly bock, or evade everything thrown at you.
Defense is a tricky creature. You are allowed to block or evade any attack in most combat rule systems. It is easy to tick people off by being unrealistically defensive. Catching people’s punches, side stepping everything at close range, etc. Sometimes you have to sell the situation, even if you’re still avoiding contact. Everything in a fight doesn’t happen smoothly like in the kung fu movies. Combat is a messy art form. The longer a fight goes on, the more exhausted everyone gets.
You can use the setting for defense, your footwork, and even minor attacks such as Sweeping ze Leg. People hate it, but it’s fair play.
Technique is a pretty fluid animal. Every character will have their own fighting style, and every writer will have their own specialties and style.
It’s important that we all be responsible when writing combat with each other. It’s easy to try to dominate everyone you encounter, because you created a character who is built for combat, and you feel as though no one can defeat them. But even when you’re playing a badass, it’s important to respect your opponent and sell their actions from time to time, at the very least.
Selling is when you enrich your opponents actions through the effects on, and reactions from your own character.
For example, I’ve thrown a spinning heel kick (a bold move), and you’ve raised your elbow, tucking your hand behind your ear. This is a technique for blocking high kicks because your arm absorbs the majority of the impact. You then counter by throwing a low kick to the back of my supporting leg (the one I’m using to stand on. I’m leaving left and right out to avoid confusion). Instead of hitting the ground and popping back up like Bruce Lee, I describe the back of my head smacking the ground, giving my character pause before they return to their feet.
That’s doing you a solid by selling up the effects of your attack.
This is also part of what we call bouncing. It’s important to throw the pace of the fight and “damage score” back and forth when you’re in a good, well matched fight. Bouncing is really obvious, even to beginners, but some people still don’t do it.
When we bounce back and forth, it creates a better, more entertaining fight, and it becomes more of a character interaction than a sport. I personally like sport fighting, but not every RP facilitates that level of direct intensity. For most group RPs you’ll want to practice bouncing when fighting other characters.
Responsibility is key to being a mature, respected combat writer. No one likes an IC bully who thinks they can win every fight and railroads to get it done. So when you encounter these types, don’t be afraid to match their level of intensity. Just be sure you don’t compromise the integrity of your character by ratcheting them (inventing new abilities and limitations to adapt). When you become an experienced combat writer, you won’t need extra tricks to slap god modders around at their own game.
It might seem like bad practice, but when someone begins to escalate on you, they’ve literally brought it there. They’ve let you know that that level of intensity is fair game. When set upon by a god modder, don’t be a victim, be a victor.
Thank you for sitting through my thread, to those who did. I’m not the best at organizing these sorts of things.
This is a guide to the basics of combat writing for beginners, and those who don’t place a focus on it when role playing. Some things we hear a lot in role playing are complaints about combat situations. I’m here to help you improve your combat know-how to avoid feeling victimized when you lose a fight in convincing fashion. The common reasons for losing fights may surprise you.
I will start off slow, stating the obvious, but I will get into some of the specifics. I promise.
First of all I want to clarify that there are two types of combat. Competitive (often found in 1x1 RPs), and Story Line (a fight that pops up in the middle of a story-driven RP). This guide is mainly for story line combat.
Know Thyself
Know your character and their personal limits. One of the main issues in combat writing is escalation. No one really wants to lose. We have this natural tendency to get attached to our characters. We love them, respect them, and generally speaking, think they should win. It’s not easy to carry yourself in a certain way, and then be defeated in front of the entire role play. It’s a humbling experience to be defeated, and it can leave a sour taste in your mouth. So players tend to keep evolving the limits of their character’s combat prowess over the course of a single fight. This often contradicts established facts provided by character sheets. People will invent new abilities to adapt, and demonstrate skills that weren’t mentioned in their sheet.
It’s important that you flesh out your character’s skills, abilities, and limitations, and pick your battles accordingly. But even more important, is that you understand that you won’t win every fight. Sometimes when people end a fight too decisively, we can feel like we were railroaded or victimized by god modding. It’s paramount that we understand that a martial artist, for example, will end most fights quickly. Someone with proper defensive training would logically block, dodge, or counter most attacks from an individual with less intensive training. Sometimes we have to consider the other character, and whether or not our actions actually discredit them, or diminish the logic of their build.
Separating yourself from your character within the narrative can be very difficult. We tend to take everything that happens to our character personally, as if our IC actions are extensions of our feelings toward each other. This is simply not true, and we should all try to break this subconscious practice.
This is the most important advice I can give you in this section. Do everything in your power not to create characters who are supposed to be the strongest in the role play. This is the biggest mistake people make in terms of combat. They subconsciously (or consciously) create padded characters who are designed to maximize their combat skills, covering as many bases as they can without coming off as OP. If you aren’t the best combat writer in the group, it won’t matter. How you use your skills and abilities in combat is what wins fights, not the possession of those skills and abilities. Combat is a fluid animal. If you make mistakes (often writers have no idea what their mistakes were), experienced combat writers will use them to defeat you, and it will feel like god modding. I will get into what those common mistakes are later.
Know Thy Enemy
You won’t win every fight. Accept that here and now and you won’t have as much trouble.
It is equally as important to know the limitations of your opponent. Sometimes you won’t be able to avoid a fight, and you’ll have to accept defeat if you can’t win on paper. Some fights will be a slam dunk on paper, whilst others will be evenly matched. It’s important to know the characters, instead of just trying to win because you want to.
If you are playing a character with limited or no combat skills in a mundane role play scenario and you are provoked into a fight you can’t avoid, it’s important to just accept that it’s part of the story now. I know that sounds lame, but it’s a reality of role play. I can’t stress enough how valuable of a tool defeat can be for a character. It doesn’t make you look weak, or pathetic, at least not to a mature player or reader. Defeat makes us feel a little sad for you, and pulls an audience behind that character as the underdog. We want you to overcome and shine by the end of the story. We want you to find your redemption, even if that means you don’t rematch the person who defeated you. It’s not always about fighting. I wanted to remind everyone that defeat isn’t a negative.
Communication
Communication is key. Sometimes you won’t have an open line of OOC dialogue with your opponent, but I recommend you try every time. Discuss what’s going to happen and work out a scenario and outcome that makes you both happy. Mature, experienced combat writers will have no problem losing to a good character and opponent. It’s also important to remember that every fight doesn’t have to end with a decided victor. Communication is key here.
It’s always better to work out a fight with the other party, instead of letting things escalate into a real world contest. This is when writers get desperate and personal, and everything takes a sharp left into God Mod Town. Avoid this by opening a line of communication and agreeing on how things will unfold. Sometimes you’ll encounter opponents you’re familiar and comfortable with, and you can wing the fight, but in the average situation, please start a conversation. Your combat experience will change dramatically if you do.
Awareness
This is the most important part of combat writing, and the most common mistakes players make. It’s usually the reason you get railroaded and feel god modded in fights. We have to remember that a fight is essentially a contest. Both sides are looking to win, and if you make a mistake, it’s usually going to be capitalized on by an opponent who recognizes it. It’s not personal, it’s a fight.
Sometimes people just take things too far, in too dramatic of a fashion. God modding is a very real thing, but it can also be perceived rather than reality. God Modding is defined primarily by a player taking liberties with your character. For example, landing a punch and describing your teeth being knocked loose as you fall to the floor, unconscious. You’ve just been railroaded, and it sucks. That noise just wasn’t fair, or in good practice.
Now consider another situation. You have just squared off with an opponent. The flow of the post order places your action first, so you get to open the fight. You decide to charge in, throwing a labored, arcing right haymaker. Your opponent responds by blocking your right with described ease, throwing a linear, open palm strike toward your throat.
What went wrong? Is this person god modding on me right now? Why so dismissive of MY efforts?
They are not god modding at all, they are just a bit more skilled at combat than you, and they aren't letting you get away with blatant flaws in your strategy and form. I will get into exactly why later. An experienced player will understand the match up and at least try to entertain you. Nothing is more annoying to us than glaring holes in your form, though. It’s hard to resist, and often we’re just trying to help you learn and grow, not humiliate you.
Awareness is everything in combat writing. Every detail you include, or leave out, is a potential hole for your opponent to exploit. Your character may be written as a martial arts master, but if you can’t write one, you will lose fights.
So how can I improve my level of awareness? Details. Combat RP is a contest of detail. Every detail you commit to, is in essence controlling the flow of the fight. Too often people focus on basic attack and defend methodology, and it’s generally why you feel victimized. You’re not using all of the tools in your kit.
- Always be aware of the setting as it has been established prior to the fight, and your exact positions within that setting. (Modifying the setting mid-fight is poor etiquette)
- Be sure you routinely reinforce the position within the setting.
- Always describe your stance and footing/footwork. This is paramount.
- Always use exact detail when describing your actions.
So you threw a punch. What kind of punch? Hook? Cross? Jab? High, low? Fast, labored (we all get gassed, eventually)? Closed fist? Open palm? A punch can come in many different shapes and sizes. These details are what establish known facts, and prevent your opponent from capitalizing on your actions, resulting in what feels like railroading. We have to remember that for serious or experienced combat writers, this is very much a sport, and you have equal opportunity to control the fight.
And it goes both ways. Always be aware of what your opponent is doing, and how they are doing it.
Technique
Physics will vary depending on the role play and genre, so I’m not going to get into that. It’s important to adhere to the established physics of the setting. If you’re doing an anime style RP, running along walls might be a viable option. But if you’re doing a slice of life RP, you might want to keep things a little more grounded.
Remember when I gave you a scenario where you might feel victimized?
You have just squared off with an opponent. The flow of the post order places your action first, so you get to open the fight. You decide to charge in, throwing a labored, arcing right haymaker. Your opponent responds by blocking your right with described ease, throwing a linear, open palm strike toward your throat.
What went wrong? Is this person god modding on me right now? Why so dismissive of MY efforts?
This is not god modding, it’s an issue of technique. You threw a sloppy strike that is objectively easy to block, avoid and counter. So what is the skinny on technique? It’s surprisingly simple once you get into it. The main thing to remember is Linear vs Arcing.
- Linear strikes are attacks that are thrown straight toward the opponent in forward fashion. They are usually quicker than other forms of attacks, and make for the best leads when launching your offense and setting up combos.
- Arcing strikes are attacks that swing wide toward the opponent from the outside. They are usually telegraphed to some extent, and are easily avoided or blocked. They make good follow-up strikes after landing a good lead, as they can often contain more torque and therefore power.
Much like a real fight, strategy is everything. Pick your actions wisely, and thoroughly think them through, making sure to include all of the necessary description needed.
Sweep the Leg
Footing is almost always an opening, particularly if your opponent has done nothing to describe theirs. It’s a great way to keep your opponent off balance and control the pace of a fight.
The Best Offense is A Good Defense
Given what we’ve gone over about awareness and vulnerabilities in posting, sometimes your best offense to wait for a good opening. You need to be wary about just defending everything, though. This is a big problem in combat writing, and it can irritate your opponent on a real world level, and be misconstrued as disrespectful conduct. I will touch on responsibility and “bouncing” in the last section.
One scenario where this philosophy can come in very handy is when you are outmatched, and being bombarded by a bigger, stronger, or more skilled fighter. In this circumstance, it is more acceptable to repeatedly bock, or evade everything thrown at you.
Wax On, Wax Off
Defense is a tricky creature. You are allowed to block or evade any attack in most combat rule systems. It is easy to tick people off by being unrealistically defensive. Catching people’s punches, side stepping everything at close range, etc. Sometimes you have to sell the situation, even if you’re still avoiding contact. Everything in a fight doesn’t happen smoothly like in the kung fu movies. Combat is a messy art form. The longer a fight goes on, the more exhausted everyone gets.
You can use the setting for defense, your footwork, and even minor attacks such as Sweeping ze Leg. People hate it, but it’s fair play.
Technique is a pretty fluid animal. Every character will have their own fighting style, and every writer will have their own specialties and style.
Responsibility
It’s important that we all be responsible when writing combat with each other. It’s easy to try to dominate everyone you encounter, because you created a character who is built for combat, and you feel as though no one can defeat them. But even when you’re playing a badass, it’s important to respect your opponent and sell their actions from time to time, at the very least.
Selling is when you enrich your opponents actions through the effects on, and reactions from your own character.
For example, I’ve thrown a spinning heel kick (a bold move), and you’ve raised your elbow, tucking your hand behind your ear. This is a technique for blocking high kicks because your arm absorbs the majority of the impact. You then counter by throwing a low kick to the back of my supporting leg (the one I’m using to stand on. I’m leaving left and right out to avoid confusion). Instead of hitting the ground and popping back up like Bruce Lee, I describe the back of my head smacking the ground, giving my character pause before they return to their feet.
That’s doing you a solid by selling up the effects of your attack.
This is also part of what we call bouncing. It’s important to throw the pace of the fight and “damage score” back and forth when you’re in a good, well matched fight. Bouncing is really obvious, even to beginners, but some people still don’t do it.
When we bounce back and forth, it creates a better, more entertaining fight, and it becomes more of a character interaction than a sport. I personally like sport fighting, but not every RP facilitates that level of direct intensity. For most group RPs you’ll want to practice bouncing when fighting other characters.
Responsibility is key to being a mature, respected combat writer. No one likes an IC bully who thinks they can win every fight and railroads to get it done. So when you encounter these types, don’t be afraid to match their level of intensity. Just be sure you don’t compromise the integrity of your character by ratcheting them (inventing new abilities and limitations to adapt). When you become an experienced combat writer, you won’t need extra tricks to slap god modders around at their own game.
It might seem like bad practice, but when someone begins to escalate on you, they’ve literally brought it there. They’ve let you know that that level of intensity is fair game. When set upon by a god modder, don’t be a victim, be a victor.
Thank you for sitting through my thread, to those who did. I’m not the best at organizing these sorts of things.
Last edited:
