[MUD-Dev] Mud Games

[Matt Chatterley]

On Mon, 8 Sep 1997, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:

> On Mon, 8 Sep 1997 08:05:15 PST8PDT, Matt Chatterley
> <root at mpc.dyn.ml.org> wrote:
> 
> >> Can you unhorse someone?  If so, you've got the meat of it.
> >
> >Thats the ticket. Being hit hard, or being hit in the horse can throw you
> >off.
> 
> It is worth noting that hitting the opponent's horse with your lance
> during a joust is quite simply not done. If it happens, even by
> *mistake*, the person who hit the horse is the loser by default and
> quite heavily dishonored by the deed; in addition, it was not uncommon
> for his horse to be awarded to the opponent. He may further find himself
> barred from future events, snubbed by the populace for quite some time,
> and in some cases waylaid after the joust. Lancing the horse is just
> plain evil, and completely against the rules. Social stigma around this
> was pretty extreme.

Absolutely. While the concept of chivalry and honour may be somewhat of a
falsehood, public perceptions of it (as a facade) could be rather
important (this adds some very interesting social elements, too).

Of course, this means you'll want to be really good with that lance, so as
not to make an unfortunate mistake..
 
> This assumes a formal joust. In actual combat, killing or hobbling the
> mount is the grim and efficient method of unhorsing your opponent. It is
> still, however, met with some distaste by most.

Well.. to a degree. In personal combat outside of competitions and other
public events, personal philosophy can become more important.

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"In space, you never know when to expect danger.. except when an
Enterprise away team beams down on a routine mission." -Greg Proops