[MUD-Dev] About Fencing (was: mass customisation)

[shren]

On Fri, 19 Jul 2002, Marian Griffith wrote:
> On Wed 17 Jul, Travis Casey wrote:
>> Tuesday, July 16, 2002, 7:45:22 AM, Marian Griffith wrote:
 
>>> No, the solution would not be to make it less significant, but
>>> to give the players more control. I.e. it would not be easy if
>>> at all possible, to get blown out of the sky withing seconds.
>>> By focussing less on attrition of hitpoints, and more on skill
>>> and parry, then players have a lot of action to determine the
>>> outcome of a fight.
 
>>> Anybody here involved with the SCA, or otherwise skilled in the
>>> arts of sword fighting?
 
>> I've had some training and practice in sword, staff, stick, and
>> unarmed fighting, and have read widely on the subject.  What sort
>> of info are you looking for?

> Mainly I am curious to know how the experience of actual fencing
> (which I have done only twice) can be translated to muds. For me
> the actual experience is *vastly* different from watching messages
> scroll by..
 
>   You hit the ugly troll
>   The ugly troll misses you
>   You hit the ugly troll
>   The ugly troll barely scratches you
>   ... and so on.

Trying to turn my "real experience" into a mud is actually where my
forms system that I've been babbling about arises from.  Two
fighters facing off against each other each have a big bag of tricks
that they are going to try against the other.  While you've got to
improvise, saying that each combatant runs through a list of tricks
untill one works isn't too far off the mark, in my experience.

I even remember the first trick I practiced, which was simply a
forehand-backhand combination.  I practiced it quite a bit, enough
to actually strengthen the muscle groups involved.  You throw a shot
at the target's head, then when it's blocked you shift the blade
around a bit and turn it into a really quick backhand.  I could
catch people - at least untill they caught on - that were much
better than I.

Another fighter had a trick that she practiced quite a bit, except
it was a lot more creative.  She'd reach in with the corner of her
shield and bump the corner of your shield, which would, when done
right, open up a shot right up the middle without lowering her
defenses.

I heard a story once about a fighter in the group I trained with who
was in some kind of "king of the hill" competition where one person
held the hill and other people challenged one at a time.  Apparently
he beat 5 people in a row with a polearm and something described
only as a "Circle C" shot or some such nonsense.

... and there's a very simple trick for people wielding two handed
swords or bastard swords against people with a sword and a shield.
Often the sword/shield guy holds the blade with the hilt just above
chest level with the blade pointing up.  Let go of the bastard sword
with one hand, grab the bottom of the hilt, and pull out.  Done
right against an unsuspecting opponent, the bottom of the hilt comes
towards you and the target's own blade goes into his head.  It's not
a trick that will work at all if your opponent is aware of it - it
relies on sword/shield fighters not having much experience against
people with bastard swords.

All of these things put together is why I've fiddled with the idea
of some kind of combat system built largely around tricks, or forms,
or techniques, or whatever, where each trick gives you an advantage
unless your opponent knows the same trick.

You can see this "trick vs trick" phemonena in almost any
competitive game with flexibility.  In the Real Time Strategy arena,
the proverbial "first trick" is a rush, an early attack designed to
cripple the target's infrastructure or wipe him out before he builds
defenses.  People gripe about "pansy rushers" all the time ...
nonetheless, there are anti-rush techniques and you have to learn
them to be competitive.  It's just a matter of knowing what kind of
forces that a rush can bring, and making sure you have enough
defenses ready when he can bring them.

--
<a href="http://www.shren.net/.nail.html">
The client needs a tool built. He sends you a description of a nail...
</a>

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