pinned Roleplaying Combat: suggestions

Sometimes when you are RPing in Elder Scrolls, your character comes into a physical (or magical) confrontation with another character. It is important to remember that the other character involved is played by another human being, maybe even a guild member, whose character story and awesomeness are just as important to them as your character is to you. To help keep both players happy, there is a simple system that you may find useful. This is not a rule that you must follow, but you may find it very helpful to your enjoyment of the game and your relationships with the game's community of roleplayers.

This is copied in part from a freeform roleplaying website.

Combat, the subtle dance between two or more people in a roleplay setting. A dance, when well choreographed, can leave one character pummeled to tiny bits at the feet of another. A dance full of excitement, not to mention a test to one's typing skills and vocabulary all rolled up into one. Unfortunately, one bad sentence can suddenly swing what is supposed to be fun, into frustrating and hostile OOC environments.

Fighting is simple if everyone remembers the golden rule.

Golden Rule: Attacker declares the action; defender declares the result.

That golden rule is the standard in many free form role playing sites.

The success or failure of an attack is not the same as the result. The following information will help illustrate the difference.

PUTTING THIS INTO ACTION

Taking Turns

Combat is divided into turns. The attacker goes, then the defender. Then rolls are reversed.

-Broman attacks Lolcat, aiming the club at her head.
-Lolcat hisses as the club smacks into her shoulder.
-Lolcat turns around and tries to sweep kick Broman.
-Broman jumps up over her leg, laughing, "Not this time, witch!!"

See how that went? Broman started the attack, Lolcat got to defend, then Lolcat attacked and Broman got to defend.

It is not fair to another player if you make an attack and declare an auto-hit. An auto-hit looks like this:

-Broman attacks Lolcat, hitting her in the head with his club.

In this case, the attacker (Broman) did not separate his attack from the result. The result is always the defender's choice.

CHARACTER DEATH

Lastly, because we're talking about combat we should also touch on character death and its place in game.

Take into account that the other players in ESO have spent a long time designing the look of their characters, writing their backstories, and probably have spent hours and hours roleplaying, building an identity and connections in-game. The ending of that character in a random roleplaying combat is usually COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. Regardless of your character's motivations or your intent for the direction of your story, you need to have the other player's permission before attempting to kill another character. Do not pressure another player to let you kill their character.

Ideally, permission is asked for before combat even starts. It can actually be a lot of fun planning a fitting and dramatic end to a good character with the player(s) who are involved. It is also likely going to be very rare that you receive permission, so be a good sport and leave the opponent an exit. That can take many forms: You might walk out and leave them bleeding on the floor, let them jump out a window, teleport, etc.

I hope this helps people have more satisfying combats. Cheers!

-Milo Hilltop

I've always wondered how combat works in RP when it's not scripted, good information. Very helpful. Thanks Milo!

Excellent information! And a great resource for helping others.

This is a very good outline for those new to RP combat. Very nice!

Playing forum necromancer to make this more visible.

As mentioned, roleplaying in ESO is a cooperative experience. It is expected that you acknowledge each other's actions equally and fairly. Unfortunately at some point or another you may experience a case where another player does not behave this way. Cases in which one player roleplays unfairly is sometimes referred to as "God-modding."

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Borrowing from Urban Dictionary:

"God Modding" is in essence when someone’s character has the ability to do practically anything without limits or boundaries. And example is when they simply cannot be harmed by any and all means other RP-ers try.

-It can be killing or injuring a character without the player's express permission.

-It can be when they simply can’t be hit and dodge all attacks or anything for this matter aimed at them.

-It can also be using other characters that other people RP with. In other words, if you do not RP as Legolas, then you cannot have Legolas say anything, or do anything, without the player's express permission.

The absolute worst is when they make out another character to be what they’re not, just to make their own character seem superior. They make others seem weak, screaming for help, when they’ve made it quite clear about their advantages and strengths. This is called power-play. It’s a strain of God-Modding, but instead of just being irritating, it’s offensive to boot.
This is a prime example of God Modding:

Player A: Punches at Player B
Player B: Dodges attack, grabs Player A and throws him. Player A flies at Player B, who warps behind him and slashes Player A in the back.

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Obviously this sort of playing is not ideal and does not follow the Golden Rule. If you encounter this style of roleplaying, do not immediately panic or ragequit. The other player may have made a mistake and could be unaware of the offense, so simply state out of character that you need to put the combat on hold, and then whisper the character that you believe an error was made that should be clarified or fixed.

e.g. Sam: Sam kicks Aragorn below the belt.
Aragorn: ((Hold on))
Whisper from Aragorn to Sam: I believe you meant to say that Sam will try to kick Aragorn, and that Aragorn has a good chance to avoid that. Does that sound reasonable?"

In this case, Aragorn handled the situation maturely. If the other player does not wish to conduct themselves fairly and maturely, then I recommend stopping interaction with that player, even if it breaks the flow of events in character. If you have questions or are not sure that an incident was played fairly, please contact a roleplaying officer.

Out of Character Incidents:

In Blue Skooma you may be talking to other members regularly, sometimes almost constantly, in guild chat and whispers. Guild chat is intended for you to express your thoughts, ideas, and concerns in a mature fashion. Whispers are a great way to coordinate Roleplaying without filling up the chat window of nearby players with OOC information.

On the flip side, Out of Character chat can be misused. This can take several forms.

Spillage/overlap: This is my term for when a Player takes the actions of a Character in-game and takes personal offense. It is understandable (even desired) that people have some emotional investment in their roleplaying. However, You should not interpret that another Player is angry at you if their Character is angry with your Character. Character personalities and relationships are completely different from those of Player behind the screen.

Once again, remember that you should always be polite and respectful to other Players Out of Character.

Harrassment/Bullying/Pressuring: These incidents can sometimes occur when you are discussing how to proceed in a roleplay, or the outcome of a spontaneous roleplay combat. One Player seeks to influence the decisions of another Player and may resort to these tactics. This is not acceptable behavior, even if done politely. Everyone's character choices are their own to make freely. If you ask another player to participate a certain way and they don't want to, respect their decision.

Language: This is already detailed in the guild rules of conduct. Do not repeatedly use swear words in character or in any public channel (Including guild chat and teamspeak). As a mature-rating game, the occasional swear word in character is fine. You can speak however you like through private channels, provided your intended audience agrees.

Metagaming: This is detailed in the Roleplaying Guide. Metagaming is the In-Character use of information gathered Out of Character (or through alternate characters of the same player). This often follows Spillage/overlap when a Player fails to distinguish what is reality and what is In-Character.

Thanks for the information this is a good resource for all of us RPers :thumb: