Where I’ve done combat RP on other chars I tend to make my reaction emotes more detailed than my action emotes, which only tend to be a statement of what I’m doing and where it is aimed.
I’ve always found it’s easier to navigate progress of how combat transpires through reactions. It also let’s my opponent know what is and isn’t working. No sense typing out a flashy emote about how I twirl my blade in the style of a thousand lotus flowers if my opponent is capable of blocking the attack outright because it just nullifies the description. Use small actions to scout for what to do.
(separating this & memepost, so double-post)
Why though?
Whatever prevents you from going “Flankworth the Meatshield does not, in fact, get shanked in the stomach as he is too quick for Sir Stabbington”. Considering that RP is an interactive story told between multiple people, the former example you give is actually, in its own way, better than the latter. Look at that Badlands quest where one person starts telling the story of Deathwing coming, only for the other to cut in and say ‘No, no, THIS is what happened’.
It’s how storytelling works when multiple people are a part of the process. I find the ‘sensitive feelings’ approach ala ‘you didnt attempt tho???’ to be very disagreeable.
I try to keep it in one paragraph, describing where I aim to hit, from what direction the attack comes from. Same goes for how I recieve an attack. This way the opponent can easily see if he is able to defend against the attack, or if I can strike.
Example: /e strikes his sword in a slashing motion, from his upper right, towards his opponent’s left shoulder. (insert some flavour text of yelling or something)
With letters that turn into words.
I think the point is just about being courteous by keeping the tone of roleplay such that it would not be mistaken for trying to rule the outcome for the other player. The way to go about your example is not wrong either, but at least to me (if I were bystanding and watching the two people at it) it could seem as if the two had a bit more competitive approach to their writing. The first emote already determined the outcome the way it’s written: the response in your example one not only counters but retcons it. Edit: Imo it can feel natural in a dialogue (”Listen, here’s what happened” ”Actually, this is what happened”), but in emotes less so.
That’s the way I feel about it anyway!
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I’m pretty new to Argent Dawn and this always confused me, why don’t RP’ers duel with elements of RP added to it?
Because level and gear in RP is meaningless ![:slight_smile:](https://d1bg94bbsh66ji.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
Sorry but my baker that swings a mace doesn’t have the blood of azeroth through some pieces of her clothes ![:smiley:](https://d1bg94bbsh66ji.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")
me am sainur big strong dwarf
me use the hammer swing to damage break bones
Very straight forward these days because I can’t be bothered to do anything more than that these days.
Usually you will get…
/e attempts to punch you in the nose…
I just write whatever really. Depends on the detail needed. Anywhere from a few lines to a couple paragraphs tops.
I despise five paragraph emotes.
But I always make it so it’s like… not forcing? So like “Swings his hammer for Name’s face, aiming to smash it open.”
I think that’s a good consensus on the attempting department. What about magic emotes ? Do you try to explain how each spell works or do you just describe things as they would be seen or otherwise apparent ?
Semi-late reply.
I can see why it’d seem this way, and it can even be [rightfully] described as competitive. But that varies on the mindset, doesn’t it? I don’t much see RP writing as a field capable of hosting competition, so I don’t see one kind of writing as more pressurising than another.
This mindset/style of writing also comes from the fact that 82% of my RP is event-hosting of some kind, so me telling people directly what I’d expect to happen is kind of necessary. I’ve certainly dissuaded the ‘just take what’s given’ approach in the people I’ve DMed for long-term too, meaning that they can think for themselves in how much sense what I’m presenting makes.
I don’t see plain RP as requiring much of a difference in approach. It’s a back-and-forth, and I believe that to be the ultimate form of cooperation: being able to accept that the other person might not go for what you originally had in mind and instead change it and (potentially) make it cooler, as opposed to tiptoeing around what might seem imposing!
Do we even know this?
Sometimes I feel not even Blizzard knows how spells work. For instance if Mages can summon Water Elementals and cast Fire Spells why are they unable to use the Water element to heal?
I don’t think there’s much detail about it on Blizzard’s side, as you said. Mostly it boils down , in my experience , to personal preference.
For example , most mages can conjure a fireball and most will emote it out differently. Some characters will speak and chant and move their hands in patterns while others might just swing their arm or move a single hand !
What do you think?
Probably because if you take the time to try and type out any RP emotes or even curses against your enemy, you’ll be dead when they burst their cooldowns before you hit ‘Enter’ /Duel is a pure PvP mechanic, not an RP one. Recent events in game would have looked a lot different if it was otherwise “Take him Away!” Baine Challenges Mook no#1 to a /Duel. Effortlessly smashes him to the ground on 1 hit point. Mook no#2 Challenges Baine to a /Duel, Baine effortlessly smashes him to the ground on 1 hit point. Rinse and repeat till there are no Mooks left for Baine to /duel. Turns round to Sylvanas and goes “Now What?” Sylvanas snarls and challenges Baine to a /Duel. Lor’themar looks at Rok’han and Thalyssra and goes, “No, I’m with Baine, lets take this chance!” Gallywix goes “Yeah, well, I’m with Sylvanas”. “Royal Rumble!”
Except they can’t. Because /Duel only allows two combatants even if more wanted to gang up, as would be realistically possible in -any- situation other than a formalised duel.
So for actual -Duels- and not for /Duel It is a good system, for any other sort of internal faction conflict it is awful.
As I say, it becomes pure 1 on 1 PvP, not RP…
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There should definitely be words and hand motions involved. Pretty sure you can’t cast spells if you can’t talk.
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There is now a Mion friendly comprehensive guide on this very subject!
This is also supported from the gameplay perspective. While interrupts lock you out of select school(s), silence effects make it outright impossible to cast.
So it seems most (all?) Spellcasting requires voice.
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While I’ve seen it debated many times and heard a lot of arguments, I’m also in the ‘spells requires words’ side of the line!
The silence effect stops spell-casting, and you could argue that it’s just a game mechanic, but if it is a game mechanic, why have we had spells like Frostjaw and Strangulate (along with Spriest’s classic Silence) that stop spells by stopping the character from speaking?
The real kicker is warlock’s Curse of Tongues, which increases the length of the victim’s spellcasting by ‘forcing the target to speak in Demonic’.
The recent portrayals of Khadgar and the elves of Suramar also have a lot of their spells voiced (if not all of them) during those rare sections of the game that are completely voiced, such as zone/expansion introductions.
Annnyway! To get back on topic, I try to keep my replies in one emote at most. I don’t always succeed, but generally it works out.
The best thing (in my opinion) is to keep things simple. If you come up some some really convoluted move that is hard to describe, let alone understand, your opponent is then going to have to try and figure it out (if they can) before writing some complicated reply to explain the result of it. And THEN start writing their own action.
If I’m playing a spellcaster, sometimes I’ll emote something and just link the in-game spell (or the closest to it) in a /whisper to the spell’s target. Not everything has a spell reflected in-game, especially if you’re playing your warrior as a battle-mage, but I find it pretty handy overall!
