Forum Dueling Basics - The Long Road

At some point, you'll need to be honest with yourself. It won't be nice or pretty, but it is a kindness -- even when emotions are running high and you think you're going to be crushed under all this "negative" weight. At the moment you won't recognize it as being kind, let alone useful. How could they say such a thing?

I'm talking about criticism.

Too many don't know how to take it, and when it happens, especially to our writing, a good many people -- some who've said they're open to criticism in the first place -- will explode like a several megaton nuke. And that's a good day.

When someone wants to improve their writing, often they'll turn to others, most likely friends, in the hope that they'll pick the piece apart and tell them the error of their ways. What generally ends up happening instead is that those same friends, out of a desire to not hurt you, tell you that what you're written is great, and that just hurts you more. If you aren't aware of your mistakes, you cannot improve from them. And if people continually tell you that those same mistakes are made of pure gold, well, you'll just keep shuffling along the same mediocre path.

Good friends will be honest. They'll tell you that, yes, the writing is atrocious. It sucks. Maybe not exactly that blunt, but they'll let you know. And, if they happen to know a thing or two about writing, they'll also give steps, ideas or a means toward pursuing improvement, such as: detail needs work, proofread and edit more, slim down those excessive descriptions, correction of bad word choice, etc.

Typically, most people are blind to their own mistakes. A rare individual will spot them, but that isn't the rule, it's the exception. All of us, myself included, will often gloss over a mistake and keep going as if we hadn't even made one. It blinds us to our own failings, and with regard to friends telling us we're doing great, when finally confronted with how bad our writing truly is, it makes us defensive and angry. Friends wouldn't lie, would they?

This brings me to my third point, and probably the most important: the thing that will help improve ones writing ability is self-reflection or introspection to a degree. It lets you look at your writing from a different vantage. You can see it isn't good, you know this, but it lets you try things out to find out what works and what doesn't. It won't stop blind spots from happening, but can aide in bringing out the better qualities of your writing. There will still be mistakes, those happen, but they may happen less.

In the end, self reflection and criticism, constructive or otherwise, will help you move forward. Without them, you may drown in mediocrity for years to come. But it also comes down to you as a person on whether you wish to pursue greatness or wallow. Wallowing gets you nothing. Perseverance, well, that's the stuff legends are made of.

Forum Dueling Basics - Dialogue: The Misfortune of Talking to Others

So, dialogue has a time and place, much like persons wanting to experiment (it's known as college), but in dueling, RPing or even writing in general, we know when dialogue shouldn't be happening: when you're driving a fist down another persons gullet with intent to find their reproductive organs through their intestines. This of course means that when you're fighting, you shouldn't be talking, and if you're talking while fighting, you're doing it wrong. You're a fighter, not a talker. The grand warrior. Warriors do not bandy speeches about. They aren't masters of rhetoric. Look at a barbarian -- the most he's gonna managed is a grunt, and that's while driving the club through your skull to bisect with your spine.

Conversation should always feel natural. Before or even after a fight, it should feel natural. Forcing it makes it awkward. If one is talking during a fight, that suggests you aren't fighting anymore. The engagement of wills through force has stopped and moved on to an engagement of wills through intellect. Conversation must flow from a desire for the two persons to talk in the first place. If there is great enmity between these persons, why would they talk? If they know they're here to d-d-d-d-d-duel, why mouth off in the first place? We're not talking about badly dubbed martial arts movies where their mouths are moving but no sound is coming out. A real fight is fast, over quickly, and has the minimum of vocal content.

Now, this moves into another thing about dialogue: there has to be a reasonable amount of reaction to what's being said. Characters, much like people, will react to what is said by the protagonist in varying ways. The response to something as silly as "Wassup!" will differ depending on who is being asked. Some could reply in kind, others with something else, while others still will be offended. Remember this when crafting conversation in the first place. Like in physics, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is how conversation should play out. That what is said will provoke a response, either by continuing the conversation, causing an expression or particular look, or an action in reaction to what was said.

This now moves us onto the third part of dialogue, and that is understanding appropriate dialogue. This is a bit more difficult, in that it requires of the writer a certain level of maturity, in that it's expected for them to understand people. Real people. It doesn't have to be a lot, but some. In understanding people, you understand how they react to varying instances of conversation as well as expressions or looks. How your mother replies to you when you say something. How a friend waits or interrupts you while you're speaking. Understanding these things can help you craft convincing conversation. What moment would be appropriate for someone to say something, or interrupt? When does someone show emotion? Answering this questions can help one create better conversation between characters.

And finally, this roles right back into the start: would it make sense for two people in a blood feud to start off by introducing themselves by name before jumping out with machetes before jumping back to continue to talk? Writing mimics life, and like life, there needs to be a level of logical conclusion to things, an understanding of agency (that is the power to act and do things). This means that when it is in your power to act, why would you talk? So, if you as a person wouldn't talk a long monologue about pants under a blood moon in May, why would a character do the same?

Mind you, time and place for everything. Writing seriously, this all makes sense. Writing camp, you do the opposite. But dueling, role playing (and most writing) is a serious endeavor, so why wouldn't it be a serious reflection of the lives we live?

Ramblings

It is an odd quality. Faith in any amount moves a person or a mountain, and when it lacks, it does nothing more than eat away at the conscious. The decision is to of course have it, an active choice, required daily. Like prayer. Faith is in all things, from the man of faith (the misnomer descriptor for anyone believing in a higher power, because all persons are people of faith, even when they deny it) to the agnostic to the atheist--although in the later his isn't as outwardly pronounced, nor would he ever admit to having any.

There are moments of fleeting, just-grasped pursuits of faithfulness. Fullness of faith. Or just as the original word implies, of being faithful, devoted and otherwise there. But how there is it? Does it matter to have or be without? Sharing faith is callousness. Sharing callousness is benign. Being benign is called being an asshole. Being kind is being a jerk, and being nice is being depraved enough to know that you're inwardly inflicting harm upon others, but not being man enough to admit it.

To be kind is to do what's right, including what would be right even if it outwardly might appear mean (although not wrong). Being nice is satiating the ego, in more ways than one. He's nice and she's nice, but never kind. And he's nice but not faithful and she's nice but not faithful. And in both cases they're faithless. But in their nice but faithless havens, lacking in heaven (but pursuing it), they speak of the appropriateness of their actions, how nice is good, but kind is wrong, kinda wrong, and goodly niceness. It leads back to faith, altruism, and the pathologies that crusade their daily shenanigans. But never with thought. That requires questioning, even in faith.

Laziness Strikes Again!

Everyone is inherently lazy. Even the most active of writers are lazy in some respect. Duelists and role-players are no exception. You'll find that we're all lazy on some level, whether it be in the time it takes them to write a post, or when it comes to the creation of their character and its background. An interesting thing, at least I find, is that some role players seem to gloss over the motivating factor behind their character.

Their character shines, sparkles, has that new-car gleam and smell to them. They go from 0 to 240 MPH in sixty seconds, can pull off amazing acrobatic moves and is capable of slaughtering whole armies without breaking a sweat. And we have no clue as to why said character with all this ability is doing it. We don't know their motivation, their reasoning. All we know is that they're off killing.

Some people attempt to counter-act this and give a passing glance at their "motivation," which sometimes really isn't much motivation for a person to fight. Tournaments, yeah, you're there to win. It's a tourney, state it as such. But the "random encounter duel," you need a reason to be fighting. It's that simple. You can suddenly just jump at each others' throats unless your characters are nothing more than rambling, psychotic creatures.

So, where's the motivation? And better yet, where's mine?

 

- W. Visarett

Overused and Overdone

Ok, Waffles is back for awhile, and it seems with his return that My Spastic Inhibitions are also coming back. So, another post to breath some life into this blog;

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

In the world of Role Playing it is inevitable that ideas will used more than enough. It seems creative, original plots are faded into the past. You would think that clichés might be bad, but as Clovis taught me, even a horrid cliché can be turned into a wonderful masterpiece with enough innovation. This brings me to the topic at hand:

I see more and more of a flurry of overused ideas that are just crap. I know the value of said ideas depreciates over time, but these writers need to at least match the former glory, yet the quality falls well short of the bar. I really think this might be the reason the wars at Vets bore me. It’s the same old thing over and over again.

I was even nearing the annoyance point back in my hay day, so these wars that the Emperor gets dragged into these days are just overused and overdone. Maybe someone will pique my interests and actually make something somewhat original or at least up to par.

~Corbs

It's Quiet...Too Quiet

Alright, well I'm still here but I'm not sure about my cohorts. I know Waffles is still in the Canadian forces doing who knows what, Tier is busy in RL with other things, and I'm not sure about Lach at all. I haven't really had an inhibitions involving dueling other than a bit of a question on Vets today. I figured I'd post it at least so I could remember it for later...

Shining Light asks: "My question is this: How exactly do you manage to duel without feeling cheated out by your opponent? How is it that, if your attack misses, you take it in stride? Is trust and honour a huge part in dueling?"

And in reply I had this to say: "RPing can be somewhat like your *comparison if you come upon people such as those at the RE4 boards. Most of the time in this agethose little offsprings aren't as experienced and thus lower to arguing as such whereas places like here, LTU, RP/FF, Spork, RI, and The Duel have somewhat of an understanding between each other and allow damage as earned. If my opponent writes out two word attacks with no emotion, no feeling, I don't even give him the honor of touching me, but if my rival writes out a flawless, beautiful attack I will of course let it hit my character and make it hit hard.

Also, if one feels that their opponent cheezed their way out of an attack a good, experienced duelist will take it in stride because they know that everyone will see the cheeze. It's not about just you and your opponent, but also about the people who read it, and in cases such as tournaments, judge it. The judge and audience will see the cheeze just as clearly as you, so there is really no need to get out of line if you feel you have been wronged, and if by chance no one else feels that you were cheezed, more times than not you probably weren't and you were just overreacting."

*The comparison was that the duels seemed like a styled version of kids with action figures.

Interwebs...Serious Business.

Seems a good time to write this blog as I haven’t written one in awhile, and the mayhem on GameFAQs relates to what it is about. I was given the idea of “Self Control” from Clovis about a week back, and told to comment on how people take the internet too seriously—how they need to exhibit a little self control. So, on a Role Playing note I’ll comment on Chimed’s World Cup Tournament. I’ve noticed the many different styles, not of writing, but of how each writer goes about their writing. Some are very adamant about their posts; getting them up just hours after their opponent makes his move. Others, like myself, find that we are racing the time limit to get in an attack. Some even sacrifice quality to get one in, and others just say, “I’ll post when I feel like it damn it! Stop rushing me!”

Another big issue is the level of seriousness taken in the duels. Coming together in a site-wide tournament involving so many boards—so many styles, is bound to bring up issues involving a character’s acceptability, if their attacks fall under the category of cheeze, or if he is too godly to be fighting. Sometimes I can understand where the complaints are coming from; if an attack involves a bottle of lube, a supernova, and your ass, it is probably cheezing, but in some cases duelists confuse unorthodox with overpowering. Maybe they can’t accept the change of styles from the days when the dueled…or maybe they just aren’t sure how to change.

This leads me into my next point; Ceej, better known as CJayC, updated the boards about a week ago. He gave them a sleek new look and switched around the home page a bit. He even gave the boards a pHp template instead of having tons of html documents. Doesn’t sound like a very big deal, right? Maybe even sounds helpful, right? Well, if you visit the boards you would think the world was ending. Some of the users are just being unreasonable. I’ve encountered multiple threats to actually leave GameFAQs. Keep in mind, all we have is a new style, but no loss of content, no blockage of boards; basically the same face with some new make-up, and yet these people are so attached to the past that they would rather not come at all than to get used to a new look…

RIDICULOUS!

~~~

You people are going to get ulcers. Control thy selves!

Corbs

Delving Deeper

Unraveling The Web

That’s right, after so long I’ve finally churned one out. It’s a bit off the wall, but hey, it’s better than nothing right?

Times have changed, people have changed, but the ideals have stayed the same. Perhaps this is why writing can be so tough at times; it’s been done before and you just keep on getting inspiration from the Hall of Clichés. But then again, isn’t it human nature to emulate what he knows and is familiar with? Such is the reason that personal traits of the author always seem to seep through to a character in their writings. No matter how hard a writer tries, their innermost feelings and deep desires may slip into the framework at any given point.

Sometimes, you will find a character in a story that is a complete opposite from the writer’s own persona, but even then traits about the author can still be just as easily discerned. When reading a piece of work I like to try and dig into the writer’s brain. I want to feel what they felt, see how they saw, and think what they thought. Such is the method I use when wading through the millions of pieces of literature and finding one I actually like. It helps me to understand perspectives of other authors about their writing, characters, and storylines.

Here is an example of how I decipher a personality trait in an author; after getting a good idea of who the characters are and the general story of the book I can get to work breaking down each individual character. With each description and action throughout the carefully spun tale I file away notes about traits, thoughts, and feelings I think may be important to piecing the puzzle together later on. More often than not I find characters overlapping into the same feelings or views of the world shaped around them. This is where the puzzle begins to take shape; by taking into account the most overlaps I can theorize about what the author was trying to portray; unconsciously or not. Say a set of characters has a certain ideal involving an event in the story, you can then guess that either the author intended for this to occur or his own morals slipped silently into each of these characters.

In my own experience I have to look deeper into what kind of affect this standpoint has on the story. Do this character’s feelings contribute to how the storyline unfolds, or is it just a description that the author gave us to give a better idea of where that character stands?

More than likely the main character is going to be who the author is based off of or at least who he wants to be. In most writing the secondary characters carry traits of friends the author knows on a more intimate basis; maybe even an annoying habit of a family member he has. The side characters might be based off of acquaintances, co-workers, or other people not affecting the writer’s life in any significant way.

However, there are always exceptions to this viewpoint. A phenomenal writer is sometimes able to create a character meshed so well with a myriad of facts and details that they seem completely unique, but a writer does have to get his ideas from somewhere…

---

You may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with my writing?” Well, I’ll tell you; this gives you a bit more insight to how some of your readers may view your work, thus letting you understand how to improve.

All in all, this is just a perspective from a single reader and writer. Some people have other means of dissecting your work; your job is just to figure out how to please them all.

Corbow6

The Invincibles

In the vein of going ultimately fast without reason, we run ourselves into a completely different wall with this other estranged fact. This little brick and mortar construct that impedes us when we role play is our over-attachment to our characters. We develop such a connection with our characters that often, we don't want to see them get hurt, especially were, or if, we spend hours upon hours or days upon days crafting those characters.

This is somewhat understandable, however, since the characters themselves are supposed to be extensions of ourselves. As we wish to avoid pain, so too do our characters, and this avoidance to pain and suffering can also be detrimental. In dueling, as with real life, the fact is, we feel pain. While we might wish to save our characters from feeling those same pains, whether physical or emotional, it is better that we don't. Pain teaches experience, after all; a lack of pain means a lack of feeling.

The character, especially in dueling, is supposed to take a hit, supposed to become hurt. A fantasy world we may be playing in, but some semblance of reality is still there, or leaks through, and thus it can only be expected that the character would become hurt. We don't like it when our characters get hurt, when they experience physical pain. In dueling, the characters are supposed to get hit, take a hit every so often. When you evade everything thrown at you, you are in turn God Modding.

There are guides out there that say how to determine damage done, but here's a thought--instead of just taking damage based on how powerful you percieve the attack to be, take damage based on how you think a person would take damage based on the reality of getting hit by such. Of course, if you can evade within reason, do so, but always remember that sooner or later, you're going to tire and fatigued people make mistakes.

Then again, some attacks are so outstandingly overpowered that were you to take the damage based on how powerful the attack was, the character would die. It comes down to descretion, as always, on how much damage should be taken. Some people have a habit of taking too much damage, even from simple attacks, while others take too little. Again, always searching for that happy medium where everything fits.

 

- W. Visarett

"After you, old chap." "No, no, after YOU."

It's funny, when you think about it. Dueling is all about trying to defeat your opponent's character. In any realistic situation, this would mean an all-out brawl, everyone for themselves, no holds barred. Not so in the RP world, where there are rules to follow and etiquette to observe. All this formality may be counter-intuitive, but it's there for a reason: to keep things as civil between the duelists out of character, even though they may be at each other's throats in character. While there are several good sites which explain the rules of dueling, the finer points of etiquette may not be as obvious to everyone. While there's technically nothing written in stone, I thought I'd take some time to share some of what I've learned about courtesy in a duel.

In every duel, there are at least two participants, of course. With the notable exception of tournament dueling, every duel has one party that makes the request and another that accepts. If you're the one asking for a duel, try to be as polite as you can. Don't be brash, cocky or downright impertinent unless you want to duel with an imaginary friend: no one likes a braggart for an opponent, no matter how good you are (or think you are). If you'd rather your opponent make the duel topic and the intro post, state it in the first post of your request whenever possible: not everyone likes writing intros and some may not even accept to duel you if they have to start it off. If you have any preference for settings, duel types, experience and the like, don't forget to mention those, as well. The more information you give potential opponents and the more courteous you are in your request, the more likely you'll find someone willing to battle you on your own terms. And once the duel has started, one way or another, try to be as prompt with your posts as possible: you're the one who asked for it, so part of your job is to make sure you can actually keep up with your own request. An acceptable pace is at least one post every 24 to 48 hours. If you are unable to post for a certain amount of time (hey, it happens to all of us), mention it in the duel in OOC, state whether you want the fight to continue or not, and, above all, be gracious to your opponent for his or her patience.

If you're accepting a duel, there are also some rules of etiquette for you to follow. Again, be polite when accepting a request. Don't act as if you're doing the other person a huge favour: remember, most people don't like to duel assholes. If you've been asked to post the intro, try to be as prompt as possible and respect any other requests and preferences your opponent may have stated beforehand. As the one accepting the duel, it's your responsibility to go along with the request and its conditions. And again, try to be as quick as possible in coming up with posts. At least a post every 48 hours is fine. If you can't post for some reason, you should also warn your opponent and be polite.

If you're relatively new to dueling (or even entirely new) and are asking for a duel, then you really need to be courteous. I'm not telling you to glue your lips to a veteran RPer's rear end; however, I am suggesting that you respect the experience they have. Make an effort to learn from the veteran, take and ask for constructive criticism on your performance during and after the duel, and just generally be gracious. If you're new to dueling and are accepting a duel, mention it in the topic where the request was made. Some duelists prefer to battle experienced RPers sometimes, so if your offer to take up a duel is turned down -- politely, of course -- don't be discouraged and try asking for one yourself. Conversely, if you're a veteran and asking for a duel, you may want to mention your relative level of experience if you're looking for a specific challenge. Don't let your own experience get to your head, and remember to be courteous in your request. If you're a veteran accepting a duel from a newbie, be extra polite. Offer some friendly advice during and after the fight, gently point out errors in OOC if you must, and don't act condescending under any circumstance whatsoever. You are the one with experience, but you should also remember that you are teaching, not proving superiority.

Duels of all kinds, whether they've been requested or predetermined as part of a tournament, more or less follow the same basic rules. Be polite and be prompt, and your duel will be pleasant. I think this quotation from Sir Winston Churchill describes forum dueling etiquette quite nicely: "When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."

 

- Lachesis

Been There, Done That

So, you got the road map, you're planning this grand vacation for yourself and friends of family. You've got it all set. You're gonna hit landmarks everywhere, except, when you say Grand Canyon, one says: "But lots of people go there every year! What's to see, just a big ass canyon!" You take it with a grain of salt and suggest some other major attraction, which is met with the same response. People have been there, people have already done it, so what's the point of doing it again?

This is like the cliché. They've been done over and over again that everyone has seen it of heard of it and knows what it is. Now, it everything has been done before, where are the new ideas? Sad to say, there are no new ideas truly. There is only old ideas and creative ways to use those old ideas. You can't use an old idea in a new way, as it's already been done somewhere along the line by someone. So, you must be creative with it.

We throw around buzz-words like originality and creativity like we're hot cats knowing all that. If you stopped to ask someone what they meant by that, they'd stop short. You'd stump them. They couldn't tell you what's original or creative, just that you have to be it. New and old players to the realm of dueling and RPing toss those words around, trying to ascribe some feeling to it, but if you stopped to ask them what was truly creative or original and they'd stop flat-footed in their tracks and be hard-pressed to answer this challenging question.

We're told clichés are bad, stay away from what someone has already done before. Tell that to the millions of people who are accountants. You wouldn't go up to one of them and say, "Dude, someone already has done what you did. Get a new line!" You wouldn't say to the soldier in the army of any sort that millions have already done their bit and they should try something new and creative, right? So why do we instantly jump down the throats of people new to it using every cliché they've seen and thought cool?

Let's look at the word creative itself.

Creative:

(Adj.) 1. Having the ability or power to create 2. Productive; creating 3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative.

(N.) One who displays productive originality.

Well, when we write posts, surely we are being creative, as we have the ability or power to create such posts, so check, and surely we are being production in such creation, so check once more. But what of the third? Originality? Are we being original with the writing?

I'll take a look at a fellow role player that I have a lot of respect for and many people have heard of: Dispeyr. Dispeyr is an interesting fellow, able to create outstanding pieces of literary art, expressive and imaginative both. But here's the kicker--they're not completely original. Now before you suddenly cry blasphemy and turn into a raging mob, hear me out. Dispeyr, for all his good writing, using a wraith, a character of the same name--Dispeyr. In his depictions of Dispeyr, he is dark, ominous and deadly. Fair enough, he's a wraith. But if you stop and look back over the course of all Dispeyr's writing concerning that character, you'll see very glaringly that he reuses the same ideas again and again and again, each time switching up the way they're presented. They suddenly appear new, original and wonderful. Fact is they're not.

I myself commit this same habit with some of my own characters, Amarouk, for one. After a while it grows stale, and even if you're a good writer, it gets old pretty quick.

So what does this mean? It means that yes, you can use clichés, and I encourage you to use them, but don't over do it. Use them in an interesting way in possible, something that captivates. If you think it's wonderful and creative, somebody else might not think so. A harsh lesson, yes, but one to be learned nonetheless. But as with any kind of cliché, you need to be careful in their use otherwise you might just be considered another know-nothing newb.

 

- W. Visarett

Act your age, not your shoe size

Of all the elements in a traditional character sheet, I think the one that gets overlooked the most by ordinary RPers and duelists is age. Think about it for a moment. You take time to come up with a really awesome sounding name; you pore over your character's personality; you give tons of detail when it comes to describing hair, build, facial features, weapons and armour; you painstakingly develop a deadly arsenal of fighting techniques and/or spells for your newest badass hero or heroine; you may even decide to create an entire new race, complete with history, for your character. But let's be honest, here: when it comes to your character's age, most of you just pick a number, any number, usually between 15 and 25 for humans. While there's nothing technically wrong with a small army of teenaged wunderkinds fighting each other to the death, it's worth noting that there's also nothing technically wrong with variety, and that it can actually help improve your skills at the same time.

A character's age can have a lot of influence over many other elements in a signup sheet, from personality and description to techniques and history. By far, the most obvious element influenced is a character's looks. Usually people get wrinkles and grey hairs as they get older, unless your character goes in for hair dyes and Botox injections. But beyond the superficial aspect of it all, there are other things to consider. Can your 15-year-old really wear a full suit of armour? Can your 75-year-old really swing around a heavy spiked mace like nobody's business? Issues such as these tie in with a character's history and abilities. Young characters should normally have limited experience in fighting, unless you were an abandoned orphan found outside a dojo and were trained in martial arts since the age of 2. On the other hand, older characters may have the necessary experience in times of war, but might be plagued with physical difficulties such as arthritic knees and lessening strength. And then there's personality: usually, people get more conservative and, for lack of a better word, wiser with time. If your character is not human, of course, then your character may have different age milestones depending on the race you choose. If so, think about the race's average lifespan, coming-of-age, middle age, old age... Think about your character's general personality, description, training, and so on; then you can peg an approximate age in human years and adjust it to fit the race's scale accordingly.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. There are plenty of healthy older people around today, just as there are relatively sensible young kids. But the trick is knowing when to break the mold and when to go with common sense. If you think your character is too ordinary (even with kickass powers), then you may want to go against the norm in one aspect of the character sheet. Go with your instinct, here, and keep in mind that too many exceptions make a character look too good to be true.

In closing, I'd like to share an anecdote about this particular subject. I've been RPing for the past four years now and I've known several RPers who managed to get away with the silliest things because they were long-time RPers and had somehow gained respect. Many of them had characters with the most exorbitant ages imaginable, but one really stood out for me. This particular character had many... issues that I had problems with, but I'm sure at least one reader can relate to my frustration when I found out he was over 9 billion years old and looked not a day over 19 -- and actually acted about that age, too. That's something to think about when you think you can get away with your age because it looks cool on paper.

The General Malaise of Spreads and Cheezes

God-Modding. Cheeze Wizzing. Omnipotent. If you've been dueling on GameFAQs for a while, you've probably heard of those terms at one time or another. They're catch words, key phrases we're told to memorize and given a vague idea as to what they are. As we progress in our dueling careers, we begin to understand more and more what they are, what distinguishes them from ordinary attacks and why they are the bane of dueling. All three words can be summed up thus: over-powering.

Over-powering is the act of making your character far stronger than your opponents, generally in the middle of the match when both parties (or more) are committed to it. However, there are instances where one can be 'cheating' without ever using one of those words, yet we use them to describe it. I'll give an example.

I'll approach the problem from a widely understood True style, in which no auto hits are allowed. Were I to be battling against an opponent in the True style and I were to grab his wrist to use as leverage for an attack, I would thus be over-powering, God-Modding, cheeze wizzing, etc, and would promptly be called foul for the act; the duel would fill to the brim with OOC's complaining about wha I had done and die shortly after. However, were this same tactic to be approached in the Mix style, it would be allowed--in fact, it would be expected and no one would complain about it at all.

Same motion, two different instances, two different answers. A strange phenomenae, this over-powering. It seems to be subjective to the style of a duel, or perhaps it is subjective to the amount of power a character wields in battle, or perhaps both?

Another example.

Suppose I am using a technological armor set capable of launching dozens of missiles at once and I'm fighting against, say, a simple warrier incapable of magic and only uses a sword. In the True style, you could consider this God-Modding. Now, substitute my opponent for someone who also uses technological armor like me and has shields and the means to defend against such an attack. It is no longer God-Modding, is it?

Amusing that the same character was used, but in the two different situations under the same style, yet there were two different outcomes. God-Modding, over-powering and their ilk are completely situational, tied to the circumstance of the duel, to the characters and the attacks unleashed. When you fight toe-to-toe with an opponent on equal terms with equal abilities, your opponent can't, or shouldn't, cry wolf on you because you can keep up. It's asinine and childish of your opponent. However, were you to fight against an under-powered opponent with your max abilities available to you, you would then be God-Modding.

 

- W. Visarett

Splitting the Atom -- Compact Personality Disorder

So, how would you describe his personality? Well, he's paranoid most of the time. No, wait, he suffers from chronic anal retention. Was that it? No, he was raving mad and them some. But then there was that ego--arrogant son of a bitch, I'd say. No, no, no. I'm sure he was my Knight in Shining Armor, come to rescue me from the drudgery of daily life. Nope, he was funny, giddy, elated, a lark, truly. And then perhaps...

Personality with characters is tricky. Yeah, you say otherwise, but truthfully, when you want to stick to that underlying personality you set out to create for your character, you're influenced by your own personality. However much you might try not to, your personality will shine through your characters in some way, through some core value whether you try to have it like that or not.

But even then, the personalities we attempt to create for our characters are unique--and sometimes not so unique. We suffer chronically from "Ultimate Badass Syndrome," the cocky, cool and collected guy that oozes awesomeness and power. Too many characters like this, even some of my own. But we love it; we love to make those characters because we want to be them.

Ah, but now we push away from those and rush headlong into the belief that originality is key, that we must attain this sacred chalice at any cost. So, we create the characters of the opposite end of the spectrum that suffer from mental disorders, have shaky personalities, are bumblers and fumblers and cads and cards and resentful characters and blemishes to society characters; the list goes on. You jump in, find that happy-go-lucky badass isn't any good, so you swim to the other side trying to find the elusive deep, dark onion-man of many layers kind-of character.

But where's the middle ground? The Average-Jo's? They don't exist, and if they do, they don't last long in the world of the super-powered and under-powered and ultra-powered characters. They're like cars. You get your base models and then the ones that come with special features like mental and personality disorders to make them more "interesting." They come in various makes and models, some with leather, some with good stereo and speakers and CD players and mileage. And they all, no matter how pretty or gaudy or compact or basic, get the job done, these characters with personality.

We drive them along, and along the way their personality gets dints and pings and scraps. Do we take into account their journey and the effects it has on the character, on their personality? Or are they stuck in a kind of temporal warp, unaffected by the passing of time? It's strange, the personality of characters. They're conveyed in our words, and while we might set out to say one thing, the wording and choice of them might paint an entirely different picture. The traits and qualities ascribed to those characters come through now and again, but is it really what we want? What kind of personality are we striving for, and in truth, is it just another rehash of a vehicle we've driven before with a couple added options and bling to make people see differently?

 

- W. Visarett

What...is the Air-Speed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow?

We can rebuild him. We have the technology. Make him harder, better, faster, stronger, and not at all repetitious like the Daft Punk song that's so addictively good. In fact, we'll focus on his speed, up his agility/dexterity stats until they're through the roof! He'll move to the song "You Can't Touch This," and when you ask him if he'd like to go light speed, he'd say light speed is never fast enough.

I've run into people who seem to think that they can move so fast you can't touch them. I'll quote Spaceballs now, something I'm sure everyone loves, and if you don't, you should be shot.

Sandurz: Prepare for light speed.

Helmet: No, no, light speed is too slow.

Sandurz: Light speed too slow?

Helmet: Yes, we'll have to go right to...Ludicrous speed!

Sandurz: Ludicrous speed! Sir, we've never gone that fast before. I don't think the ship can take it.

Helmet: What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz...CHICKEN?!

With that little snippet in mind, I think the majority actually do have this mentality--that light speed is never fast enough. Never mind that your opponent may be directing a hurricane in your direction with winds in excess of 386 kph (240 mph). Let's be honest, if you were on the Florida coast and you were at the peak of physical fitness and you tied yourself to a palm tree under the impression that you could weather the storm, that's your prerogative. But face it, it isn't that the wind is blowin', it's what the wind is blowin'. If a Volvo hits you at 386 kph+ (240 mph+) winds, it don't matter how many sit-ups you've done that morning*, it's gonna hurt.

Seriously, you aren't fast enough to outrun that. I don't expect a normal human being to be even capable of withstanding that much pressure. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule here, super-powers, magic, technological gadgets and so forth, but don't quite expect me to think you've got the kind of speed, or even the endurance to keep up that kind of speed, to evade and dodge anything moving that fast for an extended period of time, or even a short amount of time without some kind of object, device or power.

Yes, I know this is fantasy. Yes, I know we all have super powers, but what ever happened to some kind of limitations? A Chinese PL-12 air-to-air missile has a speed of Mach 4. A Chinese C.801 Anti-Ship cruise missile has a speed of Mach 8 at sea level. What does this say? It says you don't dodge or evade missiles, even on a good day, not unless you can pull off similar speeds, and in reality, considering the payload of some of these weapons, coming away alive just isn't happening even if you could dodge to the left in the split-second needed to get out of the way. Now, I know that most people aren't packing missiles, lasers or high-yield explosives in a duel, and that they don't even have weapons even capable of those speeds, but coming out of that alive just isn't feasible under any circumstance (unless you happen to be packing a massive blast shield, or even some kind of techno shielding gadget, then I suppose it is, but how many of us pack away one of those for a rainy day?).

So, back to my original thought, you aren't the fastest thing ever, you aren't capable of complete split-second movements, nor can you obtain speed-of-light as you break wind. Our characters might be super-powered, come with loads of stamina and endurance, but eventually they slow and get worn out, especially if you're facing someone of equal caliber in level to your own.

Where am I going with this? Well, it comes down to dodging everything. Lightning strikes could be deflected, but unless you have the capability built in, you aren't going to be dodging those. Much as you might like to, even in a fantasy realm, some aspects of reality and physics must sink through, otherwise what's the point? You can do anything, so why didn't you just slit your opponent's throat at the start with all that velocity you could attain? Because doing so would make it boring; it's also annoying and stupid for all parties involved if there isn't any real fight.

I can't say I haven't fallen for these pitfalls before either, or that I'm anywhere near perfect in my own right now, but at least I can come down to the conclusion that I at least try. We talk about fantasy, but what about some reality to the fantasy? Or are we just speeding away from the reality of that at light speed?

 

- W. Visarett

* Paraphrased/taken from comedian Ron White.

It Came From Outer Space!!!--What The Hell?! That’s Just Some Guy In A Suit!

It really hacks me off whenever people just invent new weapons, species, breeds, etc. without taking the time to explain just exactly why their character is like what it is. Let’s take for instance….a talking house pet, explain to me why it can talk, or better yet fight. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn-out explanation, but give me a reason as to why said character can do said extraordinary feats and allow me to actually enjoy what I’m reading.

I swear there have been instances where I would have rather poured acid in my own eyes as to read the crap some people write. Hell, just fall back on the excuse, “He is magic, so he can do that.” Yeah, it’s lame and cliché, but hell, it at least explains why your character is so craptastic.

Now, we move onto weapons. These are one of the most overlooked, yet well described pieces of role playing, at least in my opinion. It seems that some generation of role players just skipped over the fact that it is good to explain the weapons you are using. Alright, so there isn’t much to the land of swords and stones, but I’m talking about the high-tech gizmos that can blow up a star. Give me the specs on the power source, how can the gun hold so much energy without overloading. How does your magic integrate into the mecha’s system? Does it just “Magically” (pun intended) happen? Or is there a special modification to allow your magic to pulse throughout the machine?

I’m just saying explain it before you use it. That way, whenever you do blow up a star with it, people know why it can blow up a freakin’ star and they won’t accuse you of cheezing.

Disfunctional-- A better, more loving family.

Your mother, your father, your siblings, your friends, what the hell do they mean to you. Well possibly nothing but they might be the focus of your life. In a situation like that they’ll affect your writing in profound ways. You could end up involving your best friend in a story and only realize it when they ask if you based said character off of you. You’ll give them a weird look and then look at the piece of writing and laugh out loud. They’ll grin and laugh with you like a friend is supposed to and you’ll admit to basing the character off of them.

Now if you like to break clichés (We all do) your character will have a family and friends that will affect them. When you involve these family and friends they might sound familiar to you. There is a high chance that they’re your family and friends. You’re character’s bets friend could be killed and in reality your friend could have died recently. That may sound uncaring but it’s the truth, large events that happen in real life. I’ll cover that later though so I’m going to get away from that topic.

Now as you write about your characters over protective mother or their controlling father you might want to think about what this means. You’re calling on interaction with your family and your subconscious might be trying to tell you something about your life. Of course what does your subconscious know?

This is ahead of schedule so don't expect anything tomorrow dear readers.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

So, next up comes the biography of your character. In truth, this is probably the simplest thing to do, despite what people may tell you. I have three simple words to tell you on how to come up with a history for your characters: make shit up. It doesn't get simpler than that. I mean, sure you're planning out the characters' life, but in truth, you really are just making crap up as you go. Of course you should take into some consideration what kind of person you've set your character out to be, but it always comes back to those three words.

Other than that, not much I can say. So, go out, have fun and make something up.

 

- W. Visarett

One Day Every Month-Ah Shit! It’s Here Already?

Alright, I want to address the moods of a duel. I really don’t think people focus enough on actually setting the mood in a duel and looking into how it may help you pave a way to victory. Alright, look at it this way- with the first introduction you get the opportunity to set the mood of the duel, whether it be happy, sad, joking, serious, angsty, crazy, or absurd- you get to choose. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, how can this mood help me? Well, I’ll tell ya how damn it, give me time!

Sorry…Anyway, let’s take the mood of Joking for example. This one can be a real pain if you catch the right duelist. Some duelists just don’t know how to handle a joking realm-like the realm of Super1mm. A duel between him and Genesis Dragon isn’t short on Chickens that fight…You heard me, chickens….that fight. Even I would have a tough time devising a plan for this; you just don’t run into a lot of chickens in this day and age in dueling. I really have to give a hand to Super; he has used things such as a talking ordinarily-sized cat, fighting chickens, or a man named Cardiac (Yeah, I thought he might have a heart condition too) who uses playing cards to duel with. You know, Card-iac=Cards, uses ‘em to fight…Ah, you don’t care.

Anyway, let’s move to the other end of the spectrum. I recently played around with a twist in setting the mood. I’ll post my first paragraph to show you a switch.

The sky slowing darkened as if dieing against the shadow of the night. He watched as the blackness ate away the cold blue sky. Such an inescapable nightmare it can be at times, but sometimes it can give way to the simplicity and elegance that leave you speechless.

As the red dusk sun glowed upon the rolling hills and flowing rivers. The deep blue of the water faded into an inky black. The last of the gallant sun’s rays bounced from within its shallow depths refracting prisms of midnight light upon the dulling surroundings that claimed home nearby. The river had rolled across the landscape for ages, carving out a deep valley, met by two extremely green hills, equal in height. The rocks on the bed had been smoothed into crystals and rubies over the vast time they had resided there. It was a thing of splendor; the piece of land had long since been untouched by the murderous hands that were humankind. Its rolling fields of barley and wheat gave nourishment to the animal kingdom that called the area home. Up until now, it had been the perfect example of grace and exquisiteness, but unfortunately it would be destroyed in the blink of an eye. It would be represented by but a single grain of sand on the timeline of the Universe, in a matter of hours, it would become a wasteland.

So, as you can see I start off dark, notice the use of dark, deathly words and metaphors such as the sky dieing to the shadows of the night, etc. Using the negative words like nightmare, but yet the next paragraph goes on to explain a rather beautiful scene with a river and valley. Kind of confusing, right? Well I clear it up at the end with a bit more depression and destruction to make sure you know were I’m going.

Now you may ask, “How will this make the opponent change?” Alright, you remember Super from up above a few paragraphs? Probably not, I know how short of an attention span you all have. Well, he uses a lot of not-so-dark characters as mentioned above, yet faced with situation he falls into a perfect trap set up just by the intro. He is lured into using a dark marauder named The M Man, who seems to be a death-bringer of sorts. Also one of my favorite characters to combat…especially with the outlook that my character has towards death.

All you really need to know is how to set your opponent up, and hopefully he will fall into a category you know how to defend and overcome. That is the main case from setting the mood of the duel-placing your opponent in an environment that you are accustomed to, and hopefully giving you the other hand.

Corbow6

Cracked Mirrors -- 3 Steps to Fixing That

What's he look like? Eh, ugly, over-weight middle-aged and balding male character, whose weapon of choice is a loud voice, an itchy ass, a bottle of Ex-lax and a TV remote with batteries clad in his bathrobe, slippers, boxers and a hot-sauce stained stripped shirt. Best sword master in the world too! Wait...Are you telling me that...thing...is the best sword master in the universe? Isn't he supposed to be a tall man with board shoulders and a long shock of silver hair that cascades over those shoulders, with a hawkish nose and deep hazel eyes, with small, slim hands and a slight build? Naw, we don't want another pretty boy being our sword master.

Appearance is a funny thing. We all want to be the most beautiful things out there. Nobody is really a gritty sort of man, with bags under the sunken eyes and a hallow look to the face, or a woman with wrinkles or a plain face with a too-wide mouth. When we talk about the appearance of our characters, we talk about their looks, how attractive they are to the opposite sex. It's a bad habit for pretty much all role players, myself included, to make our character's the most beautiful things to walk the catwalk. But I want to see a new wave of characters that emanate both power and ability, but some sense of reality to them. To no longer be a pretty-boy (or girl), but be realistic. To have strange features that set them all about.

Female characters are (almost) always independent, powerful and sexy. Some aren't, but we don't see those too often. Male characters are (almost) always badass pretty-boys. It's like there is no opposite side to the spectrum, but I want to see it today--no yesterday. But of course, chances of that aren't likely. Anime and video games heavily influence new role-players to the scene, and of course the characters there are always handsome and wonderful and cunning and all things marvelous.

So, how do we go about fixing that? Well, as the entry says, I've got three sure-fire (I hope) steps to get away.

1) Make the character more realistic in looks. Give the guy a beer belly, even a slight one. Give the chick frizzled hair. Give them facial defections, like too-wide eyes, or hawkish/hooked noses. Big hands, small hands, big feet, small feet. Anything and everything can be done, and the end result will give your character more life.

2) Don't stick to that slim, muscular and exceptionally fit body-type. Space it out a bit. Be scrawny, wiry, over-weight or big-boned. Be petite or somewhat flabby or any kind of type in-between. To see the whole spectrum of human body-types would make things so much more interesting.

3) Be dull. What do I mean? Dull hair, dull eyes, dull expressions, bored and annoyed, with plain faces.

It's probably not the best advice, but it would create characters more original and full of life characters than the ones that currently populate the role plays and duels with their angsting pretty-boy (or girl) -ness. But maybe I'm asking too much? In the end, though, it's you who decide the appearance, so make it a good one. Remember, not everyone is, or has to be, a gorgeous character.

 

- W. Visarett