Forum:Skirmish Rules

The rules for Skirmishes are fairly straight forward, though fully wrapping your mind around their implications might be a little more difficult, so I advise you to read the following carefully and thoughtfully.

The problem posed by any kind of roleplay combat involving more than two opponents is finding a balance between the fair and the artificial; the realistic vs the playable. Multiple attempts have been made to surmount this problem by differently ordering the moves of each player, but each has met with failure. As a result this rule set attempts to do away with moves entirely, and approaches the situation from a new angle. As a result, when reading and carrying out the following, all prior notions of roleplay combat on this wiki should be thrown aside.

Procedure
Skirmishes is, at its heart, an attempt to bring cooperation and tactics to an aspect of roleplay traditionally dominated by the individual. This should be reflected in the following steps.

Step 1:
Find a team, and an opposition. At the moment Skirmishes permits only two members per team. Ideally each pair should be in good communication OOC.

Step 2:
A Skirmishes specific arena can be chosen by the members, or assigned by a moderator. Skirmish maps are smaller and more specific than their regular combat counterparts, which aids cooperation and team play. For the later phases, three moderators must be chosen (much like judges).

Step 3: Battle Phase I
Both teams determine and describe their starting point on the map along with any armor, weapons, or equipment they might be holding. Environmental factors, such as rain, may also be specified here. However, each team is limited to one of these. For example, team 1 might add that it is lightly raining on the map, while team 2 might add that it is early morning. Both cannot add to or contradict each other.

Step 4: Battle Phase II
Both teams will now proceed to separately write out the battle's first few minutes, taking into consideration everything available to them. At this phase they are not required to react to their opponent's moves whatsoever, beyond what was described in Phase I. Instead they should specifically describe their actions and their opponent's actions at the same time, as if viewing the battlefield not from the perspective of their characters, but from an omniscient one. For all intents and purposes, both sides are godmodding, and controlling the actions of their opponent's characters as well as their own. As such this is not an opportunity for everyone to describe how they've crushed their opponent, but rather how they've skillfully outmaneuvered them on the battlefield. Additionally, as this is only the first of four combat phases, this phase should be more concerned with the approach to the enemy and the first engagement. The capabilities of both teams should be taken into consideration, and the more fairly the battle is portrayed, the more fairness points your side will receive.

Step 5: Battle Phase III
At this point the moderators will read both portrayals of the battle so far and accept one as 'canon'. This portrayal will then set the stage for the next phase, from which point the battle will continue for both sides. As before the battle should be fairly portrayed, and both sides should use the opportunity to showcase their collaborative powers.

Step 6: Battle Phase IV
Again, the moderators will read both portrayals of the battle so far and accept one as 'canon'. This portrayal will then set the stage for the next phase, from which point the battle will continue for both sides. As before the battle should be fairly portrayed, and both sides should use the opportunity to showcase their collaborative powers.

Step 7: Battle Phase V
Again, the moderator will read both portrayals of the battle so far and accept one as 'canon'. This portrayal will then set the stage for the next phase, from which point the battle will continue for both sides. As before the battle should be fairly portrayed, and both sides should use the opportunity to showcase their collaborative powers.

Step 8: Battle Phase VI
This will be the final and conclusive post. As such both portrayals must finish the match in some manner. The moderators will select both which version is 'canon', and thereby which team is victorious.