This is a turn-based, timed fighting style. Each opponent will have 35 seconds to respond to each turn. If the post is made after the 35-second mark, then it is considered null and void, and no further action may be taken until the next round. Each person will use time stamped text while in combat, and preferably will have a judge present during combat as well. If no judge is available, the official of the city must review the time stamped battle. No outcome will be determined until such an official does so. Keep in mind that if both participants do not have time stamping, then a witness with time stamping must be present so that both texts can be reviewed as to their authenticity. This is the basic of this combat, but some alterations will be made for different cases. A round of combat is determined by turns. Each turn is a single post by an attacker or defender, after which the respondent has the chance to defend himself or herself and/or attack. Both turns together are considered one complete round of melee. Each turn shall consist of one of the following combinations for it to be a valid turn.

1. An Offensive and a Neutral action.

2. A Defensive and a Neutral action.

3. An Offensive and Defensive action.

4. An Offensive and Defensive and Neutral action.

An Offensive action is an action that directly affects one’s opponent to your advantage.

Example: swings to the side of the head with my sword.

Notice that the action names what is taking place, and where that action is aimed.

A Defensive action is an action that directly affects any Offensive action made by an opponent.

Example: (This is in defensive of the above offensive example.) Raises my blade, blocking the strike to my head.

A Neutral action is any action that does not directly affect one’s opponent, the key being directly as all actions in combat will affect an opponent in some form, but in this case it Indirectly affects them.

Examples: Twists my body to the left…. Moves to the right side…Unsheathes my sword holding it defensively…

It should be noted that one could do any number of Neutral actions in a turn as long as time permits.

Note: running away is not considered a Neutral action, it is considered a defensive action.

To initiate combat, one must still state their intention and target clearly in their 1st post. Merely touching a weapon/binding while addressing a specific person is considered to be enough to initiate capture/combat. Do not threaten in such a manner unless you are prepared for the consequences.

Example: Drawing my sword from its sheath, I move towards the Kurr.

This indicates by both neutral actions that combat has been initiated. It also marks the beginning of time in the melee. No longer will you be able to simply sit and wade through IM’s. You must pay attention in the room. If an opponent initiates combat and you miss it and do not respond within 35 seconds, then you will face the consequences. The only time this will become null and void is if you can show plainly in the text prior to initiated combat, that you were BRB or AFK.

Just as my prior combat rules for T5, a mortal wound cannot be inflicted or binding cannot take place until the third round of combat.

Mortal Wounds: No longer will any slashing motion to the neck be considered a mortal wound unless the post describes it properly. Even a slash to the neck may not be fatal if it is not properly done. So, to add to the flavor of the mortal wound, here is an example to give you an idea of what you must post to make it successfully considered one.

Good Example: "Slashes down to the throat aiming at the arterial vein." Or, "Swings my blade to the throat with enough force to sever the head."

Bad Example (will not count as a mortal wound): "swings my sword to the neck."

This post is too general and while it could be argued that any slash to the neck area is fatal, being a swordsman myself, I disagree and would like to see more effort in combat then the simple hack and slash we see today.

To further comment on mortal wounds, when Hit Points are being applied to combat, if a Mortal wound is successful, then all Hit Points are lost immediately, but the character is allowed one more turn after the mortal wound.

"It is said that even after one’s head has been cut off, he can still perform some function. This fact can be known from the examples of Nitta Yoshiada and Ono Doken. How shall one man be inferior to another? Mitani Jokyu said, "Even if a man be sick to death, he can bear up for two or three days."

The Hagakure

It will no longer be required that you follow your post with a post showing you hit your target, this will be determined by the Official of Combat. Secondly, it should be spelled out in your post to begin with.

Example of Old T5: "swings my blade to the neck."

"Watches as his head falls away"

This is not required now as each post will be descriptive and if not countered properly will have its effect.

Example: "Swings my blade with my right hand to the arterial vein in the throat while moving to the left."

We know this is a mortal wound, and if it is not blocked properly, the opponent will bleed to death within seconds. For the flavor of combat though, if you wish to follow it up afterwards, if you know your post was effective, then by all means be colorful. Your opponent will have one more turn of action. Even if he does not notice he is dying. In this case, let us say his post came after yours at 40 seconds, which is too late making it null and void.

(Reacting late to the above example) "Ducks underneath the swinging blade and brings my sword across your abdomen cutting away at your entrails."

(Your reaction could be) "Watches as his blood sprays from his neck as I turn to face him one last time, knowing it is the end for him."

I feel this will bring color to combat, but if you decide not to that is up to you, your mortal blow will count and he will die regardless of your next post reaction.

Multiple Melee

In this section we will discuss multiple attackers. Multiple fighters pose an altogether different challenge for those participating. Each post must still contain the basics as noted above, but time constraints will change due to the difficulty levels of fending off more then one attacker. The number of attackers will determine the length of time for response. I will list them below:

1 opponent vs. 2 attackers will be given this, 50 seconds to post while the two attackers will still have the same amount of time as normal, 35 seconds.

1 opponent vs. 3 attackers will be given 1 minute 20 seconds to respond to all 3 attackers who again still keep to 35 second posts.

The time variable allows for the difficulty of multiple attackers. The time of the fighter will start after the last post of the attackers. This may give some extra time, but not enough to notice as they will be more then likely posting close to simultaneously as their time to post will be the same.

Example of combat: Attacker1 [1:31:12am] from the front leaps in and punches to the nose.

Attacker2 [1:31:15am] from the left side throws a sidekick into the ribs.

(Note time starts from [1:31:15am] for defender’s response)

Defender [1:32:03am] with my left hand blocks the punch to the nose while my right elbow comes down on the foot of attacker2 blocking his foot, then dropping down sweeps with my right leg both attackers.

It should be noted that in the defender post, there are many actions taking place. It is a combination post for two attackers so it is allowable. As long as for each attacker in his post, he only defends once against each one and only attacks once towards each opponent, but in this case one simple attack was applied to both attackers, and both must react to that one singular attack. A combination attack could have been used.

IE: with my left hand blocks the punch to the nose (singular defense), bringing down my right elbow onto attacker2 foot (defensive post) blocking it, then drops down (neutral action) and sweeps attacker2 with my right leg (offensive move) and coming up (neutral action) upper cuts attacker1 in the gut (offensive action).

In this post you have a defensive + an Offensive + a Neutral action for each attacker. This is fine and a well-done combination, but let’s keep in mind, such a complex reaction maybe hard in the time allotted.

If there are more then 3 attackers then one could add an addition 30 seconds for each additional attacker for his or her post. I truly believe it is possible to defend more then one attacker, but also find it highly unlikely, and the regular Joe would fall to the hands of more then three. Keep it realistic when using multiple attackers.

Evade and Capture

Evading capture and capturing will be done in the following manner.

1. As before No binding may take place until the 3 round of capture melee.

Binding: does not include nets being thrown or bola and such as these can be avoiding by the slave or Free Woman during the round. Binding is as in being tied fast in binding straps or fiber or rope.

 

2. A Free Woman or slave may not post their final escape until the third round of evasion melee. This gives the slave or Free Woman an actual distance to escape. During melee, they may not god mode the actions of guards either. They must provide their own ingenuity.

The time for this type of melee will be 30 seconds per turn (post) for both sides. I would like to point out to both the Free Women and slaves, that fighting back is acceptable, though against a well-trained warrior may be in vain. A slave may also strike, bite, claw in hopes of evasion from the invading enemy of her Master’s home, but she must keep in mind, that once capture is over, if she is unsuccessful, she will be owned by those who have captured her. Her Master does however actually legally own her for a time period of one week after she is captured. There is however a period of a single day where in which she may attempt to escape without being considered a run-away slave.

"Theft or capture, if you prefer, conferred rights over me. I would belong to, and must fully serve, anyone into whose effective possession I came, even if it had been by theft. The original master, of course, has the right to try to recover his property, which remains technically his for a period of one week. If I were to flee the thief, however, after he has consolidated his hold on me, for example kept me for even a night, I could, actually in Gorean law, be counted as a runaway slave, from him, even though he did not technically own me yet, and punished accordingly."

Page 95 Dancer of Gor

 

If a slave or Free Woman is in BRB or AFK status the same rules of combat apply and she will have to show proof in a legitimate copy of text that she was away from her board prior to initiated melee. An Official of events will have to overview the text and unlike in the past, even if the slave is accepting her capture, it is to be considered null and void if the Official deems it such and the Prior Master may contest its validity within the first week.

 

 

Arena Combat

If the arena combat is to the death, then there is no difference in methods then from what is listed from above, other then the fact that an Official must be present at the time. A Timekeeper will also be present to watch the times and call out "Break!" if the time of a post exceeds 35 seconds. At this time the official will call out a count on the scores. But if this is for fighting slaves, and it is not to the death, then each slave will be awarded 25 Hit Points at the beginning of the match. I will keep this simplified for now, as this is a new system and I do not want to make it so complex that it is not easy to understand and enjoy. Once all Hit Points have been lost, then the combatant will loose consciousness.

A punch that is successful will be awarded 1 hit point of damage.

A Kick will give 2 points of damage.

A Strike with a Wooden object, (IE: Wooden Sword, Wooden Staff) will be 3 Points.

A Fatal Blow will be considered a technical knock out.

If this battle is to the death, then the Same Hit Points will be awarded, but as I mentioned above, a Fatal blow will cause one to lose all their hit points to the point of death, instead of knock out. Keep in mind, this is for fighting slaves in an arena. I did not set this up for Warriors in an Arena. If you wish to use the arena style for sparring though, feel free to do so.

If you are an assassin, and can prove at least 30 days of role-play to hunt your mark, starting with being hired, then you may combat with the element of Surprise given Assassins. This rule is simple, The Assassin may attack 1^st and does not need a judge present to do so, as all text and assassin information listed above will be reviewed by an official of the city. The text should be edited slightly by the assassin to keep the name or names of the said person who hired them confidential. The opponent of such an assassin is limited in the first two rounds to 20-second responses that must contain all the basic elements of this type of combat. The Assassin however having the element of surprise still has 35 seconds to post on each turn of melee.