Okay, Edited. It's still an overly excited post, but it's now better constructed than my first attempt at coherency.
It takes Chaos to move the world to Action.
Sounds like a good idea to me. I've toyed with trying to come up with something similar in the past. About the only thing I can offer is the idea of having an impartial GM in case of disputes - someone who can be the final arbiter/roll dice when the combatants can't agree on the outcome of an attack.
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
i think you have exposed one of the main issue in your opening examples .. our RP hero/villians are much more than simple the CoX powersets we have picked for our gaming ,your Hatesman vs Loup fight is all about the RP vision of the power of the two character ..their game lvls and powers are of litle matter to the RP ing of the fight.
Now i may be getting the wrong take on this but
from a RP point of view would it not be the case more often than not that the plot / script will determine who will win the fight , and its a case of RP the action and "special effects" of the fight?..more like choreographing the scene. In which case you could storyboard it between the players adding in each persons signiture moves / attacks like a movie .
OR are you looking for a out of game system to randomly calulate the fights out come ? in which case there are on the web a number of sites that will genarate random dice roll results for you , but i have no idea how you could possible figure in all the various attack , defence , cunning plan , power of the one ring ,etc. factors in to give a result , you would have to detail the RP image of the character in massive detail .... much easier to just PvP in game and get someone to watch and make notes .
I hope you do get some good ideas , as you say , its a RP area we tend to negelect when it should be a comman event ..
The idea is good but I think it could quickly turn into the usual Pocket D roleplaying/Godmodding fights aswell
A tricky one. Forum RP is nice and descriptive but it's sloooooooow. And for those times when you need the event relayed to the world at large the next day, innappropriate. However on the other hand, in game PvP can be too fast and unless you want to trawl through combat logs it may not be too clear exactly what happened when. Plus also, you're restricted to in-game powersets which means that ripping up that lamp-post and thwacking your foe with it is out of the question.
I have had one idea and it's still one I'm keen to try out sometime. The Militia site has a chatroom facility which could allow for much quicker interaction between foes. Two people (or more) could log in and RP the match between them, keeping the descriptions nice and short. Once the fight is laid out, one could then copy the log and revise it, adding in descriptions, reactions, thoughts etc just as a collaborative story would be. Both players review it and agree before posting.
There could even be a moderator or referee observing as has been suggested to either judge between the combatants or to throw in events from their environment while they battle. If you fancy trying this some time, I'd like to give it a go myself.
But I'm curious to see what others come up with as well. 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Interestingly enough there was a battle between Pistol and Edward way back when in the Thugz mansion topic.
While it looks like it's an RP battle, it's actually a fight that happened in the arena but then stylised out to become an RP fight, sure Edward got his toosh kicked but it makes for some good readin.
Also the combat between Zero and Edward, if you look I've used descriptions of powers Edward has ingame, a abyssal flurry of punches is obviously Shadow Punch while the fire coming down his arms and surrounding his fists is actually hasten and the fire + shadow combined is actually smite while hasten is in effect.
I've often used Arena's or even warburg in one case (the nuking of Battle Unit Omega). I have to say both the fight with Pistol (2 MM's facing off, Edward lost, a lot) and the fight with Omega (a stand up, knock down, 10 minute slugfest where Edward and Omega stood toe to toe and just punched the hell out of each other, Edward won twice to none) were very interesting because both of them were more RP than PvP for the simple fact nobody was jumping around like a loon while in super speed which is highly common in actual PvP.
Badge Earned: Wing Clipper
A real showstopper!
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Here's my unpolished rule list to start us off:
<ul type="square">[*]OOC all participants must understand the potential powers of their opponents.[*]All characters should react in a way that makes sense within the Comic Book 'City of...' Universe, taking into account the powers of their opponents.[*]Players must agree not to God-Mod others and may not decide whether an attack hits an opponent nor its effects on them.[*]Players require consent from all involved for their character to use an un-blockable/un-dodgable attack, or a potentially lethal finishing move.[/list]Now, I'm not a true RP veteran like some of our players, so I don't really know how to lay down rules or even how to word them. Thus the above is simply an example that isn't perfectly worded nor complete. If anyone would like to disagree with any of these rules or alter them significantly please do be my guest so long as you have a good explanation to do so.
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Regarding rules, I think that the most essential thing you should establish beforehand is what a person is willing to have done to their character. So between the two combatants, agree what levels they're willing to go to. Will the fight be a friendly tussle, a scrap, a no-holds barred brawl or will there be a fatality at the end? Establish what each person is willing to agree to and stick with that.
As for deciding outcomes, unless there is a specific reason for one of the opponents to lose the fight, I would think that deciding who wins and loses before the fight begins would detract from some of the thrill of the battle.
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
In the past, when I've done fiction involving combat between mine and other peoples characters, we've actually RPed the combat scene over IRC. I then take that and transcribe it to story, and send it off to the other party for approval/changes. I find it works much better that way as it adds a level of uncertainty.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Hmmm, would anyone be able to create a browser based chat-server for RP Battles?
It takes Chaos to move the world to Action.
Double-post... stupid mistake.
Not being able to login to Cities is really messing with my head... What a drag. >_>
It takes Chaos to move the world to Action.
[ QUOTE ]
Hmmm, would anyone be able to create a browser based chat-server for RP Battles?
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Yep. There are plenty of free shoutbox applets available; or you can do it of MSN or similar also. Hell, you could even do it in a base or somewhere else private, over local chat, then transcribe the log.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Forum-played battles are awesome. These are the rules I'd use. The last one is purposely down to preferences. I usually arrange an actual fight in-game to determine the victor, or even record the fight and translate it to written fiction. But its also fun to just forum roleplay it all on the spot. Pious vs. Zero already happened in-game anyway, albeit out of character.
<ul type="square">[*]Participants must understand the potential powers of all characters involved.[*]Participants must establish beforehand, what they are not willing to have done to their characters.[*]Participants must agree not to God Moderate.[*]Participants must agree to unavoidable or fatal effects prior to the attack.[*]Participants may use in-game attacks and power effects as a point of reference.[*]Participants must agree beforehand how to conclude the fight, i.e. predetermining the victor.[/list]
Hey Fight Fans,
It's me, Hatesman and I have two of those open questions you all love to chime in on this time:
Firstly; Forum Player vs Player RolePlay, what's the best way to do it? I'm thinking without having to plan the fight moves before hand.
Definition: Forum Player vs Player RolePlay
[Noun] To conduct a battle between one or more characters using a Forum to post moves, often occuring during a forum RP story between two or more RolePlayers. See also: 'Awesome'
When writing the battle between Hatesman and Loup Garou a while back, I penned the draft and sent it to Netherwitch to edit as seen fit. It took us quite a while, because even though we had agreed important things before hand we decided to write it in one big chunk instead of doing it on the fly which, thanks to a lack of insight was impossible really.
Secondly: Is there a system of rules that we could use to outline a fair way to character battle?
Take the Moth Cathedral thread that I'm currently RPing in... you have the potential for some really sweet combat that could elevate to a Superman vs. Doomsday type of conflict if Pious and Psyborg Zero find themselves having a ruckus. However, if things were to get out of hand, it could end up with one of those situations where the fight goes on indefinately and they end up unleashing attacks that would nuke the city. This obviously poses many problems that I shan't go into and should be avoided even though it's a possibility if myself and Pious decided to have a God-Modding Ego-Hurling Deathmatch.
As for the battle between Loup and Hatesman, I used the analogy that if I was writing a scene of a man with a Sword and Shield versus Zeus almighty (or, between characters with significantly different power-levels) I'd have it mostly made up of the Sword and Shield dude doing some awesome dodging maneuvers, possibly having him escaping, before Zeus triumphs, just to try to make it look cool, even though it could have been written in one sentence: "Zeus raised a finger and GenericHeroSeven exploded into a ball of flames as he was struck by lightning, 'DUDE, no fair!' he cried as he melted into a puddle of goop."
So, I potentially want everyones opinions on formulating some set of rules within the MMO-Super-Powered RP Universe regarding battles in Forums. Because, if anything RP simply doesn't have enough Pew-Pew-Pew-Pew-Pew, which honestly, is what we all came for because Super-Powers are Awesome.
The reason for all of this? Well though I have noticed some very nice combat in the Unity Vigil thread just now where Bodicia the A.I. is constructing a very classy training simulation, but for the most part there's very little PvP combat ever gets RolePlayed here. It's always meetings and musings, which are all good and well, but at the end of the day, not as dramatic as a Sword-Fight on the top of a Skyscraper during a storm. I'm sure we can all appreciate how it will take a near-death or highly-dramatic experience in literature for characters to reveal their true identities anyway, the troubled soul behind the mask as it were.
I would ask a third question, but I know I can rely on the RP Veterans to give us whipper-snappers a history lesson on the other ways to get the job done, without even asking. <3
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Here's my unpolished rule list to start us off:
<ul type="square">[*]OOC all participants must understand the potential powers of their opponents.[*]All characters should react in a way that makes sense within the Comic Book 'City of...' Universe, taking into account the powers of their opponents.[*]Players must agree not to God-Mod others and may not decide whether an attack hits an opponent nor its effects on them.[*]Players require consent from all involved for their character to use an un-blockable/un-dodgable attack, or a potentially lethal finishing move.[/list]Now, I'm not a true RP veteran like some of our players, so I don't really know how to lay down rules or even how to word them. Thus the above is simply an example that isn't perfectly worded nor complete. If anyone would like to disagree with any of these rules or alter them significantly please do be my guest so long as you have a good explanation to do so.
(P.S. Sorry for the Guitar Hero style thread title. *Shamelessly Shreds-Out*)
It takes Chaos to move the world to Action.