Verbal Combat

One of the interesting parts about online roleplaying inside of MMOs is watching player creativity. Since characters in MMOs have varying levels and gear, when two players want their players to fight, it isn't always fair to just /duel and be done with it. Players have come up with interesting verbal combat systems using chat alone. Here's how it works:

"My elf thrusts with his rapier, lunging in a fierce attack!"

"My paladin dodges to the side, the rapier cleanly piercing his cloak, leaving a one-foot gash in it. In return, he spins, and swings his hammer low."

"My elf notices that, and plants a foot on the hammer as it swings by, backflipping ten feet away. The landing left him off balance, so he takes a moment to right himself."

"My paladin charges...."

George hates these fights, and thinks they are lame. I enjoy watching them, and all the creative moves players come up with, even if they are sometimes silly. Needless to say, they are strange affairs, and if handled improperly, lead to misunderstandings and fights. Watching people mature enough to play through is rare, but always fun.

Good verbal combat involves a tiny "loss" if you dodge an attack, such as the gash in the cloak, or the elf landing off balance. These little losses add up, and good verbal sparring actually increases the amount of the loss, or the amount of risk generated in accepting it. It is an interesting price to pay for avoiding a blow, and even taking a blow can be considered a loss after a while. Great players will fight on after one or two blows, and usually the third time is the knockout.

As a fight goes on, one side or the other will 'know' when they are defeated, and prepare for the end. Usually, these fights don't end in death, possibly a wounded escape, capture, or some other meaningful loss to RP. Perhaps the 'story' that led them to fight will be 'won' by the victor, and then revenge will be plotted, and another epic fight setup sometime in the future.

Verbal combat has never really been done too well outside of MMOs. There are a couple of pen-and-paper systems that rely on verbal stunting, and other systems that award dice for creative combat moves, but none really that setup the rules for verbal fights, tell people of the way it works, and then let them go to town. It is an interesting invention inside of the limited world of MMOs, and worth understanding from a purely self-built game mechanic point of view.