The bar is often attacked. People often go to its defence. We've had some debacles in the past.
Why don't we discuss good fighting tactics (IC; as in, how to position ourselves etc rather than how to pull blows) here?
Comment about good tactical practice invited from non-TTers too.
The bar used to be shaped something like the below (t = table, movable. b = bar, immovable. # = wall. / = door.)
############################
# b #
# b t t t #
# bb t t t #
# bb t t t #
# bb #
# __________#
/ | OOC #
/ tttt | AREA #
############################
Our traditional solution has been tables across the doorway, or at least making some kind of barricade. Staves over the top, swords at the sides. But that kind of turns the Wessex Arms into a warzone rather than a bar. Is there some easier or less obstructive way of protecting the inhabitants?
- I rather liked the system we had where we put the tables so you had to walk in an S shape to get in. Not obstructive to a drinker but means invaders have to run a gauntlet. Also means there is still reasonable OC fire safety. --Pufferfish
- That's actually more defensible than a straight barricade, if I understand you correctly. --Requiem
How could we make a sally (if, say, there were a necromancer standing outside summoning waves of invaders) without losing defence for the bar itself? Is it a problem if the bar is only weakly defended?
How many people (numbers and classses) does it take to defend properly? How does this relate to the number of combative regulars?
- From this week's experience (28/5/05), two staff-armed people (Sesqui and Sarah) and a table can just about defend the bar against skeleton / zombie attack without injury. Add Borric and they can confidently take a wave of undead unless he gets paralysed, cause a man with a shield can stop an advance. Add Kiram... yeah. Quads by polearm are what we call scary. Magical aid is good, especially Glue if there are long weapons available, as it allows a single monster to be quickly destroyed. Eric's fire stuff is really quite scary, too. --Requiem
Should there be someone in charge of the bar's defence - as in, someone who directs people during combat?
- I'm inclined to think not - it would probably make the defence marginally more effective, but I suspect it would lead to strife. If someone *is* yelling instructions in a fight it's usually a good idea to follow them, though --Jacob
- I think it *can* work, especially if the co-ordinator is a priest with Halt and Stasis as it allows those miracles to be used to great effect. Unfortunately it requires everyone to watch and listen and so I suspect it only works with a linear party --Pufferfish
Just a copy and paste from the old TT website. Hopefully we'll get something like this back on over the summer.
The 5 Rules of Combat are:
- If "Man Down" is called, stop fighting instantly and stand still. This call is used if someone is hurt in Real Life and prevents further damage being caused. After the situation has been resolved, a Ref will count down from three to "Time In" and combat may resume. "Man Down" is the most important call in larp.
- Use your weapon correctly. All larp weapons have safe and unsafe ways in which they can be used. A detailed list is given here for each type of weapon, but the main thing is to remember that it is a game. Your character may be fighting for their life, but that doesn't give you an excuse to actually injure the Real Person that you are fighting with.
- Always pull your blows. Pulling a blow means inhibiting it so that the weapon has minimal force behind it when it makes contact with the other person. You will learn how to do this at weapons practice but it can be easy to get carried away and forget in the heat of the moment and so you need to remain aware of blow-pulling as you fight. The easiest way to make yourself pull your blows is to imagine that your opponent is surrounded by a very strong, hard force-field about 8 inches away from their body and aim for that instead.
- Do not "machine-gun". "Machine-gunning" means forgetting that your light foam weapon is meant to represent a large, heavy real weapon and therefore moving it too fast. Machine-gunning might seem like a good idea because you get to land extra blows on your opposition, but it is both cheating and (more to the point) unsafe. Machine-gunned blows are almost never pulled, because there isn't time to slow them. They are also uncontrolled, so there is a far greater chance of the blade ending up somewhere unpleasant. While a latex sword is not going to cut someones' head off, it can leave a nasty bruise across the shins if it is whirled around at random and for this reason no-one will want to fight a machine-gunner. As a guideline, if you cannot say your damage calls fast enough to keep up with your attacks then you are definitely machine-gunning and need to half your speed. This goes for priests and mages who gabble through their spell/miracle vocals too.
- Take your damage. Even the best fighters get hit occasionally, and if someone casts a spell or miracle at you there is very little that you can do about it unless you already have the right protection up. If you ignore successful attacks that are made on you (yes, we know that sometimes it really does hit your cloak rather than your leg, and that spell vocals can be hard to hear in a noisy fight, but we also know how frequently that actually occurs and that good roleplayers are usually prepared to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt) then you can expect people to hit you harder next time to get your attention. To prevent this happening and to make the game better, you should always roleplay your damage - even a minor wound is going to sting and get your attention, while a heavy blow should send you staggering back in "pain". Your opponent should also be doing the same. Don't forget that badly damaged legs tend to stop bearing weight and badly damaged arms find it difficult to hold a sword; (at the same time, it is OK to stagger back a bit out of the front line before you collapse, or you risk getting trampled in the melee and actually injured)