Post by Hero on Apr 16, 2018 23:28:44 GMT
Logical Turn-based combat,
An introduction
Some of you may be familiar with the system of combat we use here, others of you may not. Therefore I've decided to draft a relatively brief description of the system. Frankly, I could spend hours going on about the way TBL works in ideal situations, however I'll avoid getting too complicated. For the most part, it's a fairly simple set of rules adaptable to the situation and setting you choose to play in. This specific guideline will be geared a bit toward our general expectations.
The basic principle of TBL is in the name: logic. This is ultimately what makes the system adaptive. The idea behind combat is that your actions must be logical in the setting that you're playing in. You need to look at what people do and don't do in the series, universe, story, and apply at least a little bit of real-life knowledge to it.
Keep in mind that in the scope of Aethera, while some planets/areas/worlds don't require TBL as it is optional, others will. This will be outlined in future threads of information.
Rule #1: Assumptions in TBL
These are the core of everything that follows in this guide. These rules have to be true no matter the setting if you intend to utilize TBL to a sensible level.
1. Assumption 1: All characters perceive time the same way.
2. Assumption 2: Everything can be blocked or evaded.
4. Assumption 3: Setting matters.
Rule #2: Logic is Everything
The core of TBL is logic.
For example, obviously people are more nimble in Naruto. They can twist and turn more than the average chump. However, that doesn't mean physics is tossed to the wind. Obviously things like momentum, power, timing, distance are still extremely important. This is particularly important to keep in mind. These details can make or break a battle, especially depending on the setting at hand
Be reasonable. You run full speed at an opponent, you won't be able to just stop on a dime. You swing your sword, you likely create an opening somewhere. That place may be harder to defend than other places.
The more detailed you are, the less likely you are to end up in an argument. Keep in mind, it's possible that arguments will still happen. That's where moderators and admins will step in to help. Just keep things civil during the process. Depending on the setting the logic, while slightly askew, will still be applied there. If you take a sword to the face? It's probably going to cut you.
These facts are probably true everywhere. Count on them.
Rule #3: All-else Equal
This comes up a lot, especially outside of isolated storylines, something that should matter on any forum. And that is the question of comparable strengths and weaknesses. Stats so-to-speak. Some systems use it, TBL doesn't. The basic concept in TBL is that two averagely built men with comparable focus are always going to perform at about the same level. This prevents hiccups regarding what constitutes a stronger character. It's not likely that with two similar characters, either would be able to claim theirs is faster or stronger without more behind their statement. That doesn't mean you can't ever claim a stronger or faster character. You just need to keep some things in mind and be tactful when you do it.
For example, my character is 7 feet tall and 300 pounds. Chances are, he's going to be stronger, more solid, and likely slower than a 5'6" character that weighs about 150. And it's likely to be substantial. Additionally, there are magic and charms that may enhance certain traits, evening the playing field or tipping it more dramatically one way or another. It's all a matter of trade-offs. In the end, TBL seeks to create guide combat where power isn't determined by the character but rather by the player and their skill themselves.
Overall, this is yet another area where logic comes into play. Be careful if you claim a stronger or faster character. You need to be able to back it up. And more often than not, it won't be a drastic difference. For more detail on this, the trade-offs section next will clarify.
Rule #4: Trade-offs
(To preface this section, my limited take on T1 has left me to believe this is the greatest point in which T1 and TBL differ.)
TBL functions on a basic principle that no individual is more powerful than another. That no equal attack will trump another. Again—all else equal. That said, logic is the overriding principle in this. And through that, actions can be taken or variables can be traded in order to optimize.
Keep in mind, that TBL (and frankly, T1) functions best at lower tiers of power. So, generally, any of these trade-offs are marginal (this means no character and no attack will ever be too fast, strong, dangerous to see or account for: see Assumption 2). This is especially true in a fantasy setting where a scrawny 5-foot-tall character can pack as much physical power as a 15-foot-tall character. This is where character builds come into mind, and some settings are more supportive of these strengths and weaknesses than others. But keep in mind, regardless of the setting, the more variables you can stack in your favor, the stronger your argument is for greater power.
That out of the way, what can be traded off for power?
Time: This is the most obvious, and perhaps the easiest to measure. If you charge up an attack, you can argue more power in your favor. In TBL, this can be a matter of seconds, to a post, to any number of posts. Marginal power can be gained by trading seconds. This is logic at play. Be reasonable. If I accrue magic for 4 seconds while you charge me, I’m going to pack more punch than if I’m just shooting fireballs out off-the-cuff. This can be done within the scope a single round. This could be anything, from a wind up, to a steady feed of magic into an attack, to a spin leading into a slice.
Preps: The largest unit of a charge, and most significant, is a full-post charge (AKA Preps in T1). This separates itself some from the semi-realistic measurement to something more in the metagame. In reality, if you choose to forego an entire round of attack, you get a greater claim to power than someone else who chooses to take action. Your attack cannot simply be shrugged off with anything less than a full round charge. (Keep in mind here that a full round means one full, completed round of charging— that charge being available the next round)
An introduction
Some of you may be familiar with the system of combat we use here, others of you may not. Therefore I've decided to draft a relatively brief description of the system. Frankly, I could spend hours going on about the way TBL works in ideal situations, however I'll avoid getting too complicated. For the most part, it's a fairly simple set of rules adaptable to the situation and setting you choose to play in. This specific guideline will be geared a bit toward our general expectations.
The basic principle of TBL is in the name: logic. This is ultimately what makes the system adaptive. The idea behind combat is that your actions must be logical in the setting that you're playing in. You need to look at what people do and don't do in the series, universe, story, and apply at least a little bit of real-life knowledge to it.
Keep in mind that in the scope of Aethera, while some planets/areas/worlds don't require TBL as it is optional, others will. This will be outlined in future threads of information.
Rule #1: Assumptions in TBL
These are the core of everything that follows in this guide. These rules have to be true no matter the setting if you intend to utilize TBL to a sensible level.
1. Assumption 1: All characters perceive time the same way.
- This is arguably the most critical assumption. TBL relies on factoring in the passage of time into any action.
- Technically speaking, you can do as much or little in a post, but the time spent in your post matters.
- The passage of time cannot be altered. The speed at which someone acts can be, but time is time, and this is treated relatively realistically.
2. Assumption 2: Everything can be blocked or evaded.
- People struggle with this one. This does not mean there will never be a situation that is unavoidable, but if a character has the time or ability to anticipate an attack in that setting, they can act.
- This is critical with custom ability sets. Woe is the dude who thinks lightning is undodgeable because it is lightning. Nearly all of the time, if someone can shoot lightning from their fingertips, you can probably assume there is precedent for someone anticipating and blocking or evading.
- The purpose of this assumption is to make the fight about logical outcomes and skill, not power sets. When power sets become the cornerstone of winning or losing, it usually gets messy. There's no such thing as an unstoppable attack or unbreakable defense.
4. Assumption 3: Setting matters.
- The viability of any combat system, be it TBL or T1, depends on a system in place to clarify issues as they arise. Frankly, this works best when all parties understand how the physics in the setting works.
- The more these rules are arranged in advance, the fewer problems you will encounter.
- No two fantasy worlds are identical. What flies in one doesn't necessarily fly in the other.
- Seek precedent when dealing with these problems, or seek someone who can clarify precedent in the setting.
Rule #2: Logic is Everything
The core of TBL is logic.
For example, obviously people are more nimble in Naruto. They can twist and turn more than the average chump. However, that doesn't mean physics is tossed to the wind. Obviously things like momentum, power, timing, distance are still extremely important. This is particularly important to keep in mind. These details can make or break a battle, especially depending on the setting at hand
Be reasonable. You run full speed at an opponent, you won't be able to just stop on a dime. You swing your sword, you likely create an opening somewhere. That place may be harder to defend than other places.
The more detailed you are, the less likely you are to end up in an argument. Keep in mind, it's possible that arguments will still happen. That's where moderators and admins will step in to help. Just keep things civil during the process. Depending on the setting the logic, while slightly askew, will still be applied there. If you take a sword to the face? It's probably going to cut you.
These facts are probably true everywhere. Count on them.
Rule #3: All-else Equal
This comes up a lot, especially outside of isolated storylines, something that should matter on any forum. And that is the question of comparable strengths and weaknesses. Stats so-to-speak. Some systems use it, TBL doesn't. The basic concept in TBL is that two averagely built men with comparable focus are always going to perform at about the same level. This prevents hiccups regarding what constitutes a stronger character. It's not likely that with two similar characters, either would be able to claim theirs is faster or stronger without more behind their statement. That doesn't mean you can't ever claim a stronger or faster character. You just need to keep some things in mind and be tactful when you do it.
For example, my character is 7 feet tall and 300 pounds. Chances are, he's going to be stronger, more solid, and likely slower than a 5'6" character that weighs about 150. And it's likely to be substantial. Additionally, there are magic and charms that may enhance certain traits, evening the playing field or tipping it more dramatically one way or another. It's all a matter of trade-offs. In the end, TBL seeks to create guide combat where power isn't determined by the character but rather by the player and their skill themselves.
Overall, this is yet another area where logic comes into play. Be careful if you claim a stronger or faster character. You need to be able to back it up. And more often than not, it won't be a drastic difference. For more detail on this, the trade-offs section next will clarify.
Rule #4: Trade-offs
(To preface this section, my limited take on T1 has left me to believe this is the greatest point in which T1 and TBL differ.)
TBL functions on a basic principle that no individual is more powerful than another. That no equal attack will trump another. Again—all else equal. That said, logic is the overriding principle in this. And through that, actions can be taken or variables can be traded in order to optimize.
Keep in mind, that TBL (and frankly, T1) functions best at lower tiers of power. So, generally, any of these trade-offs are marginal (this means no character and no attack will ever be too fast, strong, dangerous to see or account for: see Assumption 2). This is especially true in a fantasy setting where a scrawny 5-foot-tall character can pack as much physical power as a 15-foot-tall character. This is where character builds come into mind, and some settings are more supportive of these strengths and weaknesses than others. But keep in mind, regardless of the setting, the more variables you can stack in your favor, the stronger your argument is for greater power.
- What can extra power mean?
- An attack that nears the upper limit of that setting (read: less than the upper limit)
- An attack packing more power, thereby breaking through or negating another attack
- More damage rendered
- Greater range or size
- Insert other logical results here
That out of the way, what can be traded off for power?
Time: This is the most obvious, and perhaps the easiest to measure. If you charge up an attack, you can argue more power in your favor. In TBL, this can be a matter of seconds, to a post, to any number of posts. Marginal power can be gained by trading seconds. This is logic at play. Be reasonable. If I accrue magic for 4 seconds while you charge me, I’m going to pack more punch than if I’m just shooting fireballs out off-the-cuff. This can be done within the scope a single round. This could be anything, from a wind up, to a steady feed of magic into an attack, to a spin leading into a slice.
Preps: The largest unit of a charge, and most significant, is a full-post charge (AKA Preps in T1). This separates itself some from the semi-realistic measurement to something more in the metagame. In reality, if you choose to forego an entire round of attack, you get a greater claim to power than someone else who chooses to take action. Your attack cannot simply be shrugged off with anything less than a full round charge. (Keep in mind here that a full round means one full, completed round of charging— that charge being available the next round)
- Allocating an entire round to a prep is going to limit what you can do in a round.
- You can evade, move around, even attack or defend some.
- But the second you tap your magical supply, you’re gone.
- Similar to T1, preps do not queue up anything-goes attacks. Your prep needs to fit what you’re casting, and this should be mostly clear from your indications in your post.
• This doesn’t mean that you prep every micro-action, either. But the class of attack, the location of your strike matters. You can build energy in your arm for some sort of arm-driven attack. You can channel chakra through your body to ready a last-ditch shield you put up to protect yourself. But that shield could be channeled to a particular location over your body in anticipation of a particular strike. TL:DR, be logical about it. Make sure that when you start prepping, you have an endgame in mind.
• Ex.: You can’t prep energy into your arm, then lay down a superpowered drop kick.
• Using a third party to record what you’re prepping is a good way to avoid disputes here.
Advantages: Advantages in TBL come in a broad stroke. These can be buffs that are passively placed on your character. They can also be elemental advantages. They can vary from setting to setting.
Damage: An age-old trade-off for extra power or to push the limits of what is typically reasonable is self-inflicted harm.
Power can be traded away as well for effect, most commonly for spread damage or AoE.
The reality of this, in any system, is there’s no perfect measure. TBL chooses to permit folks to trade off a great deal for power. Ultimately, the argument about how much power an attack packs is always an argument, whether you’re exclusively charging entire rounds or if you’re trading of self-inflicted harm. Power struggles will rarely be the deciding element in MP, especially when logic dictates effects.
At the end of the day, play it safe. The best way to decide who wins a struggle is not about whose attack is more powerful, but rather, whose attack landed best, in the most detrimental location. A stab in the face is probably fatal with no trade-off. When in doubt, stab people in the face.
Rule #5: Wayyyy too much going on in that post!
This has been something a little more visible lately across forums and it's extremely important that this be addressed in this write-up. Under a TBL system, you need to keep things simple. TBL functions slightly on the principle of post count (for example an attack might take two or three turns to prepare), but that can be thrown out the window if your character runs laps around the field, launches pillars of fire, has a sword fight with a random dude in the corner, and dances the night away all in the same post.
You need to cut down what you do. It's not that difficult. There's no simple "one action per post rule" because that isn't always a reasonable expectation. However, you need to minimize. For example, charging at your opponent, casting one technique to lead into a physical attack, and then doing the physical attack is fine. The important thing is that it's easy to understand— as much as possible anyway. Try to never drift far over three significant actions in a post, and only one of which should really be an attack. It doesn't hurt to wait until the next round to follow up! In fact, it'll usually work more in your favor.
Time does not simply run by the duration of posts (3 posts isn't necessarily always 3 minutes of action), it's all relative to what you do in each post. If you do a lot in one post, your opponent may be able to justify 5 minutes of action and interrupt you at any point over the course of what you do. This shouldn't be very difficult to understand, just use common sense in your posts. If your opponent runs up a wall, around a corner, over a barrel in their post and you simply throw a knife in an attempt to interrupt, you will, without a doubt, finish before they do.
Rule #6: Combat Rewinds
This issue is something that even incredibly competent players can run into problems with, so it's a pretty important detail to cover here. Anytime you take back an action in your post, you need to be extremely wary that in many situations, you can't.
Combat rewinds are not always against the rules. You just need to know when and where they're appropriate. Combat rewinds come into play when opponents omit information (See Hiding Things, coming up next). If your opponent omits information that your character would have been able to discern, then a combat rewind is permitted.
To clarify:
Be reasonable. The more your opponent hints at something coming in their post, the less leverage you’ll have to be surprised when it comes. If they tell outright you something’s coming, you’re shit-outta-luck. That said, if the hints are vague and you consider the possibility of something in your posts, you can usually rationalize a rewind.
Just because you failed to account for something in your post doesn't mean you can backtrack. And you need to keep in mind that you can never ever take back certain things: most outstandingly, you can't take back hits you've taken. If you are punched in the face and you accept falling to the ground, you can't go back one round later and say "well, whoops, I didn't want to do that."
Rule #7: Hiding Things
In TBL, it's perfectly legitimate for you to try and sneak things in, to not make everything terribly obvious in your posts, but you need to keep in mind that this isn't a universally applicable card to play.
The rule of thumb is this: if you can justify your opponent not noticing it or seeing it, you can simply hint at what you did. YOU NEED SOME SORT OF WRITTEN HINT (like handseals, shifting of leylines, etc) in your post for it to be taken seriously later. If the hint is really obvious, you'll have a greater degree of leisure in how easily it can be applied (check back at Combat Rewinds for more on this). If you're unsure, inform a judge via PM beforehand to tell them what you're doing. We don't want to see people pulling things out of their ass, but at the same time, we don't expect you to play with all cards out on the table all of the time.
That said, if the opponent can justify NOTICING something ahead of time (EVEN if the post comes after the fact, in a situation where they may have walked into the trap), they can backtrack out of the action. This is something that's especially applicable with abilities such as the sixth sense, Spatial Awareness, the Mind's Eye, etc. It may not be obvious to the player, but it would be obvious to the character. In situations like that, so long as it is done tactfully, rolling back a post or round may be permitted.
For clarity, this means that something hidden can be something being prepared, as long as it's given some manor of a hint within the writing. For this to be taken seriously the action being prepared should be noted to the judges formally so that they can take it into account if worse comes to worst. Stealth prepping is a thing, easily abusable, and will be moderated.
Finally, everything prepared should align with its reasonability. You're not going to manipulate the water around you to create a fire blast. This is discussed at length in Trade-offs, on Preps.
Shortfalls of TBL & T1
1. Competitive Combat: This might sound counterintuitive for a system designed to regulate competitive combat. But in all honesty, in my twenty years as a competitive role-player, the best fights I’ve ever had were when we went in to just have fun. We could get competitive along the way, but we had no staked interest in winning or losing. We just played to play.
This is largely because logic isn’t always so smooth and single-faceted. The same set of facts in the hands of two people can result in two equally logical conclusions.
So often, a victory boils down to who argues best in the event of a disagreement.
The is mitigated some by bringing in third party arbitrators or judges to render opinions on a fight.
2. Overly Technical Combat / Theory-driven Combat: Being technical, using facts and evidence to defend your opinion in a fight is critical in TBL. But there are often people who overthink a matter. They over defend their opinion, get overly technical. To an extent this is fine, but in settings where theoretical math or science becomes a driving factor, this gets extremely messy.
You need to be able to fully understand the technology or concepts you apply. It’s easy to use a unique, prototype metal that might one day have XYZ applications. But with said prototype, it’s easy to overlook a great deal simply because some of those XYZ applications aren’t reality yet. This frequently might result in logical discrepancies, or worse, unexpected weaknesses an opponent might exploit after a cursory google search.
Outside of the scope of competitive TBL theorized elements for a fictional universe is understandable, however, within a battle of logic and wit, this is hardly applicable.
This comes back to a previous issue in competitive combat: theories, as sound as they might be, are often too easy to conflict. In most complex theories, there exist one or many conflicting theories that oppose it. This makes a logical conclusion hairy as actual fact might be scarce.
In summary,
The one thing that matters the most while adhering to the above rules is logic and respect. For generations there has been a fluctuation, much like a roller coaster, in both departments. Here on Aethera State we will cultivate a community that can understand the facets of TBL, and one that creates an environment to encourage conflict, whether it be scripted, or one of logical chess. Follow the above rules and you will be in good standing. Thanks and credit goes to Andrew Hesler for the development of this innovated new system, one that takes away harsh technicalities in-exchange for the substitute of sheer logic and to all others who paticipated in the testing of the system via The Hidden Village.
Enjoy.
• Ex.: You can’t prep energy into your arm, then lay down a superpowered drop kick.
• Using a third party to record what you’re prepping is a good way to avoid disputes here.
Advantages: Advantages in TBL come in a broad stroke. These can be buffs that are passively placed on your character. They can also be elemental advantages. They can vary from setting to setting.
- Advantages are marginal buffs, much like winding up an attack.
- When it comes to passive advantages, know the lore, know precedent. Most of the time, water trumps fire. Sometimes fire and water negate each other.
Advantages do not completely trump turns-prepped. Advantages work at a 1-to-1 level. Two equal attacks with equal power will follow the logical conclusion. - As soon as someone has a full turn prep in their corner, this erodes. This might require discussion on the part of participants to resolve.
Damage: An age-old trade-off for extra power or to push the limits of what is typically reasonable is self-inflicted harm.
- This is a marginal buff, so tread lightly here. There’s no catch-all damage-to-prep conversion. This is something that can be worked out in an individual setting. (I was always partial to losing the functional use of a limb = 1 prep.)
- Note, the cost here is high. Forethought > last minute, last ditch effort. This is by design.
- “Pain” is a crappy trade off that ultimately means nothing. Don’t bother with it. Be concrete in your trade-offs. If your trade-off is a cop-out, expect a cop-out worth of benefit.
Power can be traded away as well for effect, most commonly for spread damage or AoE.
- “Spread” is the operative word here. If you choose to widen the arc of your damage, the damage at any single point in that arc is reduced. A wide-area full-prep attack is going to be scaled down greatly if it covers a ninety degree arc, thirty meters deep.
- AoE attacks are rarely one-shots. They can be great surprises. Super pretty. Stunners. But don’t try to argue in favor of one-shotting anyone. See above.
The reality of this, in any system, is there’s no perfect measure. TBL chooses to permit folks to trade off a great deal for power. Ultimately, the argument about how much power an attack packs is always an argument, whether you’re exclusively charging entire rounds or if you’re trading of self-inflicted harm. Power struggles will rarely be the deciding element in MP, especially when logic dictates effects.
At the end of the day, play it safe. The best way to decide who wins a struggle is not about whose attack is more powerful, but rather, whose attack landed best, in the most detrimental location. A stab in the face is probably fatal with no trade-off. When in doubt, stab people in the face.
This has been something a little more visible lately across forums and it's extremely important that this be addressed in this write-up. Under a TBL system, you need to keep things simple. TBL functions slightly on the principle of post count (for example an attack might take two or three turns to prepare), but that can be thrown out the window if your character runs laps around the field, launches pillars of fire, has a sword fight with a random dude in the corner, and dances the night away all in the same post.
You need to cut down what you do. It's not that difficult. There's no simple "one action per post rule" because that isn't always a reasonable expectation. However, you need to minimize. For example, charging at your opponent, casting one technique to lead into a physical attack, and then doing the physical attack is fine. The important thing is that it's easy to understand— as much as possible anyway. Try to never drift far over three significant actions in a post, and only one of which should really be an attack. It doesn't hurt to wait until the next round to follow up! In fact, it'll usually work more in your favor.
Time does not simply run by the duration of posts (3 posts isn't necessarily always 3 minutes of action), it's all relative to what you do in each post. If you do a lot in one post, your opponent may be able to justify 5 minutes of action and interrupt you at any point over the course of what you do. This shouldn't be very difficult to understand, just use common sense in your posts. If your opponent runs up a wall, around a corner, over a barrel in their post and you simply throw a knife in an attempt to interrupt, you will, without a doubt, finish before they do.
Rule #6: Combat Rewinds
This issue is something that even incredibly competent players can run into problems with, so it's a pretty important detail to cover here. Anytime you take back an action in your post, you need to be extremely wary that in many situations, you can't.
Combat rewinds are not always against the rules. You just need to know when and where they're appropriate. Combat rewinds come into play when opponents omit information (See Hiding Things, coming up next). If your opponent omits information that your character would have been able to discern, then a combat rewind is permitted.
To clarify:
- Combat rewind is okay if, your opponent channeled an attack underground in your general direction. They gave few or no hints that “something” (usually left ambiguous) was happening in the ground.
- Combat rewind is not cool if, your opponent outright said he was channeling earth energy into the ground, readying a strike in your direction. In the face of this, your character decides to test his or her new acrobatic routine, leaping through the air, twisting, spinning, somersaulting, and flipping the distance between you. Your opponent, being anything-but-braindead, decides to launch spikes at you while you’re midair.
- Combat rewind is okay if, in the previous situation, you decided to carefully approach your opponent, keeping your attention loosely on the Earth beneath your feet.
Be reasonable. The more your opponent hints at something coming in their post, the less leverage you’ll have to be surprised when it comes. If they tell outright you something’s coming, you’re shit-outta-luck. That said, if the hints are vague and you consider the possibility of something in your posts, you can usually rationalize a rewind.
Just because you failed to account for something in your post doesn't mean you can backtrack. And you need to keep in mind that you can never ever take back certain things: most outstandingly, you can't take back hits you've taken. If you are punched in the face and you accept falling to the ground, you can't go back one round later and say "well, whoops, I didn't want to do that."
Rule #7: Hiding Things
In TBL, it's perfectly legitimate for you to try and sneak things in, to not make everything terribly obvious in your posts, but you need to keep in mind that this isn't a universally applicable card to play.
The rule of thumb is this: if you can justify your opponent not noticing it or seeing it, you can simply hint at what you did. YOU NEED SOME SORT OF WRITTEN HINT (like handseals, shifting of leylines, etc) in your post for it to be taken seriously later. If the hint is really obvious, you'll have a greater degree of leisure in how easily it can be applied (check back at Combat Rewinds for more on this). If you're unsure, inform a judge via PM beforehand to tell them what you're doing. We don't want to see people pulling things out of their ass, but at the same time, we don't expect you to play with all cards out on the table all of the time.
That said, if the opponent can justify NOTICING something ahead of time (EVEN if the post comes after the fact, in a situation where they may have walked into the trap), they can backtrack out of the action. This is something that's especially applicable with abilities such as the sixth sense, Spatial Awareness, the Mind's Eye, etc. It may not be obvious to the player, but it would be obvious to the character. In situations like that, so long as it is done tactfully, rolling back a post or round may be permitted.
For clarity, this means that something hidden can be something being prepared, as long as it's given some manor of a hint within the writing. For this to be taken seriously the action being prepared should be noted to the judges formally so that they can take it into account if worse comes to worst. Stealth prepping is a thing, easily abusable, and will be moderated.
Finally, everything prepared should align with its reasonability. You're not going to manipulate the water around you to create a fire blast. This is discussed at length in Trade-offs, on Preps.
Shortfalls of TBL & T1
1. Competitive Combat: This might sound counterintuitive for a system designed to regulate competitive combat. But in all honesty, in my twenty years as a competitive role-player, the best fights I’ve ever had were when we went in to just have fun. We could get competitive along the way, but we had no staked interest in winning or losing. We just played to play.
This is largely because logic isn’t always so smooth and single-faceted. The same set of facts in the hands of two people can result in two equally logical conclusions.
So often, a victory boils down to who argues best in the event of a disagreement.
The is mitigated some by bringing in third party arbitrators or judges to render opinions on a fight.
2. Overly Technical Combat / Theory-driven Combat: Being technical, using facts and evidence to defend your opinion in a fight is critical in TBL. But there are often people who overthink a matter. They over defend their opinion, get overly technical. To an extent this is fine, but in settings where theoretical math or science becomes a driving factor, this gets extremely messy.
You need to be able to fully understand the technology or concepts you apply. It’s easy to use a unique, prototype metal that might one day have XYZ applications. But with said prototype, it’s easy to overlook a great deal simply because some of those XYZ applications aren’t reality yet. This frequently might result in logical discrepancies, or worse, unexpected weaknesses an opponent might exploit after a cursory google search.
Outside of the scope of competitive TBL theorized elements for a fictional universe is understandable, however, within a battle of logic and wit, this is hardly applicable.
This comes back to a previous issue in competitive combat: theories, as sound as they might be, are often too easy to conflict. In most complex theories, there exist one or many conflicting theories that oppose it. This makes a logical conclusion hairy as actual fact might be scarce.
In summary,
The one thing that matters the most while adhering to the above rules is logic and respect. For generations there has been a fluctuation, much like a roller coaster, in both departments. Here on Aethera State we will cultivate a community that can understand the facets of TBL, and one that creates an environment to encourage conflict, whether it be scripted, or one of logical chess. Follow the above rules and you will be in good standing. Thanks and credit goes to Andrew Hesler for the development of this innovated new system, one that takes away harsh technicalities in-exchange for the substitute of sheer logic and to all others who paticipated in the testing of the system via The Hidden Village.
Enjoy.