The Beauty of Free Form

Ever found yourself in Gaming, eyes glued to the screen in anticipation of the next posts from a pair of role players using language so colorful, descriptions so meticulously laid out, and acting out events so moving that the vision that comes to your minds eye seems almost real, you feel as if you are there, and that it is actually happening? Well the role players are most likely well seasoned, and their style of playing is Free Form. Though many are intimidated by the form, there are less intricate rules to this style of RPing than what many people think. It revolves around details, vivid descriptions, and a storyline that both stimulates and captures the imagination. Creativity and imagery are what makes this style so appealing and captivating. I cannot stress enough the importance of attention to detail. Details are what define Free Form, from your basic every day activity type of RPing, to fighting, the details are everything.

In my humble, or maybe not so humble opinion, role playing should be done as a form of self expression to both play out an exciting plot and provide an in-depth portrayal of your character’s motivations and personality. Try to keep in mind their past, their tendencies, their mannerisms, all of that, when playing them. Be realistic as far as your character’s mien, demeanor, and habits. Keeping in mind the things that they would and would not do and being consistent in so doing are major components of portraying a realistic and solid character.

One major point of Free Form is the concept that the mun has complete control over everything that happens to his or her character. This makes it drastically different when comparing it to other methods of fighting such as the ::hit:: system. When fighting in Free Form, first and foremost, you decide whether or not your character even fights in the first place. Random squabbles are rare to be found in a FF community of RPers. A Free Form fight is always driven by a grudge of some sort or another held by the combatants against each other, this is the motivation, and as such, a Free Form fight will compliment the plot path your character is traveling down. Usually a Free Form fight is planned before hand, and caters carefully to the storyline. An example of this would be the fight between Darrian Nightshade and Tenkou Hell Demon that occurred at the resurrection of Tiphareth, whose soul was being stolen from Hell, thus the motive for the Tenkou’s appearance and attack on Darrian, the invoker or “thief”. Tenkou being the guard of the front gates of hell.

Going along with this concept of the mun having complete control, more specific rules of fighting are as follows:

The fight is turn based, true role playing style, so speed of typing has nothing to do with the outcome of the battle whatsoever. After all, how realistic would it be if a ladybug and a vampire fought each other, and the ladybug ended up winning because ladybug-mun had 120 WPM? You see how insane it is to correlate typing speed with the ability to win a fight. The realities must be paid attention, taking into account things other than typing speed, such as the size, race, speed, agility, strength, and power of your opponent. This is what we base winning and losing off of in Free Form. The stronger, quicker, most passionate fighter is the one who triumphs. And common sense is applied in the process of applying such rules. If you are a bug, you cannot hope to win against a vampire, so you be smart and do not attack one. You could also replace the word bug with mortal and see the same point being made. Common sense people. Use it and free your minds.

In the turn based system, usually the character hailing from the faster race makes the first attack, the approach and assault can be made in either one or two successive posts, though most people use only one, for later on more angles of the fight are added. One thing that must be kept in mind, you can only attempt to injure the other character. You make an attack but do not assume to have connected it. That is for the defender to decide. The mun has complete control, including control over whether or not their character sustains injury. Keeping in mind of course that if they chose to fight, they in so doing, chose also to be hurt at least some, because dodging every attack is technically an option, but if you do that, more likely than not, no one will ever fight you again, and you will be labeled as a moder, or even worse, a BAD RPer. You don’t want to get hurt, then DON’T FIGHT. It’s really that simple.

So the attempt to injure is made, the attacker posting something along the lines of:

::Tempest’s onyx twins glittered with maniacal evil as the vampiress flew forward at an ungodly speed, burgundy tresses whipping in the wind as air rushed past her sleek and powerful form. She hurled herself towards the angel, her opponent, much despised haughtily holy one, bringing Macabre, her wicked blade up and to her side, it’s serrated edge gleaming menacingly in the moonlight as she swung in a downward arc aimed to deliver a deep bloodied gash to the vulnerable flesh of his unarmored midsection::

Notice how I didn’t say she actually made contact, only that she aimed her sword at a certain place with intent to deliver a certain amount of damage. Then it is up to the angel to take or dodge the hit, and then counter by attempting an attack of his own against her, all in one turn, having the option of using as many posts as he wishes to accomplish this.

::Isaiah stood undaunted as he watched the quicker being hurl herself forward, supremely disgusted with her devilish lust for bloodshed, vowing before God not to rest until the evil one had been defeated. Grasping the handle of his shield in one powerful hand, he braced himself and maneuvered it down slightly until it was in a position to ward off the blunt of the blow::

That was the dodge, here comes the counter attack.

::His own blade, Holy Judgment, made to punish wicked creatures such as the one that he now faced off against, shone brilliantly as he lashed out toward Tempest’s left shoulder with force enough to slice nearly to the bone::

Of course I could have taken one post to do all of that, but it is up to the person playing as to how many they decide to take. You continue on until there is an obvious loser, and Free Form fights do not usually end in someone dying. After all, if both combatants survive, that leaves the possibility open for future encounters which serve to thicken the plot and enhance your story line. If you do wish your character to die however, although I am not really sure why you would, that is completely your decision.