How do you handle PvP combat in RP?

[Mollisol]

When you make a roleplay that's likely to involve player-controlled characters fighting one another frequently, how do you handle it? Do you use dice? Rock-paper-scissors? Is there a complex system you like? A simple one? Would you say it's best for players to work it out OOC rather than using a system?

(Don't feel obligated to answer this part, but I am looking for a rules-light way to do PvP combat for a group RP. If y'all have any ideas, I would love to hear.)

 

[The Mood is Write]

Hmm... I don't typically utilize rules for this sort of thing, but I will discuss it with whoever I'm playing with—we usually keep our fights short and determine the outcome based on what will be most interesting or most easily believed.

So, no real rules. Just the two 'combatants' figuring out what'll be best for the story.

However, if you're doing something like an arena-based RP, that might not always work, especially if it's a group—unless there's a deeper plot, like a mystery the players have to solve during the event—then the fights become a way to cripple other players and make the plot more difficult to achieve.

 

[Joan]

I've never actually written PvP combat properly, but after observing and developing my own roleplay style, I think I have a pretty good idea of some of the best ways to handle it (at least for me).

First off, dice are great and all, but I don't like the random element or the part where it can completely invalidate something cool somebody wanted to do or something like that. I much prefer when players are in fuller control of their actions.

With that said, I second what Mood said about planning things out OOC. Planning things is a must for anything like that, in my opinion. I would also recommend writing it out in a collab post.

 

[Aero Blue]

I'll answer from the context of more story-driven roleplay where player decision has most of the say, sans dice.

I typically subscribe to the idea that it should probably add 'value' to the ongoings of the plot in some way, and that starts even before the combat begins. Assumedly, you already know your character's traits and motivations, which then leads into "how do the two characters cross paths", and "why are they fighting?", "what does my character want out of this?"

And then the question: "What do I want my character to get out of this?"

Those questions help determine things like outcome, and the nature of the fight, because it's possible (desirable, actually) for both players to take something out of a fight, win or lose. Perhaps the haughty character gets humbled and thusly gets a nice helping of character development. Perhaps the victor savagely overwhelms his opponent, but the opponent was sacrificing himself to buy time - the victor may gleam an understanding of the concepts of 'friendship' and 'sacrifice', while the defeated character may have been normally cowardly-man undergoing some character growth.

Outcome-wise, you still want to factor things like logic, the character's own mentalities, strengths and weaknesses, of course.

 

[Greenie]

When you make a roleplay that's likely to involve player-controlled characters fighting one another frequently, how do you handle it? Do you use dice? Rock-paper-scissors? Is there a complex system you like? A simple one? Would you say it's best for players to work it out OOC rather than using a system?

(Don't feel obligated to answer this part, but I am looking for a rules-light way to do PvP combat for a group RP. If y'all have any ideas, I would love to hear.)

The roleplays I've been in, for the most part combat was usually decided according to what the actual players wanted. For example, if you wanted your character to get hurt then it would, but if you wanted the opposite, that was easy as well, ie to get away from any situation scott free. The problem with that is that unless you're a completely unbiased player and looking at things realistically, your character is going to end up escaping any type of fight unscathed.

I have been in a few roleplays that had dice involved which I do prefer as it's more reliable than discretion. Along with dice, I do think that working things out in OOC with your opponent and the GMs is very useful. Not only can it make the combat more realistic but, well, roleplaying is ultimately writing together and it helps with keeping the flow in the accounts of what is happening.

 

[firejay1]

I'd mostly say two things: 1. Get reasonable people, 2. DISCUSS.

So, this is harder to do when you're in a group and you don't really know if people will be fair. So in that case I suppose a dice is alright, but I don't really understand dice things b/c a lot of people have DnD experience and I don't. I also don't like them because, as Joan mentioned above, they can sometimes invalidate certain cool things a character can do.

When you have a bunch of people in a room who you do think will be reasonable about combat ability, though, sometimes fine to let them have at it and figure out along the way how they want it to have worked out. In the case that it's an important/intense battle, however, you need need need to have them TALK to each other. No one, even someone reasonable, likes to just have their ass handed to them (even in the form of characters), and that shows. Approximately hashing out what's going to happen at the beginning, or better yet, okaying certain details with someone else as you're writing a response to their combat action makes scenes flow MUCH more smoothly, and prevents people from getting into fights about whose character is better and your character is too OP, etc.