RESOURCE Visualizing Combat

[Astaroth]

"We write what we know." "We write from life." You've heard these sayings and similar before, I'm sure.

It's no wonder, then, that one of the weak points most roleplayers admit to is combat and fight scenes. Most of us have never actually been in the middle of a castle siege, never participated in a samurai duel, and never been in a gang brawl. So when we write about those scenarios, how are we supposed to convey a good picture if we don't have the ability to visualize it in our own minds? Knowing what sword strokes look like (and how they are actually countered) adds a whole level of depth and opportunities to your combat scenes. Your character's movements transform from a whirl of indistinct attacks to a thrust, a parry, and a well-timed dodge.

Now, we can't all go out and politely ask some knights to murder each other for us, unfortunately. So what does that leave?

Video examples! :D Between martial arts schools, historical reenactment societies, and fitness groups, there are still a wide range of people who practice and show off combat skills and techniques. Even just a few minutes of checking out sparring matches can help you get an idea for what your character might do in a particular instance.

So, let's post some videos! I'll start us off.

This is one of my favorites. These guys are into hardcore beating each other with real swords, none of that Hollywood stuff.

Although this demo is for commercial promotion, it does show off both Western and Japanese swordplay. It's really more worth it for the guy demo-ing Western swords though, for the info he gives on differences between combat in the movies versus actual sword-fighting.

These guys might be dressed funny, but they show off a fairly wide range of sparring, including unarmed wrestling, daggers, polearms, and swords- in and out of armor.

This gives a good idea of the discrepancies in long-range versus close-range melee arms.

And one more video of sparring with swords!

Next time I'll try to post some examples of something different, like Eastern fighting styles or unarmed combat. In the meantime, FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR OWN VIDEOS! You can post fight scenes from movies, too.

 

[Zen]

This video is good for Fantasy action scenes that don't really adhere to physics. I'd mostly use this for inspiration for fight moves and things of that nature. It's about 30 minutes long, but it's several episodes merged into one.

Also if you're a fan of Final Fantasy, Capcom, or Kingdom Hearts... Yeaaaaaah, you'll love this.

 

[Zen]

Fans of Megaman, shit your pants.

Fans of Halo and Samus, here ya go.

 

[Astaroth]

And Zen, with her last video, has anticipated that my next Resource would be "Visualizing Club Dancing".

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Hecatoncheires]

This is a sweet idea for a Resource, guys. Kudos.

Okay, so I thought I'd throw in some more modern stuff, since Ozzie has demonstrated some more historical stuff and Zen has brought the fantastical. Fights in Modern RPs more often than not tend to involve firearms of some sort, and it really depends on what sort of RP you have going; if you're going for a more stylistic approach you need just watch action movies and draw from that, but sometimes you want to take a slightly more gritty, realistic approach.

Some movies do offer that, but YouTube is also a great resource too. So here's a few things I've found that can help visualise modern combat. I can't testify as to how applicable this is in the real world, but it can help give your writing that more down-to-earth edge you're looking for.

 

[Krag_Jorgensen]

This video provides a decent example of modern combat tactics, particularly suppression fire and bounding overwatch (leapfrogging).

 

[Scathach]

For you people who want some martial arts demos, here you go. Damage Control features all kinds of tutorials that showcase real fighting and not the MMA stuff.
Link to Damage Control: http://www.youtube.com/user/TakingItToTheMMAT?feature=watch
Sample videos:

 

[Astaroth]

It's been over a year since a new video got posted here, so I'll bump this back up with a little video on pole axe combat, complete with first person POV!

 

[Astaroth]

Time for another video! Here's a nice little demo that explains why fancy spins in combat are a bad, bad idea.

 

[MyImmortalWolf]

I also recommend Mount and Blade (Very cheap, several expansions, find it on Amazon) for learning strategy and certain tactics, and how to arrange troops, if you're into that kind of stuff. It's a fun game too, and more realistic than most. I've found it VERY useful.

 

[Astaroth]

Since @Maddeline was asking about depicting skilled martial artists, here's a look at what a martial artist with very high precision can do. Keep in mind that these guys are some of the best in the world. (I recommend skipping to 2:21 if you don't want to watch the whole intro.)

 

[Astaroth]

Oh hey cool, this was bumped.

By the way, something I didn't mention about that last video: The guy who won the speed breaking championship is a guy I trained directly under back when I was active in martial arts.