Post by Wolfe on Dec 26, 2018 14:03:46 GMT -5
Combat System Philosophy
These are marked down explicitly mostly so everyone can see why certain rules are in place and the intent behind them. Specific rules and rulings can and will change over time, but the intent will not change.
Balance over Realism is one of the big things I want to highlight. There are rules in place throughout the site that do not make logical sense, because they are not meant to be. In real life, you can die while sitting on a toilet from a sniper a mile away making a shot through your window. That's realistic, and it's very possible in the real world. I have no intention of ever allowing that to happen here, because it's not fun and it's not able to be interacted with. I also firmly believe that 'writing skills stronger' is not a healthy design philosophy because it rewards those who spend time abusing the system and punishes those who play by the rules. A punch that is inhumanly fast here is just that -- inhumanly fast. It does not increase the damage output of that punch, only the speed at which it is thrown. All skills of the same type (in this case speed) need to function the same way mechanically and differ only in flavor for the system to function. Nobody will ever get more than one benefit from a combat ability, ever. Everyone plays by the same rules.
Creativity over Balance is another of these core design decisions that everyone on the site has a right to be aware of and does not invalidate that last point in any way. In any system that allows members to create their own abilities rather than picking from a pre-approved database of such, they will create things that the creators of the system never dreamed of. There will be, quite frankly, some really weird stuff that is presented for grading and I want to encourage that. While a hard stat system with exact numbers is arguably much more balanced, it would come at the cost of stifling creativity and forcing people into very narrow build paths because a mathematically superior option or 'meta' would soon be discovered and exploited. When everyone builds the same things in a progression system, there is only less powerful and more powerful.
Flexibility over Hard Numbers is the third big thing that I believe requires an explanation because I fully anticipate that it will be controversial. At its core, this site is a RWBY AU site. Going beyond the limits of what we think are possible is a core component in any anime, and every character should have the opportunity to go slightly beyond their usual limit if it makes sense. It is reasonable to assume that someone would want to cause more damage to someone who just killed a family member than to someone they happen to be sparring with at the gym, and hard numbers don't give that. 'Limit breaks' and the ability to go slightly beyond normal limits can be character defining moments, like pushing onward for a friend even when the system says that you should be too exhausted to continue. In PvP combat, these 'limit breaks' would have to be agreed upon by both parties to ensure that balance is maintained… but PvP isn't the only form of combat on the site. Most characters are training to be Huntsmen (and women!) whose goal is to defend mankind from the Creatures of Grimm. In a PvE encounter against those Grimm, the flexibility afforded by not having hard numbers allows for character defining moments to happen where against all odds someone does do something better than they normally can because the pressure and need to protect life propels them to those heights.
The design goal of this system is that each character is powerful in their own way. They have their semblance, and they have a set of combat abilities that allow them to be very good at a select few things. There are not enough slots to make your character good at everything, and that is fully and completely intentional. The goal of the system is freeform combat where the player and the combat moderator knows exactly what that character is good at, and it is your goal as the writer to exploit those points of strength as much as possible. A glass cannon in a small room with a tank is going to get pummeled, but a slow melee-focused tank against a ranged speedster will have a hell of a time doing a lot if the environment is an open field. Those that play to their strengths and manipulate the fight to showcase those things will generally win fights even against opponents who have higher ranked skills if that opponent does not do the same. This is considered a feature, not a flaw because clever strategies and good writing should be able to overcome small to even moderate rank differences so that very rarely is the winner of the fight predetermined before it happens.
These are marked down explicitly mostly so everyone can see why certain rules are in place and the intent behind them. Specific rules and rulings can and will change over time, but the intent will not change.
Balance over Realism is one of the big things I want to highlight. There are rules in place throughout the site that do not make logical sense, because they are not meant to be. In real life, you can die while sitting on a toilet from a sniper a mile away making a shot through your window. That's realistic, and it's very possible in the real world. I have no intention of ever allowing that to happen here, because it's not fun and it's not able to be interacted with. I also firmly believe that 'writing skills stronger' is not a healthy design philosophy because it rewards those who spend time abusing the system and punishes those who play by the rules. A punch that is inhumanly fast here is just that -- inhumanly fast. It does not increase the damage output of that punch, only the speed at which it is thrown. All skills of the same type (in this case speed) need to function the same way mechanically and differ only in flavor for the system to function. Nobody will ever get more than one benefit from a combat ability, ever. Everyone plays by the same rules.
Creativity over Balance is another of these core design decisions that everyone on the site has a right to be aware of and does not invalidate that last point in any way. In any system that allows members to create their own abilities rather than picking from a pre-approved database of such, they will create things that the creators of the system never dreamed of. There will be, quite frankly, some really weird stuff that is presented for grading and I want to encourage that. While a hard stat system with exact numbers is arguably much more balanced, it would come at the cost of stifling creativity and forcing people into very narrow build paths because a mathematically superior option or 'meta' would soon be discovered and exploited. When everyone builds the same things in a progression system, there is only less powerful and more powerful.
Flexibility over Hard Numbers is the third big thing that I believe requires an explanation because I fully anticipate that it will be controversial. At its core, this site is a RWBY AU site. Going beyond the limits of what we think are possible is a core component in any anime, and every character should have the opportunity to go slightly beyond their usual limit if it makes sense. It is reasonable to assume that someone would want to cause more damage to someone who just killed a family member than to someone they happen to be sparring with at the gym, and hard numbers don't give that. 'Limit breaks' and the ability to go slightly beyond normal limits can be character defining moments, like pushing onward for a friend even when the system says that you should be too exhausted to continue. In PvP combat, these 'limit breaks' would have to be agreed upon by both parties to ensure that balance is maintained… but PvP isn't the only form of combat on the site. Most characters are training to be Huntsmen (and women!) whose goal is to defend mankind from the Creatures of Grimm. In a PvE encounter against those Grimm, the flexibility afforded by not having hard numbers allows for character defining moments to happen where against all odds someone does do something better than they normally can because the pressure and need to protect life propels them to those heights.
The design goal of this system is that each character is powerful in their own way. They have their semblance, and they have a set of combat abilities that allow them to be very good at a select few things. There are not enough slots to make your character good at everything, and that is fully and completely intentional. The goal of the system is freeform combat where the player and the combat moderator knows exactly what that character is good at, and it is your goal as the writer to exploit those points of strength as much as possible. A glass cannon in a small room with a tank is going to get pummeled, but a slow melee-focused tank against a ranged speedster will have a hell of a time doing a lot if the environment is an open field. Those that play to their strengths and manipulate the fight to showcase those things will generally win fights even against opponents who have higher ranked skills if that opponent does not do the same. This is considered a feature, not a flaw because clever strategies and good writing should be able to overcome small to even moderate rank differences so that very rarely is the winner of the fight predetermined before it happens.