Combat

Combat Safety Rules

Lightest Touch: When fighting with weapons, you must always pull your blows so as not to strike too hard. No blow should cause real pain. If you feel the weapon make contact with your body, you take the blow. Please make an effort to check your swings. You may not swing a weapon in more than a 180° arc. No baseball-type swings. If you feel that someone is striking too hard you may ask them to “Check Your Blows”.

Combat Targets: Do not strike the head or groin. Hits to the hands do not count. Blocking melee weapon blows with your hands is not allowed.

Repeated Hits: In order for consecutive blows to strike from the same weapon, there must be at least 45° of arc in the swing or the weapon must be withdrawn at least one foot from the body being struck. If there is not at least 45° of arc, or one foot of withdrawal in the swing or thrust, the blow does not count. You should inform the person who is doing the swinging/thrusting of why you are not taking the shot(s).

Shield Bashing: Hitting another person with your shield is strictly forbidden.

Charging: You may not advance upon another person to force them to move out of your way. This is called charging. Whoever gets there first has the right to occupy the space. It is the other person’s responsibility to stop or alter their movement. If two people are moving towards one another, it is the responsibility of both individuals to make sure they do not collide. If you feel that someone is creating an unsafe situation with their fighting you may call “Caution” and inform them of the situation.

Carrying People: There may be many instances during the course of the event when your character will want to lift or carry another character. We strongly encourage you to “roleplay” this action, rather than actually picking up and carrying the other person. Take them by the arm and say, “I carry you,” at which point the person you are carrying should get up and move with you, slowly, as if you are carrying them. Both of you should move no faster than a slow walk while you are role-playing this action. We would rather see role-playing of this sort than have someone get hurt by picking up another person, or being dropped by another person.

Blind Fighting: If you can't see what you're attacking, then do not swing your weapon. This is primarily a concern when fighting in confined spaces and buildings. Do not swing your weapon around a corner where you cannot see your target!

Non-Combatants

At any event there may be non-combatants. These are players or cast members who, for medical reasons and with the knowledge of the staff, choose not to participate in combat or other strenuous physical activities but are still participating in role-playing. These individuals can be recognized by the yellow armband they must wear visibly at all times. Under no circumstances are non-combatant players to be struck by any weapon, packet, or in any other way. Similarly, non-combatant players may not strike anyone with any weapon, packet, or the like.

While non-combatant players may not participate in the more physical aspects of game play, their characters still run the risk of being killed. If you wish to kill a non-combatant, all you need do is come to within a weapon’s reach of the non-combatant player, point a weapon at them, and slowly state, “I kill you.” If this action is interrupted in any way, the life of the non-combatant player has been saved. Please do not use any form of yellow armband as part of your costume unless you have been approved as a non-combatant player by our staff.

Combat Basics

Arrows, Blades, and Bludgeons

All combat is conducted using padded weapons and safe foam projectiles. Always follow the Lightest Touch rule.

Uncalled Hits

Unless you are delivering a skill, attacking someone with weapon does not require you to make a call; it is understood that taking a blow from a weapon counts as an injury. A weapon attack that does not have an effect call attached is referred to as an “Uncalled Hit” or “Normal Damage.”

Three Second Rule

You may only use one offensive called skill per 3 seconds of combat unless you have a skill that allows you to ignore this limitation.

Injury and Conditions

Your ability to fight and function is diminished as you are harmed by attacks. These hits are called injuries, and can cause your condition to worsen.

Injuries

An injury is inflicted when a target is hit in a valid location with a weapon or the Bolt effect. Depending on where you are hit, different results will occur.

Limb: A hit to a limb (arm or leg) will disable it for 5 minutes. If your arm is disabled you cannot use items or wield weapons until 5 minutes has elapsed or you receive the Cure Maim or Heal effect.
Torso: A hit to the torso (front or back) will cause you to enter the Demoralized condition.

Conditions

Everyone starts the game as Healthy. You won’t decline down the conditions scale until you take an injury.

Healthy: You are awake and aware of your surroundings.
Demoralized: You must drop to your knees (or a seated position) and bow your head. You are helpless. You may role play this as overwhelming fear or shock from the pain of your injuries. You may only speak in a whisper, you cannot move without assistance, and you cannot use any skills or abilities (unless they specifically state they can be used while Demoralized). After 5 minutes, your fear and pain will subside and you return to the Healthy condition.
Dead: You have died. Drop to the ground (safely please!) and remain immobile and helpless. Healing can no longer help you. You are unaware of your surroundings. After 1 minute, you are a Ghost.
Ghost: As a ghost, you will rise and cross your arms over your chest to signify you are harmless and insubstantial. You are immediately pulled towards the nearest portal to the Underworld.

Executions

If someone is helpless (Demoralized, or immobilized in some way), they can be killed by placing your weapon on their torso and clearly stating a slow 5-count of: “Execute 1, Execute 2, Execute 3, Execute 4, Execute 5.” If successful, the target of the execution is dead.

If you are under the influence of any effect that could prevent a Coup de Grace, you may call ‘Barrier’ to the Execute call.

Checking for a pulse

Armor

A hit from a weapon can be resisted with armor. Only uncalled hits may be resisted in this way. The amount of protection offered by armor (both Physical and Magical) is measured in Armor Points (AP). You may resist one uncalled hit, to any location, by calling “Armor!” and reducing your AP by (1) one. When your AP reaches zero, you may no longer resist hits and are considered to be unarmored and will suffer injuries as normal.

Armor callouts are there to keep everyone honest and to take away the mystery and assumptions of whether people are taking damage, and making everyone accountable. If your opponent fails to make resistance callouts, simply say “Clarify, that was 3 hits to the arm and leg” and allow them to catch up. Be respectful of the fact that fatigue and exhaustion make doing the math harder and harder as the event progresses. See the section on Defense Call Etiquette in the Skills chapter for more information.

Stacking Armor

You cannot combine multiple sources of armor.

Physical Armor Ratings

Skills that grant armor will state how many points you recieve in their incant. The amount of armor points granted by physical armor is determined by the material of construction and how much of your body it covers. Armor coverage is rated as either a half suit or full suit, and the materials of construction are rated as light or heavy.

Half Suit: A half suit of armor must cover the torso's front and back. Designs that would be considered a 'vest' or 't-shirt' are half suits of armor.

Full Suit: A full suit of armor must cover the torso's front and back, and incorporate armor for both the legs and arms. For example, the addition of bracers and greaves to a half suit would improve the coverage to a full suit.

Light Materials: Armor made from animal hide, plants, or reinforced fabrics (such as linothorax) is light armor.

Heavy Materials: Armor made primarily from metal is heavy armor. This includes hybrid designs, where metal plates are attached to a cloth or leather backing, as well as mail armor like the hauberk. Note that lamellar and scale armor is more appropriate to bronze and iron age technology, and medieval style plate armor is overkill.

These four ratings combine to give four categories of armor with increasing armor point ratings.

Half Suit of Light Armor - 1 Armor Point
Full Suit of Light Armor - 2 Armor Points
Half Suit of Heavy Armor - 3 Armor Points
Full Suit of Heavy Armor - 4 Armor Points

Helmets

Shields

Unarmed Combat

The rules for unarmed combat exist so that characters have a way to act aggressively without resorting to lethal violence. These rules are not intended so serve as a platform for characters to engage in martial arts and thus brawling will always fail in the presence of an opponent wielding a weapon.

Brawling

Hand to hand combat, or brawling, is represented using thrown packets. An unarmed attack must be made within a few feet of your target. Call “Punch!” when throwing the packet. If a packet hits the torso (front or back), the target should role play being disoriented and stunned for a few seconds. If a packet hits the torso while the target is stunned, they will be knocked to the ground. An armed combatant (someone holding any weapon in their hand) may ignore unarmed combat and can state “barrier” if struck by a punch.

Escalation of Violence

Brawling is always considered non-lethal, and responding to a punch by drawing a weapon would be considered a severe overreaction.