Battle Posts!
Feb 21, 2016 17:33:06 GMT -5
Post by I A A S H A D O W on Feb 21, 2016 17:33:06 GMT -5
CST battles are a tug of war between two or more writers. If done correctly it makes a clean and entertaining duel where each writer gives and takes from his own side, like this:
Person A vs Person B
(PA vs PB)
Person A
PA leapt at PB, sword drawn, and took the first swipe. PB dodged it and drew his own sword, and the two met face-to-face.
Person B
They exchanged attacks, appearing to be evenly matched. At one point PB saw an opening and scratched PA's arm, then jumped back and took a better position.
[Advantage at this point is to PB. PA has a light scratch, but his writer still has a lot of options to fight with.]
Person A
He continuously struck PB's defenses, trying to look for an opening. He pushed through and landed a clean hit hit to PB's leg, but when he stepped back he noticed a bigger cut to his shoulder.
[PA and PB both have damage done to them. It's a relatively fair exchange and tide turnings that become more and more intense with each subsequent post. By the end, if PA wins, PB won't feel cheated, and PA won't get too cocky about it, because in the end the two users cooperated to create an even fight scene. A fight between two characters isn't supposed to also be a battle between two writers.]
Unfortunately, this is almost never the case. A cheap way to get your character in the advantage is to cripple the opponent. Common cheap tactics I've seen include using super speed to tie the hands of your opponent or pinning them against the wall with a wind barrier, or heck, I've even seen someone try to use SLEEP DARTS. Even if it might make some sense, it doesn't change the fact that it's just plain BAD WRITING. At the end of the day, the other user will feel cheated out of a good fight, and you're likely to get retconned.
The most cut-and-dry remedy to this is using Sanctum-Style fights, which means both users creating extensive posts with full control of each others characters, then submitting them to a third party to decide the canon entry and, by extension, the winner. This IS a battle of writers, in this case, and by doing so will maximize the potential quality of the scene. Of course, if the story demands it, a less talented writer might NEED to win in order to move the story along, so his opponent should keep that in mind, and a regular-format battle post might be necessary.
Person A vs Person B
(PA vs PB)
Person A
PA leapt at PB, sword drawn, and took the first swipe. PB dodged it and drew his own sword, and the two met face-to-face.
Person B
They exchanged attacks, appearing to be evenly matched. At one point PB saw an opening and scratched PA's arm, then jumped back and took a better position.
[Advantage at this point is to PB. PA has a light scratch, but his writer still has a lot of options to fight with.]
Person A
He continuously struck PB's defenses, trying to look for an opening. He pushed through and landed a clean hit hit to PB's leg, but when he stepped back he noticed a bigger cut to his shoulder.
[PA and PB both have damage done to them. It's a relatively fair exchange and tide turnings that become more and more intense with each subsequent post. By the end, if PA wins, PB won't feel cheated, and PA won't get too cocky about it, because in the end the two users cooperated to create an even fight scene. A fight between two characters isn't supposed to also be a battle between two writers.]
Unfortunately, this is almost never the case. A cheap way to get your character in the advantage is to cripple the opponent. Common cheap tactics I've seen include using super speed to tie the hands of your opponent or pinning them against the wall with a wind barrier, or heck, I've even seen someone try to use SLEEP DARTS. Even if it might make some sense, it doesn't change the fact that it's just plain BAD WRITING. At the end of the day, the other user will feel cheated out of a good fight, and you're likely to get retconned.
The most cut-and-dry remedy to this is using Sanctum-Style fights, which means both users creating extensive posts with full control of each others characters, then submitting them to a third party to decide the canon entry and, by extension, the winner. This IS a battle of writers, in this case, and by doing so will maximize the potential quality of the scene. Of course, if the story demands it, a less talented writer might NEED to win in order to move the story along, so his opponent should keep that in mind, and a regular-format battle post might be necessary.