![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
BA RP Update #2
Sep. 2nd, 2012 08:14 amI thought I should do a little BA update here, considering that I've just finished my first spar of this 'incarnation' (read as: return to the RPing circles).
For those who don't know, basically the spars in BA RP are text-based, turn-based combat: one person attacks, then the other person writes of the result of that attack and their reaction (you can't write about or bank on the outcome of your own attack). Then, the counter-attack is written. This continues, either within set parameters (usually used for tournaments), or until both participants' characters are too injured to continue.
It seems really weird when I write it down like that, and not that interesting.
But, it is interesting to me, both from a creative and mechanical perspective, and the two can even be combined. The creative fun can come from creating an environment, creative attacks and character development. The latter is difficult, but rewarding. I mean, one way to do this is by just saying something like, 'environment X reminded so-and-so of spar Y', but that isn't really fun, unless it really means something. The real fun character stuff in a spar usually comes from how you think your character would actually react to an attack - whether, for example, they keep their cool when things go badly.
Which sort of takes me to the mechanics, because, one of the most rewarding things about an RP spar is being able to use the physics and rules of the game-world - here, the various settings of Bleach - to your advantage in new and interesting ways, not explicitly explored by the manga/anime. One particularly cool example of this that I remember was during a kidou training, in which the teacher, focused his reiatsu in order to keep a Soukatsui hadou small in the palm of his hand, instead of blasting it off, and then used the hadou, Tenran, to turn it into a flaming tornado. It's especially fun to use the environment at times - setting fire to things to make a smokescreen or swinging from rafters.
But, as for my recent spar, I was using a pre-made arena with set debuffs - not my usual choice - so, while that was an interesting change, it didn't allow me as much of the creative fun that I get with spars. I also didn't really get to mess with physics, as I really wanted to try out my shikai for the first time. However, I had a lot of fun at times in that spar, and that was mainly due to character moments, especially in how she dealt with an absolutely unavoidable attack. I found it natural that my character's general response was the go ape-shit to compensate.
But, yeah, still hoping that the upcoming Kuroshitsuji cross-over event's going to be good.
For those who don't know, basically the spars in BA RP are text-based, turn-based combat: one person attacks, then the other person writes of the result of that attack and their reaction (you can't write about or bank on the outcome of your own attack). Then, the counter-attack is written. This continues, either within set parameters (usually used for tournaments), or until both participants' characters are too injured to continue.
It seems really weird when I write it down like that, and not that interesting.
But, it is interesting to me, both from a creative and mechanical perspective, and the two can even be combined. The creative fun can come from creating an environment, creative attacks and character development. The latter is difficult, but rewarding. I mean, one way to do this is by just saying something like, 'environment X reminded so-and-so of spar Y', but that isn't really fun, unless it really means something. The real fun character stuff in a spar usually comes from how you think your character would actually react to an attack - whether, for example, they keep their cool when things go badly.
Which sort of takes me to the mechanics, because, one of the most rewarding things about an RP spar is being able to use the physics and rules of the game-world - here, the various settings of Bleach - to your advantage in new and interesting ways, not explicitly explored by the manga/anime. One particularly cool example of this that I remember was during a kidou training, in which the teacher, focused his reiatsu in order to keep a Soukatsui hadou small in the palm of his hand, instead of blasting it off, and then used the hadou, Tenran, to turn it into a flaming tornado. It's especially fun to use the environment at times - setting fire to things to make a smokescreen or swinging from rafters.
But, as for my recent spar, I was using a pre-made arena with set debuffs - not my usual choice - so, while that was an interesting change, it didn't allow me as much of the creative fun that I get with spars. I also didn't really get to mess with physics, as I really wanted to try out my shikai for the first time. However, I had a lot of fun at times in that spar, and that was mainly due to character moments, especially in how she dealt with an absolutely unavoidable attack. I found it natural that my character's general response was the go ape-shit to compensate.
But, yeah, still hoping that the upcoming Kuroshitsuji cross-over event's going to be good.
