Continuity
Created | Updated Feb 27, 2004
Continuity: Anything that happens, happens. Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again. However, battle is not a turn-based game, therefore, nothing actually happens until the person has responded and if you give a result of an action that could change depending on what someone else does, you are doing nothing but slowly destroying your keyboard. Continuity means that things should work the same way twice, you can't have something go one way on one post and then the other on a seperate post.
Me: "I shoot a perfectly aimed shot that can't be dodged and goes through any armor and hits ethereal, colocated or otherwise special beings killing them instantly." BAD- There are no absolutes, the shot can be perfectly aimed but it cannot be undodgeable (without a good explanation like heatseeking - in which case it can be fooled with pyrokinesis), it cannot go through any armor (but could quite possibly go through what the other person happens to be wearing). Me: "I shoot a perfectly aimed shot at your forehead and it kills you instantly." BAD- You can't declare what happens to an opponent. Me: "I shoot a perfectly aimed shot at your forehead." You: "You miss." BAD- It was perfectly aimed, you can't change that in a second post. Me: "I shoot a perfectly aimed shot at your forehead." You: "It hits me, killing me instantly." GOOD- Technically allowed, but you just lost a character. Me: "I shoot a perfectly aimed shot at your forehead." You: "It hits my invincible forcefield." BAD- There are no absolutes, a forcefield can not be invincible1. Me: "I shoot a perfectly aimed shot at your forehead." You: "A pistol bullet is no match for 5 inches of reinforced terminator armour." GOOD- But if it had been an anti-tank round you probably couldn't get away with it, perhaps you would need to shoot the shell out of the air or something equally cool instead. In this case you can dodge it also, although you may have to explain how. Time Travel: Me: "I fire a perfectly aimed shot at your head." You: "I travel back in time and remove the bullet from the gun." BAD- Whilst it sounds like a cool idea, if they are able to shoot it at you, you can't have gone back in time to change it. Things that happened stay happened etc... (unless you can time travel in real life and so post just before them... now that would be a neat trick). If you were to say that you would have to have, at an earlier time, confronted them while they were holding the gun after it had been loaded. Since you can't travel through time and teleport at the same time, well... think about it. They'd shoot you. Travelling back in time hardly ever is allowed, for obvious reasons. Me: "I fire a perfectly aimed shot at your head." You: "I flicker as I transport myself a second into the future by flicking my time staff, the bullet passes through the space where my head would have been." GOOD- But don't do it too often or your opponent will grow annoyed. There might be some debate as to how quickly you could affect your time travel. You'd also have an extra one of you for a second in the future befoe you travel back. Thank you and have a reasonably nice and hopefully less confusing day.  |
Levels of Continuity: Anything can happen except for destroying the universe and declaring someone dead. You can fight with anything, fight anywhere, and travel however fast you like. Absolutes are sometimes allowed, if they result in something funny. Mild Continuity You can fight with anything. Most things can happen spontaneously, but you can't destroy the universe or declare someone dead. There is no limit to the terrain, nor how much you can carry. Absolutes are not allowed. There is no limit to speed or ability. Moderate Continuity You can fight with any weapon, or things that could be used as weapons such as a hammer, and magic is allowed. You can carry a large deal more equipment than you should be able to but not everything you'd like. Random things, like stuff coming down from space, don't happen because you say say do. You have to provide an explanation for how you travel, and you cannot make yourself capable of everything. There are no absolutes, nor anything near an absolute. No one is the best at anything unless it's all they do, but even then something out there is better. Strict Continuity You may use only weapons or magic that you have previously declared to work. Weapons do what they were made to do. You can only carry what a person could reasonably carry. You're reflexes and skills cannot be great unless you have trained for a long time. Most combat is strictly weapons, and not strategy. RL-Fantasy Continuity Nothing happens that could not happen in a fantasy world. This is exactly like real life, but with Gods (above the participants), supernatural creatures (dragons for example), psionics, and spells. Reflexes and speed are average unless you have trained extensively. There are absolutely no absolutes. Items cannot appear, you can only carry what your character can carry. This works like LotR. RL Continuity Nothing happens that could not concievably happen in real life. You cannot have magic, or spells, or psychic abilities. Your reflexes are average, unless you have trained for your whole life. There are absolutely no absolutes. You can only carry what you declared to have at the beginning of a battle, and you have to be able to explain where you got it if someone asks. Everything works like life. |
1And no they can't be "near invincible" either. "Invincible" is the equivalent of infinity, and "near infinity" is still infinity.
