Open Combats: For the most part Open Combats go by Death Combat Rules.  Open Combats are fights that happen spontaneously, with no prior warning, and sometimes can quickly draw in others.  Open combats can also occur in the Wild Areas (Forest, Roads, etc.).  These types of fights are geared for harmful intent and can have deadly or permanent consequences.  No agreement between parties is necessary, however there must be realistic roleplay to encounter combat.  All combat is on foot.  Mounts and NPC's may not take part in Open Combat.  Autoposts must be responded to in Open Combat. The autopost goes to the person who posted (on open channel) immediately BEFORE the autopost hit the room

Open Combat shall be judged on realism!  Unrealistic actions will be invalidated by the judge.  Actions which are not clearly enough described to verify realism will be invalidated.  Actions which do not consider the realistic effect of wounds will be invalidated.  Open Combat is likely to be brief and deadly.

Weapons: Maximum of 5 weapons.  Shield, bucklers, helmets count as weapons.  Quivers containing 20 arrows or crossbow bolts count as 1 weapon.  Any glove counts as a weapon. 

Non-Gorean weapons or armour are forbidden.  Poison weapons are not allowed, for pragmatic reasons.  Fire cannot be used as a weapon in the Forest.  Kurri weapons are not allowed, Kurri have enough of a size advantage that they can make do with Gorean weapons in the spirit of sportsmanship.  Gunpowder weapons are not allowed.  Explosive weapons are not allowed.  Ninja weapons are not allowed. The only drugged weapons are capture darts, which cannot be used as projectiles.  Undefined arrows are field tips by default.  There is no such thing as Panther Weapons.  Panthers may use any weapon which they can procure in roleplay.

Armour: Apart from the helmet any other metal armour is prohibited, although metal jewelry may be used as protective clothing.  Protective clothing or hardened, leather clothing is allowed. Any protective clothing must be declared in the weapons/stance post.  Protective clothing is not a defense to an attack. Protective clothing can only help to minimize a defended blow.  If a blow is fully accepted, the clothing is to be considered to provide no protection.  Weapons slung on the body may be used in the same way as protective clothing, as may jewelry, such as metal armbands.

Declaration: All weapons must be declared BEFORE combat.  There will be no surprise attacks utilizing weapons declaration and attack in the same post.  Any attacks made before or during a weapon post will be void and can be totally ignored.  No combat with weapons can occur until the attacker has posted a weapons/stance post and the attacked person has had 8 minutes to reply with a weapons/stance post.  After 8 minutes, the attacker may assume that she was able to attack before weapons could be drawn in defense. 

When fighting multiple opponents, only one weapons/stance post need be made, by each participant.  There will be no entering into ongoing combat after any opponant has made a second combat post.  While it might happen, it is too hard to judge.  With two or more moving combattants, someone entering the fray, or firing a projectile, would not be able to accurately choose their target. 

Judging: Scripts are to be judged only by the approved MC Combat Judges and MC Room Controllers.  Scripts should be submitted with irrelevent post removed, and they may be submitted with the names of the combatants made annonymous.  A Room Controller may have the choice of judging Open Combat or referring the judgment to one of the approved MC Judges.  In the Wild Rooms, combattants may choose a Judge they all agree on.  If they cannot agree, the script is to be posted to the MC Gorean Judgment Board for the first available Judge.  This Judge will post a reply to the thread informing people that the script has been accepted for judging, to avoid duplication of effort by the Judges.

Since the results of combat will not be immediately known, for pragmatic reasons, there will be no engaging combattants after combat is concluded.  While general first aid should be administered to combattants immediately after a fight, the aid of a Healer can only be rendered after judgment. 

There is no Whochat Hunting or Enter/Pounce allowed. At the Judge's discretion, any combat may be voided if there is a lack of realistic roleplay foundation to put the combatants in position to fight. This includes QPhone help and other kinds of late arrivals.

Response Time: 8 minute time limit, cannot be waived in open combat, except in the case of technology impairment or RT intrusion, in which case it must be waived.  If you run out of time you lose your turn - and the opponent's blows land as intended, if realistic.  ((OOC)) bracketed posts for clarification or time checks are out of roleplay and do not count as your turn.  If your opponent times out, your time starts from the timestamp of when you ((notify)) the opponant that they have timed out.

Virtual Time: Combat posts are limited to 2-5 seconds of virtual time passing between the start of the post and the end of the legal actions of the post, depending on the nature of the actions.  Only posts that involve substantial movement may take 5 seconds, toe-to-toe battles should not involve more than 3 seconds of virtual time passing per round.  Anything that takes place after 5 seconds of virtual time passing will be considered not to have happened.

Actions: Actions will be limited to 3 actions per round, but may include combination actions.  Combination actions are defined as any realistic and simultaneous movement/defense, movement/attack, movement/action, movement/speech or movement/adjustment.  Two attacks can never be considered a combination.

End of Combat: Unless combatants agree on a fixed number of rounds, combat ends when parties are disabled or rendered unable to fight.  Since this may be difficult to determine in roleplay, combat will be considered to have ended due to exhaustion after 8 rounds.  Combatants who are judged disabled will be considered to have been captured or killed, at their option.  Combat may also end by mutual agreement or by flight. To flee combat requires at least two withdrawal posts, and must be roleplayed realistically.  Open Combat may be judged as incomplete, and the judge may rule that combat should continue with judged wounds in play - particularly in the case of an invalid withdraws.  Open Combat may be judged live, with the judge declaring received wounds on a round by round basis.

Incompetence: If you don't understand both ARealm and WMaze Rules, you have no business attempting Open Combat.  The Judge can declare someone killed for combat incompetence to preserve the realism of roleplay.

No Speedposting: Speedposting is defined as failure to wait for your opponent's response to you(or time out) before posting again.  The speedposted posts will be ignored.  The exception is certain types of corrections for technical problems. Notifying of a missend to the wrong person on the PD, or a partial post, or technology/real-time impairment - is not speed posting and must be honored, even if roleplay has to be rolled back.  These three exceptions are the only acceptable correction posts.  No roleplay results will be determined by computer related or real-time issues.

No Forceposting: Forceposting is defined as it is in the ARealm and WMaze Rules.  Forceposting means to call your opponents damage or movement. *Punches you in the nose* is not a forcepost because it calls neither damage nor opponant's movement.  The forcepost element of an action will be considered to be the intent of the poster, and MUST be defended as such.

No Backposting: Backposting is defined as it is in the ARealm and WMaze Rules.  Backposting means to ATTACK before your opponents post has concluded.  Backposted attacks will be ruled completely invalid.  So, if you backpost a counterattack as a defense, the opponents post will be considered to have landed as intended.  However, DEFENSES that may seem like backposts are likely to be legal.

Separation: Because of the time pressure, actions MUST be clearly separated by a clear system of numbers, stars, dashes, etc.  If your post is not clearly separated, the opponent is given 2 additional minutes to respond.  Continued failure to separate, after a warning from an opponent, may be considered Incompetence.

All attacks must be clearly accounted for.  Be specific.  Do not leave it for the opponant/judge to infer how your movement would have avoided the blow, state it clearly!  Blows that are not clearly defended are considered to have landed.  Attacks may be accepted, accepted and minimized, or defended. All defenses must be realistic, or the blow is considered to have landed as intended, within the context of realism. The result of wounds and accepted attacks must be realistically roleplayed until treated.

No single movement can fully defend 2 attacks, unless the attacks are simultaneous.  It is assumed that the opponent is aiming at a spot on the body that they can hit when they attempt the blow. It is not sufficient to make an attack miss it's intended target, and consider that blow defended. You must declare what the blow actually hits, and the judge will determine what is more realistic, between the attempt and your defense.

If a blow is misdefended, the attacker may note what they think would have happened ((in brackets)) at the beginning of their combat post, so the opponent can reconsider the state of their wounds.

Deliberately dropping a weapon and arming another will be considered 1 action. Readjusting all armed weapons in defense will be considered 1 action. Adjusting your grip on a two-handed weapon and attacking with it, or adjusting grip and moving a two-handed weapon to a defensive position will be considered 1 action.

Projectile weapons must be used realistically, considering all the actions needed to arm and fire the weapon, plus a reasonable rate of fire for the specific weapon. Crossbows may NOT be loaded and fired in the same combat round.

You must use the location PDs in roleplay and combat. Once your location is established, you do not need to use the PD on every post. You may move from one location to an adjoining location during your turn, but you must use the PD that your movement ENDS in, NOT the one it starts in. This may be corrected with an ((OOC)) post as a PD mistake.