Introduction to Emote Fighting

1. Introduction
2. Closed Emotes
3. Starting off
   1. Unsheathing
   2. Ready Stances
4. Attack
   1. Thrust
   2. Slash
   3. Momentum
5. Defense
   1. Parry
   2. Dodge
   3. Momentum
6. The Complete Emote
7. Hit or Miss?
8. Sheathing
9. Conclusion

Introduction

The purpose of this text is to introduce the beginner to emote fighting with a sword. It is aimed primarily at Asha'man, although other groups may find some value in it, as well. The intended audience is the student who has no experience with emote fighting. Because of this, it is assumed that the student knows nothing about emote fighting at all. Since the Black Tower features training in only one weapon style, that is all that will be covered here. That weapon is the same type of sword that Rand uses. The blade is similar to that of a katana or nodachi, slightly curved and with an edge on only one side. The hilt is of a more european style, featuring quillons, or crossgards, instead of the round hiltguard found on japanese swords. Although the quillons tend to be slanted towards the blade instead of straight as was common in Europe. The hilt is fairly long, the sword balanced for a one or two handed grip, although the style favors two handed. Overall length of the weapon, including the hilt, is likely around 42 inches. Shields, maces, daggers and other weapons will not be covered. It is possible, given the diversity of the Black Tower recruiting, that the character could have familiarity with some other weapon style as part of his background. If so, he is left to his own devices for how to RP those styles. In fact, he would be advised not to include such in his background if not already comfortable with that style of emote fighting.

Closed Emotes

In roleplaying in general, and especially in combat, there is a concept known variously as powergaming, munchkinism or closed emoting. In a nutshell, this is emoting an action that injures or otherwise affects the opponent without leaving room for him to respond. Attack emotes should all be attempts, with the success or failure of those attempts left up to the opponent. An example of a closed emote would be:

Joe thrusts at Bob, impaling him on his sword.

An open, and more acceptable, emote would be:

Joe thrusts at Bob, attempting to impale him on his sword.

Never in one's emotes should he imply actual contact with his opponent's body. This is one of the difficulties with emoting unarmed combat . In order to avoid massive confusion, it is allowed to close the defensive emotes, but they should be closed only as much as necessary. In order to parry, one must state contact with his opponent's weapon. He should limit how much he controls that weapon, though. Examples:

1. Joe brings up his sword to parry Bob's slash, knocking the weapon well aside and leaving himself a large opening.
2. Joe brings up his sword to parry Bob's slash, stopping it just short of contact with his own head.

The first is poor form in that it takes a large amount of control over the opponent's weapon. The second emote only stops the slash from hitting, otherwise leaving the weapon entirely in the control of its owner.

Starting Off

Unsheathing

Unsheathing is simply the act of pulling the sword from its sheath or scabbard. The simplest method involves grasping the sheathe near the top with the off hand while gripping the hilt with the primary and dragging the blade out. It is important to actually emote drawing the weapon before using it. It is this author's not so humble opinion that weapon position is vital in emote fighting. The weapon should begin in the same position in the next emote that it ended in the last emote. Another method involves grasping the hilt in both hands in a reverse grip and pulling it out very quickly. A reverse grip is a grip where the end of the hilt protrudes from the top of the wielder's grip and the blade from the bottom.

Ready Stances

There are a wide variety of ready stances, but they can be broken down into three basic categories: high guard, middle guard and low guard. The difference in these is merely whether the blade is held in front of the upper, middle or lower part of the body. Here, only very basic versions of these stances will be discussed.

For a high guard stance, one would stand with his feet about shoulder width apart, one foot slightly ahead of the other and knees slightly bent. The hilt of the sword should be held in a normal (not reversed) grip, hands about the same height as the center of the chest. The hilt could either be held in front of the chest or to either side. If held in the center, the blade should not be leaning to either side. It should be pointing straight up or perhaps angled forward. If held to the side, the blade should angle in the other direction, again it can be angled out away from the body slightly. In all cases, the middle of the blade should pass in front of the head. This stance is excellent for defending against attacks to the head or upper torso, not as good against attacks to the middle torso, and practically useless against attacks to the legs or lower.

For a middle guard stance, one stands the same as before, but holds the hilt lower. The hands should be about the height of the waist, held out in front, near the middle or to either side. As before, if held to the side, the blade should angle towards the other side. This stance offers excellent protection against attacks to the middle torso and decent protection for most of the body. It is less effective against attacks directed at the head or the lower legs.

In a low guard stance, one would stand as in a middle guard stance and the hilt would be held at the same height, but the blade would be angled downward. This stance offers excellent defense against low attacks againt the legs or lower abdomen, with decreasing usefullness as the attacks move higher.

When one of these stances is assumed, it should just be described in the emote instead of saying what type of stance is being used. For example:

Joe stands with his feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent and right foot about a foot and a half ahead of the left. The hilt is held near his left hip, the blade angled about thirty degrees out from his body and to the right so that the blade passes in front of his right shoulder.

Joe assumes a middle guard stance.

Attack

In essense, there are really only two basic attacks that can be attempted with a sword. One can attack with the point or with the cutting edge. The first is a thrust or a stab. At its simplest, this is just poking the pointy end of the weapon at one's opponent. Here is a basic example:

Joe steps forward and thrusts his sword towards Bob's midsection, attempting to bury the point in his stomach.

Joe steps forward and swings his sword from his right to his left, attempting to cut across Bob's ribs.

When attacking, one should be moving forward or maintaining position, never moving backwards. Moving backwards takes force away from the blow. An attack made while moving back is going to be ineffective, at the most only being useful for dissuading pursuit.

Defense

The two basic types of defense that can be performed while fighting with a sword are parry and dodge.

Parry

The basic definition of a parry is an attempt to stop the opponent's attack with the sword blade. There are two basic types of parry: blocks and deflections. A block is used against a slash. It involves just moving the blade into the path of the opponent's blade and preventing it from hitting the body. Here is an example of a block in response to Bob trying to slash across Joe's neck:

Joe raises his blade up, parallel to his body and turns slightly to his right, interposing his blade between his neck and the incoming slash, stopping it with a loud clang of metal on metal.

Joe moves his blade to the right, across his body, to deflect the incoming point harmlessly to that side.

Dodge

A dodge is simply getting out of the way of an incoming blow. Ducking a slash at the head, jumping over a slash at the ankles or sidestepping a thrust at the gut are all examples of dodging. Here is an example of dodging a thrust at the stomach:

Joe steps back with his left foot, pivoting on his right, pulling his body out of the path of the incoming sword point.

Just as moving backward is inadvisable when attacking, moving forward is undesirable while defending. It gives less time and less room to parry or dodge. Moving backward does just the opposite, giving more time and more room to perform the defensive maneuver.

The Complete Emote

The complete emote should be something that could be physically completed in two seconds or less. This does not mean that it should only be as much as one can type in two seconds, but that the actions described should be something that in real life would take that brief a time. Typically, this will be defending against an opponent's attack and, if successful, swinging back at him. This is the Two Second Rule.

The combat emote should contain a response to the opponent's attack and, if applicable, a counterattack. If one fails to defend successfully, it is obviously less likely that one would be able to counter. For example, first Frank attacks Joe. In Joe's turn, he parries, then attacks Frank. On Frank's next turn, he parries and attacks Joe. Joe parries, but is off-balance and unable to counterattack. Frank presses his advantage and attacks Joe while he is off balance. Joe is unable to defend this time and takes a fatal wound. Since he is dead, Joe does not swing back. (Note: Last sentence included for tabletop wargamers.)

It is important to always respond clearly to the attack. One should never assume that his opponent will understand whether or not the attack succeeded. It should be clearly stated. An example:

Frank steps towards Joe with his blade held high over his head and slashes straight down towards the man's right shoulder.

While the following emote would result in Frank's attack missing, it is not necessarily clear to the audience:

Joe sidesteps to his left and lowers his blade to make a quick thrust towards Frank's stomach.

It is better form to do something such as this:

Joe sidesteps to his left, allowing Frank's blade to whistle harmlessly past his right side, and lowers his sword to make a quick thrust towards the man's stomach.

Both emotes are essentially the same. However, the second would generally be accepted to be the better of the two because it clearly states the success or failure of the attack.

Hit or Miss?

To some, it might seem now that emote fighting is pointless. Since one cannot actually hit his opponent without his consent, it seems that it would be impossible to win. This is not really the case amongst honorable roleplayers. This is where realism of the emotes comes into play. Firstly, one should worry only about his own roleplay. If one is RPing well and realistically and his opponent is doing fantastical things to avoid the attacks and attack him, a log of the fight can be sent to the Council for a ruling on the outcome. There is little point in bringing the council into it if he is just as guilty of impropriety, therefore one should always take care of his own emotes and rest assured that things will then work out.

How does one determine whether or not one should accept a hit? There is no real cut and dried answer to this. It falls into the realm of common sense and good judgement. Some are easy enough, though. If, for example, one ends his attack with a wild, overhand swing that leaves his sword point near the ground and his momentum moving forward, there is little he can do to avoid a quick thrust towards the middle of his chest. He could attempt to throw himself to one side or the other and perhaps take the wound in a shoulder or the side, but without superhuman agility, it would be incredibly unlikely to avoid taking a wound. This kind of situation is why it is important to maintain continuity in position from one emote to the next. Avoiding the hit in such a situation would likely earn one a reputation as a "superwarder".

Some situations are much more difficult to decide. If, for example, one is in a middle guard position and his opponent makes a quick thrust for his stomach, all things being equal he should parry successfully. Things are not usually equal, though. If the opponent is a Blademaster and our example barely knows which end of the sword he is supposed to hold, that thrust is likely to be too fast and hard for him to defend in time. The reverse is also true. If one happens to actually be a Blademaster and his opponent is a raw recruit, a thrust at the BM's chest while he is slightly off balance or not in perfect position may still be within his abilities to deflect. One of the most difficult things in emote fighting is emoting to the IC skill level of the character. Some people think that the person that takes the hits is always the better emoter. Always taking hits is just as bad as never taking hits. The specifics of the attack and the defender's position and skill relative to the attacker should determine whether or not the hit is taken. To be a good emote fighter one should take the hits that should succeed and parry the ones that should not. This is much easier said than done.

In a fight against someone who just will not accept a hit and does incredibly unlikely things to avoid them, it is sometimes very difficult to not respond in kind. It is also very hard to refrain from an OOC argument over it. It should be pointed out politely how unlikely such things are. If one feels unable to do this (i.e. he is too mad to do so politely) or just would like an unbiased opinion, he should check the who list for Guildleaders from combat guilds. This would be the Seanchan, either the Tower or Rebel Warders, the Aiel or the Black Tower. Other guilds may have people of exceptional ability in this area as well, but the guilds listed specialize in combat and the GLs should be very capable of judging fights. If none are available, asking a Blademaster for his or her opinion would be an option. If none of these options are available, one can stop the fight and send the log to the council for a judgement. Again, the importance of being reasonable with one's own emotes should be emphasized. It would be very embarrassing to call in someone to make a judgement and have them say one is just as guilty as his opponent.

Sheathing

After the fight is over, if one lives and still has his weapon in his hand, he should wipe the blood off and resheathe the sword. The scabbard should be held with the off hand to help guide the point of the blade into it, then the blade should be slid home. This is the simplest. There is a much fancier way, a form called Folding the Fan, but that is beyond the scope of introductory emote fighting.

Conclusion

Once one has read and absorbed the material in this document, he should be ready to begin emote fighting. One can read page after page of tips and examples, but there is no substitute for sparring. If one does not use this knowledge, it will not sink in. Also, this is a beginner's guide. It is not a primer on how to become a Blademaster. The only way to become a good emote fighter is to practice. If one applies the information in this document and spars against and watches good emote fighters, he can become good, as well. The real key is in the practice, though. For some more advanced tips on the subject, check out this document.