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Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:00 am
by GM_Chris
I thought I would return to the board to view the comments and I saw a few on charging so I thought I would clarify the rule since I was the one who wrote it originally for CARPS when we started that LARP.

The charging rule is the same as basketball. If you want to get a person called for a charge then you as the defender need to plant your feet and get hit (which can suck). I understand that can be hard to do...I am a small guy and if I had someone much larger than me run at me I would be prone to back up and not stand my ground. If you want to change the rule write up what you think the rule for combat should be and submit it.

That said a person needs to fight arm length apart which can be hard at times int he heat of the moment. When I have my head screwed on right and I am not emotional and I have a player fighting two close I usually put my weapon to my side and say something to the the guy fighting like (look how close you are you need to back up) or a small game stop and point it out.

Last point, here is an example of when I have been called for a charge and it was not a charge. I am running full tilt with a small sized weapon at a person with a large sized weapon. I run up really fast and then STOP arms length away with my little dagger. The player is off balance because they want to step back due to my fast run up to the player, but maybe not say anything, but already frustrated. The player then tries to hit me with their large size weapon and can't because I am too close so they take a step back. I in turn step forward. The player gets increasingly frustrated because they can't hit me and start swinging harder, eventually I am called for a charge, but I was never charging.

Not saying the above example is what happened at the event, but I bring it up because if you want to work on changing the rule you need to account for small weapon vs large weapon.

Re: Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:32 pm
by Phinkis
All I can say on the issue is every instance I've seen that I considered charging two people collided. Sometimes it's because people aren't watching where they're going. Sometimes it's because the person is running full tilt and looses their balance. Sometimes it's cause someone sees an opening in a defensive line and runs for it but the opening closes before they get there. It all can be prevented by being aware of your surroundings and fighting safely based on your location.

Re: Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 3:20 pm
by GM_Chris
Phinkis, taking just the defensive line opening example, if the person went for it but was able to stop themself when the opening closed, were they still playing safe?

If no, then define "safe" in a way such that an independent observer can look and metaphorically red card a person when they are not being safe.

Re: Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 6:57 pm
by Ark
perhaps say increasing the smallest weapon category to a size that's safe would help too :P

as far as the charging at this even I refuse to comment as I was not there so don't have the right.

Re: Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:03 pm
by Phinkis
It depends how close they get before they stop themselves. If i can feel the heat coming off of them when they stop I'd say they where probably a little unsafe. The real issues are control and awareness. You can move as fast as you want as long as you're still able to control where your going, stop in a short distance and be aware of the people, and objects around you. I'll break that down some.

I'm not a fast person but everyone has a top speed where they are still truly in control of their movement and a speed when momentum is your master. For larger people like myself, this speed is much lower as more mass means greater momentum. Most of us big guys are aware of this and as nature would have it most of us don't tend to move that quick anyway. Smaller people can achieve much greater speeds and keep control of their movements but even they have a point where momentum will win in a tug of war. It's easy in battle to get riled up and start running around but if you get moving too fast and can't stop, this can cause a collision.

Another factor is focus and awareness. I've seen it happen a couple times where a person get's so focused on a target that they'll crash into others to try and get by. There may have been no one between them and the target when they started the pursuit but a lot can change in a short amount of time during a battle. If you're too focused and don't realize that someone is moving to intercept then this can cause a collision as well.

Unfortunately it's hard to say if a person is moving too fast unless they actually run into someone since, as I said, everyone has a different safe top speed. It's also hard to tell if someone is not paying attention to their surroundings until it causes an issue. I have not problem with the charging rule the way it is. In fact I think it's very well written. I just want to make sure that when charging does happen that it's addressed and that people play safe.

Re: Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:08 pm
by GM_Chris
as far as the charging at this even I refuse to comment as I was not there so don't have the right.
LOL not sure if that is some strange veiled attempt to say "Chris you were not at the event so you cannot comment on charge"

In case anyone did take it that way I want to assure people that I am not commenting on "charging" that may or may not have occurred at the event. My only goal of this post was to give the exact intent of the rule from a historical perspective incase anyone would like to attempt to write an improved rule.

Yes changing weapon lengths might be a way to fix one scenario I presented.

Re: Charging

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:10 pm
by Ark
wow no Chris I am soooo very sorry if it looked that way. not at all what I meant!