Author Topic: Luria  (Read 354435 times)

Tandaros

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1230: May 11, 2013, 01:56:14 AM »
Uh, haven't you guys seen any anime? Little blind girls are always the most dangerous person on the field.

Also the whole movie series about Zatoichi the blind swordsman. The blind are like Jedi; I wouldn't fight a blind Queen, no way. And Alice has trained her whole life. If you train at something you can be good at it.

I personally find the blindness to be poor RP. As far as game mechanics are concerned, it's obvious that the character has no significant handicaps. This isn't some stupid anime/manga where all of the best swordsmen are obviously blind.

And as the saying goes, game mechanics trump RP...

And what's next, a master swordsman who RPs as being armless? Paraplegic?

It might be a little unrealistic, but !@#$ it, we're making an interesting story. Who was the hunchbacked king of England that died in battle by getting hacked apart with halberds?

There's also the fact that I have a moderate handicap IRL, so I think the more reasonable handicaps (and character flaws in general) are added to the game environment, the better. Not everyone can be handsome, beautiful, capable, black/white sort of good and evil, genius, wealthy, perfect. The defects make it interesting.

Solari

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1231: May 11, 2013, 02:00:23 AM »
I personally find the blindness to be poor RP. As far as game mechanics are concerned, it's obvious that the character has no significant handicaps. This isn't some stupid anime/manga where all of the best swordsmen are obviously blind.

And as the saying goes, game mechanics trump RP...

And what's next, a master swordsman who RPs as being armless? Paraplegic?

There are three geocentric stars floating in the night sky over Dwilight, and nobody disputes this. That they're geocentric is effectively a tactic admission that they are special, which lends credence to the claims of Astroists. In fact, Machiavel bought into those claims. So why is RP'ed blindness worse than this kind of forced acceptance of an RP point on a massive scale?

Chenier

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1232: May 11, 2013, 02:20:17 AM »
There are three geocentric stars floating in the night sky over Dwilight, and nobody disputes this. That they're geocentric is effectively a tactic admission that they are special, which lends credence to the claims of Astroists. In fact, Machiavel bought into those claims. So why is RP'ed blindness worse than this kind of forced acceptance of an RP point on a massive scale?

The presence or absence of geocentric stars is completely irrelevant to any game mechanic whatsoever. That's the difference. A difference for which I'm astounded by how many refuse to acknowledge.

Anyone else wants to compare it with more completely irrelevant examples concerning my character's RPs? Are you going to bring up the fact that Machiavel likes mead, next? That his ship has a name? That his manor is by the sea? There are no comparisons to be made. I'm not RPing him as a mute orator or an autistic administrator, as an undead or as a great wizard. My RPs with Machiavel fill the voids left by the game mechanics, they complement them. They don't contradict them.
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Dishman

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1233: May 11, 2013, 02:39:31 AM »
I understand that a blind woman winning a swordfight seems un-SMA, but it's a low fantasy setting...not a no-fantasy setting. We have undead, monsters, nobles who can't die, daimons, and any number of things that seem unrealistic.

The idea of it being against game-mechanics, I don't care so much. So long as this is an isolated incident (that Queen Alice isn't constantly swordfighting and doing things that require eyesight), then it can be chalked up to fluke/luck. It's up to the player of Alice to police themselves between the RP and the character's ability, but an occasional setup for something interesting is always welcome.

If it really does bother you, spread the word that Alice cheated and had a mustachioed double fight for her after poisoning her opponent's morning wine and sacrificing babies to the Zuma for ethereal aid.
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JeVondair

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1234: May 11, 2013, 03:01:48 AM »
spread the word that Alice cheated and had a mustachioed double fight for her after poisoning her opponent's morning wine and sacrificing babies to the Zuma for ethereal aid.

On it!
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Solari

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1235: May 11, 2013, 03:18:05 AM »
The presence or absence of geocentric stars is completely irrelevant to any game mechanic whatsoever. That's the difference. A difference for which I'm astounded by how many refuse to acknowledge.

One is VASTLY more important than the other. So why are you so bent out of a shape about the one that's irrelevant? Would you like an acceptable list of traits, quirks, or deformities?

Anaris

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1236: May 11, 2013, 04:11:49 AM »
I can tell you right now that neither of the two duelists had any significant sword skill, by their own admission.

So when two people with no significant skill fight, and one wins, how the hell does that mean "the game made her a badass"?

You're reaching, Chénier. If you have to find something to bitch at Luria about (which I understand is your primary reason for being these days), please try to make it something that actually makes sense.
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Wolfsong

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1237: May 11, 2013, 06:14:04 AM »
I think the issue people are having is that if two people of equal skill (no matter how good/bad they actually are) are dueling, then the one with no eyesight would lose, hands down, because - well, being blind sucks. That's why most blind people have some kind of aid (a stick, a dog, a friend) when they go walking about outside. They can't anticipate cars, and cars are loud and noisy as hell. How could a blind person realistically anticipate a quiet swordsman? If they were to go flailing ahead, all it would require is for someone to sidestep - and stab. There would be no way for a blind person to anticipate that their opponent would sidestep, especially if they weren't skilled at swordfighting. A sighted person should have the advantage if both parties are of equal skill. But the code doesn't distinguish between sighted people and blind people.

If someone had been RPing their character as an armless swordmaster, I'm sure that would have come under fire immediately as unrealistic and poor RP. It'd still be just as valid as a blind person fighting, however. So...

I have my next character concept.

Gustav Kuriga

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1238: May 11, 2013, 06:57:17 AM »
I think the issue people are having is that if two people of equal skill (no matter how good/bad they actually are) are dueling, then the one with no eyesight would lose, hands down, because - well, being blind sucks. That's why most blind people have some kind of aid (a stick, a dog, a friend) when they go walking about outside. They can't anticipate cars, and cars are loud and noisy as hell. How could a blind person realistically anticipate a quiet swordsman? If they were to go flailing ahead, all it would require is for someone to sidestep - and stab. There would be no way for a blind person to anticipate that their opponent would sidestep, especially if they weren't skilled at swordfighting. A sighted person should have the advantage if both parties are of equal skill. But the code doesn't distinguish between sighted people and blind people.

If someone had been RPing their character as an armless swordmaster, I'm sure that would have come under fire immediately as unrealistic and poor RP. It'd still be just as valid as a blind person fighting, however. So...

I have my next character concept.

The car analogy is bad because the sounds of cars would be ever present for the most part, and depends on where you are standing whether it is dangerous or not. However, in a medieval world with a duel, I feel that the blind person would most definitely know where the person with the sword is coming from and what their intentions are. It's not going to be so good as to make them superior in any regard to a person with eyesight, but they will at least be able to have a general sense of what's going on. And with the sword skills as low as they are, an overrun strategy probably would work because the other person wouldn't know how to parry properly.

Ironsides

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1239: May 11, 2013, 06:57:47 AM »
Hey, guys, you are overlooking a huge piece of evidence, not only is Queen Alice blind she is a ninja trained by the same guy who trained Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.
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Penchant

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1240: May 11, 2013, 07:21:36 AM »
I can tell you right now that neither of the two duelists had any significant sword skill, by their own admission.

So when two people with no significant skill fight, and one wins, how the hell does that mean "the game made her a badass"?

You're reaching, Chénier. If you have to find something to bitch at Luria about (which I understand is your primary reason for being these days), please try to make it something that actually makes sense.
No, no. Here is what everyone is missing, Chenier was dumb enough to listen to Tarajist. No one has said it yet for reasons unknown to me but Alice was never an advy as Chenier stated. Chenier is simply getting this from some time Tarajist said it and foolish enough to believe him. What Chenier was complaining about kind of makes sense to complain about, its just that what he was complaining about wasn't happening. Basically Chenier is saying have 80% sword skill then saying you are blind doesn't make much sense, since how are you blind but that good with a sword? That wouldn't really make sense, but like I said, his mistake was believing Tarajist.
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Shizzle

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1241: May 11, 2013, 09:54:34 AM »
Okay, guys, settle down.

First off, Arundel and I agreed OOCly for the duel. I was very aware Alice is blind, and also that the game mechanics wouldn't recognise this, meaning it was very possible Skyndarbau would get pwned by a young blind girl. Yes, this is somewhat embarrassing for the character in question, but I knew that was a possibility.

Secondly, I think it's very clear a blind person would never defeat an opponent with equal swordfighting skill. Period. She may be a trained ninja or a jedi for all I care, but the game mechanics trump this. Alice and Skyn's swordskill is both around 10-15%, and these trump all rp variables. Alice won, clearly, so she had no issues with being blind somehow. But the reason was not better swordsmanship.

I think this whole event has created a problematic situation, a bug in the matrix if you will. A blind person somehow beat another man in direct combat. Why? I'll leave this for Arundel to work out. But I'll admit I would consider it poor form for him to just maintain the idea that a blind person randomly swinging a sword defeated her opponent - it's impossible. I'm more than hapy to accept some kind of Blood Stars superpower, though, as long as it explains her obvious suppremacy.

Tl;dr: Alice is severely handicapped, but won easily nonetheless. Game mechanics don't recognise her handicap, so something should be invented to balance things out. In other words, her handicap level is 0 as defined by the game. Blindness counts for handicap lvl 10. Invent something that debuffs her -10 so things even out :)

Gustav Kuriga

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1242: May 11, 2013, 10:34:55 AM »
Or, and hear me out on this, perhaps the skill factors in her skill with the sword along with her blindness, so that the fact she was blind brought her to a much lower sword skill than she normally would be. Note that this would be an IC explanation.

Shizzle

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1243: May 11, 2013, 10:39:21 AM »
Or, and hear me out on this, perhaps the skill factors in her skill with the sword along with her blindness, so that the fact she was blind brought her to a much lower sword skill than she normally would be. Note that this would be an IC explanation.

That makes sense as well, but I don't think things were roleplayed as such?

Gustav Kuriga

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Re: Luria
« Reply #1244: May 11, 2013, 10:41:38 AM »
Trust me, weirder things have happened than a blind person winning a sword fight. How about a deaf composer who became one of the most famous creators of classical music in the world?