Vox Mirata
Digital Devil
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Hello.
This is a little, extremely ambitious project of mine; BBRP. But, before I talk about it, I should go over some basic definitions and concepts to make it clear what is it that I'm seeking.
What is battle roleplay?
This is a little, extremely ambitious project of mine; BBRP. But, before I talk about it, I should go over some basic definitions and concepts to make it clear what is it that I'm seeking.
What is battle roleplay?
At it's core, battle roleplay is written combat between two or more parties, with the intent of attaining victory, deciding an outcome or training and improving. Some of you might known it's most popular, but one of the worst styles: T-1 combat.
What can battle roleplay be used for?
One might desire to battle because they wish to prove themselves, or their OC, as better than someone else's. Or maybe there is a conflict happening in your roleplay and you wish to determine the outcome of this combat with a more hands-on approach. Maybe you and your OC just want to have fun and /dance/ with someone you like.
But why do it?
Battling is an amazing exercise of writing and interpretation. Ideally, it teaches you to write more by using less. Body movements and complex maneuvers become more elegant and simplistic as you learn to get rid of bad writing habits and unnecessary flourish.
As you improve, you will also learn to read more from less; in battle roleplay you're not allowed to omit any actions you take, but you can learn to hide them behind other actions and writing, thus hiding your intention within nuances and details. Equally, you will also learn to read between the lines and detect these nuances and details.
Is it only good things, though?As you improve, you will also learn to read more from less; in battle roleplay you're not allowed to omit any actions you take, but you can learn to hide them behind other actions and writing, thus hiding your intention within nuances and details. Equally, you will also learn to read between the lines and detect these nuances and details.
Sadly, no.
The current and most used ruleset for battleRP is known as T-1. This extremely vague ruleset has led to something called powercreeping, as people turn to using super-superpowered characters and abilities to "win by default".
Obviously, such practices are not only anti-fun and denote a lack of any writing skill, they are also extremely predatory of any newcomer that might want to enter a T-1 community, as the "famous" people in there will make use of these methods to gang on the newcomer and "kill him" to rack up more wins in their community.
Another blatant issue to T-1 as a whole is the lack of written rules and conventions, leading people to make extremely vague rules and use them to their own benefit, once again creating a extremely toxic environment that turns people away from battleRP.
And what would Balanced Battle Roleplay(BBRP) be?The current and most used ruleset for battleRP is known as T-1. This extremely vague ruleset has led to something called powercreeping, as people turn to using super-superpowered characters and abilities to "win by default".
Another blatant issue to T-1 as a whole is the lack of written rules and conventions, leading people to make extremely vague rules and use them to their own benefit, once again creating a extremely toxic environment that turns people away from battleRP.
BBRP should be everything that T-1 isn't at the moment: Fun, rewarding and welcoming to anyone. It should be an experience that improves writers.
BBRP depends in one thing, and one thing only: Your ability as a writer.
A sword-wielding samurai could easily win against a star-flinging space dragon, as long as the pilot(writer) of the samurai is a better writer.
To put it more accurately, BBRP allows any type of character (a god, a vampire, a dragon, a human) to fight in equal ground with each other, since their Powerlevels are balanced around rules and conventions, leaving the principal difference of both OCs to be their respective pilots. There's no actual powercreeping. Concepts, weapons and superpowers boil down to tools that a pilot uses against another pilot.
This does not means that super strong, flashy powers are useless or you can't have them.
It's still possible for you to have your lethal blackholes and stars, but, such stronger powers come with an equivalent downside. Think of it like casting spells in a D&D game or a MMORPG; you need to pay a price, to sacrifice something, there are cast times and turns to wait before the spell takes effect and you could be interrupted along the way.
Even so, the strongest power isn't an "absolute". There are no absolutes in BBRP and everything can be countered or answered by an equally matched power.
Of course, there is still some basic logic to be had. Example: If your character doesn't have scales or some sort of hardened skin or protective method, you can't expect him to block an incoming blade with his bare hands or arms without suffering damage.
And before you become unmotivated: BBRP will never be about "writing ten super descriptive paragraphs." A single, well-written paragraph could be everything you need for a combat turn in a match or encounter. A good pilot and good fighter knows that less is more; elegant and succinct sentences will trump over elaborated and flourished paragraphs.
BBRP will have comprehensive, just and transparent rules that allow a match to be judged and a clear winner to be declared, without the need for someone to die or give up.
So, what's the idea?BBRP depends in one thing, and one thing only: Your ability as a writer.
A sword-wielding samurai could easily win against a star-flinging space dragon, as long as the pilot(writer) of the samurai is a better writer.
To put it more accurately, BBRP allows any type of character (a god, a vampire, a dragon, a human) to fight in equal ground with each other, since their Powerlevels are balanced around rules and conventions, leaving the principal difference of both OCs to be their respective pilots. There's no actual powercreeping. Concepts, weapons and superpowers boil down to tools that a pilot uses against another pilot.
This does not means that super strong, flashy powers are useless or you can't have them.
It's still possible for you to have your lethal blackholes and stars, but, such stronger powers come with an equivalent downside. Think of it like casting spells in a D&D game or a MMORPG; you need to pay a price, to sacrifice something, there are cast times and turns to wait before the spell takes effect and you could be interrupted along the way.
Even so, the strongest power isn't an "absolute". There are no absolutes in BBRP and everything can be countered or answered by an equally matched power.
Of course, there is still some basic logic to be had. Example: If your character doesn't have scales or some sort of hardened skin or protective method, you can't expect him to block an incoming blade with his bare hands or arms without suffering damage.
And before you become unmotivated: BBRP will never be about "writing ten super descriptive paragraphs." A single, well-written paragraph could be everything you need for a combat turn in a match or encounter. A good pilot and good fighter knows that less is more; elegant and succinct sentences will trump over elaborated and flourished paragraphs.
BBRP will have comprehensive, just and transparent rules that allow a match to be judged and a clear winner to be declared, without the need for someone to die or give up.
BBRP shouldn't be something that belongs to a single thread of roleplay. I want it to be more than just a group roleplay; I want it to be a system of morals and rules based on fun, honor and respect towards other pilots. BBRP could be used by any ongoing roleplay anywhere, in any setting. You could even adapt it to dogfighting between space ships or pirate ships in the sea .
The basic intention is to create a balanced convention that any practicer can use anywhere, and have a lot of fun using it.
In the future, if the concept of BBRP is well-accepted and becomes something real, I plan to build a expansive, massive RP world that can fit any type of OC, with the intent of creating a lore that will exist and be played for years to come, through multiple threads and parts of the forum. It will be huge, it will be good, but more importantly: It will be fun for everyone.
Makes sense? Yes? Great.
But of course, there's a catch.The basic intention is to create a balanced convention that any practicer can use anywhere, and have a lot of fun using it.
In the future, if the concept of BBRP is well-accepted and becomes something real, I plan to build a expansive, massive RP world that can fit any type of OC, with the intent of creating a lore that will exist and be played for years to come, through multiple threads and parts of the forum. It will be huge, it will be good, but more importantly: It will be fun for everyone.
Makes sense? Yes? Great.
The catch is that this all is just a project. The name "BBRP" is something I came up myself and there's no ten-page rulebook stored somewhere ready to be posted. yet
This project is something I want to build with all interested parties; rules and conventions that everyone agrees upon and we have constructed together. Things that we will test in combat and polish over time. But for that, I need people to be interested in all this. So, if you are interested and would like to be part of such initiative, do manifest yourself and let's get the conversations going.
"B-but I have never done something like this before."This project is something I want to build with all interested parties; rules and conventions that everyone agrees upon and we have constructed together. Things that we will test in combat and polish over time. But for that, I need people to be interested in all this. So, if you are interested and would like to be part of such initiative, do manifest yourself and let's get the conversations going.
And there's no problem. Are you able to decently write one paragraph of text? Are you able to describe the actions of your own character relative to the ambient where they find themselves? Do you have some love towards fast-paced action scenes? That's all you need, maybe even less.
BBRP will be a learning experience for me and anyone interested. We will improve ourselves as we practice and practice, refining this method of combat roleplay.
Of course, I do have some timeyears of experience with combat roleplay, so I will be doing my best to guide and teach people who have never done this before.
BBRP will be a learning experience for me and anyone interested. We will improve ourselves as we practice and practice, refining this method of combat roleplay.
Of course, I do have some time
