Chapter 11.1 Duels and Brawls

Free-For-All Combat
This is your regular attack method, same as other MMORPGs. Weapons and combat slide through models as the attacks hit. Good for large field battles.

Duels
Duels are different than regular attacks. Dueling mechanics allow the game to add true contact points with other player's weapons and defenses. This enables true physical clashes between weapons, allowing for visual impact. It makes more interesting spectacles of skill, strategy, and equipment. Duels and Sparring are fights that end in escape, surrender, fallen or defeat. This mechanic is to create a cinematic affects used in arenas, or more immersive PVP experiences in wars and piracy. May be used strategically to isolate other dueling characters.

Dueling Limitations
Players can have skills that force players into duels, but skills that negate them can ensure a player is not forced into duels. This allows duelers to lock in to each other, and keeps players who don't like dueling out of it. Players and NPC who don't have skills relating to duel canceling, will be forced into duels in PVP scenarios, but players can button mash to get out of it. Once freed from a duel, they cannot be forced into a duel for a time window, even by another dueling player.

Brawling
Brawling can be initiated between drunk or otherwise intoxicated players by attacking another player in an intoxicated state. However, it can also be initiated. When initiating, players can set rules to how far a brawl can go. Such as: stop at stamina depletion, stop when fallen, or stop when defeated. Brawling shares similar mechanics with dueling, but is rooted in social or intoxicated conflict rather than formal challenge, and functions more spur-of-the-moment, not allowing pre-set moves.

Intoxication Timers
Intoxication timers pause during brawling. This is to avoid needing to code it to change into a regular duel if participates sober up at different intervals, and may be a fun way to increase intoxication time if the player chooses.

Brawl to Duels
Brandishing a weapon during a brawl may have different laws depending on outpost laws and culture.

Duel and Brawl Visuals
Players participating in a duel or brawl will be able to see the dueling and brawl radius. Participants leaving the area will result in them fleeing the duel. Players can interact with players in a duel and select watch. This will now show the dueling radius to the watching players, so they know where it is safe to view.

Duel and Brawling Nuisances

• Duels

  • Non-participating players who are in the dueling radius

    • Will receive knock back affects, but will not lose HP or stamina, but will have actions like trading, teaching, eating, and other interactions interrupted.

    • Except in instances of PVP war or piracy (covered in a future section.) In these instances, players not participating will still receive damage

• Brawls

  • Non-participating players who are in the brawling radius if not intoxicated

    • Will receive knock back affects, but will not lose HP or stamina, but will have actions like trading, teaching, eating, and other interactions interrupted.

    • Except in instances of PVP war or piracy (covered in a future section.) In these instances, players not participating will still receive damage

  • Non-participating players who are in the brawling radius if intoxicated

    • Will be able to enter the brawl seamlessly and participate

    • Intoxication timer will pause, when joining, or when performing actions like cheering, clapping, yelling, and shadow boxing for performative inclusion, the game will consider performative interactions as participation

    • Except in instances of PVP war or piracy (covered in a future section.) In these instances, players not participating will still receive damage

NPC Interaction with Duels and Brawls
NPCs can be dueled and brawled with. Watching NPCs will view from viewing distance if interested in duels. NPCs will pull idle and AFK players out of the radius. Some may jeer and cheer. If infamy is high enough, they will push and pull fleeing characters back into the dueling/brawling area.

Duel Chains
Once a duel is initiated, players can move around freely, but moves are initiated in an queued attack chain. This allows the animations to line up with each other. A dueling player can perform attacks, where it will queue up live, and play in a set timed sequence. Players will see a line animate through a chain, to see how much time they have left before a move needs to be selected. In the case of no moves, the player will hesitate in a battle defensive stance, and animate a failed block if successfully attacked. (So they don't look stupid just standing there.)

Chain Visibility
Players can only see their own queue chain, not their opponents.

Dueling Strategies
You can precreate duel chains and cycle through them live during a battle, or toggle to back to live queuing at any time within a current chain, or a set blank chain (and lock prequeued from being edited). There is no planned limit to how many duel chains you can create, but having more may make it harder to cycle through. Blocking moves and dodging will use up stamina. Using potions and other consumables will replace the soonest attack(s) that are queued up, depending on how much time that potion/consumable will take, which mirrors their regular use window.

Duel Angles
Each attack has a hit window. There are 9 hit grid locations. Player traits, skills, and special dueling weapons and relics will allow certain actions to be performed automatically if certain locations hit, clash, parry, miss, and more.

Examples of Live Animations

• Successful Attack

  • Occur when an attack is unopposed, or defense/dodge/parry fails

  • An attack that is unopposed will land a hit, equipment, skills, and buffs between both players will determine how much damage is dealt and how much damage is received

• Clash Attack

  • Occur when both players attack the same grid space at the same time

  • A clash means both weapons bounce off each other, and no damage is dealt

  • By default, some stamina loss occurs for both players

• Defense Succeeds

  • A player is hit, but defensive maneuvers were in affect in that grid space, no damage is dealt, but some stamina is lost

• Defense Fails

  • The player is hit, and breaks through defenses (if applicable) an animation occurs based on the hit type (strong has large knockback, medium is normal knock back, small will have the hit player flinch a little)

  • Will still appear in a fighting stance

• Parry Players can attempt to parry instead of clash at the cost of stamina

• Parry Attack

  • Redirects the attacker to miss to obtain a hit

• Failed Parry

  • Results in a free hit for the opponent, and the parrying player still loses stamina

  • Interrupted animation and reverts to defense failed animation when hit

• Double Chain End

  • Clashes and defensive in a two full chain triggers a hold battle (button-mashing tie-breaker)

  • The loser staggers after a knockback and stamina loss, opening a free hit

  • Repeated winning of tie-breakers can create longer staggers, more stamina loss, and multiple free hits

• Stamina Depletion

  • Players will remain in a defensive stance, but defense fail, and hits will occur freely

  • May end initiated duel upon second hit after 0 stamina, if stamina depletion is the win condition

• Brawling (Intoxicated Dueling)

  • Brawling players will not see their movesets queued, and will attack, defend, parry, they perform moves blindly

  • Cannot precreate chains

End of Chain
At the end of every chain, duelers lose a little bit of stamina.

Movement
Players can move around freely, dodging will replace current moves queued, similar to potions. Attacks queued will only animate when in range of the player. This considers long and close range attacks. Consider having a procreated chain for long ranged attacks to switch to, or live queue up.

Targeting
Players can only duel one target at a time, so it will auto-lock onto a targeted player. However collateral damage can still occur in wars and piracy.

Healing
Players need to heal from inventory as usual, but it interrupts the amount of moves it takes to heal, these mirror regular healing times. Larger potions require more gulps, interrupting more moves. If interrupted, the player drops the potion, and healing stops. Shattered potion bottles and vials stay on the ground for some time as a visual of interrupted healing history.

Sparring
Sparring is the same as duels, but no actual HP damage is taken. This will replace the duel option at combat training areas and player created practice areas. Such as barracks, training zones, and arenas.

Duel/Brawl Request/Initiation
Before initiating a duel, the player can set preparation timer options, and optionally, an alias. The message will say, "Truename/Alias is requesting a duel." So players can be known by their name, or a hidden identity. Players can also initiate a brawl this way, whether intoxicated or not. Players have the option of leaving the invitation open to any player (another player must interact with them to respond), or to request a specific player. A request is targeted to a specific player, an initiating is open to any player that interacts with them to start.

Visuals of Duel/Brawl Initiation

• Duel

  • Character initiating will hold up the weapon in front of them at an angle

  • The opponent who accepts will cross their weapon on the opposite side, creating an X affect with the weapons

  • The regular duel mechanics will start

• Brawl

  • Character initiating will beat their chest and yell, pumping their arms up in a fist and winding up for the brawl

  • The opponent who accepts can immediately hit them, or miss, swinging in the air in the affected radius still activates the brawl

    • If hit, no affects occur yet, and is just for thematics, but traits can deflect or parry this for added thematics

Starting a Duel/Brawl Request

• Duel

  • Upon their weapons clashing into an X, they will step back, and start a specific distance away

  • Players have a few moments to select their starting attack chains, then when both parties are ready, or the timer runs out, the duel will start

  • Players can also turn off requests, or can block specific players from requesting from them again, either from their core menu

Parry Initiated Duels

• Duelers will need to have active parry duel skills for a parry duel to initiate

• Depending on the opposition, this may result in a knockback if a player has locked out duels in their core menu, or starts a duel

  • If it results in a duel, and player can button mash out of it if they don't want to proceed in a duel

• A parry duel attempt uses stamina when it doesn't result in a duel, even if a player button mashes out of a duel, it will not use up stamina

Pressure Duels
Players can pressure other players into duels in specific instances. The opponent must enter a recoil or stun, and if the pressure duel skill is activated correctly, the opponent can be forced into a duel.

Pressure Duels Areas

• When the dueler is in the territory radius of a claim/outpost they are a member in, or hired via quest to fight in (also known as home turf defense)

• When a player is recruited by a monster/deity and is in the radius that allows PVP

• Player and NPC constructed arenas

• Against an NPC

War Based Dueling
To allow duelers to be uninterrupted during a dueling session, either pressured or by mutual duelers, duelers can obtain war based protections that make them impervious to combat occurring outside of duel. This adds more considerations to war strategies. Culture skills of a home base territory can also increase the ability to pressure duels which may thwart an attacker's plans if successfully implemented. This can force tankers to create ethereal chains, locking multiple players into duels, to separate players from being able to target other players.

NPC Duelers
Some NPC may be trained in dueling, however all other NPC will have a random preset based on their archetype, and combat level in the case that they are put into a dueling scenario.

PVP Crime
Claims/outposts can define what instances of brawling or duels are crimes. Such as, if defeating a fallen player/NPC, or attacking after surrendering, is illegal. Players can set local laws at an enclosed arena.

Some law considerations:

• Formal Duels

• Brawls

• Brawls with weapons

• Attacking after surrender

• Attacking player/NPC after fallen

• Killing a fallen player/NPC (now in defeated status)

• Not allowed (doesn't apply in areas without protection status)

• Healing during a duel

Practice Duels
Players can train against a wind-up dummy or other duel in practice areas, like barracks or arenas to practice duels and brawls.

Winning Conditions Depend on Context
Players can attempt to run or surrender at any time in a duel. Or they can fight until exhaustion (stamina depletion,) until fallen, or defeated. There will be some dueling skills that will make it harder to flee without getting hit more, or being pulled back into the duel. Once a brawl ends, intoxication timers resume as normal.

Betting
Players will be able to bet on dueling and brawling outcomes at arenas and pubs at a betting station.