Fights and Banter

I am generally hoping to redo both my old works Viandas (just in the planning stages...again), and New Dawn (at 185 pages).

I've decided the criticism of both was quite valid, and rather than get mad, I've decided to get better. So I reinvented the feel behind both of them.

With Viandas, I am going for semi-parody of Dark Fantasy tropes, as in, playing things dead serious one minute, and then hanging lampshades left and right the next minute.

New Dawn, likewise, went from a weird little thing I worked on in Middle to High School to multiple genre deconstruction / reconstruction switches.

However, one thing I am concerned about is trying to make each fighter less just throwing around attacks or Mana in inarticulate, flashy ways, and basically incorporating fighting styles a real person would use when given a certain power set.

Essentially, what I want is advise as to how to handle fights between characters with different weapon types and power sets, and who would have an obvious advantage over another.

One of my preliminary ideas was how to play Johnson's age. He knows he doesn't have a developed enough body at fourteen to use Blackiron Triangle for a long time. Hence, he tries to end fights as quickly as possible, and even then, with him throwing his shoulders and back into attacks, often he ends up with severely stressed muscles his healer is in constant duty patching up. While skilled, he's has poor stamina.

Less seriously, I'd like to have some banter able to be done before, during and after the fight is done, mostly of humorous nature, almost always Take That!'s directed at how an enemy looked after he took his power up.

Example:

edited 25th May '13 12:47:02 AM by NickTheSwing

One kind of fight I was hoping to portray better was Johnson vs. Zeigert, Round 1.

Both are young, but Zeig has 3 years on Johnson, and wields a lighter weapon, namely a cruciform one handed sword. His style is a quicker, darting style.

So, while his weapon isn't as strong, he's a lot quicker than the weighted down protagonist, who is throwing around a sword too big for him.

It depends on how you want the fight to go, but with the above one, here's my suggestion:

1. Give Johnny some strong armour.

2. At the start of the fight, Zeig speed allows him to overwhelm Johnny,although Johnny's armour manages to keep him alive.

3. Eventually, Johnny realises Zeig is just too fast, so instead of trying to match his speed, Johnny play's possum and attacks at just the right moment, landing a nasty cut on Zeigs leg.While this doesn't cripple Zeig,it definitely slows him down, bringing the battle to a much more even keel.

You see, some of the best fights I've read play out like a Battle of Wits. Each fighter trying to find a way to gain the advantage, and his opponent trying to take the advantage away and regain his own.

Yeah, thanks for that. I am mostly trying to keep the fights interesting, but with a somewhat realistic tone.

The Battle of Wits idea is one I will try to incorporate into the fights and battles of my 'verse.

And here's some banter. Thoughts on the humor:

edited 27th May '13 9:00:36 PM by NickTheSwing