Combat
Combat
-Pit fighting is structured and governed by a series of set
rules, laid down and known by all. There are no surprises in pit fighting, other
than possibly within the actual moves of the combatants. Combat in the pit may
either be a fight to the death, or not. As long as one person involved in a
combat wishes to battle to the death, that battle will be to the death. No
Rarius can refuse a death match. If another desires to kill you, then you must
defend yourself Non-death fights include duels of honor, contests or
tournaments, fights to first blood, and of course sparring. The decision of
which type of combat it will be is announced by both Rarii before it begins. All
non-death fights will consist of 5 posts for each warrior. To the death matches
will consist of 8 posts. In either case, a time limit for the posts will be
predetermined as will any other conditions. The one who has been challenged has
the honor of choosing wether to post first...or last. Both fighters will
announce what weapons they have and will be using before the fight begins and no
other weapons will be permitted
In addition to pit fighting there is the more sudden, more violent type of
combat so common to the taverns of the cities and the camps of the plains.
Fights of this type are almost always to the death and because of their nature,
less structured. Words are spoken and weapons drawn. These fights are 3 post
fights, with reasonable time given for response. Posts, such as I will kill you, stand and die, or ~drawing
my weapon~ are sufficient to announce the start of the combat.
Concerning Assassins it is known that they only work for gold. Assassins do
not assassinate people at random or for no reason They wear the mark of a black
dagger on their foreheads when they have accepted payment to kill someone so
that they may enter any city or camp without interference.. Note that these are
usually very dangerous men. If an assassin wishes to commit an assassination, He
is to enter the camp or city and in some manner announce to the victim His
purpose.
Death
Dead is dead. To fail to accept one's death is dishonorable. Once dead, the
Rarius is to go to the Cities of the Dead, remaining there for a period of one
week before assuming another character's persona and returning, hopefully the
wiser for their experience. Once dead, the Rarius no longer owns property of any
kind. Whatever he had is to be divided between the victor, and the Ubar or Jarl
of his Homestone. The news of all deaths is to be recorded and circulated so
that all may know. A death, once verified is to be honored in all places.
Judging
As difficult as it is to fight well on Gor, it is even more difficult to
judge a fight. Not only must the judge or judges be honorable and fair in their
judgement, they must also have the level of skill necessary to judge a combat. A
life is at stake here. With this in mind, consider the following:
Any fight may be judged by the Jarl or Ubar of the camp or city in which it
takes place if such judgement is first deemed acceptable by both parties. Since
this is agreed upon before hand the decision is irreversible. No explanation of
the decision need be given; a simple you won and you are
dead, is enough. A wise leader will think carefully before putting
himself or herself in this position.
Since even the hint or suggestion of favoritism in judging is damaging to
all, it is to be avoided by the use of Combat Judges whose identity is known to
All and acceptable to the Jarls and Ubars of Gor. Picked for their knowledge and
reputation the Rarii will be available to sit in judgement. When judging They
will not only render their decision, they will include the reasons for it so
that all will know their thinking.
To be asked to become a judge is a great honor for the position is one of
tremendous responsibility.
So who judges the judges? The answer should be quite simple. They do. It is
expected that they, once selected, will gather to work out their own agreed
criteria for judgement and how they will pass such judgements down. For this to
work properly, they must take care to police their own.
No matter what I might write
here as to things to think about when in a fight, each Warrior must develop His
own moves & style, those that he is comfortable with and can become an
expert at executing. I do not recommend though trying to master to many moves at
once. Take them slowly, one at a time and learn them well. The first advice I
offer is to be an offensive fighter. If you are the one taking the fight to the
other, then his reactions are always in a defensive manner. The key to any good
attack is to always try to have your next few moves already planned in your
mind. You will after a few fights begin to anticipate your opponent's next move
allowing you the ability to make variances to his anticipated move with much
more ease than having to scramble with each post. What are some of the tactics
to use that will help you in a fight to be successful. Since there are two
primary types of fighting one will encounter and each requires different
tactics.
Open Combat: Close Up Fighting: Multiple Person Combat: One-to-One Fighting: Skill: Weapons: The next two areas are probably the
hardest to learn and will take a long time to master.
The first being the ability to
anticipate your enemy's next move: The second is one must always be
calm and focused:
Where one may not be in a one-on-one fight, but trying to gain a position for up
close fighting. In this scenario one would expect to see arrows, spears, knives
and other type throwing projectiles being used. The best thing to remember and
try to use effectively are always be moving in a zig/zagging type movement, to
not allow your enemy a chance to easily anticipate and target you. The other
thing is to use as much cover as one can, a wagon, wall, doorway, anything that
can get between you and the enemy.
The one that most Warriors prefer to engage in where a sword, knife or axe are
the main weapons. Here depending on whether you are in a battle with numerous
others or in a single one-to-one fight, determines what your strategy will be.
Is by far the most dangerous, as one must be able to defend himself in a
360-degree radius at all times. This is where one's ability to move about is
important. One must learn to move around and continually change the direction he
is facing, so as to be able to see the areas that were behind you a moment ago.
This requires keeping your opponent(s) moving where you want them positioned.
First learn to use a lot of movement, a still target is much easier to hit than
one moving from side to side, feinting a false move or bobbing and weaving. Try
to lead your opponents to areas where either you have a wall, etc to your back
or to an area where the opening is small forcing them to funnel in so you are
able to take them as they enter. Another option is to stand with your back to
the back of a fellow Warrior, this allows you both to work more of a 180-degree
area and not have to worry about your flank. Remember that anytime you have a
chance to either catch a glimpse behind you or to maneuver your opponents so
they are to your front your chances to survive are much greater.
Is by far the most honorable and skillful of all the fights. It pits one man's
abilities against another, with the winner the one who has developed the most
skill, knows how to use his weapons effectively, has a good sense of
anticipating his opponents moves, and above all remains calm and focused
throughout the fight.
Is what you develop through training and practice. This does not just mean skill
in use of your weapons, but in the use of movements, tactics, and thinking. The
one thing I will say that I feel is imperative for one to be a successful
Warrior in one-to-one combat it to be unorthodox, in other words don't always
use the standard sword moves. If you have found a move that works for you use
it. Always mix up your moves, if you set a pattern in your moves a good Warrior
will pick up on it and wait to find a weakness there and attack it. The same is
true for you always watch for weaknesses, either in repetitive moves or an
opening made during an offensive or defensive move. Watch your opponents
emotions, see if anger is evident, it can be a very good weapon in your favor,
as one when angry cannot remain focused. In other words as I have said earlier
take the offensive and fight your fight not theirs.
Are of many types on Gor. For one-on-one as I said earlier normally the sword,
knife, axe, or combination of these are used. Some claim to be an expert with
every weapon made. I challenge them by saying that there will be someone who
uses a single weapon that can cut you to pieces with that weapon. To learn to
effectively use a weapon takes first a tremendous amount of practice. This does
not mean at the beginning of training with it, it means almost daily so one
keeps what skills he has developed sharply honed and can introduce new tactics
and moves to use. So if one picks one or two weapons and becomes highly skilled
in their use, to me he is a much more effective Warrior than one who can wield
many weapons above average.
To make this work successfully one must remember to be the attacker. If you are
initiating the move on attack, you can narrow your opponent's defenses down to a
couple for that move. Then knowing those defenses you can plan your next
offensive move to go after a weak point that would develop from those defenses.
Now this works well unless your opponent uses a move to defend that is not the
norm, here your ability to improvise momentarily is important. But remember your
goal is to get the fight back on your offensive attack plan. As said before
always watch for repetitive moves, if every time you throw an overhead slice his
defense is the same, then this may open a weak point to use a fake and follow-up
move. This applies to you as well, try to keep using as many different moves as
you can. Watch for any weakness; fatigue, slow use of a particular limb or body
movement caused by old wounds or injuries, and any sign of anger or rage. Always
remember you goal is to strike the first blow and always try to make it as
severe a wound as possible, this usually momentarily stuns your opponent and may
allow you the opportunity to put the finishing blow in.
Does that mean have no emotion. No, you will without doubt have some emotion and
may go through a couple from scared at the beginning to exhilarated during the
fight. But if one can first learn to hide his emotions, it can be a great
advantage in a fight. If your opponent see nothing but cold, hard, steel eyes
and a stone face he cannot try to use your emotions against you. At the same
time I recommend never entering a fight when you are enraged or angry. Even if
you hide them from you opponent, these emotions have a tendency to cloud clear
thinking, meaning you give your opponent an advantage from the start. I
recommend taking time to calm yourself and to bring yourself past the anger
stage before confronting one for a fight. These are my thoughts on weapons use
and ways for one to be successful in a fight and to hopefully assist in staying
alive to fight again. In no way are these the only methods or ideas that one can
use. They are here just to help you think about what you need and what will work
for you. There are hundreds of scenarios one can think about and try to have an
idea of what ones actions and reactions will be. But if one learns the basics
and remains calm and focused, the rest comes as instinct dictates. May your
battles always be honorable and just.
click Here for the
VF Sparring Rules