Learning how to play [Open Spar]

Learning how to play [Open Spar]

Isopia the Mountain That Knows Posts: 780

Dragon's Throat Apostle atk: 6.5 | def: 10 | dam: 8.0

Mare :: Tribrid :: 18hh :: 3 - is now aging slowly HP: 90 | Buff: NUMB

Hubris :: Royal Bronze Dragon :: Shock Breath & Frost Breath & Babel :: Royal Gold Dragon :: Fire Breath Odd

05-15-2016, 11:14 AM

Although Isopia couldn't see Seanan crash through her earthen-dragon, she did see him buffeted by something, and watched his speed dramatically slow. Her quad-horned skull bobbed up and down as she raced forward, feeling as though she was moving much faster now. That was only an illusion of course, caused by Seanan's suddenly drop in speed. But nevertheless, it caused a wellspring of excitement to bubble in the back of her throat.

See? Play is fun Hubris laughed from somewhere above her, flying near her flank, but making no indication that he was planning on joining this spar.

Because this wasn't Isopia's first spar, she saw the tell tale signs of a buck beginning to write themselves on Seanan's features. The way his head dipped, how his knees locked and how his weight shifted. But because she still wasn't particularly good at sparring, she couldn't avoid his outstretched legs completely. Her intent had been to bump herself against him, and there just wasn't time to move her massive frame out of the way. She felt his hooves press against the left side of her haunches, causing her hips to swing painfully to the right. Her forelegs grappled with the ground beneath her, trying to regain her balance. But her body was large, and her haunches had been forced to swing so far out, that it put her nearly perpendicular to where Seanan had previously been.

Isopia could feel two bright circles of pain forming and her body was likely already in the process of creating two matching bruises there. Even so, she found that she didn't mind. His kick had been light, likely not meant to actually hurt her, and she had run right into it. Why should that be a reason for her smile to falter?

Isopia lunged forward one more time, still fixed on achieving the shove that she had just been robbed of. Given her new angle, it would be more likely that her chest and left shoulder would strike his, but Isopia knew what a speedy creature he had proved to be, and so it wouldn't surprise her if she ended up thrusting herself towards his flank or hindquarters.

After what she hoped was a successful attack, Isopia swerved hard to the right, trying to place distance between the two. She was in better shape than she had been for a while, but even so, all of that running had left her quite winded. Her quad-horned skull lowered slightly and she took several deep breaths, keeping her golden gaze trained on the pale (though considerably dirtier now) stallion.

Hubris trilled a happy sound towards the stallion, as his bronzey body flit back towards Isopia. He landed on her wither, careful not to touch the bruise on her right shoulder, and patted her gently. Good play. He whispered into her mind. Now say thank-you.

Isopia balked slightly. Thank you? For what?

For play The dragon insisted, patting her neck again as if to suggest that she should just do what he said.

"Thank you." She said out loud, her voice awkward in its academic coldness. Isopia hadn't intended to sound so stiff, but then again, offering appreciation was not something she normally did often.

WC: 537
Attack: 3/3

TEACHING NOTES.

I was a little confused about this sentence, The soft feathers disguise granite and every time his hooves hit the ground it rattles up to the bruise forming above his tail. How are her wings disguising granite? Her wings are fairly light - they'd be mostly hollow like bird's wings, although the muscle and bone connecting them to her body would be a bit sturdier. Still, it wouldn't be any harder than having someone thwack you with their arm. So I think you probably took a bit too much damage from this, or at least, it wasn't realistic for her to have been able to hurt him that much just from her wing coming down. But if you're new here, I can see why you wouldn't really know how hard wings should be :P

I really, REALLY liked this bit: He's delighted to see in that quick glance the flag of her tail and something different in her expression. The stiffness seems to be leaving her and he lets go of the minor guilt that had plagued him about coming on her unawares. It's been a long time since he's played with someone and this is... a relief. There's no pretense. Just the movement of muscle and the caress of the wind. That's exactly the type of thing I was looking for from Seanan, and I think you captures it really well, without it seeming forced.

Another thing I really like about your writing is how concise it is, while still being informative. Some people (definitely me included) ramble on and on to describe things, whereas you're able to paint a really beautiful scene using only a few sentences. Things like, He's not a jumper. I suddenly have a really clear picture, but you did it in such a lovely and brief way.

When you bucked out at Iso, I think that was your way of responding to her attack of shoving up against you? This could have been a little bit clearer. With our sparring system, you want to make sure that you're acknowledging your opponents attacks in a very obvious way. Even if I had rolled a miss and Iso hadn't even come close to hitting you, even then you would have still said something about the fact that she tried to shove you, but obviously missed.

Your next and final post will be a 'closing defense'. Basically the point of the post is to respond to Isopia's attack. You can't attack her back, since the fighting will be over.

There are also a few things to mention about our system. If for instance, you had Seanan flop down and take a snooze or be like "Man i'm tired!" and lay down, you'd lose 10 pts for ending the fight being 'submissive'. Even though this spar was supposed to be 'for fun', if either of them 'submits' to one another, you'll get points deducted. Also if you pass out that's an automatic lose for you, or if your character runs away (that one should be obvious :P)

Overall I think you did really, REALLY well. It sucks that Seanan's damage is so low. If you look at the rolling thread, that's basically what's given us such a big HP gap. Getting him magic/offensive items will help raise this, if that's something you want for him. Or joining a herd and becoming a warrior. If not, anytime you complete a spar you earn "EXP", and you can build up your EXP to earn VP (victory points). VP is what 'levels you up' in our sparring system. So the more VP you have, the more 'buffs' you earn, which make you strong/faster/harder hitting, etc. But like I said, you did awesome. I think if you spar more you'll start to understand the flow of it a bit better. And, figuring how realistic damage when we're fighting with magical ponies IS really hard.

But awesome job! Thanks for replying so quickly! Seanan's so great!

Isopia

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

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