The Prodigy Spar System is a creation in an attempt to bring forth a bit of realism to Gorean Combat as well as bring about a bit of simplicity to the way that Gorean Combat is conducted in this day and age. This spar system may not be for everyone, others however may have been looking for something like this for quite some time.
The General differences of this spar system with other systems are the following details that I’ve outlined.
1. Fighters start with a bank of 10 points total for the entire fight, each post does not have it's individual value. Each deduction will be removed from the fighter's point bank. Points can be added to the point bank, by scoring blows or damaging a fighters equipment. Such as breaking a spear, destroying a shield, or disarming an opponent.
+ 2 points for landing a cut or thrust.
+ 1 point for landing a bruise, blunt impact.
+ 1 point for the destruction of a shield/weapon/disarming.(A
fighter voluntarily changing weapons, does not count as being
disarmed.
2. This spar system will have each post having two parts. The First part will be the counter, the second part will be the Reaction.
General Rules:
1. Fighters may use as many weapons as may be realistically available to them. This means that you may have several weapons upon your person, and not be docked for them. An example would be a quiver of 40 arrows, a belt of 7 quiva, etc, so long as it is realistic to do so. Carrying 2 battle axes, 1 kurii shield, 2 long swords, two short swords, two belts of 7 killing knives, a helmet, and a sleen knife, would not be realistic. Wounds sustained during battles of sport should be acknowledged, tended and treated. Lethal or disabling blows that may have been ruled as landing in a sport spar should be mitigated and treated. If a fighter does not wish to risk injury, they should engage in battle with wooden or chalked weapons. Mock wounds should not be used.
2. Prior to the start of combat, each fighter will post brief stances that they are in, such stances are to indicate which weapons are held how, use of shields or helmets, as well as locations of other weapons that would be visible. A fighter shall make note that he has hidden weapons some where upon their person, but would not have to disclose the exact location.
Once each fighter has posted their stance, it will be declared who shall go first and then the combat shall start from there. This can be done by guessing of numbers, or whatever is agreed upon for a random choice, or one fighter stating he does not care or what have you.
3. Each spar post may only contain two parts, instead of allocated actions for a fighter to do what he pleases with them in any amount. The first part will be the Counter, the second part will be the Reaction. Together these two parts will make a complete post. One round of combat would be considered as happening at nearly the exact time, with a few exceptions to perhaps listing that they are stunned or pausing to gather wits or the like.
Here is an in-depth explanation for just what exactly each part of a combat post shall be.
Counter: The counter portion of a combat post will 9 times out of 10 consist of defensive maneuvers to block, or essentially counter the attacks that will be made toward you. Such a counter will allow you to use a combination of small simple movements that fit fluidly together to consist of one single counter movement.
Examples: ~*I crouch down by bending my knees while I raise my shield up to tilt it back over top of my upper torso so that your hammer can smash into it’s face instead of my head.*~
~*I pivot quickly on my right foot to draw my left side backward as well as swipe my sheild’s outside lower edge down and to my left to try and deflect your thrust at my knee wide of it’s mark*~
Counter’s should be quick movements that can be done very quickly with over lapping one another or incredibly quick after one is completely then the next, but to be done in a short amount of time. The above two examples show what most systems would call two actions, that over lap one another, happening at the same time. This is the preferred use of counters.
For the opening post of a spar, the Counter portion will be used for the fighter to get into range in whatever manner seems best to him. This was originally intended to cover a position for offensive actions, that would be realistic to attempt to get into range. For example: Putting a shield out at an extended spear to try & knock it aside, so that you may safely close the gap.
Reaction: This will 7 times out of 10 be the portion of your post where you insert your offense. However it is not required that your reaction be an attack or anything even offensive in nature. Your reaction could be used in movement or repositioning your body or weapons. Combination of small fluid movements may also be allowed during your reaction so long as they are able to happen at either exactly the same time or overlapping. Backing out of range after every attack is not acceptable. Fighters may also occasionaly be capable of issuing combination attacks during their battles.
Combination attacks can occur in a limited situation throughout the battle. A combination attack will make use of two attacks within the same reaction of a post. In order to do such, a fighter gives up his ability to make use of any positioning changes during the reaction. A combination attack can either be each hand, attacking at the exact same time (ex: Twin short swords thrusting at each thigh.) Or One attack that is immediately followed by another attack. (ex: Forehand snap of a longsword to the left side of the helm, followed by a roll of the wrist to snap the sword across the body in a blow at the right side chest.) For much more detail on how these will playout, please see the guidelines below.
A reaction combination to discard a weapon in a non attacking manner and draw a new weapon will be considered one reaction.
A reaction to combine a body movement along with an attack at the same time is acceptable. Below will be several examples of proper reactions.
~*I thrust my gladius forward at the left side of your chest as well as step in firmly on my right foot to try and add more force to the blow*~
~*I drop down quickly to my right knee while I swing my short sword in a crescent pattern down and to my left at the outside of your left ankle*~
~*I press upward and forward to come to stand while in an attempt to drive the length of my short sword up into your stomach*~
~*I quickly begin to shuffle back and to my right to try and put more distance between us to get away from you while I pull my shield and sword back into original positions.*~
Further Explanation of Rule # 3: As you can tell, what you do in each post will be severely limited, however this is made up for by allowing more posts to be done instead of just the usual 3-5 posts of combat in a normal spar. This spar will put a great deal of emphasis on waiting for your reactions to deliver a critical strike that will disable or simply kill your opponent, as such is quite realistic and often the objective of experienced fighters. The key is to find your opponent out of position, and strike.
4. Forced Actions will not be acceptable. No forced action will be considered for a lethal blow or knock out blow. A point will be deducted for each forced action. To avoid using forced actions, attempt to use the following.
~*I thrust my sword forward at your chest, hoping to kill you.*~ Instead of, ~*I thrust my sword into your chest so that it drives through your muscle tissue and into your heart leaving the tip of the sword poking out of your back*~
~*I swing my sword down and to my right, to deflect your blow wide of my right leg.*~ instead of, ~*I swing my sword down and to my right, deflecting your sword wide to my right so that it is completely out of position for anything I may then do.*~
It will be the judges decision on what a forced action is or is not.
5. Clarity is key. A fighter must be clear to the Judge
and to his opponent. A judge will decide what is clear, and
what is not. If a judge struggles picturing something then it
is not clear enough, thus warranting a deduction. Also, if a
fighter is very unclear in a reaction, to the point that A
judge deems it unclear, his opponent will have a small bit of
leeway in his Counter, due to the opponent possibly having
been confused as well. Clarity is still
vital, but it does not need to become extremely so in terms
of being incredibly anal that the spar becomes more of a
writing contest, instead of a combative battle. A fighter
should try to be clear in what they are intending to do, and
how they intend to do it.
6. Realism is vital. A fighter must strive to be realistic, realistic to what is acceptable in modern physics, but as well as what is realistic in the Gorean World. If a judge feels something is not realistic, it will have a point deducted for it. Also if an attack is unrealistic, then it will not be considered for a lethal blow or knock out blow, even if the opponent messes up his defense. See the guidelines for a breakdown on widely acceptable realistic practices.
7. Backposts are not acceptable. A
backpost is considered when you essentially re-write what you
had previously stated you were doing in a previous round.
Commonly this becomes an issue when you try to change what
you had previously done while your opponent is making their
counter. Below is a couple of quick examples. Other examples
can be found in the guidelines page.
8: To allow Prodigy to go further in seperation from some other combat systems, there will be more of a rolling time limit used in prodigy battles. A time limit may be agreed upon by both and all combatants prior to a fight. Some fighters are fast, they may wish a 4 or 5 minute time limits, others are slower, they may wish a 8 to 10 minute time limit, some may wish a longer time limit then that or no time limit at all. The reason time limits were added to Gorean combat was to keep spars flowing and moving so that a 5 hour death spar would be a thing of the past. This rolling time limit shall hopefully provide benefits for speedy fighters liking to post fast, or slower fighters wishing to take it slower. The default time limit for Prodigy fights that a spontaneous (IE: Open Combat fight would be expected to perform under, is 8 minutes.
Time begins when the first attack is issued, it does not start from the stances. Breaking time violation will be a time deduction in sport spars, in serious fights, the reaction in a post that has a time violation, it will be considered as though your opponent was temporarily stunned, and was unable to make a real reaction. If you notice their time violation, and are certain they busted time, in a serious fight, you may disregard their reaction and continue on with using your counter as a free movement or reposition, but not an attack. If that reaction that would be nullified by busting time, is in defense of a lethal or knock out attack, it will not be considered as doing full damage, but this should be rare as defenses should be found in the counter. A time out should never be the only cause for death. The Judge will look at it as part of the blow landed. However that still requires the defense to have been realistic. If the defense would not have worked, AND they busted time, then it is acceptable to rule them dead/captured.
When fighting Multiple Opponents, You will reply to the first attack, and have 8 minutes to reply from that first attack. Once you reply, You have 8 minutes from your OWN time stamp to reply to the 2nd attacker.
When in OC, fighters have 10 minutes from the start of the first attack issued to make a hostile act, and enter into the OC. Otherwise they will not be considered as being apart of the ordeal. A hostile act is something more then just a weapons post. Moving to block an exit, flank an enemy, make an attack, or aid a combatant, are hostile acts, however.
Combatants may only enter into an OC(if they were not in the room when it began), if they meet the following criteria: 1: They live in the room the battle is taking place in.If they meet either of the above criteria, they have 10 minutes from the first attack to enter the room, and provide sufficient role play to making their way to the area of conflict and then make a hostile act before the 10 minute window expires. Examples can be found in the guidelines.
9: The goal is to provide realism, and a bit of simplicity
that is lacking in some systems. We are interested in having
many battles from Kaiila back, and in mounted combat, like
naval combat, half a dozen minor actions are always happening
at once, and we hope this will provide a good system to enjoy
mounted combat.
10. To escape serious combat, You must use your Counters to block, and your Reactions to try and flee to an exit. You must do this three times against a single opponent. If you are fighting more then one opponent, you need to make a total of four exit posts divided however you wish amongst the multiple attackers. Do remember, when faced against multiple attackers, it will realistically be very hard to escape. If attempting to flee within your own home, you need only make 2 exit posts to a single attacker, and 2 total to multiple attackers, thus making it easier to flee when in the safety of your own home. But once finished, immediately leave. Do not stay there, claiming to be safe, and proceed to run your mouth.
Evasive Actions - When attempting to
flee from an attacker in OC, while using your reaction to try
to get away, you make also include in your reaction, specific
actions you take to try & avoid your attacker. The
attacker, must respond to these actions in their own counter
while giving chase.
Change Log:
02/20/10
- Removed ban on poison. It was unrealistic to deny it in
every situation.
- Noted that a counter can contain offensive actions to help
get into range with an example provided. Further
clarification on how these can work would be put forward. Ex.
A fighter can always attempt to defend against an offensive
action.
- Highlighted the fact that originally Prodigy posts were
supposed to be very small, crisp and fast paced, which is why
the original default # of posts was 8 rounds. Instead posts
got bloated to become huge, and the same 3 posts or 5 posts
remained as the standard length of spar.
- Added an example of how fighters can be clear, without
needing to be analy so. Further explanation would be put
forth for better examples for various situations that crop
up.
- Made mention of an expanded guidelines to include hot
button issues that are either deemed realistic or
unrealistic, to have a more centralized base.
- Re-done the backpost section. Indicated examples will be
available in the guidelines.
- Removed Counter Attacks completely
- Put a restriction on how OC combatants may engage in a
conflict they did not begin.
- Removed rule 9. Not entirely sure what I was thinking when
I made it. OC doesn't use points, and if a sport spar can be
stopped with 5 deductions why do we even have a 10 point
bank?
- Indicated more details can be flushed out on how to perform
more complex battles. This would be a low priority for now.
Getting actual ground combat in a better direction is the
highest priority.
- Made it more difficult to flee, if you are not in your own
home.
- Made it more difficult to exit OC if you are not within
your home.
- Made it easier to exit OC if you ARE within your home if
against multiple attackers.
- Introduced evasive actions. Guidelines will have an indepth
breakdown.