Fights can be stressful both in and out of character so it is important that you take a breath and go with the flow. The situation can also be equally fun and we want you to enjoy whatever it is that you're writing. There are key points in any fighting post:

Be concise and try to keep it short, even if you're providing details and some inner monologue.

Be clear about the action your wolf is taking so that the other party can respond appropriately.

Be fair on one another and communicate if there is any confusion at all.

Fighting Mechanics

Fights between characters range from harmless sparring, to a serious fight, to a potentially fatal fight. Fights come in turns where each character takes an action against the other character. Everyone posts in order and takes into consideration the other writers they are writing with. It is forever important to stay on the same page as other writers, especially when it comes to positioning and outcomes of specific moves.

Each turn in a fight will also come with a fighting attempt roll. It is important to follow these attempt roll when it is your turn. You, as the writer on your turn, describe what is going on, what your character is doing, and how the previous roll affected what is going on. You are taking into consideration your own roll as well as the roll of your opponent. If you had a bad roll and your opponent had a good roll, you should still write it out appropriately.

An example:

She knew she didn’t have a lot more time, but she’d placed herself right back into the battle by shoving herself between the two wolves. The stranger seemed stunned for the moment and Scylla wasn’t wasting a moment to go for Champion. Champ snarled in response, pulling on a bit of instinct to bite at Scylla’s face again. She wasn’t going to for damage or death, but to show Scylla that she wasn’t a pushover anymore. With her fur bristled and her back hunched, she sought to leave some marks this time.

In this example, the character Champion is working to defend another wolf who she's shielded from attack. She is applying defenses in her hunched position and bristled fur, and is attempting to bite Scylla's face. The post is concise and descriptive and allows the next player to read the post, how well the roll goes, and then interpret the post. In this example, we can assume that Champion was 100% successful - which is great!

Let's look at how Scylla responded:

Teeth in the face, ouch. Scylla grumbled loudly in pain and tightened their grip, loathe to relinquish the not so great grip on the captive’s leg but also not at all enjoying the firm hold Champion had of her cheek skin. They growled, hoping to scare the wolf into surrendering to try to garner mercy.

Since Champion was absolutely successful, Scylla has indicated that the teeth clearly hit their face, and is using their action to get a better grip and hope to intimidate. An action in a fight can be a show of intimidation or an attempt to harm. From here, the outcome of Scylla's roll would determine how Champion responds. In this way, the two characters work in tandem based off of attempted actions and the rolls that come as a result of that action.

Let's lay out the mechanics for how fights work:

Fights are fast-paced (As horrible as it is, have you ever seen dogs fight? There's nothing slow about it). Any given action is expected to take 2 seconds at maximum. A full fight may only last several seconds or a few minutes. Fights that extend for too long will impart exhaustion on the involved characters, as fights are stressful, cause blood loss, and up fatigue.

Each character gets one action per post. An action is something such as talking a fair bit, moving to damage or escape the opponent, dodging directly, howling, or anything else that will take a moment of time.

When it comes to attacks, all attacks should make sense based on positioning. If a character is on their belly on the ground and their attacker is standing above them on top of their back, then the attacking character cannot go for their throat as positioning doesn't allow it. Make sure you and the other party always understand the positioning so that you know what is possible

Characters also get passive defenses which are little things the wolf can do to help defend themselves such as defending their throat, closing or squinting their eyes, planting their feet to stay up, tucking their tail, hunkering, squirming. A defense is not really an attack, but is anything in the post that describes how they're trying to avoid an attack. A dodge is not a defense, it is an action.

A dodge comes in two forms:

• Redirection: In our example above, Champion aimed at Scylla's face. If she had gotten a 75% instead of 100%, then Scylla could have moved their head a teensy bit to change where the attack hit. If Champion had rolled a 50%, then Scylla could have moved so that the attack hit their ear or their neck. In redirection, the attack always lands if the roll is successful to any degree, even if the intended area is not what is hit. In the event of a 100%, a redirection cannot be used, as it is guaranteed that the character hits where they intend unless a full dodge is used.
• A full dodge: A full dodge, on the opposite end, is a way to fully escape damage. Each character only gets one full dodge per fight, and it can only be used to evade a blow or to escape a grip. If a character uses the dodge in either scenario and is unable to get away, then they cannot use another full dodge. A character who uses a full dodge to break a grip or to tear away from another wolf's grip fully accepts the damage that will cause. A full dodge can not be used if it simply isn't logical for the wolf to get away. For example: a wolf who is pinned down with a much larger opponent on top of them is not going to be able to get away in one move. A full dodge can not be used to power-play another wolf off of your character or away from your character it must be used in a way that makes sense for the fight.
• Make sure you are utilizing the fighting short code and add in there your attack, defense, a small summary of what's going on or positioning, and what your character's injuries are. This gives the other player (and readers) a summary of the fight post for easier interpretation and response.

Others Joining a Fight

Other wolves have a chance of joining in depending on the situation. Especially in a pack territory or along their border, it is fully feasible that pack members will respond if they are close enough. You accept that by participating in a fight on pack grounds that the pack is going to show up. That said, there are some restrictions to joining into a fight.
• Any character who was not present when the fight broke out must declare their entry and take three turns before arriving at the fight and joining in.
• You can post each round to indicate how close your character is getting, or can post the initial post and ask to be skipped until the three rounds is up and you're able to join in.
• If your character is simply not present in the area (they're a pack wolf but they aren't home at the moment) then they cannot join the fight, as they would have no idea the fight is happening.

Fight Outcomes

Whether or not both parties agree, death and maiming can be part of the outcome. While we aren't condoning plotting to have a fight so that your character can have kickass scars, we are stating that you should communicate what possible outcomes you are comfortable with. Here's some pointers for that.
• Death can only occur if there is logical IC reason for it to happen, and it is only after at least five rounds. Your character cannot kill for the sake of killing. They need a reason to kill, even if they are evil and murderous.
• Maiming can happen at any point but it is common courtesy to ensure that maiming is something the other player is comfortable with. It is absolutely acceptable to ask the other player something like "Hey, Gus is likely to try to take an ear or a paw, is that ok?". From there, let the post play out organically depending on if the other player consents.
• In the event maiming or serious injury is something both parties are amicable of, it still takes at least 3 rounds to achieve that result.
• If you cannot agree on how to proceed, then you must defer to the rules. While we encourage you to get permission before killing or maiming, this is also an environment where anything can happen. You should enter into fights knowing that your character could be maimed or killed. Whether or not the other person respects that is up to them, and if you both disagree then you should be deferring to the rules. The other person is not bad or inconsiderate for following what their character would logically do IC.

Keep Fights Moving

• Try to post quickly, or even spree with one another to get the fight out of the way. Fights that take too long to finish become stressful for the players.
• If it's becoming too stressful, see if you can agree on a number of rounds before the fight ends. Whoever comes out most successful at the end of the rounds is the winner. If using a fight cap, death or maiming can only happen if it fits within the cap.
• Be considerate of one another and talk about positioning, intentions, attacks, defenses, or to just get clarification. Keeping both players on the same page is likely to keep a fight moving so that it can be over sooner. The goal isn't to win or come out on top - it is to finish this very violent part of the story between two characters so that you can move on to to other threads.
• Utilize the skip rule for fighting if you need to. If the other party hasn't posted for five or more days, you can skip them whether they give permission or not. If skipping them, please refer to section 10 of the game rules for how that works. You should acknowledge, as the player, that you can be skipped if you do not remain active in a fight. As another reminder: purposely not responding to fight threads to avoid consequences for your characters is not permitted.