[blackshade10]

If I may add my two cents, a lot of forums like this actually have an objective GM rule who is successful at what, etc., like a judge. In one example of an RP battle forum whose name escapes me, the two contenders would post their intended actions - long posts of complicated actions that would be called godmodding - and then the GM consolidates the actions into his own RP post.

Now, I'm not sure how to handle this in the setting of the DT RP forum or if it even can be. As that would be fiddling with the established structure too much, I am not recommending it as a universal solution. Rather, a proposed alternative to a duel be to having a third party judge decide what happens, based on character details or other factors. Perhaps it would be viable to petition a mod to act as a conflict resolution IC, but then I suppose that would require mods dedicated to RP conflict resolution, and I don't know if there are any of those.

I almost suggested a dice rolling conflict resolution, but truly stubborn players would imagine themselves having all kinds of hidden bonus modifiers to their skill rolls, making the randomization factor pointless. I will note that sometimes in my RPing I will roll a die to determine how successful I am at a given task just on the off chance I like the result of the die and decide to roll with it - such as, suddenly, my low-tech pistol malfunctions. Rather than having that planned in advance I let it happens when it happens, and it adds a degree of uncertainty to even an area which I would imagine having otherwise total control. I guess now I'm getting off topic sort of. But it's about conflict resolution, really.

DTRP is mostly a free-form RP, though people are permitted to make a thread where they are the GM, just for the record. One notable exception is Orthorbbae, which is completely GM run, under my jurisdiction.

I'm also against the dice idea, since it usually is just asking for more problems than solutions, all for the reasons you've said. Generally, this RP is social based, so we try to encourage people to make characters based off backgrounds and not abilities. Fights do occur, and the usual rules apply, which you can find on this board.

Working it out between players is generally the best idea, so long as the agreement can come peacefully, else it would be advisable to just not fight at all.

[Sarcose]

Hrm. Well, I wasn't entirely sure how out-of-hand some of the more heated debates on "no dude my character could totally dodge that" would get, and was just proposing that if it got too bad it could be settled objectively. Then again, you might not want to encourage those types of people staying, and it would cause headaches to step in and then argue that mister Sue's character is not precisely as amazing as he wants it to be.

I see what you're saying.

[Captainguy]

I have a bit of experience with God-Modding on other forums and there is a certain kind I've noticed that generally goes unnoticed. I call it Black Knight Modding (after the character in Monty-Python and the Holy Grail) where a character generally accepts getting hit (if minimizing the damage), but never succumbs to the injuries, without any real explanation as to how this happens. I know this is occasionally permissable in some cases, maybe your character is built like a tank, maybe they have an personal reason that makes losing unthinkable and therefore refuses to give in (admit it you all love those moments). But this of course it taking too far when the character does this frequently or for no reason.

An example is the Black Knight, no matter how badly Arthor slices him up, he never stops, and we're given no reason as to why, leavin with Arthur with no recourse but cut off all his limbs (resulting in the scene being funny as hell). In a role-play this tends to be even more out of hand, because while the Black Knight actually becomes less effective, a God-modder will ensure that the damage doesn't hurt his character's ability to fight, either by saying all the hits were superficial, or by simply ignoring how a stab in the thigh would affact their ability to dodge.

TL/DR: One form of god-modding is taking a hit, then ignoring the effect. It usually isn't noticed because it isn't Auto hitting or dodging.

[Sword Goddess]

I tend to trust my instincts when it comes to God-Modding, one has to remember that not everyone's perception works on the same level; which is to say, we're not always all on the same page in any given situation, someone who is playing the "uber" warrior may always expect to one hit everything because he's so awesome. Well. Does that make it god-modding when the flower girl he's attacking stumbles away from a blow? Some people tend to think so. But which one is actually god-modding? *Shrugs*

Speaking of flower girls, that is something that does truly annoy me. The seemingly innocent character with absolutely no martial history which instantly becomes a kung-foo blade master, level thirty samurai on a whim with zero explanation for it.

[Glithrien]

I tend to trust my instincts when it comes to God-Modding, one has to remember that not everyone's perception works on the same level; which is to say, we're not always all on the same page in any given situation, someone who is playing the "uber" warrior may always expect to one hit everything because he's so awesome. Well. Does that make it god-modding when the flower girl he's attacking stumbles away from a blow? Some people tend to think so. But which one is actually god-modding? *Shrugs*

Speaking of flower girls, that is something that does truly annoy me. The seemingly innocent character with absolutely no martial history which instantly becomes a kung-foo blade master, level thirty samurai on a whim with zero explanation for it.

Plot armour?