Combat encounters are the bread and butter of most role-playing games. There are dragons to slay, orcs to battle and zombies to kill – oh, and don’t forget rescuing the fair maiden and splitting up the treasure afterward.

Role playing combat in a creative writing environment is a little different from other types of rpg games. Since the focus is on writing and character development, combat is a rare event. This isn’t a dungeon crawl where encounters lead to experience points.

If there’s no reason for combat and it won’t further the plot, it doesn’t happen. But that’s not to say it never happens.

What Is A Combat Encounter?

A combat encounter can be anything from a tussle in a parking lot, to a bar room brawl, to defending against the supernatural, to fighting a monstrosity in the spirit realm.

These encounters are when skills and/or attributes come into play. Storytellers roll the dice and the results of actions are given to players.

Writing combat takes practice, too, since you need to know how far to take character actions without writing the results until it’s your turn.

Always Take Action

It’s easy to freeze up the moment your character faces a sticky situation or a tough moment in combat. You could even use that in your character’s response, if it’s a natural reaction for your character to have. But what you should avoid is having the character freeze because you, as a player, don’t know what to do.

A character’s mind is always active, even if that character is frozen with fear. Thoughts are probably racing through his or her mind. What is this thing? How am I going to get out of this? Will I live to see tomorrow? Who’s going to feed my cat…?

Think about what goes through your mind in a crisis. Do carefully consider all your options, or do you just react without thinking? What would your character would do?

The point is, do something. There is always something to do, and no one sits around letting bad things happen to them in conflict situations.

Use Everything You Can

As hopeless as it may seem, your character isn’t set adrift without any help. Storytellers aren’t out to get you or crush your character with no chance for him or her to defend. Storytellers want to see you find a creative way out of the predicament. Some of the best solutions are the most simplistic ones, too. Common sense, more often than not, always wins.

Look around the character’s environment. What could he or she use that’s handy and in the immediate vicinity? What equipment does the character have on his body? Equipment could be anything from a hairpin to a lighter.

If you’re not sure what’s lying about in the scene to use, ask the Storyteller. If you have an idea on an action or something you could have your character do, run it by the Storyteller. The ST has a clearer vision of the setting and may be able to point out something you missed that would help.

There’s Always a Way Out

The main reason for combat encounters is to challenge players to push their characters. A good Storyteller never gives a player more than he or she can reasonably handle or solve. Storytellers are aware of the balance in the game and the experience or abilities of each character. There’s always a way out.

It’s up to the players to find what that escape route is.

Teamwork helps, too. Your character may not have all the skills required to get out of a bind, but maybe some of the other characters do. It’s easy to think you have to solve it all on your own or want to grab all the glory and the shining moment of being a hero.

But never neglect asking a fellow player how you could work together.

Risky Business

Take some risks and chances, too.  We always say “stupid kills”. You don’t want your character to make a move for the sake of doing something exciting or dramatic just because he can. Take a moment to consider what you want your character to achieve, then start weighing the possible consequences of that action. If you can handle the consequences, keep thinking until you feel you’ve covered as many options as possible and pick one that fits best.

This isn’t to say that a stupid move won’t get your character hurt (or even killed). However, Storytellers do admire a player who can think his or her way out of a sticky situation.

The beauty is that, predict as they might, Storytellers have no idea what your characters are going to do. They make assumptions and educated guesses based on the characters’ personalities to date, but high-stress situations make people unpredictable – and your characters are no exceptions