This page is a work-in-progress, it’ll be improved over time.

Combat – or how to stop people from killing you.

Combat skills are different from most of the other skills in Xanodria. Some skills, such as running, we do not simulate. If you are alone against a hoard of Trolls, it will be speed, and not a simulation, that will get you back to the relative safety of a crowd of people with weapons and magic. Some skills we have a simulation for, such as blacksmithing. We do not expect you to pull out a real hammer and anvil, light up a forge, and put one of our padded weapons into the fire. Fighting is a bit of both. We can not allow you to use real weapons, nor do we want to take all the physical skill out of combat and make it entirely simulated. For this we have a boffer combat system, which is live combat with padded weapons and safety rules. The equipment, both weapons and armor, are simulated but the skill is all yours.

Before we get into how exactly this works, a few notes on those who do not use this skill system:

Noncombatants – more than just pacifism

There are two main reasons someone would not be allowed in combat:

Some people can not enter into combat safely due to personal injuries or disabilities. These people are still allowed to play our game, however they are not allowed to enter combat. They are marked as non-com (non combatant) and are not allowed to carry weapons in game.

Before each game is a Fight Certification. This does not tell us if you are a good fighter… just if you are a safe fighter. All adventurers and cast, except those already marked as non-com, must certify once a year. If our safety staff feels that you are unsafe, which may be that you are consistently hitting too hard, you may still play but you are considered noncom until you can pass fight certification. There is a separate certification for archery. Again, this does not tell us if you are a skilled archer just that you will not hurt anyone, including yourself. If, during the game, you break a safety rule you may find your fight certification removed until you can pass a new certification. You should not pick up a weapon you are not certified to use.

If your character is a pacifist, you should still get fight certified. This will allow you to pick up weapons, even if you choose not to use them.

Fight Certification

Before each game the safety crew will go over all the combat rules with the people who need to fight certify. This is where you will learn how our combat system works, which include the difference between edged and blunt wounds, why we don’t have hit points, what you are/are not allowed to target in a fight. This will also introduce you to our safety crew. If you have any questions about fighting or other questionably safe activities, these are the people to talk to.

Weapons forged in the fires of… your local hardware store

With combat being such a huge part of our game, it’s a good idea to have at least one weapon at your disposal. However, as we do now allow real weapons to be out during the game it’s important to know what a legal XPI weapon is. See our weapon construction page for details on how to build a safe weapon for our game.

Weapon Construction

Before each game every weapon is inspected by our safety staff, and marked with either an adventurer or cast sticker. If your weapon does not pass inspection you will be given a chance to make miner repairs and have the weapon re-inspected. If your weapon does not pass inspection before game start it is not legal to use in game and should be stored in an out of game area.

So everyone can fight… but I want to be good at it.

There are groups of people, in game, who specialize in combat skills. The most notable of these is the Shadow Guardians, a group sworn to fight and defeat the forces of The Shadow. If you wish to learn to fight with some skill, you may ask one of these Shadow Guardians and they will find you a teacher for the weapon you wish to learn. The Guardians each display a Tabor that shows what weapons they are skilled in. The Tabor is a cloth hanging from their belt with feathers painted on it. You can learn about the Tabor and the meaning of the colors by talking with a Guardian in-game. Earning each stripe on these Feathers is not easy, and takes a minimum of three games. In most cases there is no game system benefit to being trained in a give weapon. The one exception to this is the Open Hand skill.

Open Hand

There is an advanced combat technique called Open Hand. A master of Open Hand is allowed to use an open hand to deflect weapons. Only someone who has been trained, in game, may practice this defense. There is no simulated Open Hand offense or attack. If you use Open Hand without training you will be wounded in the hand you used to block. Worse yet, if you don’t know what you are doing, you risk jamming a finger on the other person’s weapon. For training see the Shadow Guardians, and expect to spend a year or three practicing.