Subject: That's what we're doing later in the year...
Author:
Posted on: 2012-11-11 01:12:00 UTC
When the pumpkins have rotted, we will be chunkin them with the trebuchet. My mother, of all people, is excited for it - probably because we'll be aiming them at the compost pile. :)
I own and practice with several swords, bows, daggers, etc. and have taken lessons for years. So I'm curious as to how man
y ssassins (or other agents) have experience with their chosen weapon and what it is.
First person to answer gets a free dose of bleeprin!
Anebrin gets free proficiency because he's an elf from a fantasy game. Agent!Des comes from an AU of World One where everyone is trained with an old weapon (amongst other things). So, in my case, backstory.
My two Agents have a sort of arsenal, really. One of them, Kilroy, is an ex-Inquisitor (Ordo Malleus), and mostly uses a Daemonhammer or other large blunt object. Mike tends toward military-grade firearms, like assault rifles and anti-materiel rifles, although she's a mean hand with a sword (considering she's Heroic Spirit Joan of Arc and all).
But they use all kinds of stuff, depending on the situation.
Like that FREAKING BATTLECRUISER that Kilroy somehow fit in his hyperspace pockets?
Oh, the Inheritance of Wrath? Yeah, that's pretty big. In fairness, we did need something with enough firepower to destroy an entire island, but not so much as to destroy the planet. It fit the bill. (And was fun to write, to boot!)
Freaking awesome idea, wish I had been around to think of/implement it first. I've been thinking about the agents that I hope to eventually write. I plan, and again this is all extremely hypothetical, to use a lower ranking Evil Sunz Bigmek named Wazgob. Wazgob will be based on one of my favorite Nob models, it was never intended to be a Bigmek, just a Nob, but he's "Cyborky 'an 'ees got lotsa Flash Gubbens" and I'm very proud of him. I think Wazgob's partner should be someone suave and sophistimacated to counter Wazgob's general Orkynes. On the subject of the original post, I have no skill with Kombi-Shootaz or Choppaz, nor do I have experience Kaptanin' a Stompa (much as I'd like that).
Man, everybody gets all the fun equipment.
All my prospective agents (Spoiler: one might be Specs) have are basic, one-handed, non-explosive weaponry.
They're welcome to drop by 625-N-1 and borrow stuff. Whatever it is they want, Mike and Kilroy probably have it somewhere. They may not know where it is, mind, but somewhere...
Yey.
Kinda makes me wish I had decided to revive one if my more ridiculous characters. He kept all forms of weaponry in a hyperspace arsenal created by a rift in reality inside his forehead.
Actually, I might just do that, he was an awesome character...
How does he manage to grab the right gun at the right time? (Because Kilroy sometimes can't, depending on whether or not it'd be funny for him to fail).
Also slightly reminded of Tatsumiya Mana's Extradimensional Ammo Storage. Except with guns, not just bullets.
Cool concept, though!
I dunno. Like I said, he is a ridiculous character, so it usually just kind of happens.
And most of the time, he doesn't grab a gun - he grabs a sword that transforms into a really, really big gun. Like, to impractical degrees.
Or, that's how I originally wrote him.
Most of it was written by Lielac, but stuff blows up later on.
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1PN-1Ma1NYV3abvjncv3GmeqSQPTYCpU3XdP6jvH1Svk
I actually have years of experience in saber and foil fencing. Both Italian and French style. Admittedly, it's more of a sport than it is a martial art, but I know to stick 'em with the pointy end. I also know a lot of hand-to-hand, but I don't know if I'm really going to write about that.
I'm a Saberist, myself. Finally got my E last year. You ranked?
When my characters are doing sport fencing and such. Or hand to hand - all I know about self defense is just the anti-mugging advice given to most girls I know, i.e. scream and run away, kick where the sun doesn't shine, and generally fight as dirty as possible.
Can't kick something that's in the body. Also, main target is dem eyes. And don't ever run away until the opponent is down.
Fighting dirty, on the other hand, is always a good advice.
*fondly remembers kicking self defense instructors in the fake nuts*
From feminist self defence classes I can inform you, that yes it does hurt when you kick a girl in that area. It's pretty sensitive.
Also, knees are a good target, they bring an opponent down from whatever angle you get them from.
I know it hurts. But when you think "nuts" and suddenly your opponent's a girl, you'd find yourself stumped at first. So let's just say crotch, that fits all genders.
The knees and ankles, yes. They're both surprisingly delicate if hit right. However, some things Agents fight don't have either. :P
Because people will get their feet out of your way if they think you're going to smash a toe or an ankle.
"Which generally results in my arrow being embedded in their foot, or sailing over their head."
So, sophomore P.E.? :D
But I did a lot of shooting at hay bales when I worked a the renaissance fair.
Okay, I hate you now.
You got to work at a renaissance fair, and I didn't.
*pouty face.*
Because I was the only girl who didn't need a bodice, and could therefore climb down into the creek to get stray arrows (the patrons were all just as terrible of shots as I was,) and I ended up with a plague of frogs in my skirts. (The whole place flooded that year.)
It was fun, but I've come to value the fact that all my more recent jobs have been for science! and that I get to sit down occasionally. :)
Does that science include designing BFGs?
Cause I'd be up for that.
Spent this summer doing chemistry stuff - analyzing water for contaminants, and generally being lab gopher when we were waiting for supplies.
BFG (Actually, it was a BFT,) award for last summer goes to my brother, who built a trebuchet.
Punkin Chunkin is coming back on this Thanksgiving.
I love that show
When the pumpkins have rotted, we will be chunkin them with the trebuchet. My mother, of all people, is excited for it - probably because we'll be aiming them at the compost pile. :)
I get the feeling you have an entire Bible dedicated to BFGs and the like, Riese.
Honestly, as I sit here at my computer, I can see "The Collins Atlas of the Second World War," "Weapons and Vehicles of World War Two," and "A History of Air Power." It's a little ridiculous.
Incidentally, I was quoting the DOOM comic. Which is a fun read, if you don't mind the massive amounts of gore.
Ah, DOOM. One of the best games I have never played.
Right up there with Okami, Warhammer 40,000 and Portal.
People ask what the best shooter ever was? DOOM. Because all the rest are pretty much knock-offs of it. -Watches the COD-and-Halo fanboys rage-
Heh heh heh.
I actually watched a five-hour long Legendary campaign of Halo 4 on YouTube last night.
Made all the funnier by the ludicrous commentary from the four saps playing it.
Mine is usually more of a prior to the 19th century category, but hey, I'm willing to learn. :)
I love history. IIRC, the first book I ever checked out of the library was this little blue book called "The Battle of Midway." I've been hooked ever since. My focus is military history (Especially the Second World War), but I know a fair amount of general stuff as well.
-Waves History Major flag around-
Mine's spotty: Ancient history, England ~1500 to ~1700, Victorian to WWI era, and Napoleonic France.
Oh, and Latin America in general.
Of those, I know some Ancient, WWI era England, and Napoleonic France. The History Channel did a thing on Napoleon a while back. It was like a movie-biography-series-thingy, and it was actually really good. They had John Malkovich play Talleyrand, which made me chuckle (I had just seen R.E.D.).
I have never gotten the harsh restrictions on gun ownership.
CARRYING, yes. But owning one doesn't do anything but deter crime. Especially if you have received proper instruction in its care and use. You never hear about the Texas rednecks shooting themselves by acting stupid with a gun.
...is arming oneself always the best way to deter crime? A gun is built for only one purpose: to kill. Should a response to crime always be "Hey, you're breaking the law/threatening me, I've got a gun, I can shoot you dead"?
In my opinion, the only people who should have access to firearms are soldiers and police officers.
My position is the result of me looking at all of the gun-related violence and saying: "Wow, I don't think John Q. Public can be trusted with these things."
Because I have some original characters who seem to have taken the same course in combat pragmatism. One squished a bug-monster with a library shelf, among other things.
That is incredibly awesome, sir or madam. I salute you. *salutes*
YES.
Bookworm SMASH.
Seriously, though, that's the best thing ever.
Also, is it just me, or does combat pragmatism seem to go really well with people who have no conventional training, and thus, fight dirty right off the bat when they know they can't win a fair fight?
I have received lessons and am a combat pragmatist for one reason... It works.
You can hardly fight when your arms have been ripped from their sockets or your knee caps are facing the wrong way. In any case, it is even more effective when combined with conventional training because it catches people off guard like nothing else. Lol
And when you need to get out of a situation, you need to get out right then and there.
I'm 5'3" and my only formal training is fencing and a couple of weeks of karate, but the element of surprise is a good element to have on your side.
That, and a Spanish mercenary out for blood against the six-fingered man who killed his father.
But that's usually not possible, so cheap shots make a good substitute.
(spot the shout-out!)
Okay, that one might not be quite as obvious. Just think Miracle Max, you'll get it.
Well, yeah! If I got in a fight in real life, I'd aim for the groin first, neck second, and gut third.
That, and it makes sense. Simon Bellamay has only a few months of formal training. Luckily for him, his family fights dirty by practice, what with demons never fighting fair and all, so he fit in rather quickly.
Both of my more practical fighters are non-magic users in a world of magic users, so while the other characters use their mad mage powers to get out of trouble, the girls who don't have earth-shattering powers make do by, in the words of PTerry, kicking people "inna fork," and other assorted dirty defenses.
Though, that's not to say that the mages always fight fair, it's just that they fight dirty from a much greater distance...
In one of my short sorties in the Iris' Travels series on my DeviantART, Iris is a horrible, dirty-as-hell fighter. But, given that she has such horrible luck all the time (it's a plot device - the Mother of Fate hates her because she was born on the wrong side of a flipped coin), it's kind of necessary.
Also: not unless mages are practitioners of Full Contact Magic! Like... Basically all of mine are...
... Though, one I've got will haul off and punch you if necessary. She's got a bit of a thing about using her powers responsibly and when she's in her right mind, she won't attack you with magic, she'll either hold you off with it exclusively or treat you to a knuckle sandwich.
That gets her beat up quite often, though. Then her non-magical partner usually has to bail her out.
Magic without prior preparation in my world is kind of messy and not always efficient.
Hey, magic for my characters is usually a criminal act and considered grounds for discrimination.
In fact, one guy got arrested BECAUSE HE KNEW MAGIC, BY THE GRAND MAGISTER OF THE REALM.
Just for reference: Grand Magister is a rank of mage in my stories. A very high rank.
Depends on the world, of course, but I tend to either have magic be extremely common, highly restricted by law, or uncommon enough that most don't believe it exists. Then I have history to back up why magic is treated a certain way: I find that this helps a lot in defining the limits of said magic, and it makes my world building sheet happy.
It also makes a good excuse to help explain why there's a war on that's so brutal that the gods themselves are intervening and claiming human champions to try and stop the madness.
(actual plot device. I could copypasta the sheet I have written up here to prove it.)
That's why almost all of my agents use magic - a google search will help you find the details of most of those. And I haven't written Lana using her ax yet either, so yeah. The nice thing about both the Board and the internet is that you can almost always find someone who DOES know what you're looking for.
Kinda like when my early topic dissolved into sword technobabble. I ended up helping one of the Boarders (can't remember who) because they said something that caused me to totally nerd out about everything I knew.
And it also inspires a lot of different applications of certain ideas. (Like what just happened in my reply to Neshomeh.)
Last paragraph = this.
Especially when it comes to me and staffs or bows and arrows. God, I have no understanding of either...
Or spears. Polearms are complex, difficult weapons to write - you either chop like an axe, stab like a knife, or swing like a hammer, plus the length and resulting wobble from more metallic poles as compared to solid wooden ones, etc. etc...
(Or, rather, commenting on it. Expanding upon it? Whatever...)
I always find it really impressive when someone who doesn't have the time or resources necessary to become skilled in the use of a weapon can still write about an agent using that same weapon as though they (the writer) have had years of practice with it - like SC. To me it's a show of their commitment to writing a believable character with equally-believable skills, which is always a good thing to see in writers~
D'aw, why you make me blush.
Ah, sorry. Didn't know that, lol.
I would he quite impressed if you had handled a dragon, tailblade, etc. Lol
You could say the style is "Bare-Handed Combat", that's a viable alternative.
I once wrote a character who was a Jack of all Trades in combat, mainly due to being a top-level mercenary and ex-con soldier.
He once fought a guy with a lamp, just because.
Your rendition of magic and mine are equal parts the same and strikingly different, I see.
My magic rendition is more like Jedi style: the staff/wand/whatever is an extension of the user, magic pervades all aspects of life, to fully understand magic is to teach your body to flow along its wavelengths, yadda yadda.
Or, that's how it is in my novel (which I still have yet to write - it's my demon slaying one).
Well, what do you mean? Is the question whether we Boarders have experience with our agents' chosen weapons?
Most of my Agents' weapons are magic-based (Ari, Fio, Cepha, Amara), an extension of their species (Tera, Narav.) And I don't know much about ax-fighting. Though Ari does use a sword, and I have taken fencing as my winter sport twice.
Yes, that's what I meant. I'm half asleep right now, so I'm probably not making much sense.
And here's your bleeprin! Use it wisely!
