Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Dagorhir: Yes, Those Were My People
Frighteningly enough, I know at least one of the guys in Wreckreation Nation's episode on Dagorhir. Dominus (the bald guy who leads the Romans) was the sub-commander who fought Kaltor to the death in my story at The Escapist, "Weekend Warrior."
Part 1:
Part 2:
Yes, this is how I used to spend my weekends. And some weeknights. Ah, those were way fun. Though the group was a little smaller back then, and big multi-chapter events were just barely getting started. We'd only recently had two new chapters form in Ohio and ... I think Pennsylvania.... because people were tired of driving so far for weekend battles.
The show did an outstanding job of showing what the game is and how it plays. Granted, nothing quite compares to actually being there. But this thing was my LIFE through half of high-school. Jussincase there was ANY reason you had begun to doubt my geek cred or anything.
But this is also why I have to chuckle when people laud the "realism" of real-time combat in computer RPGs versus turn-based. Compared to something like Dagorhir - which is itself many levels removed from "the real thing" - real-time mouse-wiggling and clicking doesn't seem any more or less realistic than old-school turn-based combat. When you are fighting one-on-one, it sometimes feels a little like a turn-based game. You are thinking two or three moves ahead (once you know what you are doing) - figuring out how to get your opponent to open up his defense, and how to exploit it, before it happens. Of course, when it gets into a grand melee like the big battle at the end of the show, it's pretty chaotic and you really don't know what's happening half the time. You just know your tiny piece of the battlefield, and usually don't even have a clear picture of that.
Anyway - it's great watchin'.
Labels: Geek Life
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 4:22 AM (Permalink)
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I am not sure how much combat is specialized and trained in Dagorhir, but when I was playing in the SCA, we were really serious. Some people had taken that form of combat to a martial arts level.
For good fighters, things progressed to a subconscious level. Combinations and tactics became instinctual and one could almost touch what Musashi meant when he wrote about the Void.
That is a level of fighting that one NEVER sees in an RPG or a First-Person scenario. That place where you don't even think or click, your character just reacts to the environment or moves before the conscious player even has a chance to decide what to do.
Ultimately that is the pinnacle of human combat...that subconscious place where all the training and experience take over and you just act. Haven't seen anyone ever try to simulate that on a computer game.
But it is something that I have seen and experienced between Okinawan and Japanese martial arts, SCA, and the US Army. Would be nice to see in a simulated or game environment. But, probably wouldn't be too much fun.
cl
For good fighters, things progressed to a subconscious level. Combinations and tactics became instinctual and one could almost touch what Musashi meant when he wrote about the Void.
That is a level of fighting that one NEVER sees in an RPG or a First-Person scenario. That place where you don't even think or click, your character just reacts to the environment or moves before the conscious player even has a chance to decide what to do.
Ultimately that is the pinnacle of human combat...that subconscious place where all the training and experience take over and you just act. Haven't seen anyone ever try to simulate that on a computer game.
But it is something that I have seen and experienced between Okinawan and Japanese martial arts, SCA, and the US Army. Would be nice to see in a simulated or game environment. But, probably wouldn't be too much fun.
cl
I used to be a part of Belegarth during my first couple of years in college. Of course, I didn't do much front-line fighting...I was a goblyn running around backstabbing people with a single blue or a dagger, depending on the day. That brings back good memories.
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