- A Fight is a dangerous situation.
- Fights should be Efficient.
- They should be Surprising.
- They should be delivered in Diverse manners.
- And, they can even be funny.
Summary – 6 steps to better Combat
- Explain the Stakes through the scene
- Display the Constrains
- Offer the Characters Resources
- Display every pertinent Options
- Negotiation/Trade
- Assault/Kill
- Neutralization/Capture
- Deliver a clear Outcome
- Leading to a clear Aftermath
How to write funnier Fights?
- Elements of Fun
- Combat is Entertainment.
- Combats are made to entertain.
- Therefore, each Fight should have 1 Specific element.
- Amusement in a fight comes from Shock.
- It may be abundance of Gore.
- A Ridiculous Fighting technique.
- Absurd Weapons & tools.
- Ostentatious Victory Cries.
- Dumb noises while the Character is fighting.
- Maybe the Character has a Victory Dance.
- Support
- In order to succeed the Characters need to have enough resources.
- As the Story unfolds they may need New weapons & tools.
- And the Story unfold, they will form relationships.
- These new relationships should bring them some form of support.
- Even antagonistic ones.
- Each new Character should be useful.
- They need a role in Fight.
- A role tailored according to their Skills.
- They needn’t to act on the Combat itself.
- They can support the Characters indirectly.
- Have some cake for everyone.
- More Fighters
- You can add more Opponents.
- You can add more Allies.
- Let Mayhem unfold.
- Let Accidents happen.
- Some Friendly Fire.
- Some random Deaths.
- Some important ones.
- Try a Battle Royal.
- There should be some randomness in a fight.
- Especially on a large scale.
- This forces the Characters to Coordinate themselves.
- To establish Strategy.
If you want to know more about Funny scenes.
How to write more surprising Fights?
- Surprise Stakes
- Each fight can be different.
- You can easily Surprise by inserting a new element in the Fight :
- Character
- Relationship
- Item
- It is more effective if this element affects Stakes.
- You can Twist the combat’s structure in the Middle or at the End.
- Creating a unexpected Outcome.
- And therefore an unexpected Aftermath.
- Surprise Characters
- You can easily modify the Stakes by readjusting Characters roles.
- Revealing a Character’s true function is the most effective way to Twist a Fight.
- It may be a new Help.
- Or a new Hindrance.
- Hidden Stakeholders make for great counterpoints.
- They create a new tension in the middle of an already tensed scene.
- More Duress
- As the fight unfolds, create more pain.
- Use the power of the Environment to impose a coercive will on the Characters.
- Bring more constrains to the Fight.
- But keep the fight balanced.
- The opponents shouldn’t have an Asymmetric advantage.
- Especially if it’s the final fight.
- Release a Beast.
- Pour a Catastrophe.
- Let Environmental constrains flood the arena.
- Introduce new enemies which could turn against one another.
- Let atmospheric condition change gradually.
If you want to know more about creating Surprise.
How to write Diverse Fights?
- Different types of Fights
- Physical fights are the most common ones.
- Fights can also be Arguments.
- They can be Trades.
- They can be Interrogations.
- They can be solved through Negotiation.
- Through Intimidation.
- The value of Failure
- Let the Characters Fail.
- Your Characters won’t always succeed.
- They can fail.
- And the failure should useful.
- What do the Character obtain from failure?
- They should learn something.
- There should be an element on how to solve the problem next time.
- The Characters may also win at a painful cost.
- Whenever there’s pain, there should be a trade off.
- Different types of Opponents
- Your Characters won’t always fight Strangers.
- Fight against Relatives are some of the most intense.
- They can Former team members.
- They can be Punctual Opponents.
- They can be Recurrent Opponents.
- The Persistence of a Foe or a Nemesis creates a form of Attachment.
- Different types of Environments
- Are the Characters fighting in an Urban Environment?
- Are they fighting in the Wild?
- The Presence of water change a combat.
- The Presence of any other kind of resources affects the outcome.
- Survival should be considered if the Combat is long or interrupted.
- Think about every Environmental constrain exterior to the Fight itself.
- Any of them can serve to make the fight better.
If you want to know more about creating Diversity.
How to write efficient Fights?
- Short
- Make it 2 to 5 pages.
- Fights, by their nature, impose a strict time limit.
- Combat is a painful situation.
- It is a dangerous situation.
- Therefore, Characters should look for the shortest Path.
- They should want to get out of this situation as fast as possible.
- Focused
- Focus on 1 main Scene.
- Use a limited amount of character.
- All focused on 1 action.
- Each character has a clear Role.
- They all have 1 target at the moment.
- In the short term, they need to get rid of a threat.
- A Focused combat is an Intense combat.
- Clear
- Give each fight 1 Specificity.
- 1 element which make the fight recognizable.
- 1 Outcome.
- And a Clear aftermath.
- Death or other form of Loss
- Alignment shift
- Relationship end/start
- Gain/Loss of Item
If you want to know more about creating Efficiency.
| Combat elements | Character | Stakes | Resolution | Outcome | Aftermath | Environment | Constrains | Resources | Fight Type | Options | Relationships | Specificity |
| Fun | ||||||||||||
| Shock | ||||||||||||
| Surprises | ||||||||||||
| Reversal | ||||||||||||
| Diversity | ||||||||||||
| Focus | ||||||||||||
| Clarity |