Sometimes there are instances in field battles where a player does something that demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of the rules or an effect that has happened. Some examples (all of these are things that I have actually experienced in field battles):
1. I cast a Web spell at an enemy and the enemy takes the effect. About 10 seconds later, the enemy suddenly starts moving again (without calling "I rip free" or any other effect)
2. I use an Endow on an unconscious PC to try to bring him to safety. After calling "Endow, I pick you up" and running for 5 seconds, I look back and see that the player is still lying there and not moving, and apparently the player had not even realized he was picked up.
3. I see another PC next to me get hit with a Charm spell and just stand there confused, apparently not knowing what the Charm spell did.
When these things happen in small battles, like on mods, I can usually call a "Hold" to clarify what has happened. The question is what to do if the same thing happens in a large field battle. I see a few options:
A. Call a "Hold" to clarify the issue.
B. Try to clarify the issue with the other player without calling a "Hold".
C. Don't try to clarify what happened, and just continue playing (possibly reporting the issue after the battle)
The problem with (A) is that it can force a battle with several dozen people in it to pause to resolve a question that only directly affected one or two players.
The problem with (B) is that it means that while we are trying to clarify what has happened, we are still in game and something else could easily go on while we are discussing. (This happened in the situation (1) above; as I tried to follow the NPC to tell him that he was still webbed, another monster was able to kill me. At least I got a Life spell) And in the case of situation (2) - if you used the endow to grab a player who was down behind enemy lines, having to go back (with the battle still going on) and spend a few seconds explaining to the player that he was picked up with Endow, you've negated the original reason you used the Endow (to get the player up while minimizing the amount of time you spent in the dangerous area)
The problem with (C), of course, it is means the issue was not corrected, and could lead to someone effectively wasting a spell or ability just because the other player didn't know what the effect did.
Clearly all of these possibilities have some negative, the question is what is the lesser of the three evils? As a player, am I allowed (and should I) call a "Hold" in any of these situations or are there times when I need to do (B) or (C) instead?
I will mention as a side note that another LARP system that I have played allows a "mini-hold" to be called where only the players involved in the clarification are temporarily out-of-game; the rest of the players can continue fighting. I strongly dislike the "mini-hold" idea because it effectively allows a player to pop out of game at any time and become invulnerable, then pop back into game and immediately start attacking, without even needing a three-count to get back in - and this can be more disruptive to combat flow that whatever the initial issue was. (Consider that the only IG abilities that let you do this are the 9th level spell Prison and plot- or monster-only abilities like rifting and Gaseous Form.) And even if players are not attempting to abuse this, the disruption can still happen even if there is no intent to do so.
1. I cast a Web spell at an enemy and the enemy takes the effect. About 10 seconds later, the enemy suddenly starts moving again (without calling "I rip free" or any other effect)
2. I use an Endow on an unconscious PC to try to bring him to safety. After calling "Endow, I pick you up" and running for 5 seconds, I look back and see that the player is still lying there and not moving, and apparently the player had not even realized he was picked up.
3. I see another PC next to me get hit with a Charm spell and just stand there confused, apparently not knowing what the Charm spell did.
When these things happen in small battles, like on mods, I can usually call a "Hold" to clarify what has happened. The question is what to do if the same thing happens in a large field battle. I see a few options:
A. Call a "Hold" to clarify the issue.
B. Try to clarify the issue with the other player without calling a "Hold".
C. Don't try to clarify what happened, and just continue playing (possibly reporting the issue after the battle)
The problem with (A) is that it can force a battle with several dozen people in it to pause to resolve a question that only directly affected one or two players.
The problem with (B) is that it means that while we are trying to clarify what has happened, we are still in game and something else could easily go on while we are discussing. (This happened in the situation (1) above; as I tried to follow the NPC to tell him that he was still webbed, another monster was able to kill me. At least I got a Life spell) And in the case of situation (2) - if you used the endow to grab a player who was down behind enemy lines, having to go back (with the battle still going on) and spend a few seconds explaining to the player that he was picked up with Endow, you've negated the original reason you used the Endow (to get the player up while minimizing the amount of time you spent in the dangerous area)
The problem with (C), of course, it is means the issue was not corrected, and could lead to someone effectively wasting a spell or ability just because the other player didn't know what the effect did.
Clearly all of these possibilities have some negative, the question is what is the lesser of the three evils? As a player, am I allowed (and should I) call a "Hold" in any of these situations or are there times when I need to do (B) or (C) instead?
I will mention as a side note that another LARP system that I have played allows a "mini-hold" to be called where only the players involved in the clarification are temporarily out-of-game; the rest of the players can continue fighting. I strongly dislike the "mini-hold" idea because it effectively allows a player to pop out of game at any time and become invulnerable, then pop back into game and immediately start attacking, without even needing a three-count to get back in - and this can be more disruptive to combat flow that whatever the initial issue was. (Consider that the only IG abilities that let you do this are the 9th level spell Prison and plot- or monster-only abilities like rifting and Gaseous Form.) And even if players are not attempting to abuse this, the disruption can still happen even if there is no intent to do so.
