Strike Attacks

**Previous:** Event Cards

The rules of strike combat in Outside™ are pretty simple.  Whenever you’re hit, you lose 1 HP.  Your HP represents your armor, stamina, and ability to take a beating before being KO’d. By learning new Strike skills, you will be able to use different weapons. A basic strike skill always does 1 damage, while you can accomplish a wide variety of effects with Strike Techniques.

### **What counts as a hit?**

Ideally, a good strike is soft but solid – just hard enough that the person knows they were hit – but looks realistic, or even exaggerated and dramatic, with a significant motion of the elbow or shoulder.  But anything that you feel counts as a hit, no matter how light, including grazes.  Assume that the weapon uses gluon technology, or is poisoned, or that the cut was so clean that you barely felt it – because of these dangers, your goal is **total** avoidance of the enemy’s weapon.

For ordinary strikes, the player who was hit always decides whether the hit was legal, a miss, or a foul (whereas strike techniques and special techniques are always called by the player using the technique). Never call "I got you!" or stop play to ask if a hit was counted.

### Tricky and confusing hits (these aren’t fouls):

* For a flurry of rapid fire hits – if they are from a **single** player and come too fast to count (aka “drumming” or “machine gunning”), they all get counted up together as 1 hit until there is a noticeable pause in the attack.  Prevent this by giving your swings a noticeable “wind up” from the elbow or shoulder, not the wrist.

* Hits against loose clothing or armor that would not otherwise have hit the skin do not count.

* If two players strike one another at nearly the same time (or “draw”), they both take the hit, even if one of them would have been KO’d.

When in doubt, count the hit.  It’s better to take a few hits that you probably didn’t need to than to be suspected of cheating.  You don’t want other players to think you’re a cheater – that’s a good way to get reported and **d i s c i p l i n e d**. If you are not counting a hit that your opponent might think you should, such as a strike that caught your clothing, it’s smart and courteous to announce “Close!”

### Foul Hits – don’t get sloppy! ⚔💩

Well that’s how it’s supposed to go, but in practice people make mistakes, and there will be the occasional foul hit. Keep in mind that this is a sport – even with cameras and referees everywhere, fouls and disputes happen all the time.  **Never interrupt play, except for safety issues...** especially not to argue or ask if a hit was counted.

**Fouls** (aka "sloppiness") are not the same thing as cheating.  Everyone fouls sometimes, and it’s usually an accident. If you strike someone in an illegal way, they may take this opportunity to insult your form and call your hit “**Slop**”. That means that they are ignoring your hits, and **you lose 1 HP**. Hits immediately following a foul hit while the player is disoriented don’t count either. You should call “Oops” to acknowledge the foul.

*You’re encouraged to stay in character while calling fouls, e.g., “That hit was **sloppier** than your mother’s kissing!” (You are also encouraged to say other things about their mother.)*

The following hits are fouls and may be given this penalty for **Sloppiness**:

1. Play Interruption: The player who is on the receiving end of a strike always decides if the strike was good. If someone interrupts play to argue a hit—e.g., saying “I got you!” then you may ignore it and call Sloppy on *them*.
2. Excessive Force: Most importantly, note everyone’s comfort level and Sentinels in the pre-game Gauntlet (a series of “practice hits”). Avoid striking people harder than they’re comfortable with. Hitting a player with Strikes when they are wearing a Strike Sentinel (red lights on their front and back) is *seriously* Sloppy.  In general, if you want to swing harder, use softer weapons. Consider becoming a Ruffian.
3. Never Targets: Your targets are the torso, legs, and arms.  Any other area is a foul hit and does not count for damage or strike techniques and may result in a penalty.  The head, neck, and “privates” (groin/chest as designated by the player) are foul areas and should always be called as Slop.
4. Sometimes Targets: Hands (including wrist) that are holding an object (including weapons) and feet (including ankle) that are on the ground are also illegal targets.  The risk of injuring fingers or toes is much higher in these situations.
5. Safety Violations: Reckless activity includes any action which has a reasonable likelihood of causing injury. This includes any strike which injures a player or causes reasonable fear of injury (such as deliberate swings towards the face, even if it doesn’t actually hit).  Always aim to be in control of yourself and your weapons while around other players.  Never flail or swing a weapon recklessly—if you think swinging a weapon could cause an injury, DON’T.  Do not intentionally block strikes with a penalty area (e.g., with your head). Do not shove, grapple, charge, or pin opponents.  (There are some exceptions to these rules for Ruffians).  Strike attacks may never be used in a Rendezvous/Base. Reckless actions are both fouls and safety violations, so should be called Sloppy and reported to the Neighborhood Watch (www.outside.games/thewatch).

It’s inevitable that at some point you will accidentally land a foul strike and someone will call “slop” on you.  A foul or two is expected to happen—even a report or two in the case of an honest accident isn’t anything to get too bent out of shape over—but players who regularly make illegal hits or are otherwise negligent or reckless should be reported for disciplinary review.  Consistent fouls may become play violations.

**What if someone is just plain cheating?**

Eventually they’ll be caught and punished severely, which is covered in the How to Get Banned section.

### Injuries 🤕🩸

If an injury occurs a Pause should be called immediately.  If an injured player is forced to leave the game, the player that caused the injury must also leave the game unless the injured player returns to play.  **No exceptions.** All injuries must be reported (outside.games/ouchies).  **No exceptions.**

#### Some like it ruff

For players who PREFER to roughhouse, you can become a Ruffian.  When two Ruffians meet in battle (away from other players), they can be rowdier than the normal rules allow—grappling, charging, and swinging with greater force. You can recognize a Ruffian by a frowny face ☹ marking on their forehead/headband.  ***Ruffians must read and abide by the rules in the List of Ruffian Ideas.***

## Oof, oof, ouch!  Calls for All Players to Know

* **Oof**  I’m hit!  I lost 1 HP.
* **Close!** I'm not hit, but I can see why you might think so!
* **Ouch!**  I’m down!  I am KO’d or TKO’d (stop hitting me!)  Players must call Ouch as soon as their HP reaches 0.
* **Slop! & Oops!** This is the call for a foul, often used as an in-game insult.  If someone says the word “slop” or “sloppy” to you, they’re fouling you for an illegal strike.  This could be to a shielded area, a penalty area, or for any other breach of the combat rules.  They ignore the hit and any related hits and you lose 1 HP.  If they must step out of the battle, then you must exit with them until they are able to return.  Be more careful, please.  Say “Oops!” so they know you took the penalty.
* **Pause! & Continue!**  A pause is a safety call to let nearby players know that all play should be stopped immediately, usually with a clarifying explanation like, Medic (for injured players), NPC (for non-players on the field), Eyewear (for fallen glasses) or Hazard (for other safety hazards).  All players are required to echo this call and play stops completely until the hazard is resolved.  Then, players return to their location from the start of the pause, Continue! is called (a player is not back in play until they have echoed), and play resumes as close as possible to where it left off.

**Next:** Special Techniques