Types of "Moding"
by: Jak the Goldeneyed

Types of "Moding"



1. Knowledge moding: when a character suddenly knows something that it is impossible for him/her to know

Ex. Habbib having just come to the tower for the first time goes straight to the Amyrlin’s office with no help from anyone. (Habib has never been to the towers therefore he cannot know where the study is without guidance)

Ex 2. Jose, not knowing anything about how to crack safes, opens then bank vault and steals 1 million dollars.(Jose can’t open the safe he doesn’t know how to crack)

In Short: unless you can give a plausible and stone clad reason as to HOW you know something then you can’t know it.

2. Action moding: this is where character X says character Y did something without giving Y a chance to react.

Ex. Habbib swings his sword at Jose’s head cleaving it in two after knocking jose to the ground.(Jose never got the chance to react, who knows he could have rolled out of the way after being tripped, or found some one to never be tripped)

In short: this type of moding happens anytime one character says another did something
NOTE!!!!!!!: don’t get your panties in a wad about MINOR incidences of this.
FOR EXAMPLE: Kaysee watched everyone leave after the ceremony was over. (this is minor and should be let past as the ceremony is over so of course everyone is going to leave)

3. God moding: This is the worst type of moding! This is where someone refuses to “lay down and admit defeat” as the saying goes or does impossible things (in this case something outside the rules set up by Robert Jordan). This moding can come in many levels and often includes the other forms of moding within it.

Ex. Habib swings his sword at Jose, Jose dodges the blow and stabs Habib, Habib dodges the stabbing attempt and swings his sword at Jose, Jose dodges, repeat ad infinitum. (in this example Jose and Habib are “invincible” they refuse to take a hit, yes it is role playing so we can do things we can’t do normally HOWEVER to make the role playing interesting and non- redudant characters need to be a bit fallible, they can’t dodge every blow and then immediately counterattack, a basic rule of thumb is if you dodged an attack you can’t immediately counterattack, or you could “minimize the damage” and still attack, i.e. Jose moves aside taking the blow to his shoulder rather then to the head and makes a stab at Habib’s gut)

Ex 2. Marty draws on saidin and uses the power to lift the White Tower over his head and fling it to mars.( this is IMPOSSIBLE at least by himself, RJ set down rules that no matter how strong the channeler they can still only lift a certain amount of weight and not an ounce more. This also means no bridges of air spanning 1000-foot gap that can hold 100 men, etc.)

In Short: DO NOT GOD MODE!!! Your character is not invincible, he/she can be hurt,
trapped, and/or defeated and he/she isn’t anywhere near omnipotent.

NOTE! If it is not too implausible, you can give a reasonable explanation for it, AND it is agreed upon then it is not necessarily moding. For example, if it is explained that Habib was able to find the Amyrlin’s study because he had a map drawn by his mother, who was a novice and washed out. Then it is not moding, unless there are serious and reasonable objections to it.
Also, as noted above do not get uptight about minor incidences of action moding if it is something silly and obviously going to happen. An example would be assuming everyone has left from a meeting once said meeting is done. Just accept it and be thankful that you are saved the time of adding the one-line post “gets up and leaves.” You can move on with something else instead.



Written by Jak the Goldeneyed from "The Towers of Al'Har Aman"