Combat here is free-form: you write your character’s actions and your counterpart writes theirs, and the scene is built between you, not decided by a dice roll or a stat sheet. That freedom is the whole appeal, and it only works if everyone plays to make the scene good rather than to win it. These are the habits that keep a fight worth being in. Treat them as good practice you teach by example, not a rulebook you enforce on others.
Enter a scene the right way
Before you join a fight or any charged moment, wait a full round of posts to read what is actually happening, then announce your arrival before you act. Give the people already in the scene a chance to notice your character before you draw a weapon, throw a punch, or otherwise change everything. Bursting in mid-swing robs everyone of the beat where they could have reacted, and it is the fastest way to sour a scene you wanted to be part of.
Public and private scenes
In a public place you do not need permission to join a scene, but you do need to add to it. Read the room, or the posts, and step in only if your character brings something. Do not jump in to end a scene, or to swing the spotlight onto yourself. Some places are not public: a dark alley, a secluded stretch of the water, anything behind a closed door. Those are effectively private, and you should not wander into them uninvited. When in doubt, ask out of character before you post in. Sometimes a rescue is not wanted, and sometimes people are wrapping up or about to log.
Free-form is default, dice are optional
Free-form is how the worlds fight. If you personally prefer dice, you are welcome to roll for your own outcomes, but you cannot require your counterpart to use them, and bowing out of a scene because someone declines dice is bad form. Staff does not moderate dice scenes, so anything settled by dice is settled between the two of you.
Communicate, always
You are responsible for your own signals. If you have to log soon, or you are worn out from a long scene and ready to wrap, say so out of character. Nobody is required to ask permission before joining a public scene, which means it falls to you to let people know when your character is not available for a fresh fight. A word out of character prevents almost every hard feeling combat can produce.
The one rule underneath all of these: use them to make your own roleplay better, not to nitpick someone else’s. If something genuinely needs addressing, do it privately and kindly, never in open chat. The point of a fight here is the story it makes, and the best fighters are the ones other people want to be caught by. The lines you must never cross for anyone are covered next, in Limits and Consent.