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Old 02-25-2022, 07:01 AM   #1
Calliban
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Default Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

So, I'm planning a Martial Arts focused campaign that is very inspired by classic video game 2D Fighters like Street Fighter and King of Fighters (but mostly their Anime adaptations). As such, Weapons of any kind will be rare, with all PCs being solely focused on unarmed combat.

Martial Arts + Chambara Rules + cinematic skills like Power Blow and Flying Leap do a lot for this kind of game, to the point all the PCs will be Trained by a Master in this campaign. But I was looking for some extra material that would fit well with the Martial Arts subsystems and rules in order to better emulate the source material.

I really enjoyed Power Ups 1 - Imbuements, as it can add an extra layer to unarmed combat. They mostly fit right away with the "ridiculous training, not super powers" expectations of the genre.

What other books and materials could add some extra interesting layers to Martial Arts, without deviating too much from MA itself? What other supernatural abilities would neatly fit into the genre, as expansions/enhancements of the current material?
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Old 02-25-2022, 07:26 AM   #2
Varyon
 
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Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

It's an Advantage rather than a skill, but "Natural Weapons" (Pyramid #3/65) can be good, here. That can get you Ken's flaming fist (if you've made his shoryuken into a Technique, requiring a specific Technique to make use of a Natural Weapon is probably worth -10% or so), Dhalsim's yoga fire (one of the examples is dragon fire IIRC), or possibly even Bison's* Psycho Crusher. That last you'd need to add some Limitations to only be usable with a Slam, arguably. Also, hadouken (flaming and regular - use Burning for the former, Crushing for the latter) and similar are readily supported.

*Or Balrog, depending on which version you're playing. In the Japanese version, the boxer is M. Bison and the evil military guy is Balrog; the former is a pretty obvious reference to Mike Tyson, and Capcom USA - fearing lawsuit - simply swapped the two characters' names. Or so I've heard.
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Old 02-25-2022, 07:37 AM   #3
WingedKagouti
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
*Or Balrog, depending on which version you're playing. In the Japanese version, the boxer is M. Bison and the evil military guy is Balrog; the former is a pretty obvious reference to Mike Tyson, and Capcom USA - fearing lawsuit - simply swapped the two characters' names. Or so I've heard.
It's actually a rotation between Vega (West)/Balrog (Japan) for the claw user, Balrog (West)/Bison (Japan) for the boxer and Bison (West)/Vega (Japan) for the dictator. Street Fighter fans/players/content creators that expect to address both Japanese and others will often use Claw, Boxer and Dictator to avoid confusion, but most outside Japan will default to the Western names.
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Old 02-25-2022, 07:30 AM   #4
WingedKagouti
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

Both Street Fighter and KoF have an established mystic element with magic and psychic abilities appearing from time to time. M. Bison is usually portrayed as an extremely powerful psychic with solid martial arts skills.

Cybernetics also make infrequent appearances as do X-Men style mutations.
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Old 02-25-2022, 08:43 AM   #5
Calliban
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

Quote:
Originally Posted by WingedKagouti View Post
Both Street Fighter and KoF have an established mystic element with magic and psychic abilities appearing from time to time. M. Bison is usually portrayed as an extremely powerful psychic with solid martial arts skills.

Cybernetics also make infrequent appearances as do X-Men style mutations.
I completely agree with your assertions about the source material I'm trying to emulate, but let me paraphrase a friend here in saying "there are either no giant robots or only giant robots". I feel like standard GURPS Magic/Powers work with different assumptions than Martial Arts, while Imbuements feels more like a natural extension to cinematic MA.

I'm not sure if there are any guidelines to better integrate Powers/Magic into a Martial Arts game while also keeping the game all about MA, but I would be interested in reading them.
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Old 02-25-2022, 09:03 AM   #6
johndallman
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Calliban View Post
I'm not sure if there are any guidelines to better integrate Powers/Magic into a Martial Arts game while also keeping the game all about MA, but I would be interested in reading them.
Thaumatology: Chinese Elemental Powers is about chi-based powers using the Chinese five-element system. It has martial-arts related material, although not primarily in the style you're using.
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Old 02-25-2022, 10:25 AM   #7
Rolando
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Panama
Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

for fighting games style you will be better using imbuements and powers, advantages of any type.

Call it magic, chi, psionics, etc. But from a game mechanic point of view using advantages is the best way of handling it.
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Old 02-25-2022, 10:50 AM   #8
zoncxs
 
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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Default Re: Martial Arts-related "expansions" other than Imbuements?

Pyramid:
3-04
3-13
3-36
3-60
3-71

Those have articles about expanding imbuements. Get them cause they are very helpful.

Honestly imbuements is all you need for streetfighter style gameplay. Slapping on chi powers can get you more cinematic gameplay up to and beyond DBZ. I have a game world that I am still working on that is doing this now. I limited the imbuements though to a select amount to represent using chi externally.
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