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Old 07-15-2018, 12:30 AM   #1
Kilmore
 
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Default Clogs and clog fighting martial art

I am shocked (shocked!) to not have found wooden clogs in any GURPS book in my admittedly not exhaustive collection. Doing a little digging around, I found out that functionally there are two styles, ones with wooden soles and heavy leather tops, and ones of wood throughout. They served as effective safety shoes before steel-toed shoes showed up, often used by farmers, ranchers, and miners. And apparently they were also used to kick people to death in Northern England in martial bouts. This is the application I am interested in for my Fantasy-Martial Arts campaign. So tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep I'm gonna try to work something out for this. In the meantime, I'm open to any thoughts.
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Old 07-15-2018, 07:01 AM   #2
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

You mean like Dutch wooden shoes? I suppose the base effect would be the same as heavy boots: +1 damage (and some effective DR).

In more of a DF setting, I'd note that they're very vulnerable to dire termites. (Any termites, actually.) And the wearer takes -1 Move; solid wood means you just lumber around. On the plus side, the shoes are signature wear for practitioners of Hague Ki Do, and confer +1 on windmill kicks.
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:06 AM   #3
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

Looking into it a bit, it appears to more a violent sport than a martial art per se, being principally concerned with kicking each other in the shins until someone quit or bled (often while sitting on the rim of a barrel to stop anyone moving away). There's only one instance I can find mention of qhere anyone was killed, and I'm forced to presume it was by kicking him in the head after he fell or some such.

Take Brawling, buy up Kicking and TA:Legs. Maybe Clinch too, to lay hold of someone and kick their legs more.
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:26 AM   #4
johndallman
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

There's considerable material on clogs in a violent form of country dancing in the comic strip The Cloggies: an everyday saga in the life of clog dancing folk, by Bill Tidy. It's no longer running, but collected volumes are available used on Amazon.co.uk.
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Old 07-15-2018, 10:52 AM   #5
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

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Originally Posted by tbone View Post
You mean like Dutch wooden shoes? I suppose the base effect would be the same as heavy boots: +1 damage (and some effective DR).

In more of a DF setting, I'd note that they're very vulnerable to dire termites. (Any termites, actually.) And the wearer takes -1 Move; solid wood means you just lumber around. On the plus side, the shoes are signature wear for practitioners of Hague Ki Do, and confer +1 on windmill kicks.
And the medieval kind with a hinged wooden sole held on by straps and ties ("pattens") just turn soft, one-layer medieval shoes into something more like modern shoes. They keep your feet out of the mud and **** and off any sharp stones or broken pots. A friend has gone jogging in his. So the usual rules for heavy boots should be a good place to start.
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Old 07-15-2018, 12:56 PM   #6
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

Stating clogs seems fairly straightforward; either treat them as cheap boots or wood armour over the foot. Either would give +1 to kicking damage. Some clogs had metal caps, which would probably be equivalent to steel-toed boots (High-Tech, p. 69) and some reports of clog fighting (probably sensational) said they used spiked clogs (probably not enough to add any damage).

Apparently the standard rules were that the fighters held each other by the shoulders and kicked until blood was drawn or one fighter fell down or submitted. I'm not clear if a man who drew blood was considered to have won or lost the fight. A variant involved both fighters holding onto a hankerchief or piece of rope with their teeth, which is something I've also seen described as being used in knife duels. Edit: there also seems to have been a version where both fighters sat with their feet in a barrel, which might use the Fighting While Seated technique and is probably more of a sport than a combat style.

Clog fighting itself probably uses brawling as it's primary skill. Some bouts ('up and down fights') allowed punching and grabbing the opponent. Techniques which seems likely are Counterattack, Jam, Kicking and possibly Stamp Kick (for 'scrapes' down the shin; the clogs themselves make attacking the feet pointless). Perks would be Iron Legs, Technique Mastery (Kicking), possibly Neck Control (it doesn't require you to strike at the upper body, only be holding on to it). Common advantages would be DR (Tough Skin, Shins only) and High Pain Threshold.

Although it was a sport, it was a very brutal one and practitioners seemed to get into a lot of street fights, so I'd call it a genuine combat form rather than a combat sport. The rules seem pretty simple, so not sure if Games skill would even be needed. Modern shin kicking is far less nasty and would use Brawling Sport.
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Old 07-15-2018, 01:57 PM   #7
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

They were apparently worn for the damage resistance. With less than an inch of pretty heavy wood I would say they have a DR of 1. If you've lived with them your whole life are they really hard to get around in? Would a Perk allow you to move easier in them?
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Old 07-15-2018, 04:58 PM   #8
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

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Originally Posted by tbone View Post
solid wood means you just lumber around. On the plus side, the shoes are signature wear for practitioners of Hague Ki Do, and confer +1 on windmill kicks.
*Groan*. Seriously?
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Old 07-15-2018, 07:29 PM   #9
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

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*Groan*. Seriously?
What? No Bold-text love for "windmill kicks"?
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Old 07-15-2018, 07:54 PM   #10
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Default Re: Clogs and clog fighting martial art

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Originally Posted by Kilmore View Post
They were apparently worn for the damage resistance. With less than an inch of pretty heavy wood I would say they have a DR of 1. If you've lived with them your whole life are they really hard to get around in? Would a Perk allow you to move easier in them?
Its solid wood, no give or flexibility in the sole and heel. I would let a perk let you walk around heel first so no penalty but doubt its very realistic.
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