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Old 11-04-2019, 12:23 PM   #1
Donny Brook
 
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Default [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

Imagine a subculture whose members are always equipped with a sturdy, hardcover book.

Suppose they have a martial art Style centered on the book as a primarily two-handed weapon.

What GURPS elements should make up such a Style?
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Old 11-04-2019, 12:46 PM   #2
arnej
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

Quote:
Originally Posted by Donny Brook View Post
Imagine a subculture whose members are always equipped with a sturdy, hardcover book.

Suppose they have a martial art Style centered on the book as a primarily two-handed weapon.

What GURPS elements should make up such a Style?
Just off the top of my head, in no particular order:
  • Enhanced Block/Parry
  • Flail (hold one cover, and flip the other at the foe)
  • Weapon Bond (Everyone has their own special book)
  • Two-handed Club (or Flail) (for that nifty damage)
  • Parry Missile Weapons (whap 'em aside)
  • User gets a DB bonus for his Book
  • Book Catch (Like Hand Clap Parry Or Bind Weapon - Open the book, then close it on their sword)
  • Feint (fan the pages in his face)
  • Popular move is Shove
  • Maybe they get Style Familiarity for half a dozen styles on the cheap, from "book-learning" :)
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Old 11-04-2019, 05:12 PM   #3
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

They get laughed out of the dojo except in a silly setting. In a silly setting, it is whatever you can justify to the GM. Now, a martial art that uses paper in general might be possible in a powered setting (with each power having Environmental, Paper, -40%).
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Old 11-04-2019, 06:24 PM   #4
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
They get laughed out of the dojo except in a silly setting. In a silly setting, it is whatever you can justify to the GM.
How is that helpful to this thread? In what way does shutting down ideas make our gaming better?

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Now, a martial art that uses paper in general might be possible in a powered setting (with each power having Environmental, Paper, -40%).
See the anime (and related works) Read or Die for an example of paper powers.
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Old 11-04-2019, 06:45 PM   #5
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

I imagine aggressive parry would be a good one with finger-rapping and forearm parries featuring heavily.

In such a literate/bookish society, would Kiai or Rapier Wit be common? Perhaps with some kind of limit that they only work on folk of the same literary background?

If it's usable as a shield, flail, and club, then grip mastery is in order.
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Old 11-04-2019, 06:50 PM   #6
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

It is not meant to shut down anything, it is an observation concerning genre. Such a martial art style would be highly impractical in a realistic genre, probably inappropriate in a cinematic genre, and perfect for a silly genre. It just depends on the genre of the campaign.

The problem with the style would be the nature of the weapon. While books can be reinforced, hands and feet make better weapons than most books. Anyway, most books would be one-handed weapons rather than two-handed weapons.

So, a reinforced hardback book would weigh around 1 lb, deal thrust crushing damage, and would have a reach C or weigh 2 lbs, deal thrust+1/swing-1 crushing damage, and would have reach C-1. The former would require ST 5 while the latter would be ST 7. In either case, they would be DR 1 and have HP normal for homogeneous objects of their mass.
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Old 11-04-2019, 09:18 PM   #7
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

Quote:
Originally Posted by Donny Brook View Post
Imagine a subculture whose members are always equipped with a sturdy, hardcover book.

Suppose they have a martial art Style centered on the book as a primarily two-handed weapon.

What GURPS elements should make up such a Style?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
It is not meant to shut down anything, it is an observation concerning genre. Such a martial art style would be highly impractical in a realistic genre, probably inappropriate in a cinematic genre, and perfect for a silly genre. It just depends on the genre of the campaign.

The problem with the style would be the nature of the weapon. While books can be reinforced, hands and feet make better weapons than most books. Anyway, most books would be one-handed weapons rather than two-handed weapons.

So, a reinforced hardback book would weigh around 1 lb, deal thrust crushing damage, and would have a reach C or weigh 2 lbs, deal thrust+1/swing-1 crushing damage, and would have reach C-1. The former would require ST 5 while the latter would be ST 7. In either case, they would be DR 1 and have HP normal for homogeneous objects of their mass.
The OP clearly states the type of world. I subculture that has a martial art style around using a sturdy book as the main weapon. They are asking us for input on what that style might look like.

So instead of insulting and shutting them down, and then bringing up a different power/style than what they asked for, you could (without being condescending) bring something useful to the table, or not post.

EDIT:: Also, John Wick 3 begs to differ with the lethality of a book in a genre where it can happen.

----- Back on topic ----

Techniques:
Thrust/neck (Jabbing the book into the neck.
Thrust/vitals (jabbing the corner of the book into the kidneys from the back or the liver from the front)
swing/skull (using the edge of the book to land a hard skull cracking hit)


Aggressive parry, as mentioned, would be really good too for the style.
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Old 11-04-2019, 10:34 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

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Originally Posted by zoncxs View Post
EDIT:: Also, John Wick 3 begs to differ with the lethality of a book in a genre where it can happen.
John Wick, as well as Jason Bourne, have used books as improvised weapons, and I'd be surprised if Jackie Chan hadn't too.

ETA: Thought I might find a compilation on YouTube, but there's just this scene from Bourne Ultimatum.

ETA2: For that matter, training with a book, in kali, another style, or this book vs knife training video. Should give you some technique ideas.
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Last edited by Daigoro; 11-04-2019 at 10:56 PM.
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Old 11-05-2019, 02:51 AM   #9
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

Quote:
Originally Posted by Donny Brook View Post
What GURPS elements should make up such a Style?
Throwing (Book), if used for law enforcement.

Is this intended for some sort of "fightin' scholars" martial art? If so, it's a pretty amusing idea!
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Old 11-05-2019, 09:02 AM   #10
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] Style building - book fighting

Thanks for the great help so far, and the laughs.
I'm writing up my build and will post it for comment, but wondering -- are there any general rules about what happens when you use two-hands vs one hand with a weapon?
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