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Old 05-06-2017, 04:20 PM   #11
GWJ
 
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

In my DF games every character just come from nearby bush.
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Old 05-06-2017, 04:57 PM   #12
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

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Originally Posted by Greg 1 View Post
I tend to imagine martial artist and ninja characters as either coming from a distant land far to the east, or as having been trained by a person from a distant land far to the east.
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A long time ago I played with a Dragonlance based setting where martial artists were actually an order of clerics who, having lost the blessings of the gods, chose to turn inward.
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Old 05-06-2017, 07:32 PM   #13
simply Nathan
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

Before DF came out, the one GURPS campaign I was in had a "ninja" martial-artist trained in a dojo right next to Town. Both Town and the dojo were built only a few decades ago by Viking settlers, and the dwarf who built the city wall entirely by himself was still living there (we commissioned him to build our home base). The walls keep the dinosaurs we don't want out and the ones that we do want in, you see.
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Old 05-06-2017, 07:45 PM   #14
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

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Originally Posted by GWJ View Post
In my DF games every character just come from nearby bush.
I'm close to that level of abstraction.

Where do ninja come from? Where do barbarians come from? Where do clerics come from? They come from the Tavern Where You All Meet, in Town.

If the players want more backstory than that, then the players are welcome to invent it. I'm busy putting chests and orcs in 10'x10' rooms.
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Old 05-06-2017, 09:12 PM   #15
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

In one version of the vaguely-defined DF setting in my head (not sure if I'll ever run it, but I could), Ninja and Martial Artists originally came from two lands in the Mysterious East (an expy of China and Japan), but most modern ones are descendants and students of folk who left those lands centuries ago, for Mysterious Reasons.

It's sort of how Barbarians come from the Kingdoms of Barbaria in the Frozen North (basically an expy of Scandinavia plus Northwest Russia - only people from the self-named Civilized Lands (Europe-expy) call the area 'Barbaria,' or treat it as if it were a single identity, rather than just a place where a whole bunch of tribes who don't like each other live).

Another version has them coming from the Mysterious West, because it's set in a version of North America that had much earlier European settlement, because magic. In that version, Barbaria is the Canada expy, but still is by no means united.
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Old 05-07-2017, 10:36 AM   #16
Zemyla
 
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

Martial arts, even unarmed ones, aren't the exclusive province of far-off ancient mystics. Pankration started with the ancient Greeks, and an unarmed martial art known as Ringen originated in the Holy Roman Empire. And ninjutsu is pretty much a romanticized version of the spying, infiltration, and assassination techniques that developed pretty much everywhere where consequences for killing an important person developed - the Hashashin sect, where we get the word "assassin" from, had the fedayeen, who also had legends about them.

Also, keep in mind that Dungeon Fantasy doesn't have to strictly adhere to European history and myth.

So where do martial artists and ninja come from? Pretty much wherever you want.
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Old 05-12-2017, 08:16 AM   #17
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

I run all my DF campaigns in the world of Banestorm.
Where do Martial Artists & Ninja come from? Sahud.
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Old 05-12-2017, 09:25 AM   #18
RyanW
 
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

I'm as likely to forbid them as to come up with a justification for them, especially Ninja (just use the Assassin template). If I include the Martial Artist, I tend to place the origin with an itinerant culture rather than a monastic one. Think Romani, not Shaolin.
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Old 05-12-2017, 10:07 AM   #19
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

I generally play DF in a pre-existing setting, or one so nebulous that geography and culture are irrelevant.

If I needed to write a background for a MA or Ninja, I'd probably start with a western style monastery because Friar Tuck Ninja Warrior is cool.

Alternately, play a Nymph Martial Artist who set out to master the "Marital Arts" for Nymph-y reasons, but messed up filling out the form.
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Old 05-12-2017, 10:11 AM   #20
Ulairi
 
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Default Re: DF: Where do Martial Artists and Ninja come from?

In my DF campaign they come from the far east and are usually hired by wealthy folks here for nefarious reasons.
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