Brawling
 

A Brawling skill was suggested. Hmmm. It should IMHO be BETTER than UC I, because a bar fighter is probably more dangerous than a larval stage martial artist. But I don't know anything about bar fighting except what I see on TV,, and I don't believe that :) So:

Brawling (1) (IQ 7) Experience with unscientific bar fighting.
• Improvised Weapons. You may “ready” a bottle into an (unthrowable) dagger, throw a mug as though it was a rock (1d-4 damage), or find a club in any piece of broken furniture.
• Punch. You do one extra hit of damage with bare hands in either HTH or regular combat.
• Dirty Fighting. You may choose to do two extra hits of damage with bare hands in either HTH or regular combat, but then the brawl is not “friendly.” Foes will fight back dirty, or grab weapons.

Re: Brawling
 

I like the first two. The dirty fighting rule seems overpowered since I suspect it will be used most of the time. Perhaps make it a once per fight option?

Re: Brawling
 

I agree with Ty, and hazard a guess that pretty much all fights are dirty unless they are part of a sport.

Re: Brawling
 

To quote Vince Lombardi; "Winning isn't everything, but losing isn't anything." (At least, I think it was his quote...)

I'd say that any fight tends to be "dirty" unless it's two friends having a set-to for laughs. Marquess of Queensberry Rules aren't really used when the chips are down...

Re: Brawling
 

I have been in fights that weren't "dirty", but they also weren't serious. A couple of shoves and punches to establish dominance and pecking order. As soon as they got dirty they got mean and serious.

Among RPG characters I expect that everyone would go for the "dirty" option right from the start because 2 points of damage is 2 points of damage.

Re: Brawling
 

Agree with TY.

How about if a combatant with the Brawling Skill can pull one dirty-trick per fight; *and* the person having the dirty trick used on them must fail their IQ Roll for the trickster to use the trick on them effectively?

Addendum - As a GM, I would insist the player describe the dirty trick, and only if it sounds feasible and creative would I then roll to see if the NPC fell for the dirty trick; and would not allow the player to simple say: "I use a dirty trick."

JK

Re: Brawling
 

I disagree with most of the comments on the rule suggestion; fights between human beings nearly always follow unwritten social rules, even between enemies and drunks. If people walk away without deep bites, eyes out and fingers broken into little bits, then it means both sides were not really fighting all-out. I think it is quite appropriate to provide someone with 'brawling' talent some extra 'oomph' that you would not see in a similarly skilled boxer, karate student, etc.

Re: Brawling
 

What Lars said. When humans were first getting started, you needed NOT to really damage your adversary for dominance - they were probably related and you'd be killing your own genes, as well as weakening the tribe. It's biology, and not some inherent goodness, that gives us the idea of "fighting fair." We were tribal apes for a long time before some of us became warriors who specialized in fighting strangers.

Rule as written also gives roleplaying options - you can say "I am NOT fighting dirty , even though I could."

If humans always pulled out all the stops, we would all know several people who are missing important bits. One of the important things taught in women's self-defense classes is to LOSE those inhibitions when assaulted, and go straight to a good hard twisting bite and a jab at the eyes or crotch, and I understand that that's sometimes a hard lesson to get across.

Re: Brawling
 

It's true in any training to do violence, the default human condition is not to kill/maim at the first provocation, which is why someone who is willing and able to immediately break your finger if you poke him in the chest wins that Brawl before you even knew you were in a fight.

Re: Brawling
 

* Brawling talent is a good idea.

* Also a good idea to have unarmed fighting talent that can be used even when wearing armor.

I agree there is an important distinction between fist fights and seriously trying to kill someone. (Realistically, I think there's also a level even lighter than fist fighting when people aren't even really trying to seriously hurt each other. You know, when people grab each other and wrestle but don't actually intentionally do anything that causes much injury.)

What I've done a lot in GURPS non-lethal brawls is have everyone limited to "pulling their punches" and doing half-damage, unless the character shifts into homicidal mode, which is usually quite noticeable. Critical success or failure though does full damage.

I also tend to have non-fighter types not usually even do full "pulled" damage, let alone lethal, unless the situation gets them into an appropriate state of mind.