Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Interesting. Back in the 70s, I think, Michael Echanis was a Special Forces guy who was also a high-ranking Hwa Rang Do practitioner. He also trained a lot of those guys in Hwa Rang Do, which was making inroads into the Army community until Mr Echanis was killed in South America. Chief Master Taejoon "Henry" Lee has since given a few seminars and "sulsa camps" to various Army guys and special forces types, but I don't know if anything has really stuck.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

I believe it. Grappling is good that way. You can do it as a sport, or as "the real thing," with only a few alterations in how you do things. Not that people are never injured practicing or competing, but in my experience (with HRD grappling, rather than BJJ) you know that when grappling with a friend, that "I could have hit him in the face, or raked his eyes, right then." Or "He could have ripped off my ear instead of thumbing the #7 pressure point."

Striking arts are a bit different--you sort of have to deliver the actual beat down, which makes it hard to gauge their "real life" effectivenes without going all out and risking real life injury. I'm sure there are lots of people willing to do such, but at that level it's personality based, rather than strictly style based.

Actually, backing up, a lot (most?) of it is probably still the fighter, rather than the style, unless the style is totally craptastic.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Cole:

I agree one hundred percent that most of it is the fighter, not the style.

However, such a view is kind of hard to represent in a role-playing game. The way my players deal with it is to choose a style for their PCs and then seek every opportunity to learn new styles and manouvres. They pick and choose mechanics from many styles, aiming for a perfect fit to their character and also what they perceive is most useful under GURPS rules. Currently, that means that one is a 3rd dan Hapkido master, one is a Praying Mantis Kung Fu practisioner who also trains extensively in improvised weaponry and has developed his own knife-fighting form and the last one started play having learnt Jujitsu/grappling in a police acedemy and on the street and then moved on to learn Army combative training, Muy Thai and Pakua (for meditative purposes and to try to get rid of the psychological damage his work inflicts).

The one with least impressive credentials in martial arts (the former cop) is probably the one who does best in the field. The Kung Fu/Knife-fighter is a close second, probably because of his Unfazable advantage. He never loses his cool and he never flinches at inflicting pain on his opponent.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Well, yeah. :-)

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Any ideas for rules to implement it?

I use frequent Will checks in combat to represent stress and adrenaline. Failures indicate tunnel vision, loss of fine motor control etc.

I also require Will rolls when people are hurt, with a failure having adverse consequences such as trying to break contact.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Combat SAMBO Cost: 20/-

Primary skills: Brawling, Judo, Karate, Wrestling
Secondary skills: Body Language, Style Analysis
Optional skills: Judo Sport, Wrestling Sport
Manoeuvres: Aggressive Parry, Arm lock, Breakfall, Choke Hold, Disarming, Elbow Strike, Eye Gouging, Finger Lock, Ground Fighting (Any primary skill), Head Butt, Head Lock, Hit Location (Brawling or Karate), Knee Strike, Neck Snap, Riposte (Any primary skill), Stamp Kick

This is a purely martial version of the Russian martial art, focusing more on strikes than the sporting versions. No armed techniques are included in this write-up, but some practitioners are trained in the same weapons as included in the Systema style.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Krav Maga Cost: 15/-

Primary skills: Karate, Judo [2 points]
Secondary skills: Body Language
Optional skills: Brawling, Knife, Short sword, Tonfa
Manoeuvres: Aggressive Parry, Arm lock, Choke Hold, Disarming [2 points], Elbow Strike, Head Butt, Head Lock, Hit Location (Karate) [2 points], Knee Strike, Riposte (Karate) [2 points], Stamp Kick

This represents the combative version of Krav Maga; not any McDojo self-defence variants. Israeli commandoes also learn sentry-removal techniques, bayonet fighting and other elite military skills.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

let me think on this.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

Of course.

Did you think that thugs with horned helmets would break down your door if you took more than a couple of moments to answer? ;)

What do you think of Combat SAMBO and Krav Maga, above? I am a bit worried that Systema and Combat SAMBO seem indisguishable apart from the armed elements, but I just don't know enough to differentiate.

Re: Combatives martial arts styles
 

I don't know much about them in Real Life. Many styles are probably indistinguihsable in GURPS. I hope the new Martial Arts book is unafraid in its text to have this be reflected.

For example, while TKD and Shotokan are easily distinguishable by looking at the details of how people do things (like walk, or throw certain kicks), in GURPS terms, both are probably Karate only (or nearly so) with many maneuvers in common, if not all of them. they're both linear striking arts.

I imagine that a lot of the combatives, which will stress a mix of quick-n-dirty practicality and getting from distance to on-the-ground-and-broken-bad-guy, will look a lot alike in a low-ish resolution system.