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Originally Posted by Icelander
Indeed. They won't care at all about this sort of thing.
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Although did you notice that the Americans who swear that their training is purely rational and instrumental and they don't care about appearances have 'a look'? And that look is very different from say knights in Chaucer's day, or veterans of the Penninsular War or even the Korean War? Scratch a martial art and it bleeds culture and taste, even if part of that culture and taste is insisting that what you do is purely instrumental and you wear the black and the cargo pants because they are functional.
Or listen to how much energy they spend telling the world that something that people who are as good at them at solving the same problem do is hurting wrong moving. There are many good ways to solve any problem in martial arts, and after martial arts pick one to focus on they tend to convince themselves that it is the only way. And that is all about identity and self-assurance not becoming better tools.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander
In GURPS terms, though, it's still built as a Style, just like Combat Wrestling, Dagger Fighting, FCCT, Jeet Kun Do, Krav Maga and Shortsword Fighting are, despite many practisioners probably not thinking that what they did was a martial art, but just mindset, dirty fighting and a collection of techniques that work in combat.
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It could be ... or it could just be some weapon skills added to whatever other arts they train. It sounds like the skills they need are:
Wrestling
or Judo
Knife
A medium-length weapon skill such as Axe/Mace or Shortsword
Maybe Fast-Draw
Arm Lock [to get threats in position to cut bits off them], Hit Location (weaponName Swing/Neck, Arm, Leg), and Retain Weapon. Is there a technique for reducing penalties for wresting things with different anatomy than your species?
There are all kinds of ways to pick up those skills, and the ones who like martial arts enough to get a Style Familiarity will train several anyways. In the 1980s in the United States the mix will probably include FMA and Japanese martial arts but I don't have the cultural knowledge of the Caribbean in the 1980s to suggest what else would be in the mix.
Now you are talking about bayonet drills. Modern assault rifles and carbines aren't really built for that, but if MCMAP or 1930s bayonet fencing can be a style, I suppose that the Night Riders' hand-to-hand course could be ... but the parts that make it a style won't be the ones that do those two scenarios you were talking about.