[MA] Del Duques World

[ADAXL]

Martial Arts contains the sample character Del Duque, a masked Mexican wrestler and crimebuster. The description mentions that he lives in a B-movie world chock full of martial artists where everybody speaks Spanish.

Has anybody tried to model this world?

I imagine it as a place where all adventure takes place in Mexico (plus the southern parts of the USA, where Spanish is commonly spoken, plus a few Caribbean islands and a some adjacent countries). The rest of the planet exists, but is vague. Non-Mexican martial artists exist. These practitioners either step off a ship from undefined faraway lands, or form tightly knit immigrant subcultures. The barrio chino is full of Chinese kung fu fighters and tong enforcers. The border towns have many bars where other gringos hang out.

The world is full of martial artists. There is some B-movie logic behind this: maybe guns are viewed as purely military weapons, unavailable to civilians and hideously expensive even to those who want them. Even the police is armed with Batons, Light Clubs and Juttes. Some nasty wars may have given everybody a profound distaste for firearms (just like poison gas in our world).

The world is borderline cinematic (Del Duque has no truly cinematic powers, but he is a masked guy with a cape). Most heroes should have lots of points and some wild abilities, but truly reality-defying powers are rare and should be hidden from the public. Still, strange stuff happens to the heroes all the time. The world should have elements of horror (hidden Aztec temples run by fanatical cults, mad slashers).

[carllarson]

Guns aren't used because they are the trademark of the evil Nazi menace hidden in the southern jungles.

[Kirby]

Have you seen Hero Games' Lucha Libre Hero? I know a product placement wasn't what you asked for, but this book does exactly what you want, and quite well, in my humble opinion. Translating it to GURPS would be trivially easy, as indeed I think GURPS would do the world it models rather better than the Hero System.

It's even available on e23: http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=DOJHERO401

--K

[ardashir]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Have you seen Hero Games' Lucha Libre Hero? I know a product placement wasn't what you asked for, but this book does exactly what you want, and quite well, in my humble opinion. Translating it to GURPS would be trivially easy, as indeed I think GURPS would do the world it models rather better than the Hero System.

It's even available on e23: http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=DOJHERO401

--K

I second this. It sounds like the perfect way to cover Del Duques' world.

[Mgellis]

A write-up of Lucha-1* would probably make a good Pyramid article. It's obviously part of the Infinite Worlds setting--it looks as if Del Duques gets recruited by I-SWAT at the end of Martial Arts.

Typical B-movie style would suggest that the rest of the world feels a bit like Latin America. The places that aren't Latin America are mostly like "costume drama" versions of those places (e.g., Russia is cold and if you live out in the country there are wolves and everyone drinks vodka, etc., but lots of things are remarkably similar to what you'd find in Mexico).

I explain all this by assuming that some timelines are naturally cinematic. Physical laws and especially the laws of probability are subtly different--fortune favors the brave, or at least a good story. There's nothing wrong with being average, but if you dare to wear a mask and fight for justice, and you're truly a hero in your heart and not just a poser, you tend to be lucky. (Model this with Luck, Serendipity, etc.) That's why people do it. On Lucha-1, it actually works.

In other words, if you carry a gun, the universe treats you like a mook. Against other mooks, you're fine, but whenever you come up against a hero or anyone he cares about, your luck tends to be terrible. You'll miss. You'll only do flesh wounds. If you actually have the hero helpless and you put the gun to his head, the gun will jam, or you'll be distracted by something and he'll escape. You know the drill. :)

If you're a major bad guy, you tend to be lucky, too. The main thing is standing out, being an individual, having a unique style, and making it a good story. The universe rewards this.

(Whether it works on other timelines is open to debate. Would a masked hero like Del Duques simply get gunned down on a more normal world or does someone from a timeline like this bring a little of their cinematic luck with them when they visit other worlds?)

* not a canonical name...just something I came up with

[Kromm]

Everybody speaks Spanish for the same reason why everybody in cheap American action movies speaks English: It's the language of the intended audience and most of the actors. When I wrote up Del Duque, I imagined him being in our world, sort of (see below) . . . but of course his "viewers" don't hear all our world's languages, just Spanish. Not a lot different from the way everbody in Lawrence of Arabia speaks English, even the Arabs, Turks, etc., but on a lower budget and in Spanish.

The important deviations are being able to learn cinematic martial arts skills and go around masked without running into social problems (or even trouble eating), and of course the existence of cheesy criminal masterminds and caped vigilantes.

[ADAXL]

@ Mgellis: Please, no Pyramid stuff. I don't want to subscribe for just a few articles that interest me. How about a Hot Spot or an Alternate Earth? Apart from that little gripe, I love your suggestions.

@Kromm. I imagined Del Duques world quite different from our own. One would have to get rid of all guns in private hands (or make them totally ineffective, like Mgellis suggested).

Mexican Lucha movies tend to be all-out cinematic, even if the stranger stuff is often not seen by the public.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by ADAXL

@ Mgellis: Please, no Pyramid stuff. I don't want to subscribe for just a few articles that interest me.

Remember, with the new format, you don't have to subscribe if there's only a few articles that interest you - you can just buy the individual issues. Also, if you write the article, you get a comp copy of the issue anyway.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Remember, with the new format, you don't have to subscribe if there's only a few articles that interest you - you can just buy the individual issues.

Yes, that's rather the point. If anybody reading thinks otherwise . . . go check it out! You can buy just the ones you want.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Kromm

The important deviations are being able to learn cinematic martial arts skills and go around masked without running into social problems (or even trouble eating), and of course the existence of cheesy criminal masterminds and caped vigilantes.

There also seems to be some sort of Law of Dramatic Necessity going on, to account for the fact that he always wins despite not being all that impressive a fighter ;)