New Martial Arts

[davidtmoore]

Originally Posted by DeathFromAbove

I've never tested GURPS mechanics, only studied them.

I think that GURPS could be better refined for European martial arts.
Sure its far superior to many other RPGs.

I suppose nothing's going to please everyone, but Martial Arts for 4e goes miles further than 3e as regards European martial arts. By my rough count, it includes 41 European styles (including Russia, but not including America) out of 113. Which, for a book featuring styles native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica, isn't bad.

The European emphasis is on historical styles, with only one or two modern and sport styles, but then a) most roleplayers are going to be looking at the historical styles, and b) the majority of contemporary European styles outside boxing, wrestling and fencing are imports.

And the historical styles could be done in more detail - only four fencing styles, one polearm style and one longsword style, for example - but then it faces limitations like that throughout the book; there's only so much space! And the descriptive text occasionally offers suggestions for fine-tuning styles to different masters and locales.

As you say, it's a lot better than most RPGs.