Martial arts questions { Arm Lock }

[Kromm]

When you set up Arm Lock using a grapple rather than a parry, the grapple need not be of the arm. You grapple your foe normally on your first turn – just roll vs. Judo and grab the torso. On your next turn, you can transition to the lock by rolling vs. Arm Lock (which includes the penalty for targeting the arm) and overcoming your enemy's defense, exactly as if you had just parried his attack. "Going for the arm" is built into the Arm Lock roll; parrying or grappling beforehand can set up any number of moves, and doesn't specifically have to be parrying or grappling an arm.

Leg Lock works differently because my coauthor and several informed playtesters felt that the leg was too large, powerful, and distant from the center of mass to allow a seamless transition. Nobody could cite a good example of a one-beat shift from straight-on underhooks or overhooks (which collectively define nearly all torso grapples) to a leg, but there are lots of ways to move from hooks to an arm in a smooth motion. I suppose the lack of symmetry is inelegant, but it seems to reality-check better.