MA campaigns and your experience

[AlonzoTheGurpsPlayer]

Ok, I agree with Icelander and think country based teams woud be better and that could lead to the political conflicts that trooper6 was talking about from his Traveller game.

Looking at the rules, it does sem to me that you would need a MUCH higher striking skill and clinch perks to be able to easily defeat a seasoned grappler. So I think just doing MMA would be better with some people just being strikers or sprawl and brawlers and another fighter being a ground and pound fighter or as long as it doesn't bog things down too much, a submission specialist.


Has anyone ever had a problem with two grapplers taking too long in combat? And also, what should I do for rules? I was thinking that anything goes except for weapons (might use boots and a myrmex equivalent to make things more interesting). My logic behind this is that brawling would become more valuable if there are little to no rules with there being lower points needed to not only get a high skill, but there would be more left to put into techniques such as eye gouge and knee drop if there isn't any rules.


Also, an even bigger question to ask is, should I make the tournament a intergalactic one? I was just thinking that there would be even more diversity, and my players want to make unique styles, and what else could help more with uniqueness than having different anatomy and environment to develop new martial arts?

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by AlonzoTheGurpsPlayer

Hello everybody, I haven't GMed since early 2012 and I have been thinking about running a Martial Arts campaign. The plot I want to try is that the PCs either represent a real world style, or even their own style if they can make one up that isn't too outlandish, and they fight other people around the world.

For example, one player who is representing say, Taekwondo, might go to the middle east and fight one of the worlds best wrestlers in a close to no rules contest. Or maybe someone representing Boxing (I know it's not usually considered a martial art, but I would allow it) might fight someone from Brazil representing Capoeira or BJJ.

Now, what I have a problem with is redundancy. I want to make all the fights exciting and not seem the same, so I wanted some suggestions on how to do this. I was thinking that traveling around the world would represent it's own adventure but I still want to focus on finding the world's toughest fighter in a sense. I would like to know what you guys have done in MA or any other kind of campaign to keep combat exciting.


So again, I am open to suggestions, and the point limit is 150 points with 75 points in disadvantages. If you guys think a higher point limit with cinematic skills and techniques allowed would make it better, I might allow it. If armed styles being allowed and some leeway being used with unarmed against armed would also changes things for like say range and different tactics having to be used might make things change, I might also allow that.

TL;DR: I need help on making my MA campaign not too redundant in combat.

Are you aiming for a fairly "realistic" game or something more like a video fighting game or shonen anime?

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

A signature move is a description of an action that doesn't take longer than a turn.

Thank you.

[trooper6]

I personally wouldn't go intergalactic. It feels like a bit much.

If you really want to go for specific styles...I'd go historical. Early MMA had people that were specialized in one thing, though that went away pretty quickly.

So if I really wanted people who specialized in one style, I'd go with a Cold War era, secret Unarmed Fighting competition.

So PCs would be representatives of a country, and since it is old, PCs would be more likely to be specialized in one style.

You could also enforce come of this mechanically. You could say that PCs can only have 1 Style. They can buy skills outside of their Styles, of course, but if you very strictly enforce the Perk Limits, and the "you can't buy if techniques outside of your style recommendations, etc. that will result in difference in feeling between the fighters.

Generally, I recommend rereading Martial Arts in detail.

[AlonzoTheGurpsPlayer]

Alright trooper6, if I do the Cold War era thing, what martial art would the US team use? Except for Boxing and various Wrestling styles, I can't think of anything that Americans would be likely to use.

I was also thinking that this martial art tourney could be what resolves the Cold War since nuclear war would be obviously avoided in the long run.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by AlonzoTheGurpsPlayer

Alright trooper6, if I do the Cold War era thing, what martial art would the US team use? Except for Boxing and various Wrestling styles, I can't think of anything that Americans would be likely to use.

Judo is possible. Judo was trendy in the United States in that era. It actually seems to have referred to a range of Japanese martial arts (which pretty much were "martial arts" as far as most Americans knew); one of the blows that GURPS classes under Karate was then called a "judo chop."

Bill Stoddar

[trooper6]

Judo and Karate were well known enough in the West by the 1960s to be featured in both The Avengers and Bond films...which are British, granted, but would still be available for Americans.

If you set it later, you also have Bruce Li's Jeet Kun Do...but also remember America is a land of immigrants, which means Americans could have access to any number of styles.

I'm not the type who would say, "Americans can only have this style or that style." I'd probably let them choose which ever single style they want as long as they can justify it with character backstory.

But I tend to go for "real character" types, rather than "archetypes" types.

If I were going for a black/white archetype thing, I'd pick a couple of countries and assign them one or two stereotypical styles, and only allow the PCs to pick among them. But again, I personally tend to go for a different sort of vibe.

Also, I'm thinking of that film, Gymkata, where fighters from around the world had to compete in some fight tournament/obstacle course in order to secure some sort of military rights from the country hosting country. That could be a plot hook to steal.

Anyway, I'd say, think a bit more about what sort of game style you want. Do you want a bigger than life archetypal game (the national stereotypes in GURPS WW2 might be useful here), or a more shades of gray sort of game.

How you do the set up will vary based on that.

[ajardoor]

Originally Posted by trooper6

Also, I'm thinking of that film, Gymkata, where fighters from around the world had to compete in some fight tournament/obstacle course in order to secure some sort of military rights from the country hosting country. That could be a plot hook to steal.

I swear, before I saw this post, about making a crack about Gymkata.

If you told me that Gymkata was supposed to be a stealth parody of martial arts movies, I'd believe you.

Mind you, I'd love to play or GM a campaign set around the "invited to a tournament" plot hook. Anyone ever tried that?

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by whswhs

one of the blows that GURPS classes under Karate was then called a "judo chop."

I don't think that's actually true. Or at least, prior to Austin Powers, I don't recall hearing, and I know I didn't find it in any of my research. Do you have a source for that?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

I don't think that's actually true. Or at least, prior to Austin Powers, I don't recall hearing, and I know I didn't find it in any of my research. Do you have a source for that?

Just memory; I remember Lucy van Pelt threatening one of the other characters—it might have been Linus—with a "judo chop." But I don't have collected Peanuts on my shelves. But I remember seeing it a long time before Austin Powers was thought of. Can't quote you sources, though.

Bill Stoddard