[MA] Technical Grappling Example - Wrestler vs. Three Swordsmen

[Seneschal]

I just had my first test-drive of the Technical Grappling rules, and I figured I'd log the encounter (it was played out in MapTools) and post it here. I find hands-on examples like these (e.g. the Spaceships combat examples that were on these boards a while ago - those were great) to be both instructive and entertaining, like listening to a boxing match over the radio. I don't have a blog on which to put this, so I hope nobody minds if I put it here. Sorry for the long-form. :P

The Campaign
The characters used in this encounter are from a (very) cinematic JRPG-inspired fantasy campaign. It allows Chambara rules, cinematic Extra Effort options, exotic advantages - the whole shebang. Player characters are built on 250 points. However, for our first time using Technical Grappling, we opted for vanilla rules, with no cinematic switches.

The Combatants
The player character, let's call him Yu, is a 250-point wrestler and yogi/esoteric medicine master. He has ST 10, DX 14, and HT 13. Other relevant advantages include Extra Attack (Single Skill, Wrestling), Lifting ST+8 (Costs 1 FP) and DR 10 (Costs 1 FP; Tough Skin). His Wrestling skill is at DX+4, or 18, which gives him a Training Bonus of +3. Yu's fictional wrestling style mostly uses legs (the arms are held in prayer, to activate his special powers), and grappling from weird postures. He's proficient in Force Posture Change, Ground Fighting, Low Fighting, Fighting While Seated, Scissors Hold, Triangle Choke and Arm Locks. His disadvantages include Vow (Always Fight Unarmed) and Pacifism (Cannot Kill), so he will avoid lethal techniques.

His opponents, Goona, Goonb and Goonc, are carbon-copies of each-other, and have ST 12, DX 12, HT 12, Broadsword-14 and Judo-14. They are armed with broadswords.

The Encounter
The four combatants are in a circular, arena elevated over a steep precipice. To win, all of one's opponents must be either dead, or unable to continue.


Turn 1
Due to his Basic Speed 7, Yu goes first. He activates his Lifting ST and DR advantages, grows muscles, shreds his clothing, flexes and goes "boo." He loses 2 FP and his Trained ST is raised from 13 to 21.

On their turn, the three goons move to encircle the wrestler. Goonb and Goonc are now in his side arcs; Goona is charging for him.


Turn 2
Yu chooses Wait, preparing to do a Scissors Hold if someone comes within Reach 1 of him.

Goona charges Yu with a Move & Attack, activating his Wait. Yu slides down to her feet and tries to trap her left leg between his own. He has Scissors Hold-18, so he does a Deceptive Attack, lowering his skill to 14 and Goona's defenses by 2. He rolls a 5 (not a critical, since his effective skill has fallen below 15), and Goona fails her Dodge. Yu rolls Control Points for his two legs (Grip ST 22 + 3 Training Bonus = ST 25) and inflicts 4 CP. Goona suffers a -1 penalty to DX and ST from referred control, or -2 from active control when using the grappled leg. Since she is standing and has only one free leg, her posture is unstable.

Because he has Extra Attack (Wrestling), Yu now does a Force Posture Change to knock Goona to the ground. He rolls vs. his ST for two legs (25), at a -4 penalty to drop a foe three posture levels (standing to lying down), at a +1 from the Ground Guard perk, for a total of 22. Goona resists with her Judo skill, at a -1 penalty for referred control, a total of 13. She loses and falls down face-up. The GM judges that her new posture and referred control penalties drop her weapon skill below the possibility of success, so she loses her attack. She and Yu are lying down in supine outstretched postures, in an L-shape, with their legs in close combat.

Note: The way this plays out, I cannot help but notice that Scissors Hold provides almost no benefit. In the old system, it gave +3 to subsequent takedown attempts and a cumulative -1 penalty to attempts to break free. Here, it seems to be just a Targeted Attack (Leg Grapple/Legs).

Goonc charges Yu from the side, doing a Move & Attack and succeeding. Yu attempts a Grabbing Parry to catch the blade - he has bought off the -3 to parry weapons with Wrestling, but he still suffers -3 against armed opponents, -2 for attacks from the side, and -1 for lying down (the highest Ground Fighting allows). His parry is 6 - he rolls an 11, fails, and the sword hits his arm. However, it is completely absorbed by his mystical Damage Reduction.

Note 1: Here is where a smartass thinks-he's-too-good-for-weapons martial artist would get his just returns...if this were a realistic campaign. The GM admitted that the goons would only be able to deal damage by AoA (Strong) and through Blunt Trauma. In the campaign proper, notable enemies would have Weapon Master (Humongous JRPG Katana) and shoot lightning bolts, but not these guys. Still, we decided to continue, just to familiarize ourselves with the TG moves.
Note 2: Facing rules become unclear from a supine posture. The "rear", where no defenses are allowed, is presumably facing the ground, and even if an attack comes from behind, overhead, a supine fighter might intercept it, since it is directed at his front, only upside-down. We decided to treat this as a side attack.

Goonb closes within 1 yard of Yu and does an All-Out Defense.


Turn 3
Yu steps into close combat with Goona, trying to grapple her sword-arm with his two arms. He has skill-18, -1 for posture (Ground Fighting is not at full skill), -1 for hit location, -2 for Deceptive Attack, for a total of 14. He rolls a 4, and Goona gets no defense - Yu's rolls CP for ST 21, doubled for critical - 9 CP to the arm. She now suffers (9+4)/4=3.25, or -3 referred control penalties. For his second attack, he tries to apply an arm lock - skill 18, -1 for Ground Fighting, -2 for Deceptive Attack, for a total of 15. She resists with Dodge, at -3 for posture and -1 for the DX penalties. She fails; her weapon arm is locked, and gets a further 5 CP. The referred penalties increase to (14+4)/4=4.5, or -5 to DX and ST.

On her own turn, Goona attacks to break free, and rolls a critical. Since she only uses her free arm, her Grip ST is halved, and at a further -5 from referred control. She manages to shave off 2 CP from her locked arm, reducing the CP tally there to 12. The referred penalties drop to (12+4)/4= -4 to DX and ST.

Goonc attacks with his sword again; this time, Yu tries a normal Dodge, at -1 penalty from posture, for a total of 10. He succeeds, and dodges the sword blow.

Goonb steps behind Yu and does and AoA (Strong) with his sword. He deals 10 damage, insufficient to pierce Yu's damage resistance, but enough to inflict 1 blunt trauma damage.

Note: Since Yu moved into close combat to do the arm lock, and he couldn't remain supine unless he slipped under her, the GM ruled that he exposed his back to attack. Mostly, it was to give the poor goons a slack.


Turn 4
Yu begins his turn by causing injury through the arm lock as a free action. He spends 5 CP to raise his damage cap to 10, and rolls vs. his Trained ST 22 (21 for both arms, +1 from Ground Guard). Goona defends with her HT, as it's the only one that cannot be reduced below 12. She, naturally, loses, suffers 10 damage to her arm (capped at 1/2 HP), crippling, dropping the sword, major injury, HT roll to avoid stunning or knockdown, etc. She's out of the fight, at least imminently, so Yu releases all his grapples on her.

For his first attack, Yu rolls back, does a handstand and drops his legs onto Goonb's neck, who attacked him last turn from behind. The GM likes the move, so he allows it as an Acrobatic Triangle Choke. Yu rolls vs. Triangle Choke-16, at -1 for shock penalty, -1 for posture, for a total of 14. Goonb doesn't get to defend, as his neck is grappled. Yu rolls 9 CP to the neck, so Goonb has a -4 active control penalty to the neck and a -2 referred penalty everywhere else.

For his second attack, he performs a Force Posture Change with both legs, at ST 25, -4 for bringing the opponent from standing to lying, -4 for raising himself from lying to kneeling and +1 from Ground Guard, for a total of 18. Goonb resists with Judo-14, at -4 for referred penalty to Whole-Body Actions, for a total of 10. He fails, falls down face-up, with Yu kneeling over his head.

Note: I think we did the Whole-Body thing correctly. If this is calculated as 9 CP (neck) + 4 referred CP (head) + 4 referred CP (torso) = 17/4 = 4.25, then we got it right. But Whole-Body penalties have a very short and not very clear description in TG.

Goonc now steps in front of Yu and does a Committed sword swing. Yu opts for a Grabbing Parry again, but this time spends 1 FP for Feverish Defense, giving him +2 to defense, for a total of 12. He succeeds by 3, negating 3 damage and absorbing the leftover 4 damage into his DR. He also inflicts ST×0.5 CP to the sword, and rolls 1 CP.

Goonb, his head trapped between Yu's knees, opts for a head-butt to the groin, and the GM allows it because it sounds fun, simultaneously stating that Yu only has DR 2 on his groin. Goonb hits (miraculously), but due to his low ST (9 CP on his neck), he doesn't penetrate Yu's DR, and bounces off his steel balls.

Continued in post #2...