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Old 11-17-2010, 12:22 PM   #1
nanoboy
 
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Default Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

In the Martial Arts book, there is really only one style with the Sumo skill-- Sumo Wrestling. That makes sense, of course, as few real-world martial arts would include such techniques. Among characters, I'm sure that the Sumo skill is the least used of the six unarmed martial arts skills. (In my experience, the skills are used in the following order, from most popular to least popular: Brawling, Karate, Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, and Sumo.) Still, it's a compelling skill. I mean, it's up front and aggressive. You bowl people over. It seems like a fun one to use a lot.

Okay, I've already said that it's not common for real-world styles, and that this makes sense, so how about fantasy or science fiction styles? Would certain races or species use them? Have you designed any for your games? Have you seen them in action?

I'm going to include two here that I have written for my Gulf of Gardon fantasy setting.

Southern Axe Fighting [6]

Many of the Nallian and Backonian warriors have learned the grand tradition of Southern Axe Fighting. Most nobles are taught it, starting from a young age, especially in Backonia, where the only way to get ahead is to be able to win fights. The style has evolved to fill the roles of dueling combat and battlefield combat.

Stylists will typically charge into battle, throwing an axe or two before switching to their primary weapon. Individual preference for one- or two-handed weapons dictates what that primary weapon might be. Many warriors bring both kinds, starting with an axe and shield, then switching to a two-handed axe once their shield has been destroyed. Generally, the favorite weapons are axe, throwing axe, pick, great axe, warhammer, and medium and large shields.

The style is fundamentally aggressive. Fighters always wear armor, so they often take risks to their defenses to deal a devastating blow to their enemy. In duels, the fighter will focus on destroying some part of the enemy’s defense. This means slamming into the opponent to knock him down, sweeping his legs, hooking his shield, attacking his weapons, or occasionally feinting. Then, the warrior will make Committed Attacks and All-Out Attacks until his opponent is defeated. On the battlefield, stylists prefer to break into the enemy’s line and start hacking away. Committed Attacks and All-Out Attacks are commonly used in these situations. However, in the tradition of Southern warfare, shield walls are often formed.

Skills: Axe/Mace, Shield (Shield), Sumo Wrestling, Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace), Two-Handed Axe/Mace
Techniques: Back Strike (Axe/Mace); Back Strike (Two-Handed Axe/Mace); Close Combat (Axe/Mace); Close Combat (Two-Handed Axe/Mace); Hook (Axe/Mace); Hook (Two-Handed Axe/Mace); Spinning Attack (Axe/Mace); Spinning Attack (Two-Handed Axe/Mace); Sweep (Axe/Mace); Sweep (Two-Handed Axe/Mace); Trip (Sumo Wrestling)
Cinematic Skills: None
Cinematic Techniques: None
Perks: Dirty Fighting; Form Mastery (Any Axe/Mace Weapon or Any Two-Handed Axe/Mace Weapon); Power Grappling; Reach Mastery (Any Two-Handed Axe/Mace Weapon); Shield-Wall Training; Shoves and Tackles (Axe/Mace, Sumo Wrestling, or Two-Handed Axe/Mace); Style Adaptation (Southern Pugilism); Sure-Footed (Uneven)
Optional Traits
Secondary Characteristics:
Improved ST and HT
Advantages: Combat Reflexes, Fearlessness, Fit or Very Fit, High Pain Threshold
Disadvantages: Berserk, Callous, Overconfidence
Skills: Boxing, Brawling, Broadsword, Pole-Arm, Spear, Tactics, Wrestling

Southern Pugilism [4]

Southern Pugilism is the formal name for the unique boxing style of prize-fighters from the Southern Culture. These fighters typically come from lower class individuals trying to prove their worth in the world. Given the warrior culture of the South, they are often honored as quality individuals when they win a few fights. Often, prize-fighters from other regions are either surprised when they fight Southern Pugilists or are reluctant to fight them without special rules in place.

The unique tendencies of these fighters lie in their use of take-downs and practice of keeping up the fight when they are down. Southern Pugilists will use the common boxing techniques of feinting and keeping cautious until an opening is found. However, when that opening arises, they tend to knock the opponent down before landing several punches. Many such fighters also like to lure their opponent into a situation in which they can use their Trip technique. Other dirty tactics, as well as their horrific Wrench Spine technique, have earned them a reputation as dishonorable opponents.

Skills: Boxing; Games (Prize-Fighting); Sumo Wrestling
Techniques: Aggressive Parry (Boxing); Counterattack (Boxing); Counterattack (Sumo Wrestling); Disarming (Boxing); Ear Clap (Boxing); Feint (Boxing); Ground Fighting (Boxing); Low Fighting (Boxing); Low Fighting (Sumo Wrestling); Trip (Sumo Wrestling); Uppercut (Boxing); Wrench Spine (ST and Sumo Wrestling, if the appropriate Perk is selected)
Perks: Dirty Fighting; Power Grappling; Skill Adaptation (Wrench Spine defaults to Sumo Wrestling-4)
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Old 11-17-2010, 01:03 PM   #2
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

Quote:
Originally Posted by nanoboy View Post
In the Martial Arts book, there is really only one style with the Sumo skill-- Sumo Wrestling.
Nope. Sumo is in Tai Chi Chuan too. See p. 200.
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Old 11-17-2010, 01:17 PM   #3
nanoboy
 
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Nope. Sumo is in Tai Chi Chuan too. See p. 200.
Good catch. Still, relative to the other skills, I think that my point stands: Sumo is the least popular unarmed fighting skill.
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Old 11-17-2010, 02:30 PM   #4
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

I built a 3e style for Dwarven stylist that involved shield walls and such. The idea was a few weapon skills and reliance on Sumo and Push to hold the line or break through one.
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Old 11-17-2010, 02:49 PM   #5
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

One of the styles that I practice, Baji, would certainly list Sumo in it's primary skills (and does in all of the write ups I've done of it).

Here is my most recent write-up:

Quote:
Baji Chuan 5
Baji Chuan, or bajiquan, is a Chinese martial art in the taoist tradition. Historically it was prized as a bodyguard art. It is very popular today in parts of China and Taiwan, as well as in Japan where it is known as Hakkyokuken. It is difficult to find schools in Europe and the Americas, but they do exist.
The style is characterized by medium low stances and powerful punches, shoves, and slams. It is very common to include some weapon training for advanced students, starting with the staff and spear and working up to training with the Dao and the Miao Dao (same stats as a Katana).

Notes: Most Attacks are Committed (Strong), practitioners often counter-attack with a grapple to the arm that attacked, kicks are low. The skill teaches many shoves and slams, it teaches the principles of uprooting your opponent and occupying his space, often using shoulders and hips to shove him around.

The signature move in Baji is to simultaneously launch yourself into your opponent elbow first while pulling him towards you by the arm. Treat as a Grab and Bash.

Skills: Karate, Karate Art, Sumo Wrestling, Wrestling
Techniques: Counter Attack, Elbow Strike, Feint (Beat), Hammer-fist, Sweep (Sumo Wrestling)
Perks: Armor Training (Karate) (In Historical games), Special Set-Up (Hands-free Shove), Special Set-Up (When using Grab and Bash, may target a different location than grabbed), Special Exercises (DR 1 with Toughness), Special Exercises (Iron Arms), Style Adaptation (Pigua), Unusual Training (Imbue with One Skill Only: Forceful Blows)*.
Cinematic Skills: Immovable Stance, Power Blow, Push, Forceful Blows (Karate)*
Cinematic Techniques: Springing Attack.

Optional Skills: Broadsword, Broadsword Art, Judo, Spear, Staff, Two-Handed Sword.

*In a cinematic campaign, Baji practitioners may replace Imbue with Trained by a Master as a prerequisite for the Forceful Blows skill.
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Old 11-17-2010, 03:04 PM   #6
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

I haven't written it up as a formal style, because it isn't, but I've used Sumo for bar bouncers, concert security types, and prison guards. Sumo seems the go to skill for people who have to shove others through doors, bar them from entry, or otherwise decide where they go without hurting them.
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Old 11-17-2010, 03:52 PM   #7
Gold & Appel Inc
 
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

Quote:
Originally Posted by nanoboy View Post
Still, it's a compelling skill. I mean, it's up front and aggressive. You bowl people over. It seems like a fun one to use a lot.
Me Too. I'm always looking for excuses to use Sumo, because it makes me childishly gleeful. It was the only unarmed skill of Santa in my last Christmas game, and of the Golden Elvis in my WWF / Cthulhu Halloween thing last year (not so much because he was big and round, though he was, but to strike a discordant note with everybody else's Pro Wrestling style)... It's also central to the style I wrote up for the Klingons in our Prime Directive game (it's a secret, sorry guys), and tends to find its way in whenever I'm writing something aggressive with some DR, especially if it also has a lot of HP and Move (ie: Supers, Demigods, Space Rhinos).
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Old 11-18-2010, 07:03 PM   #8
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

I may've posted these before, but here're a couple of mine, one with Sumo as part of a complete breakfast, the other with amped-up Sumo as the whole point:


Wolf Warrior (9)
---------------
The elite warriors of the cult of Vort have always been the wolf warriors, although they are part-time warriors and full-time hunters. Their origin is lost to recorded history, for the cult was widespread before literacy was, but Agonese sources say they took service with the god-king. The symbol of Vort is the axe, and this has always been the principal weapon of the cult, but that may well be because axes are cheap and easy enough to make even with poor metals. Nominally converted Arnskę still use the style much as it has always been, but Lidaria reinvented their god to suit a large and wealthy kingdom, depicting him with a giant, double-bitted axe, which his wolf warriors copied and subsequently evolved into the pollaxe under the influence of Agonese refugees who worshiped Rank. Ironically, the giants (false giants) of Agony adopted the two-handed axe, while the native Lidyar experimented with various pole weapons (because some friction existed with those giants and human warriors needed the reach).

Vort is the lord of tempests, basically a weather god but also associated with earthquakes. Wolf warriors were always berserkers, but the reinvented cult shifted its focus to mastering the inner tempest, to berserk at will but only by will, a characteristic which appeals particularly to giants because they are prone to berserk rage. Mastering the inner tempest also became a metaphor for developing magical talent, and the cult came to accept magery and other gifts, especially weather magic and shapeshifting. Wolf warriors prove their toughness by exposure to storms, and they should have the hunting prowess of their totem animal including the ability to “walk between the blades” (of grass) leaving no tracks, but any able-bodied man of the cult of Vort will know something of fighting in the wolf warrior style. Those accepted to the elite rank wear a consecrated wolf pelt (large cloak for a man, light for a false giant) which confers DR 1 (Gadget 40%, Tough Skin 40%).

Even without their axes, wolf warriors are brutal brawlers who favor shoulder barges and other quick takedowns. They are especially adept with the bladed hand; the Wolf Claw perk adds +1 damage with this weapon (comparable to Karate). The claw is primarily a back-up weapon but wolf warriors also use it for duels of honor because it is less lethal than an axe, a better test of bravery than an empty hand, and the design allows a brawler to hold a hafted weapon and still use the claw to pummel in close combat. As a primary weapon, traditional wolf warriors wield a battle-axe with a shield, transitional Lidyar stylists use a two-handed axe, and modern Lidrese use a halberd, often dueling size. Since the conquest of Lidaria by the Empire of the Shards, the resistance favors a light double glaive equivalent to a qian kun ri yue dao without handguards (although wolf claws take the place of them), because the same skill works with an innocuous staff.

Recommended Traits: Aggressive (Mighty Blow), Berserk (or Temperature Tolerance with Temporary Disadvantage: Berserk), Cultural Familiarity (Arnskę or Lidrese), Language (Arnskę or Lidrese), Social Regard (Elite)

Skills: Brawling, Light Walk, Stealth, Sumo, Tracking, and choice of Axe/Mace, Polearm, Staff, or Two-Handed Axe/Mace

Optional Skills: Annihilating Weapon cum Stupefying Blow: Intoxication², Blindfighting*, Body Control*, Bow, Breath Control, Broadsword, Crippling Blow: Stun cum Electric Weapon³, First Aid, Forceful Blow¹, Ghostly Weapon cum Strike of Negation³, Kiai*, Knife, Power Blow*, Shield, Supernatural Awareness*, Tactics, Theology (Vort), Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace, Knife, Spear), and the skills of military scouts

Techniques: Backbreaker*, Snap Weapon*, Wrench Arm; Brawling – Jam, Targeted Stamp Kick to Knee; Sumo – Hand Catch*, Parry Weapon, Sweep; Primary Weapon – Armed Grapple, Back Strike, Choke Hold, Dual Attack*, Feint, Hook, Spinning Strike, Timed Defense*, Whirlwind Attack*

Signature Perk: Unusual Training (Lightwalk only to leave no tracks, prerequisite Tracking replaces Acrobatics)

Perks: Drunken Fighting*, Exotic Weapon (Lidrese double glaive), Focused Fury*, Form Mastery (Staff/Polearm, Staff/Spear), Grip Mastery (Defensive Grip), Huge Weapons, Moral Strength*, Reach Mastery (Greataxe), Sacrificial Parry (Polearm), Special Exercises (Long Arms for Damage Only with Both Together), Sure-Footed (Snow), Unique Technique (Parry Weapon), Unusual Training (Supernatural Awareness for Marked or Blatant only), Weapon Adaptation (Polearm => Long Spear, Staff => Spear), Wolf Claw

Some notes: The numbers after certain optional skills indicated the level of Imbuement necessary; this style's version of Stupefying Blow can only afflict Intoxication, which demotes its level from 3 to 2. A signature perk is an extra style perk, but it's not optional. The recommended trait Aggressive (Mighty Blow) is a quirk, available in one or two levels in conjunction with a level of melee skill that costs at least 4 points. That level applies only to beats and to extra effort, all-out, or committed attacks for extra damage, and to calculated statistics (defense, defaults to other skills). The latter caveat is mainly to keep things simple. I reckon you can figure out how Aggressive (Heroic Charge) works in the style below:


Ogre Shock (3)
---------------
Viewed from afar, the mayhem wreaked by mighty tusked ogres on an enemy formation looks like the grimmest carnage and has been known to win battles just by demoralizing enemy commanders. In fact, since ancient Agony, goblin armies have trained their larger members, like ogres and menotaur, to attack for maximum disruption with slams and shoves; casualties may be a fortunate side effect but they are not the main goal. More disciplined troops can exploit the breach. Don't assume that an ogre can't tear you limb-from-limb, however. Many styles teach shoving techniques as an adjunct to their mainstay, but Ogre Shock focuses on a form of “Sumo” wrestling that incorporates head locks, knee drops, strength-based wrenching techniques, and strikes. The head is a natural target for a gigantic ogre against an ordinary man, and knee drops do not place the ogre at a height disadvantage against puny humans. Even if sumo “slaps” are weaker than boxing punches, the immense natural weapons of most stylists more than makes up the difference. Likewise they rely more on innate toughness than their light armor for protection, as aught heavier would slow them down and weaken their slams. Exceptionally strong members of lesser goblin races also learn this style; someone has to teach it to the stupid ogres, and those who follow the Code of Rank deem it an acceptable means by which to demonstrate strength and skill in a non-lethal duel. If practitioners seem kinemagic, it is only because of their extraordinary size and strength.

Recommended Traits: Aggressive (Heroic Charge), Language (Gobble), Shtick (Feats of Strength), Style Familiarity (Rank War)

Skills: Sumo

Optional Skills: Hobby (Feats of Strength), Lifting, Parry Missile, Running

Techniques: Neck Snap, Snap Weapon*, Wrench Limb, Wrench Spine; Sumo – Breakfall, Hand Catch*, Head Lock, Knee Drop, Low Fighting, Low-Line Defense, Sweep

Signature Perk: Skill Adaptation (Slap)

Perks: Cotton Stomach*, Neck Control (Sumo), Power Grappling, Skill Adaptation (Sumo => Breakfall, Head Lock, Knee Drop, Slap), Unusual Training (Cotton Stomach, Hand Catch, Snap Weapon)

I also feature Sumo in a style for centaurs, and in the Way of the Roc, an auxiliary style used for glider-deployed commandos. If possible, they take out the first enemy even as they land, with a slam.

Last edited by Gef; 11-18-2010 at 07:14 PM.
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Old 11-18-2010, 07:43 PM   #9
sir_pudding
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
I built a 3e style for Dwarven stylist that involved shield walls and such. The idea was a few weapon skills and reliance on Sumo and Push to hold the line or break through one.
It's interesting that Hoplomachia (sp?) doesn't have it. "Pushing" in the argive sense is probably outside the scope of normal GURPS combat, perhaps it's actually covered by Soldier in that case.
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Old 11-18-2010, 11:32 PM   #10
Johnny Angel
 
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Default Re: Sumo in Martial Arts Styles

I think there is some truth to your OP. I'm one of the only people I know who regularly make use of Sumo Wrestling. I'm currently playing a DF Knight who uses it in concert with his shield. In many instances, I feel that part of the reason a skill like Sumo (and Judo/Judo Throw to a lesser extent) gets overlooked is because the value of battlefield control (pushing, shoving; moving your opponent around) is something which is often overlooked in favor of raw damage by most people.
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