Prime_Evil
Cosmic Mongoose
I've been watching a heap of wuxia movies recently and was thinking about how it might be possible to add a cinematic martial arts system to Legend without breaking the game or adding a significant layer of complexity. I had a sudden flash of inspiration tonight and thought that I'd try and put my initital thoughts down on this forum - please note that this is still very, very rough and is nowhere near ready to be used in a game. It's really little more than a brain fart at this point, but I thought that I'd throw it out there and see what people think. If there's interest, I'll consider developing it further.
How Martial Arts Work
Each martial art incorporates a number of advanced combat manoeuvres taught to practitioners of the style. In effect, learning the Martial Art "unlocks" a number of special combat manoeuvres that can only be performed by a trained martial artist. Some martial arts also provide access to unique heroic abilities to practitioners who meet the prerequisites.
New Advanced Skill
Martial Arts (Style)
The Martial Arts (Style) skill reflects the knowledge of advanced fighting techniques associated with a particular style of unarmed combat. A character must roll against this skill to see if they correctly perform advanced combat maneuvers associated with that style.
What is the Difference Between a Martial Art and a Combat Style?
The major difference between a martial art and a normal combat style is the inclusion of one or more special combat manoeuvres that are only available to practitioners of that style. This is the reason why each Martial Art is an separate advanced skill while each Combat Style is a separate basic skill. Anybody can pick up a sword and attempt to swing it, but only a trained Martial Artist can attempt to use the secret Five Venom Fists technique!
Using Martial Arts in Combat
In most cases, martial artists use the unarmed common skill to attack and defend as normal. However, whenever they gain the opportunity to perform a Combat Manoeuvre, they may choose to perform one of the standard Combat Manoeuvres available to all combatants or attempt to perform one of the special combat maneuvers associated with their own martial arts style. For example, a martial artist could use a "normal" Combat Manoeuvre such as Choose Location when the opportunity arises or they could attempt to perform an exotic martial arts Combat Manoeuvre such as Nerve Strike or Drunken Fist of Flying Back Kick.
The big difference between the standard Combat Manoeuvres and the advanced Combat Manoeuvres taught by martial arts is that an adventurer must make a skill roll against the Martial Arts (Style) skill to successfully perform an advanced manoeuvre. In effect, the character must make a skill roll to "activate" the special Combat Manoeuvre.
Performing A Martial Arts Combat Manoeuvre
Whenerver a combatant attempts to perform a martial arts Combat Manoeuvre, they must make roll against the Martial Arts (Style) to perform the advanced Combat Manoeuvre correctly.
On a failure, the adventurer simply wastes the opportunity to perform any Combat Manoeuvre at that point in the fight. However, on a fumble the character makes a serious mistake while attempting the maneuver and exposes themselves to an immediate counter-attack by their opponent.
At the other end of the scale, if an adventurer rolls a critical success while attempting to perform a martial arts Combat Manoeuvre, the character may perform a combination attack - this allows them to perform two martial arts combat manoeuvres as a single action. This is the equivalent of rolling a critical success on the initial attack roll.
Martial Arts and Ki Powers
Some Martial Arts combat manoeuvres are quite potent, reflecting the wuxia tradition. Indeed, some of them may have a supernatural component, blurring the line between martial arts and magic. (Let's face it; the laws of physics are regularly broken in martial arts movies!!) In order to activate these Combat Manoeuvres, a martial artist may need to spend a magic point. This reflects the intense concentration and expenditure of ki required to perform such prodigious feats.
(Note: It may be possible to expand these rules using the rules for Ki Powers from the upcoming Samurai of Legend presuming that these are carried over from the MRQ I version).
Learning Martial Arts
Adventurers can only learn the secret techniques associated with a martial art by pledging allegiance to an appropriate teacher - this might be anything from a wise old sage to a remote monastery that trains acolytes in a particular style. In any case, the normal faction rules can be used to determine the availability of training. Other than this, Martial Arts follow the standard rules for advanced skills. Note that some masters have a number of special techniques (Heroic Abilities?) that they only teach to students who show particular promise.
What About Weapons and Martial Arts?
Martial artists sometimes use weapons as part of their fighting style. Although the draft rules assume that characters will be using the Martial Arts (Style) rule in conjunction with the Unarmed basic skill, it may be possible for characters to learn a martial art based upon a combat style that uses a weapon.
This approach could even be used to model certain Western fighting styles. For example, the Martial Arts (Fencing) skill might be used in conjunction with a combat style called Fencing Weapons (covering the rapier, saber, smallsword, main-gauche, et al). This martial arts style might grant practitioners access to new combat combat manoeuvres such as Sudden Lunge (allowing the character to extend the reach of their weapon), etc.
Here's an typical example of how this might work in play 8) :
Inigo Montoya: You are using Bonetti’s Defense against me, ah?
Man in Black: I thought it fitting considering the rocky terrain.
Inigo: Naturally, you must suspect me to attack with Capa Ferro?
Man in Black: Naturally, but I find that Thibault cancels out Capa Ferro. Don’t you?
Inigo: Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa… which I have.
So there's the basic idea. What do people think? Am I crazy or does this approach hold some promise? Does it fundamentally break the game? Or is would it be too complicated to use in actual play? Should I write up a cinematic Martial Arts system for Legend and release it as OGC?
How Martial Arts Work
Each martial art incorporates a number of advanced combat manoeuvres taught to practitioners of the style. In effect, learning the Martial Art "unlocks" a number of special combat manoeuvres that can only be performed by a trained martial artist. Some martial arts also provide access to unique heroic abilities to practitioners who meet the prerequisites.
New Advanced Skill
Martial Arts (Style)
The Martial Arts (Style) skill reflects the knowledge of advanced fighting techniques associated with a particular style of unarmed combat. A character must roll against this skill to see if they correctly perform advanced combat maneuvers associated with that style.
What is the Difference Between a Martial Art and a Combat Style?
The major difference between a martial art and a normal combat style is the inclusion of one or more special combat manoeuvres that are only available to practitioners of that style. This is the reason why each Martial Art is an separate advanced skill while each Combat Style is a separate basic skill. Anybody can pick up a sword and attempt to swing it, but only a trained Martial Artist can attempt to use the secret Five Venom Fists technique!
Using Martial Arts in Combat
In most cases, martial artists use the unarmed common skill to attack and defend as normal. However, whenever they gain the opportunity to perform a Combat Manoeuvre, they may choose to perform one of the standard Combat Manoeuvres available to all combatants or attempt to perform one of the special combat maneuvers associated with their own martial arts style. For example, a martial artist could use a "normal" Combat Manoeuvre such as Choose Location when the opportunity arises or they could attempt to perform an exotic martial arts Combat Manoeuvre such as Nerve Strike or Drunken Fist of Flying Back Kick.
The big difference between the standard Combat Manoeuvres and the advanced Combat Manoeuvres taught by martial arts is that an adventurer must make a skill roll against the Martial Arts (Style) skill to successfully perform an advanced manoeuvre. In effect, the character must make a skill roll to "activate" the special Combat Manoeuvre.
Performing A Martial Arts Combat Manoeuvre
Whenerver a combatant attempts to perform a martial arts Combat Manoeuvre, they must make roll against the Martial Arts (Style) to perform the advanced Combat Manoeuvre correctly.
On a failure, the adventurer simply wastes the opportunity to perform any Combat Manoeuvre at that point in the fight. However, on a fumble the character makes a serious mistake while attempting the maneuver and exposes themselves to an immediate counter-attack by their opponent.
At the other end of the scale, if an adventurer rolls a critical success while attempting to perform a martial arts Combat Manoeuvre, the character may perform a combination attack - this allows them to perform two martial arts combat manoeuvres as a single action. This is the equivalent of rolling a critical success on the initial attack roll.
Martial Arts and Ki Powers
Some Martial Arts combat manoeuvres are quite potent, reflecting the wuxia tradition. Indeed, some of them may have a supernatural component, blurring the line between martial arts and magic. (Let's face it; the laws of physics are regularly broken in martial arts movies!!) In order to activate these Combat Manoeuvres, a martial artist may need to spend a magic point. This reflects the intense concentration and expenditure of ki required to perform such prodigious feats.
(Note: It may be possible to expand these rules using the rules for Ki Powers from the upcoming Samurai of Legend presuming that these are carried over from the MRQ I version).
Learning Martial Arts
Adventurers can only learn the secret techniques associated with a martial art by pledging allegiance to an appropriate teacher - this might be anything from a wise old sage to a remote monastery that trains acolytes in a particular style. In any case, the normal faction rules can be used to determine the availability of training. Other than this, Martial Arts follow the standard rules for advanced skills. Note that some masters have a number of special techniques (Heroic Abilities?) that they only teach to students who show particular promise.
What About Weapons and Martial Arts?
Martial artists sometimes use weapons as part of their fighting style. Although the draft rules assume that characters will be using the Martial Arts (Style) rule in conjunction with the Unarmed basic skill, it may be possible for characters to learn a martial art based upon a combat style that uses a weapon.
This approach could even be used to model certain Western fighting styles. For example, the Martial Arts (Fencing) skill might be used in conjunction with a combat style called Fencing Weapons (covering the rapier, saber, smallsword, main-gauche, et al). This martial arts style might grant practitioners access to new combat combat manoeuvres such as Sudden Lunge (allowing the character to extend the reach of their weapon), etc.
Here's an typical example of how this might work in play 8) :
Inigo Montoya: You are using Bonetti’s Defense against me, ah?
Man in Black: I thought it fitting considering the rocky terrain.
Inigo: Naturally, you must suspect me to attack with Capa Ferro?
Man in Black: Naturally, but I find that Thibault cancels out Capa Ferro. Don’t you?
Inigo: Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa… which I have.
So there's the basic idea. What do people think? Am I crazy or does this approach hold some promise? Does it fundamentally break the game? Or is would it be too complicated to use in actual play? Should I write up a cinematic Martial Arts system for Legend and release it as OGC?
