| Main GURPS Page |
|
New rules for martial arts combat
|
Every martial art is a skill. Each one is either physical/easy, physical/average, or physical/hard. Every character has a tactical level that is derived from his skill level. For easy skills, the tactical level is skill/4. For average skills, it's skill/3. For hard skills, it's skill/2. Always round down.
The Plaid Masque knows the semi-secret art of Zamboni at level 13. Zamboni is a physical/hard skill, so his tactical level is 6. Hong Kong Louie knows Normjitsu at level 16. Normjitsu is a physical/easy skill, so his tactical level is 4. At the start of a turn, each player chooses a pair of numbers that represent his character's maneuver. The first number is the strength of the maneuver as an attack; the second is the strength of the maneuver as a defense. The numbers add up to the character's tactical level.
The Plaid Masque is going to execute a tricky feint-while-kicking-your-opponent-in-the-groin maneuver. We'll say this has a value of 4/2. Hong Kong Louie is scared, so he's going to execute the combat cringe, a notorious Normjitsu move. This has a value of 0/4. The players write their maneuver numbers on a slip of paper and hand it to the Game Master. He does the math, adding attack modifiers to defense modifiers. He tells the players the result, giving them skill modifiers.
The Plaid Masque has a modifier of zero because his attack value of 4 is negated by Hong Kong Louie's defensive 4. Hong Kong Louie modifies his skill roll by -2 because his maneuver had an attack value of zero, minus his opponent's defensive value of 2. The players roll against their character's martial arts skills. A success inflicts damage equal to the character's attack value with a minimum of 1 point. Ignore the stun rules. They cramp your style. Subtract the damage from HT, ST, or a combination of the two (victim's choice). When HT or ST reach zero, the character collapses.
The Plaid Masque rolls a 7. His skill is 13, so he hits. His maneuver's attack value was 4, so he inflicts 4 hits of damage. Hong Kong Louie's player decides to subtract 3 from his HT and 1 from his ST. Hong Kong Louie's roll is a 14. He hits, too. He does the minimum 1 point of damage, which the Plaid Masque subtracts from his HT. The harder the martial arts skill, the wider the range of maneuvers. But the easier skills, with their lower number of maneuvers, are balanced by higher skill levels per character point. Hong Kong Louie doesn't have a 6/0 maneuver like the Plaid Masque, but his skill level of 16 is better than the Masque's 13.
What if you don't want to use your entire tactical level? Suppose the Plaid Masque chooses a 3/0 maneuver, using half of his tactical level. Is there any reason to do this? Yes. In this case, the Plaid Masque is studying his opponent. He's watching Hong Kong Louie's moves, sizing him up. This makes his next attack more effective. To size up your opponent, choose a less-than-maximum maneuver and add a note on your slip of paper to inform the Game Master. On your next turn, when your opponent writes down his maneuver, he hands his note to you, then you write yours and you give both of them to the GM. You choose a maneuver after you've seen his. What if both of you are studying each other? The character who holds back the most gets the advantage. Whoever uses the least of his tactical level gets to see the other guy's maneuver on the next turn.
Hong Kong Louie's player chooses a 2/1 maneuver. The total value is 3, less than his tactical level. The Plaid Masque is using a 2/4 maneuver; this is his entire tactical level. On the next turn, the Plaid Masque's player writes down his maneuver and hands the note to Hong Kong Louie's player. Hong Kong Louie's player sees that the Plaid Masque is going to use a 5/1, so he chooses a 0/4 combat cringe, defending himself as much as possible. Hong Kong Louie's player hands both notes to the GM.
If you enjoy giving names to pairs of numbers, list a few of the maneuvers for your character's martial arts skill. Like this:
To execute some of these maneuvers, a certain minimum skill level is required. To perform a Groin-Packer, for example, you need a skill of 10 or more. To perform a Spinning Squirrel Kick, you need a skill of 14 or more.
Think of each character's tactical level as a number of tactical points. The points you lose when you are sizing up your opponent can be saved up and used later. But when is later? Maybe you have to use the extra points in the next turn. Or maybe you can use them at any time in the fight.
Instead of making your tactical level a fraction of your skill, make it a kind of rank, paid for with character points. (How about three points per level. Does that sound right?) You might meet two martial artists who know Normjitsu at level 14. But one has a tactical level of 3 and the other has a level of 8. Maybe their tactical level corresponds to their belt — level 3 is a red belt and level 8 is first-degree black belt. The tactical level reflects their repertoire of maneuvers; their skill level reflects their ability to use them.
Characters can trade tactical points for greater damage effects. For example:
By spending three tactical points, all of the damage inflicted goes to HT. The victim cannot subtract some of it from his ST. And so on. Make the damage effects simple. Playtest the values to make sure none of the effects are too cheap. You could tie these bonuses to specific maneuvers.
You can adapt these rules to other kinds of one-on-one contests. They could be used for boxing, swordfights, dogfights, races of all kinds, and even sedentary contests like chess. In each case, you need to change the skill roll results. It doesn't make sense of the winner of a dogfighting turn inflicts a few hits of injury on his opponent. Instead, change it to something like this: 
To shake his pursuer, the evading pilot has to accumulate 5 points. These
points come from the attack value of his maneuvers. But the total is reduced by
the attack value of his pursuer's maneuvers. When a character fails his skill
roll, he doesn't get to adjust the tally in that turn. As long as the tally is
less than 5, the pursuer is on the other pilot's tail.For boxing, the damage depends on skill rolls and maneuver values. If you make your roll and your opponent doesn't, the damage you do to him is equal to your attack value. If both of you fail your rolls, no one takes damage. If both of you make your roll, the guy with the highest attack value inflicts the difference on his opponent. For example, suppose Anvil Jones is fighting Big Bill Goldstein. After exchanging maneuver values, they roll against their Boxing skills. Both of them succeed. Anvil's attack value is 5. Goldstein's is 3. Goldstein takes (five minus three) two hits of damage. In the next turn, Goldstein's roll succeeds but Anvil's doesn't. In that turn, Goldstein's attack value was 4, so he inflicts 4 hits of damage.
In a martial arts fight or sword duel, each turn should be one second. But if you use these rules for chess or boxing, you could make each turn last longer. In this case, a turn represents a series of moves. A round in a boxing match, for example, might be made up of five turns. When the players choose maneuvers for a turn, they are averaging all of the attacks and defenses in that period of time and giving them values.
|
— back to top —