GURPS Martial Arts - Home

Recommendations

Info

Learning New Styles During Play. . . 146 Creating New Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Combining Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 The Training Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 HISTORICAL AND MODERN STYLES . . . 148 Do vs. Jutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Aikijutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Armatura. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Armatura Equestris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Bajutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Bando . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Bando Animal Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Boxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Capoeira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 The Sweet Science. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Chin Na. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Dagger Fighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Escrima. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 “Kung Fu” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Fencing Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Stickfighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Furusiyya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Sport Fencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Hapkido . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Hoplomachia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Hsing I Chuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 External vs. Internal, Hard vs. Soft. . . 162 Hung Gar Kung Fu (Tiger-Crane Style). . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Hwa Rang Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Jeet Kune Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Martial-Arts Uniforms . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Judo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Jujutsu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Kajukenbo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Kalaripayit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Karate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Marma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Kempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Kenjutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Knightly Mounted Combat . . . . . . . . 175 Armed Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Kobujutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Kuntao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Kusarijutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Kyujutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Longsword Fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Archery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Masters of Defence Weapon Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Military Hand-to-Hand . . . . . . . . . . . 182 The Purpose of Military Hand-to-Hand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Muay Thai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Naginatajutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Pa Kua Chuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Polearm Fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Pak Hok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Pankration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Pentjak Silat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Mixed Martial Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Silat Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Pollaxe Fighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Praying Mantis Kung Fu. . . . . . . . . . 191 Quarterstaff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Staff Fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Savate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Savate Rankings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Shaolin Kung Fu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Shortsword Fighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Shurikenjutsu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Shaolin Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Spear Fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Sojutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Sumo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Sumo Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Sword-and-Buckler Play . . . . . . . . . . 199 Sword-and-Shield Fighting. . . . . . . . 199 Tae Kwon Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 T’ai Chi Chuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Taihojutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Taijutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Ninja and Ninjutsu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Wing Chun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Wrestling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Wushu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 FICTIONAL STYLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Death Fist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Dragon-Man Kung Fu . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Force-Swordsmanship. . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Freefighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Smasha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 6. WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . 211 WEAPONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Cross-Cultural Encounters. . . . . . . . . 212 Combination Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Weapons of Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Hidden Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Unorthodox Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Silly Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Improvised Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Melee Weapon Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 TRAINING EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Special Arrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Gloves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Training Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 7. CAMPAIGNS . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 CINEMATIC VS. REALISTIC CAMPAIGNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 The Realistic Campaign . . . . . . . . . . 236 The Cinematic Campaign . . . . . . . . . 238 Special-Case NPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Hybrid Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 CAMPAIGN SETTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Classical Greece and Rome. . . . . . . . 241 Historical China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Historical Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Post-Classical Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Modern Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Post-Apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Science Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 CAMPAIGN THEMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 The Quest for the Master . . . . . . . . . . 248 GLOSSARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 About GURPS Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of GURPS players. Our address is SJ Games, P.O. Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write us! We can also be reached by e-mail: info@sjgames.com. Resources include: Pyramid (www.sjgames.com/pyramid). Our online magazine includes new GURPS rules and articles. It also covers the d20 system, Ars Magica, BESM, Call of Cthulhu, and many more top games – and other Steve Jackson Games releases like Illuminati, Car Wars, Transhuman Space, and more. Pyramid subscribers also get opportunities to playtest new GURPS books! New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to grow, and we’ll be happy to let you know what’s new. For a current catalog, send us a legalsized SASE, or just visit www.warehouse23.com. e23. Our e-publishing division offers GURPS adventures, play aids, and support not available anywhere else! Just head over to e23.sjgames.com. Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets for all GURPS releases, including this book, are available on our website – see below. Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.sjgames.com for errata, updates, Q&A, and much more. To discuss GURPS with SJ Games staff and fellow gamers, come to our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The GURPS Martial Arts web page is www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/martialarts. Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibliographies, and we’re putting them online – with links to let you buy the books that interest you! Go to the book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link. Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to that book, not this one. CONTENTS 3
INTRODUCTION Say “martial arts” and most people start talking about karate, katanas, and ninja . . . or kung fu (or the old Kung Fu TV series) . . . or Bruce Lee. Non-Asiaphiles will share their views on such sports as boxing and fencing . . . or no-holdsbarred fighting . . . or good old rasslin’ (“Pro wrestling is real!”). And Europhiles will bring up pankration in ancient Greece, English “Masters of Defence,” and the deadly truth about the rapier, pausing only to lament that Europe gets short shrift with martial-arts fans – or to recruit you as a live-steel reenactor. Sport vs. combat, unarmed vs. armed, movies vs. reality, Asia vs. everywhere else – the truth about the martial arts can be confusing. Who’s right? The answer is “All of the above.” GURPS Martial Arts examines the fighting arts of the world, or at least a good-sized sample chosen from the past three millennia. It doesn’t let fiction color reality or realism stand in the way of a good story – such decisions are left to the GM. Of course, because many martial arts originated with the warriors who carved out the world’s great empires, and the best-kept records are those of the Asian and European powers, there is an almost inevitable bias toward the fighting styles of those regions. But Martial Arts does its best to venture outside that territory; to balance the historical with the modern; to give equal time to combat, sport, and art; and, especially, to dispel myths. The biggest myth laid to rest is that the martial arts aren’t appropriate for every genre and setting – that they only belong in historical games and those based on action movies. Martial Arts definitely supports cinematic games – of the Hollywood, Hong Kong, and Tokyo varieties – while also presenting historically accurate styles, but it doesn’t assume a genre or a setting. You can use it to give fantasy warriors the depth of knowledge and ability that spells give wizards . . . or for hand-to-hand combat in a gritty modern technothriller . . . or for futuristic swashbuckling with force swords. So grab your katana, rapier, or iklwa – or just bandage your knuckles. Say a prayer to Allah, scream a kiai, or psyche yourself up with a little Longsword shadowboxing. You won’t know who’s out there until the arena door opens – but with Martial Arts, you’ll be ready! Chain Whip 4 INTRODUCTION PUBLICATION HISTORY This is the third edition of GURPS Martial Arts. It was inspired by GURPS Martial Arts, Second Edition (1996), which itself combined GURPS Martial Arts, First Edition (1990) with GURPS Martial Arts Adventures (1993). Other important GURPS Third Edition supplements were GURPS Japan, Second Edition (1999) for Japanese fighting styles and equipment; GURPS Low-Tech (2001) for weapons in general; and GURPS Swashbucklers, Third Edition (1999) for European swords and swordplay. The authors also wish to thank Volker Bach for access to two articles originally published in Pyramid magazine: “The Western Way of War” and “Vechten Unde Schirmen: European Martial Arts Before The Rapier.” The current volume is a new work, not a revision of any of the above – they served primarily as sources of concepts, references, and terminology, not text. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Peter V. Dell’Orto started roleplaying in 1981, with Dungeons & Dragons, and has played GURPS since Man to Man. He has been active as a GURPS playtester, editor, and contributing author since 1996, and has written many GURPS articles for Pyramid magazine. Peter is an enthusiastic martial artist who has trained in places as varied as a McDojo, a private instructor’s garage, and a hardcore gym. He has practiced Goju-ryu and Shorin-ryu Karate, T’ai Chi, Kali Silat, and Wing Chun, and has trained in at least a dozen other styles. His most recent studies have been in Kachin Bando and Kendo, and fighting amateur in Shooto. His other hobbies include fitness, reading, painting miniatures, and music. Born and raised in New Jersey, he presently lives and trains in Niigata, Japan. Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch set out to become a particle physicist and ended up as the GURPS Line Editor. Since 1995, he has compiled the two GURPS Compendium volumes, written GURPS Wizards and GURPS Undead, edited or revised over 20 other GURPS books, and masterminded rules for dozens more. Most recently, he created the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition with coauthor David Pulver and wrote GURPS Powers with coauthor Phil Masters. Sean has been a fanatical gamer since 1979. His non-gaming interests include cinema, computers, and wine. He lives in Montréal, Québec with his wife, Bonnie. They have two cats, Banshee and Zephyra, and a noisy parrot, Circe.
Page 1 and 2: B Y P ETER D ELL’ORTO AND S EAN P
Page 3: CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . .
Page 7 and 8: The martial arts are as old as hist
Page 9 and 10: 1835 - New Jersey outlaws prizefigh
Page 11 and 12: Eventually, the links between secre
Page 13 and 14: INDONESIAN ARCHIPELAGO The Indonesi
Page 15 and 16: Okinawa Okinawa has always had stro
Page 17 and 18: Boxing in ancient Greece and Rome c
Page 19 and 20: RENAISSANCE EUROPE By the time of t
Page 21 and 22: THE NEW WORLD Asian and European ma
Page 23 and 24: Musashi was a precocious martial ar
Page 25 and 26: In China, Fairbairn came into conta
Page 27 and 28: Bad Reenactments A problem hardly u
Page 29 and 30: Jon Gilbey shouted, “No, Adrian.
Page 31 and 32: Beginning Students as PCs The guide
Page 33 and 34: Customization Notes Styles: Ninja s
Page 35 and 36: Lens Cinematic (+100 points): Add 8
Page 37 and 38: Monk 100 points You’ve isolated y
Page 39 and 40: Customization Notes Styles: Unarmed
Page 41 and 42: Background Skills: 6 points chosen
Page 43 and 44: ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, AND SKIL
Page 45 and 46: Most martial artists can only take
Page 47 and 48: Chi Powers for Martial Artists Mart
Page 49 and 50: Inigo: You’re using Bonetti’s d
Page 51 and 52: Chi Resistance*† You can rally yo
Page 53 and 54: Suit Familiarity† You’ve learne
Page 55 and 56:
Minor Delusions affect combat again
Page 57 and 58:
Even so, stunt fighters are still f
Page 59 and 60:
Kiai* see p. B203 This skill has a
Page 61 and 62:
Tactics see p. B224 Tactics is a ma
Page 63 and 64:
Modifiers: A penalty equal to encum
Page 65 and 66:
Description: Some techniques raise
Page 67 and 68:
Martial artists practice dozens of
Page 69 and 70:
Your foe’s only legal defenses ar
Page 71 and 72:
Counterattack Hard Default: prerequ
Page 73 and 74:
Blinding your foe is an effective t
Page 75 and 76:
Head Butt Hard Defaults: Brawling-1
Page 77 and 78:
Combine Kicking with Committed Atta
Page 79 and 80:
Push Kick Hard Defaults: Brawling-3
Page 81 and 82:
Optional Rule: Combinations Martial
Page 83 and 84:
Wrench (Limb) Hard Default: ST-4; c
Page 85 and 86:
This technique is dangerous! If you
Page 87 and 88:
To execute a Piledriver, you must f
Page 89 and 90:
Humorous movies often feature silly
Page 91 and 92:
Prerequisites Unless the technique
Page 93 and 94:
A use of a defensive technique is a
Page 95 and 96:
• Own Defenses: A bonus to one’
Page 97 and 98:
The Italian used his dagger to ward
Page 99 and 100:
All-Out Attack (Long) is incompatib
Page 101 and 102:
• Determined: Make a single attac
Page 103 and 104:
Thus, a weapon that’s ready stays
Page 105 and 106:
Arrow: +1 if stuck in the ground at
Page 107 and 108:
Dealing with Charging Foes The sure
Page 109 and 110:
WAIT Wait requires you to name a pa
Page 111 and 112:
These rules address minute differen
Page 113 and 114:
When striking to the front or sides
Page 115 and 116:
CLOSE-COMBAT OPTIONS These expanded
Page 117 and 118:
Lame see p. B141 If you’re standi
Page 119 and 120:
Grapples can set up vicious strikes
Page 121 and 122:
The archer can precede this feat wi
Page 123 and 124:
The grappler has no penalties. Howe
Page 125 and 126:
Sideslip: If you’re standing, you
Page 127 and 128:
Faster Combat You can run extremely
Page 129 and 130:
Example 1: An attacker with two att
Page 131 and 132:
An important part of martial-arts m
Page 133 and 134:
MORE CINEMATIC COMBAT RULES The unr
Page 135 and 136:
TOURNAMENT COMBAT Not all combat is
Page 137 and 138:
INJURY AND RECOVERY Injury is an im
Page 139 and 140:
Severe Bleeding Realistic campaigns
Page 141 and 142:
Del Duque’s cape swirled dramatic
Page 143 and 144:
Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left h
Page 145 and 146:
CHOOSING A STYLE Every would-be stu
Page 147 and 148:
Some styles were born “stripped d
Page 149 and 150:
A PC who starts with several styles
Page 151 and 152:
ARMATURA 6 points Armatura was the
Page 153 and 154:
Perks: Iron Legs; Power Grappling;
Page 155 and 156:
Capoeira fighters claim that slaves
Page 157 and 158:
Escrimadors prefer the Defensive At
Page 159 and 160:
La Verdadera Destreza 4 points La V
Page 161 and 162:
Sport fencing largely eliminates mo
Page 163 and 164:
Practitioners of Hoplomachia often
Page 165 and 166:
Hwa Rang Do stylists prefer to open
Page 167 and 168:
JUDO 4 points Judo is a Japanese co
Page 169 and 170:
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a relatively
Page 171 and 172:
Te stresses deflecting an incoming
Page 173 and 174:
Belts and Grading In the popular im
Page 175 and 176:
Iaijutsu 5 points Iaijutsu is the J
Page 177 and 178:
Many cultures have styles that cons
Page 179 and 180:
KOBUJUTSU 8 points “Kobujutsu”
Page 181 and 182:
Kusarigamajutsu 3 points Warriors s
Page 183 and 184:
Skills: Brawling; Judo; Knife; Two-
Page 185 and 186:
The Purpose of Military Hand-to-Han
Page 187 and 188:
In matches, competitors wear modern
Page 189 and 190:
Skills: Judo; Karate; Meditation; P
Page 191 and 192:
Kumango Silat 4 points The heartlan
Page 193 and 194:
Staff Fighting Staff fighting is as
Page 195 and 196:
Skills: Karate; Wrestling. Techniqu
Page 197 and 198:
Sojutsu (pp. 197-198) is but one of
Page 199 and 200:
Sojutsu deals primarily with using
Page 201 and 202:
Tae Kwon Do Ranks Tae Kwon Do (see
Page 203 and 204:
Ninja and Ninjutsu The Japanese cha
Page 205 and 206:
Cinematic Techniques: Dual-Weapon A
Page 207 and 208:
Like other sport wrestling, Indian
Page 209 and 210:
Against multiple opponents, stylist
Page 211 and 212:
FREEFIGHTING 5 points Freefighting
Page 213 and 214:
Weapons don’t evolve in a vacuum.
Page 215 and 216:
Cane - Universal. The walking stick
Page 217 and 218:
The weapons in Martial Arts come in
Page 219 and 220:
Martial-arts tales (especially ninj
Page 221 and 222:
Unorthodox Attacks Often in fiction
Page 223 and 224:
POLLAXE (p. B272) - Europe. The Bas
Page 225 and 226:
A real weapon is preferable to an i
Page 227 and 228:
Yari - Japan. A Spear (pp. B273, B2
Page 229 and 230:
TL Weapon Damage Reach Parry Cost W
Page 231 and 232:
TL Weapon Damage Reach Parry Cost W
Page 233 and 234:
Notes: [1] A crossbow bolt costs $2
Page 235 and 236:
Armor Martial artists, especially p
Page 237 and 238:
CINEMATIC VS. REALISTIC CAMPAIGNS W
Page 239 and 240:
Special-Case NPCs Non-player charac
Page 241 and 242:
Amazing Abilities One option is to
Page 243 and 244:
An especially appropriate theme for
Page 245 and 246:
POST-CLASSICAL EUROPE The uninforme
Page 247 and 248:
MODERN DAY Modern-day games are amo
Page 249 and 250:
The Quest for the Master In a cinem
Page 251 and 252:
There are many variations on this t
Page 253 and 254:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Described below are wo
Page 255 and 256:
With rare exceptions, weapons are n
Page 257 and 258:
Power level guidelines, 29. Prana,
show all

GURPS Martial Arts - Home

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?