Does anyone have a game they can recommend along these lines? When I tell people what I want out of RPGs, they keep telling me to play Exalted and that is really, really not what I want.

What I'm looking for:

• Zero to hero. Preferably with a level system.
• Splats. Classes at least, preferably races and martial arts styles.
• Martial arts baked in to the core rules.
• Fantasy martial arts, like ki attacks and shit. And jumping. Lots of jumping.
  
• Tactical combat based on positioning and move selection. Preferably grid-optional.

Basically, I'm looking for something like a cross between D&D and Fight! that can handle settings ranging from vanilla fantasy to modern urban fantasy to Spelljammer.

Quote from: FaerieGodfather;815284Does anyone have a game they can recommend along these lines? When I tell people what I want out of RPGs, they keep telling me to play Exalted and that is really, really not what I want.

What I'm looking for:

• Zero to hero. Preferably with a level system.
• Splats. Classes at least, preferably races and martial arts styles.
• Martial arts baked in to the core rules.
• Fantasy martial arts, like ki attacks and shit. And jumping. Lots of jumping.
  
• Tactical combat based on positioning and move selection. Preferably grid-optional.

Basically, I'm looking for something like a cross between D&D and Fight! that can handle settings ranging from vanilla fantasy to modern urban fantasy to Spelljammer.

GURPS Fantasy with Martial arts.  Point levels instead of a class/level system but tons of awesome cinematic martial arts styles and maneuvers.

My suggestion would be for Legends of the Wulin. It fits with most of the items on your list, but I'm afraid not all of them. Here's some more detail.

Quote from: FaerieGodfather;815284Zero to hero. Preferably with a level system.

By default, you begin as a Rank 4 -- one of the rank and file of the Wulin. They're rather talented by non-Wulin standards, but at Rank 4 is where you're just starting to be recognized as a capable martial artist by others in the broader Wulin. If you want to start even less capable and recognized than that, there is an option to begin at Rank 5, which is basically the initiates who have no real standing in the Wulin yet.

QuoteSplats. Classes at least, preferably races and martial arts styles.

There are essentially 5 classes -- Warrior, Priest, Courtier, Scholar, and Doctor. Each has initial access to different Secret Arts that allow them to use Kung Fu in different(but equally powerful) ways. It also changes which skill of yours assists you in regaining Chi. Now you're not barred from learning Secret Arts from the other "classes," and it can be good to do so, but it's more efficient in general to focus on your own class's stuff.

They do not have races, but they do have Organizations. If you're a member of an organization, you gain access to some of its secrets. This often gives you a free skill specialty that represents something important to that organization, perhaps a discount on having a particular religion be important to your character's story, a one-time discount on gaining a new External style, and access to a broader range of moves in a particular Internal style. Also, if your status w/in the organization is high enough, you can then begin learning that organization's secret moves.

QuoteMartial arts baked in to the core rules.
Fantasy martial arts, like ki attacks and shit. And jumping. Lots of jumping.

Yes.
And hell yes.

QuoteTactical combat based on positioning and move selection. Preferably grid-optional.

Positioning and movement are important, but require no grid. You have various types of weapons, each with their own special properties and compatible with a different range of kung fu styles. There are many tactical considerations, actually. Which stance you're in, which specific moves you use, whether or not you can plausibly work with your conditions in order to offset the penalties they normally inflict, whether or not your actions put you in a position to make use of one of your class's Secret Arts, and a variety of things related to a secondary dice pool called the "river."

It sounds like a lot, but the rules are actually pretty straight-forward. They could have used a bit better organization in places, but they're not complicated. I'd classify it as rules medium, while allowing for a good amount of tactical variety.

QuoteBasically, I'm looking for something like a cross between D&D and Fight! that can handle settings ranging from vanilla fantasy to modern urban fantasy to Spelljammer.

And this is where LotW is most likely to fall flat for you, I think. Everything about it is so tied to its own default setting of Shen Zhou. I'm sure you could do all of that with the system, but as of right now it'd be a lot of work. D&D already has books(or PDFs) out that do the work of turning it into Spelljammer already, and things like d20 Modern and SpyCraft exist. But LotW only has its core book. Only pseudo-mythic-China-land unless you're willing to put in a lot of work.

Not a "fantasy" setting, but definitely featuring fantasy martial arts in a gloriously dated action movie universe: Palladium's Ninjas & Superspies.

If you don't mind the Palladium system, you can use these martial arts rules in just about every genre.

Quote from: FaerieGodfather;815284Does anyone have a game they can recommend along these lines? When I tell people what I want out of RPGs, they keep telling me to play Exalted and that is really, really not what I want.

What I'm looking for:

• Zero to hero. Preferably with a level system.
• Splats. Classes at least, preferably races and martial arts styles.
• Martial arts baked in to the core rules.
• Fantasy martial arts, like ki attacks and shit. And jumping. Lots of jumping.
  
• Tactical combat based on positioning and move selection. Preferably grid-optional.

Basically, I'm looking for something like a cross between D&D and Fight! that can handle settings ranging from vanilla fantasy to modern urban fantasy to Spelljammer.

Have you thought about 4th edition D&D?
I think you can get new books very cheap on e-bay right now.

I've run several wuxia campaigns using 3E with various d20 supplements. Between the oriental adventures book, the quintessential monk, the complete fighters handbook, some of the rogukan books and a few things I found online, I cobbled together what I wanted and found it worked fine.

You may find it easier if you create your own classes for the campaign, since it sounds like you want something very specific.

People seem to like GURPS martial arts as well.

There's Dragonfist, a kung-fu / wuxia modification of 2nd ed. AD&D back in the late TSR days (or might have been very early WotC). It was never published in print, but it was legally available as a free pdf for a while; not sure where you'd find it today, though.

There's also Flying Swordsmen, an OSR game inspired by Dragonfist.

Oriental Adventures for AD&D. Covers it all, and a nice little holdings yearly event system too. Ran a campaign for about a year with it.

5e can cover it if you are ok with renameing classes and tweaking a little. DMG has some brief notes on that too.

Also there is...

d20 Rokugan. Didnt impress me really from the brief look I saw.

Werewolf: Hengyokai + Demon hunter X from White Wolf. Add in the Combat! extension (think that was its name?) and tweak alot.

Bushido I used to hear talked about often. But never saw and after a while all went silent on it.

Lots of others.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

Quote from: artikid;815375Have you thought about 4th edition D&D?
I think you can get new books very cheap on e-bay right now.

Not really what I'm looking for at all. The "martial" classes don't get mystical powers at all, and the mystical classes don't really get enough kung fu.

Quote from: Premier;815384There's Dragonfist, a kung-fu / wuxia modification of 2nd ed. AD&D back in the late TSR days (or might have been very early WotC).

I had forgotten about this. Wasn't Green Ronin supposed to do something with it recently?

Quote from: Premier;815384It was never published in print, but it was legally available as a free pdf for a while; not sure where you'd find it today, though.

Brazil, apparently. If anyone asks, I downloaded it years ago.

Quote from: Premier;815384There's also Flying Swordsmen, an OSR game inspired by Dragonfist.

Ironically, this I can't find at all.

Quote from: Omega;815433Oriental Adventures for AD&D. Covers it all, and a nice little holdings yearly event system too. Ran a campaign for about a year with it.

Yeah, the OA martial arts system has been a part of most of my efforts to turn modern D&D into something more like what I'm looking for. Problem is, modern D&D already has too many moving parts, so it's really hard to add new systems to it without overburdening the whole thing.

Quote from: Omega;8154335e can cover it if you are ok with renameing classes and tweaking a little. DMG has some brief notes on that too.

Yeah, 5e is my favorite D&D-as-is, but it's very stubborn about not doing the things I want it to do.

Quote from: Omega;815433d20 Rokugan. Didnt impress me really from the brief look I saw.

Though it does benefit from me already having it. It's at least good for source material.

Quote from: FaerieGodfather;815447I had forgotten about this. Wasn't Green Ronin supposed to do something with it recently?

I wouldn't know.

QuoteIronically, this I can't find at all.

What do you mean, can't find it? There's a link in the very first line, another in the first line of the third paragraph, and a third in the line above "Dice for the game".

Oh, links don't seem to work. Holler me in a PM, I can send it.

I second the vote for Flying Swordsmen.  Each class has a Martial Arts Maneuvers by Level table, along with several class-appropriate kung-fu moves.  This means wizards and clerics can use their kung fu as magic, instead of having to choose one or the other each round.

That said, I've been following Brendan's Ogre Gate project for Sertorious, and it looks very good, too.

Quote from: King Truffle IV;815483That said, I've been following Brendan's Ogre Gate project for Sertorious, and it looks very good, too.

Happy to send an early version of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate to anyone who would find the rules helpful (everything is still in word doc form though).

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;815487Happy to send an early version of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate to anyone who would find the rules helpful (everything is still in word doc form though).

I'd probably appreciate a copy, but can you tell me about it first?

Quote from: King Truffle IV;815472I second the vote for Flying Swordsmen.  Each class has a Martial Arts Maneuvers by Level table, along with several class-appropriate kung-fu moves.  This means wizards and clerics can use their kung fu as magic, instead of having to choose one or the other each round.

Can you learn cross-class moves?