Martial Arts?

RPGPundit · February 01, 2009, 10:03:09 PM

Which RPG system really does martial arts well? Not in the sense of "I'm pretending to be a shaolin kung fu master on the internet so I will judge this game to be "realistic" or not" but in the sense of "this game really makes me FEEL like my character is doing martial arts"?

And, of course, why?

RPGPundit

Drohem · February 01, 2009, 10:14:36 PM

GURPS Martial Arts does it for me. It could mimic real world martial arts styles, and you could create your own fantasy versions. Also, it worked well with any point total character- you could do realistic martial arts with less than 200 points, or you could do four-color martial arts at 500 points.

kryyst · February 02, 2009, 03:28:27 PM

I think Feng Shui does a pretty good job of it albeit over the top. Why I think it works is that the system is fluid and the powers have cool martial arts-sounding names.

Spinachcat · February 02, 2009, 04:16:16 PM

Ninjas & SuperSpies - Wujcik attempted to codify a couple dozen martial art forms into game terms and I have no idea if he succeeded in any "realism", but lots of the styles have a different flair when used in-game.

I built a martial artist in SpyCraft 1e and he was much more fun than the 3e monk and the feat choices were interesting enough to make the character very viable in a gun-toting world.

Kyle Aaron · February 02, 2009, 04:20:19 PM

Quote from: RPGPunditWhich RPG system really does martial arts well? [...] in the sense of "this game really makes me FEEL like my character is doing martial arts"?

Quote from: Drohem;281670GURPS Martial Arts does it for me.

GURPS Martial Arts makes me feel like I am doing martial arts... really... slow... ly... One second combat rounds with 4+ rolls to resolve each action, yeah baby. Like The English Patient in slow-mo.

HKAT! all the way!

droog · February 02, 2009, 07:11:04 PM

Sex and Sorcery has a pretty nifty martial arts system.

stu2000 · February 02, 2009, 08:57:24 PM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;281852HKAT! all the way!

Nine times out of ten, I want martial arts that would feel at home in movies, which is almost more about choreography than fighting style. HKAT! does that like nobody's business. It's awesome.

Cranewings · February 02, 2009, 09:17:31 PM

Quote from: Spinachcat;281850Ninjas & SuperSpies - Wujcik attempted to codify a couple dozen martial art forms into game terms and I have no idea if he succeeded in any "realism", but lots of the styles have a different flair when used in-game.

I built a martial artist in SpyCraft 1e and he was much more fun than the 3e monk and the feat choices were interesting enough to make the character very viable in a gun-toting world.

I love Ninja's and Superspies. I think he did a good job of making it realistic, even if Wujick says he made most of it up out of his head. Wujick is a Tae Kwon Do guy... and I think his love for his own martial art certainly came out when he wrote stats for it...

SuperSooga · February 03, 2009, 08:36:19 PM

A Wanderer's Romance is one of my games that has martial arts as one of the key points. There are over 70 Styles in the game, each based around studying as either an Initiate, Student or Master and granting certain abilities. Some styles naturally counter others or will work well against a particular sort of opponent. Practically all combat is one on one contests in this way.

It's by no means a representation of real-world martial arts, being much more Wuxia influenced, but it's free and I'm pretty happy with how it all came out

RPGPundit · February 04, 2009, 04:24:58 PM

Quote from: SuperSooga;282072A Wanderer's Romance is one of my games that has martial arts as one of the key points. There are over 70 Styles in the game, each based around studying as either an Initiate, Student or Master and granting certain abilities. Some styles naturally counter others or will work well against a particular sort of opponent. Practically all combat is one on one contests in this way.

It's by no means a representation of real-world martial arts, being much more Wuxia influenced, but it's free and I'm pretty happy with how it all came out

Hmm, interesting. And welcome to theRPGsite, Sooga!

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Martial Arts?

Cranewings