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What OSR system has the best grapple/wrestling mechanic?

Started by Socratic-DM, November 03, 2024, 10:36:28 PM

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Socratic-DM

This question is spurred on from my last playtest game I had, a Holloween themed one where the party had to face off against a Masked Slasher villain, the shitck being the guy was just a high level Esper who happened to be possessed by the pop-culture thought-form of Slasher-Films. within a 200 ft sphere around him reality would conform to the tropes/cliche's of a slasher film around him.

The players wanted to try to banish the spirit inside the guy as opposed to resort to outright murdering him, and attempted to wrestle him down in the middle of the street and draw a banishing circle around him.

As the DM I was sweating bullets cause at this phase in the playtest campaign, I hadn't had an instance of wrestling/grappling come up before so I quickly resorted to using the Basic Fantasy rules for wrestling, which are functional but lack a lot to be desired. often characters just making the same actions over and over in an attempt to keep a larger foe down.

Unrelated, but they totally failed to keep the corn-fed mofo down and resorted to dumping a several mags of 9mm into it to very little effect.

TL:DR I had to use Basic Fantasy's grappling rules, and while usable aren't exactly amazing either, wanted to know if there was other OSR systems that had "Good" grapple/wrestling mechanics.

"When every star in the heavens grows cold, and when silence lies once more on the face of the deep, three things will endure: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."

- First Corinthians, chapter thirteen.

Socratic-DM

#1
Piss, meant to use quick edit not quote, my bad.
"When every star in the heavens grows cold, and when silence lies once more on the face of the deep, three things will endure: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."

- First Corinthians, chapter thirteen.


David Johansen

I've always been partial to the system in the D&D Companion set.
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RPGPundit

I think that the first thing we have to define is "good at what?"
Are you looking for grappling rules that are complex and allow for a variety of maneuvers?
Are you looking for rules that are simple and easy to apply?
Are you looking for something to provide fast resolution in the abstract?

It all depends.
I would like to think that the grappling/wrestling rules I have in Baptism of Fire, which I've just slightly added to compared to Lion & Dragon, are "good" grappling rules, but that depends on what things you want in terms of complexity, options, and mechanics.
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Opaopajr

;) You know deep in your heart the answer is the 2e Punching/Wrestling Table. ;)
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Exploderwizard

I have enjoyed using the system from The Dragon issue #83 by Roger Moore. Its a fun fast paced system that is easy to use.
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