From: AAlanrichards@aol.com
Date: Thu 17 Jan 2002 - 18:51:44 EET
This has been an interesting discussion and I'd like to chuck in my 0.5 Euro
When people talk about Martial Arts they seem to think
Western / Occidental = clumsy thumping people with bits of wood / dirty great
The truth is a little more complicated
There are some wonderful woodcuts at the Tower of London which show moves
Pankrathon ('Ultimate Challenge') was a Greek unarmed martial art which is
The thing is that most western styles did not survive the advent of
The only western ones we have are Boxing and Fencing. Which seem limited
If you compare Judo with Jujitsu or Bu Jitsu or even Gami Uchi it is
axes
Eastern / Oriental= scientific fighting
used by Mediaeval Greatsword users which are every bit as complex and
involved as Kenjutsu
just as intricate as Kempo.
gunpowder. The forms and patterns were not written down and kept alive.
because they are sport forms.
relatively simple to see how a style can be simplified and altered to make it
more suitable as a sport / pastime rather than a way of killing people.
That was a rather long winded way of saying that I think a 'Martial Artist'
should just be a BRP character with training (and high skill) in the Attack,
Parry and Dodge/Defence skills appropriate to their Art.
I would rather see increased damage for very good skill rolls and/or high
skill than adds just for a way of fighting.
I think another problem is that when people design PCs and NPCs they link
high STR, SIZ with high weapon skills. This seems a bit odd surely
characters' creatures with high DEX, AGL, whatever should have the higher
skill.
Some of the Internal Arts of oriental forms could need new rules but the time
taken to learn these to any useful level is such that PCs in the archetypal
RPG game is not going to be able to learn and / or study them.
Alan
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