GURPS Martial Arts - Home

Weapons don’t evolve in a vacuum. They’re optimized
to meet the needs of a particular place and time. A
fighter normally trains to use his culture’s weapons
to confront probable threats – meaning armaments
common in his region and in nearby areas, especially
those favored by enemy cultures. He’ll rarely have experience
wielding or facing weapons from distant lands
and other times, much less those from far-off planets and
crosstime! The GM decides how to handle this.
The simplest option is to assume that Melee Weapon
skills include the ability to adapt quickly to new tools and
threats. Those who know such a skill can use all of the
weapons listed for it the Basic Set and Martial Arts –
even completely alien ones – at no penalty. In armed
clashes, the statistics and footnotes on the tables completely
parameterize each weapon. To settle unlikely duels
(bill vs. three-part staff, katana vs. rapier, etc.), follow the
rules as written and ignore the weapons’ provenance. For
instance, in an affray between a gladius-wielding Roman
legionary and a 16th-century rapierist, neither is penalized
for lack of knowledge of the other’s weapon.
Moreover, if our legionary has a large Indian katar (wielded
with Shortsword) and our rapierist has a Chinese jian
(used with Rapier), neither suffers a penalty for unfamiliarity
with his own weapon, either.
Most martial arts are
designed around their
home culture’s traditional
weapons, which evolve as
tactics, technology, and
threats spur each other on.
New armaments that prove
to be better than existing
ones are eventually adopted,
and warriors adapt old
techniques to them and
invent new fighting styles to
exploit their strengths. Of
course, martial artists have
also been known to employ
truly bizarre weapons for
aesthetic or superstitious
reasons. Modern schools
frequently teach the
strangest of these alongside
Balisong
the most practical of traditional weapons, other cultures’
weapons, and modern weapons, leading to hybrids that
aren’t “traditional” anywhere but at that school!
Below is a glossary of melee and muscle-powered melee
weapons – traditional and modern, common and unusual,
generic and culturally specific. It favors weapons used by
Cross-Cultural Encounters
WEAPONS
212 WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
On the other hand, the detail-oriented GM is free to
rule that fighting with an unfamiliar melee weapon gives
-2 to skill. See Familiarity (p. B169) for details.
If this is true, then it follows that fighting against an
unusual weapon should also be challenging. This gives -2
to skill whenever a fighter directly engages a weapon that
he has neither seen before nor trained against. This penalty
doesn’t affect attack rolls, but it does penalize Quick
Contests (to disarm, feint, etc.) and give -1 to parry the
unusual weapon. In most cases, both fighters will suffer
these penalties, in which case it’s best to ignore the effect
on Quick Contests (it cancels out) and keep only the -1 to
parry.
When using penalties for unfamiliarity, the GM
decides which weapons are “familiar” and “unfamiliar” to
fighters. He might use Cultural Familiarity (p. B23),
boundaries on a map, or fiat. In some worlds, military
and civilian weapons, the arms of different social classes,
etc., might be mutually unfamiliar. Remember that this is
a two-way street! You can declare that you’re from an
obscure culture so that everybody has -1 to parry your
cool ethnic weapons . . . but you will have -1 to parry
almost everybody else’s weapons.
This isn’t the same thing as familiarity with your opponent’s
fighting style. For that, see Style Familiarity (p. 49).
martial-arts styles in this book and definitely isn’t exhaustive.
An entry in SMALL CAPS indicates a weapon that appears
on the weapon tables on pp. B271-276 or pp. 226-232. The
rest are functionally similar enough to one of these weapons
that they can use the same statistics, even if they differ
radically in appearance. For details, read the entry.
Ahlspiess – Germany. A pole weapon that’s roughly equal
proportions handle and long metal spike, with a rondel
(round handguard) where the halves meet. Used primarily
for dueling – usually in a Defensive Grip (pp. 109-
111). Treat as a SPEAR (p. B273), but it can’t be thrown
and is considered a solid-metal (DR 6) sword for breakage;
see pp. B483-485.
Arit – Indonesia. A SICKLE (p. 226).
ATLATL (p. B276) – Aztec. A stick used to launch javelins. The
name is Nahuatl (Aztec), but many similar weapons exist
worldwide. The user fits the javelin into a notch and then
launches it with a one-handed swing of the stick.
AXE (p. B271) – Universal. A wedge-shaped blade on a wooden
handle, for use in one hand and not balanced for
throwing. It comes in many shapes and sizes, such as the
SMALL AXE (p. 226), which is only slightly larger than a
HATCHET (p. B271).
BACKSWORD (pp. 226-227) – England. A single-edged
THRUSTING BROADSWORD (p. B271) with a basket hilt.