GURPS Martial Arts - Home

There are many variations on this theme. The “warriors of
the night” might be loyal servants of a lord or commander,
freedom fighters, mercenaries, or an evil cult. They might
have no master or a single employer, or hire out to the highest
bidder. If they answer to someone, that person might have
little loyalty to them and regard them as expendable. In a realistic
campaign, betraying such a valuable asset as a band of
guerrillas or group of ninja after a job would be foolish and
wasteful. In a cinematic game, it should happen often!
This theme sometimes shows up alongside A Learning
Experience (p. 249). The heroes are ninja-in-training – or perhaps
someone is using their school as a cover for clandestine
activities. Their master might work for good or for evil, and
they might be his loyal dupes or willing partners.
Almost any setting is possible. In feudal Japan, the PCs
might be ninja, helping their lord unify Japan or keep the
Tokugawa Shogunate in power. In China, they might belong
to a secret society that’s trying to overthrow the Manchu. In a
modern-day game, they might be special-ops troopers working
behind enemy lines or in remote lands where resupply is
difficult and martial arts are a way to save ammo. A fun cinematic
modern-day campaign has the heroes caught in the
crossfire between rival tongs or ninja clans – and having little
luck convincing anyone of their unlikely predicament!
Timothy Zahn’s The Blackcollar exemplifies this kind of
campaign: a tiny group of cinematic ninja spearhead the
resistance against alien invaders. The Chuck Norris movie
The Octagon is inspirational for a “good hero vs. evil ninja”
campaign.
The Contender
The PCs are fighters on a competitive circuit. Perhaps all
of them compete, or maybe only one or two are contenders
while the rest are instructors, coaches, trainers, doctors,
bodyguards, and friends. Many martial-arts schools enter
multiple contestants in a tournament, so fighters could reasonably
travel from event to event as a group – and occasionally
even face each other in bouts.
The focus of such a campaign is the tournaments. Fights
might be legal and regulated or illicit and of dubious safety.
Even legal matches can prove deadly, intentionally (as in
Roman gladiatorial contests) or accidentally (as in modern
boxing). Illegal events in the real world generally feature
lower-quality opponents – the desperate fight illegally, while
the talented fight in the big leagues for the real money. In a
cinematic game, the opposite is true: underground death
matches attract only the best!
The activities that dominate the time in between tournaments
depend on the setting and the realism level, and might
suggest a whole different theme. Examples include training,
working at jobs that use fighting skills outside the ring, and
fending off rivals or money-hungry crime syndicates in order
to survive to the next bout. Historical contenders moved in a
variety of social circles, too, from the lowest to the highest.
Roman gladiators, Japanese sumotori, and American boxers
were all hired as bodyguards, desired as party guests, and
retained as martial-arts instructors.
This theme is surprisingly portable across history, and
allows for travel and adventure. Pankrationists and boxers
traveled between events in ancient Greece. Indian wrestlers
250 CAMPAIGNS
and American bare-knuckle boxers might compete almost
anywhere in the world in an early 20th-century game. Mixed
martial artists and Lethwei (p. 186) fighters would compete
in full-contact matches worldwide in a 21st-century campaign.
South America’s vale tudo matches are an ideal venue
for a modern-day game.
Rocky and Raging Bull are both excellent fictional treatments
of this theme – and see The Blood of Heroes for a postapocalypse
twist. For real-life inspiration, the best places to
look are the professional boxing, kickboxing, sumo, and
wrestling circuits, and the various MMA championships. The
rules, format, and prize money for such contests are widely
available, making it easy to stage a realistic modern-day
game. Historical records for some older events are available,
too – sumo records go back centuries.
. . . what kind of powers do you
have? Do you use them for good,
or for awesome?
– Strong Bad,
Some Kinda Robot
The Silly Campaign
The GM can simply play the martial arts for laughs! One
option is a campaign in the tradition of low-quality kung fu
movies with bad dubbing, worse plots, and blatant continuity
errors. Another is a game inspired by well-made martial-arts
comedies.
The shorter the campaign will run, the better silliness
works as a standalone theme. In a one-shot game, you can
have great fun with a paper-thin plot (“You killed my brother!
Prepare to die!”), clichéd PCs, horrendous accents, and
legions of disposable goons . . . but such things get old after a
few sessions. In a long-running campaign, it’s advisable to
mix silliness with a more serious theme: fighting imperialism,
saving a school, etc. The silliness level can be the same in both
cases. For instance, the movie Shaolin Soccer features high
silliness (Shaolin monks use chi abilities to win soccer
games!) but mixes it with The Quest (p. 247).
Silly martial-arts movies abound. Slapstick is an excellent
match with the martial arts, if only because the difference
between a pratfall and a spectacular martial-arts move is a
painfully small slip. This describes almost all the work of
Jackie Chan and his frequent costar, Sammo Hung. Most
Chan movies combine Borderline Realism (pp. 237-238) with
lots of humor and quickly healing bruises. Kung Fu Hustle is
definitely Over-the-Top (p. 239)! Silly stories don’t have to dispense
with reality or tragedy, though: Magnificent Butcher is
a classically silly martial-arts film, yet depicts a violent murder.
There are also many “serious” movies with such low quality
and bad dubbing that they seem silly, although the distinction
can be hazy; for instance, Dirty Ho is intentionally
silly and dubiously dubbed.
Silly martial arts can lighten up even a non-Martial Arts
game! For inspiration, see Blake Edwards’ “Pink Panther”
movies or any 1960s super-spy flick that features “judo chops”
and “Hi-keeba!” karate action.