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Damage Resistance see p. B46 Suitably limited Damage Resistance fits many kinds of cinematic campaigns. A few ideas: Ablative: Some action heroes can absorb a lot of damage before their luck runs out. They suffer kicks, punches, falls, etc., throughout the story, but only get hurt in the finale. To simulate this, the GM may allow DR (Ablative, -80%) [1/level]. Each point of damage rolled blows away a point of DR. This DR doesn’t protect against poison – but while it lasts, it does keep poisoned weapons from delivering their deadly dose! Such DR works much like HP, but the two aren’t the same. Compare lost HP to the victim’s basic HP score to determine crippling, major wounds, and death. Limited: Other fictional heroes are resistant to bludgeoning but affected normally by blades, bullets, and beams. To represent this, the GM may permit DR (Limited, Crushing, -40%) [3/level]. Limited, Unarmed is also -40%, and affects cutting and impaling Claws, Strikers, and Teeth. Partial: Martial artists often toughen extremities or limbs into “iron body parts.” Those with Trained by a Master may buy DR with Partial (-80% for one hand or one foot; -40% for two hands, two feet, one leg, or one arm; or -20% for two legs or two arms) and Tough Skin (-40%). This traditionally accompanies Claws (p. 42), or requires or is an Iron Body Parts perk (p. 50). Tough Skin: The GM may let really tough guys buy DR (Limited, Crushing, -40%; Tough Skin, -40%) [1/level] for their whole body. Attacks that don’t break the skin or carry a contact poison or chi-based touch attack simply hurt less. Some warriors have DR (Tough Skin, -40%) [3/level] and are harder to hurt with all attacks! Martial artists who simulate tough body parts using Partial must also take Tough Skin. The GM decides how much DR to allow and of what type, and should base the time needed to acquire it through training on its final point cost (see Learnable Advantages, p. B294). Outside of superhero games, DR 1-2 is probably enough unless it’s Ablative. Ablative DR could go up to HP in any cinematic game, and up to 5¥HP for heroes who survive 10-story falls and 60-mph car wrecks. Anything is possible, though. Damage Resistance might have nearly any modifier when part of a chi power (see Chi Powers for Martial Artists, p. 46). The GM should design powerful defensive abilities himself and present them in a manner similar to the offensive ones under Innate Attack (pp. 45-47). For instance: Desirable Advantages Below are lists of advantages particularly valuable to martial artists, split into categories that reflect common fictional archetypes. Anybody can have the mundane traits, but only cinematic or super-powered characters are likely to have the exotic or supernatural ones. •Agility and coordination. Fighters who put precision before power and feel that evading blows is more useful than being able to take lumps often have some of these traits, plus good DX, Basic Speed, and/or Basic Move. Mundane: Ambidexterity (p. B39); Combat Reflexes (p. B43); Enhanced Defenses (p. B51); Extra Attack (p. B53); Flexibility (p. B56); and Perfect Balance (p. B74). Exotic & Supernatural: Altered Time Rate (p. B38); Arm DX (p. B40); Enhanced Move (p. B52); Enhanced Time Sense (p. B52); Slippery (p. B85); and Super Jump (p. B89). • Endurance and toughness. Some martial artists pride themselves on being able to take a few hits. This calls for high HT, FP, Will, and/or HP, along with an advantage or two from this list. Mundane: Fit (p. B55); Hard to Kill (p. B58); Hard to Subdue (p. B59); High Pain Threshold (p. B59); Rapid Healing (p. B79); and Resistant (p. B81). Exotic & Supernatural: Damage Resistance (p. B46); Injury Tolerance (p. B60); Recovery (p. B80); Regeneration (p. B80); Regrowth (p. B80); Supernatural Durability (p. B89); and Unkillable (p. B95). • Power and strength. Heavy hitters require ST – as much as they can afford. In some campaigns, advantages that improve damage are available. Exotic & Supernatural: Arm ST (p. B40); Claws (p. B42); Striker (p. B88); Striking ST (p. B88); and Teeth (p. B91). • Situational awareness. Tactical and streetwise warriors try to pick their fights carefully and avoid danger. These traits help, and work best with decent IQ and Per. Mundane: Acute Senses (p. B35); Danger Sense (p. B47); Fearlessness (p. B55); Peripheral Vision (p. B74); and Unfazeable (p. B95). Exotic & Supernatural: 360° Vision (p. B34) and Vibration Sense (p. B96) – although any superhuman sense could come in handy. Finally, anyone who routinely goes on dangerous adventures would benefit from Daredevil (p. B47) and Luck (p. B66)! Ghost Shirt (-70%): DR 20 (Limited, Bullets, -60%; Pact, -10%) [30]. Notes: Your chi lets you resist bullets – if you don’t use modern weapons yourself! The special Pact limitation means you must take and observe Vow (Use only muscle-powered attacks) [-10]. If you use guns, explosives, etc., for any reason, you immediately lose the DR until 1d days have passed (the GM rolls in secret). Treat the combination of DR and Vow as a meta-trait: Ghost Shirt [20]. 20 points. Enhanced Defenses see p. B51 The GM decides how many levels of these traits are available. Enhanced Defenses are cinematic and not especially suitable for a purely realistic game . . . but in a campaign that adds subtle cinematic elements to a largely realistic setting (see Hybrid Campaigns, pp. 239-241), a single level won’t upset things. The typical “action movie” game can take two levels in stride. Campaigns that feature extreme comic-book and wuxia action might go up to three levels, but probably not beyond that – not unless the GM likes untouchable fighters! CHARACTERS 43
Most martial artists can only take Enhanced Defenses listed under “Optional Traits” for their styles; see Chapter 5. Those with Trained by a Master or Weapon Master have access to all Enhanced Defenses. Weapon Masters who have Enhanced Parry may add their bonus to parries made using the Parry Missile Weapons skill (p. B212) as well as with regular Melee Weapon skills, when armed with suitable weapons. To mute the deadliness of ranged weapons so that most fights end up at melee range, the GM may let heroes buy Enhanced Parry (All parries against ranged weapons) for 5 points/level – possibly at higher levels than other types of Enhanced Parry. This gives a bonus to regular parries against thrown weapons (see Parrying, p. B376) and to parries with the Parry Missile Weapons skill. Its bonus “stacks” with those for weapon-specific Enhanced Parry advantages. Enhanced Time Sense see p. B52 A fighter with Enhanced Time Sense (ETS) always acts before one who lacks it – both in the “turn sequence” (p. B363) and in a Wait situation (see Cascading Waits, p. 108). This is especially useful to a martial artist who must face firearms. It lets him spring across a room and take out a gunman who has him dead to rights! It also lets him parry bullets, if he knows the Parry Missile Weapons skill (see p. 58). He can even try to dodge a sniper’s bullet (normally, no active defense is possible). The GM may extend these benefits to encompass blaster bolts and other slower-than-light ranged attacks. I kick arse for the Lord! – Father McGruder, Braindead All of this makes ETS perfect for campaigns based on action movies. In the movies, Stars always get the drop on Extras, even alerted Extras with machine guns, and snipers shooting at Stars always miss with their first shot. Naturally, PCs are Stars, as are bosses, top henchmen, and other important NPCs. Stars are likely to have ETS; the GM can even make it a “campaign advantage” that all PCs must have. Everyone else is an Extra, and Extras never have ETS. This approach converts ETS from an exotic advantage to an Unusual Background that extends “plot immunity” to Stars – an extremely common feature of martial-arts cinema. In some films, ETS only applies during action sequences; see the special limitation below. Finally, in campaigns that use Bullet Time (p. 133), the GM might wish to reserve that rule for heroes who have ETS. New Special Limitation Combat Sense: Your ability only works when you’re fighting. While the game is in “slow” time for combat (see Time During Adventures, p. B497), you enjoy all the usual benefits of ETS. The rest of the time, your advantage does nothing! It won’t help you avoid penalties for being rushed on noncombat tasks and it’s worthless against traps, snipers, and environmental hazards encountered out of combat. -20%. Extra Attack see p. B53 A realistic martial artist may take one level of Extra Attack to represent excellent coordination. This lets him attack with any combination of two different weapons, hands, or feet, with no restrictions on the skills involved. To attack multiple times with the same weapon or body part requires the Multi- Strike enhancement. If both attacks must use the same combat skill, take the Single Skill limitation. Both modifiers appear below. The GM decides how many levels of Extra Attack are possible in a cinematic game. Multi-Strike should be mandatory for humans with more than one level, as with three or more attacks and only two hands, one hand will be striking twice. The GM may relax this requirement if the martial artist takes Single Skill for skill that covers kicking. A warrior with Extra Attack 3 (Single Skill, Karate) could make two punches and two kicks at once – at least in a chambara or wuxia game where fighters rarely seem to touch the ground! The GM decides whether Extra Attack is learnable. If so, consider using Single Skill to represent practice with a particular combat skill. Fighters who use paired weapons are more likely to buy Off-Hand Weapon Training (p. 50) and Dual-Weapon Attack (p. 83), however. See Multiple Attacks (pp. 126-128) for other important details. New Special Enhancement Multi-Strike: You can strike more than once with the same weapon or body part. This lets you launch more attacks than you have limbs, natural weapons, and attack abilities. You can use your best attack multiple times. +20%. New Special Limitation Single Skill: Your Extra Attacks apply only to a particular combat skill. For instance, Extra Attack 2 (Single Skill, Karate) lets you attack three times – but at least two of the attacks must be with the Karate skill. To attack more than once using a weapon skill, you need either one weapon per attack or the Multi-Strike enhancement. -20%. Fearlessness see p. B55 Mastering a fighting style is a great way to build confidence. The GM may wish to allow martial artists to buy a level of Fearlessness in play for every two levels by which their best combat skill exceeds DX. For instance, a fighter with Karate at DX+6 could “learn” Fearlessness 3. This option particularly suits military martial arts. Flexibility 44 CHARACTERS see p. B56 The +3 for Flexibility and +5 for Double-Jointed apply to all rolls to break free (p. B371) – including attempts to escape the locks and holds in Chapter 3.
Page 1 and 2: B Y P ETER D ELL’ORTO AND S EAN P
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . .
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION Say “martial arts”
Page 7 and 8: The martial arts are as old as hist
Page 9 and 10: 1835 - New Jersey outlaws prizefigh
Page 11 and 12: Eventually, the links between secre
Page 13 and 14: INDONESIAN ARCHIPELAGO The Indonesi
Page 15 and 16: Okinawa Okinawa has always had stro
Page 17 and 18: Boxing in ancient Greece and Rome c
Page 19 and 20: RENAISSANCE EUROPE By the time of t
Page 21 and 22: THE NEW WORLD Asian and European ma
Page 23 and 24: Musashi was a precocious martial ar
Page 25 and 26: In China, Fairbairn came into conta
Page 27 and 28: Bad Reenactments A problem hardly u
Page 29 and 30: Jon Gilbey shouted, “No, Adrian.
Page 31 and 32: Beginning Students as PCs The guide
Page 33 and 34: Customization Notes Styles: Ninja s
Page 35 and 36: Lens Cinematic (+100 points): Add 8
Page 37 and 38: Monk 100 points You’ve isolated y
Page 39 and 40: Customization Notes Styles: Unarmed
Page 41 and 42: Background Skills: 6 points chosen
Page 43: ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, AND SKIL
Page 47 and 48: Chi Powers for Martial Artists Mart
Page 49 and 50: Inigo: You’re using Bonetti’s d
Page 51 and 52: Chi Resistance*† You can rally yo
Page 53 and 54: Suit Familiarity† You’ve learne
Page 55 and 56: Minor Delusions affect combat again
Page 57 and 58: Even so, stunt fighters are still f
Page 59 and 60: Kiai* see p. B203 This skill has a
Page 61 and 62: Tactics see p. B224 Tactics is a ma
Page 63 and 64: Modifiers: A penalty equal to encum
Page 65 and 66: Description: Some techniques raise
Page 67 and 68: Martial artists practice dozens of
Page 69 and 70: Your foe’s only legal defenses ar
Page 71 and 72: Counterattack Hard Default: prerequ
Page 73 and 74: Blinding your foe is an effective t
Page 75 and 76: Head Butt Hard Defaults: Brawling-1
Page 77 and 78: Combine Kicking with Committed Atta
Page 79 and 80: Push Kick Hard Defaults: Brawling-3
Page 81 and 82: Optional Rule: Combinations Martial
Page 83 and 84: Wrench (Limb) Hard Default: ST-4; c
Page 85 and 86: This technique is dangerous! If you
Page 87 and 88: To execute a Piledriver, you must f
Page 89 and 90: Humorous movies often feature silly
Page 91 and 92: Prerequisites Unless the technique
Page 93 and 94: A use of a defensive technique is a
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• Own Defenses: A bonus to one’
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The Italian used his dagger to ward
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All-Out Attack (Long) is incompatib
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• Determined: Make a single attac
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Thus, a weapon that’s ready stays
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Arrow: +1 if stuck in the ground at
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Dealing with Charging Foes The sure
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WAIT Wait requires you to name a pa
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These rules address minute differen
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When striking to the front or sides
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CLOSE-COMBAT OPTIONS These expanded
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Lame see p. B141 If you’re standi
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Grapples can set up vicious strikes
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The archer can precede this feat wi
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The grappler has no penalties. Howe
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Sideslip: If you’re standing, you
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Faster Combat You can run extremely
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Example 1: An attacker with two att
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An important part of martial-arts m
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MORE CINEMATIC COMBAT RULES The unr
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TOURNAMENT COMBAT Not all combat is
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INJURY AND RECOVERY Injury is an im
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Severe Bleeding Realistic campaigns
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Del Duque’s cape swirled dramatic
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Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left h
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CHOOSING A STYLE Every would-be stu
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Some styles were born “stripped d
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A PC who starts with several styles
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ARMATURA 6 points Armatura was the
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Perks: Iron Legs; Power Grappling;
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Capoeira fighters claim that slaves
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Escrimadors prefer the Defensive At
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La Verdadera Destreza 4 points La V
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Sport fencing largely eliminates mo
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Practitioners of Hoplomachia often
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Hwa Rang Do stylists prefer to open
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JUDO 4 points Judo is a Japanese co
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Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a relatively
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Te stresses deflecting an incoming
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Belts and Grading In the popular im
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Iaijutsu 5 points Iaijutsu is the J
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Many cultures have styles that cons
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KOBUJUTSU 8 points “Kobujutsu”
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Kusarigamajutsu 3 points Warriors s
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Skills: Brawling; Judo; Knife; Two-
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The Purpose of Military Hand-to-Han
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In matches, competitors wear modern
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Skills: Judo; Karate; Meditation; P
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Kumango Silat 4 points The heartlan
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Staff Fighting Staff fighting is as
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Skills: Karate; Wrestling. Techniqu
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Sojutsu (pp. 197-198) is but one of
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Sojutsu deals primarily with using
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Tae Kwon Do Ranks Tae Kwon Do (see
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Ninja and Ninjutsu The Japanese cha
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Cinematic Techniques: Dual-Weapon A
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Like other sport wrestling, Indian
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Against multiple opponents, stylist
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FREEFIGHTING 5 points Freefighting
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Weapons don’t evolve in a vacuum.
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Cane - Universal. The walking stick
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The weapons in Martial Arts come in
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Martial-arts tales (especially ninj
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Unorthodox Attacks Often in fiction
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POLLAXE (p. B272) - Europe. The Bas
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A real weapon is preferable to an i
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Yari - Japan. A Spear (pp. B273, B2
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TL Weapon Damage Reach Parry Cost W
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TL Weapon Damage Reach Parry Cost W
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Notes: [1] A crossbow bolt costs $2
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Armor Martial artists, especially p
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CINEMATIC VS. REALISTIC CAMPAIGNS W
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Special-Case NPCs Non-player charac
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Amazing Abilities One option is to
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An especially appropriate theme for
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POST-CLASSICAL EUROPE The uninforme
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MODERN DAY Modern-day games are amo
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The Quest for the Master In a cinem
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There are many variations on this t
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Described below are wo
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With rare exceptions, weapons are n
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Power level guidelines, 29. Prana,
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