GR to produce Game Mechanics' Martial Arts Mayhem

[buzz]

http://www.greenronin.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?prodid=1503
Soooo happy GR is doing print versions of their stuff.

 

[Doc_Souark]

I'ld say it's a must get.

 

[JPL]

I'll check it out, but it'll be hard-pressed to outdo "Blood and Fists."

That supplement has strong kung fu indeed.

 

[takyris]

I'm less worried about the two of them competing than I am about the two of them overlapping. If one book has a feat that gives you the ability to make a full attack at the end of a charge, and another feat gives you some insanely high attack bonus after making a charge, you're going to see some ugly combinations.

I suppose that's the inherent disadvantage to the OGL -- there can be more than one Martial Arts book, Swashbuckling book, Cyberpunk book, and so forth.

Hopefully, though, GMs will be encouraged/instructed to only allow feats from one book or the other -- or to disallow feats that stack like that.

(Which, really, they already are. But hopefully the point will be made emphatically.)

 

[buzz]

I suppose that's the inherent disadvantage to the OGL -- there can be more than one Martial Arts book, Swashbuckling book, Cyberpunk book, and so forth.

I'd imagine things weren't too different during the 2e era, with more splats containing wacky kits and weird rules than you could shake a stick at. Or some player wanting to use material from Al Qadim in combo with something from Birthright. It's ultimately up to the GM.

One would also hope that the designers of both products would have game balance in mind when creating stuff in the first place, so that even in combination, both products don't severely derail your game.

 

[Ranger REG]

It may be a disadvantage, but for the gaming consumers, we have a lot of options, like a shelf full of peanut butter varieties.

I've seen that when they came out with monster books, nautical adventure books, class books, race books, etc.

Personally, having already downloaded the read the free material on their web site (www.thegamemechanics.com), I will buy the printed product and put it alongside my copy of Blood and Fist.

 

[takyris]

That first post came off sounding way too negative, I think. I love the fact that we've got so many options.

I'm not personally a huge fan of the crunch creep -- which eventually is going to tell me that I need a feat to throw a spinning side-kick -- but that's just me. And that's better in a different thread.

That philosophical quibble aside, I hope that both supplements do really well, and I hope that people can find fun uses for both.

 

[Sir Elton]

http://www.greenronin.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?prodid=1503
Soooo happy GR is doing print versions of their stuff.

Err . . . I don't know. If I can get both, that would be something.

 

[JPL]

I'm not personally a huge fan of the crunch creep -- which eventually is going to tell me that I need a feat to throw a spinning side-kick -- but that's just me. And that's better in a different thread.
.

Well, Blood and Fists does get down to that level of specificity. As I interpret it, though, anyone can throw a spinning side kick...someone who has the feat has just made it his signature move, like Chuck Norris and the reverse spin kick or Jean Claude and his double split kick.

 

[Psion]

I'll check it out, but it'll be hard-pressed to outdo "Blood and Fists."

I think based on what I have seen from there freeware version of TGMs martial arts rules, I would have to agree. As much as I love GR and think the guys and TGM do good work.