More on martial arts in d20 Modern

[Vigilance]

Just wanted to let everyone know that thanks to hard work from everyone involved BUT me *cough* including my fabulous editors, playtesters, and of course my beloved, handsome, wise publisher, Blood and Fists is going to be released early!

Expect this baby to hit the web as early as tuesday evening, about 6pm Central time

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50692

There's the official announcement

I'd like to thank everyone who chatted with me about this, especially JPL, Takyris, and Morgenstern, you all had a tremendous impact on the game.

Chuck

 

[JPL]

Reading it right now, Vig --- just excellent stuff so far.

Oddly enough, Blood and Fists features an NPC named John Lee. Don't spread this around, but that's my real name. A coincidence, yet I feel flattered.

 

[Vigilance]

That's cool

The John Lee in the book is actually a nod to Chow Yun Fat's character in "The Replacement Killers".

Maybe there really ARE a billion people with that name lol.

Chuck

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I've been lurking . . .

And I'm reading my copy of the book, too. It looks very good -- I'm excited by a lot of the things that you're doing with the different styles. It looks like it would work very well in a game that really needed some MA flavor in it, and the addition of the rules for creating your own styles make it a very useful and flexible tool, rather than just a bunch of rules to tack onto a game.

A lot will depend on the individual game that a DM is running -- this is, as it says in the intro to the book, designed for games where there is a focus on the martial arts in the game, not for more mainstream games, although I can see that this might make an interesting supplement for mainstream games in which there is a PC who would like to explore MA more deeply. Many might want to take a far less detailed approach, but just the core idea that a style will associate an appropriate attribute with it's attacks -- rather than always basing the attacks on strength -- on it's own will make a powerful difference in the game.

-rg

 

[Vigilance]

Im glad you like it so far gnome

My goal for the book, and I hope it succeeds, is to bring more martial arts into all kinds of games. Martial Arts is one of those things most characters want to at least dabble in, whether fighting vampires or playing a real world special ops game.

Chuck

 

[PosterBoy]

There are definitely a lot of broad uses for the classes and feats beyond a MA setting.

I used the Bad-Ass Brawler in my Darwin's World 2 play testing sessions and it filled a void nicely.

 

[JPL]

Vig, I'm gonna hit you with an awful lot of questions and comments when I get a little more free time...

1. Just to clarify: adaptable martial arts can take any manuevers, ignoring the style prereqs?

2. I'm experimenting with a Bad-Ass Barroom Brawler vs. a School of Hard Knocks Master. Interesting. The latter might be more appropriate for a bouncer (since he lacks the rage ability, and thus takes out the trash without getting huffy about it].

3. Is there a typo in the animal styles? Leopard, for example, suggests taking Dragon and Shaolin to simulate an animal style. I assume that should be Leopard and Shaolin.

4. "Know Your Enemy" --- great idea. Perfect for simulating a boxer or wrestler who has concentrated solely on fighting others with similar fighting styles.

5. A suggestion --- the charts at the end could be improved upon. For the style feats, just saying "Aikido Manuevers" for the benefit doesn't really help --- I still have to refer to the main text to learn exactly what benefits are conferred.

Working on the tournament fighter one shot. So far, I have a player who has called dibs on a luchador, so we'll come up with a Mexican wrestling style.

I'm also statting out a Roman Catholic priest from the Philipines who's a master of arnis [he hits your pressure points with two escrima sticks, but in a merciful fashion].

There's also going to be a Burmese bad guy running around...a master of Python bando, with snake tattoos running the length of both arms and a penchant for strangulation.

Since I have fun with character creation, I'm trying to stat twenty characters or so, all about 6th level [although I might end up raising that]. Then I'll give the players a summary of the options and let them each pick one. And then we fight.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Vigilance-

I do like this a lot. And I'm excited. But I have a question about blocking -- I can't find anything to explain the specific mechanics of blocking in Blood and Fist.

At what point does a combatant decide to use attacks to block? Does she have to save an attack from her action, and then use that as she sees fit between that action and the next? Or can she "spend" attacks BEFORE her action, to block enemy attacks?

And, if there was a place I should have found this on my own and didn't, where? I'm not so bright . . .

-rg

 

[JPL]

I also like the fact that the Badass Barroom Brawler doesn't have any bonus feats or prereqs which give him the ability to attack as if armed.

Thus, you can have the hardass biker who can stack bodies like cordwood...unless he's fighting someone with Combat Martial Arts, in which case he'll be taking an awful lot of AoO's while he's trying to land that KO.

A little formal training [the Boxing or School of Hard Knocks feat, most likely] and he's ready to defend himself against ninjas who kick sand in his face.

Riddle me this...can a Martial Arts Master proficient in multiple styles [say, with both the Commando Training and Thai Kickboxing feats] take mastery abilities and MAM bonus feats from either style?

I assume one cannot actually multiclass two different flavors of MAM --- to become a Strong Hero 3 / Karate Master 2 / Jujitsu Master 2, for example.