Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

[Black Rose]

Okay, this is now the first (and hopefully one of few) thread of me asking for help putting together some ideas for an anime martial arts campaign.

 

First, I should say that it is not an Anime campaign by Ninja Hero's definition... at least not at first. Don't think Dragon Ball here, think Inu Yasha, Ranma, and maybe some Naruto (haven't seen enough of Naruto to know if the feel is what I want). The feel I'm going for is slightly unrealistic at the start, gradually growing more "impossible" as time goes on. There will be some "real world" consequences to actions, but in a lot of cases this stuff's been going on "around here" for a while, and people have gotten accustomed to teenagers leaping from rooftop to rooftop, wandering martial artists seeking to prove the might of their Tea-Making Martial Arts school (hey, at least it's healthier than the Junk Food Martial Art schools, right?), and seeing the virtually impossible happen right in front of them. Weekly. Sometimes they place bets.

 

I'm using the idea of a Primary and Secondary Forte to help players better define the focus of their style's strengths and weaknesses. I have eight Forte...

• Strong - focusing on physical Strength and it’s various applications to overcome obstacles
  
• Fast - focusing on Speed and various attack-multiplying and movement-based tricks to overcome obstacles
  
• Aggressive - focusing on OCVs and Damage to overcome obstacles
  
• Passive - focusing on DCVs and Defence to overcome obstacles
  
• Skillful - focusing on knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents to overcome obstacles
  
• Weapon User - focusing on the use of a tool to enhance one's own abilities and overcome obstacles
  
• Adaptive - focusing on knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents to overcome obstacles
  
• Mystic - focusing on the use of chi (and magic in some cases) to overcome obstacles
  

...for the players to choose from. Each Forte alters the campaign guidelines slightly (Fast martial artists can potentially have a higher Speed and Movement Rate than others; Strong martial artists have access to more potent versions of the "Brick Tricks" that everyone else can get; Weapon Users can do a lot of "impossible" things with their weapons; etc. etc.) and come with some slight Disadvantages (mostly PsychLims, but some DistFeat too). I'm not going to let it get close to classes, but I want it there to allow a player to know that they get something special because they chose to be Strong that other, non-Strong players don't get. Not that everyone can't have a high Strength, or use a weapon, or throw a chi fireball, but there's more to being Strong than a high Strength score, or being a mystic than crying out "Hadoken!"

 

Here's part of my problem; while all of the Forte blur into each other to some degree, I still want them to be somewhat distinctive... special. And I'm having a hard time keeping Skillful seperate from Adaptive. Now Adaptive martial artists often have the abilities to maximize the weaknesses they find in their opponents and minimize their own, but so do Skillful ones. AFAICT, the big difference between them is that Skillful martial artists are better at telling others what they see, and probably teaching them as well. Hmm, maybe I should merge them into one, but then I need a new Forte to take the Eight spot....

 

Anyone have any ideas to help me out on this? Or thoughts on abilities for the other Forte?

 

As I come up with things I'll be posting them here, so you all can help, or point and laugh, or whatever.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Well you could take "Stealth/Deception" specializing in disorientation and feints to keep your opponents off guard. Then blend Adaptive and Skillfull.

 

But if you wan to keep the two seperated; the Adaptive learns during the fight, they tend to get stronger as the fight goes on, they find weaknesses by doing. Sure they take a few hits, but it all goes towards learning to defeat this foe. And this is how it happens every time. Each foe is unique, the adaption must take place anew.

 

Skillfull are those who study in advance. They analyze your style at a glance and use their knowledge to defeat you, as quickly as possible. They are more vulnerable to ecclectic maneuvers and non structured arts than the Adaptive as they have expectations based on their initial analysis. However, fool them once, congratulations, this won't happen next time and your fellow students won't be as lucky.

 

 

Sounds great there Chris.

I am tinkering around with a generic modern martial arts world, a Street Fighter style universe what has the serial numbers filed off basically. I'll keep an eye on your thread. And contribute where I can.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

oh, I meant to ask. Will your campaign be a modern setting or an ancient setting?

[Black Rose]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Modern, sort of a generic "Late 20th, Early 21st Century" period. There'll probably be some anachronisms; not as bad as the B:tAS, but since I really like some of the period color from HK Kung Fu movies, anyone who enters the countryside has officially left anything resembling civilization behind. Indoor plumbing? Ha! Mobile network? You must be joking. Most of these people haven't even heard of the internet. Now, how this relates to every kid in Japan getting a good education... ummm, pay no attention to the man behind the mirror.

 

And "Stealth/Deception" is a good one; I'll have to think about it.

[mikesama]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

One idea is to build the forte then build the style to go with it, I ran a game that borrowed from Natsuki Crisis and Oriental Heroes and the six players I had ended up beign very divergent. I'll give a brief description of the styles they used and how they might apply to the fortes you listed. (most of the names have been lost to memory but the character concepts are clear for 5 of them, although 1 was very very unispired when we were playing)

 

One utilized Golden Armor and grappling and was very agressive yet his big thing was the fact that he was the toughest person to hurt in the group.

 

One utilized a style he dubbed Serene Mountain. The character was built like a Sume wrestler but his style was actually very elegant with the best names of the manuevers. (He had, Avalanche, falling rock, buired alive, you cannot hurt stone and deceptive stillness(anyone think they can figure out what the 4ed/5ed moves are)

 

Annother had Denku-te (literally Lightning hands) which was all speed and damage.

 

Lastly was the "ninja" of the group who was all about tactics and deception in battle, can't remember the much more at the moment.

 

 

The point is let them start designing whatever thier matrial arts schtick is and let them run with it, alot of it will take care of itself as long as they stick within thier concept

[Southern Cross]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

I'd recommend adding the Stealth/Deception Forte myself.Think of Genma Saotome and Dr Tofu Ono as examples.

[Southern Cross]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

I'd recommend adding the Stealth/Deception Forte myself.Think of Genma Saotome and Dr Tofu Ono as examples.

[Black Rose]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Here is some new stuff I've come up with. A lot of this is bits of ideas I came up with at work, home, and just prior to falling asleep, so be gentle.

 

FORTE

Forte adjust the final cost of purchases made under their balliwick, whether those purchases were made before or after the Forte was acquired; those with new Forte are known for their rapid improvement. Primary and figured characteristics do not qualify for rebate unless they are being purchased as "techniques". This means that you could buy "+10 STR, only for Grabs, x2 END" and get a rebate, but not "+10 STR".

 

While a PC may have more than one secondary Forte (though it will get expensive), only one Primary Forte is allowed at any time. Should a PC decide to change their Primary Forte, they must be able to pay, up front, the cost of the new Primary and the new, more expensive prices for all the powers that were under their old Primary Forte. Likewise, purchasing a Forte can only be done with actual XP in-hand; XP that will be retrieved due to a new, more favorable point calculation can only be used to improve that power (to simulate quick improvement), or other powers within the Forte (with GM Permission).

 

All the techniques listed below are acceptable for cost reduction. There are other things (characteristics, skills, talents) that relate to a given Forte, but do not receive a discount. NOTE: All of the ideas I'm showing here are still semi-formed; any good ideas y'all have would be appreciated.

 

Strong Techniques: All MA Maneuvers specifying Strength (not damage, Strength) and Extra DCs for the same (if they cover other Maneuvers, it's okay; everyone else's does, too); Naked Advantages for Strength (and related abilities); Strength "boosting" powers (but not broad-based "boost" powers: Chi STR boost, yes; Chi physical stat boost, no); any powers that augment the core components of Strength.

 

Skilled Techniques: Skill Levels and Combat Skill Levels, but only if they cover a range of skills/maneuvers; Martial Art Style Knowledge Skills; Analyze: Fighting Style; Analyze: Fighting Skill; any other skills as they relate to martial arts as the PC sees them (be firm on this; a lot of styles are... eclectic); all Martial Art maneuvers; any powers that aid in determining an opponent's skill or abilities; powers that increase your (or decrease your opponent's) abilities, but only for interacting with them (reduce their DCV to your attacks, yes; reduce their DCV to all attacks, no).

 

Offensive Techniques (no jokes, please): Combat Skill Levels for OCV only; all offensive Martial Art Maneuvers and Extra DCs for the same (if they cover other Maneuvers, it's okay; everyone else's does, too); various non-Mystic attack powers; Naked Advantages for Martial Art Maneuvers and Attack powers.

 

Defensive Techniques: Combat Skill Levels for DCV only; all defensive Martial Art Maneuvers and Extra DCs for the same (if they cover other Maneuvers, it's okay; everyone else's does, too); various non-Mystic defenses; Naked Advantages for defensive Martial Art Maneuvers and aforementioned defensive powers.

 

Speed Techniques: Skill Levels and Combat Skill Levels, but only to simulate performing Actions faster (moving up the Time Chart, Sweeps, etc.); Movement powers; Attack and Defense powers defined as "moving very fast"; Naked Advantages and any other powers to simulate "speed tricks".

 

Weapon User: CSLs with weapons; Martial Art Maneuvers and Extra DCs for Weapon styles; Defense powers using weapons (blocks and such); various weapon attacks; Naked Advantages with weapon attacks; other powers to simulate "weapon tricks".

 

Stealth/Deception: Skill Levels with deception-based skills (mostly Interaction skills, but also some others); various powers and Naked Advantages related to hiding, moving unseen, and deceiving one's opponents.

 

Mystic: all "impossible" chi techniques (fireballs, invisibility, etc.); actual spells (wards, binding, enchantment, etc.).

 

 

A secondary Forte costs 5 points and offers a discount of 1/5; that is, one point in five is saved. A Primary Forte costs 10 points and offers a discount of 1/3.

 

At the moment I'm trying to come up with some guidelines for Forte purchase. In addition to ponying up the points, I feel someone wanting a Forte should already be showing it with their character build; if you want the Strong Forte, you should already have a high Strength and some Strength tricks. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Black Rose]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Geez, guys, don't all chime in at once.... -cheep cheep-

 

Okay, here's some ideas I came up with. If you all would, give me some idea of the ramifications of these. I know that Masters of Movement is a little potent (and rules-broken, too), so if you have a better idea, lemme know!

 

Fragile World rules are in play. This means that all real-world objects and structures (including land formations like mountains) suffer a Vulnerability to Martial Arts Techniques (common, x2). In exchange, everyone, PCs and GM alike, agree to not use Killing Attacks unless necessary; it is perfectly acceptable, nay, encouraged, for an attack which should be Killing to be converted to an Advantaged (Armor Piercing or Penetrating preferred) Normal/EB attack.

 

Masters of Movement - to encourage lots of movement, Martial Artists may use all movement forms they possess in a given phase, with the following caveats:

• Martial Artists are still limited to the maximum movement they have purchased. Ex: if you have Run 9†and Leap 6â€, you can only move a maximum of 9â€, regardless of the movement forms you have used and however many inches you might have left.
  
• Martial Artists can only move the maximum they have purchased in a given form. Ex: if you have Run 9†and Leap 6â€, you can only Leap a max of 6â€; this can be broken up into multiple leaps, however.

 

I'm also considering whether or not the rebates are acceptable, or if they should be changed. Any thoughts?

[Enforcer84]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Looks good. I like the Fragile World rules and the lessening of KA's.

The movement is cool too but it took me a few reads to figure it out (not your writing, my comprehension)

I like the Fortes.

Any example characters, yet?

[Black Rose]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Thanks to wonderful threads like this one, I'm making a slight amendment to one of my House Rules above. I was trying to figure out how to let the PCs get banged around without a) killing them, or giving them inhuman regeneration abilities. Here goes....

 

Instead of making Killing Attacks really rare, which nerfed at least one of the core character type ideas I had (Chinese Amazon Hidden Weapons Master), not to mention making people running around with katana and jien look silly (might as well fight with a stick, it does the same damage), I'm going to do this instead: aside from actual armor (which will be built with "Real Armor" and "Real Mass"), all Defensive Techniques which specifically make PD/ED Resistant have "Does Not Stop All BODY, -0" as a required Limitation. This means that all successful Killing Attacks will cause at least 1 BODY damage. However, all wounds will be tracked seperately, since five minutes and a successful Paramedics roll will reduce all wounds by 1 BODY; if PS: Traditional Healer is rolled instead, with KS: Traditional Healing as a complementary roll, all wounds will be reduced by 1 BODY plus an additional BODY for every two by which the PS roll is made.

 

Ex: Takeda was ambushed on the way home from school by Kumiko's ninja; he managed to evade most of the shuriken, but was still hit three times for 2, 4, and 1 BODY respectively. He made his way to Iwara-sensei's clinic, where he was patched back up. Iwara-sensei made her KS: Traditional Healing roll by two, adding +1 to her PS: Traditional Healer roll, which she made by two as well, for a total of three. Takeda's injuries are each reduced by two, leaving him with one 2 BODY wound. Fortunately, Takeda knows the Napping Phoenix technique, so he'll be good as new tomorrow, when Kumiko's ninja plan to use net guns....

 

Any thoughts?

[The Monster]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Adaptive to me suggests not so much skillful as the ability to adapt to different environmental conditions and situations. For example, the ability to hold one's hand over a candle flame without suffering damage for a much longer time than normal, or tensing one's mucles so that sharp objects don't penetrate nearly as well, or able to endure a blizzard while naked, or even just holding one's breath for dozens of minutes. Seems to me you could get some very interesting abilities this way without unbalancing things, since many of them wouldn't be useful in most fights (though it migth be an interesting spur for the heroes to bring fights into favorable environments).

[Black Rose]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

Adaptive to me suggests not so much skillful as the ability to adapt to different environmental conditions and situations. For example' date=' the ability to hold one's hand over a candle flame without suffering damage for a much longer time than normal, or tensing one's mucles so that sharp objects don't penetrate nearly as well, or able to endure a blizzard while naked, or even just holding one's breath for dozens of minutes. Seems to me you could get some very interesting abilities this way without unbalancing things, since many of them wouldn't be useful in most fights (though it migth be an interesting spur for the heroes to bring fights into favorable environments).[/quote']

The feel I was going for is someone who learns quickly in fights, picking out the patterns and seeing the flaws in your style, and then quickly tears you down. Though the last part is up for negotiation. I used "Adaptive" since I heard it mentioned several times to describe the character who best typified the concept.

[The Monster]

Re: Martial Arts Campaign Creation - Need Help

 

The feel I was going for is someone who learns quickly in fights' date=' picking out the patterns and seeing the flaws in your style, and then quickly tears you down. Though the last part is up for negotiation. I used "Adaptive" since I heard it mentioned several times to describe the character who best typified the concept.[/quote']

 

Aha, then you want to look at Find Weakness! Cutting one's defenses in half is a pretty potent ability. (One of the PCs in Champions made this her primary power, Find Weakness which she can give to others. I live in fear of the time when she has the opportunity, wit, and luck to really put this into action.)

 

Another possibility is buying skill levels with the Requires Skill (Analyze Style) Roll.

 

A little bit wacky, but might work also is a Skill Levels or Aid power with "gradual effect" limitation. This would be someone who starts a bit slow, but quickly learns how to better attack and defend during a fight.

 

Even farther out, someone who can start to counter your own moves before you make them might have a Drain or Suppress power against martial arts or defenses or DEX.