Subject: RQ Mailing list, Volume 1, Number 1 From: abbott@dean.berkeley.edu (Mark Abbott) Subject: RQ Martial Arts Here's a home grown system for running martial artists. This assumes RQIII but could easily be modified to work with RQII. It's developed from my experience studying the Korean art of Hapkido, with a bit of other stuff thrown in for the fun of it. For instance, we most definitely do not practice parrying missiles but I really liked that on the old Kung Fu TV shows so it's in here. The belt progression shown is a nice easy one to compute. It's not really accurate compared to the real world but it's fine for game terms. In reality, 4th dan (4th degree black) is considered mastery but with this belt system RQ-defined mastery comes right at 1st Kub or 1st dan black belt. Using these skills, you can easily simulate a variety of arts. Hapkido emphasizes both throwing and striking techniques but many arts do not. To set up another art, just change the emphasis on the different sets of skills, or drop some out entirely. By the way, this does not use the RQIII martial arts skill which doubles damage. This replaces it. The skills are mostly obvious but: Kicking is just that, Strike/Block is all hand strikes and parrying with the hands/arms. Normal RQIII rules apply as to which weapons will damage the parrying object. Joint locks are the joint breaking holds and twists which are characteristic of jujitsu and aikido. Throws are what is normally associated with jujitsu and judo. Falling is exactly that, the ability to fall safely. Dodge is the RQIII skill. Missile parry is the ability to parry missile weapons. In our local games these skills are all used by specialized groups which restricts their availability. Also, these groups all frown on the use of armor which further limits the power of these skills. In practice, the martial artist is a weaker but somewhat more versatile fighter than the run of the mill. His lack of armor keeps him from being really tough. However, if armor is uncommon then the martial artist will really shine. MARTIAL ARTIST SKILLS SKILL SR BASIC DAMAGE NOTES Kicking 3 15% d8 Specials do automatic knockback, flying kicks do automatic knockback but use both actions for that round, ie you cannot dodge/block/do another attack. Strike/Block 3 15% d4 Specials do automatic knockback Joint Locks 3 00% 2d4 Armor absorbs damage. Assume arms to be the target under normal circumstances. Occasionally the target will be neck or legs. Come-alongs fall in this category. If the skill is successfully used and the damage rolled is enough to incapacitate the limb, the player may opt for a come-along with the damage inflicted if the opponent attempts to escape. Joint locks may be executed using a short stick or staff at the weapon percentage or the joint locking percentage, whichever is lower. Throwing 3 00% 1/4 Size of target Successful use gives a resistance roll of STR+AGI+(Throwing skill/5) vs. SIZE+AGI. Both the skill roll and resistance roll are necessary for a completed throw. A succesful throw gives the thrower one extra attack that round at +20%. Falling - 15% - Negates 1/4 Size +d6 falling damage, +2d6 for specials and +3d6 for criticals Missile Parry - 00% - Allows the user to stop missile weapons. Success indicates that the missile was deflected, a special that it was caught, a critical that it may be thrown back. One use constitutes one of the PC's actions that round. May be used twice in the same round. Shafted/hafted missiles may be parried with the hands. Other missiles must be parried with a weapon or object. Arrows/javelins/hatchets are shafted/ hafted, sling bullets are not. Ability to parry with a weapon is based missile parry or weapon parry, whichever is lower. Dodge - 05% - If used at 1/2 percentage the martial artist need not count Dodging as one of his two actions in a round. This option may only be taken once per round. A Martial Artist attacking the same opponent more than once in the same round may not use the same attack skill more than once in that round. In other words, he may not kick the same opponent twice in the same round although he could first throw and then kick. This rule applies to all attacks except Strikes-an opponent may be punched twice in the same round. For Hapkido belt progression use this formula. N=Average of all 8 skills (Kick, Strike, Block, Throw, Joint Locks, Fall, Missile Parry, Dodge) or lowest skill +20%, whichever is lower. Kub # = 10- (N/10). Drop fractions. Negative numbers are degrees of Black. Kub # 10,9 8,7 6,5,4 3,2,1 0 and lower Belt White Yellow Blue Brown Black -Mark Abbott abbott@dean.berkeley.edu The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell. All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator, and copyrights are held by them. RuneQuest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc. Send submissions, mailing list changes, requests for old article lists,etc. to acb@duke.cs.duke.edu acb@dukeac.ac.duke.edu or ...!mcnc!duke!acb Request old articles by volume number and issue number.