Paul Chapman enivisages a style that's:
> Heavily punching based, since they have range and power. Their defense
> would be like a boxers [...]
If two trolls fought like this, they would seem to be playing to each others' strengths, at least as much as their own; punching a thick, tusked skull, or a well-blubbered torso isn't going to be a way to do swift, telling damage. Much of this, and the most likely result would seem to be tired combatants with very sore knuckles. I think a troll would be more likely to want to grapple, so's to try to break limbs, gouge eyes, bite, or wrestle to the floor for a Good Kicking. Granted, one could formalise such notions as a Martial Art too (and certainly in the RW, it's been done), but I think that trolls are much more likely to simply just do what comes naturally in such circumstances.
Muay Thai Troll could obviously soundly thrash an unarmed human, even more efficiently than every other unarmed troll on the lozenge, but I can't see a combat style arising for that reason alone.
> I can think of few reasons why a Troll martial art wouldn't exist
I can't think of many why it should. Sport? Desparation? Ascetic discipline? Fondness for "scientific" combat? None seem very compelling.
Daniel McCluskey makes a number of comments to the effect of:
> If you can see if somebody's full or pregnant, wouldn't you be
> able to spot joints or previous injuries more effectively.
I'm most dubious about this "remote ultrasound" idea. If Darksense worked like this, concealment of any sort from a troll would be impossible, which is something with large implications.
James Frusetta:
> Would think that most trolls, however, never bother with an "organized"
> system of martial arts. Considering their natural advantages in unarmed
> combat anyway, they can skate by fighting other races unarmed, and most
> unarmed fighting with other trolls is probably just friendly brawling.
This is very true. Furthermore, no troll grouping we're (yet) aware of is so "civilised" as to require going unarmed in public, and aside from trollkin, no troll is barred from using weapons. So I don't really see much motivation for troubling to spend much time on unarmed combat.
Mr. MOB scribes:
> All this debate about what sort of martial art Uz would use was resolved
> forcefully for me on Saturday night when I went to the Australian Grand Sumo
> Tournament.
I think this observation's been made before, though I can't recall who the lucky winner was. In any event, I agree with both/all of you: sumo is highly trollish, particularly the tsuppari element. (I believe that's Japanese for "slap your opponent silly".) In fact, I think someone should DNA-test Akebono for uzko DNA immediately.
Slapping attacks seem very uz-like to me, much more so than punching. Roundhouse slaps to the side of the head are likely to be a good way to severely disorient ones vict-- err, opponent, perhaps even "blinding" him while one picks up a large stick (or small trollkin) to bludgeon him more thoroughly with. While I won't suggest jabs or front-punches would be impossible for a troll, their bodyshape and posture, and dare I say, lack of Subtlety make swung blows seem much more plausible than relatively neat and restrained straight punches.
The umpteen different throws seem much less likely, unless there's a "sporting" version of it wherein the participants have lots of time to spend practising them, and a tacit agreement not to bite large chunks out of each other in the clinches. The likely SIZ range of professional troll "rikishi" makes me shudder, though -- to say nothing of the nearby ground.
A sumo-like style is also very much the sort of thing that could arise from "friendly" fighting among adolescent trolls, and is a handy means of husband-abuse, being about the best way possible to make a SIZ advantage tell.
> [Mainoumi] had to get a silicone implant in
> his head to meet the minimum height requirement
For some reason, this makes me picture a bald man with a fin where a centre parting might otherwise be. (And this despite knowing what Mainoumi actually looks like.)
Cheers,
Alex.
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