+Douglas Cole tossed down a gauntlet (as he usually does) while I was ill (I hurt my back about 2 weeks ago and it’s just now that I’ve been able to type or write for extended periods of time). While I was laid up I got to thinking, Evaluate is kind of a “special maneuver” – […]
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Melee Academy: Martial Arts Style – Tán Tuǐ
While preparing for my wuxia campaign, the Middle Kingdom, I wrote up a couple of styles for my players to use. The following was one of them. Technically, Tán Tuǐis mostly a series of forms or sub-style. I really stretch the GURPS definition of a martial arts style, but it’s cool and thematic and I […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Reordering Initiative II
A random stray thought while sleep-deprived over on my private Discord server for my gaming group had me asking if you could reverse the order of initiative in GURPS and what it would ultimately mean. This led to a couple of other thoughts and I’ve just kind of tossed them all down here. Do note that […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: A Decisive Blow
+Douglas Cole is talking about an alternate way to perform the Evaluate maneuver and I got to thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know) “Why isn’t their a maneuver to sacrifice skill for damage?” We have one for making it hard to avoid an attack, but not one to increase its potency? There is always All-Out Attack […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Hostile Diplomatic Relations (or “How to Disarm With Words Instead of Swords”)
“Drop. Your. Sword.” If there is anything more iconographic of a threat resulting in the disarmament of an opponent it’s the near final scene of Princess Bride. In my mind, there’s not much more powerful than the moment where Wesley/The Man in Black has nothing left to fight with but his wit and it’s more […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Reordering Initiative I
I like noodling with alternate rules sometimes or just plain tinkering with how combat works. As I’ve noted before – Speed Kills. The faster you are the quicker you can attacker and the more damage you can inflict. The way GURPS combat functions combatants go in order of decreasing Basic Speed (e.g., Basic Speed 9.25 goes […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: The Feats of Samson
The Biblical figure of Samson (or “Sampson”) from the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) is an interesting guy. Basically, he’s the Christian version of Heracles (and has interesting ties to that particular mythological figure as well). He did some pretty cool things, things which any PC in any campaign would love to do. […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Speed Kills
Like most things in life, rapidity is often advantageous. In combat, speed is almost all that matters. Put bluntly: Speed kills. In GURPS, if you are fast enough, skilled enough, or coordinated enough you can pull off some amazing things. The Basic Set combat system gives you several “standard” methods of attacking (All-Out Attack, Attack, and Move and […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Bar Fights and Being a Bouncer, Part II
Note: The title is a bit of a misnomer, since only half the post deals with actual bar fights – but I like the title…so there. Grappling has been talked about a lot on the forums lately and it’s gotten me to thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know). What have I seen performed in real […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Variant Judo Throw II
Oddly enough, my Tuesday post about Judo Throw got a lot of hits and quite a few comments (both here and on the forums). One of the comments sparked my imagination was by Peter Dell’Orto: “By the way, tossing someone into a table is a clear case of “Kiss the Wall” and it’s that […]
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