Disarming and Weapon Retention
Modern warfare is all about firearms. If you have a gun and the other guy doesn't - and he doesn't surrender before he gets close enough to be a threat - shoot him. In close-quarters battle, though, any tight corner could conceal an enemy close enough to grab your weapon. To counter this, military styles teach how to keep weapons away from unfriendly hands that is, the Retain Weapon technique. If the other guy has the gun, the correct response is to take away his weapon and shoot him with it -...
Innate Attack
Use Innate Attack to create the chi blasts wielded by martial artists in video games and comic books. These take many forms flaming breath, devastating kiais, weapons of pure chi, and so on. Some of the more improbable claims made for legendary masters in the real world would also be Innate Attacks, such as blows delivered from a distance, direct psychic attacks, and the sinister hand of death. If the GM allows such abilities, he should limit damage to keep Innate Attack from eclipsing the...
points Xgy
This knife-fighting style is based on medieval and Renaissance European martial arts but differs little from Asian, African, and ancient Roman arts. It would fit into almost any setting as is. Likewise, while dagger historically described a fairly specific weapon see Chapter 6 , Dagger Fighting works with any of the fighting knives used worldwide for streetfighting and personal defense, and as auxiliary weapons in dueling and warfare - singly or in pairs. Practitioners typically favor larger...
Style Familiarity
Style Familiarity means you've studied and or practiced a martial-arts style. You must pay a point for familiarity with any style you know. Exception The Self-Defense lens, p. 145, lets you ignore this requirement . . . but you won't enjoy the allowances below. Its effects are as follows You can acquire the style's Style Perks, learn its cinematic skills provided you have Trained by a Master or Weapon Master , improve its techniques whenever you have the points, and buy abilities listed among...
How GURPS Works Stun vs Real Injury
A common misconception is that barehanded combat inflicts stun injury that somehow differs from real injury caused by weapons. This is untrue in real life and in GURPS. A punch or a kick rarely bleeds much, giving the illusion of lesser harm - but if it sends a man to the ground, breaks his arm, or knocks him out, it inflicts genuine, tissue-destroying damage. Being crushing, a fist or a foot might lack the wounding modifier of a cutting, piercing, or impaling weapon, but it has the same...
Oyama Masutatsu Mas Oyama 19231994
Oyama Masutatsu was born Yong I-Choi in Korea in 1923. At age 15, he moved to Japan, hoping to become a military pilot. Life as a Korean in Japan was difficult, though, and his dreams of aviation fell away. He took the name Oyama after the family he lived with and began to train in Karate under Funakoshi Gichin p. 23 . He made rapid progress, having trained in Chinese martial arts while in Korea. He was a nidan second-degree black belt by age 18, when he joined the military. After World War II,...
Hsing I Chuan
Hsing I Chuan also known as Hsing-yi or Xingyichuan is one of China's three main internal, or Taoist, styles. Unlike its sister arts Pa Kua Chuan pp. 187-188 and T'ai Chi Chuan pp. 200-201 , Hsing I Chuan is linear and direct. Modern research traces its origins to a teacher in mid-17th century Shanghai, who developed it from spear techniques. However, legend attributes its invention to General Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty 960-1127 , who created it as a style for army officers. Supposedly,...
Hard Itl
Prerequisite Karate or Brawling cannot exceed prerequisite skill. This is a kick that shoves your adversary away instead of injuring him. You hit him with the flat of your foot and push. Many kickboxing styles use this technique to shove an opponent into the ropes or far enough away to allow a full-extension finishing move. A Push Kick is a shove p. B372 in all respects except that it's done as a kick. Roll against Push Kick to hit. Your opponent may defend normally. If you succeed, roll your...
points Fht
Ifan Badjam officially founded Tapak Sutji Pentjak Silat in 1963, at the age of 72, in Central Java. A long period of development and practice preceded this event, however, and the art's true origins stretch back to the 1920s and the founding of an earlier school with identical drills and teachings. Practitioners fought the Japanese during WWII, the Dutch in the late 1940s, and the Communists in the 1960s. Like other Silat styles, Tapak Sutji stances are low to the ground. They aren't static -...
Precognitive Parry
Prerequisites Trained by a Master or Weapon Master Danger Sense or Precognition and one melee combat skill at 18 . This skill allows you to parry attacks that normally come in too fast to parry - bullets, beams, etc. - without having Enhanced Time Sense. You must be aware of your attacker for Precognitive Parry to work it's worthless against true surprise attacks. Whenever an attack that satisfies these criteria would hit you, make a Precognitive Parry roll. Modifiers Add the higher of your ESP...
Effects of Hidden Weapons
A sudden assault with an undetected weapon counts as a surprise attack p. B393 . When one weapon is merely hidden inside another, the target knows a weapon is present. On the turn the hidden weapon pops out, his first defense against it is at -2. In either case, defenses against attacks after the first aren't affected. Knife-Wheel p. 228 - China. A Slashing Wheel p. 223 with knife blades protruding from either side. Traditionally used in pairs. Knobbed Club p. 226 illustration, p. 154 -...
Adrian Froste 200 points
Adrian was born in 1537 to a Warwickshire man-at-arms and his wife. Despite being raised like any English girl, she was more fascinated with her father's skills than her mother's domestic duties. She eventually convinced several of her father's younger comrades to train her. Most regarded this as a fair trade for the opportunity to spend time with a pretty if eccentric girl. When Adrian was 17, her father marched off to some nastiness in which the Duke of Suffolk was embroiled. It proved to be...
points Yyx
Shotokan Ryu is the Karate school founded by Funakoshi Gichin p. 23 . It's named for the pseudonym he used when writing poetry Shoto Pine Wave . Funakoshi led the relocation of Karate to Japan, and today his school is one of the world's largest Karate organizations. Many Karate schools worldwide teach either Shotokan or a style based on it. In Shotokan as in most traditional Karate styles, the karateka learns to defend and then counterattack, and launches each technique with the intention of...
points Fws
Sojutsu, also known as Yarijutsu, is the Japanese art of spear fighting. While samurai are popularly associated with swords, many preferred the spear for warfare - mainly because of its reach advantage and effectiveness against mounted foes. Historically, the spear played a very important battlefield role. Sojutsu deals primarily with using the spear for stabbing. It includes some training at wielding the spear as a staff, but warriors who wish to make extensive use of such tactics should...
points Njg
Dr. Maung Gyi - son of one of the men who developed Bando after World War II - introduced Bando to the U.S. in 1959, formed the American Bando Association ABA , and founded its namesake style. ABA Bando is a powerful style meant for self-defense and combat situations. The ABA Bando contains various animal forms, the exact number of which depends on the specific school. There are typically 12 in ABA Bando boar, bull, cobra, deer, eagle, monkey, paddy bird, panther, python, scorpion, tiger, and...
Stickfighting
Many African tribes retain a tradition of stickfighting as both a sport and until recently a combative art. In some cases, fighters wear padding and wield whippy sticks in others, they wear no protection and use heavy knobbed clubs. There are both one-stick and two-stick styles two-stick styles use the off-hand stick for parrying. Some traditions eschew parrying and simply alternate strikes until one fighter gives in from the pain. Defending in such a contest is considered cowardly and weak...
Bear Hugs
If you've used two arms or two legs to grapple an opponent's torso, you can squeeze. For this to be effective, your Size Modifier must exceed your victim's Resolve this as an attempt to strangle see Choke or Strangle p. B370 . If you lack Constriction Attack p. B43 , you're at -5 in the Quick Contest. Using your legs gives the usual -2 DX and 2 ST see Using Your Legs, p. 79 . Victory inflicts crushing damage - but the torso lacks the neck's x1.5 wounding modifier. You can try to crush the...
Jian
On your next turn - and on each turn thereafter, until your prey breaks free - you may apply pressure to your victim's carotid arteries to subdue him or to his trachea to choke him. This counts as an attack. Roll the Quick Contest described in Choke or Strangle p. B370 . Your hold gives you 3 ST. A carotid blood choke inflicts fatigue damage. A tracheal air choke delivers crushing damage. You can apply this hold using a weapon. Default and prerequisite skills become a weapon skill. The lever...
Hard Vwm
Prerequisite Judo or Wrestling cannot exceed prerequisite skill. This attack involves controlling an enemy's head and neck using two arms. It targets similar body parts to Choke Hold p. 69 . However, the goal is to lock your victim's neck in a way that lets you injure it or his throat - not to cut off his blood or air supply. To apply this lock, you must first grapple your opponent by the neck see Grappling p. B370 . Your victim may attempt to break free on his turn. If he fails, then on your...
Hard Vgs
Prerequisite Wrestling cannot exceed ST or Wrestling. Piledriver involves grappling your opponent, turning him upside down, and driving his skull into the ground by sitting down hard. This is a clumsy, risky move, rarely seen outside professional entertainment wrestling. It's a special All-Out Attack option - use these rules instead of the usual ones for that maneuver. To execute a Piledriver, you must first grapple your opponent with two hands by the arms, torso, or legs. Resolve this as an...
Theogenes of Thasos 5th Century BC
Born on the island of Thasos in the early 5th century B.C., Theogenes was a boxer and pankrationist of legendary skill. A full-time athlete, he traveled widely to compete. He purportedly won between 1,200 and 1,400 bouts. These included 23 major contests, among them two Olympic crowns - one in boxing, one in pankration - and a double victory at Isthmus winning boxing and pankration in the same day . Some sources claim that he killed or disabled most of those he defeated. True or not, his rivals...
Sentry Removal
Silently neutralizing a sentry is the only situation where a melee weapon is preferable to a firearm. This arises less often in reality than in action movies, which is why ordinary troops don't carry silencers, glove pistols, and similar exotica. When necessary, a knife will do and the goal is to kill, not to fight. If you can't silence the target without a struggle, shoot him - a single shot is no less stealthy than a screaming brawl. The Knife skill is all that's needed here, but techniques...
Weapon Master
In a Martial Arts campaign, this advantage represents natural talent with low-tech weapons, or training in the esoteric secrets of an armed fighting style. Its main benefit is the damage bonus noted in the Basic Set, but it also grants access to cinematic abilities, which might include The cinematic skills Blind Fighting, Flying Leap, Kiai, Mental Strength, Power Blow, Precognitive Parry, Pressure Points, Sensitivity, Throwing Art, and Zen Archery, as long as they belong to one of the martial...