Martial Arts Style: Process of Eminence (Blog-or-Treat)

Skeleton puns.

So, martial arts, right? Fun book, but kinda humanocentric. I mean, every once in a while, it says something about SM or extra arms, but not enough! But then I decide to go ahead and make a martial arts style that pertains to a two-armed, two-legged upright biped, huh? Ok, never mind, let's take a look at what we can do!

Review: Martial Arts

Cover!

I always have a weird feeling when reviewing these books that are what I would almost consider pillars or foundations of the system, that I am just preaching to the choir. Martial Arts is next to fundamental if you like melee or low-tech combat in GURPS whatsoever. It almost feels like it goes without saying that 9/10 games will benefit from having it. So, with that in mind, I need to write this review for the edification of people that aren't GURPS experts and instead might not have even played GURPS at all, so that's the path I'm going to take while reviewing this very critical book.

Advantage: Dark Souls Riposte

Sweet sweet damage.

In some video games, like the Dark Souls franchise, parries allow us to set up an extremely damaging riposte. I want to see how hard it might be to theoretically create an advantage that covers these mechanics. Let's check it out.

Technique: "Sneaky Broom Neck Attack"

They call me hadouken, because I
wobble from downwards all the way
forward.

So, one section of Martial Arts I feel I neglect a bit is the techniques customization section, so I think I'm gonna putz with creating a technique for my quarterstaff using player that might work well. Let's see how that goes.

Combat Maneuver: Feint

Real life example of a feint.

Feints, I feel, I do not utilize enough, maybe? They sound like something with a bit of a niche application, but they might be usable in the right circumstances. On the other hand, I really like deceptive attack. It's kinda fun (if not a little reckless) going for broke with the mindset, "eh, if I didn't miss with the deceptive attack, she probably would have dodged/blocked/parry anyway."
Today, I do little reflection on Feints and try to make them work for me.

Martial Arts Style: Vampire Killer

Conan versus Count Chocula.

So, I've done a bit on whips before, and I like Castlevania a bit, even though some real aficionados might call me a light weight (Gatekeepers, gasp!) Today, I'm gonna try putting together a martial arts style based on the moves that Richter Belmont and Jonathon Morris use in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.

Combination Attacks: Reverse Engineering, and Applying Fast Bow.

Either get Heroic Archer, or
buy this bow. (Source)
Use The Deadly Spring to stat
it out though. {=^)

So, to start, I asked this question in this thread about how one might use a combination attack to speed up ready maneuvers. Though a ready is not an attack, these guys did point me to some pseudo-precedence for just such a power-up in the name of the Heroic Archer advantage in Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers. This post, though short, I think can be a gateway to several useful techniques. Let's take a look.

Martial Arts: Combination Attacks Example

The rules for combination attacks in Martial Arts were a little confusing to me, but I believe I have unraveled them. I think they are still a bit complicated, so for future reference, I will spell out here the process of creating a two-hit combination attack involving a sweep with a quarterstaff followed up by a Stamp Kick to the face.

Artifact: Dragonslayer Spear

In-Game Art

Something from Dark Souls, a Dragonslayer Spear. This is a powerful weapon used by one of four great knights of legend. Let's tinker with putting this together.