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> The American Ninja SR3 project, Ninja NPCs and campaign ideas
Wounded Ronin
post Feb 12 2006, 11:53 PM
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After many years of GMing SR3 I have been in many situations where I’ve run out of ideas, and had nothing interesting or constructive to bring to the gaming table. My inevitable solution in these cases was to make the game for the day about ninjas. I’ve decided to bring my years of ninja GMing to the table in this document by supplying you, the reader, with statistical representations of the various ninja threats and NPCs from American Ninja 1 and American Ninja 2. (American Ninja 3 wasn’t as interesting.)

If a GM is ever in a pinch for material, he can always use the following archetypal storyline. Ninjas (either real Japanese ninjas or else genetically engineered ninjas in the service of organized crime) have been causing problems for the UCAS armed forces in a politically unstable area of the world. (Like Detroit.) Because the formal military is bureaucratic and has difficulty responding with agility to things on such a small, specific scale, specialists have been called in to handle the situation. This was the basic storyline of American Ninja 2, and the specialists called in were the main characters, Curtis Jackson (played by Steve James, if I recall correctly) and Joe Armstrong (played by Michael Dudikoff). However, in the context of Shadowrun, this could easily be a group of professional shadowrunners who are known to have dealt with organized crime in the past.

Below follows statistics for ninja mooks and NPCs who may be used as cannon fodder and opposition in such a campaign. Accompanying each set of statistics is a brief summary of the role of the character in the American Ninja films, and some comments about how these characters could be of use to the GM.

American Ninja 1

American Ninja 1 Japanese Ninja

The ninjas in American Ninja 1 were ninjas in the traditional sense of the word. They were trained by a Japanese ninja master, Black Star Ninja, and were used as an inexpensive means of providing security and enforcement by a French organized crime boss operating out of the Phillipines. This is a big contrast to the ninjas in American Ninja 2 which were genetically engineered monstrosities trained as ninjas for no apparent reason. Whereas the people in the ninja costumes in American Ninja 2 and 3 appeared to be of assorted races and predominantly American, the underlying understanding in American Ninja 1 was that everyone wearing a ninja costume was Japanese, or at least Asian, because in the words of Black Star Ninja, “it is death to teach the outsider!”, or something to that effect.

If we understand that the American Ninja 1 ninjas are ninjas in the traditional sense of the word it would make sense to assign them with relatively high skill levels as they are career ninjas rather than the soulless laboratory freaks from American Ninja 2. In melee combat these ninjas will be quite dangerous to characters without either a lot of armor or strong melee skills. Regardless, they are limited in that they don’t have improved initiative, they don’t wear armor, and they don’t use firearms, so as an individual each ninja is low threat to a prepared team.

This is very much in keeping with the spirit of American Ninja 1. When the ninjas ambush the Vietnam-era US Army they are able to win. However, at the end of the film, when the Army prepares for an assault and rides in with vehicle and mounted machinegun support, the ninjas are cut to ribbons.

What this means is that as the GM if you want to give the players a challenging scenario the ninjas should only make surprise attacks using their Stealth 6 skills so that every time there’s an encounter there’s a certain chance a character will have to resist something in the neighborhood of 9M physical with impact only and no combat pool. But if your players are new to the game, or else preoccupied with something silly like character development instead of number crunching and Army urban combat manuals, you could have the ninjas always attack in the open, where they’re basically a black-clad shooting gallery.

Statistics:
Body 6
Strength 6
Willpower 5
Quickness 6
Intelligence 4
Charisma 2
Essence 6
Combat Pool 7
Karma Pool 1
Init: 5 + 1d6

Unarmed Combat 6
Edged Weapons 6
Thrown Weapons 6
Clubs 6
Flails/Whips 6
Pole Arms 6
Projectile Weapons 6
Stealth 6

Gear:
Black shinobi shozoku (gives camo armor bonus to Stealth checks when worn at night)
Random martial arts weapon (pole arms plus ambush are good to make the players cry)


Black Star Ninja

Black Star Ninja was the “only ninja blackbelt living outside of Japan”, according to his employer in American Ninja 1. Black Star Ninja was a menacing figure, clad in metal armor and sporting a shinobi shozoku that had the kanji for “black star ninja” in red going down the chest in the most classy manner imaginable. Black Star Ninja was a master of stealth who was able to sneak into army bases and houses to do the bidding of his boss. Black Star Ninja, used as an unseen menace performing acts of sabotage or assassination, could be an effective and memorable NPC, especially with his large karma pool preventing most untimely slip-ups. Black Star Ninja was played, I believe, by Tadashi Yamashita, who brought the role to life with a nice thick Japanese accent in his lines: “he possess gleat skirr...”


One inexplicable quirk of Black Star Ninja was that he apparently carried a one-shot laser weapon in one of his gauntlets at all times. It’s not clear why he only chose to make use of it once and instead preferred to use outdated melee weapons even when confronted with firearm-equipped enemies.

Body 6
Strength 6
Willpower 6
Quickness 6
Intelligence 6
Charisma 6 (the accent makes him irresistible)
Magic 6
Essence 6
Combat Pool 9
Karma Pool 15
Init 6 + 1d6 (10 + 3d6)

Unarmed Combat 8
Edged Weapons 12
Thrown Weapons 8
Clubs 8
Flails/Whips 8
Pole Arms 8
Laser Weapons 3
Stealth 8 (14)
Athletics 6
Projectile Weapons 8

Powers
Improved Reflexes II
Improved Ability: Stealth +6

Knowledge Skills:
Ninjas 8
Medieval Japanese special forces tactics 8
Organized Crime 4
UCAS Military 2

Gear:
Armored shinobi shozoku (gives camo armor bonus to stealth at night, 0/3)
Ninjato, or any other melee weapons
Laser gun (at GMs discretion)


American Ninja 2

American Ninja 2 genetically engineered ninja


In American Ninja 2 the “ninjas” weren’t ninjas in the traditional sense of the word; rather, they were genetically engineered products coming out of the laboratory of an organized crime boss. It’s not clear why the organized crime boss chose to dress, equip, and train the fruits of his laboratory as medieval assassins when he could have simply given them guns. Perhaps his decision was influenced by economy. If we accept that he was capable of producing thousands of obedient ninja through his laboratory but didn’t necessarily have the assurance that he could keep any of them in training for very long, or that his laboratory products would even possess mental stability and common sense, perhaps equipping each one with black market automatic firearms and all the ammunition required for regular practice would have been prohibitively expensive. Perhaps, given the scale on which the ninja were being produced, giving them sticks and swords was the only sustainable method of outfitting them given his means. And, since the crime boss intended to sell his ninjas to other crime bosses as the ultimate in obedient and unquestioning security, perhaps he felt a little more secure giving them only melee weapons while he kept normal people with submachineguns at his base on Blackbeard Island. In any case, for most low-level conflicts that a drug seller might be involved in, five fanatical ninjas with swords would probably be better than two semi-competent thugs with pistols.

Because of the mass produced and genetically engineered nature of the American Ninja 2 ninjas, I reasoned that their physical attributes would be reasonably high, but whatever processes were used to transform their minds probably left them with low mental attributes, and their short lifespans as ninjas probably means that their skill levels are only moderate, even if they receive the hardest instruction. To emphasize their short-lived and soulless natures I’ve decided to give this particular category of ninja a karma pool of zero.

The question is, of course, what use are these ninjas to the GM, if they are so sub-standard? I think that the key thing for the GM to do is swamp the PCs with sheer numbers of enemies. Mentally it would be kind of tiring for the GM to do this, but matters are simplified a bit by none of the ninja having karma pool (so no extra rerolls), and I think most GMs could throw twenty or maybe thirty ninjas at the PCs in one fight with enough cola or coffee to keep him or her going. If none of the ninjas have ranged attacks (i.e. none of them fling shuriken, which would be only marginally effective anyway), moreover, a lot of the combat would just be the PCs making ranged attack rolls while the ninja charge, so it would go a lot faster than it would if the GM also had to manage 30 ranged attacks and corresponding dodge tests each turn.


The truth is, I think that these ninjas are the ideal way to punish the PCs for not carrying enough ammunition with them. In my experience most players don’t really bring realistic amounts of ammunition with them into the field. I see a lot of players buying maybe 200 rounds for each of their guns at character generation, and taking a small fraction of that with them on shadowruns. On the other hand, though, an Army cadet once told me that the standard load of 5.56 ammunition for a soldier going into the field is 210 rounds. And if you think about it in the context of a shadowrunner, given that after raiding a corporate facility or something you might not be able to contact your fixer or return to your apartment for a long time if you’re being followed, wouldn’t you take as much ammunition as you could carry? Psychologically, the fear of the reasonable possibility of running out of ammunition during hour number six of being on the run would probably make the vast majority of people carry as much as they could. So, I think that maybe three encounters with 30 discount ninjas appearing in each one while the PCs are in a politically unstable foreign country where they can’t order more ammo in the amount of time that they have would really be a nice test of whether or not the PCs are carrying a “reasonable” amount of ammunition or not.

This leads into some interesting potential twists in campaign, as well. If the PCs do run out of ammunition, they will have to improvise weapons, or else figure out some clever way of “skipping” any future combats, so the campaign could develop into a test of ingenuity. If the PCs run out of ammunition but are still facing waves of ninjas, it’s possible they will be defeated. However, because of the nature of the SR3 combat engine, they could just as easily be taking Stun damage as Physical from very effective melee weapons like a bo staff. Perhaps the PCs get captured and whoever is controlling the ninjas plans to use their genetic material to produce more superior ninjas. This, after all, was the major premise behind the American Ninja 2 storyline. Then the campaign would have taken on an “escape” theme, and, given the lack of firearms there would be in a ninja-guarded base, would probably have to emphasize Metal Gear style stealth and improvisation. In the words of Socrates, “ninja-related prison humiliation is the hallmark of ‘role-playing before roll-playing.’”

Either way, at the end of the day, all surviving PCs would have enormously braggable kill records. Imagine being the sammie who mowed down 50 ninjas with your SAW before you actually ran out of belted ammunition and were forced to dispatch the remaining 30 with your Light Wound inflicting handspurs. Just imagine how legendary he’d become at the local shadowrunner bar, striding in and asking the bartender for some vodka because his “hand is still crampin’ up from all that work!”

Body 5
Strength 5
Intelligence 2
Willpower 2
Quickness 5
Charisma 1
Essence 6
Combat Pool: 4
Karma Pool: 0
Init: 3 + 1d6

Unarmed Combat 3
Edged Weapons 3
Thrown Weapons 3
Clubs 3
Flails/Whips 3
Pole Arms 3
Stealth 3
Athletics 3
Projectile Weapons 3

Knowledge Skills:
Cinematic ninja teamwork 2

Gear:

Random martial arts weapon
Heavily padded ninja stunt suit (0/1)

American Ninja 2 “Super Ninja”

Part of the premise of American Ninja 2 was that the crime boss was trying to use genetic engineering to create a “super ninja”, “like a predatory tiger...his muscles will be replaced by the strongest high-tensile steel...his knowledge of attack will increase one hundred fold, and he will know no emotion but hate.” It is never explicitly stated in the dialogue, but in one scene Joe Armstrong and two other characters are pursued while they are in a pickup truck by one very persistent ninja, whom I believe is supposed to represent a prototype of this “super ninja”. Otherwise, the toughness of that one ninja in that scene would have been inexplicably greater than the toughness of every other ninja in the film; this particular ninja is only destroyed after a long struggle when the vehicle crashes into some kerosene barrels and explodes, whereas Joe Armstrong effortlessly defeats the other ninjas with a few crisp punches and kicks.

Originally, I was going to give the “super ninja” a Body score of 20, to represent his near-indestructibility. However, I decided that from the viewpoint of the SR3 rules that wouldn’t make very much sense, because the highest possible natural value for a human (i.e., a genetically perfect engineered human) is 9, and no cyberwear or bioware would by itself (i.e., the aforementioned muscle replacement) be able to raise that 9 to a 20 by itself. Regardless of how tough the super ninja was in the film it wouldn’t make sense to somehow make his muscle replacement so much better than “textbook” SR3 cyberware, so in the end I decided to make the “super ninja” a human with maximized base attributes and a little bit of cyberwear.

I didn’t put in too much cyberwear because I decided that the “super ninja” is still going to be designed with economy in mind. Otherwise, why not just hire an ex-special forces rifleman? The relatively low cost of production means that as the climax to a campaign it wouldn’t seem very out of whack for a GM to throw a huge amount of super ninjas at the PCs. If the PCs are advanced characters who are tactically strong in their actions, why not give them an endgame challenge of 40 or so “super ninjas”? Or, if you wanted to give the PCs are more rigorous test of their ammo management, swamp them with “super ninjas” instead of normal ones and give the “super ninjas” armor jackets which would statistically mean that more ammo must be dispensed for the same statistically probable amount of damage dealt. Upgrade the threat by giving the ninjas smoke and flash grenades, which are both stereotypical ninja weapons and decent tools in the SR3 world. A final thought: if a ninja-based campaign in the first campaign for a group of players, introduce them to the combat engine with the normal ninjas, but when they get used to the rules upgrade the ninjas to “super ninjas”.

Body 10 (exceptional attribute)
Strength 9 (11)
Intelligence 1
Willpower 9
Quickness 5
Charisma 1
Essence 2
Combat Pool 7

Karma Pool 0
Initiative 3 + 1d6 (7 + 3d6)

Unarmed Combat 6
Edged Weapons 6
Thrown Weapons 6
Clubs 6
Flails/Whips 6
Projectile Weapons 6
Pole Arms 6
Stealth 2
Athletics 6

Cyberwear:
Wired Reflexes II
Muscle Replacement

Gear:
Heavily padded ninja stunt suit (0/1)
Random martial arts weapon
Ninja smokebombs and flashbangs (GM discretion)

Edges:
10 boxes of High Pain Tolerance
Courage

Mary Sues, aka friendly NPCs

The friendly NPCs are Joe Armstrong and Curtis Jackson, who are Ranger sergeants at the time of American Ninja 2. They’re apparently the top-secret ninja experts which the military maintains for whenever a crime boss decides to use his ninjas against the armed forces. If the PCs ever get into serious trouble, these NPCs can be used to bail them out in the interests of de-emphasizing the importance of the PCs and inflating the coolness and importance of NPCs, as is good GMing form.

Sgt. Joe Armstrong

Joe Armstrong is the hero of American Ninja 1 and 2. He was a caucasian child raised in the Philippines by a Japanese army officer who was also a ninja. The Japanese officer didn’t know that World War II was over, so he spent all his time hiding in the jungle and decided to raise Joe (“the only American name I knew”) as his son and ninja disciple. Joe was separated from his mentor and lost his memory before being returned to the US. He kept getting into legal trouble because even though his memories were gone his super ninja reflexes weren’t and he kept busting out extreme classical jujitsu on people at inappropriate times. His crimes got him put in the Army, and he was posted back in the Philippines as a taciturn maladjusted youth where he was reunited with his old mentor, made friends with an Army martial arts instructor named Curtis Jackson, and got his memories back. Using his newly discovered ninja-ness, he destroyed an arms smuggling operation that used ninja security and saved the day.

In American Ninja 2 Joe Armstrong has apparently signed up to be a Ranger and is being maintained, along with Curtis Jackson, as one of the Army’s resident ninja experts. He is sent to a politically left-leaning Caribbean island in order to save the Marines posted there as embassy guards from ninja abduction. He does so, naturally, dispatching enemy genetically engineered ninja after enemy genetically engineered ninja with casual classical jujitsu.

Joe Armstrong doesn’t really have very much of a distinct or pronounced personality. In American Ninja 1 he spends a lot of time as a shy socially inept youth, but after he recovers his super ninja memories his personality becomes characterized by bland, generic heroicness. This lack of personality would make him an excellent Mary Sue, since all Joe Armstrong has to do is play the good guy but not really say anything or do anything memorable (aside from kick a lot of ass). Think of the indignation, the outrage, and the hilarity that would ensue as the GM mercilessly Mary Sues Joe Armstrong, using him to rescue the “incompetent” PCs from ninjas again and again and again. I recommend bringing a digital camera to record facial expressions at your gaming table.

Note that Joe has a lot of firearms skills because he’s a Ranger and would have to have them; in the films he never shoots anyone. He only ninjas them.

Body 6
Strength 6
Willpower 6
Quickness 6
Intelligence 6
Charisma 2 (bland, bland, bland...)
Magic 9
Essence 6
Combat Pool 9
Karma Pool 15
Init 6 + 1d6 (10 + 3d6)

Unarmed Combat 8 (14)
Edged Weapons (ninjato) 7 (9) (13 (15))
Thrown Weapons (shuriken) 7 (9)
Clubs 8
Flails/Whips 8
Pole Arms 8
Assault Rifles 6
Assault Rifles (B/R) 6
Pistol 3
Rifle 6
SMG 6
Shotgun 6
Stealth 8
Launch Weapons 6
Heavy Weapons 6
Athletics 6


Powers
Improved Reflexes II
Improved Ability: Edged Weapons +6
Improved Ability: Unarmed Combat +6

Initiate Powers
Centering, applicable to Athletics, Unarmed Combat, and Edged Weapons

Knowledge Skills
Zazen 6 (used for centering)
Ninjas 8
Special forces tactics 5
UCAS military 4
Organized crime 2
Medieval Japanese special forces tactics 8

Gear:
Full suite of ninja equipment, as well as anything the Army would reasonably supply

Sgt. Curtis Jackson

Curtis Jackson was one of the most memorable characters in the American Ninja series of movies, and he was an especially humorous character with strong screen presence in American Ninja 2. Jackson is an amazingly muscular african american Army martial arts instructor who becomes Joe’s first friend in American Ninja 1. He later signs up to be a Ranger and works with Joe in American Ninja 2. Jackson makes the movies come alive with a brilliant blend of humorous machisimo, athletics prowess, and rigid, muscular displays of Okinawan karate and kobudo. He hits on women and starts telling them about exercise, taunts everyone who fights with him on the basis of their being tiny and weak compared to him (“if you wanna be a big man you gotta learn how to eat!”), screams things like “STAY DOWN” to people he just beat up (and they stay down, which makes it funny), yells “IT’S A PARTY” before getting into a nine on one bar brawl, grabs your testicles to crush them, and things like that. I think that the character Jax from Mortal Kombat is basically a ripoff of the character Curtis Jackson. Curtis Jackson definitely has the potential to be a humorous and memorable NPC if he is roleplayed well by the GM. The key is to portray a veritable juggernaut of joyful, unselfconscious masculinity tempered by honed physical strength and martial arts prowess.

In American Ninja 3 Curtis Jackson uses an AK carbine, in American Ninja 2 Jackson uses an automatic assault shotgun and a hand grenade, and in American Ninja 1 Jackson operates a M60 machinegun which is mounted on a vehicle. It’s not out of character, therefore, for Jackson to prioritize using powerful firearms over martial arts, and as such he’s an ideal “cavalry” character if the GM wants to save the party, or something. Besides, it would be very funny if Jackson blew Black Star Ninja away with an assault rifle and then screamed, “STAY DOWN!”

Body 10 (14) (exceptional attribute)
Strength 9 (13)
Willpower 6

Intelligence 4
Quickness 5
Charisma 8
Magic 6
Essence 6
Combat Pool 7
Karma Pool 12
Init 4 + 1d6 (6 + 2d6)

Okinawan karate and kobudo (unarmed combat 6, clubs 6, flails 6, pole arms 6)
Edged weapons (butterfly swords) 5 (7)
Thrown weapons (grenades) 2 (4)
Assault Rifles 6
Assault Rifles (B/R) 6
Pistol 3
Rifle 6
SMG 6
Shotgun 6
Stealth 4
Athletics 9
Launch Weapons 6
Heavy Weapons 6

Powers
Improved Reflexes I
Improved Attribute: Strength +4
Improved Attribute: Body +2

Knowledge Skills:
t3h str33t 4
UCAS military 4
Special forces tactics 4
Ninjas 3
Organized Crime 2

Gear
Butterfly swords
Anything the Army would reasonably issue
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nezumi
post Feb 13 2006, 01:49 AM
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Very cool. If only there was an adept power that would help my PCs use their firearms better while rocking out and killing ninjas.

Oh wait...
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Tanka
post Feb 13 2006, 02:49 AM
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QUOTE (nezumi)
Very cool. If only there was an adept power that would help my PCs use their firearms better while rocking out and killing ninjas.

Oh wait...

The ultimate in 80's tastic running!

Rockin' out, shootin' ninjas and sporting really bad hair.
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mfb
post Feb 13 2006, 09:10 AM
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according to my Score-o-Matic, Wounded Ronin has just won Dumpshock.
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nick012000
post Feb 13 2006, 09:52 AM
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QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)
The truth is, I think that these ninjas are the ideal way to punish the PCs for not carrying enough ammunition with them. In my experience most players don’t really bring realistic amounts of ammunition with them into the field. I see a lot of players buying maybe 200 rounds for each of their guns at character generation, and taking a small fraction of that with them on shadowruns. On the other hand, though, an Army cadet once told me that the standard load of 5.56 ammunition for a soldier going into the field is 210 rounds...


Heh.

Say that to the characters who go and spend all of their excess resources on ammo.

Like the assassin-mage in my group with 10,000 EX EX rounds for his SMGs secreted about.
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SL James
post Feb 13 2006, 10:07 AM
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QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)
"...he will know no emotion but hate.”

I should print that on my business cards.
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Vagabond
post Feb 13 2006, 10:59 AM
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Years of GMing SR3 and you still don't use the Martial Arts rules from Cannon Companion? Wow...
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hyzmarca
post Feb 13 2006, 11:09 AM
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This idea is too brilliant to mar with something as flawed as the Canon Companion martial arts rules.

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Chance359
post Feb 13 2006, 12:01 PM
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What about American Ninja 4?
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nezumi
post Feb 13 2006, 04:06 PM
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As an aside, RottenTomatoes.com gave American Ninja a score of 0% with the one supportive comment being "I liked it when I was 14". It did not rate the rest of the movies. Perhaps said site should be the target for a Drop Bear Invasion?
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DocMortand
post Feb 13 2006, 11:43 PM
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Must...forcibly....convert...all..."unpopular"...sites...by...drop...bear....invasion....
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emo samurai
post Feb 14 2006, 01:00 AM
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They...will...know...nothing...but...drop...bear...hatred...
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SL James
post Feb 14 2006, 03:38 AM
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Too... many... ellipsis... makes... me... go... insane...
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Wounded Ronin
post Feb 15 2006, 02:01 AM
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QUOTE (Vagabond)
Years of GMing SR3 and you still don't use the Martial Arts rules from Cannon Companion? Wow...

Hyzmarca called it right. I really, really hate the Cannon Companion martial arts rules because they're not just unrealistic, but downright bizarre and surreal. (Kind of like certain aspects of the firearms rules, I guess.)

I've been a pretty dedicated martial arts hobbyist for around 8 years now. During my time that I've been involved with this hobby I've practiced both striking and grappling with fully resistive sparring, and I've also taken the time to practice various classical-style TMAs.

But, the CC martial arts rules just offend all my sensibilities so much that they're not even fun to contemplate. The "basic" system contained in SR3, taken as an abstract, pugilism-centric system, even makes more sense to me than the "advanced" rules in the CC.

I don't have my SR books with me now, but off the top of my head, "whirling" was just one example of a martial arts power with absolutely no basis in reality. If you're attacked by three people you're not going to be much more effective just because you're spinning around like a wushu or XMA spaz than if you only studied boxing or what have you. It just has no grounding in reality whatsoever, and is in fact totally bizarre.
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Vagabond
post Feb 15 2006, 02:14 AM
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If you dislike a manuver, you don't have to use it. I rarely use any of the manuvers. I just use M/A to justify a more "realistic" combat style. If I know Kenpo, for example, then I should be just as good with clubs as I am with my bare hands. *shrug*
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Wounded Ronin
post Feb 15 2006, 03:37 AM
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QUOTE (Vagabond)
If you dislike a manuver, you don't have to use it. I rarely use any of the manuvers. I just use M/A to justify a more "realistic" combat style. If I know Kenpo, for example, then I should be just as good with clubs as I am with my bare hands. *shrug*

But even rigidly classifying different formal martial arts as different skill sets is in many ways just as incorrect as making Shotgun, Rifle, and Assault Rifle totally different skills.

Just like you wouldn't make seperate skills for "Thunder Ranch Civilian Self Defense Pistol" or "Basic US Army Rifelry Course" or "World War II submachinegun operation", but would more logically make skills like "long barrel firearm", "short barrel firearm", and "automatic fire management", it's pretty much meaningless to make seperate skills for things like "ninjitsu", "kung fu", and "ju jitsu".

It's not the art and/or your feelings of identity, but the *skills* you possess. And skills are not absolutely bound by theoretical schools or marketed entities, but rather by what an individual has accrued over the course of his life. If I'm good with a pistol, it dosen't matter whether I learned from the Army or from Thunder Ranch. It's the skill that matters, skills derived from physical attributes and trained reactions.

Theoretically, Kenpo might teach how to use various clubs in traditional syllabi. But, in practice, your average Kenpo practitioner may know some forms and techniques with a club, but he sure as hell is not going to be as *proficient* in stickfighting as a Dog Brother. (Dog Brothers are a group of people who actually practice full contact stickfighting with each other, so they absolutely *know* stickfighting on a level that the rest of us who aren't crazy enough to get whacked with sticks full power all the time just can't experience.)

Let me put this in a more humble-sounding way. Over the course of my life, I took a year or two to go to an okinawan karate and arnis club, where I did some stickfighting drills, practiced some stickfighting techniques, did disarms, and so forth. But the fact that I theoretically am trained in arnis would really be meaningless if I got into a stickfight with a Dog Brother. It's the difference between intellectual or theoretical constructs ("I took arnis, and did stick drills, therefore I 'know' stickfighting") and the presence or absence to varying degrees of physical attributes.

So, if you want to be "realistic", I think that you're being surreal and gravitating towards fantasy if you choose to realize specific "martial arts" as seperate skills.

If you want to be "realistic", you should instead name skills based on actual skills. You'd take levels in things like "Pugilism", "Groundfighting", "Short blades", "Long blades", "blunt short to medium length weapons", "pole weapons", "entanglements", "clinchwork", "throws", and that sort of thing.

So, it wouldn't be "I know kempo, therefore I am just as good with sticks as I am with pugilism and entanglements and throws." Instead, it would be a much more realistic and nuanced thing like this:

Bob the Kenpo fighter
Pugilism 4, entanglements 4, throws 3, groundfighting 2, blunt weapons 2

Ralf the Dog Brother
Blunt weapons 6, entanglements 4, throws 2

Or something like that.

Much more realistic, *and* much more flavorful.
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Vagabond
post Feb 15 2006, 08:54 AM
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Well, personally, I don't have a problem with the Martial Arts rules in SR3. Maybe it's because I've used them long enough- I don't know. But whatever works for you. If I thought posting my resume would help prove a point, I would, but this is a game we're talking about. You say tomato, I say 'mater.

Have fun! :)
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Grinder
post Feb 15 2006, 10:11 AM
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QUOTE (emo samurai)
They...will...know...nothing...but...drop...bear...hatred...

You're welcome :D

I never used the martial arts rules of the CC. I always had the impression that the rules presented there complicate a meelee fight too much, but haven't had any chance to test then in my games....
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Kagetenshi
post Feb 15 2006, 02:32 PM
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QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)
Hyzmarca called it right. I really, really hate the Cannon Companion martial arts rules because they're not just unrealistic, but downright bizarre and surreal. (Kind of like certain aspects of the firearms rules, I guess.)

And like the martial arts typically seen in movies.

Sounds like a match made in heaven.

~J
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Wounded Ronin
post Feb 15 2006, 09:09 PM
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QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
QUOTE (Wounded Ronin @ Feb 14 2006, 09:01 PM)
Hyzmarca called it right.  I really, really hate the Cannon Companion martial arts rules because they're not just unrealistic, but downright bizarre and surreal.  (Kind of like certain aspects of the firearms rules, I guess.)

And like the martial arts typically seen in movies.

Sounds like a match made in heaven.

~J

Whereas in general I don't like the CC martial arts rules, I see your point. They could "work" for a cheesy ninja campaign.

However, I'd say that the major downside would be that the CC martial arts rules slow down combat. If I, the GM, am trying to throw 30+ ninjas per battle at the party in order to swamp them, I'm not sure I want to be rolling martial arts manuevers for everyone.

So, I'd say that the CC martial arts rules could work insofar as they're a hot cheese injection, but that you'd really only feasibly be able to use them if you weren't having enormous encounters, but rather a few small encounters based on flavor rather than challenge or danger.
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Mr. Man
post Feb 16 2006, 02:03 AM
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QUOTE (tanka)
The ultimate in 80's tastic running!

Rockin' out, shootin' ninjas and sporting really bad hair.

Does Dr. McNinja read Dumpshock?

That's today's strip. It's uncanny.
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Mr.Platinum
post Feb 16 2006, 02:18 AM
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Thats some good shit, I'm cutting and pasting for DOTN = Day of the Ninjups.
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John Campbell
post Feb 16 2006, 06:28 PM
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Are these Dog Brothers guys connected to the Tuchux?
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Wounded Ronin
post Feb 16 2006, 09:04 PM
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QUOTE (John Campbell)
Are these Dog Brothers guys connected to the Tuchux?

I don't know who or what the Tuchux are.
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John Campbell
post Feb 16 2006, 10:29 PM
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QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)
QUOTE (John Campbell @ Feb 16 2006, 01:28 PM)
Are these Dog Brothers guys connected to the Tuchux?

I don't know who or what the Tuchux are.

They're an SCA splinter group that basically recreates B-movie fantasy barbarians. They do SCA-style rattan stick-fighting, but with fewer rules, and refer to their fighters as "dog brothers". I'm wondering if this "Dog Brothers Martial Arts" might have spun off, in turn, from the Tuchux, and dropped the barbarian schtick and just kept the stick-fighting.
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