Okay. Why do I bother with this? Because apparently I need a quick fix as a player of mine was in a club and decided to break dance.

Breakdancing: The skill where you do all kinds of crazy dances.
Defaults to (skills, -3): Athletics (default to Gymnastics for only -1), Unarmed Combat
Defaults to Quickness attribute.

Yeah, its kinda convoluted, but think about it - Many break-dancing moves are based on gymnastics and kicks and stuff, soooo that's why the defaults are the way they are. I'm sure there can be specializations but I don't know enough about breakdancing to do them. I'd probably say you could specialize in the "Worm" or the "Headspin" but meh, you get the idea.

Anyway this is just a fun skill. The way a breakdance battle works is to act as if doing an unarmed combat exchange, target number 4 and whoever has more successes wins.

I'd just use the canon Dancing Skill, which is a Knowledge Skill. Breakdancing could be a specialization of that.

so what's the karma cost for increasing a sepcialization ofa knowledge skill then?

Eh? But the way I've been taught, knowledge skills can't be used as actives. Then again I wouldn't be terribly surprised...

Knowledge Skills in SR3 should really be named 'Not overly useful in a Shadowrun situation' Skills. They are not necessarily all linked to book learning, but are rather all lumped into a catch-all category of miscellaneous skills. SotA 63 (?) states that skills like Singing, Dancing, Art, and other skills that can be linked to Centering are all Knowledge skills.

IIRC, Knowledge Specialization costs are 0.5 times the new skill level up to Intelligence, and 1.5 times the new level when exceeding Intelligence.

We always use pretty specific 'Not overly useful in a Shadowrun situation' Skills in our game, so never even thought about specializing in one before. Nice, get a rank 6 skill for 3 karma. Must be really easy to break dance!
For Shadowrunners anyways.

yes sensei, that is what I meant. I am much chastised. *hangs head in shame*

It could also be linked to a specific unarmed combat style, capueda. (I know I'm not spelling that right, it's from Brazil.)

say... as an adept's centering skill for unarmed/ capoiera?
That would be interesting

Meh, silly rules and their "only if it ain't useful" style. Furthermore, silly me for being awake at 4:20 and pegged with this rush of energy.

I like Breakdancing. I reallly do

Look at it this way. You still get the skill, abd you can raise it for less karma.

Breakdancers Of Death Attack!

Much better than faceless ninja thugs.

If you've ever seen/practiced capoeira, you'll understand why it's really quite distinct from breakdancing. They're definitely similar, but you sure as hell won't be breakdancing to kick ass.

SPIN ass, maybe... Kick ass...no.

Wow. I thought this topic was KIA already LOL

Should have been. But dark necromancy is pretty much the only thing keeping Dumpshock running these days, and it's bound to spill over into posting habits of the inconsiderate.

Dancing =/= hand to hand combat. Otherwise, ballerinas would be deadly, as would gymnasts.

Yes, it is true that a gymnast or ballerina would be a bit more dangerous if he or she decided to fight back...the ballerina would have the muscles to kick you pretty hard.

The thing is, though, that unless they're psychologically and reflexively ready for hand to hand combat through hand to hand combat training it would still be a lot easier to overwhelm them with a sudden hand to hand assault from a trained individual. It's like the attributes are there but not the skills and mentality.

Aha, but in Gymkata, Kurt Thomas needed to also train with "Western Trainer" and "Eastern Trainer" (portrayed wonderfully by Tadashi Yamashita: "heal the onry sound of axe cutting ailu") before he could employ the deadly art of Gymkata.

As the movie poster says, "The Skill of Gymnastics, The Kill of Karate".

That being said, in any game I run I accept "Gymkata" as equivalent to Unarmed Combat.

Also, I just realized that if it were Sho Kosugi in that film instead of Kurt Thomas, Sho Kosugi would have effortlessly pwned all the bad guys, because he has Missile Parry, but Kurt Thomas dosen't. Like, all those dramatic points where someone gets hit by an arrow and dies? ("Arrow!") Sho Kosugi would just catch them all.

You mean Jean Claude van Damme isn't a complete and total badass in real life?



I still remember some crap about him thinking that he could kick Steven Seagal's ass... Dude, you're a fragging ballerina. He's a black-belt in (Jujutsu was it?). Yeah, you're toast....

I love the story about the time Chuck Zito decked him (VD) in Score's.

Norris should have stayed in MA, although short clips of Walker can be incredibly funny.

Segal is an aikido man. I think Chuck Norris could beat the crap out of him.

I think that no matter who wins, the people watching lose.

I don't know about that. What could be more hysterically awesome than Chuck Norris beating up Van Damme?

I don't have a problem with Norris. I've disliked almost all of his movies, but he's a great guy. Seagal, on the other hand...

Hey, none of these 3 guys were any great shakes as actors; in fact, they were all pretty damned bad. I would argue that Norris is the best "actor" of the bunch, but that's damning with faint praise at best.

In terms of being able to fight though, I would probably rank them Norris, Seagal, then van Damme, purely from rumor mill and magazine chatter (excluding the age factor for Norris).

I'd rank Van Damme above Segal because Van Damme actually has a tournament fighting background and actually exercises. Segal is kind of a walrus relying on his mass distorting gravity around him to make his aikido work.



And, since this thread is about making new skills, I realized what we need to do. We must create a Gymkata skill for SR3. That is the reason I have resurrected this thread after running a Search for Gymkata.

Pardon my ignorance but Gymkata?

I can safely say I would stand up and walk away from any gaming table where someone had a dance-off in a club. This is the WORST idea I've ever read. And that includes a troll samurai who wanted a panther assault cannon "sawed-off" to fit under his leather bomber jacket.

I nominate Denicalis for the list of Least Fun Players.

~J

Least 80s Players, anyway.

I think this thread is hilarious. Though... why do I have a feeling it'd be one of those that would also be appropriate in the Mr. Johnson forbids thread?

As for dancing, I can it of two ways. Actively buying the skill kinda based off of athletics? Or you use the knowledge skill and then a separate athletic skill to pull off the moves, similar to what others have said.

As for gymkata... I still rolling from that hilarious portion when he's running through the insane town. Heh, oh look there's a bar in that alley that I can use. How convenient.

Problem is, I was born in the 80's. I have no desire to revisit Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo against a dystopian backdrop. I'd probably allow someone to start a break-off in a club in one of my games, but I'd promptly have him firebombed by some annoyed bar patron who realised what an unfunny, painful thing it would be.

Ahhh..
..I remember having Breakdancing as a skill in Ghostbusters.


Happy days and lotsa fun !!



Just my thruppence..

I would love to see a campaign written up that has the possiblity of avoiding a conflict through a dance off.

Back to a previous discussion about Capoeira and breakdancing.

The biggest difference that I see (aside from intent) is that in Capoeira, the only thing touching the ground is your hands and feet. To fall, loose balance, trip or land on your but is the equivalent of loosing as it is a complete loss of face.

@Denicalis, loosen up man, dont be a prick. Some of us just want to get loose and tango.

Well, I've been flipping ideas around in my head for a Gymkata active skill. I'll do a little write up when I'm done on DSF.