Adepts have their Hermetic Magic, their Mesmerism, and their Theosophy. Experts have their Inventions and amazing Vehicles. The Warriors out there are pouting because they haven't gotten any love. My goal is to make so much cool shit available in this game that everyone wants to make ten characters.
I use "Martial Arts" in the broadest sense, and my short list includes the following forms:
• Bartitsu: Publicized by Barton-Wright, this was a boxing/judo combination. It was made famous when, in "The Empty House," Holmes reveals he defeated Moriarty at the Falls thanks to his mastery of Bartitsu.
• Boxing: London Prize Ring and Queensbury Rules; John Sullivan is the greatest boxer of the age.
• Fencing: Foil, Epee, Rapier, and German Schlager fencing.
• Hung Gar Kung Fu: The style of Wong Fei Hong, star of over a hundred Hong Kong action pictures, and a valid Literary Character* from the period.
• La Cane du Combat: French cane-fighting techniques developed in the Napoleonic era. Now taught along with Savate.
• Quarterstaff: A popular British sport in the period, with many combat moves.
• Savate: The first Savate academy, the Charlemont Academy, opened in Paris during our period and accepted all classes and genders. Kicking, grappling, punching, and panache.
• Shao Lin Kung Fu: The style of Kane. The Shao Lin Temple was also notable for its resistance to the Manchus.
• Victorian Singlestick: This is a sport in our period; Teddy Roosevelt would later become an avid singlestick player.
• Wrestling: Mostly Greco-Roman in character.
My current plan is inspired by the OGL Martial Arts Mayhem: each style will have a list of requirements, with up to three degrees for especially robust styles. Characters who fulfill the requirements for a given degree of a given style will get, for free, a minor ability unique to that style. They will also gain access to a special technique, purchased as a feat. The system is designed to reward characters who collect feats and skills from a small list.
* This is the term I am using for what might be called a "Feature" in other games. That word is no good, as such characters are not actually "featured" in Penny Dreadful. They are no more or less important than "original characters" and are distinguished by one thing: they are Literary. Thus: LCs and OCs.
10 comments:
.. Shiiiiiiiiny.
And you people mock me for my character juggling. You, sir, are an ENABLER! I'm on to your schemes! *fistashakes mightily*
Another additional thought: both I and Dee love the parkour sport/thing. I did some research and we could actually have a kind of proto-parkour in our lineup without falling too much out of synch with history.
Specifically this guy -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_H%C3%A9bert -- developed what he called méthode naturelle sometime between 1902 and WWI. Is that too much timewarp for us to just drag him back a few decades/have someone else invent it?
Interesting. It seems to me that "parcours" would be a good feat. I'll add it to my "to-do" list.
Here's a sample of what I am going for.
Bartitsu
Begging absolute, terrible pardon if I'm interfering with a cross-section of things. Martial arts are sort of a personal interest of mine.
Bartitsu was primarily a stick-fighting style, which also taught umbrella-fighting techniques. Not familiar with the Sherlock Holmes books at all, it's possible the emphasis was shifted towards empty hand combat in the fiction.
Savate was, at least in the earlier 1800s, an incredibly lowdown, uncouth style that was based primarily on kicks with shod boots; any hand techniques were *exclusively* slaps or otherwise open handed, due to some archaic rule that equated a closed fist with a lethal weapon.
Boxing is more aptly "prize fighting" until 1840/50: until then, it's Broughton rules if there were any rules at all (kicks and grapples were okay, hitting a downed opponent or grabbing the hair was not).
Queensberry Rules boxers (post 1850ish) are exactly like modern boxers--rounds, the ring, punches only. It's perceived as much more gentlemanly as well.
If you're willing to leave mainland Europe, you can have a variety of stickfighting techniques in escrima, and certainly capoeira (being a highly acrobatic empty-hand martial art disguised as dancing) might be in the repertoire of an escaped slave from the Americas.
Again, apologies.
No apologies are necessary. We're pretty much playing the same notes. I have read Barton-Wright's several articles, including the late stick-fighting ones, but also the earlier ones which illustrate unarmed combat. A cinematic version of the art now exists on the wiki.
I know of Savate's early street-fighting roots and will deal with that, while emphasizing the more scientific approach of the Academy which opened to teach Savate in Paris, and where it became fashionable.
I have reference material for both pre and post-Queensbury Rules for boxing, and anticipate dealing with both sorts.
There are, as you note, many many more styles which could be included. I just have a short list which I consider a good place to start, and the rest will have to wait for Expansions.
Well, blogger ate my first attempt at commenting. Curses! But the gist of it was that the sharpshooters and possible archers may also want some kinda specialness. Of course, you've got a lot on your plate already--perhaps I'll use the examples for the fisticuffs breeds and see if I can come up with something.
Some sort of "American Style" gunslinging would, I think, be very welcome by players and certainly by me. (I steal that phrase from the film of League, where it is used disparagingly by Quatermain in contrast with the "if you can't do it in one bullet, don't do it at all" British style.)
There are a number of resources: the OGL Martial Arts Mayhem has "Gun Fu" and the Victorian Cyberpunk game Etherscope has "Met Fu," both Matrix-influenced gun combat styles.
Heh, was sorely tempted by Etherscope during our last FLGS visit for the Unhallowed Metropolis signing, but I figured we had our hands full with UM and True20. Fundage isn't what it used to be, but it did look very nifty.
Etherscope looks like a good game. It's mechanically based on d20 Modern; the only thing that really disappointed me is a lack of adventures and setting stuff. I'm also not entirely sure that 1984 Victorian Cyber-punk is better than 1884 Victorian cyber-punk.
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