Street Fighter RPG blog

A World of Martial Arts for Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

2011-11-21T20:39:00.001-05:00

Let’s say you're playing StreetFighter: The Storytelling Game using only the core rulebook and Secrets of the Shadoloo but you stillwant a wider range of martial arts to be available to the characters. This postoffers a quick and dirty way to accomplish that. It’s based on a simplepremise—that you can create a reasonably large range of styles with a fewtweaks to the existing martial arts in the game.

I’ve been meaning to do a more extensive job of creating andorganizing a large list of styles, but it is a very time-consuming process. Thisis an attempt at a workable system that gets me to a large style list withoutthe time investment needed to create entire styles from scratch. In campaignplay, I imagine I would expand on this to develop a full suite of styles overtime. For now, though, this will do for pick up games. (pdf copy here.)

Notes

These are cinematic styles, so they play very fast and loosewith reality. I’ve made some adjustments to named styles to make them at leastsomewhat better resemble their video game or real world counterparts where Ihad some relevant knowledge, but they’re still very loose. For example, thereare still punches in styles that don’t include much punching, and so on. There’sa whole lot of artistic license in here that won’t hold up to the scrutiny ofmartial arts connoisseurs. I'm ok with that.
Where the new style differs from the base style in terms ofstarting Chi and Willpower, the new style’s starting Chi/Will is given in thetext.
You’ll need to reinterpret many existing moves to fit thelook of the style. I haven’t included much in the way of description, butGoogle and Wikipedia are good starting points. For example, a move like SiberianBear Crusher might be reinterpreted as a shoot and slam for a wrestler, aflying power bomb for a professional wrestler, and a quick forward dashfollowed by a wrist lock throw for Aikido. For a brawler from the streets,Flying Head Butt may stay a flying head butt… or it may be the result ofdashing into someone and straight up shoulder checking them or just slamminginto them, as countless Final Fight battleshave shown.
I haven’t included many heavily weapon-based styles in thelist, and the styles that are included are a fairly ad hoc collection.
Multiplesare included for certain styles in order to bring the number of items on thelist to 100 (there are 71 unique entries on the list), in case you want to rollup random styles from this list.

A World of MartialArts

Aikido: UseNative American Wrestling (Chi 5, Will 2). Remove Spinning Clothesline and allAthletics maneuvers. Add Siberian Bear Crusher (4), Fireball (3) and StunningShout (2).
Aikido
American Ninjitsu:Use Special Forces Training (Chi 3, Willpower 4). Purchase Focus maneuvers fromthe Any list.
Bio/Cyber: UseKabaddi (Chi 4, Will 3). Add Spinning Clothesline (4) and Turbo SpinningClothesline (4). Assume all Focus maneuvers are powered by bio/cyber implants.(They still cost Chi.)
Boxing: UseBoxing. Add Boxing Punches (1), which gives a Punch version of Short, Forward,and Roundhouse Kick.
Boxing
Boxing
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:Use Sanbo (Chi 2, Will 5). Remove Punch maneuvers except Ear Pop. Add Wounded Knee (2).
Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu:Use Wushu. Remove Fireball maneuvers. Add Elbow Smash (1) and Lightfeet (3).
Capoeira: UseCapoeira. Add Capoeira Kicks (1), which gives a Kick version of Jab, Strong,and Fierce Punch. Add Handstand Kick (1). Assume that rolling attacks consistof cartwheel and spinning kicks.
Catch Wrestling:Use Sanbo.
Crane Fist: UseKung Fu. Add Crane Fist, which allows any basic punch to be made with a reachof 1, but which misses opponents within the fighter’s hex. (The Crane Fistcombat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the BasicPunch it will modify.)
Dog Boxing (gouquan): Use Capoeira. RemoveBackflip and Musical Accompaniment. Add Grab maneuvers from Special Forces.
Dragon Fist: Use KungFu. Add Dragon Claw (2), which adds +1 to speed, damage, and movement of anybasic punch for a cost of 1 Chi. (The Dragon Claw combat card must be selectedat the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
Drunken Fist (zuiquan): Use Wushu. Remove RekkaKen. Add Cup Hand Strike (1), which allows a swaying block/dodge while usingbasic punches (-1 damage, +1 soak when using a Basic Punch). (The Cup Handcombat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punchit will modify.)
Eagle Claw: UseNative American Wrestling. Remove Spinning Clothesline and Shockwave. Add EagleClaw (1), which allows any basic punch to be made at -1 damage in exchange fora +1 speed to any Grab next turn. (The Eagle Claw combat card must be selectedat the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
Eight Trigram Boxing(baguaquan—Pa Kua): Use Kung Fu(Chi 6, Will 1). Remove Kicks. Add Grabs from Native American Wrestling. AddWalking the Circle (3)—at the cost of 1 Chi, the fighter may move one heximmediately after completing an attack. (The Circle Walking combat card must beselected at the beginning of the turn alongside the special maneuver it willmodify.)
Glima: Use NativeAmerican Wrestling. Remove Diving Hawk and Thunder Strike. Add Ice Blast (3).
Goju-ryu Karate:Use Shotokan Karate (Chi 4, Will 3). Remove Flaming Dragon Punch, ImprovedFireball, and Flying Fireball. Add Regeneration (2), Mind Reading (3), and ZenNo Mind (3).
Goju-ryu Karate
Goju-ryu Karate
Goutetsukan Karate:Use Shotokan Karate. Add Yoga Teleport (5).
Grand Ultimate Boxing(taiqiquan—Tai Chi): Use Kung Fu(Chi 6, Will 2). Remove Kicks. Add Focus maneuvers from Kabaddi, exceptExtendible Limbs. All fire-based attacks become extended Chi attacks.
Grand Ultimate Boxing(Tai Chi)
Grand Ultimate Boxing(Tai Chi)
Hapkido: UseSpecial Forces Training (Chi 3, Will 4). Remove Cannon Drill. Add Fireball (3),Regeneration (2), and Chi Kung Healing (4).
Hwarang Do: UseKung Fu. Remove Dim Mak, Rekka Ken, and Dragon Kick.
Isshin-ryu Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Remove HyperFist and Rekka Ken. Add Maka Wara (3), San He (3), and Toughskin (3).
Jeet Kune Do: UseKung Fu (Chi 1, Will 6). Remove Dim Mak.
Judo: Use NativeAmerican Wrestling (Chi 3, Will 4). Remove Punches and Athletics maneuvers.Remove Thunderclap and Ghost Form. Add Back Roll Throw (1), Siberian BearCrusher (4), and Fireball (3).
Judo
Judo
Jujutsu: UseNative American Wrestling. Add Back Roll Throw (1), Fireball (4), and ImprovedFireball (4).
Kalari Payat: UseKung Fu. Remove Dim Mak and Rekka Ken.
Kanzuki-ryu Bujutsu:Use Kung Fu (Chi 2, Will 5). Remove Dim Mak and all Fireball maneuvers. AllowKicks to be included in Rekka Ken, which also has a prerequisite of Kick 4.
Karate: UseWestern Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Fireball (3) and Stunning Shout (2). Nameyour style of Karate.
Karate
Karate
Kickboxing: UseWestern Kickboxing.
Kickboxing
Kickboxing
Kung Fu: Use KungFu or Wushu. (Your Choice.) Name your style of Kung Fu.
Kung Fu
Kung Fu
Kushti (IndianWrestling): Use Sanbo.
Kyokushinkai Karate:Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Osu! (usePsychokinetic Channeling) (4) and Toughskin (3).
Kyokushin Karate
Lucha Libre: UseNative American Wrestling. Remove all Focus maneuvers. Add Athletics maneuversfrom Wushu.
Mantis Fist: UseKung Fu. Add Mantis Fist (2), which allows any basic punch to be made at -1damage in exchange for a -1 movement penalty to the opponent next turn. (TheMantis Fist combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongsidethe Basic Punch it will modify.)
Mind and Body Boxing(xingyiquan—Ching-I):Use Boxing(Chi 6, Will 1). All Head Butt maneuvers become strikes (Names for Punches:Chopping Strike, Drilling Strike, Crushing Strike, Exploding Strike, CrossingStrike). All Grabs become unbalancing attacks (KD in hex)—when the boxer usesan unbalancing attack (or throw), it does not look like a throw – only a touchis necessary (Names for Grabs: Unbalancing, Taking the Root, Cutting the Root.)Add Stunning Shout (2).
Mongolian Wrestling(Bkyukl Bökh): Use Native American Wrestling. Replace all Sustained Holdeffects with KD effects. Remove Ghost Form. Keep the Diving Hawk and Rising Hawktheme: eagles/hawks are thematically appropriate for Mongolian Wrestling.
Monkey Boxing:Use Kung Fu. Remove Dragon Punch, Dim Mak, and Rekka Ken. Add Beast Roll (3),Rolling Attack (3), and Vertical Rolling Attack (2).
Ninjutsu: UseSpanish Ninjitsu. Add all Focus maneuvers from Shotokan Karate. Name your styleof Ninjutsu.
Old Bujutsu: UseKung Fu. Remove Dim Mak. Make Fireball (3), Improved Fireball (3), and FlyingFireball (3). Add Stunning Shout (2).
Pankration: UseSanbo.
Pencak Silat: UseKung Fu. Remove Dim Mak, Rekka Ken, and Dragon Kick.
Pro Wrestling:Use Sanbo.
Pro Wrestling
Psycho Power: UseLer Drit.
Rindokan Karate:Use Western Kickboxing. Add Maka Wara (3), San He (3), and Toughskin (3).
Saikyo-ryu: UseShotokan Karate. Fireball has a range equal to Wits. Remove Improved Fireballand Flying Fireball.
Sambo: Use Sanbo.
San Shou: UseWestern Kickboxing. Replaced all sustained hold effects with knockdown andthrow effects (all Grabs are sweeps or throws).
Savate: UseWestern Kickboxing. Add Flash Kick (4).
Secret Agent CombatTraining: Use Special Forces Training.
Secret Agent
Senjutsu: UseKabaddi.
Shaolin Temple Boxing:Use Kung Fu (Chi 2, Will 5).
Shaolin
Shorinji Kempo:Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak, Rekka Ken, and Dragon Kick.
Shorin-ryu Karate:Use Western Kickboxing.Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Fireball (3).
Shotokan Karate:Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Fireball (3), SanHe (3), and Toughskin (2).
Shotokan
Shuai Jiao: UseNative American Wrestling (Chi 4, Will 3).
Snake Fist: UseKabaddi. Remove Head Butt maneuvers and all Fireball maneuvers. Add Dim Mak(4).
Soaring Heavens KungFu (feitinkuen): Use Kung Fu.
Spanish Ninjitsu:Use Spanish Ninjitsu.
Special ForcesTraining: Use Special Forces Training.
Special Forces
Street Fighting:Use Boxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Flying Head Butt (2).
Street Fighting
Sumai (Old StyleCombat Sumo): Use Sumo.
Sumo: Use NativeAmerican Wrestling. Remove Diving Hawk and Thunder Strike. Replace allSustained Hold effects with KD.
Tae Kwon Do: UseWushu (SFtSG, p. 99). Remove Rekka Ken and Backflip. Add Flash Kick (4). AddTae Kwon Do Kicks (1), which gives a Kick version of Jab, Strong, and FiercePunch.
Tae Kwon Do
Tae Kwon Do
Thai Kickboxing (MuayThai): Use Thai Kickboxing. Remove Dragon Punch (unless learned fromSagat).
Thai Kickboxing
Thunderfoot MartialArts (Folkstyle Wrestling): Use Native American Wrestling.
Tiger Claw (Fu Jow Pai): Use Kung Fu. Remove DimMak. Add Tiger Claw, which allows a basic punch to be made at -1 movement for+1 damage. (The Tiger Claw combat card must be selected at the beginning of theturn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
Wado-ryu Karate: UseWestern Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Back Roll Throw (1),Back Breaker (2), and Neck Choke (1).
Wing Chun: UseBoxing (Chi 2, Will 5). Add Trapping Strike (Monkey Grab Punch) (1). Make RekkaKen (4). Remove Grab and Athletics maneuvers.
Wing Chun
Wrestling: UseSanbo. Remove all Punch, Kick, & Athletics maneuvers.
Wrestling
Wudan Temple Boxing:Use Kung Fu (Chi 5, Will 2).
Wudan Temple Boxing
Yağlı Güreş (TurkishWrestling): Use Sanbo.
Yoga: UseKabaddi.
Yoga

We have a fight coming up. What do you think about that?

2011-11-13T12:14:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you have a tournament and need to establish some prior history or attitudes between NPC fighters. You can choose one fighter to roll for and read the table from that fighter's perspective, or you can roll once for each.

Also available in a printer friendly format.

1. This is a sport, and I'm looking forward to a good fight.
2. You have a problem with me for personal reasons. I stole your girl/guy, and I'm not going to apologize. I'll try not to make you look too bad out there.
3. I always beat you. This time won't be any different.
4. I always win this one. It's just a good match up for me.
5. I've beaten you before. This fight is going to go just like the last one.
6. Remember the last time? I beat you so bad it was embarrassing for both of us.
7. For me, it's just another fight, but for you it seems to be personal. I don't know why.
8. You're jealous of my skill. You've been trying to copy me. We both know it.
9. I'm successful, and you want that, and it's making you hungry. Good. But don't forget I got to where I am for a reason.
10. You're just another W on my record.
11. I have to beat you to move up. It's the next logical step for me.
12. I have no respect for you as a fighter.
13. I just don't like you.
14. Nobody likes you. I'm doing everybody a favor here.
15. You're famous, and that makes this a no lose fight for me.
16. You're tough, but I can handle it. That just makes me work harder.
17. You're not even a real fighter. You're just a martial artist.
18. You're school/style isn't very good.
19. You don't do your homework and study the tapes like I do, and it's going to cost you.
20. Everyone knows you're a natural, but you don't train hard enough.
21. Everyone falls. It's your turn.
22. I've been working hard, and it's my time now.
23. I'm going out there and I'm going to outwork you.
24. You've got heart, that much we know. But is it enough?
25. I'm going to take you deep, and test your heart.
26. You never work enough on conditioning. You're going to get tired and sloppy, and I'll be ready.
27. You're going to make a mistake, and it'll only take one. I'm going to capitalize on it.
28. It's always a joy to watch you fight, and I'm looking forward to going up against you.
29. Let's go out there and put on a good show for the fans.
30. I always give everything, no matter who my opponent is.
31. I'm going to get you out of your comfort zone.
32. I'm going to beat you at your own game.
33. I've been studying your tapes, and I know your openings.
34. I'm a warrior, and this is going to be a war, not a sport fight.
35. You crossed the line when you said those things about me in that interview. I'm going to go out there and shut you up.
36. Your last fight made you famous, but it was a fluke, and I'm going to prove it.
37. You're a legend/rising star, but you're getting slow/old/careless, and I'm going to take advantage of that.
38. It's my night.
39. We've trained together, and I know your game.
40. You've beaten me in training but this is the real thing, and it's going to be different.
41. You're a good friend. Let's test each other out there.
42. I'm better than you.
43. You don't even deserve to be in the ring with me.
44. You're a wannabe.
45. You've got no heart, and I know it. You've been lucky so far, but I'm going to hurt you, and you're going to quit.
46. I'm going to make you look bad in front of your friends/sensei/girl/guy/family
47. You've had it easy, just like everybody else. You haven't had to work as hard as me to get here. You don't want it like I want it.
48. I don't care who you are -- it's all the same to me. They keep putting 'em in front of me, and I keep knocking 'em down.
49. Last time, our fight ended in a controversial decision. This time we're going to set the record straight.
50. We're one-for-one. Let's settle this.
51. I've beaten everyone else from your camp/dojo/family. I don't think you're going to be the one to change that.
52. I've beaten your sensei/trainer/teacher. You're not going to be any trouble.
53. Last time, we got in a fight in the hotel bar/elevator/parking lot. This time you don't have your friends with you.
54. You worry too much about advertising and self-promotion and your pretty abs and not enough about fighting.
55. You're just a fighter, not a true martial artist.
56. I fight to test myself, and you are a worthy test.
57. I'm an animal in there. You're going to regret taking this fight.
58. You betrayed me when you switched camps. That hurt. This is going to hurt too.
59. I train with people who've trained with you, and I have your number.
60. You hired my old trainers to prep you for this fight, but it's not going to help.
61. Our teams/schools are longstanding rivals, and I need to win this one for my team.
62. Our teams/schools are longstanding rivals, but that doesn't matter to me. I just want to have a good fight.
63. I've seen you fight, and you're always safe. You won't be safe in the ring with me.
64. I've seen you fight, and it's boring point-scoring. I'm going to make this one exciting.
65. I'm going to get on you and smother you, not give you room to move, make you play my game.
66. I've seen you fight, and it's always exciting. This fight won't be any different.
67. This is a great opportunity for both of us to get some new fans and raise our profiles.
68. I respect your skill as a fighter, but I'm going to win this one.
69. Mutual respect.
70. I have to admit, you beat me pretty bad last time. But I'm a different fighter than I was back then.
71. What exactly is your beef with me?
72. I'm going to pick you apart.
73. Mutual disrespect.
74. We've been trying to make this fight happen for a long time. Finally we're going to find out who is stronger.
75. It's been a while. Let's see who's stronger now.
76. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you have an unhealthy obsession with me.
77. You have a chip on your shoulder. You need to get over that if you're going to grow as a person and a fighter.
78. You think you're stronger than you are. This is going to be a wake up call.
79. You've had a good run lately, but you're due for a loss.
80. You've had a few wins, but you keep getting lucky.
81. You gave me my first loss, and it's time to avenge it.
82. Your game has holes in it, and I'm going to exploit them.
83. You've dishonored/disrespected your school/team/dojo, and you've got this coming.
84. You've dishonored/disrespected my school/team/dojo, and you've got this coming.
85. You killed my teacher!
86. You're secretly in league with Shadoloo, and I know it.
87. You're good. But not good enough.
88. Your style is unusual, and hard to read, but I'm going to go out there and break it.
89. I'm going to go out there and fight my fight, and win.
90. You're looking past me to your next opponent. That's a mistake.
91. You've got no soul, kid.
92. You're all business, no heart.
93. I'm a fan. I'm looking forward to seeing how I measure up.
94. You always choke in the big fights, and we both know it.
95. You're a known cheater, but it's not going to save you.
96. You're basically a bully. And I hate bullies.
97. We have a friendly rivalry.
98. We have a bitter rivalry.
99. I've taught you some things. Now you're going to get your chance to prove yourself.
100. Remember that time I kicked your ass? Yeah, so do I.

Tell me about your Sensei

2011-10-30T16:18:00.001-04:00

Roll 1d100 (pdf version)

1. taught me to strike first, strike hard, and show no mercy
2. is a funny drunk
3. is a mean drunk
4. resents me for learning so quickly and naturally
5. doesn't approve of using the martial arts for violence
6. is very competitive
7. can still beat me in a fight
8. is always very kindly
9. everything is a riddle
10. made me do all the house and yard work
11. made me strike and kick trees, rocks, and waterfalls in training
12. has very high hopes for me
13. puts me under a lot of pressure
14. supports me even when I fail
15. is very precise and demanding, expects precision from me
16. is in it for vengeance against Shadoloo
17. has a former student who was very talented and turned to evil
18. has a former student who was very talented and died young
19. has a former student who is kind of an embarrassment
20. is embarrassed by me
21. is kind of an embarrassment to me
22. has a reputation among the older generation as a trouble-maker
23. used to be tough as nails and beat everyone up
24. is still tough as nails and won't stop fighting
25. is a retired assassin who is now reformed
26. is a retired assassin who misses the good old days
27. used to be a soldier-of-fortune
28. used to be a bodyguard
29. has amnesia
30. is on the lam, wanted by the government for a crime he didn't commit
31. is in hiding from ninjas
32. is in the witness protection program
33. trained me for one goal: revenge on an old enemy
34. is haunted
35. is a ghost that possesses my body and teaches me to fight
36. is the last of an ancestral line of warriors, passing the knowledge on to me
37. was always masked, and I still don't know their true identity
38. knows a lot of famous martial artists and has stories about them
39. created their own style, which is the most powerful martial art ever devised
40. used to be great but is really out of shape now, but still teaches
41. won't talk about the old days
42. is a huge sports fan and still follows the fights closely
43. has a gambling problem
44. still works as a gardener, handyman, or fisherman
45. is a devoted hobbyist, only talks about fishing, fast cars, bird watching...
46. always makes inappropriate comments in public
47. meditates constantly, teaches meditation as the key to fighting
48. talks about inner peace a lot. I mean a lot.
49. has a huge school with lots of students in a remote compound
50. has a huge school with lots of students in a downtown mega-gym
51. is in it for the money
52. will only take one student at a time and is very loyal
53. will only take one student at a time and ejects poor students mercilessly
54. invented a secret "one hit kill" technique but won't teach me yet
55. has a media empire of training videos, books, licensed schools, etc.
56. is homeless and lives in the park
57. is a hermit who lives in the remote wilderness
58. trains just as hard as the students
59. has a rival who also teaches the same style in their school
60. is devoutly religious and required all students to comply with the religion
61. has many former students in positions of authority in government and industry
62. is a member of a global conspiracy of martial artists
63. is a member of the Shadoloo
64. is an agent of Interpol
65. is retired now and spends their time sipping mixed drinks on the beach
66. is so lewd
67. was never admitted to the Shaolin temple. Still bitter about it.
68. fights bears, tigers, or other animals to train. Made me do it too.
69. is always trying to one-up a former friend or rival using their students
70. is not above poisoning my opponents to give me an edge in fights
71. is a huge trash talker before my fights
72. worries about me and has a habit of throwing in the towel too early
73. usually ignored me, had a different favorite student
74. doesn't think I'll ever amount to anything
75. always told me I didn't work hard enough, I was too lazy
76. always told me I was their best student
77. kicked me out of the school
78. had a secret dojo in a suburban neighborhood
79. wanders the earth like Caine from Kung Fu
80. calls me all the time on the phone but never has anything to say
81. has never forgiven me for teaching that secret technique to an outsider
82. only calls when they want something
83. left the school to me in their will
84. was murdered by a former student
85. has gone rogue, and is tracking down and murdering former students one-by-one
86. may have secretly been a ninja
87. was a prodigy, and is younger than me
88. was grooming me to be an assassin, but I escaped when I found out
89. Sensei? My sensei was the streets.
90. was a tiger, a wolf, a bear, a snake, or another animal -- maybe more than one
91. was a sports legend in their youth, still remembered and adored by many
92. is a computer program martial arts download and VR simulation
93. has never been any good, but doesn't realize it
94. is fond of zen koans and uses unpredictable training methods
95. hates his job, is listless, bored, and sick of teaching
96. cares more about the quality of teaching than the quality of the martial arts
97. believes standards are important and is holding the line
98. is a genius loci, minor kami, or other spirit
99. is a biocyber or genetic martial arts code implanted into my body
100. is a robot

Why do you fight?

2011-10-24T21:31:00.000-04:00

One hundred reasons people enter the street fighting circuit.(pdf)

1. Money
2. Fame
3. Prove myself
4. Competition
5. It's a rush
6. Want to be like Bruce Lee
7. Just love fighting
8. Don't know any other life
9. No other skills
10. Family tradition
11. Prove that my style is the best
12. Make my master proud
13. Impress a girl/boy
14. Socializing, meeting new people
15. Good at it
16. Feed my family
17. Training
18. Revenge
19. Learn who I am
20. Gain inner peace
21. Hate my father
22. Learn new secret techniques
23. Cultural exchange
24. I'm so angry
25. Only time I feel alive
26. Show up my former master
27. To perfect myself
28. I am developing the perfect martial art
29. I like beating people up
30. Prove I'm not afraid
31. Everything else is boring
32. So I can brag about it at work
33. It's a great workout
34. It keeps me motivated
35. To stand up for the week
36. I like the attention
37. It makes me better at doing crime
38. Build confidence
39. Show off
40. Love violence
41. I'm a survivor
42. Didn't know my father
43. I seek harmony of mind and body
44. It's a hobby
45. To try out new moves
46. My people are savages
47. Investigating Shadoloo
48. Just can't kick the habit
49. Save the family farm/dojo
50. Publicity for my singing career
51. My country is better than all other countries
52. Publicity for my Kung Fu school
53. It's a living
54. Keep my assassin skills sharp
55. I used to get bullied
56. Because I'm a warrior, a martial artist, it's in my blood
57. See the world, travel
58. Programmed/brainwashed to fight
59. Embarrass my family
60. I have a rival
61. Perfecting a technique
62. World domination
63. Vigilante justice
64. Enlightenment
65. I've just always been a huge fan
66. I'm a badass
67. Hated my old job
68. Mid-life crisis
69. I like pain
70. No one understands me
71. Meet potential clients for my mercenary/bodyguard/assassin business
72. Get advertising sponsorships
73. If you have to ask, you'll never know
74. It would be a waste to squander my gifts
75. I look so cool
76. Learn self-discipline
77. Be a role model for young people
78. Nervous tic
79. Test myself
80. I'm the best. Everyone needs to know that.
81. Japan is awesome
82. It's one of many sports I enjoy
83. Try to move up in the world, get out of the ranks of minions
84. I want to be just like Ryu
85. Learn self-defense
86. I'm in a cult
87. Keeping up with the Joneses
88. Friend, spouse, lover, or family member took it up, I signed up too
89. Saw it on TV. Those guys don't look so tough. I can do that.
90. Seeking the secret technique
91. They said I'd never amount to anything. Who's laughing now.
92. Religious reasons
93. Trying to break into showbiz
94. Reinvigorating a dying art
95. spy, soldier, secret agent, bodyguard, etc.
96. Recruiting for my organization
97. Hate myself and want to die
98. Looking for my father
99. For pride
100. It will make me immortal!

Speed in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

2010-12-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Fast Attacks in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

This is a simple comparative analysis of fast attacks, by which I mean all attacks with a Speed modifier of +1 or higher, in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. This comparison limits itself only to the special maneuver listed in the core book, in their original forms.

Here they are in summary format:

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Punch
Jab	-	+2	-1	+0
Hyper Fist	w	+1	+0 x3	One
Rekka Ken	w	+3	-	-	Add 3 to SPD of punch, up to 3 rounds, Combo to dizzy
Turbo Spin Clothesline	w	+1	+0	-1	Hit all adjacent, KB, 1 hit /Mv
Kick
Short Kick		+1	+0	+0
Flying Knee Thrust	w	+1	+2	+1	Air, Dodge
Block
Block	-	+4	No	No	Abort, add Block Tech to Soak
Deflecting Punch	-	+2	+0	No	Block, then hit
Kick Defense	-	+4	No	No	Block +4 vs Kick, -2 vs other
Punch Defense	-	+4	No	No	Block +4 vs Punch, -2 vs other
San He	-	+2	No	No	Block x2, No KD, No KB, no Spd bonus next turn
Missile Reflection	-	+3	No	-1	Roll Dex to catch and reflect missile attacks
Energy Reflection	C	+1	No	No	Roll Wits to reflect Energy
Grab
Air Throw	w	+2	+5	+0	vs. Air, KD, Mv-Hit-Mv
Grappling Defense	-	+4	No	-1	Add Grab to soak vs Grabs
Head Bite	-	+1	+3	One	Hold
Iron Claw	w 1st	+1	+4	One	Hold
Athletics
Cannon Drill	w	+2	+2	+2
Drunken Monkey Roll	-	+3	No	+2	Crouch, Dodge
Jump	-	+3	No	+0	Dodge, use w/ basic, Abort
Movement	-	+3	No	+3
Wall Spring	-	+2	No	+0/+2	Air, Dodge, use w/ basic
Focus
Ghost Form	2c +	+1	No	+0	1 c/ turn to extend, insubstantial
Stunning Shout	c	+2	No	-2	Will vs. Will to cancel current or reduce speed next turn
Yoga Teleport	2 c	+3	No	*	Move Int + Focus

In the core rules, no attacks have higher than a +2 speed. Higher speeds are reserved for movement and defensive maneuvers, exclusively. The highest speed core moves are Jab, Cannon Drill, Air Throw, and Stunning Shout. Air Throw is limited by the requirement that the opponent also be aerial for it to work, and Stunning Shout deals no actual damage—it just causes some degree of stun that will, hopefully, cancel the opponent’s attack or give the opponent a penalty next round. Its usefulness in a one-on-one fight is limited if used to interrupt—it amounts to spending a Chi to stop an opponent’s attack. If the opponent has chosen a heavy-hitting move, this could be fairly useful. If the opponent is doing something simple, however, it’s best to take the hit and then use the Stunning Shout in the hopes of setting something up next round.

Now, let’s look at the maneuvers from Secrets of the Shadoloo, and the Storyteller’s Screen.

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Punch
Elbow Smash (SotS)	-	+2	+2	One
Knife Hand Strike (scrn)	-	+1	-1	-1	Vs ½ Sta (round down)
Kick
Tiger Knee (SotS)	2 w	+3	+2	+0	KD, Air, Dodge
Forward Backflip Kick (Storyteller’s Screen)	w	+2	+1 x2	two	vs Air, KDA
Athletics
Backflip	w	+3	No	+2	Straight, Away, cannot be hit

Secrets of the Shadoloo introduces Tiger Knee as the fastest attack in the game. In the right combo (especially a Block combo), it can beat most fighters’ Block speeds. It makes for a good “backup plan” type maneuver. In a Block combo, it could be aborted to and used to do some serious damage and cause knock down. Elbow Smash is also a powerful addition—with its Speed and Damage, it is like a cheap Cannon Drill in some ways. The extra movement of Cannon Drill would often not be worth the Willpower cost, since unlike the video game, the maneuver doesn’t cause knock down in the RPG. Elbow Smash is also great just about anywhere in a combo.

Diving Attacks in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

2010-12-13T23:03:00.002-05:00

Diving Attacks in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

This is a short comparative analysis of diving attacks, such as the Flying Body Spear, Diving Hawk, etc., in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. This comparison begins with only to the special maneuver listed in the core book, in their original forms.

Here they are in summary format:

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Athletics
Air Smash	-	-1	+4	-1	Air, in-hex, straight
Beast Roll	W	+0	+3	-2/+2	Air, in-hex, away-hit-to-hit
Diving Hawk	W	+0	+5	+2	Air, in-hex
Flying Body Spear	W	+0	+3	+1	Air, straight
Flying Heel Stomp	W	+0	+1	+2	Air, Move-Hit-Move

The main rules are inconsistent here about straight line maneuvers—some of these are, others aren’t, and the only possible game balance issue that might be related is the difference between maneuvers that must be executed in the opponent’s hex. Even this is suspect, though, as most of these maneuvers have high enough movement that it shouldn’t matter. It is conceptually odd that T. Hawk can weave all over with Diving Hawk, not worrying about moving in straight lines at all while poor Dhalsim has to move in a straight line and hope you don’t step out of the way.

Flying Heel Stomp is a nice maneuver that makes it possible to hit your opponent but stay out of their reach. Beast Roll is weird, but could be useful in a group battle because it moves away at -2, hits anything there, then moves forward at +2, hitting anything there.

Added to this is the single new diving attack from Secrets of the Shadoloo.

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Athletics
Flying Punch	W	-2	+2	+5	Dive, move 2 past then return to attack, vs. ½ Stamina (round down), -1 Honor

Overall, these special Athletics maneuvers rival Focus maneuvers for “weird effects.” They aren’t all easily summarized with a few “effects” descriptors, and they often include very specific instructions about how they move. Flying Punch continues this tradition. It has a fantastic movement, one of the highest in the game, offset by the fact that the fighter must move past the opponent and then return in order to execute the attack.

Grabs in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

2010-12-13T22:59:00.002-05:00

Sustained Holds in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

This is a short comparative analysis of Sustained Holds, such as the Head Butt Hold, Braincracker, etc., in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. This comparison limits itself only to the special maneuver listed in the core book, Secrets of the Shadoloo, and the Storyteller’s Screen in their original forms.

Here are the corebook’s sustained holds in summary format:

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Grab
Bear Hug	-	-1	+3	One	Hold
Head Butt Hold	-	-1	+3	One	Hold
Neck Choke	-	-1	+3	One	Hold
Knee Basher	-	-1	+4	One	Hold, KD, use Kick for Dmg
Brain Cracker	-	+0	+2	One	Hold, use Punch for Dmg
Stomach Pump	-	+0	+4	One	Hold
Head Bite	-	+1	+3	One	Hold
Iron Claw	W 1st	+1	+4	One	Hold

There are not very many sustained holds in the core books. In fact, as Bear Hug, Head Butt Hold, and Neck Choke are identical, there are only 6 separate holds in the game—and they are not particularly balanced. Head Bite, Stomach Pump, and Knee Basher in particular are more powerful than the other holds. Head Bite is especially egregious, making Iron Claw, with its willpower cost 1^st round, seem wasteful.

Throws in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Grab
Throw	-	-2	+2	One	KD, Throw = Str.
Pile Driver	-	-2	+4	One	KD
Hair Throw	-	-2	+5	Two	KD, Throw, must move through
Spinning Pile Driver	2 w	-2	+7	Two	KD, 3 hexes in Air
Storm Hammer	2 w	-2	+7	One	KD, 3 hexes in Air, end in-hex
Back Breaker	-	-1	+3	One	KD
Knee Basher	-	-1	+4	One	Hold, KD, use Kick for Dmg
Back Roll Throw	-	-1	+4	One	KD, Throw = Str + Kick
Thigh Press	-	-1	+4	One	KD, end in next hex
Siberian Bear Crusher	w	+0	+3	+1	KD, 3 hex Air, end in next hex
Siberian Suplex	w	+0	+2 x2	One	KD, move once per hit
Suplex	-	+0	+2	One	KD, end in next hex
Air Throw	w	+2	+5	+0	vs. Air, KD, Mv-Hit-Mv

Throws have a lot more variety, and they are the place to go for the high-damage wrestling maneuvers. There is little repetition in the maneuvers—each throw is at least somewhat different from the others. I’ve included Knee Basher with the throws as well as the holds because it is, in a sense, both—it has the sustained effect of a hold and the KD effect of a throw. This makes it either one of the best holds in the game, or one of the best throws, depending on your viewpoint.

Spinning Piledriver and Storm Hammer are nearly identical, except that Spinning Piledriver has a movement of Two while Storm Hammer ensures that the characters land in the same hex. Both are advantages, although the second one is only effective if you’ve already managed to catch your opponent in the Storm Hammer to begin with.

Slow wrestlers often have trouble landing many of these maneuvers if facing savvy opponents. One strategy to get around this would do well to have high damage dizzy combos to set up opponents whom they could then crush with high damage grabs while dizzied. Combos are another, though they aren’t guaranteed to hit either. Otherwise, only Spinning Piledriver and Siberian Bear Crusher could be counted on as relatively likely to hit, and those only as long as the opponent hasn’t interrupted the grappler immediately and caused a knock down or put them in a grab or other move that cancels the attack.

Even though the heavy damage maneuvers in Grab are throws, a good sustained hold is often a better way for a slow, high strength fighter to go for the win. The high strength helps ensure that the hold will not usually be broken off too early, and it keeps the damage output high over the course of multiple rounds.

Here are the maneuvers added by Secrets of the Shadoloo and the Storyteller’s Screen.

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Grab
Flying Tackle (Screen)	-	-1	+0	+2	Fly back 2 hexes, KD, +2 Spd to Grab next turn
Choke Throw (SotS)	-	-1	+2	+0	vs. Air or Stand, KD, end in-hex
Face Slam (Screen)	-	-1	+3	One	KD
Air Suplex (SotS)	-	-1	+4	+0	vs. Air, KD, end turn in-hex

In spite of its low damage, Flying Tackle is a potentially problematic maneuver. It has excellent movement, causes knockdown, and provides a bonus to speed with grabs the following turn. Large speed disparities can result when you also put it in a combo.

Choke Throw and Air Suplex are also strong alternatives to Air Throw. Air Suplex is fairly well balanced because of its low speed and reliance on the opponent being airborne. It’s the poor man’s Air Throw—not as powerful, but doesn’t cost a Willpower, either. Choke Throw is more powerful because it hits standing or aerial opponents, regardless, and it lands the fighters together in the same hex. It and Flying Tackle are the only two grabs that have good movement without a Willpower cost.

Rising Attacks in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

2010-12-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I wrote up some short analyses of the special maneuvers in the core book. I used to have these online elsewhere (and they're still up), but I thought I'd move them over here to put everything in one place.

I'll start with a short comparative analysis of rising attacks,such as the Dragon Punch, Thunderstrike, etc., in Street Fighter: TheStorytelling Game.

Here are the rising attacks in the original game rules in summary format:

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Punch
Flaming Dragon Punch	w, c	-1	+6 x2	-2	KD, KB, Air, Dodge
Dragon Punch	w	+0	+6	-2	KDA, KB, Air, Dodge
Kick
Dragon Kick	w, c	-1	+6 x2	-2	KD, KB, Air, Dodge
Flash Kick	w, c	-1	+7	No	KDA, Air, Dodge
Flying Thrust Kick	w	+0	+6	-2	KDA, KB, Air, Dodge
Flying Knee Thrust	w	+1	+2	+1	Air, Dodge
Grab
Air Throw	w	+2	+5	+0	vs. Air, KD, Mv-Hit-Mv
Athletics
Jumping Shoulder Butt	-	+0	+3	-1	Air, Dodge
Thunderstrike	-	+0	+5	-1	Start adjacent, in-hex, Mv-Hit-Mv, Air, Dodge
Vertical Rolling Attack	w	+0	+3	+0	KDA, Air, Dodge

Dragon Punch is mechanically identical to Flying ThrustKick, and Flaming Dragon Punch is identical to Dragon Kick, aside from beingbased off different techniques. This reduces the number of unique “risingattacks” to 7. It’s worth noting that Flaming Dragon Punch and Dragon Kick onlyhit twice if the fighter is adjacent to his opponent at the start of the round.

Dragon Punch, Flying Thrust Kick, Flaming Dragon Punch, andDragon Kick all cause Knock Back, potentially useful when fighting a grappler.

Some of these maneuvers do not cause Knock Down, even onAerial opponents—a fact that had escaped me in spite of years of playing thegame. Among these are Flying Knee Thrust and Thunderstrike.

Thunderstrike is interesting. It is fairly powerful due toits lack of a Willpower cost, but it does suffer from some limitations not sharedby other rising attacks: 1) it does not cause Knock Down, even on Aerialopponents. 2) The fighter must start the round adjacent to his opponent andmust enter the opponent’s hex in order to use Thunderstrike. These drawbacksare offset by a nice benefit: afterdealing damage, the fighter can finish their movement.

Compare this with Flash Kick, which has a number ofweaknesses. While it does +7 damage, the highest in the game, it is costly (1Chi and 1 Willpower) and has no movement.

Now, let’s look at the maneuvers from Secrets of theShadoloo, and the Storyteller’s Screen.

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Kick
Forward Backflip Kick (Storyteller’s Screen)	w	+2	+1 x2	two	vs Air, KDA
Tiger Knee (SotS)	2 w	+3	+2	+0	KD, Air, Dodge
Grab
Air Suplex (SotS)	-	-1	+4	+0	vs. Air, KD, end turn in-hex
Choke Throw (SotS)	-	-1	+2	+0	vs. Air or Stand, KD, end in-hex

Forward Backflip Kick and Tiger Knee seem like good additions to thegame—they work differently and are not overpowered. Tiger Knee is incredibly fastand causes Knock Down, but its stats are offset by its high Willpower cost. ForwardBackflip Kick is excellent if you catch the opponent in the air, but it isn’t acomplete loss if the opponent doesn’t go aerial.

Automatic Successes (the Storyteller System's "take 10" rule)

2010-12-08T22:47:00.000-05:00

Preliminaries: Street Fighter uses the original Storyteller system, which is a dice pool system. You add your score in an attribute (generally rated 1-5, though it is possible to go higher) to your score in an ability (also generally rated 1-5). You then roll this many dice and count as successes those dice that come up with results matching the target number or higher. In the original Storyteller system used in Street Fighter, the default difficulty is 6.

Automatic Successes
In Street Fighter, if your dice pool equals or exceeds the difficulty number of the roll, you automatically succeed on the action, with one success (p. 33). This means that for most tasks, having a 3 in an attribute and a 3 in a skill is sufficient to get an automatic success, without rolling. Somehow I never really used this rule. It would have improved our Street Fighter games if I had.

A dice pool of 6 isn't that hard to get. Characters should have routinely been able to do things like notice something in the environment without rolling (Perception + Alertness), climb a typical obstacle (Dexterity + Athletics), or gather information about recent local Shadoloo activities in an area (Charisma + Streetwise).

I'll certainly be using this rule now.

How I managed to miss this useful, actually good rule, which is pretty clearly stated, yet managed instead to follow the bad parts of the game's GMing advice (White Wolf's wrong-headed, common advice to ignore the results of die rolls in order to protect the GM's story, to lie about rolls instead of letting rolls stand and seeing where they'll go, and so on), I'll never know.

Sustained Hold

2010-12-07T15:11:00.000-05:00

While browsing the SFtSG rulebook last night, I noticed something interesting in the section on "Sustained Holds" on page 140. It's not something I had noticed before, and it's not something I've seen discussed on other street fighter rpg sites. I'm not sure if that's because it's a dead end or because it was obvious to others. Here's the quote:

If a wrestler executing a Sustained Hold scores at least one Health Level of damage, he has tied up his opponent. The opponent can do nothing until she escapes from the hold. The victim is allowed one escape attempt just after the end of the combat turn, before the new turn begins. The victim must defeat the wrestler in a contested roll of Strength versus Strength.

If the victim does not break free, she loses her action next turn. The wrestler can choose to play the same Combat Card next turn and automatically gets to inflct damage on his held opponent whenever his Speed allows him to act during the turn. The wrestler may also decide to drop the hold and play a different Combat Card the following turn.

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, p. 140

We always played it that if a sustained hold was released by the fighter, both fighters could choose a new maneuver for the following round, and I think that's a good interpretation of the intent of the section. But there's another interpretation here, and an interesting one: that after winning the contested roll to maintain the hold, the wrestler can voluntarily choose a different attack next turn. The victim (who lost the roll to break free) cannot choose an attack because they have lost their action.

This would open up seriously interesting options for grapplers, who could use one of the faster grabs from their repertoire to snare an opponent and then switch to a more powerful attack the following round if they have succeeded in keeping the victim in the hold. This might be too powerful -- fast grapplers are already holy terrors -- but it's an interesting thing to think about.

Renewal of Connection

2010-12-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

After a few years of playing a game, a lot of rulings, rules drift, and full fledged house rules accumulate. If you have a pretty steady group, this accumulation is gradual and can seem much more minor than it is. One of the interesting things to come out of the "retro" gaming movement, and the OSR in particular, is the idea of going back to the source. The OSR expects and encourages house rules, but at the same time, there is a real interest in digging into the original texts and seeing what's in there before interpreting and modifying away.

The last time I embarked on a Street Fighter "Revision," I was steeped in years of game play. This time, picking up where I left off, I find I have a bit more perspective on the house rules we developed back then. In fact, in reading some of the interesting rulings and rules scattered about on the various Street Fighter fan blogs that are still out there, it's interesting to see the same core sets of issues being discussed that we ran into in our games, and in many cases similar kinds of solutions being reached. But not in all cases! And where they differ, there are some very interesting ideas.

Between the influence of the retro-movements and some time spent reviewing Street Fighter RPG resources online, I've found myself more and more wanting to go back to the source and start from there. This doesn't mean I'll be throwing away all the work we did over the years to develop additional moves and styles, but I do think I'll be approaching the rules discussions and additions on this blog from a different perspective than I would have five or six years ago. Instead of deep structural changes that effectively transform Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game into "my version," I'll be hewing much more closely to the original. I'll talk about our house rulings but refrain from making quite as many fundamental changes. I'll approach adding new special maneuvers and styles from just that perspective -- adding, not replacing wholesale.

In that spirit, I'll note that for my purposes, Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game will consist of two books:

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game
Secrets of the Shadoloo

I think players of the game will know why I've made that decision. I'll also be beginning from the beginning, by rereading these two texts and seeing what I can discover. I've already noticed some interesting things that have me thinking.

Street Fighter Special Maneuvers -- An Expanded List

2010-12-06T23:32:00.001-05:00

I've nearly covered the preliminaries for my house styles list for Street Fighter, but before moving forward I need to set out one more basic piece of information: the list of special maneuvers.

Our main Street Fighter run lasted roughly from the game's release in 1994 until 2003. The bulk of this covered three campaigns, and I still have copious notes. In that time, we added a lot of additional special maneuvers and martial arts styles to the game. What I'm working on now is in many ways little more than a reorganization and clarification of those materials, though of course it is influenced by the other gaming (and thinking about gaming) that I've done since.

A few years ago, I put together a working table of all the special maneuvers we were using in a single table. That document will be a starting point for the martial arts style project.

Street Fighter Special Maneuvers (pdf)

I use a lot of shorthand in the maneuver list to make it possible to squeeze all the information into the table format. Some clarifications can be found here.

These are both "living" documents, which I'll be updating as we progress.

Martial Arts Design for Street Fighter The Storytelling Game: Core Philosophy

2010-12-06T17:59:00.000-05:00

Here are the basic assumptions, principles, and guidelines I'll be following to develop the new martial arts list for Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. These are in no particular order, and probably aren't complete, but they're an indication of where my thinking lies right now.

Inspiration, not simulation: Many of these styles are inspired by real martial arts, but I won't be attempting to model real martial arts in any particularly rigorous way. I'm more interested in a fantastic version of a style that captures something unique about it than I am in detailed, real world accuracy. In the real world, glima, an Icelandic belt-wrestling folkstyle, has a number of restrictions on posture and movement. In the street fighter world, that form of glima exists as a highly ritualized version of the contest, but as used in the street fighter circuit it is a style that combines fierce throws with rune-based chi powers, the icy breath of the north wind, viking berserker rage, and techniques for immediately returning to a standing position if knocked prone.

Account for video game interpretations: That said, I'd like to be able to account for all the video game characters, and video game interpretations of the martial arts will heavily influence the style lists. In the street fighter universe, yoga is a martial art, and Dhalsim is its most famous practitioner. My first stop for representing some styles will be the street fighter video games, but other quality fighting games have a lot to contribute. To that end, I'll take inspiration from SNK games like the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, King of Fighters, and Samurai Showdown series. I'll also leave room for inspiration from Tekken and Virtua Fighter.

Look for patterns, and interpret them:This applies to the video game as well. There is a rough correspondence in the video game between Japanese martial arts and the use of hadouken style projectile attacks. It isn't a perfect fit, but it is a tendency. Of the kung fu stylists, only Chun Li has a real projectile attack. That's interesting, and I'll be building it into the style designs on some level. I'll also be looking for similar kinds of patters wherever I can find them.

Styles do not need to be balanced: Game balance won't be a primary issue when designing the styles. Players choose a martial art for their character based on a number of factors, only one of which is the effectiveness of its actual combat maneuvers. The aesthetics of the style are also an important influence. I won't be particularly worried about making sure that all styles have an equal number of maneuvers, for example. I will be trying to ensure that every style has some top-level special maneuvers. This way, if we're using our "multiple styles" rules, there will be some reason to top out in a style to get access to its highest level maneuvers.

Uniqueness, not effects-based design: There's been plenty of talk on blogs and forums about the value of glorious idiosyncrasies when it comes to powers, and I think this approach is the most true to the spirit of the original street fighter rpg. The alternative is a thoroughly effects-based design, which I've pushed the system toward in the past. It's time to pull back from that. An effects-based system can certainly be used to construct a wide variety of unique maneuvers, but they're all built from essentially the same set of core options. Street fighter maneuvers (and by extension, styles) certainly do have shared features, but I will be erring on the side of introducing uniqueness rather than systematicity when it comes to filling in the style lists.

Every Style is Unique

2010-12-05T22:14:00.003-05:00

This post is a follow up to the Street Fighter Martial Arts Styles post from last week.

Last week, I put together a list of canon Street Fighter characters and their martial arts styles. Today, I'm doing the same thing from the opposite perspective. My basic question is something like this:

"What martial arts would I like to have available in a Street Fighter RPG campaign?"

My answer is a lot of them. The styles represented in the video games would be desirable, but they don't exhaust the list of even fairly well-known martial arts. Even Tae Kwon Do has only really been represented in a Street Fighter game since the release of Super Street Fighter IV. A number of other major styles are lacking as well, and in general the focus of the video game is (understandably) on characters rather than styles, leading to a proliferation of hybrid fighters who have essentially developed their own fighting styles.

As an aside, this strikes me as fairly realistic. It seems like every martial artist eventually opens a school, puts his name on a style, and calls it a unique martial art.

In any case, I have a draft list of martial arts for development for Street Fighter RPG play. I haven't prioritized these yet, but this is a current starting list. There's some overlap in the list, which is intentional. I have some ideas about overlapping styles that I may implement as part of developing these.

Acrobat: Chun Li, Pullum, Skullomania
Aikido:
Ansatsuken: Gouken, Gouki, Ryu, Ken, Gen
Bio/Cyber: Necro, Twelve
Boxing: Mike, Mike Bison (Boxer), Dudley, C. Jack
Bujutsu, Kanzuki-ryu: Karin Kanzuki
Bujutsu, Old Style: Kairi, Hokuto, Nanase
Bullfighting: Balrog (Claw)
Capoeira: Elena
Elemental Air:
Elemental Earth:
Elemental Fire: Gill
Elemental Ice: Gill
Elemental Water:
Feng Shui Engine Power: Juri, Seth
Gatka:
Giant: Birdie, Sodom, Hugo, Zangief, T. Hawk, Sagat, Hakan
Hapkido:
Hwarang Do:
Iaido: Sodom (Self-taught)
Illuminati Martial Arts: Gill, Urien
Jeet Kune Do:
Judo: Abel, Ryu, Karin, Sodom (Self-taught), Dan (Self-promoted)
Jujutsu:
Kalari Payat:
Karate: Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Dan, Sean, Gouken, Gouki, Sodom (Self-taught), Allen Snider
Karate, Goju-ryu:
Karate, Isshin-ryu:
Karate, Kyokushinkai:
Karate, Rindokan: Makoto
Karate, Shorin-ryu:
Karate, Shotokan:
Karate, Uechi-ryu:
Karate, Wado-ryu:
Kendo: Sodom (Self-Taught)
Kenjutsu: Hayate
Kickboxing: Dee Jay, Ken, Allen Snider, Blair Dame
Kobujutsu: Sodom (Self-taught)
Kung Fu: Chun Li, Li, Yun, Yang, Rufus (Self-taught), Dan
Kung Fu, Choi Li Fut:
Kung Fu, Dragon:
Kung Fu, Drunken Boxing:
Kung Fu, Eagle Claw:
Kung Fu, Eight Direction Fist: Karin Kanzuki
Kung Fu, Eight Trigram Boxing (bagua):
Kung Fu, Fujian White Crane:
Kung Fu, Grand Ultimate Fist (taiqi): Chun Li
Kung Fu, Hop Gar:
Kung Fu, Hung Gar:
Kung Fu, Labyrinthine Boxing (mizongyi):
Kung Fu, Mind and Body Boxing (xingyi):
Kung Fu, Monkey Boxing:
Kung Fu, Seven Star Praying Mantis: Gen
Kung Fu, Shaolin:
Kung Fu, Shuai Jiao:
Kung Fu, Snake Boxing:
Kung Fu, Soaring Heavens (feitinkuen): Fei Long
Kung Fu, Southern Mantis Boxing:
Kung Fu, Tibetan White Crane: Gen
Kung Fu, White Eyebrows:
Kung Fu, Wing Chun:
Kung Fu, Wudan:
Martial Arts: Guile, Remy, Nash, Abel
Muay Thai: Sagat, Adon
Muki Boxing:
Ninjutsu: Geki, Ibuki, Balrog (Claw)
Ninjutsu, American: Sodom (Self-taught) (this is a bit… loose with canon, but...)
Ninjutsu, Bushin-ryu: Guy, Maki
Ninjutsu, Kanzuki-ryu: The Ganbaru Sakura manga introduces this style in a side story; no official video game characters use it, though Karion possibly would also count it among her many styles.
Pankration:
Psycho Power / Soul Power: Lord Vega (Dictator), Juni, July, Rose (Soul Power), Ingrid
Saikyo-ryu: Dan
Sambo: Karin Kanzuki
Self-taught: Blanka, Sakura, Sodom
Senjutsu: Oro
Shorinji Kempo: Retsu
Sonic: Guile, Nash, Dee Jay
Special Agent Training: Crimson Viper, Sharon
Special Forces Training: Guile, Nash, Alex, Abel, Rolento, D. Dark
Special Forces, Shadoloo: Cammy, Juli, Juni
Ssireum:
Stick Fighting: Eagle
Street Fighting: Birdie, Cody, Guy, Joe
Sumo: E. Honda, Sodom
Tae Kwon Do: Juri, Ryu, Dan (Self-promoted)
Taikyon, Old Style:
Tang Soo Do:
Wrestling: T. Hawk, Zangief, El Fuerte, Hugo, Alex, R. Mika, Hakan, Darun
Wrestling, Catch:
Wrestling, Folkstyle (Thunderfoot): Thunder Hawk
Wrestling, Freestyle:
Wrestling, Greco-Roman:
Wrestling, Kushti: Darun
Wrestling, Lucha Libre: El Fuerte
Wrestling, Mongolian (Bkyukl Bökh):
Wrestling, Pro: Zangief, Alex, Hugo, R. Mika
Wrestling, Turkish (Yagh Gures): Hakan
Yoga: Dhalsim
Yusul:
?: Q

A pdf copy of this list is available here.

Ansatsuken -- 暗殺拳 -- Ànshāquán

2010-11-30T22:09:00.005-05:00

So, ansatsuken -- Ryu, Ken, and "Akuma's" martial art style -- isn't really a reference to a specific martial art.

I used to be confused about this, back when I first started reading... well, let's face it, studying, the Japanese Street Fighter books I was picking up in 1999-2000 when I lived in Niigata, Japan. The "Book Off" stores in Shibata, Murakami, and Niigata City were treasure hoards to me at the time, carrying gamest mooks, "All Abouts," other strategy guides, and manga that I could never have even known had existed before coming to Japan.

In those primitive, ignorant times before the internet became what it is today, we had few ways to even know these kinds of things were out there. We had to trust in Capcom USA and a pirated, fansubbed copies of the Street Fighter II movie, and yes, God Help Us, even in the story related material in licensed Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game products from White Wolf. And Capcom USA told us that Ryu and Ken studied Shotokan Karate.

So first, we had Shotokan.

And then, Japanese strategy guides told me something different. These guides and my limited Japanese told me that Ryu and Ken studied 暗殺拳. Ansatsuken. Assassination Fist martial arts. And that was a revelation.

It was also wrong. Not because the books didn't say that, in some sense, but because they didn't mean it the way I thought they did. We know better now. See, those same sources also tell us that Gen, the dying assassin in search of a death match, is a practitioner of 暗殺拳. Ànshāquán. Asassination Fist. But of course, Gen's fighting style looks nothing like Ryu and Ken's.

There's a good reason for that, of course. Because what the strategy guides were saying was this: that these fighters studied martial arts designed for the field of battle, not for sport. "Combatives," to use some contemporary US Army lingo. Ansatsuken isn't a martial art. It's more like another word for martial art, though with a particular connotation. Battlefield hand-to-hand. Unarmed killing techniques. Old style martial arts, with an emphasis on martial.

Indeed, Gouken's innovation was to transform Goutetsu's ansatsuken a martial art designed for battle to the death into an art of fighting that doesn't mean killing. In a sense, Gouken does for Goutetsu's unnamed killing techniques what real-life figures like Kano Jigoro and Funakoshi Gichin did for jujutsu and Okinawan te respectively. Transform them into modern sporting systems (judo, shotokan karate).

Now, this isn't really news. It's in version 4.9 of the Street Fighter Canon Plot Guide (and may have been in some of the earlier iterations), and even Udon's recent World Warrior Encyclopedia may be hinting at it. But I thought I'd set it down in a blog post anyway, in the interest of laying the groundwork for developing RPG styles, and as a brief explanation of some of the thought behind the tables I posted earlier.

Street Fighter Martial Arts Styles

2010-11-30T18:21:00.004-05:00

One of the joys of Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game is selecting your character's martial arts style, but after playing the game for a while, the list of styles offered in the core rules starts to feel a little slim. This is made worse if you're much of a street fighter canon fan by the fact that the RPG gets so much wrong about the characters and their martial arts. A lot more information is more readily available about the game characters now than it used to be, and the game itself has been expanded quite a lot since the early to mid-nineties, when the RPG was published.

Over the years of playing the RPG, we've added a lot of martial arts styles to fill these gaps. Now I'm thinking about embarking on a redevelopment of our styles, and I thought I'd share the process on this blog.

My first stop will be the street fighter video game series, which will give me a core list of martial arts styles to include. Later I'll fill out the list with major styles that are missing, or just with cool styles I'd like to see available in the game.

Below, I've listed all the characters from the street fighter series of games, along with my notes about their martial arts styles. These notes probably don't line up perfectly with any particular list out there, but they're pretty close. There's a certain amount of room for interpretation in the canon, and these are my current thoughts. I've gleaned this list from strategy guides and artbooks (both U.S. and Japanese), manga, the Street Fighter canon plot guide, and Udon's recent offerings, like the very cool Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia.

I'll talk more about my thinking process on some of these in the comments or in a future post.

Abel: Martial Arts, Judo

Adon: Muay Thai

Alex: Pro Wrestling, Special Forces Training

Balrog (Claw): Ninjutsu, Bullfighting

Birdie: Street Fighting

Blanka: Self-Taught Amazon Jungle Fighting

C. Viper: Secret Agent Training, Gadgeteer

Cammy: Shadoloo Assassin Training, Delta Red Special Forces Training

Chun Li: Kung Fu (aka 中国拳法), Taiqi, Police Training, Acrobat

Cody: Street Fighting

Dan: Saikyo-ryu, claims to teach Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do

Dee Jay: Kickboxing, Sonic

Dhalsim: Yoga

Dudley: Boxing

E. Honda: Sumo

Eagle: Stick Fighting

El Fuerte: Lucha Libre

Elena: Capoeira

Fei Long: Soaring Heavens Kung Fu (Fei Tin Kuen 飛天拳)

Geki: Ninjutsu

Gen: Crane Kung Fu, Mantis Kung Fu, Ànshāquán (暗殺拳)

Gill: Illuminati Martial Arts

Gouken: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳)

Gouki: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳)

Guile: Martial Arts, Special Forces Training, Sonic

Guy: Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu, Street Fighting

Hakan: Turkish Oil Wrestling (Yagh Gures)

Hugo: Pro Wrestling

Ibuki: Ninjutsu

Ingrid: The spiritual or psychic energy that is purportedly the true source of Psycho Power/Soul Power

Joe: Street Fighting

Juli: Shadoloo Assassin Training, Psycho Power

Juni: Shadoloo Assassin Training, Psycho Power

Juri: Tae Kwon Do, Feng Shui Engine Power

Karin: Kanzuki-ryu Kakutojutsu, Judo, Sambo, Eight Direction Fist (Bājíquán八極拳) all confirmed specifically, also purported to know all martial arts (as noted in Ganbaru Sakura)

Ken: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳)

Lee: Kung Fu

Maki: Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu

Makoto: Rindokan Karate

Mike: Boxing

Mike Bison (Boxer): Boxing

Nash (Charlie): Martial Arts, Special Forces Training, Sonic

Necro: Biocyber

Oro: Senjutsu

Q: ?

R. Mika: Pro Wrestling

Remy: Martial Arts, (possibly Savate)

Retsu: Shorinji Kempo

Rolento: Red Beret Special Forces Training

Rose: Soul Power

Rufus: Kung Fu, Snake Kung Fu, (Self Taught)

Ryu: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳), Judo, Tae Kwon Do

Sagat: Muay Thai

Sakura: Karate, Self-Taught, imitation of Ryu’s Ansatsuken (暗殺拳) techniques

Sean: Karate, imitation of Ken’s Ansatsuken (暗殺拳) techniques

Seth: Feng Shui Engine Power

Sodom: Self-Taught Japanese Martial Arts (Sumo, Kendo, Iaido, Kobudo, Judo, Karate, Ninjutsu, etc.)

T. Hawk: Folkstyle Wrestling (Thunderfoot Wrestling)

Twelve: Biocyber

Urien: Illuminati Martial Arts

Vega (Dictator): Psycho Power

Yang: Kung Fu

Yun: Kung Fu

Zangief: Pro Wrestling

A pdf copy of this list is available here.

Giant Attack

2010-11-25T18:12:00.005-05:00

The importance of action denial in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game means that the game can be pretty friendly to fast (high Dex) grapplers. It is much less kind to slow grapplers, like Zangief and Hugo, who are at decided disadvantage if they rely on their grab game in a fight. In the video game, characters like this tend to have decent range on grabs and throws: enough that they can get their hits in. In the RPG, not so much: the requirement to be in-hex to hit with any grab limits their ability to ever hit with a grab against even a basically savvy opponent. The original SF:tSG rules make a slight nod to this in the rules for "Spinning Piledriver," by giving it a Movement of two rather than the usual one that typifies grabs. Its value is very restricted, however, as only this particular maneuver has it as a feature.

Goutetsu has been thinking about this issue for a while now, and he's suggested the addition of a special maneuver to make up for this. Here's a draft version.

Giant Attack

Prerequisites: Athletics 1, Strength 5

Power Points: Sambo 3, NA Wrestling 3, Any 5 (In our house game, I would also give this to Professional Wrestling and other house styles, but these styles aren't part of the core rules.)

Giants walk the earth. From the patriotic world warrior Zangief, to the violent man child Hugo, and even to the Mayor of Metro City and the King of Muay Thai, giant fighters have often found a home, of sorts, in the street fighter circuit. Fighters are wary not to let these giants get too close... because once they grab you, it's already too late.

System: This maneuver may be used to modify any other maneuver that does not already cost Willpower. The card must be played alongside the modified maneuver. A Fierce Punch becomes a "Giant Fierce Punch," a Throw becomes a "Giant Throw," a Suplex a "Giant Suplex," and so on. The speed, damage, and movement of the modified maneuvers stay the same, but the maneuver gains +1 to its reach. This means that a Giant Attack applied to a Punch or Kick can hit an opponent one hex away from the fighter, and a Giant Attack applied to a Grab can catch opponents in an adjacent hex.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Speed: (+0)

Damage: (+0)

Move: (+0)

Who's Who of Street Fighter -- 1968

2008-12-19T21:04:00.011-05:00

We're talking about setting up a historical Street Fighter campaign, set roughly around 1968-1972. This is the era of Johnny Quest (and by extension of the first generation of Team Venture). It also is a good fit for setting a space age tone, and it matches up to the beginnings of the kung fu movie explosion of the seventies.

One interesting question is what the "who's who of the Street Fighter canon" would be at this time. I've gone to my strategy guides and the Street Fighter canon plot guide, and using 1968 as a point of reference for the campaign, here's what I've come up with.

First, we only have birth dates for the core 15 characters (minus Lord Vega) from the SFII era of games and for wrestlers from Muscle Bomber. In 1968, most of the main Street Fighter characters are young children or haven't been born yet (Ryu, born in 1964, is 4 years old). But there are a few who are nearing fighting age, especially considering how early fighters seem to get into the game in Street Fighter.

The year is 1968. Zangief is 12 years old. The man who will eventually come to dominate the fighting circuit, Sagat, is 13 years old. Dhalsim is 16. Mike Haggar is 27. Oro is already a hermit in Brazil and is currently 108 (born 1860).

These ages are definite. What else do we know? Well, the Japanese strategy guides estimate Gouki's age in SSFII Turbo as around 48, which would put him at around 21-23 in 1968. Gouken would be roughly the same age.

We can extrapolate other ages from there.

Here are some canonical characters who would probably be of or near fighting age in 1968.

Gen (based on his age in SF Zero, he'd be 50-60 years old in 1968)
Go Hibiki (Dan is roughly the same age as Ryu, which would suggest that Go Hibiki should be old enough to have a young son. Go could easily be about the same age as Gouki and Gouken -- in his early 20s.)
Zeku, Bushin-ryu Master (roughly the same age as Gouki and Gouken?)
Retsu (same as Gouki and Gouken?)
Li (a little younger --maybe 16, Dhalsim's age)
Kanzuki Juro (Karin's father, he'd work well at around 18-20 -- Karin is born 1973)
Rolento (he's late 30s to early 40s in SF Zero, which would put him around 20 in 1968)
Chun Li's father (Chun Li is born in 1968, so her father could be in his early 20s)
Remy's father (13-18)
Belgar (end boss in Final Fight -- maybe around 21-23)

Dudley's father would be a character of the right age, but he wouldn't be a fighter (he would be a wealthy businessman or aristocrat, from what I understand.)

In addition, there's Lord Vega, who I mentioned before. His age is unknown. If he's around the same age as Chun Li's father, he'd be in his early 20s -- the same generation as Gouki and Gouken.

And then there are a few teachers from Rival Schools who might be young fighters in this era.

I'm not sure if Goutetsu would be dead yet, or not. Ryu doesn't come to train with Gouken until he's around 8 to 10 years old (again, roughly), which wouldbe around 1972-74. I think Goutetsu is dead before Ryu comes to train with Gouken. So either Goutetsu would be dead when the campaign started... or the clock would be ticking.

Some of this info is based on the Japanese strategy guides and Gamest Mooks I have laying around here. Some is based on The Street Fighter Canon Plot Guide (v4.6). Much of it is basically guesswork and creative interpretation.

Character Creation

2008-12-19T17:50:00.010-05:00

Character creation follows the standard point values, with a few additions and clarifications. This is a summary -- refer to Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game for the default rules.

Assign Starting Points

Attributes: 7/5/3
Abilities: 9/7/4
Backgrounds: 5
Techniques: 8
Styles: 5
Special Maneuvers: 7
Willpower and Chi: Determined by primary Style (highest level style, or select a primary if more than one style is tied)
Freebie Points: 18

During this first stage of character creation, Abilities and Techniques cannot exceed a rating of 3 and Attributes cannot exceed a rating of 5.

Freebie Points
Characters begin with a few more freebie points than in the default rules. However, these points are also spent at a slightly different rate. One problem raised by the default core rules is that freebie point costs and XP costs are different. This creates breakpoints during character creation that can be mostly removed by unifying the costs.

The new XP costs will be described in a later post. At this point, it is sufficient to note that the freebie point costs listed below match up to the XP costs.

As in the core rules, you can exceed a rating of 3 in Abilities and Techniques using freebie points.

When spending freebie points, use the following point costs in place of the costs in the core book (p. 39).

Attributes: 6 per dot (12 per dot past 5?)
Abilities: 1 per dot, 2 per dot past 5
Backgrounds: 1 per dot
Techniques: 1 per level of the desired rating, paid for at each increase (e.g., one point for a new technique at 1, two points to raise a 1 to a 2, three points to raise a 2 to a 3, etc.)
Styles: 2 per dot
Power Points: 1 per dot
Chi: 3 per dot
Willpower: 3 per dot
Health: 4 per dot

There are two important notes worth considering at this point. First, Backgrounds can only be bought during character creation. Second, a long-term decision about attribute totals needs to be made during character creation. Points added to attributes during character creation determine the maximum pool of attribute points the character can have in a particular category. The default is 15 (the equivalent of a 5/5/5 attribute outlay). Only if freebie points are spend to increase attributes during character creation can this maximum total be increased: a character who spends 6 freebie points to add 1 physical attribute during character creation can potentially reach a total of 16 attribute points, and so on.

This is a draft based on a discussion we had last night. I've made a couple changes after thinking about things a bit: first, we originally considered the "frontloading" of attributes to be sufficiently restrictive that raising them past 5 wouldn't need to cost more. After thinking about it a bit more, I'm not convinced that it's enough, so I've suggested an extra cost to go past 5. (I'm not sure what this cost should be, but I think it's preferable to keep attributes from jumping past 5 immediately, and increasing the cost should help here by making the jump more of a commitment.)

Street Fighter House Rules: Overview

2008-12-19T17:18:00.005-05:00

This is part one of a series of posts where I'll review the current state of our house rules. We're preparing for a new Street Fighter campaign, and these are the rules changes we'll be making. In this post, I'll give a little bit of context. Then I'll move on to specific cases.

Rulebooks:

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game
Secrets of the Shadoloo

Only these two books will be core. We'll be using the base combat rules and special maneuvers from this book, as well as the base character creation rules. We'll be changing how XP is awarded and spent and making changes to the martial arts styles and maneuver lists, but unless otherwise noted, these books form the core rules set. None of the other published supplements will be used.

Changes:
Briefly, here are some of the changes we'll be making.

Glory and Honor: We won't be using these. They don't work in long term play. The numbers simply don't add up when characters enter regular tournaments, especially when the characters face each other in tournament matches. They break down in the case of NPC villains, as well, who can't succeed in tournament play because they have no way of regaining Chi and Willpower. The only positive outcome we've noticed in play is that honor does make the decision of whether or not to hit a dizzied opponent a real decision. This doesn't match up with how the video game works, but it is generally good in the RPG because of the length of the health track.
Recovering Willpower and Chi: Without Glory and Honor, we'll need another way to regain spent Willpower and Chi. We'll be using a simple method. If you win a fight, you can immediately roll your permanent score in Willpower and in Chi. You regain a number of points equal to your successes. We can then simply add other conditions that allow for a roll to regain points: not striking a dizzied opponent would be one, for example, that would allow you to make this roll in the middle of a fight. Spending a round showing off / posing might be another. In a later post, I'll draft a list of conditions that allow for Will/Chi recovery rolls.
Multiple Styles: We'll be using the "multiple styles" rules I mentioned in my last post.
Styles and Maneuver Lists: We'll be replacing the style lists from the core book. Some styles will go (Kabaddi and Native American Wrestling, I'm looking at you) and be replaced by other styles (Yoga, for example, replaces Kabaddi). In addition, we'll be taking a "style proliferation" approach. Having a large number of styles with relatively small maneuver lists works well with the multiple styles rules and allows for a lot of great character customization.
Freebie Point and XP Streamlining: The XP system needs an overhaul. We've used it for years, and if there's one thing that needs simplification and improvements, it's that. I'll outline our current changes soon.

That isn't all we'll be house ruling, but it covers the core issues. We'll also be working with the combo rules clarifications and updated maneuver tables (and other rules notes) from our "Street Fighter Revision" project from 2003 (at the time of this writing, these files are still available here).

Multiple Styles in Street Fighter: the Storytelling Game

2008-08-11T14:28:00.003-04:00

One thing I've always wanted in Street Fighter is a way to model characters who study multiple styles. This is an idea for how to do that without making major changes to the system. If someone has already done this, I'd be happy to hear about it. And if there are obvious reasons this wouldn't work (or simply issues that would need to be sorted out), I'd love to hear those too -- I'm dashing this post off pretty fast, but I'll try to get back with replies if there are any comments.

The basic idea is to simply to a) add Style ratings to the character sheet, so characters could be level 4 Karate, level 3 Kung Fu (for example), and then b) treat the power point costs listed for the maneuvers as prerequisites. The special maneuver "Dragon Punch" has a power point cost of 4 for Shotokan Karate and 5 for Kung Fu and Thai Kickboxing. This would translate to a simple requirement that a character must have achieved the 4th level of mastery in the Shotokan Karate style to get access to dragon punch, whereas a kung fu stylist would need to be 5th level in their style before getting access to the same maneuver.

Using this system, characters would need a starting pool of points to place in different styles, with a standard maximum rating of 3 (before freebie points). How many? I'm tempted to simply say 3.

The "any" category would simply default to your highest level in any style: if you have a 3 Karate, you'd also have access to any maneuver from the "any" list with a cost of up to 3 power points. This is a fairly simple system for allowing characters to be masters of multiple styles, and it works best if you're taking a "style proliferation" approach to the martial arts in the game. With this system, you could create Ryu as something like Karate 5, Tae Kwon Do 3, Judo 3, and so on.

The system isn't perfect: I haven't checked it for breakpoints (why go to level 5 in style X, if there's no maneuver with a cost of 5 in the style?). If you're using standard experience point costs and rules, it also makes the power point costs doubly important -- they limit access to maneuvers which also will cost more when access is gained. If you're not using the regular SF:tSG xp system, this problem can be avoided.

The system doesn't only restrict, however: it also opens up options for characterization and for character building (in terms of combat). Previously, there was no way to build a character with certain combinations of special maneuvers: you had access to the maneuvers in your style, those in the any list, and that's it. For story based reasons, it was sometimes desirable for a character to be able to learn a particular maneuver, but the only way to get this access was simply to make an exception to the rules on a case by case basis.

That's the basic idea, essentially back-formed from ideas for multiclassing in the d20 street fighter hack I'll also be talking about sometime. As always, I'm open to suggestions.

Fist of the Assassin -- Aggression (version 1)

2008-08-04T13:21:00.006-04:00

Fist of the Assassin is a martial arts rpg idea I've been kicking around for too long. It's been one of those "always in development, but never really in development" things, a game I always come back to and mess around with.

The blurb goes like this:

Fist of the Assassin
A game about Life, Death, and Kung Fu
It has always existed, just beyond the reach of civilization. It can be felt at the crossroads, on a storm-tossed ship at sea, in a windswept desert, and at the heart of an uprising.

It is home to heroes, masters, and boxers, to cultists, revolutionaries, and assassins, to villains, demons, and ghosts.

It is the martial world.

And it is your home.

A few months ago, I put together a rough draft document (thanks to some kind comments about the game made by Jonathan Walton), and I got some useful feedback in this thread started by Lukas Myhan at Story Games. At the time I got swept up in Game Chef and failed to respond properly to the thread, but I'm still thinking about revisions to account for the problems in the game as it stands right now.

The draft folks were working with is here.

The main current problem is pretty simple: the only smart thing to do is to turtle. There are too many defensive options and not enough offensive options. I've considered solutions that are based on reducing the number of options in play and handing them out by martial art style: so at base, the game might use only the numbers on the cards -- only simple, single card attacks and dodges. Suits are ignored. Then your style might give you a few strong attacks by allowing certain suits to be active for you. These strong attacks couldn't be dodged normally: they could only be stopped by playing blocks (cards of matching suits). Different styles would have access to different sets of strong suits and block suits. Combinations and reversals would be similarly restricted: you'd only get access to combinations and reversals for certain suits, ones granted by your style.

The advantage of this is to make styles matter in a fairly straightforward way. One disadvantage is that it ramps up the complexity of the core system, increasing how much you need to track to play the game. I'm not sure yet if it's a working solution.

Combinations need a buff up too, regardless of what is done with the styles. Right now, my idea for combinations is to make them more effective by stating that they cannot be dodged or blocked. Only a "reversal" (card of both higher rank and matching suit") could stop them, and it would only cancel them out -- not act as a counter-attack as it would against a single card. I think this helps offset the weakness of attacks, but only partially. I'm still working on the implications.

Sirlin's "Yomi" street fighter card game

2008-08-03T09:55:00.003-04:00

David Sirlin, top level street fighter tournament competitor and designer of the upcoming Super Street Fighter 2: HD Remix, has recently updated his "yomi" fighting card game. The game itself isn't new, but it's new to me, and definitely worth a link. It looks like a clever take on a street fighter themed card fighting game, and it's something I'll be interested in trying out when I get a chance.

The main page for the game is here. It's password protected, but the password isn't a secret: it's daigo, as mentioned by Sirlin on his own yomi message boards as well as at shoryuken.com.

The rules, faq, character card decks, and design discussion are all available at the main site.

Here's a related article by Sirlin talking about how he uses the term "yomi" in relation to fighting games: Yomi Layer 3: Knowing the Mind of the Opponent.

Roleplaying. It's kinda like that.

2008-08-01T18:01:00.003-04:00

Calvin & Hobbes, January 01, 1995, Bill Watterson

2008-08-01T08:14:00.001-04:00

SF Tribby Sagat Closeup by ~joe-vriens on deviant ART

Street fighter tokens 1

2008-08-01T08:00:00.008-04:00

street fighter tokens: set 1 (pdf)

This set of tokens is for use with any street fighter rpg that uses a hex or grid map at 1" scale. They can be printed out and affixed to any 1" base with a little bit of heft to it, from quarters to wooden craft discs.

All the core characters from the original Street Fighter game, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Zero, and Street Fighter III are represented. A few additional characters are included in the bottom row from Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter EX.

Eventually, I plan to create a separate set for each Street Fighter game. Right now, this set is a pretty good start, making most of the major characters available right away.

A whole blog about street fighter roleplaying?

2008-07-31T18:19:00.006-04:00

Well, yes, actually. That and a little bit more.

I have a lot to say about Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, and about martial arts rpgs, campaign resources, techniques, and game design. Blogging is a perfect way to talk about it, and hopefully to get some discussion going with other people who are interested as well.

Since this is an introductory post, I thought I'd use it to talk a little bit about the kinds of things I'll be doing here. It's an open ended list, but this is a start.

I'll be talking about White Wolf's (now long out of print) Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. That includes talking about the styles, special maneuvers, and characters in the original game, as well as statting up characters from the video game in SF:tSG terms. Eventually, after enough blog posts, I expect to have statted up every character from the official street fighter video game series.

I'll also be sharing various resources we've found useful in our home campaigns over the years, like tables of special maneuvers, standardized keywords for keeping track of what kinds of effects various maneuvers have, combat cards, and so on.

I'll also be talking about various game designs of my own. It seems like two out of every three ideas I have for rpgs are martial arts rpgs, and I'll be talking about these games here. This includes an OGL/d20 based street fighter rpg I've toyed around with designing, and it also includes various other rpg I've toyed around with such as Fist of the Assassin (a work-in-progress kung fu fighting rpg with "real time" combat) and Proving Ground (a game inspired by fighting and MMA manga including Grappler Baki, Tough, Shamo, and Garouden).

I may also talk about roleplaying games in general, from time to time.

This is also a blog about the street fighter phenomenon, and anything street fighter related might find a place here. This includes cool pieces of street fighter art found in the wilds of the internet, links to street fighter news and websites, and talk about street fighter comics, toys, and so on.