Why do you fight?

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!

Street Fighter Martial Arts Styles

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.

Street fighter tokens 1

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.