Creating Martial Art Styles
INTRODUCTION
For several years I have received requests about aspects of creating martial art styles, primarily for N&S, but for other Palladium systems as well. Originally, I used Lee
Casebolt's guidelines with some modifications, but after creating several styles of my own, as well as being asked to look over other people's styles (not too mention doing
indepth reviews of N&S' system and martial arts), I've developed points that address almost all areas of creating a martial art. Most of these have already been seen by
people at one time or another, I just thought I'd clean them up and present them in a clear and orderly fashion that makes it even easier for people to create martial arts.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of creating a martial art, there's a few things the creator should decide upon. N&S uses many terms to describe martial arts, including
Hard, Soft, Internal, External, Exclusive, non-Exclusive, Primary, Secondary, and Form (and from the looks of things, I'll be writing a glossary to clarify all of these). All of
these terms mean something in creating the martial art, as they do affect all of the areas of that martial art, from Character Bonuses to Why Study that martial art. The
creator also needs to keep in mind when creating a style, Name of the style and Country of Origin of the style. Let's go over these in turn.
NOTE: Aside from this guideline, it is mandatory to keep a copy of N&S and Mystic China (when available) open and ready for use when creating a style (possibly with Rifter #3 for it's Mystic China conversions and Grappling Rules, but NONE of the other Rifters with martial arts!). Exceptions occur
in the case of creating styles for other systems, where the main rule book (or, in the case of Rifts, rule books) ready for your use. The most important areas to keep track of
are the Hand to Hand Combat section and the Martial Arts/Hand to Hand descriptions (in other systems, the hand to hand descriptions will be found (typically) at the end of
the Hand to Hand Combat section) N&S users will also find the Martial Art Power section handy. The Hand to Hand Combat section will give you quite a bit of information on
how the different moves and modifiers work, as well as how hand to hand combat itself works (don't overlook the Resolving Hand to Hand Combat section, as it often
contains notes about how the moves and modifiers work that aren't listed in the term descriptions). Also, be aware of the differences between systems when creating styles,
each system does have some differences in how hand to hand combat works.
STYLE BASICS
Naming Your Style
I prefer to start with the name of the style, this let's me do two things, get a feel for the style through the name, and keeping clear exactly which style I'm working on
(especially important if you don't do everything at the same time, or it takes several days to iron out the details). The name is important, and will be repeated at least a few
times throughout the entry for the style. A couple of things to keep in mind for the style. Foreign (i.e. names that aren't in english) names should use one romanization
throughout the style, typically this will be the same as the name used at the top. Also, whenever possible, a translation and/or alternate romanizations of the style should be
listed. However, do not use the translation as the name of the style. You add more depth to the style if you use it's proper name and provide a translation in the description
text. In N&S, both name and translation are often provided for the name of the style, I find this a bit clunky myself, not too mention space consuming. You'll also see the
names of styles in N&S and Mystic China entirely in caps (as well as bold and a larger font size), if you want to put the name in caps, go for it, but it's not required, as long
as proper capitalization is used (bold codes and the larger font size are highly recommended though, the font size will be two sizes larger than the rest of your text, i.e. if you
use 12 pitch, the name should be in 14 pitch, if you use 10 pitch, the name should be in 12 pitch).
Country of Origin
Country of Origin often goes directly in hand with the name of the style (besides, it often tells you which language(s) the style should know). While it doesn't necessarily
have to be listed in it's own little stat entry, the country of origin should at least be mentioned in the description of the style.
Style Indentifiers
Exclusive or non-Exclusive type of style. I usually find this to be either the final detail, based on how the style turned out, or the very second thing I determine. An Exclusive
style will tend to be more powerful (i.e. has more powers, moves, and bonuses) than a non-Exclusive style. It also helps you determine two things. The Skill Cost and
whether or not the style can be taken as a Secondary style (which becomes important when creating other styles).
Hard, Soft, Internal, and External. All of these terms help describe how the style works. In addition, I add two new terms to the melting pot to help define it further; Passive
and Aggressive. Hard and Soft simply determine the primary type of motions used in the style. Soft styles use circular deflecting movements, while Hard styles use straight,
muscular movements. Internal and External simply describe the focus of these styles. Internal styles focus on spiritual and mental training, External styles focus on
improving the body. These two will determine your martial art powers (for the most part) as well as your number of attacks. Lastly we have Passive and Aggressive, they
simply denote how active the style is. Passive styles tend to be less active (consequently having less attacks and combat moves), while Aggressive styles tend to be more
active, with more attacks and combat moves.
STYLE FORMAT
Now that you've covered the basics of the style, you get to work on the nuts and bolts. First off, it's preferred that you use a standardized format for your style (even though
N&S does not always adhere to it). This does two things, first it lets you know where everything goes, second it tells other people exactly where to find the relevant information.
Note the use of bold codes throughout the standard format. These bold codes SHOULD be used to distinguish the different areas of the style and to make the style easily readable.
Not all of these blocks have to be filled in however, and occasionally you will see other skill categories listed that aren't in the above format. Skills will also often only be
listed for which skills the style has, as this cuts down on wasted space, I recommend doing so. Conversely, some Combat Move categories will not be present when that
style doesn't have access to anything from that category, however I DO NOT recommend leaving the Combat Move categories out if the style doesn't have access to
anything from that category. Instead it should be listed with the entry 'None.' This does two things, one it keeps everything in the same format, preventing anyone from
asking if that category is missing on purpose or on accident. Two, it tells the reader exactly what combat moves the style has available.
STYLE MECHANICS Entrance Requirements Skill Cost Style Description NOTE on style of writing: There are several common problematical elements that often first rear their ugly heads in the Description block. First are numbers. When writing
numbers, the numbers from zero to ten are typically spelled out (often this goes from zero to twenty). Numbers higher than ten (or twenty) can be written as numbers (i.e.
22). When doing a long sequence of numbers, where numbers higher than ten appear, you can write the numbers from zero to ten as numbers (i.e. 2, 5, 7, 14, 25, etc.).
Now for stat purposes, there are some exceptions, typically when you write out level advancements (which doesn't occur as much in the martial art itself, but does for
O.C.C.s, martial art powers, and the like), you can skip writing the numbers out as words, even if the notation does not go above tenth level (i.e. something gained at levels
2, 3, 5, and 9). Of course with Ordinal numbers (i.e. first, second, third, and so forth), they should be written out instead of listed as 12th, 15th, etc. Again, this does not apply
to stat block entries of level advancement bonuses, or the level advancement bonuses themselves. Another common error is misspelled words. I'm not talking about those
super huge words that everyone has trouble spelling, but the simple ones that often appear as typos, such as 'dose' for 'does'. Another problem in this area is having a
correctly spelled word, that is used wrongly, these words include to/too/two, their/they're/there, and the like. Just be aware of these problems and seek to correct them. One
last note, one of the most common misspelled words in a martial art style is 'practitioner', be on the lookout for this bad boy. Now some people may wonder why anyone
should care about these little details. Well, the truth is, that in addition to making your statements clearer and help in getting your point across, they simply look more
professional. No one wants to read a martial art style that looks like it was created by a three year old with a crayon (laugh now, I've seen so many presentations like this
that it isn't even funny anymore). Another important thing to keep in mind is to avoid using house-brewed abbreviations, acronyms and words. This makes it difficult for
others to understand you and slows them down. Costume Stance Character Bonueses COMBAT MOVES
Now we can start filling in some of these stat blocks. You should already have a name for the style, so put it at the top and at the bottom in the Why Study section. If the
country of origin already gave you your style's language(s), you can fill this information in as well. Overall though, you'll want to work top to bottom. This makes things a lot
easier to do in the long run, though you'll often find yourself going back up to fix or change some detail.
So the first block after name to fill in is the Entrance Requirements block. There are four major areas to consider here. The first is Alignment restrictions, which, for N&S
includes Honorable and Dishonorable disciplines. Second are the Attribute Requirements. There are two forms of attribute requirements, required and recommended.
Required attributes are minimum levels needed to study that style, before the bonuses from that style are added in! (Though skill bonuses not gained from the style would
be allowable.) Recommended attributes are suggested minimums needed to study that style, but not mandatory. Next is whether or not the style is open to one sex or both
sexes. Last (and mostly for other systems) are any racial and or class limitations on who can select the style. Remember though, Entrance Requirements are not mandatory.
Next comes the Skill Cost of the style. For N&S games, this will always be the number years of study needed for that style. This will typically be presented as a number of
years, with the number of years to learn it as a Secondary style listed in parentheses. Remember, Exclusive styles cannot be taken as Secondary styles, so they will NOT
have a Secondary time listed. For other games, this will be the number of skill slots the style costs to learn, for martial art styles, this is typically three skill slots (total).
Now comes one of the harder parts of creating the style, the Description of the style. For non-N&S styles this is not strictly mandatory, though it does help the reader
understand your style better, as well as making the overall style presentation look better. I like to break this section down into three paragraphs myself. The first details the
history and origin of the style and includes such things as translations of the name, alternate spellings of the name, country of origin of the style, originator/creator of the
style, when the style was created, and how the style came about. The second paragraph should be a written description of the style, including such things as types of
movements (often including names of these techniques), philosophy of the style, training methods of the style, important focuses of the style, and preferred combat method
of the style. This paragraph will be the meat and bones of your style creation, as anything that shows up later (including combat moves, character bonuses, skills, martial art
powers, and level advancement bonuses) should be justified by this paragraph. The last paragraph will present information on how and where students can learn this style,
including location of instruction, current instructors (if known), whether or not the style is common, any types of restrictions on learning the style and so forth. Again, this is
often one of the hardest sections of the style to complete, as you may have some idea of what particular moves or abilities you want in the style and need to work the
description to match, as well as lack of research sources for the style limiting what information you can provide. Do your best.
Next is Costume. This will be the typical outfit that style practitioners wear. There are many different martial art costumes out there. Kung Fu outfits are typically two piece
silk outfits, consisting of loose pants and a front-buttoning jacket (typically with high collars and long or short sleeves). They also have silk belts or sashes that denote rank
as well as soft, almost slippered shoes. Kung Fu outfits (It would really help if I could get a name for Kung Fu outfits, especially the different types) typically come in one or
two colors, occasionally with another color used as trim. Traditional Chinese gowns are also often worn. Karate Uniforms (Okinawan or Japanese) are typically solid white,
cotton weave outfits consisting of a jacket and pants called Do-gi. These are tied with a colored belt that denotes rank (to some degree). Do-Gi are typically worn without
shoes or socks, though occasionally tabi (split-toed socks) are worn. Korean Dobok are similar to Karate Do-Gi. Judo and Jujutsu practioners wear a heavier, padded
version of the Do-gi. Kendo and some Kenjutsu practitioners wear Hakama, a type of split skirt, typically dark blue in color. They also wear a standard do-gi style top with a
keikogi jacket over that. These practitioners also wear tabi and may or may not wear other foot wear. When engaged in full strike practice, they also wear a form of bamboo
fencing armor called Bogu, consisting of suneate (shoulder guards), men (face mask), kote (arm guards), do (chest protector), and tare (waist protector), also worn under
the men is the hachimaki, a cloth wrapped like a turban that pads the head and keeps the hair secured. Sumo wrestlers often wear a loin cloth called a Mawashi, made of
heavy silk approximately ten yards long by two feet wide, it is folded in six parts and then wrapped around the waist from four to seven times depending on the girth of the
wrestler. There are ornamental strings (mae-tate-mitsu) hanging from the front of the mawashi, made from silk stiffened with glue. These are typically discarded when they
become detached as they frequently do in the course of a match. Higher ranking wrestlers (the top two divisions) will wear a kesho-mawashi, or ceremonial apron during the
dohyo-iri or ring entering ceremony. The Yokozuna themselves will also wear, over their kesho-mawashi, a massive braided hemp rope weighing from 25 to 35 pounds tied
in a bow at the back and ornamented in the front with strips of paper hanging in zigzag patterns (these are Shinto paper charms). T he rank of a sumotori determines the
style in which his long hair is dressed (mage). The style worn by juryo and maku-uchi is the more elaborate and is called the o-icho-mage after the ginko leaf which the
mage is supposed to resemble. The lower ranks wear the chon-mage, a plainer style tied with paper strings. Thai boxers typically wear light boxing gloves, trunks, and foot
wrappings, occasionally adding a Kruan Rang, a bright, buddhist wrapping worn on the upper arm and the Monkon, a brightly colored headband which identifies the teacher.
In addition, many practitioners may wear Buddhist, Taoist, or Shinto monk's robes. Ninja did not particularly have a costume, however popular fiction has given them a
costume similar to the outfit worn by scene shifters and stage hands in Japanese plays (typically Noh, bunraku, and the like). This outfit is typically black (though available in
other colors, and often reversible) and consists of loose pants, a jacket, hand gauntlets, tabi socks, double belt, leg ties, separate leg and arm pieces, and quilted groin and
body protector and a two-part hood. It is also often reinforced with chain mail jackets and leggings, chain mail guards for the wrists, hands and neck along with a metal chin
guard and a metal headband (happuri). Other outfits include the standard western fencing outfit as well as street clothes, armor, and many other outfits. Note, a costume is
not necessary for the style, though the entry should still be presented (usually with the words 'none').
Well, with the somewhat intensive costume section finished, we move on to another difficult part of creating a martial art, the Stance. A style doesn't necessarily have to
have a stance, but it does add flavor and depth to the style. N&S and Mystic China both give good guidelines for how stances should be written.
Now for the Character Bonuses. As discussed earlier, these should be reflected (somewhat) by the style's description. Some things to keep in mind for Character Bonuses.
Attribute bonuses should total no more than five or so, discounting Speed bonuses, which aren't that important. S.D.C./Chi bonuses should total around 20 or less. If you
have a Chi multiplier, an S.D.C. bonus is STRONGLY discouraged. Typically Exclusive styles will have six or seven bonuses and non-Exclusive styles having four or five
bonuses, exclusive of Speed, S.D.C. and Chi bonuses.
Next we come to Combat Moves, this section is fairly intensive and will be broken down into several sections.
Attacks per melee. First off, totally passive, internal styles should start with one attack per melee, with very few (1D4-1 (no lower than one) works well to determine)
additional number of attacks. Internal, yet more aggressive styles should start with two attacks (1D6 is a good guideline for additional number of attacks). Styles that are a
mixture of internal and external should start with three attacks (again using 1D6 or even 1D4+2 to determine additional number of attacks). External, but not overly
aggressive styles should start with four attacks (here again you can use 1D4+2 to determine additional attacks). Extremely aggressive external styles should start with five
attacks and gain up to seven more (I recommend 1D6+1 for additional number of attacks). Assassin, Rogue, or otherwise covert styles should start with two to four attacks, I
personally recommend two or three at level one with an additional two at level two...this would be most applicable to styles like Ninjutsu, Triad Assassin, perhaps one of the
Tiger Styles of Kung Fu, Drunken Style, or any style with access to Arts of Invisibility, where stealth and sneaking rather than direct confrontation are implied.
Total number of combat moves. This is the total number of moves, exclusive of number of attacks per melee, but including modifiers to attack. A detailed study shows us
that number of combat moves averages 26-27, with a range of 20-30 being fairly common. Note, Exclusive styles should be on the high end of this while non-Exclusive
styles should be on the low end.
Another area of note is hand attacks, foot attacks, and holds/locks. Typically these are limited to roughly four different methods, though some styles have more, and many
styles have less. When looking at a style that combines grappling and striking moves, I recommend using 4/4/4 as a base guideline, increasing one area means deceasing
another area to the same degree (i.e. a style with six grappling moves could have three hand and three foot attacks, two hand and four foot attacks, or four foot and two hand
attacks). Another thing to consider for converting Real Life martial arts is that while you may want to give the style every single move that it has in real life, this isn't possible.
Try to keep it balanced by providing the most common moves available to the style. I also like the inclusion of new moves and powers, create new ones (remembering to keep the addition of new combat moves within the overall guideline for total number of combat moves), but use N&S as a
guideline for how these should work and how powerful they are. The Inclusion of Weapon Katas should limit the amount of hand attacks, kick attacks, and grappling moves.
Likewise, styles with lots of striking attacks will have few grappling moves and vice-versa.
Breakdown of the common combat moves available to styles and what category they fall under (which in the case of moves, is often several categories).
Escape Moves: Back Flip, Handstand, Impact Sponge, Leap, Maintain Balance, Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact, Somersault ,Turn with Punch/Fall/Impact.
Attack Moves: Back Flip, Cartwheel, Forward Spin, Handstand, Leap, Roll, Somersault, Stagger.
Basic Defense Moves: Automatic Parry, Backward Turn, Dodge, Entangle, Parry.
Advanced Defense Moves: Automatic Dodge, Automatic Roll, Back Flip, Breakfall, Chum, Circular Parry, Combination Parry/Attack, Combination Parry/Lock, Combination
Parry/Throw, Combination Parry/Hold, Disarm, Multiple Dodge, Power Block/Parry/Claw, Power Block/Parry, Spinning Evasion.
Hand Attacks: Back Fist, Backhand, Bear Slap, Black Tiger Claw Strike, Chuk, Claw Hand, Crane Fist, Double-Fist Punch, Double-Knuckle Fist, Duo-Claw Strike, Duo-Knuckle Strike, Eagle Claw Hand, Fingertip Attack, Fore-Knuckle Fist, Gou Strike, Hammer Fist, Hammer Strike, Haymaker, Hook, Jab, Knife Hand, Knife Hand Knock-Out, Lau, Negative Gou, One-Fingertip Attack, Overhead Fore-Knuckle Fist, Palm Strike, Palm Strike/Palm Spike, Pistol Whip, Power Punch, Punch (Human Fist), Punch/Spur Punch, Push Open Hand, Rake Fist, Ridge Hand, Rotary Palm Strike, Roundhouse Strike, Spear Hand, Spinning Fist, Two Palm Push, Uppercut.
Foot Attacks: Axe Kick, Backward Sweep, Crescent Kick, Drop Kick, Kick Attack, Knee Snap/Knee Spike, Power Kick, Reverse Turning Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Shin Kick,
Snap Kick, Snap Kick/Snap Spike, Sweep Kick, Tripping/Leg Hook, Tripping/Leg Hook/Leg Spur, Wheel Kick.
Jumping Foot Attacks: Flying Reverse Spinning Kick, Flying Jump Kick, Flying Reverse Turn Kick, Jump Kick.
Special Attacks: Automatic Body Flip/Throw, Bite, Body Block/Tackle, Body Flip/Throw, Butjapgo Chagi, Choke, Clothesline, Combination Lock/Parry, Combination Grab/Kick(1), Combination Grab/Head Bash, Combination Grab/Slash, Combination Strike/Parry, Combination Grab/Kick(2), Combination Hand Hold/Strike, Combination Hold/Parry, Critical Body Flip/Throw, Crush/Squeeze, Death Blow, Double-gore, Ear Box, Elbow, Elbow/Elbow Spike, Flying Head Butt, Flying Leap Attack, Forearm, Gore, Gou Combination, Grab Attack, Headbutt, Knee, Leap Attack, Neck Crank, One-Hand Choke, Paralysis Attack, Pin/Incapacitate, Roll/Knockdown, Shoulder Ram, Sticky Hands, Suplex.
Note
Holds/Locks: Arm Hold, Leg Hold, Body Hold, Neck Hold, Automatic Hold, Ankle Lock, Arm Lock, Automatic Lock, Body Lock, Elbow Lock, Finger Lock, Full Nelson, Knee
Lock, Wrist Lock, Neck Hold/ Choke, Gou Grip, Tsai Grip.
Weapon Kata: Any general W.P. category or specific weapon W.P. can be listed. Unless the W.P. is completely new (and given that there are differences between
systems) a specific weapon uses the general W.P. category for bonuses. For completely new W.P.s/weapons, the description and bonuses can be listed either here, or in
the skills section. It is open to debate whether or not Weapon Katas should be included as Weapon Proficiencies under skills (in addition to being listed here), use your
judgement. Note that weapon proficiencies can also be gained exclusive of weapon katas (which means the style teaches that weapon, but does not teach how to
incorporate it into the style). Many systems are often weaponless and don't use weapon katas at all, for those situations, list 'none' in his space.
A list of the known Weapon Kata includes; W.P. "Eighteen" Staff, W.P. Automatic Pistol, W.P. Axe, W.P. Axe - Paired, W.P. Blunt - Paired, W.P. Blunt: Uses White Jade Fan, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Bo Staff, W.P. Bokken, W.P. Bow, W.P. broadswords, W.P. broadswords(PAIRED), W.P. Butterfly Swords (Paired), W.P. Chain - Paired, W.P. Chain, W.P. Chain Whip, W.P. Claws, W.P. Club (Stick) & W.P. Paired, W.P. Crossbow, W.P. cudgels, W.P. Dagger (also includes knives, etc.), W.P. Dagger, W.P. daggers, W.P. Daisho--Paired, W.P. Demon Suit, W.P. Fan, W.P. For All Paired Weapons, W.P. For All Ancient Weapons (with a +1 bonus to strike), W.P. Forked, W.P. Forked - Paired, W.P. Handcuff (application of W.P. Handcuff allows the character to apply handcuffs to any opponent he has in a Wrist, Elbow or Finger Lock at the cost of one attack; if he already has handcuffs in his hand, then it costs no actions to snap handcuffs onto the opponent after the Lock has succeeded), W.P. hooks(PAIRED), W.P. Knife, W.P. Knife (Special! This represents a straight-razor used in the toes; full bonuses apply to using the weapon in the feet, but may not be sued to parry; W.P. Knife must be taken as a seperate skill if the characters wishes to be able to use a knife normally), W.P. Knife - Paired, W.P. Knives - Paired (Special, see below), W.P. Knives--Paired, W.P. Kusari-Gama, W.P. Kyoketsu-Shoge, W.P. Large Sword, W.P. Large Sword (favors the Chien double-edged, straight-blade long sword), W.P. Large Sword - Paired, W.P. Manriki-Gusari, W.P. meteor hammers, W.P. Naginata, W.P. nine-section whips, W.P. Ninja Sword, W.P. Nunchaku, W.P. Nunchaku 2 levels higher than the character�s current level (1st level martial artist would start at level 3), W.P. Nunchaku--Paired, W.P. Pa-Kua Lance, W.P. Pair Weapons: Uses White Jade Fan--Paired, W.P. Paired Large Sword & Knife, W.P. Paired Fans, W.P. Paired (in all these weapons, and in any combination), W.P. Paired Short Sword & Knife, W.P. Paired Short Sword & Axe, W.P. Paired Short Sword & Whip, W.P. Polearm, W.P. Pun Gung Bi, W.P. rope darts, W.P. Sabre, W.P. Sai (Paired) 2 levels higher than the character�s current level (1st level martial artist would start at level 3), W.P. Sai--Paired, W.P. scimitars, W.P. Short Blunt & W.P. Paired, W.P. Short Blunt, W.P. Short Stick, W.P. Short Sword: Willow Leaf Double Swords--Paired, W.P. Short Sword - Paired, W.P. Short Sword, W.P. Short Sword (also Paired), W.P. Skirt (see below), W.P. Small Thrown Weapons, W.P. Spear: Pa-Kua Lance, W.P. Spear at 2 levels higher than the character�s current level (1st level martial artist would start with W.P. Spear at level 3), W.P. Spear, W.P. spears, W.P. Spring Sword, W.P. Staff, W.P. Staff (Shikomi-Zue: Hidden Blade Staff), W.P. Straight Sword, W.P. sword, W.P. sword plus whip (PAIRED), W.P. Sword, W.P. Sword--Katana, W.P. Sword--Wakizashi, W.P. Swords - Paired 2 levels higher than the character�s current level (1st level martial artist would start at level 3), W.P. swords(PAIRED), W.P. three sectional staffs, W.P. Three-Direction Knife, W.P. Throw, W.P. Trident, W.P. Whip (usually used with Gieh Bian or Chain Whip), W.P. Whip, W.P. whips(PAIRED), W.P. White Jade Fan, W.P. White Jade Fan - Paired, and W.P. Willow Leaf Double Swords (Paired).
Modifiers to Attacks: Blunt Impact, Critical Strike, Critical Strike from the Rear or from Behind, Fake Attack, Hook at Eyes, Knockdown, Knock-out/Stun, Knock-out/Stun from the Rear or from Behind, Pull Punch, Weapon Tap.
New Combat Skills: When creating new combat skills, place them in the appropriate category or categories, listing the detail explanation in parentheses after it's (first)
placement. Remember (even if it is in the above list), if it's not described in N&S and/or MC, write the description out. That includes martial arts from other systems, the
Rifter, and off the PMAN.
Note: The most commonly occuring combat moves are dodge, parry, auto parry, Strike (punch), Kick, Pull Punch, Critical Strike, Knockout/Stun, and Critical Strike from Behind.
Note: There has been some debate about reworking these categories. For Hand and Foot Attacks, it has been suggested that Arm and Leg attacks replace these, moving
such strikes as Elbow, Forearm, and Knee out of the Special Attacks category, and into these categories. Likewise, it has been suggested that Holds/Locks be changed to
Grappling Moves, moving Body Flip/Throws, Body Block/Tackles, Pin/Incapacitate, and other Special Attacks to the new category. Until we see a revision of N&S that does
this sensible move, I recommend keeping the standard categories as they are.
MARTIAL ART POWERS
Determining Applicable Types of Martial Art Powers
Martial Art Powers and the style. This is also a difficult section to do, though keeping some simple things in mind will help you develop your style. When determining what Martial Art Power categories should be made available, I consider Body Hardening, Martial Art Techniques and Special Katas to be the most common. Arts of Invisibility should only be made available to styles which have a devoted interest in stealth. Atemi, Chi Mastery, and Zenjorike should not all be present in one style, and are usually limited to the more mental styles which stress less physical development (I usually allow one of these 'mental' Martial Art Powers to be selected at level 14 or 15 for martial arts which stress some mental development).
Determining Number of Martial Art Powers
Martial art powers should reflect whether or not the style is internal or external. Typically internal styles will have access to Arts of Invisibility, Atemi, Chi Mastery, and/or Zenjorike. I personally recommend no more than two of these categories, with the possibility of gaining one or two from a third category. External styles will concentrate on Body Hardening, Atemi, Martial Art Techniques, and Special Katas, and will typically have access to three of the four areas. Occasionally internal styles or external styles will have access to one or two martial art powers from another area, but these will be limited to access to higher levels for the most part. Occasionally you may see access to one additional area at lower levels, but this will reduce the number of areas that the styles typically selects from (i.e an internal style might have access to Chi Mastery and Martial Art Techniques, perhaps with Zenjorike being gained at higher levels.). The total number of categories that the style can select from should be limited to five at the maximum. In these cases, they style will typically have access to one power from one category and two to three from the other four.
The total number of powers should also be limited, the average is roughly seven or eight, with some styles having as many as ten and others being limited to only four. A quick guideline is, internal passive styles only receiving up to ten martial art powers from the primary internal categories (Invisibility, Atemi, Chi Mastery, and Zenjorike), with more active passive styles receiving eight (with only two or three of the internal categories, and possibly one external category). External styles will typically have seven martial art powers from the primary external categories (Atemi, Body Hardening, Martial Art Techniques, and Special Kata) with maybe one or two internal powers being available at high level. Aggressive styles typically have access to four or five martial art powers from the primary external categories, with the slim possibility of having access to one internal power. Keep in mind that more attacks and/or more combat moves will lower the number of martial art powers available. For instance, passive, internal styles will typically have one attack and three to four martial art powers, whereas aggressive, external styles will have four to five attacks and one to two (sometimes three) martial art powers. Another thing of note is that Exclusive styles will typically start with three to four martial art powers, where as non-Exclusive styles will typically start with one to two (three in the case of passive internal styles with very few combat moves and one attack to start). Whether or not to allow martial art powers to be traded on one for one basis, for basic skill programs is up to the creator, for some styles, the martial art powers are very important, others less so.
New Martial Art Powers
New Martial Art Powers created for that style. This is an ambiguous area, as creating martial art powers is often more difficult than creating a martial art. Some things to
keep in mind are listing which category of martial art powers the power falls under, the name, description, and bonuses/effects. Refer to the martial art power categories in
N&S and Mystic China for notes on what makes these powers different. For creating an entirely new category, good luck, it's hard to do.
Quick Determination of a Style's Abilities
Here's a quick table for determining attacks, martial art powers, and combat moves:
| Style type | Initial APM | Additional APM | Initial MAPs | Additional MAPs | Total # of Combat Moves |
| non-Exclusive, Internal, Passive | 1 | 1-2 | 3 | up to 6 | <20 |
| non-Exclusive, Internal, Aggressive | 2 | 2-3 | 2-3 | up to 5 | 20-25 |
| non-Exclusive, Internal/External, Passive | 2 | 2-4 | 2 | up to 4 | 20-25 |
| non-Exclusive, Internal/External, Aggressive | 2-3 | 3-6 | 2-1 | up to 4 | 20-30 |
| non-Exclusive, External, Passive | 3-4 | 1-6 | 2 | up to 4 | 25-30 |
| non-Exclusive, External, Aggressive | 4-5 | 4-6 | 1 | up to 5 | 25-30 |
| Exclusive, Internal, Passive | 1 | 1-3 | 4 | up to 6 | 20-25 |
| Exclusive, Internal, Aggressive | 2 | 2-4 | 3 | up to 7 | 20-30 |
| Exclusive, Internal/External, Passive | 2 | 3-5 | 2 | up to 6 | 20-25 |
| Exclusive, Internal/External, Aggressive | 3 | 3-6 | 1 | up to 7 | 25-30 |
| Exclusive, External, Passive | 4 | 2-6 | 2-3 | up to 5 | 25-30 |
| Exclusive, External, Aggressive | 5 | 4-7 | 2 | up to 5 | 25-30+ |
Skills
Next we go into skills. Skills is an area that often receives little attention when creating a style. At the very least I recommend the language of the country or region the style
is from and a philosophical training (though not every style will have one). Cultural skills (1D4) are more prominent in internal styles, whereas Physical, Weapon, and
Survival skills (typically 1D4, though weapons usually range around 1D8 or even 1D10 in some styles devoted to weapons) are more present in external styles. Overall I
recommend no more than four to eight skills on average, with Exclusive styles falling in the high end of that.
Learning Other Styles
Now we can move on to learning other styles if this style is known. First off, remember that Exclusive styles will NOT have a time listed for being learned as a Secondary
style. Along with that, other styles will not (typically, though this does occasionally pop up erroneously) list Exclusive styles as being learned faster. The easiest way to do
this is to pick a style similar to the one you are creating and determine whether or not your style would take longer or shorter to learn. Use your own judgement. For
determining the secondary learning cost, typically reduce the total number of years by 1/3 or even 1/2. For choosing other styles that your style can learn in a quicker time
(remembering that Exclusive styles cannot be selected), pick styles that are close in philosophy to your style, with an eye toward the region of the style first, and it's relation
second (for instance, if you are creating a Chinese style, look at other chinese styles before trying to find similar Japanese or Korean styles). To determine the quicker
learning time for these styles, apply the numbers used above (1/3 and 1/2) to the Secondary cost for that style (not the Primary cost). I typically find that this works best with
a one or two year reduction on that styles' secondary cost. Try to keep the number of other styles that can be learned between three and five, don't worry about making it
easier to learn every similar style in the world easier to learn for your style.
Level Advancement Bonuses
Level Advancement bonuses are one of the hardest things to figure, I usually take the nearest equivalent and then modify it to reflect the specifics of the style. Ensuring that the bonuses are spread out enough to not bunch up can take some effort (cut and paste, I love thee). I also try to limit the acquisition of new Martial Art Powers to typically three or four, however some martial arts require more Martial Art Powers to reflect development within the art. In this case, I usually limit the combat bonuses.
Death Blow is usually limited to higher levels, especially if you are increasing the Death Blow range (i.e. Death Blow on a Natural 19 or 20) and should be limited to no more than Death Blow on a Natural 19 or 20 (some extreme cases could result in a Death Blow on a Natural 18 or higher, but this should be extremely rare and the martial art will have fewer Martial Art Powers and other combat bonuses in addition to being Exclusive and is required to be both Primary and Secondary Martial Art). Remember, Special Attacks like Death Blows and Knockout/Stun REQUIRE a Natural, unmodified roll to succeed. If you've given your style either of these combat moves, the level advancement bonuses MUST have Natural Numbers for these moves listed in them. Critical Strike always occurs on a Natural 20, so this does not need to be listed in the level advancement bonuses. However, Critical Strikes with improved Natural Number range, and Critical Strikes from Behind DO NEED to be listed in the Level Advancement Bonuses. Also, when doing modifiers, most styles will not have better natural numbers than 18+, especially Death Blow. Internal styles should typically be limited to 19+ or 20, with external styles making up the majority of 18+ modifiers (Death Blow should be limited to 20, if available at all, for internal styles, and 19+ for external styles (more aggressive or assassin oriented styles should take a look at having Death Blows of 18+ but these should only be available at very high levels, typically tenth or better!).
For Level Advancement Bonuses, the each area that receives bonuses should be capped, while some styles have huge bonuses (up to +12 easily), these are very rare and most styles should not have them. A good cap for one (or two) combat moves that the style specializes in is +8, with other areas of study averaging in the +3, +4, and +5 range. Areas that are minimally studied should be capped at no more than +2, typically +1. For each level of advancement, a total of around +5 in bonuses per level is the high end of average; +3 is closer to the mark. Say, a +2 to parry/dodge, and a +1 to disarm. Or +1 to Maintain Balance, and +2 to Damage. You get the idea.
At each level of advancement, additional attacks per melee, martial arts powers, or improved critical strikes/ko's/death blows should be the sole bonus, or accompanied by at most a +1 or +2 bonus to some combat move.
The overall number of bonuses should not exceed +25 for internal, passive styles, +28 for external, active styles, with Exclusive styles being capped at +30 and +35 respectively.
Initiative and Pull Punch bonuses. Since N&S does very little to take these into account, perhaps it would be wise to include them. I suggest a total of +3 to Initiative for external, very aggressive styles, with the average being +2 for somewhat less aggressive, external styles. Internal styles should be limited to +1 to Initiative at the most. On the other hand, I feel that for Pull Punch, the opposite bonus range should be used, especially in the case of relatively aggressive internal styles (which should have a +3, possibly even higher). While external styles should be limited to no more than +2 to Pull Punch (these styles typically concentrate on doing damage, not limiting it).
Why Study Your Style
Lastly, we have another difficult area. The Why Study that style. Due to its difficulty, if you can't come up with one, don't worry about it. If you want to try to come up with one
I can only recommend two things. The first is a simple one sentence restatement of the second paragraph of the description (see above). The second is a humorous or witty
comment about studying the style (i.e. "Because it kicks butt, duh!").
CONCLUSION
Well, there it is, the Guidelines for creating a martial art. Cleaned up and broken down into sections for ease of viewing, I hope it helps.
