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Technical Grappling: PUBLISHED

It’s been more than two years since I got the contract. But it’s out!

I can’t think of a better GURPS Day present, of course.

I’ll be doing a lot of Technical Grappling related posts in the coming days, and I hope that you guys all enjoy the book.

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So, now that I’ve regained my composure after some gratuitous fist-pumping and victory dancing, I am quite pleased to see that not only are we likely poised for a return to GURPS releases, but that my work was chosen/available to be that first release.

There are some interesting factoids and stories to tell about this manuscript, but I’ll not do that now. One thing I will say is that I’ve got roughly 5,000 words of designer’s notes ready to go, and they will appear in due course, either in some formal venue or on this blog. There will be some good stuff in there, including some content that was removed solely for wordcount reasons, not because they sucked. Well, there will be some of that too.

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GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling
Available as an e-book on e23!

Written by Douglas Cole * Edited by Jason “PK” Levine

GURPS Line Editor: Sean Punch
51 pages. PDF. * Price $9.99 * Stock number 37-1644
Always Available – Click here to buy!

Master Grappling . . . or Face Defeat!

The canny warrior knows that grappling is fundamental to fighting. Any melee – from a brawl to a swordfight – could suddenly move into the clinch. Some fighters even specialize in such tactics!
This is a hard subject to get a hold on, however; volumes have been written about leverage alone. GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling brings this depth toGURPS. Expansions to the GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Martial Arts rules include:

  • Trained Strength. Discover how technical proficiency complements raw power.
  • Control Points. Transform grappling from an all-or-nothing affair to a matter of degree.
  • Position Revisited. Achieve leverage by jockeying for not only posture, but also facing and orientation.
  • Armed Grappling. Control and entangle your foes with a surprising variety of melee weapons.
  • Combat Options. Narrow your focus with the One Foe option, exploit Committed Attack to force a posture change, pass a limb to trap your opponent, and more.
  • Techniques. More than 30 of them – some new, some modified. Use an Escaping Parry to break a clinch, or Change Position to establish a weight advantage.
  • Fighting Styles. Learn Jacket Wrestling or Shuai Jiao – and distinguish between between bear and lion attacks – with six classic styles plus four specifically for animals.

Whether your campaign features athletes wrestling for prizes and honor, lawmen who must control and disarm suspects, or historical warriors trained to fight to the death, Martial Arts: Technical Grappling will add detail and realism to your battles.
This supplement requires GURPS Martial Arts for GURPS Fourth Edition.

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9 Comments

  1. Skimmed it already on coffee break. Will start reading it on lunch. I'm looking forward to testing it out, as it looks exciting so far!

  2. I must say that I was in the playtest, and while I like crunchy rules, you outcrunched me. I was also busy IRL, so I could not give it the time it needed.

    Glad to see it published though. I might pick it up eventually, but it's certainly not my priority.

  3. Looks really interesting. I'm curious if you incorporated anything from historical European martial arts, like Talhoffer for example.

    1. A lot of the armed grappling inspiration is from Talhoffer, and one of our playtesters is a dedicated Western Martial Arts practitioner. I think I have two Talhoffer quotes as pull-quotes, for example (plus one Fiori and another from Silver).

      One of the reasons I will poo-poo with extreme prejudice anyone objecting to the Technique Adaptation (Judo Throw defaults to XXX) where XXX is a weapon skill like broadsword or Two-Handed Sword is right out of those fight books.

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