Research Efforts for BRP Design Challenge Part 7.

Everybody might have been Kung Fu fighting.

I game some serious thought to making a heavily martial arts based game for the Basic RolePlaying: Universal Game Engine Design Challenge. I have talked myself out of it for now. I’ve been a fan of the TTRPG genre of fighting games for a long time and unfortunately I have yet to see one hit big.

If the Critical Role cast receives less than stellar viewership of their Mortal Kombat one-shot, I’m not sure what hope there really is for a full BRP supplement of cinematic martial arts combat. If someone else sees this and wants to go bonkers on it, be my guest. I’ll definitely read it.

The road to this conclusion was bumpy.

I’ve been a fan of martial arts in TTRPGs for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite books of all time to this day is AD&D 1E Oriental Adventures. Now, before everyone gets mad, please hear me out. Despite all of the cultural appropriation and inaccuracies, the book had an amazing martial arts creation system. I spent a ridiculous amount of hours building new styles.

Later I got hooked on Palladium’s Ninjas & Superspies. I played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG, so I was very interested in N&S when I heard about it. The N&S book contained several martial arts systems and was awesome for emulating GI Joe, Top Secret SI and creating an Enter the Dragon TTRPG scenario. It was also an excellent Heroes Unlimited sourcebook.

I waited freakin years for Mystic China to finally come out, btw. I literally drove a game shop owner mad because the release date came and went so many times. They got tired of me asking if it was in yet. It was worth the wait, though.

Then came Hong Kong Action Theatre from Event Horizon Productions, the Street Fighter RPG from White Wolf, and a lesser known Wuxia game called Swords of the Middle Kingdom, also from Event Horizon. This type of game was my jam for a while there.

The Ultimate Martial Artist from Hero games remains one of the best TTRPG sourcebooks ever written. It combined fighting games with Champions RPG. It made ninjas and guys like Marvel’s Iron Fist cool to play in various superhero settings. Martial arts became more than just a stat line on a superhero character sheet because you could get into details about moves and even pull in power stunts.

Now with even more competition.

I’m always saying there’s room for everyone in the TTRPG industry. I will always stand by that when it comes to encouraging new and upcoming writers and artists. The catch is, martials arts as a TTRPG subgenre is a niche within a niche in what was already a tiny sliver of the market share. I think we’re talking about a tiny minority of TTTRPG players and game masters who go in for this style of game.

There’s no beating Avatar Legends RPG by Magpie Games right now. It raised one of the largest sums of money ever on a TTRPG Kickstarter. It still sells like hot cakes even at Wal Mart. Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra are hot right now. I find it perplexing how a Powered by the Apocalypse game can emulate martial arts battles so well, but it must be working.

Let’s also do a lightning round of other fighting TTRPG picks that seem to have carved a name for themselves in this category. There’s Fight! Second Edition by Divine Madness Press. I personally enjoy Art of Wuxia which I may have inadvertently suggested to DwD Press as a supplement for BareBones Fantasy. Panic at the Dojo is a funny game that reminds me of every other kung fu movie ever made.

That’s also not to mention the dozens of other games on DriveThruRPG or Itch.io. I didn’t even touch on dozens of samurai/Bushido style games. There’s also GURPS: Martial Arts, which deserves some recognition. I also missed Feng Shui, which I have been a fan of for many years. I apologize if I missed anyone’s favorite. I know there are a lot of them with small, loving, devoted audiences. (*Seriously, I liked the OG Street Fighter RPG by White Wolf.)

Here’s why I ultimately decided to go a different way with BRP this time.

I had this cool plan for a Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter esque game. Unfortunately, that requires a ton of artwork that I can’t draw. Half of what makes a martial arts game awesome is cool artwork and diagrams. I can describe an axe kick, but martial arts are more visual than that.

Mechanically, martial arts games are pretty challenging. While everything is my time and effort, I’d rather work on worldbuilding and story ideas than martial arts styles, which would be better as a sourcebook anyway. I’d rather explain why Johnny Government went to all that trouble to fight his way through the criminal underground to recruit the infamous wanted vigilante Suzie Straightkick. If you follow Mortal Kombat these days, it’s like watching a movie only having to stop and stomp out some other character every five minutes.

Kung Fu Jones asks The Bruce, “Why are we going to the Skull Fortress on Death Island to fight in the Ultimate Tournament?” (Of course, it’s the Death Fortress on Skull Island, but close enough.)

I don’t have 100% confidence that a martial arts fighting tournament style game setting would appeal to enough people to really draw them into the BRPG system. In a year when everyone and their dog is trying to find a D&D breaker, I want something that will call attention to the system I’m championing here. (*Basic RolePlaying: The Universal Game Engine.)

However, I will be going back to my other TTRPG love, Shadowdark, at least here in the Box, in June. I have an entire world built for Shadowdark including new classes, spells, items, etc. IFF BRP goes well enough, who knows? Maybe I’ll leave Shadowdark and build it for BRP rules. I have a Wuxia style campaign for another percentile based game that I might very well try running in BRP. It seems to translate basically everything pretty well.

A brief conversation about cultural appropriation.

As far as the cultural appropriation goes, unfortunately I have to tread very carefully with what I say. I love many things Japanese all the way from my sake set all the way to my manga collection and my copy of Fabula Ultima JTTRPG. I sincerely don’t want to offend anyone on a cultural level, but I sometimes struggle with the line between admiration and appropriation. With that in mind, I’m leaving the martial arts TTRPG scene alone for now.

I know there are some pundits on YouTube who freak out any time Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion comes up in the context of TTRPGs. I see it not only as ethical to be as considerate of other cultures as humanly possible, but a financially smart decision. I want to do everything right, not only for this game, but anything I do. I can’t afford to hire cultural/diversity consultants. I want this game to sell, so I can’t be constantly criticized for being a Caucasian guy doing a primarily Asian flavored game.

Social media cancellation does not sell TTRPGs. I admire Asian cultures. I don’t want to insult or offend anyone who identifies with that part of the world or those cultures. I know for a fact there are some folx that keep a sharp eye out on social media and elsewhere for offensive content. I want to play very nicely and get along as well as I possibly can with everyone.

I named a heap of games in this article. Some of them have authors who have taken heat in the TTRPG community for cultural appropriation. I honestly try to take in as much content as possible. Some I don’t agree with. Some I admire to no end, even if I don’t necessarily share a political or social viewpoint with the creator. We’re all one human race on this planet together. At some point, we’re going to have to act like it.

Thank you for stopping by today. Please go look up some of the games I mentioned. I think you’ll find them interesting if you like fighting games. I appreciate you.