Melee & Brawling Fire Arcs?

[CRMcNeill]

So, I'm working on rules for Form IV, but I've hit a snag since Form IV emphasizes movement, yet there are no real rules for movement in combat in the RAW. As I was thinking of this, I was reminded of WH40K, and how models in that game were limited as to what arcs they can engage a target in close combat. I'm thinking that a similar rule might work here. I think it's reasonable to assume that a character engaged in melee or brawling combat would be at his greatest advantage if facing an opponent head on, at his greatest disadvantage if his back is to his opponent, and at middling levels of advantage if attacked from either side.

What I'm thinking is that, with Form IV's emphasis on leaping, twisting and turning in all directions, it could ignore any fire arc penalties (whatever they may be), and would be at a greater advantage when shifting around an opponent to attack them from a more vulnerable arc (ala Yoda vs. Dooku in AOTC).

Thoughts?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Azai]

For Form IV, just a random thought... Perhaps jump/acrobatic skills could be a free check and allow another free attack for the user. Hence I attack, then make a free acrobatic check (maybe against the what the user rolled for their lightsaber parry/attack) and if successful I can attack as I "jump"without any MAP.

As it seemed Form IV was about being everywhere and overwhelming your opponent. And not being where that person wants to strike, jumping and attacking from the top, behind, sides, unders... etc.

Though to put fire arcs into raw. We'd have to come up with rules on what disadvantages you have if you are attacked from behind or the side.

Is it easier for the person? Could it count as if surprised? Could it be countered, as you see many Jedi and Sith parry an attack from behind with their saber.

[CRMcNeill]

[garhkal]

I usually rule attacks from behind gain +1d to hit, while those who are attacked from behind (IF they are not surprised) can reaction parry, but not full parry or counter attack.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[vanir]

I dunno, I'm starting to get a little nervous about providing existentialism over creativity lately...

But still, I use duelling, melee and brawling combat in SWU as analogous to takamatsu ryuha kobudo and other painstaking disciplines, which go along nicely with some of the Jedi themes, but may challenge popular renditions of combat mechanics.

koshijutsu and even budo taijutsu forms of kenjutsu don't work on fire arcs and neither do they rely upon visual reflex but entirely upon visualisation techniques, strategy and prediction, and what maybe considered a luck factor of sensing the intention of your opponent in realtime.

That's how we train in the dojo. It's how Obi Wan was training Luke on the Falcon. We developed house rules based on martial arts systems, myself not being the only enthusiast in the group.

Various forms we use under the budo taijutsu elementary representation theory, where during the conflict various elemental manifestations are caused primordeally through battlefield strategies. So I will move from fu no kata to kajutsu and back to chi and gogyo setsu as a baseline theme on the specific techniques I'm using. It produces different mechanics the opponent must observe to survive this combat phase. Of course the idea is to have an opponent survive no more than two or three, you direct them between them to those ends, that's the reason behind these forms (taking authoritarian control of the conflict for application of personal responsibilities).

It doesn't look like much, two armoured kendo students rushing at each other with wood swords but trust me there's a game of chess going on and the stakes are high in the historical representations reference.

The handy thing about Japanese traditional kobudo is that having a feudal warrior aristocracy as recently as they did, only a handful of generations ago as opposed to millennia, there are still active descendants in Japan teaching these traditions pretty much the same way they were practised in the height of the samurai a few hundred years ago. You'd have to go back to the 7th century to find that in western Europe. So it's a really cool reference, I suggest browsing the Martial Arts Planet website and a few others for old school martial arts traditions based in rural Japan.
Could find some interesting inspirations...

[Fallon Kell]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

[atgxtg]

I7ve been working on something similar, and what I found helped was intergrating movment into the combat rolls. I also factored in for "reach".

[CRMcNeill]

[atgxtg]

[garhkal]