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Thinker
2010-09-30, 10:36 AM
I had a crazy idea for running a Mortal Kombat game. The game would take place after the Great Kung Lao was defeated by Goro 900 years ago and could rewrite the MK mythos. I want to keep some of the characters, rewrite how the realms interact, make some other rewrites, but keep the power level similar to what we see in the games. I would need to have mechanics that would have:

Ninjas - Ninjas/ninja-like assassins are generally masters of martial arts and as they gain power can make Ki blasts that channel elemental energy.
Sorcerers - Sorcerers and other magicians are typically based around illusion, metamorphosis, Ki blasts, and necromancy.
Oni - Oni are tough creatures that are usually brutes that can take a lot of punishment and can generally ignore Ki effects.
Shokan - Shokan are "half-dragons" (will be revised) with four arms who are basically large brutes.
Ki blasts - Everyone needs to be able to have them.
Teleportation - Short range teleports like blinking need to be common, though planar/realm travel should be very difficult. Traveling long distances should also be hard, though not as hard as realm travel.
Martial Arts Techniques - The system should support varied martial arts techniques, with capacity to create new special abilities.


I don't mind changing fluff around if something is close.

The Rose Dragon
2010-09-30, 10:39 AM
I'm thinking Weapons of the Gods.

dsmiles
2010-09-30, 10:44 AM
White Wolf's Street Fighter: The Roleplaying Game?
[/humor]

kamikasei
2010-09-30, 10:45 AM
Mutants & Masterminds ought to be able to handle it, though you'd have to work up the different categories for yourself.

Terraoblivion
2010-09-30, 10:46 AM
You'd have to homebrew an incredible amount of kung-fu styles to use WotG for this, TRD. M&M would be a much better stopping point, because to be honest WotG doesn't work to play anything but itself. Especially given how many of the mechanics that are deeply and intimately tied to the fluff.

Thinker
2010-09-30, 10:52 AM
Thanks for the suggestions thus far. I'm familiar with M&M and had considered it, but at this point it is a backup plan. I might look at M&M 3e for it.

What is Weapons of the Gods? What does it use for resolution? How fast is it to learn to play? How complex is the game (compared to, say, d20 or nWoD)?

Halaster
2010-09-30, 10:52 AM
As usual: GURPS. There are a gazillion ways to build your own attacks, plus any and all other special abilities you might need. Some assembly required, of course, but a few hours of work will probably be inevitable.

Thinker
2010-09-30, 10:55 AM
As usual: GURPS. There are a gazillion ways to build your own attacks, plus any and all other special abilities you might need. Some assembly required, of course, but a few hours of work will probably be inevitable.

GURPS, like M&M is a backup option. I am less experienced with GURPS than with other RPGs and if I'm going to be (re)learning a system, I may as well find one that fits pretty well already. I also prefer M&M to GURPS where possible.

The Rose Dragon
2010-09-30, 10:56 AM
You'd have to homebrew an incredible amount of kung-fu styles to use WotG for this, TRD. M&M would be a much better stopping point, because to be honest WotG doesn't work to play anything but itself. Especially given how many of the mechanics that are deeply and intimately tied to the fluff.

Doesn't WotG have everything the OP asked for, except for teleportation?

Besides, creating new kung-fu and secret lore is half the fun.

Tengu_temp
2010-09-30, 10:58 AM
Yeah, go with Mutants and Masterminds. You could check Mecha and Manga and Warriors and Warlocks for extra combat powers and feats, as well, though I think the main book alone will do good enough.
EDIT: Gah, ninja'ed. A lot.


Doesn't WotG have everything the OP asked for, except for teleportation?

Besides, creating new kung-fu and secret lore is half the fun.

Not really.
1. No rules for non-human characters.
2. Most MK characters use only unarmed attacks, or a combination of unarmed and weapons. A lot of kung-fu schools in WotG are weapon-only, and most characters focus primarily on weapons or unarmed combat.
3. Projectiles are rare in WotG, and secret arts usually have more subtle and non-combat effects than magic in MK.

Ignition
2010-09-30, 10:58 AM
Anima: Beyond Fantasy would work for this. Hell, it practically IS this.

Terraoblivion
2010-09-30, 11:08 AM
Doesn't WotG have everything the OP asked for, except for teleportation?

Besides, creating new kung-fu and secret lore is half the fun.

The only of the things he asked for it does are elemental blasts, only of fire, and multiple martial arts styles with opportunity to make your own. I mean you could build a ton of new kung-fu styles to cover it all, but we are looking at more than twenty different ones here, which would be a lot of work.

And secret arts cannot be repurposed for this. Nor can you really make new ones, since they pretty comprehensively cover everything you could want to do within the framework of what they are. Basically, they can't make you create illusions or teleport or anything of the sort, but there aren't really any holes in their coverage of subtle effects organized around Daoist concepts.

Postmodernist
2010-09-30, 11:45 AM
Feng Shui.

Thinker
2010-09-30, 11:54 AM
Anima: Beyond Fantasy would work for this. Hell, it practically IS this.


Feng Shui.

Could you elaborate a bit on these? What are their strengths? Weaknesses? How does it handle the criteria from the OP? Are there any oddities about them that should be noted?

Postmodernist
2010-09-30, 12:17 PM
Fair enough. Feng Shui (http://www.atlas-games.com/fengshui/) is a game that rewards improvisation. It's heavily styled on a knowledge that this a game steeped in the action-movie genre, so Rule Of Cool is what the game is all about. It's strengths are that it actually develops rule systems for the conventions of these films. Ever notice how the maverick cop never runs out of ammo, ever? There's a rule for that. Want to be able to perform completely impossible acts of kung-fu badassery while falling from a building? Totally doable. The system is pretty simple and flexible. It also encourages characters to think a little outside the box: locations are generic, so anything that can be thought of as appropriate scenery can be there, as long as players justify its presence logically. This gives players a ton of flexibility. At an airport? Fight with suitcases, grab a luggage cart, etc. In an abandoned warehouse? Start throwing empty crates. Swing from chandeliers at the evil bad guy's mansion, pull weapons off of the wall at the kung-fu school, etc. It makes the game way fun.

The weakness is, in my opinion, the canon time-traveling-kung-fu-future-and-ancient-evil canon storyline. Feel free to ignore that and adapt it to your own needs.

EDIT: Also, it could easily meet your demands. There are rules for sorcery, various martial styles, oni monsters, etc.

EDIT EDIT: Feng Shui review link. (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2274.html) Don't take my word for it. Also should add that I love the rules for fighting mooks vs. bosses.

Ignition
2010-09-30, 12:18 PM
Gladly! :smallbiggrin: My comments are in bold addressing each part of your list.




Ninjas - Ninjas/ninja-like assassins are generally masters of martial arts and as they gain power can make Ki blasts that channel elemental energy. Anima is, as the name implies, a fantastical anime-inspired setting, and as such, has systems for choosing/developing custom Ki power sets and martial arts relatively quickly. It comes with numerous examples of both, and the 'point buy mechanic' necessary to make your own. If you so desire, the fluff is loose enough that you can change the names and flavor as much as you want.
Sorcerers - Sorcerers and other magicians are typically based around illusion, metamorphosis, Ki blasts, and necromancy. In addition to the aforementioned Ki Power, Anima has a subsystem for magic, which includes both Illusion and Necromancy. As far as shape-changing, if memory serves, there are ways to replicate that, but if nothing else you can re-fluff the Summoning rules as appropriate.
Oni - Oni are tough creatures that are usually brutes that can take a lot of punishment and can generally ignore Ki effects. There are a few non-human races which cover a great number of the 'typical' anime demihumans such as this line and the next on Shokan. They've got fluff you can change, and if you're clever, you can backwards engineer them and apply the bonuses you wish rather than the 'existing' ones.
Shokan - Shokan are "half-dragons" (will be revised) with four arms who are basically large brutes. See above.
Ki blasts - Everyone needs to be able to have them. See above. You got 'em! In spades, no less! :smallbiggrin:
Teleportation - Short range teleports like blinking need to be common, though planar/realm travel should be very difficult. Traveling long distances should also be hard, though not as hard as realm travel. There are ways of doing this; I believe most of them are part of the Psychic Powers sub-system or the Ki Powers sub-system or both to varying degrees. If nothing else, the fluff is loose enough you can justify it.
Martial Arts Techniques - The system should support varied martial arts techniques, with capacity to create new special abilities. See above. Tons of ninja stuff! :smallbiggrin:


I don't mind changing fluff around if something is close. Anima is by default trying to be Anime-powered D&D. With that said, it is far closer to BESM - another anime system you might want to consider for this - than it is to D&D, even though their archetypes - the closest thing to classes - are all flavored to be swords-and-sorcery kinds of jobs. As you said, though, flavor is mutable; there's nothing saying you can't rename an existing archetype for fluff reasons, or even backwards-engineer their archetypes into something entirely else, but their existing archetypes are pretty broad and allow for enough fluffing to get around the 'default' flavor.

I hope this helps! To my knowledge, Anima only has the one core book, though I imagine they may come out with more support for its sub-systems and/or default setting sometime. It is put out in the states by Fantasy Flight, so check out their website.

For the record, I am not a shill :smallbiggrin: Just a fan.

Kurald Galain
2010-09-30, 12:30 PM
Exalted is always a possibility. An awesome one, too.

Tengu_temp
2010-09-30, 12:33 PM
You'd have to homebrew even more for Exalted than for WotG, though. And cut out a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense in Mortal Kombat.

The Rose Dragon
2010-09-30, 12:33 PM
Exalted is always a possibility. An awesome one, too.

I would never suggest Exalted for anything other than Exalted without great reluctance. The setting is as awesome as they come, but the system is... guh.

Ignition
2010-09-30, 12:34 PM
I always encourage the use of Exalted :smallbiggrin: But I do agree it is not really suitable for straight-up Mortal Kombat konversion. I will say, though, you could bring over the concept of Mortal Kombat into the existing Exalted setting with essentially no effort, but you couldn't really use Exalted without its fluff, or without spending the next decade rewriting all the Charms.

Drascin
2010-09-30, 12:38 PM
Could you elaborate a bit on these? What are their strengths? Weaknesses? How does it handle the criteria from the OP? Are there any oddities about them that should be noted?

Well, honestly, I really, really wouldn't recommend Anima for what you're attempting. Really, I wouldn't recommend anima to play anything but Anima. You'd have to gut half the book and give Ki Techs a serious revamp - plus this sounds like a concept that would benefit from fast, cinematic gameplay, which Anima's "roll attack, roll defense, check type of weapon, check type of armor, calculate percentages according to this" detailed paradigm very much isn't.

Ignition
2010-09-30, 12:42 PM
If you really wanted fast, cinematic gameplay, use Savage Worlds with about a thousand extra XP per character :smallwink: I do agree that Anima can be sluggish and unresponsive, though, when you're unfamiliar with its quirks. However, the fluff's pretty mutable; it wouldn't really be "gutting" so much as "renaming".

Otogi
2010-09-30, 12:46 PM
I'm actually surprised nobody mentioned Fight! (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14797.phtml) :smallconfused:

Thinker
2010-09-30, 01:48 PM
I'm actually surprised nobody mentioned Fight! (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14797.phtml) :smallconfused:

Unfortunately I don't want to run a fighting game like Street Fighter or the video game version of Mortal Kombat. I wanted to run something in a tweaked MK setting. Thanks for the suggestion.

I guess I have it narrowed down to 3 choices:

Feng Shui
Anima: Beyond Fantasy
Mutants & Masterminds

TheEmerged
2010-09-30, 03:25 PM
Someone mentioned the White Wolf "Street Fighter" system. Stop laughing :smallbiggrin: That system had its charms until they started expanding it.

Now, as to your question... take a good look at HERO. I've run "Mortal Kombat" type campaigns twice using those rules. The one problem you'll run into is the fact that HERO isn't an RPG system so much as an RPG system creation tool. So you'll end up doing a lot of the building on your own.

They used to have a "Ninja Hero" supplement, not sure if they've re-released it for the most recent edition yet.

Fax Celestis
2010-09-30, 03:30 PM
FATE, maybe?