Any way to add some martial-artsyness to Shadowrun?

[Jerthanis]

Kicking around ideas for my next campaign and playing a ton of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 with my gaming group has left me idly wondering what system could best run a Tekken-y sort of game, and eventually I decided that Shadowrun would just about be the perfect fit, since they have about the right technology level, and people like Physadepts are designed to stand up to cyborgs and robots under the right circumstances. I'd probably opt to downplay the fantasy races, but everything else about it seems to fit.

The problem is that Shadowrun is sort of designed with shooting, hacking, spellcasty magic, summony magic, cyborgs, ninjas, driving, piloting, infiltration, and fistfighting. To focus on making characters who are all fistfighters and spend more time focusing on the martial arts aspect of the story seems to take away the 'team of specialists' vibe of Shadowrun that seems to make it so successful. Is there any way I could add more variety to the kung fu and capture the essence of a Tekken-like plot, or is this a fool's errand? Does anyone have experience trying to play games based on or inspired by Fighting Games, like the Street Fighter Storyteller System or simply attempted to recapture the 90s in a Mortal Kombat RPG?

Edit: I'd be using Shadowrun 4th Edition, if it matters.

[LibraryOgre]

I believe Arsenal has some expanded rules for unarmed combat.

Consider banning taser/shock weapons, because they're pretty awesome.

[Need_A_Life]

Arsenal is what you're looking for, although it's simple martial arts. On the plus side, between those and an adept power you can make a character who takes no penalties for shooting while blind. :smalltongue:

Adept powers will be necessary, if you want to do the "kung fu movie" kind of deal. Well, that or implants (in which case, you'll need Augmentation).

Like much in Shadowrun, you need to be careful when picking stuff, because some martial arts moves are laughably inferior to others ("I sacrifice an attack this round, to get a minor bonus to hit next round? No deal.")

And, as always, shock damage is the best friend of the dedicated 'runner. Unless you're an even cheesier adept who picks Elemental Strike to get either Smoke or Radioactivity as their element :smalltongue:

[ThiagoMartell]

Games you could use for something similar to Tekken:
Final Stand (http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/timdenee/FinalStand.pdf) is very simple, very easy to learn and has a definite fighting game, martial arts feel to it.
Fight! (http://www.lulu.com/shop/christopher-peter/fight-the-fighting-game-rpg-hardcover/hardcover/product-6429240.html) - perfect fighting game emulation. You won't find a battle system more adequate than this one. It lacks on pretty much all other aspects, not being exactly a narrativist or simulationist game, but the combat rules are very robust and very reminiscent of Tekken. There are even rules for juggling, combos and strings. The PDF (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/79179/Fight!-The-Fighting-Game-RPG) is quite cheap.
Thrash (http://dsg.neko-machi.com/thrash.html) is quite a badass free game. With nods to simulationism and narrativism, it's a robust martial arts system with lots and lots of cool ideas to it. One of my favorite indie games.

[LibraryOgre]

And, as always, shock damage is the best friend of the dedicated 'runner. Unless you're an even cheesier adept who picks Elemental Strike to get either Smoke or Radioactivity as their element :smalltongue:

Oh, Gods... I love the idea of a Toxic Adept with Radioactivity as his Elemental Strike. He would make such a wonderful villain.

[Ganheim]

Or a broken villain, given the rarity of radiation protection. Thankfully the simplified healing system (minus optional rules in Augment, I think) leaves out terrible complications like Radiation Sickness.

If you're trying to go for a farther-flung kung-fu action-movie type of game, then the book Street Magic might also be worth taking a look at, it has a lot of additional Adept powers that you might like.

[Need_A_Life]

Mark, I would recommend two things if you want to use an adept like that.
1) Give players the hint of radiation suits; they need that rating 6 radiation-proofing to not die. Springing an unarmed adept like that out of the blue can wipe a lot of people (as I discovered in a mock-fight with such a build).
2) Don't use the full radiation rules. Otherwise it inflicts "radiation sickness on crack," making any survivors helpless little kittens. :smallbiggrin:

Or, you know, don't. They aren't called RUNNERS for nuthin', right?

[Raimun]

Remember to add Chain Throws as houserules... :smallamused:

Seriously, though, you should try to make a few Tekken characters and see how close you can get. Then perhaps fight with them.
I could imagine some characters could get a bit boring mechanics-wise. A match between characters inspired by people like Leo, Steve and Lee would be just regular punching and kicking.

Also, you need new races: bears, pandas, kangaroos, velociraptors and the wooden men and women. Or more seriously, consider AI-robots as player characters.

[RPGuru1331]

If you aren't married to Shadowrun, I strongly recommend Legends of the Wulin for basically any story that is meant to focus on martial arts movies or games. It is a system designed with this kinda thing in mind, and explicitly makes every PC an at least passable combatant.

[ThiagoMartell]

If you aren't married to Shadowrun, I strongly recommend Legends of the Wulin for basically any story that is meant to focus on martial arts movies or games. It is a system designed with this kinda thing in mind, and explicitly makes every PC an at least passable combatant.

I was severely disappointed by how clunky Wulin is. Also, it doesn't really fit Tekken...

[RPGuru1331]

Can't say I or a number of other folks I played with found it clunky. As to not fitting Tekken, setting-wise, or something else? 'cause if there's room for Lucha Libradores and Wild West Gunslingers, there's likely room for whatever you feel like coming up with for cyberpunk. It certainly seems easier than trying to kludge Shadowrun into doing something it's not designed for just because it is a cyberpunk setting.

[ThiagoMartell]

Can't say I or a number of other folks I played with found it clunky. As to not fitting Tekken, setting-wise, or something else? 'cause if there's room for Lucha Libradores and Wild West Gunslingers, there's likely room for whatever you feel like coming up with for cyberpunk. It certainly seems easier than trying to kludge Shadowrun into doing something it's not designed for just because it is a cyberpunk setting.

Well, yeah, but then you could use Thrash, Final Stand or Fight! for Tekken. You know, systems actually designed specifically for that. Wulin is about wuxia and Tekken is not wuxia.

[Jerthanis]

Can't say I or a number of other folks I played with found it clunky. As to not fitting Tekken, setting-wise, or something else? 'cause if there's room for Lucha Libradores and Wild West Gunslingers, there's likely room for whatever you feel like coming up with for cyberpunk. It certainly seems easier than trying to kludge Shadowrun into doing something it's not designed for just because it is a cyberpunk setting.

Well, Tekken as a setting has magic and monsters and sentient animals and robots and helicopters and megacorps. Shadowrun has all these things (in one way or another) and the kung fu geniuses are balanced to fit in among the power scale of the rules already.

If Legend of the Wulin doesn't have anything of the above already in it, it seems like adding a little more variety to the kung fu & fistfighting that already exists in Shadowrun is way less of a kludging into doing something that it's not designed for than using Legend of Wulin for it just because it's designed to handle application of fist to face.

I appreciate the recommendations for alternate systems so far, but could I get a little more information about some of them? They seem like they're heavy on the "Tabletop Version Of Fighting Games" which seem like good fodder for playing out the martial arts tournament aspect, which is fine and all, but if we wanted to play a fighting game, we're already sort of playing a ton of Tekken, and I'm not sure if slowing it down and resolving with dice is exactly what we need... I'm really more looking for a tool to engage in a narrative that incorporates other aspects of the world, to sort of play Tekken 6's Story mode with Alisa taking out Helicopters and Lars threatening Heihachi with a gun... situations informed by the characters' kung fu skills, but reacting with a world filled sometimes with other things going on than just kung fu.

If I'm getting a false impression of these systems, let me know.

I haven't had a chance yet to check out Arsenal or Street Magic, but I will definitely take a look there. Also, I remember stun damage being a giant off-switch the few times I've had a chance to play, so thanks for reminding me.

Raimun, if you have any idea about chain-throw houserules, I'm all ears. I was thinking the Pandas and Kangaroos and other animals could actually be minor Spirits, but I've never played a Shaman, so I don't know if they'd really fill the niche. Their mechanics certainly seem like they'd be out of bounds for PCs, but maybe they could still be antagonists.

[ThiagoMartell]

In that case you might be better off with Shadowrun, then. As far as I know, unarmed combat is nowhere near balanced with the other stuff in Shadowrun and most fights end in a single strike anyway, but if you don't want to focus on martial arts and just want martial arts to be "there"... then Shadowrun is your game, I think. Good look taking out helicopters with a somatic adept, though.