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View Full Version : Mortal Kombat System?



thedanster7000
2016-12-10, 09:29 AM
Would M&M be good to run Mortal Kombat-esque fights with? I considered GURPS but figured it would be difficult to balance all the special powers they have.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Thinker
2016-12-10, 11:37 AM
I think M&M would probably work the best out of the box. A few years ago I considered reworking the Exalted 2e system for it before with the various character types being the humans, gods, centaurs, etc. of Mortal Kombat. I abandoned it due to a lack of interest from my regular group. I'd also consider a Powered by the Apocalypse hack, but you'd have to put it together yourself from scratch.

Grod_The_Giant
2016-12-11, 05:25 PM
M&M is always a good choice for characters with wildly disparate abilities.

I think M&M would probably work the best out of the box. A few years ago I considered reworking the Exalted 2e system for it before with the various character types being the humans, gods, centaurs, etc. of Mortal Kombat. I abandoned it due to a lack of interest from my regular group. I'd also consider a Powered by the Apocalypse hack, but you'd have to put it together yourself from scratch.
That being said, I've heard Exalted 3e combat described as being ripped straight out of a fighting game. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I've played a few sessions and it's very fun. You make standard attacks to steal initiative, with the flow of battle going back and forth until someone gets a big enough advantage to make a "decisive attack," with damage based pretty much entirely on how initiative you've accumulated. Of course you layer on a half dozen or more assorted offensive and defensive special powers on both sides to make things more interesting. There's a huge selection; general abilities like Brawl and Melee each have dozens of charms along multiple paths, and then there are special Martial Arts with their own unique spins on things. Highly recommended.

JeenLeen
2016-12-13, 04:59 PM
I agree that M&M would probably work well. Lowering folk's Toughness until you can KO/kill them fits with the fighting game flow, and it easily allows you to make the different races and character types.
If you want to do an actual arena fight like in the games, I'd recommend giving everyone immunity to crits, either for free or as a requirement/strong recommendation, since a crit could potentially KO someone in one hit, which, well, isn't a thing in a combat bout in Mortal Kombat. (I played one game set in DC, and a crit by Killer Kroc KOed my hero.)

I don't think it's a particularly good system, but White Wolf made a Street Fighter game a while back. The mechanics are pretty similar to old World of Darkness, with powers shaped by different martial arts styles used by the major Street Fighter characters.