I was in the process of writing up a character for a table top RPG this morning, and ended up being reminded of something that irked me:
Grappling.
Grappling is not only a problem in Free Form roleplaying, it is also a problem in most table top systems AND video games. If you have ever played PVP fighting games like Streetfighter or SoulCalibur, you know the Grappling techniques are generally harder to execute properly and rarely as effective for setting up combos as we would all like.
Riposte techniques present problems similar to grappling. Both require the attacker to generally be within some kind of proximity and require multiple steps for execution.
To elucidate, suppose we have two fighters, named Uke and Seme, respectively. Sorry, "Pimp" and "b***h" were taken.
Grappling example:
Uke attacks seme with a kick;
Seme at this point either
1. takes the hit
2. dodges the hit
3. takes the hit and grapples
4. intercepts the hit and grapples
#1 is the easiest, #2 is the hardest, and 3 & 4 are somewhere in between, but both are more complicated.
#2 and # 3 require Seme to have a higher initiative in most systems, or simply, be "faster". In Free form, convincing the other guy that you are faster is like asking someone else to suck you off.
In fact, this is the number 1 reason Grappling runs into problems.
In order of real world difficulty, from easiest to hardest, we have
4. take the hit
3. take the hit and grapple
2. intercept the hit and grapple
1. dodge
Unfortunately, if you are slow, or have good distance, it's often easier to dodge than to intercept, especially in terms of thinking it through. For example, if someone is running to attack you, you can run away, ensuring total failure in their attack. To intercept automatically implies if you fail to intercept they are already in range to attack, which puts you on the defensive.
Psychologically, if two free formers are fighting, and the first attacker has the second on the defensive, they have the social "higher ground" and the person who manages to escape is thought to be "cheap" or "godmoding". In reality, things are quite different.
When Uke is attacking Seme, as in our previous example, Seme doesn't have to expend any energy whatsoever to bring in Uke's attack. Not only that, but if Seme is capable of dodging the attack, it also means they are capable of grappling it, TWICE.
A person can only dodge an attack once, but they can attempt to grapple the same attack twice - once in terms of intercept, and once in terms of after being hit. If you know where you are going to be hit, intercepting is really easy, for the same reason a catcher in Baseball or goalie in hockey can capture the other teams projectile.
Certain styles of martial arts and weapon fighting then do a variety of things depending on the type of capture. In jujitsu for example, you might capture the incoming leg and roll inward to break the leg at various joints; in Karate you might capture the leg to provide an opportunity to counterstrike; in Aikido you might attempt to roll with the kick and let it accelerate you and the attacker into a position where you take their center of gravity.
With Riposte techniques, there's not much difference. If Uke swings a sword forward into a thrust, Seme might parry the blade while lunging forward to stab Uke in the heart. This of course runs into the 4 same scenarios for Seme:
1. gets stabbed
2. dodge or parry
3. get stabbed and counter
4. intercept and counter
example counters with weapons include disarm and counterattack.
dodge and parry have essentially the same effect - not get hit.
Block is the unarmed equivalence to Parry, and both have drawbacks.
With block you can get hurt, but you can also wear things like wrist or shin guards, shields, and so forth. With parry, your weapon can transfer the shock unless your weapon is incredibly heavy (and thus slow), and lighter weapons tend to be more fragile (most of the time).
The advantage to dodging is never worrying about damaging yourself or your weapons, the disadvantage is the reduction in the ability to counter or grapple. Once two fighters, or two weapons clash, the change in motion between either can more easily be sensed.
In game terms, we know right off the bat grapple/riposte moves are more complex, but do they necessarily take more time?
The answer depends. If you ask "if two people are swinging swords simultaneously, does a parry-riposte take longer?" the answer is yes, because the Parry-riposte person has to wait for the first attacker to come in reach. Likewise if an Aikidoist were attacked by a boxer, they would have to wait for the boxer to throw the first punch in order to capture it.
Now the real questions are "how much time?" and "is it always the case that a grappler or riposte master will act second?". The answers might be surprisingly simple.
A counter move can begin either on reception within a boundary of capture - such as if the incoming fist gets close enough for you to catch with your hand, to the very beginning of the move - such as a repositioning of the feet, leaning forward, or drawing back a weapon for strike. An aikidoist might then "enter" into the attack as the attack proceeds, moving slightly off center and reversing before, during, or after the same time anticipated for impact.
In other words, it is entirely possible for An attacker to be countered in less time than it would take for them to successfully score a hit, even though they took the initiative.
In Mantis style Kung Fu, students practice a series of offensive grappling techniques designed to trap or grab the opponent's limbs. On a similar note, there's nothing to stop a Fencer from making blade on blade contact to initiate the offensive for disarm or cleverly bypassing the target's ability to parry a normal attack.
Comments and elaborations on this problem are welcome.
