Dragon Fist in '05

[Jonathan Moyer]

From Chris Pramas' New Year Message:

That's a broad overview of where we're going over the next year. We also have a couple of surprises lined up and now that WFRP is done, we've gotten Dragon Fist rolling as well. Yes, it's true, there should be some high flyin' wuxia action in all of your futures!

As someone who knows nothing about Dragon Fist, what's so cool about it? Will this game be d20 martial arts?

Jon

[REG]

When Chris wrote it for TSR, which was released as one of the first electronic document game product for a time, it emphasizes Hong Kong Wuxia style of roleplaying. The kind of element you find in martial arts black belt theater ... minus the out-of-sync dubbed voice-over.

Now that we have films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero making it more mainstream, and that the new OA emphasize more of Japanese-style samurai elements, Dragon Fist can fill that void of presenting Chinese-style kung fu elements that at least for me, I've grown to love, whether it is Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan or Jet Li.

I personally can hope it would be d20 so I can blend it with the OA rules in my game. Others however feel it should be less d20 and more OGL, like Mutants & Masterminds. So we're pretty divided.

[madmonk]

Oh boy I didn't read that last bit! I was thinking on writing a big flame in this forum because of the neglect on dragon fist. I feel ashamed.
But anyway, those are good news. This year will rock, with dragon fist, jade empire for the xbox, and a lot of movies! Yay!

[REG]

Oh boy I didn't read that last bit! I was thinking on writing a big flame in this forum because of the neglect on dragon fist. I feel ashamed.

Then it should come as no surprise that I fully understand your sentiment. Which is why I'm delaying any fanfare on my part, and take a wait-n-see stance. IOW, I am cautiously optimistic.

[madmonk]

Ranger REG you are right, the same has been said in the past, and the book will supposedly have a cover made by a renowed manhua artist, but that was half a year ago.

Anyway, I suppose I will join you in your crouching tiger stance.

[Malic]

Oh dear. I had resolved not to 'wait' for this any longer (just to snap it up as soon as it appeared, of course). But one tiny little announcement has me full of anticipation again.
Hopefully everything will go more smoothly this year

[Jason_Sunday]

I hope they don't keep us in the dark too long I have yet to see martial arts done well in a rpg. Does anyone know if Martial Arts Mayhem is any good?

[REG]

Does anyone know if Martial Arts Mayhem is any good?

It's good. Not impressive, but good for d20 Modern.

[Pagan priest]

I don't know, I rather liked Martial Arts Mayhem. If you want to add martial arts to your Modern without going into all out wuxia it is good. The martial arts are mostly good enough to balance against gun packing characters most of the time, with out beein too over the top. On the other hand, if you want something like Hero in your Modern, well, we'll just have to see if there is anything in DF...

[REG]

While I do have a copy of MAM, I seem to cherish my copy of Blood and Fist: Modern Martial Arts a little more. It seem MAM designer Rich Redman does too, or he wouldn't have added a few feats derived from BnF.

But we seem to be getting off-topic...

[madmonk]

Hey REG, do you have hong kong knights? It is also very cool! I have both blodd and fists and they are very good, even if only for reading (my players don't like modern, and modifying the rules for a D&D campaign would involve a lot of work)
They are the best rules for martial arts I have read. I wish they inluded conversion notes... Another thing, with their legends series, specially the last one, legends of the samurai, I wish they think abou a legends of the xia or something, since the dragon fist seems to take forever to rise :S

[REG]

I heard about HKK but I don't know if it's in print. (Don't ask me about e-Book, don't have a credit card).

RPGObjects tends to make e-Book first then after a period of corrections and good sale, they print it and distribute to FLGS.

[madmonk]

Damn! A firend of a friend lend me his copy of the .pdf product... I don't think there is a print one, nor if there will be one.
It is like an expansion of the first one... you can download a preview of the book from rpgnow.
If you are interested, I could send you the .pdf as long as you erase it from your hardrive before 24 hour pass.

[REG]

If you are interested, I could send you the .pdf as long as you erase it from your hardrive before 24 hour pass.

As tempting as that may sound, I must decline. I'd rather pay for the material, once it is in print edition. I have too much respect for the publisher, who have put out pretty good products for d20 Modern.

[madmonk]

Please don't misunderstand me REG. I bought the first one with my hard-earned cash, and while I don't have a credit card, my friend's father lets us use he's. However, sometime like the few past months, we can't bought books from rpgnow... why? because the stupid people at paypal don't let us. We are from Mexico, and my rich friend's father has a lot of credit cards, but even the international ones are not accepted by paypal. My friend asked them what credit card they accepted, twice, and they never answered. Hell, we want to spend money and they don't let us! I don't know, but I smell racism there... I too respect Charles Rice, as a fellow player and a good designer... damn, those guys at rpgobjects rule; unlike Monte cook who lets you update you pdfs for a price, rpgo sent us a mail with a link for the revised version of the first blood and fists for FREE!
However, while I WILL buy the print version if it ever comes out, as well as legends of the samurai HC, I don't think it is a sin to have the book in .pdf in the meantime. Its like fansubs, you are free to distribute and watch their fansubs, but they ask you to buy the licensed version if it ever comes out. And since fansub is one of the only ways to watch certain animes here in Mexico, uhm, well... But be asured that if they ever come out, I'm buying them.
Anyway, I understand your feeling, even if my own feelings are different.

[Pagan priest]

While I do have a copy of MAM, I seem to cherish my copy of Blood and Fist: Modern Martial Arts a little more. It seem MAM designer Rich Redman does too, or he wouldn't have added a few feats derived from BnF.

But we seem to be getting off-topic...

Just to avoid any chance to get back on topic...

While I like Blood & Fist a lot, I find it a bit harder to use that MAM. I have to brow-beat the GM's to be able to use it, and the games never klast long enough to get the full benefit from the system.

For reasons I don't pretend to understand, I do not have the same problem getting a GM to accept MAM.