We Must Kung Fu Fight!

[trollthumper]

After thinking back to the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven arc from the Brubaker/Fraction run on Iron Fist, I thought it might be a fun idea to get our Mortal Kombat on and have an otherworldly martial arts tournament. The idea is that Guan Yu, the Chinese god of war and martial brotherhood, sends out an invitation to (or directly recruits) several heroes in Freedom City for a tournament in all martial styles held in Tian, the Chinese heaven and center of the Celestial Bureaucracy. Several tournaments will be going on at the same time, and the heroes will be in one (or, depending on demand, two) of them. Between heats, there will be a chance to mingle with the gods and the other combatants, as well as investigate the inevitable intrigue that comes with shindigs like this.

I've been throwing around the idea in Chat, and so far I've gotten the following interested parties:

-Raveled (Ironclad)

-Quinn (Crow)

-Aoiroo (Changeling)

-ShaenTheBrain, possibly (The Scarab)

And I may be throwing Cannonade in as well. I'm probably going to keep it to 5 or 6 a thread, and if demand is high enough (as it seems already) I'll run a second thread with a second drama covering another one of the tournaments. If you're going to participate, however, I'll need your help.

Each match is going to be one-on-one -- your PC versus an NPC. That means a lot of NPCs. To make it easier, if you're submitting a character, I'd like you to submit a list of what you think are your own character's strengths and weaknesses so that I can select an NPC that might be evenly matched for them (but not hideously built to steamroll). For example, "Cannonade has high Toughness with most of it being Impervious, strong Melee attacks, and Fortitude that's incredible. His Will save is slightly low, however, and his Ranged options are somewhat limited."

So, yeah. Let's see who wants to duel it out in the marble courtyards of Tian.

[Raveled]

So this is just kinda generic fighting, right? Not necessarily martial arts? Because all Ironclad knows is the Glorious Western Style. ;)

[trollthumper]

Yes, this is general fighting. Not necessarily martial arts. Brawling, kung fu, repulsors, magic, psychic powers -- anything goes.

Also, and I should've included this in the first post - PL is variable. Your competitors in the tournament will be evenly matched with you. Outside bosses may be a bit more, but the crux of the thread will make sure everyone's on the level with everyone else.

[Azuth65]

I'd throw Wisp in. She's got a pretty good defense but if someone lands a hit, he's going to feel it given her toughness save. She's got good movement and can feint well. She can hit well but said blows aren't the strongest around either. She does however recover from a bruised condition every round with no action and no need for a roll...

[Quinn]

Crow's pretty all-purpose as well, with a wicked punch for a PL 7. Problem is, exotic saves are not his forte. Trick there is locking him down, though; his Teleport is an excellent equalizer if used right. I'd throw in a Formorian baddo as an enemy for him, maybe Bres himself (although toned down a bit ).

[trollthumper]

All right. Dariusprime and Semi-Autogyro are also rather interested, so we'll likely get Fulcrum and Myrmidon in here as well. That makes the competitors:

-Crow (PL7)

-Myrmidon (PL7)

-Cannonade (PL9)

-Ironclad (PL9)

-Wisp (PL10)

-Changeling (PL12)

-Fulcrum (PL14)

-The Scarab (PL14)

We'll see who else shows up. In the meantime, I think I may end up stratifying based on PL, but we'll see how things go.

[Quinn]

Question. Have you considered having players with multiple heroes fight in separate tournament threads? Or would that be too complex?

[trollthumper]

I'll think on that, but odds are leaning towards "no" at this point. This is my first time running a multi-thread, so duplicates may make it a bit tricky.

[Cubist]

Hmmm... Here's an idea, for you to use or not, as you see fit; either way is fine by me...

Jubatus is not into martial arts, and certainly would never take part in this sort of tournament if he was given a choice. But there's a lot of animal-derived terminology & etc in martial arts, isn't there? So: What if Guan Yu figures it's about time to create a new school of Kung Fu or whatever, a cheetah-based school whose moves are derived from how Jube performs in this tournament? RP-wise, Jube would basically be playing the "fish out of water" role here.

[trollthumper]

Don't quite think that would work, Cubist. If you don't think Jubatus would be a good fit for the thread, then that's understandable.

[N/A]

:kaboom: MORRRTAAALLL KOMMMBAAAAATTT!!!!!

Yeah, I'm in.

And by the way, even though The Scarab is technically PL14, she's built around PL12 combat caps.

[Lone Star]

I'll throw Mad Dog in there, since he's actually kind of a martial artist. :P

[Skritz]

Once/if I get to finish my Luchador in the next few days, and if its gets approved, I would be interrested.

[Aoiroo]

Alright, here's a quick overview for Etain's opponents. Anyone who depends on there toughness save will be an easy match for her because she pretty much bypasses it with everything she does, mainly because she uses her illusions, FOR EVERYTHING. Seriously, she has the largest array for any character I've had, and I'm only getting more ideas on what to tag onto to it. Basically, a good match for her would be someone with good exotic saves, mostly reflex and will. While she is evenly capped for her attack at PL twelve, she is full on 5 point defense shifted. This doesn't mean however that she can't be flat footed, she has no uncanny dodge, though she has a decent bluff score (and will have better sense motive next edits around). Basically, big guys with big guns but high toughness, and high damage, won't last with her at all, though you might want to throw one in there simply for the crowd reaction. Also, if her illusions are rendered moot, while not defenseless, she's drops down four PL levels against anything immune to her powers.

[Dariusprime]

As far as fighting Fulcrum, the first obvious feature is her lack of ranged attacks. She's quick though and can close very, very fast. Her Fortitude and Toughness are excellent, while her Reflex is weak and her Will is good. She has a nasty unarmed and tremendous grapple but can't affect many incorporeal foes without stunting. Her Strength and Constitution are both very high and account for a lot of her power.

The big hurtle against her is keeping her down. She's a brick built for long brawls and heals fast. Containing her (Snare, pocket dimensions, etc.) is a valid tactic. Draining her abilities would hurt, as would outrunning her or fighting someone physically powerful that also has a lot of combat feats. She doesn't have many attacks that target exotic saves except for some Super Strength power feats, which are mainly for crowd control.

[Raveled]

Ironclad is designed as a pretty well-rounded fighter, able to adapt to most situations. That being said, there could be a few problem areas. Grappling is not her strength; she can do it, but she doesn't excel in it the way that that a Paragon or Powerhouse does. Her exotic saves are PL-3, meaning that they're an east target. Most of her technopathic abilities rely on being in an urban, settled environment. In a more rural setting, she'd lose several powers. Lastly and most obviously, everything she does is through the suit. Shut down the suit and she's a non-combatant.

[trollthumper]

Once/if I get to finish my Luchador in the next few days, and if its gets approved, I would be interrested.

Thanks Skritz, but on reflection, I think I may have to pass. I'm planning on splitting up the threads between the PL7-10 tier and the PL11-14 tier, and five is pretty much where I top out when running a combat thread.

But I might take another person in the PL11-14 tier.

[Skritz]

No problem, I didn't expect to get in anyway.

[trollthumper]

Okay, Sorus has thrown in Sage, so I think we're full. Now I just need to wait for word back on some NPCs.

While we wait, though, we should probably consider how all the characters got to Tian. A few things should be made clear -- for the most part (looking at you, Crow), no one got shanghaied into the tournament. It was mostly a matter of polite invitations sent in the mail (carved on tokens of white jade) or visitations by some of the low-level PR gods of the Celestial Bureaucracy to talk up the tournament. So the reason you're up there -- to test your martial prowess, to compete for a favor from the Celestial Bureaucracy, to just hang with the gods and meet some of the stranger creatures in creation, to get a chance to browse through the public files of Heaven -- is up to you.

[Raveled]

I'll do more research into the gods of Tian, but what occurs to me straight off is that Ironclad might represent modern combat and how wars will be waged in the future. Don't get much more future-y than powered armor, after all.

[quotemyname]

Sorry, I didn't respond to this earlier. Real life (and possibly my heart) have been kicking my ass (see player away thread for more info about my recent trip to the ER).

You mentioned, that you have a full roster for combat at the PL11-14 range. But I also remember you mentioning intrigue and such that goes on at events like this.

I'm upset that I missed out on original sign ups here. So, here's my proposal: I'd like to submit Blueshift. Not for combat, as I'd list "Decidedly non-combative" under her "weaknesses" if asked with regards to a thread like this. Why submit her then? The intrigue part. She's got the knowledge, and the skills, to be a massive support member for those heroes that ARE doing the fighting. While they're sucking up all the attention, she could be running around gathering intel on people, places, and events. She could even act as a corner coach or (you'll forgive the terrible reference, but I've been playing a lot of this game recently) a sort of kung-fu-dex, sharing her knowledge of the heroes opponents and/or their weaknesses as the others do battle.

There doesn't HAVE to be any combat for her in this thread, I'm fine with taking a support role. That is what she was built for. I wouldn't want to miss out on a chance for her to shine in that role.

[trollthumper]

I appreciate the interest, quote. But like I said to Cubist, part of the extension of an invitation was the understanding that the character would participate in the tournament. An exit strategy is offered for those who go "wait WTF," but Guan Yu does want to see participation. Threads are kind of crammed at this point, and while it'd be nice to have Blueshift along, I don't think I can swing it at this point.

[quotemyname]

Fair 'nuff. Lemme know next time you get a good idea :)

[trollthumper]

And after much delay, we're off. The first IC thread is here, and the first OOC thread is here.