Forums of the Megaverse®

Apparently there is something new for N&S in Rifter number 50, specifically

Taylor White - Ninjas and Superspies™, Expanded Combat Rules.

Anybody know anything about this?

Yeah... Taylor White knows
Seriously, it should be cool.

Mr. Deific NMI wrote:Yeah... Taylor White knows
Seriously, it should be cool.

Having never heard of Taylor White or seen his work, I'm not sure.

Mantisking wrote:

Mr. Deific NMI wrote:Yeah... Taylor White knows
Seriously, it should be cool.

Having never heard of Taylor White or seen his work, I'm not sure.

Part of the team that wrote Rifts: Madhaven

Mr. Deific NMI wrote:Yeah... Taylor White knows
Seriously, it should be cool.

Mantisking wrote:Having never heard of Taylor White or seen his work, I'm not sure.

Xar wrote:Part of the team that wrote Rifts: Madhaven

A Rifts product? The last time someone who did a Rifts product tried writing for Ninjas & Superspies we got the stuff in Rifter #7. Yay.

I wrote the article for Rifter #50. Kevin asked that we have a good variety of articles for this issue. While I'm usually writing for Rifts, Ninjas & Superspies is one of my favorite RPGs ever, so i wanted to do a little something to support it.

The article is called "A Challenger Appears", and it is about expanded combat rules for N&SS. There are no major changes to the system; i've simply tried to add a little more complexity, and thus depth, to combat. I figure characters in N&SS spend most of their time fighting in hand-to-hand combat, so i wanted mechanics to take that aspect of the game a bit further than you would find in Rifts or Nightbane or Dead Reign or whatever.

I think N&SS fans will enjoy the concept and appreciate the comprehensiveness of the article, even if you don't necessarily agree with the execution.

Any comments and criticisms would be welcome. Let me know how well these rules work out for your game.

Mantisking wrote:A Rifts product? The last time someone who did a Rifts product tried writing for Ninjas & Superspies we got the stuff in Rifter #7. Yay.

Just curious, what is it about Rifters 7 that you don't like? I haven't done the mathematical breakdown on each of the martial arts to determine if they are over-powered/under-powered, but it seems relatively basic. Is it that they are non-Asian martial arts?

Mantisking wrote:A Rifts product? The last time someone who did a Rifts product tried writing for Ninjas & Superspies we got the stuff in Rifter #7. Yay.

Desert Rat wrote:Just curious, what is it about Rifters 7 that you don't like? I haven't done the mathematical breakdown on each of the martial arts to determine if they are over-powered/under-powered, but it seems relatively basic. Is it that they are non-Asian martial arts?

It's not that they are non-Asian. It's the fact that they are so badly written and researched. And you should check the math on them again, from what I saw they were over-powered. Was it Munen Muso that had the outrageous bonus to Initiative?

Mephisto wrote:Only +7 to Initiative at 15th level. Same for Jeet Kun Do. The one style with crazy bonuses is Command Sambo.

Only +7. Sheesh. Not like any styles in the book had a bonus to Initiative that high.

So I looked at the article last night in the FLCGS. It didn't seem worth getting the whole Rifter just for that.

Logus Vile wrote:Please expand on that... I am also considering buying it only because of the expanded combat rules... unfortunately, I won't ever be able to flip through the book where I live. I am a big fan of N&S and really like using martial arts with all the different moves and situations. I even use a modified, simpler version of the grappling rules in rifter #3. what are the new rules about in general terms?
thanks

Basically, it's a modification of the combat system. All the combat moves -- and some other combat actions -- are reclassified to have four attributes; Strike, Damage, Movement, and Defense. From what I could tell, this is done to make some moves faster or slower in relation to how much damage they do. This was done in response to an unimaginative player using the same maximum damage move over and over again in a game the author ran. All in all, it just seems like overkill in response to a situation that could have been handled differently.

Mantisking wrote:Basically, it's a modification of the combat system. All the combat moves -- and some other combat actions -- are reclassified to have four attributes; Strike, Damage, Movement, and Defense. From what I could tell, this is done to make some moves faster or slower in relation to how much damage they do. This was done in response to an unimaginative player using the same maximum damage move over and over again in a game the author ran. All in all, it just seems like overkill in response to a situation that could have been handled differently.

I haven't seen the finished Rifter yet, but hopefully the entire article was included, which has much more information than just this.

Mantisking wrote:Basically, it's a modification of the combat system. All the combat moves -- and some other combat actions -- are reclassified to have four attributes; Strike, Damage, Movement, and Defense. From what I could tell, this is done to make some moves faster or slower in relation to how much damage they do. This was done in response to an unimaginative player using the same maximum damage move over and over again in a game the author ran. All in all, it just seems like overkill in response to a situation that could have been handled differently.

RoadWarriorFWaNK wrote:I haven't seen the finished Rifter yet, but hopefully the entire article was included, which has much more information than just this.

There was more than that, but that's what stuck with me after a quick skim.

Okay, I grabbed Rifter #50 over the weekend. (It was on sale at my FLC/GS for FCBD.) I've read the article and the only thing i disagree with at the moment is elbow strikes using up 1/2 of a character's movement allotment. A lunging elbow, sure. But a standard elbow strike is a close in maneuver and should cost zero movement.

I'll still have to go back and compare some of the damage ratings with those from the main book. I'm also not sure that the system as presented is the way to make N&S fights more like martial arts movie fights.

Mephisto wrote:

Mantisking wrote:

Mantisking wrote:A Rifts product? The last time someone who did a Rifts product tried writing for Ninjas & Superspies we got the stuff in Rifter #7. Yay.

Desert Rat wrote:Just curious, what is it about Rifters 7 that you don't like? I haven't done the mathematical breakdown on each of the martial arts to determine if they are over-powered/under-powered, but it seems relatively basic. Is it that they are non-Asian martial arts?

It's not that they are non-Asian. It's the fact that they are so badly written and researched. And you should check the math on them again, from what I saw they were over-powered. Was it Munen Muso that had the outrageous bonus to Initiative?

Only +7 to Initiative at 15th level. Same for Jeet Kun Do. The one style with crazy bonuses is Command Sambo.

Krav Maga in Rifter #7 also has disgusting crit range.