I was thinking about designing a completely defensive martial art. I was just thinking that I've read about such a style. In the novel Rose Madder, by Stephen King, a woman named Gert is a self-defense instructor for battered women. All of her fighting is based on defending and counter-attacking against an abusive husband.
She gets into a fight with one of the abusive husbands, and she can't attack him. She stays in stance and goads him into attacking her. Ultimately, they fight to a draw. Probably the intention of such a martial art. Not to hurt them, only to stop them from hurting you. Something like that, anyway.
I just thought it was interesting.
(Doing Therapy)
Isn't that basically Kempo? Or sort of a synthesis of Kempo and Judo?
I wouldn't know. Scott was asking about how defensive a martial art could get. I was just thinking that I had an example of just such an art.
Just an aside, as soon as the character of Gert is introduced in the story, you know she's going to fight that abusive husband. She's the perfect opponent for him.
(Morning After Therapy)
I'd give the link for Won Ton at the martial arts in role playing games site, but I've given it before in exactly this kind of discussion, and I'm thinking that I should save time for other threads, as it's getting later.
--M. J. Young
Something to think about:even if it is entirely focused on defense, it needs a method of doing so. Would it be grabbing an attacking limb and throwing the person attached? Or striking in such a way as to divert the attack? How would the style deal with non-human opponents? If you do design it, use the guidelines on the first page of the character generation thread.