Fight to Survive: Role-playing Martial Arts Meets Heart
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Fight to Survive: Role-playing Martial Arts Meets Heart is a heartbreaking¸ struggling¸ mundane¸ down-and-dirty table-top role-playing game about martial artists in the 20th century. It seeks to capture the spirit of 20th century martial arts action cinema¸ with all its sincerity and emotion. It's a game about tough guys and ferocious gals in low-stakes adventures of down-to-earth urban try-and-die martial arts where most situations are violent and usually end in sadness.
Frail heroes in a desperate world.
Throwing punches.
Throwing kicks.
Throwing away their lives.
Fight to Survive includes:
1 complete¸ original¸ set of easy-to-learn rules 5 ready-made fighters 50+ martial arts 30+ opponents 10 districts in New Hope City 100 years of martial history and lore 3 years of pre-made adventures Shawscope full-colour interior
Take a foray onto the mean streets of New Hope City where your guts and your fists are all you have to fight¸ fight...to survive.
System at a Glance
For the system junkies out there¸ Fight to Survive is:
Multi-generational: Each game session advances the in-game calendar by one to three years. While it is possible to hold on to a single PC throughout most of the century¸ it is equally possible to go through a series of characters¸ exploring the 20th century through a martial lineage. Rules-medium: The weight of these rules are a firm "medium” in terms of their crunch and complexity¸ if we take the current iteration of the world's most popular RPG as being rules medium-to-heavy. Theatre of the Mind: No maps¸ and no miniatures needed¸ however¸ you may want to refer to a map of New Hope City from time to time. Mechanics at a Glance Fights & Other Conflicts: The outcome of fights is determined by comparing moves¸ with certain moves trumping others¸ back and forth until there's a winner-kind of like rock-paper-scissors. The system is diceless¸ with all other conflict resolution using a comparison of relevant numbers with the highest number winning. Harm & Hardship: There are no "hit points”. Instead¸ Harm and Hardship-metrics that describe the lousiness of a PC's life-are governed by a complex series of checkboxes and brackets. If either of these meters are exceeded¸ the character exits the game. Comforts: These are the people¸ places¸ and things a character seeks out to make them feel better. Keep in good with your Comforts to make sure you can rely on them to reduce your Hardship. Setting at a Glance The Mundane and the Sad: This game is not a power fantasy. Stakes are personal and low. Fight to Survive runs on a vicious cycle of street fights and misery. The only way out is to die¸ go crazy¸ or pass on the cycle of violence to the next generation. Historical Accuracy: Historical events relevant to the "Martial World” are important¸ but Fight to Survive fiddles with the details. Events that actually happened across the continent-in New York¸ San Francisco¸ or Toronto-instead happen in the single fictional location of New Hope City¸ located "where-ever west”. New Hope City acts as a kind of North American Hong Kong¸ a tremendous hub of cultural diversity where all things intersect. Character Diversity: Districts in New Hope City act as cultural and economic boundaries. Accordingly¸ the game is ripe for exploring issues of systemic oppression¸ racism¸ colonialism¸ and social and economic hardship. Even if your group doesn't want to tackle those issues¸ the game in no way assumes middle-class¸ straight¸ white¸ male¸ European-descended¸ American protagonists. A plethora of distinct cultural voices and backgrounds works best and is more in keeping with the state of martial arts throughout the 20th century¸ anyway.
Design Goals In brief¸ my design goals were pretty specific with Fight to Survive. I wanted a system:
About martial arts where the players didn't have to know martial arts in order to play and enjoy it¸ but which would also give people who know martial arts the ability to make meaningful choices. Where fighting feels like how getting into a fight really feels. This game does not seek to emulate reality¸ but rather to achieve a feeling of verisimilitude¸ so there are a number of potentially counter-intuitive design decisions intended to get you into the right head-space and give you choices indicative of the game's wider themes. That captures the melodramatic emotional side of martial arts movies mechanically relevant to a table-top RPG experience.