Twin's Faction Questions

[Twin]

You know the drill...

For starters; What is the Martial Art practiced by the Sen'jai called? If you've got a name that is... or maybe they have several different types, or each tribe has it's own?
A minor matter, but important nonetheless, as I'm writing up some fluff and need that piece of info Also, it would be fun to know if you have any thoughts on what kind of martial art it is, (if you're into that sort of stuff..) what focus and stages they have etc etc...

But basicly; what's it called?

Thanks in advance

[Adam]

Sen'jai is the martial art. Its practitioners take on the name themselves simply because 'practitioners of sen'jai' is a pain in the butt to write out twice a sentence.

There's plenty of info on it in the rulebook, that should give you a bit of an idea. As to how the art itself goes, well it's quite a 'gentle' and fluid one, like aikido, only there's a lot more emphasis on weapon skill (including guns), unification with your mech (a lot of sen'jai build blindfolded once they're suitably trained up) and of course, extending the martial art to fighting whilst mounted.

Damn I need to get these factions posted up. I keep getting sidetracked (by revision and stuff). I was going to do it last night, but ended up watching Transformers again on a whim. Mecha goodness. Did you know that the part where Bonecrusher shoulder barges through a bus is actually real? (aside from the big alien robot, obviously...) Not to mention that the film contains the coolest 30 seconds of movie ever, that bit where Ironhide goes all ninja in slow-mo when he's fighting Devastator in the brawl at the end. You know the one.

(Second coolest film moment ever, btw: "Dodge this.")

I'll try and get Die-hards up tonight, I've nearly finished writing it.

[Twin]

Ooh, I see... well that explains a lot. I do like the sound of a martial art with guns
It had better not only be like Aikido, which is pretty much pure selfdefence/dancing. Aikido flashyness paired up with something like this however, (with guns) would look totally sweet.


And yup, Transformers sure is awesome (that is, when the d**n humans decide to step out of the way once in a while to let the robots fight some..).
I don't think I recognize the "Dodge this." part though, care to enlighten?

[Adam]

The Matrix. First film. Rooftop fight scene where Neo first learns how to dodge bullets after shooting hopelessly at an agent who's doing the same. The agent eventually beats Neo down and makes some witty one-liner. Trinity steps up, gun to the side of the agent's head:

"Dodge this."

BANG. Cue slow-mo of the agent's body lifting off the ground under the force of the shot...

Soooo cool.

I'll watch that video when I get home, my school has one of those "I BLOCK EVERYTHING!!!!11!! LOLZ\!!!" firewalls and accompanying network admin, so it won't work (and as a matter of fact neither will this forum; the firewall screws up the page and it won't appear, so I have to use a proxy site...).

[Casinha]

The "Ninja Man" would be something fearsome to witness with mechs :- www.youtube.com/watch?v=z34JYwNGFtw

Plus, a better idea of the martial arts they use would be welcome
e.g. I think something more like Ju-Jitsu would be pretty cool, focusses more on locks, throws and critical points of the body than Aikido, which is more about using the opponent's centre of gravity against them, twirling around them etc. In a situation where "Ikio" would be used, for example, the opponent's arm is locked and the users bring him round in a circular motion while forcing him down while he's off-balance, threatening to break his arm. A mech's weight, coupled with the fact that it can simply lock its stance makes it kind of useless, meaning that in a situation where Ikio is used, it can lock its own arm and proceed to pummel the user with its other weapons.

Aikido is, however, good when it comes to the prservation of the mecha. It focuses more on tiring the opponent and using moderate amounts of pain to exhaust him and make sure he gets up, rather than super punches of doom etc.

Hope this helped in some way.

[Adam]

Jun 15, 2008 15:50:21 GMT -5 Casinha said:

The "Ninja Man" would be something fearsome to witness with mechs :- www.youtube.com/watch?v=z34JYwNGFtw

;D

Jun 15, 2008 15:50:21 GMT -5 Casinha said:

Aikido, which is more about using the opponent's centre of gravity against them

Key bit. Wouldn't this be really, really effective versus mecha? Screw up a mech's balance, and it's down. And it's a lot more difficult for it to get back up than a human, for most mechs anyway.

Anyway, my point about Aikido was the whole 'calm smooth' aspect of it (I have studied Aikido in the past, btw, got up to green or blue belt). Aikido's quite unaggressive and almost dance like, which represents a large part of sen'jai. Combine this with the blistering attacks arts like Shaolin kung fu put out, and that's the closest modern equivalent to sen'jai. No posturing, no stances or cries; but you charge that sen'jai mech, suddenly it's not there and you're on your metal butt, being pummelled by two giant swords.

[Casinha]

Fair enough. My point with the off-balance thing is that it's a hell of a lot harder to put a mech off-balance than a human, especially when the opposing mech is a Super-Heavy. Plus, differently shaped mechs would have different centres of gravity depending on everything from the number of legs to the type of locomotion.

I do like the idea of Aikido being used as a mech, it adds some contradictory fluidity to the mechanised movements you expect from a mech, which I think is cool. Maybe Tai Chi? Don't really know how that works, only ever did Aikido and Judo as a kid.

[Twin]

I imagined the Sen'Jai mechanized fighting to be more about striking than actually doing Judo-tricks on eachother. For some reason I can't see two heavy mechs grappling around too much. There should of course be some throwing and butt-landing in there (a la Transformers jumping/fighting) but I also think getting through an enemies 'guard' or defence systems and pummeling the crap out of them should be just as important A more fluid dance around the enemy while striking with swords/hands etc would atleast be more realistic. But then again, we don't have to go realistic, do we? ;D

[Adam]

Jun 16, 2008 14:23:15 GMT -5 Casinha said:

Fair enough. My point with the off-balance thing is that it's a hell of a lot harder to put a mech off-balance than a human, especially when the opposing mech is a Super-Heavy. Plus, differently shaped mechs would have different centres of gravity depending on everything from the number of legs to the type of locomotion.

It's not that hard. Mechs have to do a lot of work and be very complicated just to walk (have you seen that Land Walker video?) and often can't restabilise themselves if tipped. Against an unwary opponent you could easily bowl them over. Superheavies are obviously harder to put down, but sen'jai mechs are pretty nippy - rip out a piston here, jump up and grab here and they could feasibly take one down. (Better off leaving it to the sen'jai superheavies though. )

Good point on the varying centre of gravity - although it won't vary that much. A mech's COG, if it wants to stand up at all, has to be somewhere either by its hips or slightly below, I think. High COGs will only make them easier to bowl over. As for multipedal mechs, well they can't be knocked down, so for them it's a moot point.

Transformer brawling is more or less how I imagine the sen'jai, only with a more artistic sense to it. (And fewer somersaults, at least on ones that big!) I daresay the superheavies would fight much like Prime or Megatron do (in the 2007 film), all swinging punches and power, while the mediums and lights would be a lot more agile, like Jazz or that awesome slow mo bit with Ironhide ninja'ing his way down the street. Superheavies, no matter who they're made by, can only be so slick, so they're going to have to resort to pummelling the crap out of things, as you so succinctly put it Twin (;D), while the lighter ones go in for the kung fu/fluid dance/aikido stuff.

As to T'ai Chi, I know as little about that as you do Casinha.