[Panpiper]

I first started studying martial arts at the age of five. I am now fifty years old and have never really stopped, though the degree of my commitment has waxed and waned variably over the years. My first public martial arts performance was at the age of fourteen in front of an audience of 3000 martial artists doing a combat demonstration of bo stick versus nunchaku. (My youthful nervousness was such that I forgot the practiced routine and had to spar full contact for three minutes! Ouch!) In addition to numerous forms of empty hand ranging from Muay Thai to Tai Chi, I have studied a number of weapons forms and applied some of that to seven years of full contact weapon combat in the SCA.

In addition to this, I have been a hobby wargammer for most of my life, primarily interested in highly detailed simulation gaming. I professionally managed a game store for ten years and under my management that store rose to having one of the highest sales volumes of any game store in the world. This was accomplished through a number of techniques, but not least among them was an insistence that our staff, most especially myself, be intimately familiar with the game mechanics of as many games as possible.

Most RPGs for me while being very colorful with their game 'settings' have greatly suffered from the point of view of mechanics. This was understandable to some degree as playing a truly detailed simulation game inevitably meant that a melee combat would take an entire game session to resolve. That's what I liked the most, that sort of combat simulation, while unfortunately for myself, most other gamers preferred a combat simulation that did 'not' take all night to finish so they could get on with the role playing part of the game.

With the advent of computers, I anticipated with relish the coming of role playing games with highly sophisticated and detailed combat resolution systems, as the computers could easily handle the details that bogged down human players working with pencil and paper. Alas, I was in for a huge disappointment, as game developers realized that they could market graphics easily and mechanics not at all. Virtually all computer games contain game mechanics less sophisticated than basic D&D.

The best of the pen and paper games out there with regard to combat simulation, fun and flexibility is in my opinion the Hero Games System. The latest incarnation of the martial arts simulations in that system actually describes the techniques used by that particular martial art and defines game modifiers for each technique. The player at their discretion chooses which techniques to use in whichever appropriate circumstance.

To learn a martial art in the game, the player must make an investment in character points at the onset to purchase 'knowledge skills' which represent a theoretical background, but do not yet confer any actual combat enhancing benefit. As the player gains experience (character points) they may purchase extra techniques within that martial art and then start actually using those techniques in combat. Progressing in skill involves purchasing extra techniques or purchasing 'skill levels' which can be applied during combat in numerous ways (typically conferring offensive, defensive or damage bonuses). This manner of training in the game is not particularly 'realistic' as in real training one tends to learn all techniques very slowly, hoping that one could apply any of them if a fight ever happened.

The problem with this approach in a game such as Dominions is that the game does not, cannot stop for a player to make such decisions. Ultimately the degree of 'realism' that can be applied to a game depends largely on the degree of complexity of the individual combat simulation. Dominions as it concentrates on mass battles, cannot afford to make these individual combats more involved than the calculation of a few very basic statistics.

As for the relative differences between Eastern and Western systems, they are rather moot in my opinion. What counts far more than stylistic differences is the degree of talent, commitment and training of the combatant. A student of Miyamoto Musashi who does not take his training seriously would loose to a street fighter with no formal training but who has the practical experience of having been in fights.

All other things being equal, a western knight with a lifetime of combat experience would handily defeat a samurai who has lived at peace. Comparing two veterans however gets sticky as they live in entirely different worlds. It's almost like asking, who would win in a fight, Luke Skywalker versus Gandalf? If you could magically teleport two armies, a veteran medieval western army versus a veteran Japanese samurai army, the victory would more likely than not be a question of relative equipment and combat experience than one of style. (Most wargame systems would actually give the advantage to the samurai army due to their preponderance of 'two hand cut and thrust' weapons.)

In individual combat, size and strength matter far more than training, until at least one has achieved a very high level of skill (your typical bouncer with no formal training will handily defeat most martial artists). Psychological factors are even more important. An enormously dangerous fighter who is not mentally prepared for a fight can be easily defeated by a resolute attacker engaging from surprise. And in a lethal combat, the combatant least afraid of death is by far the most dangerous opponent.

The 'techniques' that are taught in martial arts and simulated in game systems actually are rarely applied by martial artists in an actual fight. What most martial artists fail to realize (especially the new ones) is that the techniques being taught are not taught with the intention that "in case A, you do B". Rather techniques are taught so as to practice 'principles' that can most easily be learned by practicing techniques. For instance one cannot land an effective punch if one is not stable on the ground. This is true regardless of one's 'style' and regardless of the technique one studies, a good teacher will be on the lookout for problems in basic principles made manifest by practicing techniques.

All this to say really that while a detailed combat system matching up martial arts with their techniques makes for a fun game, it really has little to do with reality. For a simulation game, factoring in size, strength, weapons, armor, training, and combat experience is likely sufficient for realism's sake. Training in martial arts, regardless of style, would simply factor into general training level, better schools simply training faster.