Writing Weapons (7): Unarmed Combat (Hand-to-Hand Fighting)

In a fight situation with no weapons, characters will stick with the kind of fighting they're familiar with: grappling or striking.

Grappling

Martial arts: judo, wrestling aikido, jiu jitsu, sambo, lucha libre, glima

Suitable for: entertaining fight scenes

Aim in lethal fight: chock or strangle

Words to use: grapple, wrestle, twist, pull, pin, roll, throw, toss, squeeze, press, chock, strangle

Holding the opponents down to the floor is called a "pin"

Striking

Martial arts: boxing, kick-boxing, karate, muay thai, capoeira, taekwondo

Suitable for: entertaining or gritty fights

Aim in lethal fight: blow to head

Words to use: strike, hit, box, kick, punch, chop, slap, kick, chop, hammer, pound

Mixing Martial Arts

Some martial arts combine grappling and striking techniques.

A skilled martial artist is probably an expert in eiher striking or grappling, but also has basic skills in the other.

Easier to stick with one group for one character - the hero's friends can complement each other if they have different martial art backgronds!

Investing a Fantasy Martial Art

Spiritual Elements connected to the general magic/religious system of your story world.

Mental Focus that allows the martial artist to amplify the effectiveness of attacks.

Small rituals, like bowing to the guru before and after every fight to obtain some kind of "blessing"

Restricted admission to pretigious martial arts academies

Specialist techniques that require combining physical action with spells, or a symbolic act that activates magic.

Exams: students must prove themselves through a series of tough (life threatening) tests to obtain access to the most important lessens of the practice.

Special garmetns

Secret codes between members

Winning Factors

Skill - the most important. A skilled fighter can take on someone who is much larger than them, but unskilled.

Size

Ruthlessness

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