Martial Arts in Sci-Fi and Fantasy #11 - How to make an art simple

[skribs]

In my last thread, I said I knew how to make a simple martial art. Now I'm second-guessing myself. The rules for creating this art are:

1. It must be as simple as possible. This means easy to learn, easy to teach, and nothing superfluous
2. It must be as universally applicable as possible. There should be no need to add additional techniques to what is taught in the core of the art, and what is taught should cover the majority of the situations you find yourselves in

The art isn't supposed to be the best at everything. Merely that whatever your opponent is trying to do, you should have an answer.

I've come up with two possible approaches to this:

1. A few punches and a knee strike. Trained properly, in theory, you would dominate the standup, and be able to punch or knee anyone who is trying to close in to grapple. If they do manage to get close and clinch, you're kind of screwed, but the more you practice your timing, the harder it is to get close. This better satisfies the #1 rule above.
2. A small handful of techniques and concepts for every situation. Punches, like above. A few kicks, a few throws, some basic grab escapes and ground escapes. This makes the art more universally applicable, but if you have 9 different things to train instead of 3-4, it makes it less simple. So this better satisfies rule #2 above.

I've got ideas for how #2 would work, and within each concept it's fairly simple. Everything follows the same core structure of keeping your left foot in front of you, and keeping your opponent in front of you.

The funny thing is that either way, the way I've designed it is the complete opposite of every other art I've trained, and even most of the arts that I've looked into (but haven't trained).

 

[drop bear]

Shoot boxing sparring.

African wrestling.

And for flavor. Brophy tent.

Calf scruffing.

 

[Deleted member 39746]

WW2/military combativeness and derivatives of.

If you want to make it flashy for cameras just over exaggerate the moves done.(this is if you mean from a production standpoint of a film, not in the lore of the world) That is simply you learn a few thing you can do under stress that are easy to learn and an be applied to the most situations. (if you aren't armed or cant use your firearm, pending how you use the term it can include melee weapons as well or disclude them)


Not too sure on the validity but i think some people have a tendency to open hand but the majority close hand. Kind of like how some people are pre disposed to drawing a knife in either icepick grip or handshake grip if under pressure.