Hi David,

thanks for taking the time to discuss this seriously! I really appreciate it.

>It's probably best to sort out the rules for the bit you are best at
>and then get some other people involved that can add on LARP rules if
>you want to go that way.

That's what we figured. If we keep up friendly relations with all the other
interests that Gun Sau touches on (martial arts, Lazertag, LARP, watergun
groups, etc.) then once the rules are all sorted out we will be able to offer
people a new resource. I hope, anyway!

I'll have a look for LARPers in NZ. I know that some people down in
Christchurch play a game called Kaos with waterpistols, but that's more of an
assassination game.

>One of the most important rules of LARP are the combat/damage rules
>that govern how many times you can be hit/shot/zapped with magic
>before you fall over. I bet that you could work a lot of the martial
>arts 'damage' rules out yourself and as for guns Lazer Tag Team Ops
>should handle that side itself. However, if you did decide to go back
>to squirt guns or switch to some other type of gun, you would need to
>take that into account.

We have been playing Sudden Death - one shot to the killzone (head or heart
area) and you're out - and with the LTTO system we have been playing the 2 Kings
game up to (however many) points. One thing with the LTTO is that, although
it's a great system it's far more powerful and high tech than we need for Gun
Sau. I will be picking up some old-school Sega lock On guns soon, they actually
look perfect for Gun Sau training.

>Other rules you might want to think about are what happens if someone
>wears protective equipment (like a bullet proof vest) during one a
>Gun Sau based LARP game. Most LARP games require players to have a
>physical representation (phys-rep in the LARP slang) of something
>that their character owns, so you could try to borrow some of this
>stuff and decide if it is safe to do martial arts while wearing it.
>Fantasy fans might even like to wear something like the old fashioned
>samari armour.

I'm kind of into body armour from the MA side of things and i have various
[padded flak jackets, etc. When you get hit by something in a LARP, do you have
to act the impact and pain etc.? That would make some difference to how these
rules would work.

>If you do get in touch with some fantasy LARP players then you might
>want to check out some low powered crossbows as an
>addition/alternative to guns. Most of these fire corks, but to be
>honest with you I'm not entirely convinced that it is a good idea to
>use a projectile smaller than an eye socket unless everyone is
>wearing goggles. (I don't like to mix BB guns or paintball guns with
>LARP - if someone gets shot in the temple or takes off their eye
>protection you have the potential for an accident.)

I'm not sure that crossbows would work for Gun Sau because you really need a
weapon that can do quick repeat fire at close range (no time during a
close-quarters fight to re-load, etc.) I agree with you about the projectiles, I
personally would wear a full-face mask and eye protection if people were
shooting anything more than water or infra-red beams.

I guess we could think about crossbows for the longer-range version of the game
but it's very early days for that stuff yet, we're just kicking around ideas
right now.

>I've also seen LARP arrows (again arrow heads larger than eye sockets
>are safest) used with low powered bows. Maybe you could use some of
>the martial arts arrow deflecting/catching skills. It must be safer
>to practise these skills with LARP arrows than real ones!

I'm guessing so.

>Mixing LARP styles could complecate the combat system, as fantasy
>games tend to give you hit points (often area specific) that you
>loose when someone hits you, but sci-fi games tend to use Lazer Tag
>(especially the old Worlds of Wonder system in the UK and USA) which
>has the combat system (take 6 hits and you fall over) built into it.

Probably work better to develop Gun Sau as an alternative (body of techniques,
etc.) that could be adapted to different LARP rules.

>However if you are going to bring in martial arts stuff you might
>also want to think about having 'old fashioned' weapons as well. It
>could be really cool for someone who runs out of bullets to pull out
>a samari sword and try to cut down an opponant. With your style, you
>could probably bring sword disarms into the game.

Only if the players were seriously skilled. The problem with disarms is that if
you know exactly what you're doing they are almost effortless but if not it
could turn into a dangerous struggle. People would have to know how to fall
safely, you'd have to consider what they were wearing and the terrain, etc.

>I've actually heard of people that do LARP with re-enactment weapons!
>However, in my opinion the safest way to go would be to use standard
>LARP latex weapons. Don't forget that latex swords are not 100% safe
>as they are *not* toys and you would need to remind any players that
>you bring in from the martial arts side to pull their blows, but I
>think that generally they would be a safe thing for you to add to
>martial arts combat.

I've used latex swords, kendo shinai, etc. - all good but not really a part of
Gun Sau, at least at the moment. There are already some good combat systems
worked out for mock swordplay and such.

>You could even bring in a few special abilities if you go down the
>Matrix route.

We're looking at actually doing things like backflips, wallruns, high jumps,
dive rolls etc. One idea is that to keep this version interesting you would
only be allowed to shoot while pulling off some sort of stunt. Obviously the
arena would play a big part in what was practical.

>If someone holding a gun falls over in a combat, there is a chance
>they could drop it and some of the Lazer Tag guns out there are a bit
>fragile. Do you allow Judo throws? I bet someone would drop their gun
>if they were thrown.

We're not allowing throws in Gun Sau per se because it's too easy for the
contest to turn into a wrestling match. The rules actually force you to fight at
what is called "trapping range" - it's a little bit like fencing, only your arms
and pistols are the swords.

>(If I did have the time, I'd probably be doing
>medieval re-enactment with real swords and armour, as a lot of my
>frieds do that. All I've done is a bit of fighting with staffs. That
>is fun.)

I've done a bit of that, more into the HEMA (historical European martial arts)
side nowadays.

> >"Every body was GunFu fighting! Hah!"
>
> Doo-doo-doo doo-doo doo doo!

"In fact it was a little bit frightning"
>Doo-doo-doo doo-doo doo doo!







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