New Skill: Parkour

[Crazy Lou]

Is it just me, or would this be a cool skill to add to the physical skill list? Maybe "Running" would be a prerequisite? And gymnastics &/or acrobatics each give a +5% bonus if you have it?

[Natasha]

I would call it acrobatics -- a rather kinesthetic form of acrobatics, but acrobatics nonetheless.

[Rahmota]

Umm if I knew more about this Might be able to make a more informed comment. What exactly is it?

[Balabanto]

It is the skill of bypassing obstacles in an urban environment. Watch the beginning of Casino Royale to understand what this looks like.

[Crazy Lou]

It is the skill of bypassing obstacles in an urban environment. Watch the beginning of Casino Royale to understand what this looks like.

What he said is pretty much exactly it.

Also note: it's different from "free running," which if you google that you'll get a bunch of fancy flips and stuf which is really inefficient, is is mostly just to look cool. Parkour is all about from A to B as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible, and generally irrespective of what's in your way.

[drewkitty ~..~]

It is a more informal Acrobatics then the what is normally thought of.( the stuff in the olympics)
It would still fall under the Acrobatics skill, but if taken as a separate skill then Acro. or gym. or tumbling would need to be taken as a prerequisite.

[Thinyser]

I have to agree with the consensus here that its covered by exsisting skills. Acrobatics, running, & climbing cover parkour.

As a GM if you like the concept of a character that has extensivly trained to do these things in urban areas maybe just give a 10% bonus to these skills when used to overcome urban obsticles and a -5% when trying to overcome nonurban obsticles.

For simplicity you could combine them into one roll, just take the average of those 3 bumped up skills (well two really as running doesn't have a %) and have the player roll against that average.

[Thinyser]

It is a more informal Acrobatics then the what is normally thought of.( the stuff in the olympics)
It would still fall under the Acrobatics skill, but if taken as a separate skill then Acro. or gym. or tumbling would need to be taken as a prerequisite.

They don't have acrobatics in the Olympics... they do have Gymnastics, which can invovlve a lot of tumbling and flips and such.

BTW where exactly is "Tumbling" found as a Palladium skill? I thought that was covered under the "roll with punch/fall" bonus...

[drewkitty ~..~]

It is a more informal Acrobatics then the what is normally thought of.( the stuff in the olympics)
It would still fall under the Acrobatics skill, but if taken as a separate skill then Acro. or gym. or tumbling would need to be taken as a prerequisite.

They don't have acrobatics in the Olympics... they do have Gymnastics, which can invovlve a lot of tumbling and flips and such.

BTW where exactly is "Tumbling" found as a Palladium skill? I thought that was covered under the "roll with punch/fall" bonus...

High Seas

[Thinyser]

It is a more informal Acrobatics then the what is normally thought of.( the stuff in the olympics)
It would still fall under the Acrobatics skill, but if taken as a separate skill then Acro. or gym. or tumbling would need to be taken as a prerequisite.

They don't have acrobatics in the Olympics... they do have Gymnastics, which can invovlve a lot of tumbling and flips and such.

BTW where exactly is "Tumbling" found as a Palladium skill? I thought that was covered under the "roll with punch/fall" bonus...

High Seas

Great! I'd not known that exsisted... I dont know how i missed that.

[Blight]

I did Parkour for one of our games a while back.
Parkour only as a occ. related or 2 secondary skills
+12% to climb X2 to climb speed -4 feet from falls per lvl
+5 roll with fall and punch
+2 to dodge
+2 to physical prowess
+1 physical strength.
+1 physical endurance
+3d6 to speed

[Blight]

Umm if I knew more about this Might be able to make a more informed comment. What exactly is it?

Parkour is a physical discipline inspired by human movement, focusing on uninterrupted, efficient forward motion over, under, around and through obstacles (both man-made and natural) in one's environment. Such movement may come in the form of running, jumping, climbing and other more complex techniques. The goal of Parkour is to adapt one's movement to any given obstacle.

David Belle is the founder of Parkour. Belle began Parkour when he was 15, inspired by his father Raymond Belle and the "methode naturelle" (created by George Hébert). Belle is also the founder of PAWA (Parkour Worldwide Association).

According to founder David Belle, the spirit of Parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach", that is, the idea of using physical agility and quick thinking to get out of difficult situations, and to be able to go anywhere that one desires. However, in freerunning, a closely related art emphasizing aesthetics, fluidity and beauty are important considerations
Hope that helps.

[Rahmota]

Ahh I see now. Thank you I learn somethign new everyday. Well I guess since I dont know what I'm talkign about on this I'll leave it to the ones who do.

Although a question or two could this be a sort of martial arts movement form? Or is it strict non-combative? Also are there any movies/tv/visuals other than online (I am on dial up and videos are not friendly to that) that would have a good example of this?

Anyhow thank you for the knowledge.

[Crazy Lou]

No, it wouldn't be a martial arts thing. Casino Royale's intro with Bond chasing that one elipsis guy through the construction site is a pretty good example. The whole video game of Mirror's edge is pretty similar to parkour. If you didn't include the few combat moves/disarms in that game you'd basically have it. (ususally though it's not all rooftop stuff, and some of the stuff in that game is rather over-the-top. That was just because it makes the game cooler and having all rooftops creates a main way to "succeed and fail" in the video game).

[Crazy Lou]

If I allowed a Parkour skill, I'd make it an O.C.C. bonus skill to the Maze Rat/Runner O.C.C. in the Bionics Sourcebook. That's the only class that's begging for a skill like that.

That is very true. IIRC there's not much really that makes that class stand out much.

Although I think that it would be reasonabe for other classes to have it too. I'd probably just give the maze rat/runner a really hefty bonus to the skill. But I guess that's just me.

[Jefffar]

I'd say that parkour would be more like a hand to hand combat style variation than a simple skill (but then again I say the same of boxing and wrestling).

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I'd say that parkour would be more like a hand to hand combat style variation than a simple skill (but then again I say the same of boxing and wrestling).

I do believe thats been done, both on this board, twice no less, and in a irfter, not so sure about the rifter though.

Btw, has is that vague regulation working out for you? I heard you were thriving, but just wanted to check. You know how we all worry about our authority figures.

[Rahmota]

No, it wouldn't be a martial arts thing. Casino Royale's intro with Bond chasing that one elipsis guy through the construction site is a pretty good example.

Ahh I see. Actually no I dont as I have not watch the new casino royale. I dont like the new bond at all and dont watch it. It doesnt exist. it never happened. James Bond was sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnen and that was it.

However I will take your word for it. Thank you.

[Crazy Lou]

here, now you don't have to watch the whole movie. In fact, the best example of parkour starts at about 4:55 and runs until about 6:40. Watch the guy Bond is chasing, not bond himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w2oAWzHUfk

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

Palladium Fanticy.

Just thought I'd share, I totally read that as Palladium Fallacy by mistake.

I did Parkour for one of our games a while back.
Parkour only as a occ. related or 2 secondary skills
+12% to climb X2 to climb speed -4 feet from falls per lvl
+5 roll with fall and punch
+2 to dodge
+2 to physical prowess
+1 physical strength.
+1 physical endurance
+3d6 to speed

And I'm stealing this.

[Danger]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

[Thinyser]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

What part of "more bonuses" dont you understand? LOL jk poking fun at those who do think its needed.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

What part of "more bonuses" dont you understand? LOL jk poking fun at those who do think its needed.

Not just more bonuses, but more content as well.

[Crazy Lou]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

What part of "more bonuses" dont you understand? LOL jk poking fun at those who do think its needed.

That was certainly not the goal, but I like that reasoning too. There's certainly no such thing as too many bonuses, haha.

But yeah, Ziggurat, that's the idea. When there are about 6 versions of the standard Cyborg OCC, no one can say that one more physical skill is TOO redundant, lol. (clarification: I'm not one of those people who say there are too many classes in PB. I think it's awesome, and that's kinda my point.)

[Shark_Force]

Palladium Fanticy.

Just thought I'd share, I totally read that as Palladium Fallacy by mistake.

I did Parkour for one of our games a while back.
Parkour only as a occ. related or 2 secondary skills
+12% to climb X2 to climb speed -4 feet from falls per lvl
+5 roll with fall and punch
+2 to dodge
+2 to physical prowess
+1 physical strength.
+1 physical endurance
+3d6 to speed

And I'm stealing this.

hmmm... you do realise this provides a bigger bonus to spd than the running skill?

[Crazy Lou]

Palladium Fanticy.

Just thought I'd share, I totally read that as Palladium Fallacy by mistake.

I did Parkour for one of our games a while back.
Parkour only as a occ. related or 2 secondary skills
+12% to climb X2 to climb speed -4 feet from falls per lvl
+5 roll with fall and punch
+2 to dodge
+2 to physical prowess
+1 physical strength.
+1 physical endurance
+3d6 to speed

And I'm stealing this.

hmmm... you do realise this provides a bigger bonus to spd than the running skill?

Yeah... When I also "stole" it, I downgraded it a bit. It was the equivalent of at least 3 average physical skills combined, and even with the slight selection restrictions it was probably the "best" single stat boosting physical (debatably competing with boxing).

This is what I did:

Parkour only as a occ. related or 2 secondary skills
+10% to climb X2 to climb speed -2 feet from falls per lvl
+4 roll with fall and punch
+2 to dodge
+2 PP
+1 PS
+1 PE
+1D10 SPD


And I almost lowered the roll w/impact bonus more, but it made too much sense give a huge bonus to that from this skill. I also probably should've dropped the PP and dodge bonuses by 1, but I like PP and dodge bonuses too much and feel that not enough skills offer an increase in PP. Plus some serious dexterity is needed for the more advanced parkour stuff.

In regards to the -2 feet from falls per lvl: I interpreted this to mean that when falling from a given height, that the character takes an impact damage equivalent to the actual height minus the modifier, even if they fail a roll w/ impact. I changed it because it seemed absurd that at 15th level a character could roll out of a 60 foot drop.

[Danger]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

What part of "more bonuses" dont you understand? LOL jk poking fun at those who do think its needed.

Not just more bonuses, but more content as well.

[grandmaster z0b]

There seems to be little equality to the bonuses physical skills give anyway. I mean why doesn't Martial Arts give a single bonus to PS,PP, etc?

I would use that but make gymnastics or acrobatics as pre-requisites and then only give +1 to PP.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

What part of "more bonuses" dont you understand? LOL jk poking fun at those who do think its needed.

Not just more bonuses, but more content as well.

What? I want to be able to say that my character has parkour. I don't want to have to roll under acrobatics for standard movement through obstacles. I want to just bound over them because my character has been walking and running since he was 2 or 3, and know how to move his legs. This gives e a chance to say, " Hey, look at me, I have basic coordination, and I can see what's 3 feet in front of me, I'M SUPERMAN." Besides, I do parkour, and I like my characters to reflect as much of me as possible, and acrobatics just isn't me. And parkour is cooler. Though you do tend to get injured more....

[Crucible]

I don't think there's a reason to add this skill to the game.

What part of "more bonuses" dont you understand? LOL jk poking fun at those who do think its needed.

Not just more bonuses, but more content as well.

What? I want to be able to say that my character has parkour. I don't want to have to roll under acrobatics for standard movement through obstacles. I want to just bound over them because my character has been walking and running since he was 2 or 3, and know how to move his legs. This gives e a chance to say, " Hey, look at me, I have basic coordination, and I can see what's 3 feet in front of me, I'M SUPERMAN." Besides, I do parkour, and I like my characters to reflect as much of me as possible, and acrobatics just isn't me. And parkour is cooler. Though you do tend to get injured more....

Yeah, I didn't respond to this because this has nothing to do with either Gymnastics or Acrabatics and I saw that this was where it is immediately heading. Parkour should be its own skill. Zig, since you actually do it why don't you make it?

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

Yeah, I didn't respond to this because this has nothing to do with either Gymnastics or Acrabatics and I saw that this was where it is immediately heading. Parkour should be its own skill. Zig, since you actually do it why don't you make it?

I can make all kinds of things, but I can't do skills. They are my one weakness. Well two really, them and bullets.

If I may give some advice for those who do make it or use it, I would do so. Please consider the following statements. Practicing parkour does not necessarily make you any faster. Yes, if you run, you will go faster than if you walk. If you practice running, you will get better at it. As I was already a runner, I cannot attest to any increase in speed, or stamina. The main thing I noticed with parkour, wasn't an increase in speed, but less of a decrease caused by obstacles. You go up, over, and around much more smoothly, and this results in less lost momentum. I did notice an increase in jump hight and length.

I see an increase in jumping stats, and either an increase in speed, or a prerequisite of running.

Also, at first, I fell alot. I mean a lot. But after a week or two of non-stop punishment, I either lost sensation in my extremities, or I got tougher. I like to think it was the latter, and not severe nerve damage.

I can agree with an increase to SDC, and maybe PE

After that, my coordination improved, and I stopped getting my feet, and occasionally shins(that one hurt), caught on things.

I would also put an increase to PP there, and a nice sized one too, as mine used to suck hard. Coordination that is, I even used to close my legs in car doors. Every single time, built up good strong shins though...and I guess dodge counts, as you end up going around things as often as you go over.

When I first started, falling really sucked. Now because of my terrible coordination, I had to learn to fall without getting hurt too bad at a young age. I also had to learn how to fall without taking too hard a hit, as my heart would stop, and there was no way of knowing if it would start again. So I learned how to roll with any kind of impact at a pretty young age too. As you may understand, I was pretty good at it by necessity, but I apparently still had room to improve. I also still fell pretty hard when I was out free-running with my friends. After a couple of those hits(read: faceplanting while running at full speed) I figured out new ways to absorb impacts and increased the speed at which I responded. Falling over because you tripped, is very much different from sailing trough the air and hitting the ground at full tilt.

High bonuses to roll with impact should be part of the skill.

I really cant say I climb faster or better, and I haven't noticed any increase in strength. it might just be me though, I am pretty darn near peak physical condition.

Can't see a bonus for PS , or for climbing. Well, maybe climbing.

My advice and input is in the quotes, for those of you who don't really need my reasoning.

[Crucible]

Yeah, I didn't respond to this because this has nothing to do with either Gymnastics or Acrabatics and I saw that this was where it is immediately heading. Parkour should be its own skill. Zig, since you actually do it why don't you make it?

I can make all kinds of things, but I can't do skills. They are my one weakness. Well two really, them and bullets.

If I may give some advice for those who do make it or use it, I would do so. Please consider the following statements. Practicing parkour does not necessarily make you any faster. Yes, if you run, you will go faster than if you walk. If you practice running, you will get better at it. As I was already a runner, I cannot attest to any increase in speed, or stamina. The main thing I noticed with parkour, wasn't an increase in speed, but less of a decrease caused by obstacles. You go up, over, and around much more smoothly, and this results in less lost momentum. I did notice an increase in jump hight and length.

I see an increase in jumping stats, and either an increase in speed, or a prerequisite of running.

Also, at first, I fell alot. I mean a lot. But after a week or two of non-stop punishment, I either lost sensation in my extremities, or I got tougher. I like to think it was the latter, and not severe nerve damage.

I can agree with an increase to SDC, and maybe PE

After that, my coordination improved, and I stopped getting my feet, and occasionally shins(that one hurt), caught on things.

I would also put an increase to PP there, and a nice sized one too, as mine used to suck hard. Coordination that is, I even used to close my legs in car doors. Every single time, built up good strong shins though...and I guess dodge counts, as you end up going around things as often as you go over.

When I first started, falling really sucked. Now because of my terrible coordination, I had to learn to fall without getting hurt too bad at a young age. I also had to learn how to fall without taking too hard a hit, as my heart would stop, and there was no way of knowing if it would start again. So I learned how to roll with any kind of impact at a pretty young age too. As you may understand, I was pretty good at it by necessity, but I apparently still had room to improve. I also still fell pretty hard when I was out free-running with my friends. After a couple of those hits(read: faceplanting while running at full speed) I figured out new ways to absorb impacts and increased the speed at which I responded. Falling over because you tripped, is very much different from sailing trough the air and hitting the ground at full tilt.

High bonuses to roll with impact should be part of the skill.

I really cant say I climb faster or better, and I haven't noticed any increase in strength. it might just be me though, I am pretty darn near peak physical condition.

Can't see a bonus for PS , or for climbing. Well, maybe climbing.

My advice and input is in the quotes, for those of you who don't really need my reasoning.

Thats kinda what I thought. It was quite common in Berlin when I was a teen. (Dad was military). I didn't see any acrobatics, but the guys who did the more acrobatic stunts were into gymnastics already. I can take what you just said and make it almost like an Athletics or even call it Parkour Athletics.

[Crazy Lou]

Thanks much for the input Zig! It was really useful.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

No problem, I love to help whenever possible. I figured since I actually run around like an idiot, I might as well explain how its done, and what effects you get. Seriously though, it is really fun, especially with friends. Just don't do anything like high-risk freerunning, and always bring a small first aid kit. Better safe than sorry.