wrestling/grapping secrets

[Nick the Nevermet]

I'm trying to think of some secrets for grappling / wrestling, but I'm drawing a blank.  This is the only thing I've come up with so far, and I'm not really satisfied with it, but I'm not exactly sure why:

Secret of position
Grapplers continue to work, gaining more and more control over their opponent until there is no escape from their grasp.  When this secret is used during BDTP, the grappler gains bonus dice off parallel actions as if they were perpendicular (i.e., # of bonus dice equal to damage done to opponent).  Cost: 1 vigor.

Most locks and holds can be handled with basic BDTP type stuff, I think.  And there is already a throw secret.  Can anyone think of anything else?

Nick

[Eero Tuovinen]

What I first do with this sort of thing is deciding whether I want to make the topic under examination a "Thing" or not. If I don't want to draw much focus on it, I try to get by with just one Secret, or a few of them anyway, with no particular sub-system to it. However, if I want to make a Thing (meaning, something that draws player attention and shapes character identity; like a character class, in a lot of ways), then I choose my systemic approach first and create Secrets after that.

For example, if I wanted to get by with just one Secret, I'd go like this:

Secret of Wrestling
The character is a powerful wrestler. When he ties a martial check with an opponent, he is considered to win it by one step. The same goes if the opponent intentionally engages the character in wrestling. Cost: 1 Vigor

So that'd be a simple way of dealing with wrestling generally in a game where it's not a big deal. It's useful, but will only feature when characters tie in a conflict - that Secret essentially says that wrestling will only be specifically an issue when characters tie in Ability checks, not all the time. This works for me in many genres, as it sort of reflects common understanding in martial arts narrative: wrestling is powerful, but you can't use it to your advantage all the time.

If I wanted a whole martial arts system dedicated to wrestling, I'd first decide how my game is going to handle martial stuff in general. Both Solar System and World of Near have different examples of how to build such subsystems. I'd likely have a Wrestling (V) Ability to work with here as well, except if the game was utterly focused on martial arts, in which case I might go for separate throwing, locking and positioning abilities.

[Nick the Nevermet]

good tips
thanks